Well….the coughing continues this morning and now I know I have a bug of some sort…haven’t had a cold in a long time but this sure feels like one…and when I think of how I’ve been feeling worn out lately and unmotivated, it fits that part of it is this infection…but, I do feel better than I did yesterday…I think…and my stomach is not as queasy as it was so I guess I’ll take it…as you can see I didn’t get to a political one yesterday but I will promise to do one today with the revelation that the whole Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election bullshit is a Russian operation…will expand on that later today…didn’t get much done yesterday but the bike ride and with soccer coming back after a break, it looks like I won’t get much done today…well…I may sand the filler in the vestibule and tape off the front door to get it ready to paint but probably not much more than that…I did sleep some last night and had some dreams that were a little weird but that was cool just to have some….and I didn’t get up til almost 6 so that may be why I don’t feel too bad even with the bug…who knows? More later….

Well…is anybody else bored at 8:30 in the morning? Today, I am so I thought I’d come here and talk about something I noticed when I got the stereo running again. With living in an apartment for so long and not wanting to disturb the other tenants, I didn’t really use my stereo much but used my mp3 player with the earbuds in…and quite a bit of the music I have I have never heard on the stereo before….so it was kind of funny that it sounds so different when I connect the mp3 player to it and play it loud…really loud…and adding the extra set of speakers that I found in the basement really fills out the sound…I do like how it sounds and it is like listening to the music for the first time in some instances….and did I mention loud? It is pretty cool to not have that to think about that anymore…I should probably play something right now and try to find a book to read since I don’t feel like working on the house….more later…

Well….I think I have a bug…crap….and I wonder how that could be since I am never around people…my lungs hurt and I am coughing like crazy…oh, well….but my thumb hurts less today so I guess that’s something…but, I do feel old today and just want to do nothing but that just makes things worse…okay, that’s enough bitching….I did get some patch work done on the vestibule yesterday and can get it painted if I can get off my butt and I almost have the last room cleared up so I can start on that next week…or over the weekend if I can get motivated….kind of wasted the day yesterday and didn’t even get out on the bike with the rain and wind…and the wind is still blowing this morning and it’s cold out there so the ride will wait til later…don’t really have a lot to do today…got most of the outdoor stuff done and I’m just waiting for the last of the leaves to fall so I can rake the back yard and get the leaves on the compost pile behind the garage…need to mix in some dirt to get the breakdown started but that will wait a few days until it’s a little warmer….more later….

Well…have been up for a while and still feel exhausted but I think that may be my fault…and not sleeping well has something to do with it…oh, and getting a late start on the coffee doesn’t help, either…so, I’m going to ease into it this morning…there really is no reason to rush anything today with the rain moving that will keep me off the bike today…so that leaves only inside work to do so I think I’ll continue to prep to get ready to paint the rest of the interior…I did get some grass seed laid down and fed the lawn for the last time this year and had to repair the gate stop since the exterior adhesive I used turned to powder so I will have to fix that in the spring…just used a tube of caulk for a temp fix and I think that should work…it is kind of fun to have a place to just fool around outside and in the garage….not much to do today…I may have to make a run back out to the south end to pick up some venison today if I hear from B…oh, I did get the t-day grocery shopping done and got a 14 pound turkey from Meijers for only about 4 bucks so that was cool…..and I am looking forward to making my first big meal here….more later…

Well…I almost forgot to talk about something I saw on the trail yesterday…after doing the river part of the trail and getting ready to make the turn into the swamp, I saw what I first thought was a deer crossing the trail about 30 yards in front of me…but it was not the color of the normal white tail deer that I see every day…it was almost a dark brown and had a set of antlers that looked like an elks…but it was only a little bigger than a deer so then I started to wonder what that would be….and the only thing I thought of was a reindeer but there are no reindeer here in West Michigan…at least they are not indigenous to this area…but, I did remember that there were some reindeer that escaped from a game farm in the area a few years back and I wonder if they are still at large? Pretty weird…

