Well…that was a little better…didn’t get up til 6:24 this morning but I didn’t do anything different so I’m not sure if that’s repeatable…I did put earplugs in for the first time in a while last night so I wonder if that’s it? Think I’ll try that again tonight just to see….still coughing this morning and I had really hoped that I was healing up since it had been better yesterday afternoon….just can’t wait til I can take a full breath and not feel like I’m suffocating…I think it didn’t help working on the linen closet doors downstairs yesterday and making lots of dust sanding them….I did have a mask on but that doesn’t seem to help much….didn’t get on the bike for a second day yesterday with all the rain and the temp not getting over 37 but I am getting out today but I’m not sure when that will be since it is only 33 out there right now and I do have to do the grocery run this morning….one good thing about not riding is that my legs don’t hurt at all today but being off for two days is going to set me back on fitness and I’ll have to take it a little easy…have thought about making it a two ride day but Man U plays this aft and the nascar race my finally be run at 3 so I think it won’t fit in my schedule…not much to do today…I need to get the filler sanded on the doors I worked on yesterday so I can paint them later in the week but that should only take a few minutes since I got the hardware off of them yesterday….then just the normal stuff….more later….

Well…damn, I’m tired…another night of coughing and waking up at 2:34 to take something for it….this needs to end sometime, doesn’t it? Oh, well…and it’s raining out there again so I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to get on the bike today…tried twice yesterday but both times I suited up it started to rain by the time I got out a quarter mile and, as I’ve said before, I can take it cold and I can take it raining but not cold and raining….so, it looks like an afternoon run today…and that fits in with having the nascar race rained out again yesterday and scheduled for 10 this morning…I did get some work done around here…finally, with getting the doors off the linen closet so I can paint the last part of the interior that isn’t painted….need to remove the hardware and prep them today and I have a door frame in the room I’m using that needs prep for paint, too, so I may not get to painting until the weekend…I did have to go out to HF to get some more painters tape and then to dunham’s to buy a pair of waterproof slip on shoes they had on sale for 15 bucks…my outdoor shoes had cracks in the sole so working outside in all of the wet had gotten uncomfortable….they fit pretty good once I remembered that with these cheap brands you need to buy a size larger than normal and they are pretty comfortable…going to try them out today when I mow the lawn this afternoon….at least they won’t fall off my feet as I walk…not much to do today…I do want to get on removing one of the gardens today and cleaning that up and I need to pull up the snapdragons I used to fill some empty spots both in front and by the garage door,too, but right now I need more coffee…just can’t get started but I’ve only had an eighth of a cup of coffee and that is not enough to even feel it….more later…

Well….that was a little bit better…was able to get back to sleep after waking up at 4:15 and didn’t get up til 6:30…and the coughing is not as bad this morning but it’s still here and still annoying…and tomorrow makes it 2 weeks and I am tired of it…other than that, I just feel worn out today and I think that is the effect of not sleeping more than 5 hours for months now…man, I hate bitching about this stuff so I think I’ll stop now…I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and I hope to get out for another one today but that will have to wait til this afternoon since it is cold and raining out there…I do need to start taking the gardens out today…or maybe not since I have a couple of weeks to do it and it shouldn’t take more than an hour for both of them…and I’m not putting the plants out in the trash for a couple of weeks…I do need to run an errand this morning to get some margarine since the stuff I have has turned rancid again and I need it for the mashed potatoes I made yesterday..this is the second container I’ve had go bad in the past month and I wonder how old the stuff is that I have been buying…I guess I’ll have to look at the sell by dates more closely…cripes I wonder if my taste buds are going weird on me again like they did a couple of years ago? Back then, my toothpaste tasted like ashes but I haven’t noticed that…yet…not much to do today….think I’m probably going to veg it out a while before I run the errand and the race from Texas was moved to this morning with the rain they had yesterday so that will give me something to do at 10 and through lunch…more later….

Well…I am getting damn tired of this crap…back up before 5 with coughing like crazy again and didn’t sleep much at all…so, there will be a nap later on…can’t go on with 4-5 hours of sleep a day…and I had to take something for the coughing this morning…it’s been two weeks since this started and I still hurt like crazy from coughing…this is just so damn tiring….had an okay day yesterday but didn’t do much with all of the sports that were on but I am going to get some cleaning done today in between the stuff that is on today…and I do have to cook again today and I am looking forward to having some chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy…I did put jeans on to go out for the paper today and it was kind of funny with how much weight I’ve lost riding so much this summer…they were falling off and I should have put a belt on….normally when I go into jeans, they are pretty tight but not this year…I should be sore after getting back on the bike yesterday but I’m not and that is a little strange….the only thing that hurts this morning are my abs from all of the coughing….okay, my thighs are a little sore but not much…I am going to try to get back on the bike this afternoon but it is supposed to rain some…nothing on the radar yet so maybe it will hold off a while…more later

Well…have been trying to find a topic in politics to write about today with no luck so I think I’ll talk about this….I got a bike ride in today for the first time in three days and it felt good to get out and get some fresh air…but it was only 42 degrees when I went at 11:30 and that is borderline for going out in just my riding gloves…but the sun was shining and it was clear when I left but that turned into a cloudy day and I was freezing by the time I got back here and haven’t been able to get warm since….I think I’ll have to start thinking about my winter hat and full gloves if I go out tomorrow….my lungs were okay for the entire ride but I’m back to coughing and wheezing again but I think I’m better than yesterday….we’ll see how the rest of the day goes…I did make chili this morning and it came out pretty good once I remembered that using my tomatoes meant that I would have to add more brown sugar than I normally do to tamp the bitterness down…and I put a little frank’s in, too, and that brought it to life…I even got the chicken in the brine but had to use my big roaster since the chicken was too big to fit in a gallon bag…it’s almost 7 pounds and that’s a pretty damn big chicken….so that will keep me fed for a week and at 79cents a pound, it’s a pretty good deal….maybe more later….

