Well…man, it’s going to be a busy one today with taking a road trip to Mt P to hang out with C for a while…it’s been too damn long of a house isolation without seeing anyone and with C having older parents on the farm, I know he’s been careful about his social distancing so there’s no problem…damn, my ribs still hurt like crazy this morning and I may have done more than just bruise them when I crashed…might have cracked one or more of them…but, that won’t stop me from getting on the bike this morning and getting a ride on before I take off at 9 or so…or maybe not…I really could use a day off the bike and taking a trip today may just be a good excuse for that…..not sure yet….I do know that I feel pretty crappy right now and that is my fault for having cocktails last night….but I have a couple of hours to feel better and have lots of coffee so that will work out…didn’t get much done yesterday and, of course, won’t get much done today…should be back here by 3 or so but then it will be couch time since driving 200 miles wears me out some….I did get the car washed and waxed yesterday and I do have to remember the sunscreen since I am doing the run with the top down…and I think I’ll use my ear buds for the trip too so I can hear my music….more later…

Well…okay, I know I haven’t done one of these in a while but something happened yesterday out there that I just remembered….as you know, the trail has been flooded and I have been searching for new ways to get my 15 miles per ride in…but, that’s not what this is about….when I was coming up to one of the road crossings, I looked down at a small bird that looked just like a Kiwi…round body with brown feathers and a long beak just like you see in the photos from New Zealand…but, there are no Kiwis in Michigan so it can’t be that….I stopped to turn around and get a photo but it had run off into the underbrush…okay, I know I’m getting old but I’m not seeing things…it looked like a Kiwi and I’m sticking to that…

Well…running a little late this morning and there is no reason for it other than I laid in bed listening to the rain for a while after I woke up….slept okay but did toss and turn a lot and that’s pretty normal…my foot continues to feel better after getting the prescription refilled and drinking gallons of water for the last week and the swelling is going down some too, so I’ll take that progress…my ribs still hurt but that is the only pain I have this morning and that is welcome after creaking around here for the last week…I know I’m getting old but I really don’t think it should be that bad…I did get some work done around here yesterday and I needed to do some work on the downstairs project that I had been ignoring for a while…I do have a bunch more sunflowers that have come up and need to be planted but that will wait till next week after they get bigger…and I have tomatoes that need to be planted too but I think I’ll wait til next week on all of them…thinking about making a run up to Mt. P tomorrow to hang out with C for a while and try out the new tires on a long. fast run…wanted to change the oil in the car first but I think it can wait til next week too…not much to do today…with it raining I’ll have to wait to get out on the bike and that is not a bad thing…..I could use a light day but I probably won’t take it…it still seems that I am too busy but I guess that’s a good thing and keeps me from boredom….more later….

Well…damn, that was a lot of rain we got yesterday afternoon…in about an hour, it looks like we got about two inches and my entire back yard was under water along with the small areas in front where I planted flowers…it appears that there wasn’t any damage to my crops but I haven’t been out to take a close look yet….I did sleep okay last night and feel pretty good this morning with continuing progress at getting my foot swelling to go down and most of the pain is gone, too…I can even move it better but I am going to take the prescription that I got refilled yesterday just to make sure the redness and pain stays away….I didn’t get much done yesterday but plan for getting the front door prepped for painting and I may do that later today if the forecast storms do come in….I sure hope all the rain yesterday didn’t flood the trails again since it is really nice to not have to ride in the streets to get my miles in…but it does look like it will be a one ride day and that may be a good thing….I have started to heal from all of the pain I have been in…even my ribs and I sure don’t want to aggravate that…I still do need to finish up the trim on the front of the house but I won’t be doing that until next week with all of the rain in the forecast…and there is some cooler and less humid weather coming that will provide a little relief…I like it hot but feeling sticky and having a fan on all the time is a little annoying….not much to do today…I do have to run an errand after the bike ride today and I need to marinate some chicken for dinner later but that is about it…it may be nice to have an easy day that I can take at my own pace for a change…have been way too busy lately….more later….

Well…yeah, this one is not political, but I promise I’ll get to one later this afternoon…but, I did find something out today…that it is not really smart to leave the top down on your car for a week when you have a vinyl top…. over the past week or so I have just left the top down on the Miata since I have a garage to park it in….but, after getting out for groceries and seeing that it was going to rain, I tried to put it up in the Meijer’s parking lot and it took me almost 10 minutes to stretch it enough to get it to latch and I had to just slam it down on the pins for that to happen….even with it almost 75 degrees when I got to the lot, it still wouldn’t latch…so now I think I’ll put it up every time I park it even in the garage…the things you learn even after having a car for 8 years…