Well….another night of semi good sleep and I don’t feel too bad this morning other than I’m a little tired still…but not tired enough to make coffee with the extra caffeine…used new muscles again yesterday with raking the leaves in the front yard and the soreness is not too bad…I actually enjoyed getting out and doing some yard work and I still have the back yard to do but the leaves are not all down and I only want to do it once…I decided to stop favoring my right thumb yesterday and it may be better from using it…at least it hurts less right now and I’ll take that…even used it on the bike to work the brakes on the back wheel and that hurt like crazy but I think that’s just breaking the scarring in it…we’ll see today…I may have to change out the rear shifter since it just doesn’t shift right anymore and that is a little disappointing after only 8,000 miles…but, not getting the gear you need when you need it is annoying as hell…I did get out to run some errands yesterday and need to do the grocery run this morning…I’m glad I decided to put gas in the car the day before yesterday at 2.13 a gallon before the price shot up 40 cents…I know that 40 cents a gallon for 6 gallons is not a lot of savings but it is something…not much to do today….need to get the stuff for t-day and Meijers has turkeys for 33 cents a pound so I need one of those…I mean a 15 pound turkey for under 5 bucks? Can’t pass that up….more later….

Well….staying in bed didn’t work this morning and that is a little disappointing…so, I’ve been up since 3:30…how about you? Feel pretty damn exhausted this morning but have a lot of work to do so maybe I’ll get a nap later in the day…yeah, I laughed at that one, too….got a few things done yesterday…ran errands in the morning and got gas for the car at 2.13 a gallon so that was cool…and got some cheap boots to do the snow in along with another set of work out pants to wear around in here to stay warm…and I talked to one of the guys from the old apartment complex who got three deer so far and it looks like I’m getting some fresh venison Thursday which is really cool….I do need to get out to get a leaf rake this morning and rake the leaves here while it is going to be semi warm and dry and I need to compost them behind the garage since the city doesn’t pick them up anymore…and I am not going to fill the Miata up with them and take them to the dump…I could burn them in the incinerator that is in the basement but that seems like too much work and I can use the compost in the garden next summer…so, I do have things to do today along with getting out on the bike again….but, right now I need more coffee and to just sit here for a while….more later….

Well…stayed in bed until 6 again today even with waking up a couple of hours earlier and I wonder if it’s worth it…I think I fell back to sleep for a little bit of that time so I guess I’ll keep trying that and see if I can feel a difference…I was a little confuse why my back, legs, and shoulder hurt like crazy the past couple of days and it completely slipped my mind that I had a flat the other day and had to walk a couple of miles back here pushing the bike and that used a bunch of different muscles than riding does…but, the pain is better today so I guess I’m healing up okay…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the bike ride and some cleaning but today I have a couple of errands to run…need some new winter boots and Dunham’s has them on sale for only about 20 bucks so I think I’ll check them out this morning…would like a set of pull on duck boots for shoveling the snow that I know is going to come in a few weeks…and I need to get some allergy meds at Target…have had splitting headaches the past week or so and don’t have anything to take for it so I need to get something…and I want to look at some lightweight workout pants so then I’ll have 4 sets of long pants for sitting around here…it appears that that the new battery switch in the car is crapping out already since the presets were still in the radio yesterday morning and the car barely started so I m going to remove it this morning and go back to just taking the positive cable off so I’ll know it’s disconnected….and then look for a better switch that I can install…more later….

Well…as you know, I have been trying to beat a 10 year old record of mine of 4237 miles in a year on the bike and today I made it! The weather cooperated and I got out to do 10 miles today and it wasn’t bad…I know I was much younger when I originally set the record, so I think this one is even more special to me…especially when I know I did it while working on the house here since July….I am really happy that I was able to do it before winter set in and I had to put the bike on the trainer and ride indoors…so, I guess the new goal is to see how much farther I can go this year and maybe set another goal for next year of 5,000 miles….not sure how long I can keep this up with getting older but I’ll keep doing it as long as I can….

Well….just got my first gas bill for here at the house and I think they made a mistake…it is only 68 bucks and I expected it to be more like 250 bucks with how much the furnace runs and how cold it’s been…but, I’m not going to allow myself to have any relief yet with the horror stories I’ve heard that they estimate the bills and then you get an 800 dollar one when they actually read the meter…I think I’ll start saving for that right now so it won’t be so bad when it happens…but, I am going to let myself have one day where I delude myself into thinking that keeping the heat at 65 and getting the door air leaks fixed is responsible for the low bill…and, if it is, I am used to the cooler temps in here so maybe the winter won’t be so bad after all….