Well…damn, I’m so tired of feeling crappy and coughing all the time…and my abs hurt so much from it that it hurts just to move at all…and let’s top that up with a headache I’ve had for a week now and it adds up to feeling miserable…I wonder if part of it is not being on the bike for two days with all the rain we’ve had? I am getting out today but it will wait til the afternoon since it is cold out there right now and I don’t want to do full thermasuit just yet…..what a waste of a day yesterday…didn’t do a damn thing but put the trash out and roll the empty bins back behind the house…they finally picked up my recycling after a couple of weeks of trying so I can get back to it again instead of putting it in the trash…I had things to do but just couldn’t get motivated with all the coughing and feeling sore…and today will probably look much the same with all the soccer and racing that is on this morning and Man U plays at 12:30 so that will put me out on the bike at 2:30 unless they are losing…I do have to get the chicken in brine to cook tomorrow and make chili today so that will be fun to do….but right now I’m watching MotoGP qualifying and then F1 qualifying and having my coffee…and there will be news in there,too….more later…

Well….you know I talked about the pasta sauce in this morning’s post and I was not too sure about it…with the bitterness that comes from using fresh tomatoes that I had to try to smooth out by adding a little sugar…okay, what a difference a day in the fridge makes…just made some pasta for lunch and it doesn’t even taste like the same sauce…I guess sitting in the fridge overnight gave it a chance for the flavors to smooth out and meld together and all I wanted to do was make another batch of pasta to have more…I didn’t, of course, since it is the second day of not riding with all the rain and can’t afford the calories….I was disappointed in the sauce yesterday but I am so pleasantly surprised today that I may just freeze some of it for another time…yummy…

Well….damn, my whole chest hurts from coughing again yesterday and last night and it is all from working in my own personal Chernobyl downstairs for only a half hour yesterday…and now I’ll be suffering all day today and probably for another week until my body recovers….but, I’m almost done down there so my exposure will be pretty limited until I’m done…slept okay last night and don’t feel really crappy today… a little crappy, but I can live with that….didn’t get out on the bike yesterday with all the rain but I am going to try to get out as soon as it gets light since it is 66 out there right now and I can get out for the last time in a shorts and a t-shirt if I can beat the rain and storms that are coming in…it’s going to be a race but I won’t feel bad if I don’t get out…there is a long line of storms and rain that are just to the northwest and the weather channel says it may storm around 10….then the temp is going to plunge later in the day and I’ll be back to full thermasuit tomorrow…I did make pasta sauce with my veggies yesterday and it came out good but forgot to put sugar in it to compensate for the bitterness of the tomatoes…but I fixed that after lunch and that made it much better…and I’m going to cook over the weekend…have a whole chicken to get in the brine tomorrow and I need to make chili with some burger that I have thawing downstairs and I’ll use up the rest of my tomatoes…dicing them to replace the canned ones I normally put in….not much to do today…just want to get a ride in before I start thinking about the rest of the day….more later….

Well…yeah, no political ones as yet but I’ve had a lot to do and have most of it done so that feels good…just sitting here now waiting for the pressure to release from the instant pot so I can get to the rest of the process of making the sauce…I did find my blender and got that cleaned and ready to smooth out the sauce and then it needs to go into my two biggest pots to thicken on low….oh, I just remembered I have a big pot that I can use or I can just put it back in the instant pot to thicken it….I did get to shutting down half of the downstairs project this morning and took the equipment down…it will only be about 56 days until I can shut the rest of it down for good and start cleaning up after it and I am looking forward to that…I think I torched my lungs again this morning working downstairs since I am coughing again right now….damn…I will get to a political one this afternoon once I find a topic but I need to get on finishing the sauce right now….more later….

Well…made it all the way to coffee start this morning! But, I still feel pretty darn crappy and the cough is just as bad as it was yesterday and that makes it over a week that I have been suffering with it…it may be a little better since I was able to stop taking the medicine for it and still slept some…and I got out for a bike ride that was okay and didn’t have any shortness of breath so I guess that’s progress, too…damn, I just want this to be over and to feel well again…I do have some work to do downstairs today so it will probably get worse later….crap…but the work needs to be done so I’ll have to suck it up and live with it…and I am going to try to make some pasta sauce in the instant pot to use up the ripe tomatoes I have sitting on the kitchen table…I did get out to strip the gardens of what peppers and tomatoes that were left and I am hoping that some of them will turn red…I already froze the jalapenos and I have enough of those that I don’t think I’ll plant them for next year’s garden and I have some half sized green peppers that will go into the sauce today…have to drag the blender out to puree it after it cooks…this is going to be the first time I’ve made sauce since I was in my first house and we had spaghetti parties and I am just winging it without any recipe but how hard can it be? I’m going to make chili tomorrow or Saturday and use the rest of the tomatoes for the diced ones I need for it…not much to do today….just cooking and the downstairs work…and probably no ride since it’s supposed to rain all day….more later…