Well…running about on time for a Sunday but I have to remember that I don’t have to adhere to any schedule on Sundays…ha,ha…yeah, that’s funny to me, too…my whole life has been one big schedule and I’m pretty sure that won’t change just by saying it…but, I am going to try today…had a good day yesterday and got 45 miles in on the bike that I am anticipating is going to be pretty painful as the day goes on…I think it’s pretty early to be doing triples but I felt good and didn’t have a whole lot else to do so I thought I’d go for it and that would help me not feel too guilty about taking the day off today…almost went out a few minutes ago but the wind is blowing 25 out here and that is just too much for a comfortable ride…but it is hard to not take advantage of the last warm day for the week…it is still 66 out there and I even put the top down when I went out to get the paper this morning and that was cool…..I did get the registers installed in the bathroom and bedroom yesterday and that makes 3 rooms completed and 3 more to go…at first, I was a little iffy about the gloss black that I painted the registers and thought that maybe I should have painted them in satin finish instead but, as I look at them, I like the gloss more and more…and they are clean and work right again even with the rust damage that you can still see through the paint but I was not going to get body filler and spend another week repairing them…it’s an old house after all and any improvement is tons better than it was….with that work done, I really can start on taking my summer off but you and I both know that is not really going to happen…still need to get my perennials for around the house and need to do that this week so I’ll have some color around here this year…might get a couple of hanging baskets of flowers and put up a couple of hooks for them on the little roof that is over the back door…that would look pretty cool and make me smile….not much to do today….I do need to get back on track here and do a political one today and I will get to that a little later and I still need to make a pizza but have leftovers that will last one more day so I may wait til tomorrow…or not, who knows…I do know that I have used this laptop so much doing these that I have worn the E off the key and now I have one blank key that I probably should figure out how to re label…but not now…need more coffee and to read the news to find a topic….more later….

Well..got a second ride in before lunch today and now I’m sitting here thinking “maybe I should do a third one today?” That would make for 40+ miles today and I feel pretty good about trying it….felt good on the second one but I think this one will be a no sprint, leisure ride and just out there to have some fun and burn off some bonus calories….but I need to get going soon if I’m to make it back here for the next race at Talladega that starts at 4….and with the rain that is coming in around 8am tomorrow morning, it looks like I’ll be off the bike tomorrow since the rain is supposed to last all day….so, I’m going to get off my butt and get out there….again….oh, and I’ll try for a political one after I get back…just need to read the news that I haven’t done yet….more later….

Well..damn, that was nice to get out on the bike early and set myself up for 2 outdoor rides today…it was a little cold but tolerable and the wind was coming in out of the south and that is okay essentially being a cross wind for the whole ride out and back….and it looks like it hasn’t come up much but the temp has so I’ll be out in a t-shirt for the second ride about 11:30…I did take my ballot over to the cop shop to drop it off and the only thing on it was a millage increase to fund programs for disabled kids and I can get behind that…going to cost me an extra 60 bucks a year but I’ve never voted against a millage that would help kids or schools…and, as soon as I got back here, I got right on painting the registers…two coats of primer and two coats of gloss black made them look okay…not like a paint shop could do but I got tired of working on the darn things and just wanted them done…and they are so much better than the paint icicle  coated ugly things they were that I can live with it…they had lots of rust on them and the one from my new bedroom looked like it had set outside for 20 winters in the salt….so, all in all, I’m satisfied with they came out…now I just need to let the paint harden a day or so and then get them installed…now the F1 qualifying race and then back on the bike before the ARCA race at Talladega…

Well…that was okay…slept a little better last night and didn’t get up until I smelled the coffee brewing but the last hour was just trying to sleep with little success…but, I’ll take it….the damn gash on my left thumb is still seeping blood this morning but it doesn’t hurt as much as yesterday so I’ll take that, too, I really do need to stop abusing my hands for a while so they get the chance to heal and it looks like this could be the week to do that….only have the registers to do today and that is not a lot of work…just takes time to paint them and I need to rig up a magnetic hanger to hold them to be able to paint them without shadowing of the hanger…they are not going to be the smooth surface that I wanted but not being able to dip strip them just makes getting them clean almost impossible…I am going to get outdoors on the bike here by 8 with the temp up over 50 already and it will be a fight with the wind that is already blowing out there and I am going to try to do two outdoors today but I need to make a pizza for lunch and that takes time….so, I will be rushing around here a bit once I get started but that will be okay…it may even get warm enough to open a couple of windows in here today to air it out for the first time this year….but that will spike my allergies that are already bad right now so I need to remember to take something before I go out…not much to do today…just painting, cooking and the bike rides but I think that will be enough after all the work I got done this week…keep ticking off the jobs one by one and there may come a point where I don’t have anything big left to do…ha, ha…then I’ll move to the small jobs like sanding and refinishing the cabinet in the bathroom and doing the same for the porch ceiling and the back entry…and the other bedroom is going to be calling to me all summer…no rest for the wicked….more later..

