Well….you know, for taking a day off to take it a little easy, I’ve had a pretty busy day…got the window plaster sanded and then went out for a bike ride…went to look at the trails to see if they were passable and gave it a shot through the ice and snow at the entrance and it wasn’t too bad…almost 90% of the trail was clear but the bike needs to be replaced soon…it is skipping so annoyingly now that I can barely ride it but I have to wait until after the 7th of March to order the new one to keep the balance on my card under 600 bucks after I buy the new tires for the car….but, I guess they can wait if they have to….but, it was nice to get 10 miles in with only one ride today…when I got back here, I put the first coat of paint on the window and then put the blinds in the tub and washed them…and now I am sitting here listening to vinyl and doing a couple of these while I wait for the first coat to dry enough for the 2nd to go on….I had forgotten about the first record of “Four way street” and I am listening to that now…still damn good after almost 50 years….I need a break….

Well…that was a strange night of sleep…fell asleep on the couch and didn’t get to bed til 12:30 and then up at 5:30….feel pretty crappy this morning but at least the storm forecast has been cancelled…we were supposed to get 4-7 inches of snow today and tomorrow but it looks like maybe a little dusting now…I can’t believe how sore I was last night…and I’m not sure where it came from…I did get two rides in yesterday and washed the car and bike…along with some repair work on the window in the spare room but I don’t feel that would be enough to cause the pain…but it’s better this morning so I guess I can live with it…with no storm coming, I can do the normal routine for the grocery run tomorrow…Aldi’s has chicken leg quarters on sale for 49 cents a pound but you have to buy a 10 pound bag of them…and that will fill my freezer to the top so I have to get started using the stuff in there…going to use the instant pot Thursday to cook some of the legs since they will be frozen hard as a rock and that normally takes days to thaw…and that means I won’t have to cook again until the weekend….not much to do today…I am going to ease into the day and have lots more coffee before I even think about doing anything…I am going to get the window that I started yesterday finished…maybe…and then get started on the one in the bedroom that I am using….but that needs to be finished in one day to keep the light out at night…hmmm…more later…

Well…stayed in bed til 6:01 this morning after waking up an hour earlier and that wasn’t too bad for a night…still feel a little slow this morning but I guess I earned it with not being good last night…had a pretty busy day yesterday with getting two rides in and doing some cleaning but I don’t really have much to do today…going to get a bike ride in but I may not do two if it starts to rain later…I have decided to buy a new bike in a couple of weeks since the one I’m riding now is starting to irritate the hell out of me with the chain skipping and not having a usable big front sprocket…even if I could repair the drive train, it would be almost 100 bucks for the parts I need to make the repairs and I can get a new one for 350 bucks so it doesn’t make sense to screw with it…I think I’m going to get a dark grey one this time and put the old one downstairs on the trainer for rainy days…but, I want to wait until my Capital One card is paid off the first week of March before ordering it so I can get cash back on the deal…and with the tires I need to order, I am going to have over 500 bucks going out this month so that puts me back a month on getting to 10K in my checking account…that won’t happen until April now and it hurts to have to spend any money….but, I spend so much time on the bike that I need one that works if I’m going to get to 5K on the bike this year….not much to do today…don’t really have anything to do but cooking and cleaning so I am going to ease into the day and have some coffee with the news I need to read….more later…

Well…it’s another wonderful 5:04 morning today and I wonder if I should just stop mentioning it…I mean, do all old guys talk about how much they don’t sleep? It’s an easy way to get these started without thinking so I guess I can keep doing it if it’s not too annoying…had a pretty good day yesterday with getting two rides in and having one of my sons stop over for a visit…we hung out for a couple of hours and found some old pictures of the family in the attic that he is going to digitize so he can share them with his brothers and sister and I think that is pretty cool…his wife had been asking if there were any pictures of them when they were kids and we found a bunch with grandpa and grandma in them, too, and some really old ones of their grandparents from the 50’s that were pretty cool and I think it’s neat that he is going to do it…as you can see, I didn’t come back here for another one yesterday but I will try to get to a political one later today…but, I have ManU at 9 and then bike rides and races the rest of the day so it may be a little work to fit another one in….unless ManU stinks again then I’ll get on the bike at 9 and get started earlier….but, no work on the house today…worked on the front door mechanism yesterday to try to fix the broken knob that falls out when you touch it…but no luck so I am going to have to try to find a new handle to replace it…and they are not cheap…will start looking when I get the paper this morning….more later…

Well….it was another 5:10 morning today and I’m having a hard time getting started…just poured the first cup of coffee and I hope that works fast or it’s going to be a tough morning…but it looks like it will be warm enough to get out on the bike by 10 so I may be able to get 2 rides in today to make up for having 3 days off this week…and it looks like I may be able to go with light thermasuit tomorrow if the temp gets up to 46 as forecast….I think I’ve decided to buy a new bike instead of screwing around with the worn out parts on the current one…if I’m going to get to 5K miles this year I need it to work right all summer…and I need to start getting doubles in every day after the trails thaw…I had 600 miles in last year by the time I hit the trails in April and it looks like I’ll be behind that unless the trails clear soon…didn’t get anything done yesterday but that was the plan for the day and today looks the same…one of my sons is coming for a visit to take a look at the house and all I have to do is clean up a little around here for that…and there is soccer starting in a little while that will give me something to do until I get motivated to start moving…more later…

Well…it’s been a pretty busy day today and that is strange for a day that was planned to be a total veg…but, in a good way…got out to have a pool day with Tom…which I lost… and it was good to get out for the second day in a row in the sunshine….and when I got back here, I decided to go out for a ride to take a look at the trails and see if they have melted at all…they haven’t… so I went to my fall back road route and had a nice ride if a little windy…and that was needed, too since I haven’t been on the bike since Monday….was still a little cold but I survived it and now I can feel a little less guilty eating two meals and having a couple of cocktails tonight…but now, it IS time to veg some and watch the rest of a soccer match that is on….

