Well…didn’t sleep for crap last night and I think part of it is stress from having to take on the new “end the noise” project out here to make it livable for me and the rest of the neighborhood…but, I’ve done these kind of things before and I am looking forward to seeing how committed Muskegon is to making this a welcoming city for everyone…and hell, I’m retired and don’t have much else to do so let’s get started…I did get some work done out in front yesterday and seeded the parkway where there was nothing but weeds before…and I cut out the rest of the sod that had crept over the sidewalk even though that part belonged to the neighbor on that side…just didn’t look finished with ending the trim 6 feet from the end of the parkway…and, again, I used that sod to continue to fill in the entry to the back yard and the 3 foot deep holes that were there are now just a memory…I had a brainstorm yesterday about how to fence off that entry and found some 4 foot tall green plastic fencing that I can stretch across it and remove when I want to have access with the mower and that should work until I put in a chain link gate…and it’s only 15 bucks for a 50 foot roll and should serve the purpose for now….so I may go out to Lowe’s and take a look at it this morning since it looks like rain all morning…I should clean in here some and I will get to the bathroom at some point today….I may not get a  ride in with Man U playing at 3 and the rain looking like it’s stretched back into Minnesota…a day off may help my legs some after going out into 20mph winds yesterday…but, my legs don’t really hurt today so I think they may be adjusting to wind every day….more later…

Well…as you know, I have been having trouble with the constant thump, thump, thump of people playing music so damn loud that I have to put earplugs in to sit in my living room at times…even to the point of me calling in a noise complaint Sunday that the cops responded to and finally shut the music down…but that is not a long term solution to every damn house out here doing the same thing…so today, being the troublemaker that I am, I e-mailed the city manager (the guy who runs Muskegon) with the particulars of all of the noise and the fact that no one is doing anything about it and that it is ruining my quality of life out here…and, to my surprise, I got an e-mail back a few minutes ago from the manager saying he is bringing in the neighborhood officer and they will start to put together a plan to deal with the noise…now, I’ll believe it when I see it but to get back to me within an hour from his phone is pretty cool and gives me a little hope that something will be done….but, as in GR, why the hell do I always have to be the person to fix problems that affect everyone?  I guess I do have time on my hands and most other people don’t so I’ll make it my job to raise as much hell as is necessary….not going to be liked out here, that’s for sure…

Well…that was a little better…up at 5 again but stayed in bed until almost 6:30 so that is a win….and I feel okay this morning even with mowing the lawn and then treating it with liquid weed killer and that was a lot of walking for one day…and I got a bike ride that was into the wind of 15+ again and damn cold…had shorts on but had to put on my leather riding gloves since my hands were freezing after about 200 yards…and I was glad I brought them with me….and today is going to be cold with the high of only 52 out here…in frickin May? oh, well…I do have more work to do on the lawn this morning….need to seed the front part that was all weeds and is bare now and then edge the rest of the sidewalk…but that is after doing the second grocery run to Aldi’s around 9…need to get some chicken and other stuff so I’ll have healthy food for the rest of the week…and I still do need to get some stuff out of the freezer to start emptying some of the food out of it….need to plan some of those meals but not right now….the cukes and beans I planted outdoors have survived 3 days and that gives me hope that maybe I’ll have veggies this year…but I’m waiting to put the tomatoes out until it gets over 40 for a low…and I have lots more in the cups so the garden is going to be a little crowded…just like last year…might even have to have an overflow garden like last year, too….not much to do today….need to get out for the errand at 9 and the right on to the lawn…and I need to prep veggies for snacks later since I’m giving up my favorite nuts and that may even be harder than giving up cocktails….more later…..

