Well…I don’t know if I feel like bitching about how badly I slept last night…just seems like too much effort at this point….all I know is I feel pretty worn out today and I really do hope the coffee does it’s job soon….at least it’s almost warm enough to get out on the bike as soon as I’m ready and I can get that out of the way…it is becoming a chore to ride twice a day but I did get the shifter fixed on the bike so I guess that’s something….I am getting really tired of being sore and stiff all the time and the only way to prevent that is to not ride but that’s not an option…yet…getting to 3600 miles today and should get to 4000 by the end of the month and then it’s downhill from there….I wonder if one ibuprofen a day will kill me? That would sure help a lot since it takes just enough of the pain away to be able to walk without limping…I think I’ve worn out my butt this year and there are no places left to sit on it on the bike without pain and I think that is putting me off wanting to get on the bike too…I just wish it would rain to give me an excuse to take a day off…I do need to heal up some and that’s the only way to do it…okay, this is turning into a bitch session and I didn’t want to do that…I do have to remember to put the trash out today since it’s full and it stinks pretty bad…need to do that before the ride but I want more coffee first….I guess waiting to go out until 7:30 isn’t too bad…I am going to get back on the ladder today to start prepping the small awning out front to paint since I want to see how it is going to look in the dark brown satin finish….I may even paint it today since it is so small and shouldn’t take more than a half hour of painting time….more later…

Well…running a little late today with not getting up until 6 or so…and it was nice to sleep under the comforter for the first time this summer…I think that had something to do with being able to sleep a little last night…and my foot hurts this morning but it’s not red so maybe I can avoid the gout again…it’s a different pain today…more like a strain than anything else….and I didn’t take anything for it last night so that gives me the option of taking something this morning if I need it….I am a little curious to see how I’m going to fare on the bike this morning after the struggles yesterday….still feel pretty worn out today so I don’t think it’s going to be much different…I think I may have to take a couple of days off to recharge and you know how hard that is for me….I did splurge on some half and half for my coffee yesterday and it is nice to not use the dry fake creamer for a change…I think the container I’m using is about 6 months old and I still have about 25% of it left….didn’t get much done yesterday but I am going to try to get something done today…not sure what that will be but something….but right now I need more coffee and to ease into it today….just not feeling it and it’s almost 7:20….it’s only 53 and I don’t want to have to wear a fleece to go out…more later…

Well…I am still pissed at windows not letting me access my wifi without forcing it to do so…and I figured that out by accident being from the DOS era and trying ctrl, alt, delete on the start screen…but it is working for now and I only have to get through the next three days until the new router gets here…probably should get a new ethernet cable just in case I need to direct into the modem since all of mine are being used for other things that I need…but, that’s not what this is about…have felt pretty crappy all day today and just frickin exhausted so I didn’t get much work done other than on the gardens…I did do the grocery runs today and got 3 more of the 1.99 self rising pizzas from DD since I like having something easy in the freezer just in case I don’t feel like cooking…then over to Menards for some veggie food for the garden…then to Aldi’s for some staples and to meijers for the rest of the stuff I needed….the first bike ride was a chore with everything feeling dead but I did the full 18 miles…the second one was even worse with cramps in my right calf and now my frickin hips hurt too and I barely had enough energy to finish it…I do think I figured out the shifter problems, though, and it was that the clamp that holds the cable to the shifter was not tight and with all of the stress on that cable…it was just sliding back out of adjustment every time I used the adjuster…I remembered that happening on the other bikes with the shimano shifter a few years back and I hope that it is the fix since it is damn annoying to ask for a gear and have it just sit there and do nothing….I think the energy problems I’m having is from not eating enough again and my allergies flaring again…and I don’t think I helped it today with having only two pieces of pizza for lunch and a salad for dinner and with only having a burger yesterday…so maybe some cheese and crackers for a snack later? My lungs were really bad on the bike too and that might have had something to do with being exhausted….cripes, I’m getting old….

Well….it’s 50 degrees outside…in August…and that is just too damn cold for me to go out on the bike this morning…early anyway so it looks like I’m going to take it easy until after the grocery run and then get the first ride in….but that leaves me with 2 1/2 hours to kill this morning and I’m not sure how that is going to work….I really thought that with it being cooler I would sleep some last night but no such luck…up at 4:44 and couldn’t get back to sleep so I guess I’m going to kill 4 hours today…but, my foot doesn’t hurt for the 7th day in a row and I’m almost back to my normal walk…I did get the lawn edged and mowed yesterday so I guess that’s something and I think I may try to get back on the ladder today and paint the small awning over the round window out front…that will give me an idea how the brown paint is going to look and will be easy to repaint if I don’t like it….I couldn’t believe how stiff I was last night so I took some ibuprofen for it and it’s better this morning but I don’t want to have to take it every day just to be able to function….I am going to hit DD this morning for cheap pizzas again…I mean 1.99 for a 4 cheese self riser? They even taste good and I have just enough room in my freezer for three of them since I am going to use the one in there today…not much to do today…have 4 stores to hit this morning since I need food for the garden too and then the normal Aldi run…maybe I’ll just do one ride today? Who knows? More later….