Well…it’s pretty weird when I am falling asleep on the couch at night and then go to bed and can’t sleep…tossed and turned all night last night and got up at 4 but I was able to get back to sleep until coffee o’clock so I don’t feel too tired right now even without coffee…and after taking the day off working around here, I don’t feel too sore either, but I think the ibuprofen had something to do about that….I did get out to have a couple with T yesterday after she surprised me with a text wanting to go out to “play” for a while and it was good to see her and laugh a lot…haven’t talked to her much lately so it was a big surprise…I got to use my new 9 by 13 baking dish yesterday to make some split chicken breasts with potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots with crushed tomatoes and marinara sauce and it is nice to have something bigger that the 8 by 8 one that I have been using for many years…and this new one is much easier to clean than the old one so it will be my go to from now on….I just remembered that I like pickled red onions and I have a red onion just sitting on my kitchen table so I am going to make some this morning…I think they would go great with the kielbasa I have in the freezer and maybe even with the chicken bacon club sandwiches I have had the past couple of days…not much to do today…I am going to take the day off working on the house since I finished the last room but I think I’ll do some cleaning to get rid of some of the dust….more later….

Well…running a little late today with not getting out of bed til 6 after getting up for the first time at 5…not a bad night of sleep and I’ll take that any day…I am coughing some today and haven’t done that lately so I am a little confused on what triggered that…but, other than that, I feel okay…the feeling that two nights of pretty good sleep will give you…had a pretty good day yesterday and got a bunch of stuff done but I am done working on the house for a couple of days…just need to make a run out to HF this morning to get a bunch of stuff that are a buck each…and I need to get some allen sockets to try to get the crank arms off the bike and see if I can replace the front sprockets…if not, I am going to start looking for a new bike to order for spring…and with the new tires for the car, that is going to be over 500 bucks I need to spend in the next couple of weeks….so I need to not spend anything for a month or so to pay for them…after HF this morning that is….went out to the dollar store when I was running errands yesterday since I needed a new collander and also bought a 100 watt led bulb for the living room lamp…yow…that was a mistake…that bulb is way too bright for what I’m used to so I guess I’ll use it somewhere else…might go good downstairs to replace one of the cfl’s that are down there…not much to do today…no bike ride with the temp so cold so it looks like I have a morning to take it easy and just screw around for a while…then out to HF to get a grinding wheel for the new grinder that is only a buck so I guess I can afford that….more later….

Well…I was going to take a day off before finishing up the last room and after hitting 5 stores doing errands this morning…but, you know that’s not me so, after lunch, I got after it and finished the room up….had to replace an outlet that was somehow broken in half…have never seen that before…and I put the light fixture back up in the closet…then I got to putting the blind up and just finished that, too…so, other than finding some trim for the baseboards, the room is done…okay, I still have one window to repair and paint but I look at those as independent projects and still have four of those to grind, sand, repair, and paint…along with scrubbing two sets of blinds and doing any repairs to them that they may need….and, with getting up at 5 this morning, I am ready to take the rest of the day off and watch some soccer that starts here in about 45 minutes…and probably take a 15 minute or so nap….it’s nice to get back to accomplishing things even though I won’t be back on the bike until Friday…but I may be able to do a double Friday and Saturday with it forecast to be in the 40’s…

Well…running early this morning with getting up around 5 but that was a solid 7 hours with getting to bed at 10 last night…but, again, that sets me up for getting everything done early again…I will have to wait to do the grocery run until 9 since I have to hit Aldi’s and DD and they don’t open til 9…I did remember to take some ibuprofen last night with all of the soreness from painting the other day and that really helps getting moving this morning…I actually feel pretty good today and that is even before the coffee has started to work…I am going to be bad the rest of the week with getting some thick cut bacon that is on sale at DD for 2.33 a pound…spent last night thinking of all the things I can make with it…chicken bacon club sandwiches, bacon cheeseburgers, BLT’s…bacon wrapped chicken breasts…you get the idea…all the food that is bad for me but I’ve been good the past couple of weeks so I guess I can splurge a little…didn’t get out on the bike yesterday with the wind blowing 20 mph and temps in the low 30’s…and I won’t be out today or tomorrow with highs in the 20’s and that is just too damn cold to go out…I did wash the car and bike yesterday but that was the extent of the work I got done…I think I may just put the shades up in the spare room but then take the rest of the day off and clean….I do need to start finding a new set of tires for the summer wheels on the Miata and want to get that done next week just in case the weather breaks and I can put them back on the car…and I need to start prepping for the outdoor work on the house and paint the front door…maybe that will be the next project I do…I have the paint but it is going to take lots of prep since the paint is peeling so badly….more later…