Well…running really late this morning with not getting up until coffee o’clock and then going out for the paper and some stuff I need to make lasagna and getting on the bike by 7:40 to get back here in time to see the Man U match…my legs hurt like crazy on the ride this morning and I’m not sure why…no…my whole body hurts after mowing the lawn and painting yesterday and there will be a need for painkillers later this morning…the house is finally starting to look finished with getting the raw wood on the door frames painted and getting the last part of it washed….now I just need to get some topsoil and grass seed to fill in the bare spots so it will be ready to sprout in the spring…it looks like rain is going to come in later tonight and all day tomorrow so I may finally get that day off the bike I have been needing to heal my muscles up some….and I need to get 9 paver blocks to make a little pad to park my garbage bin on this week…not sure what color I’m going to get…I can get some that almost match the grey paint on the blocks in the foundation or do I want to get red ones for a splash of color and to match the ones I put in front for the mail people to walk on? Or do I get 5 red ones and 4 grey ones to make a pattern? That might be cool….not much to do today…just one more ride and then I’m taking the rest of the day off I think…more later…..oh, happy last day of work, Tom…

Well…cripes, have had another busy day today with getting started on the bike before 8, then back on it again before 10 and back here around 11…then I mowed the lawn, made lunch, and then on to masking off the front door trim and then giving it two coats of paint and cleaning up after I finished…and now it’s almost 3 and I’ve just sat down for the first time today…it is nice to get the last exterior trim painted so everything else can be done whatever the weather…will probably do the interior portion of it tomorrow but I just may take a day off…other than the bike rides, that is…going to need to get on the bike by 7:30 tomorrow morning with Man U playing at 9 an then I’ll be out for the second ride by 11….the bike is working as well as I can remember and that is so cool….just going to leave it alone and ride….and try to find a political topic to talk about…but, I haven’t even read the news yet today…should get off my butt and get that done…more later…

Well…5:32…darn….I am pretty sore this morning from the beating I took in the waves yesterday and my right elbow is the worst it’s been in quite a while and I’m not sure why that would be….it mostly hurts on the inside this time so that’s new….or it hurts enough so I feel it through the whole thing….not sure how that is going to effect painting this afternoon or mowing the lawn…will probably have to take something for it before I get on the bike….had to go back to watering the lawn yesterday with the lack of rain out here and will probably have to do it again today but it looks like rain for Monday and Tuesday…yeah, right…so that will help if it happens….I do need to get started on the winter wheels this week so I can get the winter tires ordered and mounted before it gets too cold to have the top down to transport them to discount…should only be a little over 300 bucks for the tires and I’ll never have to buy another set since I only put about 500 miles a year on them…I hope they will be as good as the worn out blizzaks that I have been using…..I also need to start figuring out my winter routes for the bike around here…I know they don’t clear the trails so I have to have at least a 10 mile route on the road so I can stay in shape…I am going to set up the old bike on the trainer so I can ride downstairs if it’s too snowy to go out….not much to do today…two rides and then a decision to make on whether to paint or mow the lawn or both…..but, I am going to do something or the guilts will get me….more later….

Well….have been casting around for a topic in politics today and haven’t come up with anything yet so I think I’ll let it percolate in my brain for a while and do this one instead. When I was out on the bike this morning, with it running so good I almost felt happy for the first time in a long time….everything is working out right now…I have money in the bank, a nice house to live in that is near the water and bike trails, and I’m still relatively healthy for an old guy…so that triggered a run out to the beach today instead of painting trim…and I got to play in some 5 foot waves again…not sure how many more times I’ll get out there but if it’s never, it was still a good summer. Normally, I hover quite near depression as I have my entire life but now the only thing I have to think about is finishing up the interior of the house and getting at the insulation in the attic…but, I have had other times when things were going well and I just couldn’t enjoy it…and some of that is still happening now, as you can see from the title…other people would be ecstatic to have my life as they struggle with their own but depression is not logical…it just is….luckily, even when it comes, it’s not as bad as it used to be….now I need to find a topic…more later….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting up til 7:20 and that is sleeping in for me….and probably a result of the two rides and washing the back of the house yesterday…worked my butt off and was pretty worn out….and it’s almost 8 and I have just started my first cup of coffee so it is going to take a while to get moving today….still hurt almost everywhere this morning and it was so bad yesterday that I did have to take an ibuprofen during the day and another one last night so I could sleep…and I think I’ll take another one before I get on the bike this morning….I did get the grey bike close to being like new after I threw all the parts at it and it is so nice to have the full suspension again…it is so strange that just 4 inches of travel in it makes such a big difference…I don’t know how people ride non suspended bikes….I wonder if I’ll ever take the road bike out again with the thin tires that have to be filled to 60 psi? That thing just rattles my body on the bumps……I was going to run an errand this morning since my potatoes are rotten but I just don’t feel like it…I can wait til next wed…have plenty of food here and I’ll just have to find something else to eat….not much to do today….just the rides and some cleaning but that will wait a while until I have more coffee and read the news…thinking about mowing the lawn again today but it may wait til Monday….we’ll see…more later….

