Well…I don’t know if my son has done anything to my site but it seems to be working better now so I will say thank you…when I fired it up this morning…the start pages looked like text and not html and nothing worked…so I opened a new tab and tried the bookmark I have for adding a new post and, after a long wait, it started to work a little…but it still was taking about a minute or more to go from one page to another and at times it wouldn’t go between them at all…especially when trying to add a new post but it just worked fine for the last one and for this one so I am keeping my fingers crossed that whatever was wrong is fixed. Man, I don’t know what to do when this thing isn’t working…it has been such a major part of my life since 2010 and almost 10K posts that it just doesn’t feel right when I can’t do it first thing in the morning and then whenever I get an idea for one of these…so, it looks like at least a five post day today or even more…haven’t even got to much of the news yet and there has to be another topic that will grab me….more later….

Well…after going without a mask out to the grocery store the past two weeks, it looks like that is over again for the time being…it appears that there is a new Omicron variant that is spreading fast across the world and I am going to go back to taking the precautions that have worked for the past two years no matter the dirty looks I get from the right wing assholes who think they get to make health decisions for me. We have set up this country for another surge by ending all of the mask mandates and any other mitigation efforts that have been working for the past two years but I am still going to protect myself since they have discovered brain damage in some people who just had mild cases of the disease and I really don’t have a lot of brain left to give at my age….I did read an interesting article about the pandemic fatigue that happened with the 1920 Spanish flu epidemic where they just got tired of doing anything about it after two years and gave up and did nothing to stop it’s spread….just like today, people are tired of the pandemic and just want it to be over and are going to act like it is over no matter how many people are still getting sick and dying….but not me…back to the masking….

Well…it looks like I will be having problems with the site today and may not be back to add much today if this keeps up….will be back later to give it another try after I get on the bike….more later…I hope…still no progress…I can make it work if I want to wait for it to respond so I guess I can live with that for a while…darn…

Well…having some problems with my website this morning and I’m not sure what is going on….the original tab I had open just sat there and did nothing as I tried to get to adding a new post…I opened a new tab and it appears to be working but we’ll see…got up before 6 again today and I kind of like having the extra time before I get on the bike in the morning so I don’t feel rushed…but screwing around with the site this morning is putting me back to being a little late today…I did get the huge pork shoulder cooked yesterday and it came out pretty good and I did get to making a soft taco later in the day and that was yummy….and I now have leftovers that will last until next week and won’t have to cook at all….I did try some beef broth to cook the pork in and I’m not sure it’s a favorite…like veggie broth better and will probably use that next time….damn, still having problems with my site and I’m not sure what is going on….think I’m going to have to talk to my son who is not talking to me to see if he can figure out the problems….didn’t get anything done yesterday but cook and today looks like another easy one unless I decide to start stripping the hinges for the bathroom door with the new strip to see how it is going to work…it should work better than the 40 year old stuff I have been using….not much to do today…just the bike ride and then laundry after I’m done and then trying to figure out what is going on with this site…more later…

Well…who knew that stopping the antihistamines that helped me sleep would allow my allergies to go completely nuts and make me miserable with lots of sneezing and a nasty headache to go with it? But, I think it’s a good thing to know how bad my allergies are and then try to selectively target the symptoms instead of the shotgun effect the overnight medicine had. That doesn’t make me any less miserable, though, and I am dreading when the tree pollen hits…I may have to try some of the stuff I have in the drawer in the bathroom since I can’t get the stuff that works the best…or they won’t let me buy enough of it to be able to even use the dosage that is on the box…and I never understood that…why do they say two tablets is the recommended dosage when, if you follow it, you run out about two weeks before they let you buy more? Oh, well…may have to go back to the generic flonase that I bought on Amazon but that is 25 bucks for 5 bottles of it and I am almost out…and it depresses your immune system and that’s still not a good idea with covid still floating around…oh, well….I guess I’ll just deal with it and keep on sneezing….

