Well…man, I feel crappy this morning and I know it’s from staying up a little late and getting up a little early…4:34 and I barely got back to sleep so today is going to be a trial…and I woke up feeling pretty depressed for some reason and that is not going to help….and that is after feeling almost happy for 10 minutes or so yesterday….oh, well…at least I’m not in too much pain today so that’s something…and the car ran great for 80 miles yesterday…I am starting to like the tires I put on it earlier in the year…no vibration and they ride pretty good compared to the ones that were on it…I am a little curious how they are going to work in the snow since I am leaving them on the car this winter…the snow tires are just too worn out to use again…unless these are just terrible in the snow…didn’t get anything done yesterday and only have a grocery run to do today…want to get the things I need today so I don’t have to be anywhere near the stores before t-day…ran out of bay leaves and I need them for the brine and for turkey soup that I’m going to make later….not much to do today…I am going to get a ride in later and do some cleaning but that is about it….more later….

Well…running a little late today with looking at houses that came in my e-mail yesterday…slept okay last night but woke up coughing again this morning and that is just damn annoying…but, it’s better now and I am going to get out on the bike here in a few minutes….after feeling cold all day yesterday, I feel warm this morning like I have a bug but I think it’s the same thing I had for the past week just doing it’s yo yo thing like colds do so I’m not really concerned….didn’t get anything done yesterday and I think I’m taking today off, too….might just watch some soccer and football and just veg it out…I am getting closer to finding a house to buy…found one I’d buy in a minute if it wasn’t 40 miles away in Muir….and that is 8 miles to the east of Ionia but it is cheap at 80K and has two garages on the quarter acre lot and a walkout basement…and it’s 1100 sf but the interior would need a full rebuild since it has some really ugly paneling that I just couldn’t live with…but my payments would be 264 bucks a month and even with taxes and utilities total cost would only be about 600 a month and I could easily swing that…driving in to shoot pool would be a pain, though, so I’ll have to consider that…and the lawn is big enough that I’d have to buy a tractor to cut it….I’m going to think about it and talk to my brother tomorrow about putting an offer in….probably should just pull the trigger but I have 4 months to find something closer….not much to do today…I probably should run out to look at that house just to see how bad the drive is out M21 and to get a look at the neighborhood but I think I don’t feel like it today….we’ll see…more later….

Well…just haven’t been able to come up with a topic in politics that has stoked my outrage so I think I’ll just do this one instead…had an okay day today with getting out on the bike early but damn, I got cold on the bike and never warmed up from it…and that was not good since I went out to K’s to hang out with her and her family and we sat out in the driveway to maintain social distancing…I did have a heater so it wasn’t too bad and the sun was shining and it was cool to hang out and finally talk to someone….and I saw my first C-8 Corvette getting on the e-way at the S-curve and I think it looks a lot better in person than it does in pictures…so, it was an okay day today but of course, I didn’t get anything done after I got back here but make dinner…so we’ll let the cleaning go until tomorrow….after all, it’s a cocktail night and I don’t want to think about working right now…

Well…got all the way through til 6 this morning but I don’t feel like I slept well…just worn out and want to go back to bed…but, that’s not how it works so I’ll get to this and lots of coffee….got a nice ride in yesterday in the wind and warm and that put me out in shorts but I’m pretty sure that will be the last one of those for the year since it is only supposed to get a little over 40 for the next few weeks…at least I’ve gotten the blower on the furnace serviced and it is as quiet as it has ever been…I do need to get a couple of filters this week since the ones in there have been there since last year and they are pretty plugged up….I think I did too good of a job sealing up the air leaks in the back door since it is almost impossible to close it now without pushing the storm door open and that is a little funny…I finally have the breeze blowing through here stopped from the leaks in both doors and I hope that will keep the gas bill under 100 bucks a month…I mean I already only keep it 66 in here and I’m not going to drop it any further….didn’t get much done yesterday and I probably won’t do much today other than take the turkey out of the freezer and get the bike ride in later…and do some cleaning but right now I don’t feel like it so I’m going to sit here and drink coffee and watch MotoGP qualifying until soccer comes on….more later…

Well….running a little late today…again..with getting up at 5:14 and then getting back to bed until almost 7….and I don’t feel too bad this morning other than I’m pretty sore again and it’s nice to know why that would be…and I’m going to hurt my legs again this morning with the wind out of the West again at 10-20mph but I am going to try to take it a little easy going out to try to make the damage less…and I’m getting out in shorts for the last time this year with the temp around 55 right now but falling as the day goes on so I need to get out as soon as I can…but I need coffee first and have just started the first cup…I did get a few things done yesterday and I am going to try to do a little more today but most of that will be cleaning but I know I have to repair the paint on the back door again since the damn stripping stuck and peeled some paint off again…I have it figured out what to do now but I wonder why the lube worked like a champ on the front door and didn’t on the back? Not much to do today…need to remember to take the turkey out of the freezer tomorrow morning and figure out what to do with the chicken I have in the fridge…I do like the burger patties I got from DD the other day…there are 8 of them for 1.5 pounds and are the perfect size to make sliders at 3oz each….and at 1.39 a pound it’s a pretty good deal…other than I shouldn’t be eating red meat…maybe I’ll do vegetarian for a while after t-day….more later…