Well…we’ll get to the good news in a minute but I have a question to ask? How the heck do you operate without a usable thumb? My right one normally hurts like crazy all the time so I use my left one to compensate…but after the injury to my left one yesterday, I’m left without a thumb to use since the left one now hurts worse than my right….maybe I can use it as an excuse to take a few days off? We’ll see…now, to the small bit of good news…I just got a renewal notice for my driver’s license and I can renew it online! No going into the SoS office and having to take an eye test…and that was starting to concern me since my eyes take some time to adjust and become clear when I get up in the morning…I see perfectly fine when they clear up but it would be just my luck I’d go in on a day when they were bad and flunk the darn test and then have to spend big bucks on glasses that I really don’t need…so, I’ll take any small bit of good news and can stop thinking about it for 4 more years….

Well…running a little late this morning and it’s from not sleeping until late this morning and then not up until after 6:30…feel pretty crappy today from it and I am not getting on the indoor bike today…I’ve done two days in a row of doubles and will get out on the bike in thermasuit this morning since it is going to rain this afternoon…check that…I won’t be getting outside on the bike this morning with the rain only about an hour away and it still in the 30’s outside…so I will be on the bike downstairs in about 20 mins or so…ugh….I did get my seeds for the garden planted last night since I was so bored just sitting here and that was the only thing I had to do today so I’ll have to think of some other stuff but I don’t want to…this taking the summer off is going to be harder than I thought….the gash in my left thumb seems to be healing some already and I sure hope it didn’t hurt the nail bed like I did with my right one…the nail on it is still not healed from ripping it on the fence and it has a split down the middle that is still there a year later…and it continues to grow with the split in it and I’m not sure if it will ever heal…damn, I just want some time with no injuries on my hands…they are so scarred and beat up from working around here they look even older than they are….not much to do today…hey, I got through this one without talking about working on the house…almost….and I really don’t have much to do…laundry and cleaning but that is about it….probably should get on the bike now…more later….

Well…damn, I’m not sure why I keep doing this to myself but I worked my butt off and accomplished some things this morning….first the indoor bike and then a run over to Lowes to look for a short piece of tubing that they didn’t have and I almost left without anything since it was cold and wet but halfway out the door I said nope and went back in and picked up the 10ft piece, put the top down on the car and drove home with 6 feet of tubing sticking out of the back of the car…then I worked on the garden and got the soil turned and the manure mixed in along with fixing the fence and raking the leaves…then cutting up the branches that I’ve picked up since the snow melted and getting them put in a big yard bag…after that, I just couldn’t leave the front gate when I had all the parts so I got out my grinder with a cut off wheel and cut the old corners off, cut a 26 inch piece of the tubing out of the 10 feet, and installed the whole thing and now I have a gate that is not flopping around with the bottom tube rusted completely away…it still doesn’t hang straight but that is a job for another day since I gashed a big one in the back of my left thumb when the cut off wheel slipped…doesn’t hurt much but it bled like crazy…the new band aid with antibiotic with pain reliever has helped…so, I did get a few things done this morning that had been bugging me…but now I’m done for the day other than getting an outdoor ride in after lunch….more later….

Well…that was pretty crappy…didn’t sleep much at all on my first night in the new bedroom but I don’t think that has anything to do with it….haven’t been sleeping much lately but I don’t feel too badly so I can live with it…I feel kind of adrift with getting the major project done and planning to take the summer off…if we ever have a summer…looking out into the middle of May, it is going to be like March with temps in the 40’s for highs and I don’t remember this type of crap for a long time…we get one day around 70 Saturday and the back into the 40’s again until about the 20th of May…where the hell is spring? Not having one this year I guess….so, back on the bike indoors today and in thermasuit if I want to go out for a ride but may not with the wind forecast to be blowing 20-30 and that is just a bit much…I am going to run out to Lowes this morning to see if I can get a short piece of tubing to fix my fence…I do have a piece of dowel that I took out of the closet that I can sub in there short term if I have to so I may take the rivets out and put the new corners on….and I do need to get started on the outside and get my veggie seeds planted….so, I do have things to do today…and I may continue to take the front bedroom apart so I can start in there….so much for the summer off….more later…..

Well…the third Wednesday of every month is a good day usually, and today was okay…reached a financial goal with the latest SS cash dumped into my account and now I have enough to survive for two years if it comes to that…if I stop working on the house and don’t spend any money, that is….but that really is the plan for the summer so I can reach the next goal by September…I do need some months that I don’t spend hundreds on the house but with no projects planned until the end of summer, it’s doable…I did start taking the other bedroom apart today after I moved into the restored one and I don’t know why…I guess I just need to have something going on…I did get out for a bike ride today in shorts and that was a bit cold without gloves…even forgot to put my riding half gloves on so my hands hurt like crazy without the padding in them…and I think I’ll keep doing the inside rides for the next month or so until the weather warms up…I mean come on…40’s in May? That is the forecast after the one warm day Saturday and I am getting really depressed about it…oh,well…going to run over to Lowes tomorrow to see if they have any shorter pieces of fencing that I can buy instead of the 10 foot long ones that everyone carries…and then I can fix the gate out front so it doesn’t look like crap with the bottom frame piece rusted out…and I’ll probably start on tilling the garden and mixing in the manure to get ready to plant…and I’ll have to get the seeds going in cups downstairs again so they will be ready…damn, still busy with not even working on the interior of the house….