Well…as I do my week off from working on this place, I have shifted to just fooling around with small jobs to get some information that I need to start planning the next big job…first, I thought I had lost the spare keys to the house and spent an hour looking for them…but the funny thing is that I found them exactly where I thought they were after looking there twice…so that was cool…and one weird thing about this place is that every interior door has door knobs with locks in them and I didn’t get any keys for them so I thought I’d have to replace them at 40 bucks a pop…but, this morning, I found that I can unlock them with just a screwdriver so I won’t have to replace them after all….just one less thing I have to do…but all of the interior doors need a lot of repair to fix the cobbled up jobs they did putting the new knobs and latches in…so they may need to come off for that but that’s okay with living alone….I also figured out how to remove the heat registers so I can strip and paint them…the backs are only held in by the ends of the duct work folded over a flange and the grates have two screws with catches that I got to work by chipping the paint off them so all of them now fit how they are supposed to and I can take them all off when it gets warmer and start stripping them…I did get started on checking out the big blobs of stuff that were stuck to the walls in the bathroom and it looks like they are just filler that was never sanded and it came off with my putty knife…and that got me started on the bathroom so I guess that’s the next room to work on…I wonder if I should start on the window first? But not today…I’ve already hurt my thumb again and that sucks…so maybe back to resting for the rest of the day…

Well….darn, already running late today and it’s only 6:41….didn’t get out of bed until after 6 and didn’t have any dreams that I remember and that sucks a little….have been sleeping pretty well lately and that usually means some dreams and I may be getting spoiled from it….I did sleep on my right shoulder again and it is howling in pain and I’m glad I have this week off to let things rest…had a completely veg day yesterday that should have happened Sunday but today is going to be a little busy with trying to find a dentist and doctor so I can get back on track with my health….I have tempted fate too much by waiting to get going on my teeth and I am longing for the day when I can eat without pain again….and I know I need a yearly checkup that I missed last year with the pandemic going on and I hope that being good has helped my blood pressure some…I know I weigh less so that should be a good thing….we did get a bunch of snow out here yesterday but I didn’t need to shovel with the walks melting off as the day went on…I really hope that will be the last time it snows out here but the forecast is for temps that are around 10 degrees below the average for this time in March….I do need to cancel my Netflix account this week since they are raising prices again next month and it is not worth over 15 bucks a month….I rarely use it anymore with Plex and emby available so I need to say goodbye to them….and I will tell them why in a scathing e-mail if I can work up the outrage of their almost constant rate hikes…two this year already? I think they have miscalculated the necessity of using their service with everything else that is out there….not much to do today…and that is boring, boring, boring….just the bike and then planning for the next repairs on the house…I am really leaning toward doing the bathroom next since it is the second worse room here after the kitchen and it is small enough that it won’t take much time….and I may let the ceiling go til summer since it needs lots of plaster repair…we’ll see….more later…

Well….damn it’s before 10 am and I’m already bored with taking time off working on the house but this happened last time I did it, too, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised….have done a little meal planning for later in the week and that includes getting a pork shoulder for 99 cents a pound at Meijers and cooking it in the instant pot Thursday…and that gave me an idea to make some pulled pork soft tacos for the second meal later in the week after I finish off the container of ham soup that I thawed the other day…but that means making some pickled red onions and sauteeing some red peppers to go with it….and I need to figure out the spice flavors I want to use on them….probably some chili powder, cayenne, and cilantro would be a good start….will have to look on the internet to get some ideas…oh, and I’m starting to feel better after going really hard on the bike this morning but still feel like I have a cold with the slight headache I’ve had for a month now…I wonder if that could be the caffeine in the coffee? Not sure but at least I have a little energy again and need to remember to keep eating two meals a day to help that….more later…again….

Well…that was strange…had some long lasting weird dreams last night where I was trapped in the office I was working in by a nuclear or biological attack of some sort and I had to figure out what procedure to use to get out of it and no one was telling us what it was…yeah, pretty damn weird and it took a lot out of me that I am still feeling right now…and I wonder how that works? How do you get tired from the stress that happened in a dream? Or is it just a continuation of how I felt yesterday? I know I feel pretty worn out and it is no better than yesterday…getting on the bike is going to be hard this morning but maybe it will make me feel better…and I think I may have to get the french press out to make more coffee later since I went through more than half of this pot yesterday and I need more than two cups to get started in the morning….and to reward myself for getting on the bike and doing the miles…it looks like we are getting 2-4 inches of snow today and I’m glad I have nowhere to go today…and it is going to be a shock to put gas in the car wed with the prices almost 5 bucks a gallon but I don’t drive much so I can live with it for a while….not much to do today…I am still in my rest and healing  week and, after two days off, my hands are getting better and the cuts are starting to heal up so that is progress…and there is not too much pain so I’ll be ready to start on the dining room next week…but, I am thinking about doing a quick paint job on the bathroom first since it is the second worst room in the house and I could get it done in about a week but haven’t decided on the color yet….maybe I’ll start on the trim first and see how it goes….more later….

Well…it’s supposed to be a good day on my Sundays where I take it easy and enjoy the day…but today, I have been so damn worn out and I can’t figure it out…okay, yeah I can…only had one meal yesterday and Friday and I really do need to stop doing that….especially with getting two rides in yesterday…I wonder why it’s so damn hard to keep eating as I get older? I know part of it is I Iike losing the weight that has gone along with no cocktails anymore but I do wonder if I could have a cold,too, my head has been plugged up big time the past few days and it sure feels like a cold so maybe that’s it? Whatever it is, I don’t like it…think I’ll try some allergy meds here in a minute before I have some soup for dinner…I did open my small hot glue gun and glued the loose kitchen floor tiles down and that worked pretty well….I wonder why I never bought one of those before? It was only 7 bucks and that is about what a tube of glue costs…we’ll see how durable it is as times go on….