Well…it just dawned on me that it is Star Wars day…may the fourth be with you…yeah, kind of corny but it still makes me smile…slept okay last night with being good but I forgot to hit the timer button on the coffee maker so my first cup of coffee is about a half hour late…and I woke up at 5:24 but that is okay, too, since I didn’t toss and turn too much…and that still give a a solid 6 hours and I’ll take that any day…I’m a little sore this morning with doing a double on the bike yesterday and finally getting some plants in the garden…but, I may have jumped the gun on my beans and cukes with the possibility of frost coming over the weekend…but, I can cover them if I need to since I only have two rows in…have lots of work to do today since the lawn needs to be mowed again and I need to seed a big part of the front of the lawn where there was nothing but weeds that I finally killed with liquid weed killer so that means seed and covering it with some topsoil to keep the seed moist and watering it for a week or so along with the flower seed I put in a week ago…and I need to do the grocery run to Meijers to get some veggies this morning since I need to get more fruit and veggies into my diet…wouldn’t hurt to have a few salads and some carrots and celery for snacks instead of the dry roasted nuts that I know have huge amounts of calories….more later….

Well…damn, that Sunday sucked….had the idiots in the house a street over starting their party at 8 am and it went on all damn day long with the loud, thumping music that everyone plays out here and I had enough of that bullshit so I made a noise complaint with the city and they sent some cops out to try to quiet them down…and that worked for about 5 minutes until the cops left then they were even louder so I called them back again and they sent out two cars to put an end to it…all I want is to have a little peace and quiet and be able to open my windows on a warm day without having to put earplugs in to sit in my own living room…so now I guess I’m the hardass old guy that will be shunned by the neighborhood but I don’t care…my question is why hasn’t anyone else complained about this house before? This crap has been going on since it got warm out here and even the cops said that I should be able to sit on my front porch with the windows open and not have to hear that thump, thump, thump all day….I guess I won’t be getting an invite to their next party…oh, well….I did get a ride in yesterday…finally…and it was a good one but windy…and it is already 60 out there so I can get out as soon as I have coffee and read the news….I do want to get 5 bean plants and 4 cukes planted today since it does look like there won’t be a freeze later in the week but it is going to get down into the high 30’s and I hope they will survive it…and I put 8 more beans in so I’ll have two rows of them when they sprout…the tomatoes have sprouted but I am going to wait a while to plant them…want them to be a little larger before I transplant them….not much to do today…might mow the lawn after I get a ride in and just fiddle around in the yard for a while since I’ll be out on the bike by 9….and I’ll be enduring the dirty looks from the neighbors since I am the designated enforcer of neighborly courtesy…and I don’t think it will end here…but, I’m up for it….more later…

Well…running a little late for a Sunday morning since I’m back to the normal schedule and read the newspaper first…damn, just looked at the weather and it is going to be in the 40’s for highs later in the week and that is so damn depressing…I have beans up that need to be planted and now I’ll have to wait another week since there is going to be a freeze later in the week, too,…crap….Oh, well…need to just grit my teeth and live with it….I did sleep okay last night and don’t feel too bad this morning and I am going to get a ride in just a little later since it is already almost 60 out there but I need to see the F1 race first at 9 so I’m not sure if I can get two rides in today…would like to since I couldn’t ride with the wind yesterday or Friday and it is still going to be blowing around 15 today but, if it’s out of the South, it won’t be too bad….I have been slipping back into bitching and complaining too much and I just don’t like myself when I do that…have had some streaming tv problems and have been texting my son too much about it…he has his own life and family to take care of and I need to remember that….don’t want to be that crabby old guy that complains about everything when I really do have a pretty good life…other than the damn groundhog that is back to digging under my sidewalk again and, if I ever see him, I am going to hit him with a shovel and kill it….okay, probably not…he’s just doing what they do and I can’t even kill spiders in here and try to not run over bugs on the trails so killing an animal would be too much…it may be a challenge to get him to move somewhere else but I’ve got the time…sure hope it’s not a skunk…one of my neighbors said that there are a lot of them around here but I haven’t seen any yet…not much to do today….just going to ease into it and have some more coffee…I do need to plant a few more bean seeds today since I really like fresh green beans out of the garden and only have 5 plants when I need 10 or so….more later….

