Well…with how I was feeling when I got up this morning, the chance of me getting anything done was slim to none but I surprised myself by actually getting some work done…got on the bike and got the miles in and then suited up and got started on the outside work that I needed to get done before it rains tomorrow…so, I dragged the two stroke multi tool out and, since it already had the edger head on it, I edged all of the walks and then changed the head to put the string trimmer attachment on and did the entire yard and around the house and fences….then I got the mower out and mowed the lawn…and the mower worked perfectly…then, since the weed and feed wasn’t killing the weeds fast enough, I mixed up some liquid weed killer in my tank sprayer and walked the whole yard and sprayed it….and all of that work took me over 2 1/2 hours to finish but I am done for the day….I think the ibuprofen I took really helped my right elbow that was hurting like crazy just riding the bike…and I may just take a look at the temp and see if it’s going to get warm enough to take an outdoor ride….we’ll see….

Well…darn, running late this morning and I am going to blame it on having a cocktail last night…feel pretty lousy right now and still exhausted and all I want to do is go back to bed….don’t think I’m going to do that again for a while since it is another thing that just doesn’t do anything for me anymore….too damn much guilt for doing it and I haven’t felt that for a long time…and I’m sore as heck, too, and I didn’t even do anything strenuous yesterday…okay, my computer is telling me it’s humid again and I still don’t see the worth of that information….I mean, what are you supposed to do about humidity? Not sure….should you stay in the house? Should you dress for it? Do I have to go out and buy humidity clothes? Weird….the car did run great yesterday with the new oil and spark plugs and I’m not sure if I’m the only one that feels that way….but it does start differently and I don’t know what that is about…it takes about an extra crank for it to fire up and I hope it’s just in my head and not in the car….it looks like i won’t get outside on the bike today with the high only about 50…and yes, it is May and that sucks…but I will be going over a thousand miles on the indoor bike today if I can drag myself down there here in a few minutes…not much to do today…just the bike ride and mowing the lawn for work…and I do need to cook today since I only had one meal yesterday and that kept me under 1,000 calories for the day….have some tilapia fillets that need to be cooked along with the leftover pizza that I made Friday….then I need to plan the rest of the meals for the week and try some new recipes since I’m kind of stuck with having chicken since I can’t get anything else that cheap…I was really hoping that the rain would have cleared the air of the tree pollen that is making me miserable…maybe tomorrow since it’s supposed to rain all day…and that’s why I have to mow today since the grass is already almost too long for mulching…more later…

Well…just got back from the service for my brother and , even though it was a sad occasion, it was nice to see my brothers and sisters again for the first time in years. Man, we are all looking pretty damn old and most of us are struggling to get around….and I found out that my oldest brother is starting cancer treatment tomorrow for throat cancer and that just sucks big time…I guess I should feel lucky that I am one of only two of us who don’t have any big health problems but it doesn’t make me feel good…I do feel lucky, I guess…but that doesn’t help them feel better and that sucks, too…need to think about it a bit…my brother did say that he still has the grill to give me and he has a welder that he wants to give me, too, so that will be cool but I can’t think about that…just worry about him and the rest of them…hmmmm…