Well…got everything done too darn early today and I find myself with an hour to kill before I can relax for the night and watch some tv…so, I thought I’d come back here and just noodle a little to fill the time…it was an okay day today and I got out on the bike quite early…left here a little past 8am to try to beat the wind and gusting that was supposed to happen later in the day but it was still blowing 15 mph when I left…and with it coming out of the southwest it was into the wind all the way to the west end of the park and that was somewhat of a struggle….but, I got the 15 in and wasn’t too sore when I got back here so I jumped right into working on the back door…I had to scrape and paint the part that contacts the weatherstripping I put up since the rubber of the stripping stuck to the paint and peeled it off…that has been annoying me all summer and I even put up new stripping, too, since the old stuff had been pulled up and crooked and I put my chain lube on it so it won’t stick…and since it is clear, it doesn’t leave any marks on the door…one thing I forgot is that new stripping is thicker than the stuff that has been on there a year so it takes a real slam to get the door to close…but that will keep it sealed up so I can live with that…I also took advantage of the good weather to clean my bike chain with simple green and a stainless steel brush and then re-lubed it when it dried so that is taken care of…paid all of my bills, too, even though some of them weren’t due for a couple of weeks but I didn’t want to think of them anymore….can you tell I was bored? I still am…but at least I got a few things done…

Well…that was a little iffy…I did sleep until 5:30 but couldn’t get back to sleep after that…one good thing is I finally didn’t wheeze at all and the coughing is down to almost nothing…and I don’t feel like I can’t catch my breath anymore…and I wasn’t exhausted yesterday…okay, just a little in the afternoon but it’s better than it has been…I think I’ve figured out why my legs and everything else has been hurting lately and I can trace it back to riding…in the past week or so, every time I went out the wind was blowing 15+ mostly from the SW and that means I have about 6 miles to do into that wind every day before I make the turn to go north…and that puts a lot of strain on me trying to maintain close to 15 mph into that wind….and today looks like it’s going to be another bad one with another wind advisory of 25+ wind and gusts to almost 50 starting around 10am….so I’ll need to get out before then…it is already 46 outside so I can go as soon as it gets light…I do have some painting on the back door to do today and I need to replace the weatherstripping that has stuck to the door and removed some paint….and then I need to lube the stripping with my chain lube that has parifin and teflon in it so it won’t stick again just like I did for the front door….and it is going to be warm enough to leave the back door open while it dries….but, right now I need more coffee and to read some news….more later….

Well….while I was waiting to relapse this morning, I decided to get out and get all of the groceries I’ll need for the next two weeks and I got everything done…hit DD for 80/20 burger patties for 1.39 a pound then over to Aldi’s for staples that I get there cheap…and then to Meijers to get the rest of the stuff I need to make my traditional t-day dinner…and I got a 16 pound turkey for 6 bucks…and 16 pounds was the smallest one they had…I had never seen the size of the turkeys they had there…who the heck has a roasting pan big enough for a 26 pound turkey? Putting this 16 pounder in mine is going to be a stretch…I think it may be one of the biggest ones I have ever cooked but I love turkey so that’s okay…need to try to find room to put it in the freezer downstairs until I start to thaw it Sat and that is going to be a good trick…I do still feel okay other than a little warm right now but I am getting out on the bike after lunch for at least 15 miles….and that will put me over 5,500 miles for the year…I am still a little sore but I can live with it….

Well…okay, maybe I don’t feel better…woke up warm this morning and still feel that way right now…I did have one weird thing happen in dreams last night…one of the times I woke up, I knocked my reading glasses off the pillow and down by the headboard of my bed….and the same thing happened later in my dream…that’s the first time I can remember that happening and it was really strange…I did sleep okay but was up at 6:03 when I sensed that I wasn’t going to get back to sleep…but that is better than 3:43 so I guess I can live with it…I felt better yesterday and got a few things done but I wonder it this is going to be a relapse day like I’ve had before? Getting over bugs is never the linear path that it should be…if this is a bug…I’m not convinced of that yet….at least I wasn’t exhausted yesterday and I need to not be today with the grocery runs to do this morning…going to get enough food that I don’t need to go out for a couple of weeks with the virus getting worse…have been lucky so far but don’t want to press it especially since there are vaccines on the way and I wouldn’t want all the work and isolation to go for nothing…not much to do today…will get a ride in later this morning after the grocery run and I should clean some but we’ll see how much energy I have after doing what I need to do….more later….

Well…I think I may be feeling better…I’m still sore almost everywhere but I really do think it’s from riding in the cold…and I just remembered that I hauled a lot of blocks out of the backyard and that is probably why my back hurts…but one thing that I know has improved is that I was not exhausted at all today…even got some errands run, got a nice bike ride in, fixed some weatherstripping on the front door, and did laundry…and I still feel like I have some energy even now at almost 7pm….so maybe it was a bug…but how the hell could I have gotten a bug with all the precautions and hand washing? Hmmmm….I did see an article on the long term weather forecast for this winter and it made me smile a little…with the La Nina weather pattern that is forming, it is predicted that this winter will be above average temps with some spells of much above average temps with less than normal precip…any time there is going to be less snow, it makes me happy since my snow tires are worn out and I need to use the new all weather tires on the Miata this winter….and I need to travel to look at houses until I find one…I sure hope the feeling better lasts…we’ll see tomorrow…