Well…finally…got a lot of work done in the garage today…got the old opener down and in the trash and then built the shelving unit and organized all of the stuff that was stashed all over and still have some room on the shelving for more stuff so that is cool….and then I swept the garage floor and cleaned it up pretty good and all of that took about 3 hours so I am taking the rest of the day off and watching some races…didn’t get out on the bike with how hard the wind has been blowing out here today and we even almost got a storm…heard some thunder but it looks like it missed here to the northeast and that was disappointing…really wanted to open up the porch and watch but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities over the summer…after all of the dust and tree pollen outside, I am miserable right now and I think I need to use some nasal spray to help it…darn…at least I have a halfway clean and organized garage…nice to see the results of working for 3 hours…

Well…damn, can I go down to only one night a week of cocktails? Or be done with them completely? Last night was the first cocktail night of the week and I think it will be the last one…didn’t sleep well at all last night and feel pretty crappy right now and I think it’s just not worth it anymore…we’ll see…and it looks like another day off the bike since there are gale warnings out here with winds kicking up to almost 30 mph with gusts of even more and it’s only 35 right now…on the first day of May? I really have to stop thinking about this weather even though it’s the coldest spring that I can remember…it just depresses me to no end to not be able to wear shorts yet and the highs are still only going to be in the 50’s for the next two weeks and that sucks….okay, enough of the whining and bitching…the weather is the weather and I can’t do anything about it….if I can’t get on the bike today, I may just clean the garage….boy, I’ve waited a long time to say that…clean the garage….and I need to put the shelving unit together so I’ll have a place to put all the stuff that goes in it…the gas cans, clippers and other stuff that is spread around it will look much better organized…not sure where I’m going to put it yet but it’s small enough to move it wherever I want….and I could take the old opener down when I have the garage cleared…so I might get some stuff accomplished today….but right now I’m going to have coffee and watch some F1 practice and qualifying….more later….

Well…how the hell is it 48 degrees for a high on the last day of April? With the wind blowing almost 20 and gusting out here, I skipped the bike ride since I just couldn’t take being that cold or putting on all of my heavy stuff just to go out and suffer in the brutal wind…I did get some stuff done this morning when I tried to clean the porch windows but found that the problems are between the double glass so they can’t be cleaned…and you can’t get the screens out to even clean them so they will have to be on the agenda to be replaced next year if I can afford it…should cost over a thousand bucks even with cheap windows and I just don’t want to spend that right now…. and I got some flower seeds planted out front along with using my new hose end sprayer to put weed killer on the front where the weed and feed didn’t do crap and it is full of dandelions….then I put some new veggie seeds in cups since the ones I planted a week ago aren’t doing anything and I need to get them in the ground in the next couple of weeks…I do have 5 bean plants up and some tomatoes but no peppers came up so I planted a whole new set of them to make sure I have everything I want…I really do have a big garden and want to fill it….other than that stuff, I haven’t done anything else today…just tired with only getting a little sleep last night but I do need to get started on the rest of the windows to clean them but I want to wait for that until I power wash the house…the 8 foot ladder I bought will really help with that and reaching the gutters that need repairs…but, I’m taking the rest of the day off and I think I’m having cocktails tonight since I’ve been good since last Saturday….and I have to remember that I don’t have a schedule anymore…that I don’t need to bust my ass anymore working around here…but that is going to be a hard habit to break….

Well…finally, it rained overnight and was still raining when I got up…and I think the birds liked it since I could hear them like they were inside when I was walking through the living room…I really hope this will help my lawn filled in and get the weed killer activated that I put on the lawn weeks ago…I still have liquid weed killer to use if the damn dandelions in the front don’t die and I may treat the yard anyway since the liquid stuff works better…I did sleep okay last night but was up at 5:04 and then spent an hour in that state that is not really sleeping but not really awake, either, until a little after 6…and I have found that I really don’t need the sleep aids anymore if I just accept that I won’t have the deep sleep that I remember when I was younger…and that’s okay…feel pretty good this morning and have a couple of errands to run early…the Mega is up to over 300 mil so I need to get a few tickets and I forgot to get milk when I did the grocery run earlier in the week and I need to get more cups for veggie seeds since the old ones I’m using don’t seem like they are going to come up and I bought more at lowe’s yesterday just in case…I do need to get on doing the windows on the porch since I do have a ladder to reach it now and I hope they can be cleaned but I think they my be permanently cloudy and will have to be replaced at some point….not much to do today…going to have to wait to get on the bike since it is in the 40’s still and that sucks with it being only one day away from May so I’ll get my errands done first and then see how the day unfolds….more later…