Well….running a little late this morning but that is normal for a Sunday….slept okay even in the heat but my thumb hurts like crazy for some reason today…have to not use the space bar so much…not sure how that is going to work but it hurts enough that I’m going to try it…maybe hit it with my left thumb? Cripes, it 7 am and it is still sticky and I’m already sweating so I’m going to be soaked on the bike in a few minutes…I did get some news from my middle son yesterday that he and his wife are having a girl so that will be one of each in the next year…I’m pretty excited about that and it will be good to get things back to a semblance of normal….didn’t get a lot done yesterday and today looks the same as I wait for the weather to cooperate and get a little cooler…but, I can’t wait too long…need to get up on the roof and get started on the dormer this week and get the front door done, too….my foot is not going to cooperate but I guess I’ll just have to live with it….still haven’t seen a hummingbird at my feeder so I moved it to the back yard to see if less noise will help…I’ve never been able to get them to come to a feeder any placed I’ve lived so it’s not too much of  a disappointment….not much to do today…just the two bike rides and lots of soccer and races but that will be it…I do need to make a pizza for lunch to use up the veggies before they spoil then back to leftovers for dinner…I think I need to up the calories a bit since I have been under 1500 cals for weeks now and I don’t think that is enough….we’ll see….more later….

Well….not going to do that again…had cocktails last night and my foot hurts this morning…so, I guess I’ll just put the stuff away for the near future and go a couple of weeks until the next time…and I slept pretty crappy too, but I think that’s from the heat more than anything else….will probably move my fan into the bedroom tonight just to have a little breeze…needless to say, I tossed and turned all night and now my ribs hurt again but in the back and not the front where I injured them a few weeks back…cripes….I was going to work on the front door today but I had a thought that the yellow I was going to paint it might not be the color I want and may paint it the same dark brown as the trim so it will match the porch ceiling…might be a little classy looking so I need to think about that for a couple of days…I wonder if I could use the new sprayer to do it? Too much to think about right now….not much to do today…BPL soccer is back but I still need to get two rides in today so I’ll need to get out for the first one by 7 so that gives me 20 minutes to have my coffee…will have to watch soccer in between the rides today but I’m not too motivated right now…I wonder when it’s going to rain so I can take a day off the bike? More later…

Well…you know I’ve been disappointed that I have had flower drop syndrome on my tomato plants and I have lost probably 20 blossoms or so over the 4 oldest plants…that are all of the same strain called celebration and I was getting to the point that I didn’t expect to get any tomatoes at all off them…but just today, finally, I have three small tomatoes on blossoms that didn’t turn yellow and fall off…so I’ll get at least three tomatoes for all the work on the garden so far…yeah, that’s a little bit defeatist but starting them early downstairs and all the work that entailed hasn’t done what I expected it to do…and that is give me ripe tomatoes by the end of July….oh,well…but, I do have tiny little jalpenos on a few of the plants and my beans flowered today so that is cool…and I have one green pepper plant that is flowering but those have turned out to be the hardest plants to get to make fruit…I do have a green pepper that I am using to make pizza that I am going to take the seeds and plant them this weekend in the only remaining place in the garden…oh, my cukes are also starting to flower so it looks like I may have some veggies by the end of next month….and I have the other strain called better boy that are also full sized tomatoes that have finally taken off and have started to flower…they don’t look like the blossom stems are yellowing so I may get quite a few off those plants…and I got frustrated with getting my cherry tomatoes to grow after I transplanted them outside so I dumped a bunch of seeds in a hole and now I have another 10 plants that have come up but I’m not sure if any of them will grow big enough to give me fruit…but, I should get a few with almost 15 plants out there…I may be driving people nuts in August with way too many veggies but that is a good thing…my neighbors will probably get sick of me giving them away…all this is a trial run for when I buy my own house and put in a garden there…I did forget to plant herbs so that will be part of the plan for the next garden…and sunflowers, lots of sunflowers…the 19 I have in the back yard just don’t seem to be enough…and some of them are over 3 feet tall now and it is cool to watch them follow the sun…so, it looks like I am going to have some fresh veggies this year and that makes me happy…