Well….okay, the coffee just finished so I have to go get a cup before I get started….that’s better…had an okay night of sleep but was up at 2:44 and then for good at 5:31and I think I can cope with no sleep aids pretty well…I do remember sleep like this and it’s really not too bad…one weird thing is I’m not as cold as I used to be when I’m in bed and I wonder why that would be? I do know that I feel okay with how I’m sleeping now so I’ll take it….I did do another small cleaning project yesterday when I was in the dining room and finally got tired of looking at the dirty ceiling fan with one light burned out so I went to work on that and spent an hour cleaning the globes, taking the fan blades off and washing them, and then washing the motor to get the dust and crud off it…just like everything else in this house, the whole thing was coated in a greasy, dusty dirt that took a lot of scrubbing and soap to get it clean…and the globes looked like they were frosted when they are clear they were so coated and hadn’t been cleaned in years…one side effect of the clean globes is that the three bulb light on the fan now lights the dining room up like the damn sun it’s so bright…I may even have to go down to 60w led bulbs from the 100’s I have in there now….and that would help with getting rid of the cfl’s in the rest of the house that are so weak they barely light anything…I do have to try to balance the blades since the fan swings when it runs and that is a little annoying….but a piece of duct tape on the top should do it when I find the time….not much to do today….it’s going to be a cooking day today with doing the 8 pound pork shoulder in the instant pot this morning and everything that goes with that and the cleanup that comes with it…but I am looking forward to both the lunch of pork and mashed potatoes and gravy and the pork soft tacos for later and I won’t have to cook for 4 or 5 days after today…not sure what small project I’ll do today but I know it will be something…probably laundry and cleaning to finish out my week off….more later….

Well…as the fallout from trying to sleep without aids continues today, I really don’t feel like working at all….have been sneezing and coughing all day and feel pretty worn out but haven’t been able to take a nap this afternoon to try to help it…but I haven’t done much else, either, other than make some pickled red onions to use on the pork tacos I’m going to make tomorrow….I did get an 8 1/2 pound pork shoulder to cook in the instant pot tomorrow and I am going to make some mashed potatoes and asparagus to go with it…or I may do potatoes and carrots and make a gravy from the cooking liquid or maybe an au jus that will be just the cooking liquid without any thickening….or maybe both…I am going to add some veggie broth for the cooking liquid with some celery, garlic, onion, peppercorns, and carrots for taste along with a couple of bay leaves and just set the shoulder in the liquid without the lifting grate that normally goes in the bottom….this should make enough protein to keep me going for the next week or so without taking anything out of the freezer…and I got some Texas style boneless ribs that I am going to just portion out and freeze since I won’t need them til next week…oh, and I did get a huge bottle of laundry soap at Menard’s for 8 bucks along with the new strip that says it will strip anything in 2 minutes but I’ll believe that when I see it….I even hit the dollar store to get some 100w led bulbs to continue to replace all of the CFL’s that are all over this house and that don’t put out a lot of light….and I put gas in the car at the highest price I’ve ever paid at 4.19 but I’m okay with that….anything to help beat Putin….

Well…that kinda sucked….decided to stop using the sleep aid that I have taken for a  few months last night and the results are what I expected…tossed and turned all night and woke up about 20 times…okay, maybe 5 times but it felt like 20…and I have a bad headache today that I will probably have to take something for before I head out for the grocery run this morning…so now I’m down to no artificial anything and I’m not sure if I like it so much….since the sleep aid was an antihistamine, it kept my head clear all night so I could sleep but I woke up with it completely plugged up and that is probably the cause of the headache….oh, well…started to work on the bathroom yesterday and pulled one of the paint clogged hinges off the door and put it in some strip but the 40 year old stuff I have here just couldn’t cut the 10 or more coats of paint that was on it…so I need to stop at Menards this morning to get some better stuff since I will need to strip the heat registers that have the same amount of paint on them too….but I really should wait til it gets warm enough to wash the strip off outdoors since I don’t want to wash it down my sink downstairs….or I may just see if I can get new hinges but I like the decoration on the current ones that goes with the age of the house…man, I feel like crap this morning and I am sitting here sneezing like crazy and sweating but I guess that is all part of moving to natural sleep and will probably take a couple of weeks to have my body stabilize….not much to do today…need to hit 4 stores this morning to get the food that I need to stay in for the next week…or two grocery stores, Menards, and the dollar store since I need some light bulbs and other stuff…going to make a pork shoulder tomorrow and that will give me ingredients to make some pork soft tacos with pickled red onions and sauteed red peppers for the second meal for the rest of the week…and I really do need to finish my week off working on this place since I hurt my right hand again yesterday just doing the puttering around that I did…more later….

Well…with the coming 5 bucks a gallon prices for gas out here in Muskegon to support the cut off of any Russian oil imports to the US, I am looking for a place out here to donate a little cash for people who are not as fortunate as I am…I don’t really have to drive much…I think it was 6 miles last week so I can easily afford to pay for my gas but I know there are people who this is going to break their budgets…so, over the next few days I’ll be looking for a place I can donate a few bucks to to help some people out and get them to work and back…and I am not ever going to bitch about the cost of gas even though a lot of the price rise has been gouging by the oil companies who have just had the most profitable year ever in their histories….but that is for another one of these…