Well…damn, felt exhausted all day yesterday and I know it’s a combo of my allergies and not eating enough…I mean I tried to eat…had a piece of pizza for lunch and then a chicken leg quarter and a handful of baked fries for dinner but I know that’s still under 1500 calories…closer to a thousand and that’s nowhere near enough…okay, won’t bitch about that anymore…I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me talk about it…but, I feel better this morning and will have to remember to take some allergy meds here in a minute to get a head start on it before I get worse….didn’t get anything done yesterday but cook and today looks the same with needing to go over to Ravenna for the family get together for my brother who died a couple of weeks ago and my feeling about that are a little mixed…still haven’t gotten used to the idea that this is going to be happening more and more often as we all get older and I try not to think about it much since that would mean addressing my own mortality and I just don’t want to do that right now…it’s the start of a new month and I’m still bitching about the damn weather…come on spring…I am so tired of still bundling up everywhere I go and this week is going to be in the 50’s…again…and that means half thermasuit on the bike still…and having cold hands riding triggers the arthritis in my thumb that then hurts like crazy….oh, well…the lawn is starting to green up but the damn weed killer in the weed and feed isn’t working so I need to do a weed walk with my tank sprayer this week if I have day when it’s not raining….but the rain has kept the patches in the front wet so the grass will grow in later in the week so I guess that’s something….not much to do today…just the run out to Ravenna at 11 and then back here for a veg day and planning the work for the week…I am going to have to mow the lawn sometime but will convert the mower to mulching so that will make it easier….and I need to plant the perennial seeds I bought along the back of the house so I can have some color there…and it looks like I need to replace the outside faucet since it is leaking quite badly without the hose valve on it but I would like to get one that has a compression fitting so I don’t have to do any soldering…it will be a big enough pain just crawling into the crawl space to get to it and cutting out the old one…more work…more later….

Well…just finished baking the pizza and having lunch and I will say that a half pound of mushrooms on one pizza is not too much…I did have to take the pizza and pan over to the sink to pour off the extra liquid that came from the shrooms but the crust was done and not soggy at all and that surprised me a little with all of the liquid that was there…but, I’ve been making the crust drier the past couple of times and that makes it much more crispy and I think that has something to do with it…probably the best tasting pizza that I have made and I do have to remember to put the garlic powder and Italian seasoning in the dry ingredients since it makes such a difference and fills out the flavor so the crust isn’t bland….but now I need to find something in the freezer to take out so I’ll have a second meal for tomorrow to go with the leftover pizza…not that big of a choice since I think there are only various chicken cuts left…I do have some tilalpia fillets that have been in there a while that I probably should cook so maybe that will be it? Who knows? Taking the rest of the day off to watch races and veg….

Well…yeah, I did get on the indoor bike this morning and got to 760 miles down there this year so far…and with the 234 on the outside bike, I’m only 6 miles short of the first thousand miles for the year…so, should I get back on it and do 6 more so I can have a grand before the end of April? Nope, not that driven by the numbers anymore so when I get to it Monday, that will be soon enough….and I’m not sure if this is the earliest to a thousand I’ve ever done but I don’t think so…I seem to remember that I reached it once in the middle of April….but that was with riding outdoors in full thermasuit that I’ve only done a couple of times this year since I could just use the downstairs bike instead. So now it’s break time….more coffee and soccer until I get to making the pizza around 11 or so….more later….

Well…damn, it’s the end of April and it’s still in the 40’s out there and I’m getting really, really tired of it…I am now sure that there will be no spring this year…and I won’t smell the spring smell until who knows when? And it’s raining out there right now and I really expect it to snow with how the weather has gone so far this year….oh, well…I did get 30 miles in yesterday but have no motivation at all to get on the bike downstairs today even with tomorrow being a day off riding…but I’ll probably drag myself downstairs in a while for the torture…had an okay day yesterday with getting the two rides in but not a lot else done and I think I need a couple of days like that to let my body heal…my hands are getting better with the rest but I have to remember to put a bandage on my injured left thumb since I banged it twice yesterday and it hurt like crazy….I really don’t have any plans to do anything today and just saying that is pretty weird…I did get the old, scruffy looking t-shirts out of my dresser and replaced them with new ones and that little thing made me feel good for a few minutes yesterday…some of them were pretty ugly but now I have a tub full of work shirts to use when I’m working on the car or house that I don’t care about…and I can use bleach to clean again without worrying about ruining a good t-shirt…is that what my life has been reduced to? Or is it finally settling into the mundane little things that I have been working toward for the past few years? The life of just paying bills and living for a change and letting the day just unfold instead of planning it? Not sure yet…but I have planned to make a pizza for lunch to use up the ingredients I have in the fridge…even got some mushrooms to put on this one and need to use the entire container and I wonder how a half pound of mushrooms will work on one pizza? I guess we’ll see…I wonder if I should saute them first to get some of the moisture out of them? Nope, too much work….not much to do today…still thinking about riding downstairs but that can come a bit later after I have coffee and read some news to try to find a topic for later…..more later….