Well….another 5:20 morning today but I crashed out at 10 last night so that was okay…and I got my back to start cracking yesterday which I hope will help the swelling in my foot as it has before…..it’s looking better but the price of 5 days with no cocktails and lots of boredom is a pretty high price to pay…okay, that made me laugh…no, it’s not…it’s saved me money and I feel a lot better so it’s a win to be smart for a change….I’m still trying to figure out my fly infestation from Wed…had more than a hundred flies that I killed in here but only 2 yesterday and that is a relief…we’ll see about today….looks like I’m going to be out on the bike early today with getting up early and I kind of like that…but there are more and more people out on the trail and that is getting annoying…I see many more bikers out there and I guess there is a bike shortage along with tires and tubes since no one saw this pandemic coming and with the trails being one of the only places that you can get out of the house safely people are making them less safe…oh, well…didn’t get much done yesterday but work on the lawn and the garden but I am going to start on the front door today…found out that the 4 inch flap discs that I got for 99 cents at HF fit my 4 1/2 in grinder so that will make short work of the peeling paint….there are some chunks out of the door that need to be repaired too, but I’m not sure what to use yet…might get a small can of waterproof wood filler to use since I think the plaster I have been using indoors won’t hold up even when painted…but it is protected by the porch so maybe it will…I do need to pay bills today and try to get my address changed for my license plates which I don’t understand since I changed the address on my driver’s license and you would think that it would propagate through the system…oh, well…more later….

Well…I guess I should have expected that I would have a crappy night of sleep again at some time and last night was it…was up so many times I wonder why I even went to bed…and I am sore everywhere again from all the tossing and turning…but, I have an ankle on my right leg again and that is small progress but progress and I’ll take it…and my foot is not too sore so I’m going to stop the medication today and just go with ibuprofen and that will help the pain everywhere….the poison oak on my left arm seems to have plateaued and it still looks pretty ugly but it doesn’t itch right now so I am hoping for some healing to start soon…cripes…I guess this is what it looks like when you get old…didn’t get a lot done yesterday with trying to nurse the foot but I am going to get back at it today and start working on the front of the house…have an idea what I want to do with the overgrown shrubs out there but I just need to get on it…and I think I may need to mow today too, but I’m not going to start on that until after a bike ride…and some more coffee first….my beans started to flower yesterday so at least I’ll have beans and jalapenos out of the gardens….I had one of the sunflowers out back propped up with a stick and some braided string but the sparrows really wanted that string and shredded it for nesting I guess….I wonder if I should just cut some string and spread it across the back yard for them to use? More later….

Well…I am a little frustrated with the progress that my foot is making…it’s been 4 days without and cocktails or any salt and it is still swollen…but, the red color is going away so I guess that’s something…and I haven’t been able to do much around here since being on my feet makes my toe hurt and swells the foot even more so that just adds to the frustration….I have to get out to depot to get the paint I need to do the dormer and I need to figure out how to get the awning over the side door down so I can get the ladder up to get to the front of it and the trim around the windows…I think I’ll try the new sprayer on the side of the garage first so I can fine tune it before I go climbing up on the roof….had to take the screen door on the side of the house apart today since I noticed that the screen and the storm glass that opens and closes were bent all to hell and the spring loaded latches had stopped working…wonder why I never noticed it before? I think that may have been the way all of the damn flies were getting in…have been fighting them for the past couple of days and must have killed a hundred of them in here…and I also sealed up the air intake for the furnace and water heater since it is open without a flap to close it off and flies always find a way in…did I say I was frustrated? At least the bike rides went well today and I got the grocery runs in….only spent 30 bucks…it’s amazing how cheap it is when you don’t buy cocktail materials….

Well….running about on time this morning with another night of of okay sleep and some pretty weird dreams about college projects and I haven’t had one of those in a while….my foot is gradually getting better and the swelling is going down but I’m wondering if I should continue to treat it or keep the last three days worth of medicine in reserve…we’ll see after the bike ride in a few…..had the third no cocktail night last night and that is helping with the swelling but it looks like it will take a couple of weeks at least to get it back to normal…and not being able to use any salt at all makes the food a little boring…but I did that for years and years so I just need to activate the old habits….got through two rides yesterday with no problems but I throttled back to about 80% on both rides and I’m not sure I like that too much…going hard is my thing, after all, and I would hate to think that I can’t do that anymore…I know I’m old but damn, I need to have my hard rides…I did get out to HF yesterday to get some tools that I need and got myself a new hedge trimmer that I used immediately to start to clean up the bushes out front and it works great…don’t think I’ve ever had a new one before…especially with padded handles and I like it a bunch for only 12 bucks….and I got my electric sprayer so I need to get out to depot to get the paint to do the siding on the garage and the dormer….I am a little excited that the premier league starts back up today and I am going to veg all afternoon and watch the two matches that are on…it has been a long time coming….so I won’t be doing much other than that and the grocery run this morning…..more later….