Well…damn, that was a crappy night…up and down all night last night and I thought I had a mouse chewing on something all night and I could hear it even through my earplugs…but, I just found out that I hadn’t latched the front door all the way and the wind was moving it just enough to make the noise…so, I don’t have to run out this morning to get mouse poison….but I probably should since I need gas for the mower, too, and it’s only 50 out there so I’ll be waiting to get on the bike…don’t want to have to wear gloves this early….and it’s almost cold enough to wear my long pants….darn, I abused my hands yesterday working on the bike and they are going to need a couple of days to heal…just like the pain and stiffness from climbing on the roof Tues….that is pretty bad, too, with my back and hips really bad…I think I’ll take an ibuprofen before I get on the bike today…and I need to get the last part of the house washed today, too….that should only take about an hour or so and then I can get at cleaning the windows for winter…and I need to start planning the painting in here…going to do the living room first and then get the extra bedroom done…and I’ll have weeks in the trim and windows in here…probably take a month to complete the room…..but I can’t wait til I can sit here and see a modern paint job and curtains….but it is much more of a pain to paint when I’m living here and have my furniture in here….I’m tired of moving stuff and all that crap….not much to do today…after only eating one meal yesterday, I need to make sure I don’t slip back into feeling like crap from it…I may run the errands I need to do today since it looks like I’ll have to mow again tomorrow and I don’t have any gas….but I really don’t want to do anything right now other than read the news and have more coffee….so that’s what I’ll do….more later…

Well…damn, I am not sure how the day got away from me but I do know that it is after 3 and I just finished up with lunch…and I have been busy all day…started with getting out for the grocery run around 8:30 or so then on the black bike for the first ride…and on that ride I decided to get the grey bike rebuilt and take the crankset off the black one to put on the grey one…that only took about 45 minutes to get it up and running again but damn, the front shifters on these are such a pain to get adjusted, especially when you have to move it to compensate for the larger sprockets in front and while doing that, the cable became frayed from adjusting it so much so that will have to be replaced soon…and I worked on it for over an hour just to get it to move from the big sprocket to the medium one…and all that work beat the heck out of my hands and they are just screaming in pain…but I did take the bike out and got the second ride in and getting the rear shifter adjustment close so I can finish it tomorrow morning…and I hurt everywhere from the roof work yesterday so I should take some time off or some ibuprofen…not sure which yet…maybe both? I am going to try to do a political one in a while but I haven’t read any news yet for a topic… so that will have to happen first…man, I’m beat….

Well…6:36…that’s all I’ll say about that…damn, I’m sore in a lot of new places today after climbing on the roof to fix the soffit siding yesterday….and I got that all done with Tom’s help and that was cool…and I got out for a bike ride after the wind got down to 16mph and I’m going to do two today before I start tearing down the black bike to transfer the crankset over to the grey bike and try to get that up and running today…but, I need to do the grocery run today first…don’t have a lot to get since I am trying to eat out of the freezer and have plenty of food in there….I did get the lawn mowed yesterday morning so that frees me up to do other stuff today…I do have to remember to get gas for the mower Friday since I used the last of it yesterday but it’s not bad that I only used about a gallon and a half since I moved in here….I did check my bank account this morning and went over the 20K barrier this month…that’s a gain of 8K since I bought this place 7 months ago and it is nice to not have to worry about money anymore…but I am going to burn 6K in the spring to buy another Miata but I should be at 25K by then so I’ll still be near 20K…and I may get to the point of having 100K in assets next year if housing prices keep going up and I don’t spend much…I do want a garage door opener but I need to pay off the 150 bucks I spent on bike parts first….not much to do today….just the grocery run and bike rides before I get to working on the bikes…it will be nice to have front suspension that works and a lot less pain in my thumb and elbow….more later….

Well…another 6:05 morning and I am just starting my first cup of coffee….just put the garden waste out to the curb and it is warmer outside than it is in here so I opened the windows to let the breeze blow through…and it looks like the rain is already over for the day but at least we got some last night…it looks like it will be dry for the next week but I don’t think I’ll need to water the lawn for a few days anyway….I wonder if I’ll be able to get in the water one more time before fall? It was pretty cold when I was out there last week but still okay…might try that later in the week….slept okay last night but I’m still worn out…and I have been having cramps in my calves and it hurt like crazy just to put the bags out a few minutes ago….so. we’ll see how it is when I get on the bike here in a few minutes…..only got one ride in yesterday with the rain we had in the morning but I am going to try to do two before I get to the soffit repair today….I got a notice that consumers is going to be out here trimming trees in the next week and there are a few branches in the alley that will need to be taken down….have not had a power outage out here since I moved in 7 months ago and that is better than in GR where I had a couple of half day ones and the power blinked every time there was a storm…not much to do today….just the rides and taking down a dead branch that is hanging over my power lines along with the soffit repairs…that’s enough, isn’t it? More later….

Well…getting ready to do some repairs to the soffit on the house this morning, I went out to get some siding and found out that the 13 inch stuff that is on my house is a special order item that would take weeks to get…so, I decided to buy some 16 inch wide stuff that I will have to cut down to make fit…a bit of a pain but doable…and when I was at Menards looking at it, I noticed a pile of damaged ones lying next to the rack of the good ones and asked the clerk if  they would sell me one of those since I only needed 36 inches of the 12 foot section…he said sure and I got the 20 buck piece for 5 bucks so that was pretty cool…they even cut it in half for me so I could put it in the front seat of the car….and I got caulk to glue the sections in instead of glue since caulk is 1.94 and adhesive is almost 10 bucks a tube…and, if I have to section a piece, I can use the caulk to fill the seam and finish it…so, I have everything ready to do the job tomorrow and it looks like there is a window from 11 to 2 that it won’t be raining so that is plenty of time to get everything done…I hope anyway….and I think I’m going to wash the section of siding near that part of the roof, too…might just as well get everything done at once….oh, and I got some stuff done on the yard today, too….got all of the branches bundled and out to the street and took out the rest of the garden to put out tomorrow so I’ll have three full bags….and I got a bike ride in and figured out I’m going to switch the new crankset from the black bike over to the grey one when I get the rest of the parts thurs so I can get the grey one back on the road…the pounding on my elbow and thumb from the frozen front forks is starting to make them hurt like crazy so I need to get that done as soon as possible….