Well…hey, the power didn’t go out last night even with the wind blowing so hard the Miata changed lanes all by itself in the gusts when I went out to get the paper….slept okay last night but on my right side all night and I must have put some pressure on my eye since my vision is fuzzy today…but that’s getting better as I sit here and I will need to go back to the paper to actually be able to see it to read without squinting…and I’m much less sore than I should be after getting a ride in outdoors for the first time this year…but that will be the last time in March with how crappy the weather is going to go…looks like I’ll just have to hunker down for the month and continue to work on the interior of the house and ride downstairs….no early spring this year….and it is supposed to snow 3-6 inches tomorrow and that sucks…I did get started working on the front yard yesterday and got a lot of the concrete and piles of dirt raked an shoveled into the street….I sure hope they come back and repair all the damage they did to it or I’ll be working on it all summer…after taking a couple of days off my hands are feeling better and I can use my right one again but it is still pretty darn stiff….need to start planning the dining room work this week and get started on it…I think I’ll do the window first and that should only take a couple of days before I get on the baseboards but I do need another gallon of the white paint I have been using and I do have to remember that it takes a couple of weeks for the paint to cure before I can mask the window off to paint the walls….but I can work on the trim around the ceiling and on other windows as I wait….not much to do today…it’s my day off of of everything and the MotoGP races are on for background noise…that’s how a Sunday should be….more later….

Well…I know I said I was not going to even try to get out on the bike outside today but I got bored and it was 52 degrees so I said what the hell and gave it a try….it was actually pretty nice out there and I was able to leave the gloves at home even…and there were only 3 places on the trail that I had to get off the bike and walk because of the ice…got 13 miles in out and back to the beach and found out why the lower road to my beach was closed….it was under about 4 feet of sand that they are in the process of removing while they wait for the ice to melt so they can put the sand back on the beach…it was so nice to get outdoors again and see the sights and there were still people ice fishing on Muskegon Lake where the ice hasn’t really thinned a lot with how cold it’s been out here…and after today and tomorrow, it goes back to highs in the 30’s for the rest of the month so I probably won’t be back on the bike outside for a while and we have a high wind warning for tonight until tomorrow afternoon that is going to make a mess…so I’m glad I got out today and can’t wait for the pain to start from doing the ride today…and I’m glad that I have the day off the inside bike tomorrow…it’s gonna hurt…oh, and I did get my March top down run in today, too….every month for 9 years running…

Well…I had to laugh when I went out to put some more bird food on the sill and in the feeder and then walked out to the front of the house to check on the dirt piles that are on my lawn…they are still frozen hard as concrete and I don’t think they will thaw anytime soon even with the temp getting up to 56 this aft and rain and thunderstorms tonight…and it is still in the 30’s right now so I think trying to get a bike ride in outside today is on hold, too, with ice still on the roads up here so there will have to be ice on the trails and I just don’t want to get cold and have the chance of crashing the bike…so, I guess plans change for the day and I may just take the car out and get my March top down run in today with a little trip out to the beach again…I do want to take some photos of the beach that I use during the summer and see what it looks like and why the road is closed to it….so, I guess I have an easy day today and will focus on making lunch in a while….more later….and I mean that…what else am I going to have to do?

Well…running about on time this morning and feel okay even with tossing and turning a lot last night…I think that is the best part of no cocktails…it only takes me about 15 minutes to wake up and be ready to get after the day when it used to take me hours if I ever felt okay at all…and I think Saturday is my favorite day to ride downstairs since I know I get to take Sunday off and just veg out the day….man, I can’t wait for the damage on my right hand to heal…all of the cuts and bruises still hurt even when I don’t move it and I hope taking it easy for a few days will work…just looking at it, I noticed that my hands are looking old and beat up…kinda like the rest of me….I am still thinking of taking the grey bike out for a ride today but I do want to get the dirt and crap off the front lawn so the rain later will wash it off…we may even get a thunderstorm later today so I really hope the piles are thawed so I can move them…I suppose I could chop them up with the spade but frozen dirt is much harder than frozen snow and I sure don’t want to damage my shoulder chopping it…so, we’ll see…not much to do today…just need to get on the bike in a few minutes and then just play it by ear for the rest of the day….it stayed above freezing last night so maybe the piles will be thawed…I hope…more later…

Well…darn, I was getting a little excited anticipating being able to ride the bike outdoors tomorrow with the temp forecast to be in the mid to upper 50’s…and I even worked on both bikes to get them lubed and ready but it looks like a no go…just got a high wind advisory for out here taking effect tomorrow and get this, steady wind of 30-40 mph with gusts of up to 60-70 mph…damn hurricane force winds for tomorrow night and into Sunday with the worst of the wind along the lakeshore around dawn Sunday morning…just when I’ll be going out to get my newspaper in my lightweight Miata which should be a trip…and I don’t think my luck is going to hold with keeping the power on all winter so I need to plan a bit…but I will still be able to cook with the gas stove and will probably have to depend on it for heat, too…and I will need to charge all the extra batteries for the phone and mp3 player since it has a radio in it and I may need that for updates on the power…so, my week of taking it easy is not going to start off too well….and I’ve bitched before that I’m not very good at not working around here and today reminded me of that…have had just a boring day and couldn’t even get out to work on the dirt piles in my yard since they are still frozen with the low temp of 16 out here last night….so maybe Sunday for that…we’ll see….