Well…I just hate frickin windows….it has just now gone crazy and told me that my router is too old to use anymore and I had a hell of a time getting it to let me use it to come here and do this…so I may have some problems over the next few days as I try to find and set up a new one that is affordable to me…I just don’t need this right now…and really, who the hell cares if the router is secure or not? I only use this computer to do this and every other thing that I use to pay bills is encrypted on their end so no one can hack them…so if someone wants to hack in and write these for me, go for it…I’ll take a few days off….crap…

Update: just talked one of my computer geek sons and bought the new router he recommended…only 65 bucks and it will be here Sunday…and you’re supposed to be able to just plug it in and open your browser and it will tell you how to set it up…now I just need to remember how to get my phone to recognize it when it gets here…hey…maybe there’s a post in there somewhere…

Well…man, feel pretty crappy this morning and just can’t get started…didn’t even get out of bed until almost 6 and time to get on the bike is coming up way too fast….I did sleep okay last night…for me anyway but I’m not sure if that really helped much…I did get up on the ladder yesterday to finish up the trim on the porch and my foot survived it pretty well…no pain this morning so I have my fingers crossed that I can start doing more work around here…I did take some ibuprofen last night since I was so damn stiff and sore and that is helping this morning….I may have to try that again today since I am still being an idiot and riding way too much….I did get the shifter on the bike figured out…I hope…and went the entire second ride with the 5-6 shift working and that made it fun again…made one more adjustment after I got back here and can’t wait to see how that works….I have to remember to never lubricate the shifter since all that does is gum it up and makes it worse…I do have to run out this morning to get some more food for the gardens to try to make sure they are fed enough to get bigger tomatoes…the celebration strain that I planted are just too small but the better boys are going to be okay…and I have 6 cukes waiting to be picked so I’m not sure what I’m doing to do with them…along with the many jalpenos that I think are going to have to be frozen since I can’t use them for salsa yet….not much to do today…I do need to mow the lawn and start planning the next work on the outside of the house along with the trip to menards but right now I need more coffee before I get on the bike…more later….

Well…as you know, the idiot running his damn smoker all day and night has been driving me nuts lately and last night was the last straw…just sitting here when it started to rain and I just love opening the windows and hearing and smelling the rain…but, as soon as I opened this place up, the smell from that damn smoker filled the whole house and forced me to close everything back up again it was so bad. So this morning, I thought I’d make a little mischief and called GR’s 311 number that is used to do all kind of stuff for the city and put in a report…they guy I talked to was cool and looked up the property on his computer to make sure there was no zoning variance covering it and there wasn’t….and he told me me what I thought…you can’t run a commercial business in a residential area so they are sending him a notice of non-compliance to the city rules and then sending an inspector out next week to make sure the smoker is no longer being used….now, I hate to be that guy that bitches and complains about everything but it smells like I’m living in a frickin campfire and my bed, clothes and furniture all smell like smoke and I am tired of it….and it is getting warm again over the next week and I need to be able to open my windows….and I could even smell the smoke 3 streets to the south this morning when I was coming back here on the bike….and I have the right to not live inside a campfire….

Well…haven’t talked about some nonsense things in quite a while but a funny thing happened on the way back from the ride this morning that I am still laughing about that I thought I’d share…after getting through the park and hitting the newly paved part of Valley over by the park, I saw a squirrel just sitting in the road about 25 yards in front of me…most of the time, they will take off running before I get much closer than that…but not this squirrel…as I rode toward him, he just sat there looking straight at me not moving at all and not even doing the nervous darting that they normally do…when I got about a wheel width from him, he finally took off and ran under a car that was parked in the street…I have never had a squirrel play chicken with me before and it was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while…I never even thought to swerve around him because they normally  take off long before I get to them….I wonder if he does that with cars, too?

Well…cripes, I’m miserable this morning with my allergies shifting into high gear with sneezing and my head completly plugged up so I am going to have to take something for it before I get on the bike….have been having some problems with he 5-6 shift on the bike and I’m not sure what the problem is…I cleaned the shifter and hope that will help but I won’t know until I get out here in a few minutes…I do have a new shifter that I bought for the old bike that I can put on it but this one shouldn’t be worn out with only 3100 miles on it….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I am going to try to get the front trim painted today…but, with the storms that are supposed to come in around noon, that may have to wait until tomorrow…I did cut the ride short yesterday and only did 32 miles for the day…and I think that will be the mileage every day from now on…the only reason I’ve been doing 36 daily is to get to 5K for the year and it looks like I can get there with only 1500 left to do…I think I need to limit the wear and tear on my body some since I have been getting cramps in my calves and some pain in my right achilles and that never happens when I ride normal miles….I haven’t been taking any painkillers so I may be able to take some today just to be able to move better….I was going to talk about sleep again but I guess all I have to say is 4:14…not much to do today…need to get out on the bike soon but it looks like a one ride day with storms coming in around noon and I just can’t muster the energy to do two before then….more later…

Well…running early for a Sunday but it is only because I remembered to come here and that it is raining and I can’t get out on the bike yet…it was a really depressing night last night with new renters moving in next door and the resulting noise and bullshit that comes from that…you know, I am beginning to hate living in the city with the traffic noise, the idiot people, the smoke from the damn smoker that runs all the time, and the heat that is relentless and can’t be relieved when I can’t open this place up from the smoke….I feel like I have ptsd from all of the sensory overload…it’s never quiet here and I have taken to wearing earplugs to sleep again…I am just so damn tired all the time just from living here that Tom’s cabin in the woods is looking better all the time…and this damn virus is wearing me out too….got invited out to K’s yesterday but I couldn’t go with having T here on wed and the possibility of exposure that I couldn’t take out there…so here I sit….and I didn’t get anything done yesterday but a little cleaning and the depression that I thought was over is again paralyzing me….and part of that is my damn body is giving up on me and keeping me from working as hard as I want to….so, what to do? Endure the day I guess and keep moving forward…the rain needs to stop in the next 10 minutes or I won’t be able to get out on the bike before the F1 race at 9…and I don’t want to get wet today…or cook, or clean, or even think….more later…