Well…damn…another 2:44 morning this morning but I feel okay and I think that’s a little weird…I was able to get back to sleep with lots of tossing and turning until almost 6 so I’ll take that as a win…the ribs that I hurt over the weekend are screaming at me today and it is a little hard to breathe without pain…but hey, that just goes with my thumb so I have a matching pair of pains…at least the swelling in my foot has gone down to about half of what it was and it almost looks normal today….but cripes, 3 gallons of water a day? I guess I’ll have to keep that up for a while since the redness in my toe is almost gone, too so it must be doing something….getting out in the heat and humidity yesterday took a lot out of me since I’m not acclimated to it yet….and I am getting out here before 7 so I can do the grocery run at 9 and have my first ride of the day in….and yes, I am ignoring my schedule of 3 double ride days and then a single to give my body a rest but I may be able to do that tomorrow since there are supposed to be storms all day….I do need to get started on removing the paint from the front door to get ready to paint it but I’m not sure I want to do it until it gets a little cooler….man, it was 94 yesterday afternoon but I ran my fan and it was tolerable after I got everything done….don’t have a lot do today but the grocery run and I may take it easy and try to heal up some…and I do want to watch SpaceX launch the first astronauts from American soil this afternoon…it’s been almost 10 years since that has happened and I don’t want to miss that…more later…

Well…okay, I think I’m broken….I really tried to do nothing today but I failed completely…and it should be easy when you can’t go anywhere or do anything…got out on the bike for the first time at about 7:30 and got a good ride in….went hard the whole way with no distress at all and it felt good…then when I got back here I had to make a run to Menards to get some more topsoil, potting soil, and grass seed so I could get at restoring the lawn…it’s a good 20 foot lawn but up close you can see all the bare spots….so after lunch and the second hard ride where I didn’t have any problems again and it was even 90 degrees when I went out, I got back here and then started on the front lawn…spreading two bags of topsoil and then seeding the soil…man, I was soaked after that but I still needed to work on the garden and plant 4 more of the celebration tomato plants that had grown up big enough for transplant…and then put cages on the ones that had gotten big enough…I still have a dozen tomato plants and 4 more green pepper plants to put out along with 9 more sunflowers that I am waiting to have sprout….so, as you can see…another damn busy day….oh, and I mowed the lawn while I was waiting for the chicken thighs to cook for lunch….cripes…

Well…running a little late today with not getting out of bed until after 6 and needing to get started on drinking water again today to help with getting the swelling down in my foot…must have had 3 gallons yesterday and will try to do the same today…you know, I used to be one of those people who lit off fireworks but not like the idiots around here who kept it up every damn night for the past 5 days and forced me to use earplugs again last night since I wanted to keep the windows open….grrrrr….I did wake up in an almost overall pain this morning but none of it is sharp, just a dull pain everywhere that I have already taken something for since I need to get a ride in and then head out to Menards to get some more soil and grass seed so I can seed before the rain that is coming Thursday. I did get some work done on the downstairs project yesterday and that may be part of why I hurt this morning…not sure what I’m going to do today after working on the lawn…I do have a few more tomato plants to get in today that will ensure I have tomatoes through the whole summer and I even put in some more sunflower seeds since some damn animal keeps killing mine….there was good news on the bike ride yesterday when the water has receded enough to be able to avoid riding on the road and I am going to explore a little today to see if I can get to the eagle’s nest and see if the baby eagle has fledged yet…but man, the trail that was flooded smells really bad and takes me back to early days living around the river in Ada…same smell and it brought back some good memories…more later…

Well…yep, I’m sore this morning and I’m not sure how the ride is going to go today…maybe I should take the day off? One of these days I’m going to and that will surprise the hell out of me…I did sleep okay last night but feel pretty crappy this morning and already out of energy so the ride is going to wait until I have lots of coffee…may have to take some ibuprofen too….didn’t get much done yesterday but ride and cook but I am going to clean some today…I was really hoping for thunderstorms to watch today but that forecast has changed and now it looks like I may have to wait until tomorrow for the excuse to only ride once….it looks like I may have tomatoes in July from a couple of plants in the garden since they have flowers on them…but I do have many more sprouted downstairs that I am going to plant in the next week or so along with some more green pepper plants if the seeds sprout….I am going to get out to get some more potting soil and grass seed tomorrow so I can get started on reseeding the back yard…the front is starting to grow in some and look okay but after killing the weeds in the back there isn’t much yard left….not much to do today…I am going to take a while to just ease into the day before I get on the bike and I am going to clean the floors today and maybe even start on cleaning the copper on the front of the house…but not now, more coffee….

Well….cripes, I finally figured out why I was having shortness of breath on the bike on the second ride today…and it’s nothing but what I’m doing to myself and have done before so I just need to let my lungs heal up over a week or so…and I was feeling pretty good about knowing what’s going on until damn, more damage that I did to myself again…I have been losing my sprouted sunflowers to some kind of animal and when I saw a squirrel rooting around near them, I put my old shoes on and took off after it…well…the damn glue that I used to hold them together let go and the front of the sole came loose and I tripped and went down hard on my right side….now, I’ve had broken ribs before and this is not nearly that painful so I guess I’m only bruised…but it still hurts like crazy and I know I’m going to be black and blue in the morning and it will probably hurt more…so this is a really good compliment for my right foot still having swelling and pain…cripes, I’m getting old…probably shouldn’t chase squirrels at my age, huh?