Well…okay, that was a little strange…had a good night of sleep and dreams again with a solid 6 hours and I’ll take that any day of the week….and the miracle drug that I am taking for my foot has worked it’s magic after only one day of treatment and I am walking around here with no pain at all this morning…but, I think me being good has something to do with that since the swelling in my foot is down by half at least and I can move my toes almost normally today…I think I’ll do another day of treatment and then save the rest of the medicine for the next flare…I could barely get my shoe on to ride yesterday and it hurt the whole 30 miles…yeah, I’m still doing 30 miles but I have throttled back to about 75% and that seemed to help how I felt all day…and I’m trying to eat more since I don’t have empty calories to think about anymore but as I have said before, I find it hard to eat more after years of calorie restriction…again, I didn’t get much done yesterday but work on the garden but today I am going to get out to HF to get the hedge trimmer I need to clean up the bushes out front and the paint sprayer I need to do the garage and the siding on the dormer….I have to remember that I have all day to get this done so I don’t need to rush to get the rides in and the errands run….I need to just relax about this stuff and treat it not as tasks but as life to be enjoyed…but to go against a lifetime of running as fast as I can is another thing that is going take some work….like right now, I’m going as fast as I can to get out on the bike by 7:30 but there is no reason to have to rush…I want to enjoy my coffee and reading the news before I get out so I need to take a deep breath and just relax for a few minutes…cripes, everything takes work these days….more later….

Well….the first night of the new normal went okay and I got a little sleep so that was cool….still woke up around 5 but was in bed a little after 10 so that was better….and I don’t feel too bad so far with no cocktails for the foreseeable future…but my foot still hurts and that is to be expected with it being just the first day of treatment…I may have to call my doctor to see if they will give me another prescription since what I have left will only last through the week…we’ll see how it goes…I did only do one ride yesterday and I may have to do the same thing today to stay off my foot as much as possible and let the medicine and all the other changes I’ve made have some effect….just have been feeling lousy lately and had to make some changes in my life that I hope will do the trick….didn’t get much done yesterday and today may be another easy day but my well established sense of guilt is going to have to be suppressed for that to happen….had to go out to get some hydrocortisone to treat whatever the problem is with my arm….must have gotten into something poison and it’s not healing too well yet but at least it has stopped itching….not much to do today…going to ease into it with the temp still being too cold to get out on the bike but that’s okay…I need more coffee anyway and still don’t have a lot of energy so taking a little time to get ready is okay….more later….

Well…cripes…more problems with this wearing out body…okay, just a rash on my left arm that looks like poison ivy and I am having trouble figuring out where I got it from…I know it’s annoying as heck so I may even make a run out to Meijer’s later to pick something up to put on it since it does itch….and my damn foot is hurting again today as I try to not take anything for it but that’s not going to work…so it looks like no more cocktail nights for the near future since that is one of the big no nos with this type of inflammation…oh, well…I can use less calories and my liver can use the rest, too….had an okay day yesterday and got a couple of rides in but I think I’m only going to do one today to get a little rest…and it’s too cold to go out right now and it looks like it won’t be warm enough until 10 or so…so I have 3 hours to kill and that is going to be some work since I have already read the paper and the online news….I could clean some but I don’t have the motivation for that yet and my foot hurts to walk so I may just work on figuring out meals for the week…or take a nap since I was up all night and got up for good at 5…I did get the last of the green peppers planted yesterday and that ends putting anything new in and I’ll just live with what survives…I know I’ll get beans and jalpenos since they are already producing fruit and probably cukes too but I don’t remember what they look like when they flower…oh, and potatoes…I am a little disappointed that I am still having flower drop on some of the tomatoes and I may have to look to see if there is something I can do to treat them so I can at least get a few off the plants…but right now I am going to get another cup of coffee and take it easy for a while….more later….