Well…as I said this morning, I was going to head out to ollies for some more 1.99 t-shirts this morning…and it was so nice to have a good running car again and one that is clean to drive around in…so, I got 5 new t-shirts and a pair of Ralph Lauren flip flops that normally go for 28 bucks for 2.99…and the total bill only came to 16 bucks since I did spend 3 bucks each on a couple of the t-shirts since they were new FoTL with some new kind of super wicking cotton that I thought I’d try out…so, I’m done buying new stuff for the summer unless they have some beach towels for cheap since I do need a new one….and now I think I’ll sort out my t-shirts later and put the old ones in a tote in my closet so I can use them to get dirty with….now out on the bike for the first ride…

Well…hey, I found something to fill some time! After getting back outdoors on the trails this spring…is it spring? Sure doesn’t feel like it…I noticed that there is a huge explosion of people riding electric bikes that I wonder if they should be classified motorized vehicles and banned from the trails? Just the other day when I was out riding some idiot came blowing through the crowds at almost 30mph and not pedaling at all…and I can see carnage if this continues when the trails get busy when it warms up when walkers and riders clog up the trails so there is nowhere for someone going at that speed to go…I even find it a little challenging at times when I get up a head of steam and run into a stroller blockade…but I’m not going 30 and I pay attention and have the courtesy to slow down and allow them to get out of the way with a smile on my face…after all, the trails are for everyone who uses them but the speed differential to electric bikes is going to cause accidents…and I wonder who the hell can afford a 2,000 dollar bike anyway? Okay, that’s the end of my bitching…normally I just yell at them that they are cheating with a smile on my face and a laugh…especially when you have an obviously out of shape person flying by me only pedaling once every 100 feet or so…but, they are getting out and getting some exercise and that is always a good thing….and I have even started to do some research on converting the black bike to an electric assisted one to use when I’m injured but it’s still over 800 bucks to do that and I can think of many other way to spend that much cash….maybe look for a used one that is just sitting in someone’s garage after they used it for a week or two? I guess the point of riding for me is to get all the exercise I can to keep age at bay and an electric would make it too easy….going to be an interesting summer….

Well…damn, I’m sore this morning…as I was last night and the day before and I’m starting to get a little concerned that it never stops…and I’m not sure if it’s from the work I’m doing or if it’s a medical problem but I do know that I am creeping around here and everything I do is painful…I wonder if taking two ibuprofens a day would help instead of the one I take now? I did get the car finished yesterday and got my new sticker in the window that allows me to park at the beach for free and I will be using that a lot this summer….and I can’t wait to run an errand this morning in the clean car…even with all the rust in it, it is still cool to have clean glass and the un-rusted parts waxed and it is just the best to know that it is ready for summer…and that it is not leaking oil anymore….and I am going to hit ollies again today for some more 1.99 t-shirts if they have them…and then I can weed out all of the old bleached and painted ones and replace them with new ones….I am going to try to get two rides in outdoors today so I don’t have to get on the indoor bike and that leaves me with lots of time to just relax on the couch and have my coffee while I do this…and then I can leisurely read the news….oh, forgot to talk about sleep…should I talk about sleep? Nope, not today…pretty sure you’re getting bored with that and the one thing I strive for is to not be boring…sometimes even successfully….not much to do today…not sure how to do these easy mornings and I’m still wondering if my need to be doing something is going to override that…but I am going to try…but it’s 7am and I really don’t know how to fill the time until I head out on the errand….hmmmm….more later…