Well…crap….the depression came howling back yesterday and it’s still here this morning…I think it may have something to do with my foot not healing and even getting worse and the realization that I’m going to need treatment of some new kind for it since nothing I’m doing works…and I know they are going to tell me to stay off the bike for weeks and that is something I just can’t do….and the unrelenting heat and humidity is keeping me from getting any work done outside since I know that will make my foot worse and working outside in 95 degrees is just too dangerous for an old guy….or anyone for that matter….hey, and let’s add in not sleeping for crap lately and I think you can see why I’m depressed…oh, well….I did make it to 2,500 miles yesterday and need to keep up the pace of 36 miles a day if I’m going to get to 5,000 miles…but that goal may have to go away if my foot keeps up hurting…it looks like the trees are even starting to wilt from the heat and no rain…there is a maple across the street that is turning yellow and dying and there are leaves falling all along the trail…and it looks like this keeps up for at least the next two weeks and that is depressing, too….not much to do today…going to get on the bike here before 7 and then I need to run out to Meijers to get a bunch of stuff I forgot yesterday but I really don’t care about food right now so maybe I don’t need to go?  More later…

Well…crap…that was a bad night of sleep and I have been up since 5:24….oh, well…I guess that had to happen sometime….or every time when I think about it…but, I feel okay this morning so maybe 5 hours is enough sleep for me? I really tried to eat more yesterday and we’ll see if that had any effect when I get out on the bike when it gets light…I discovered that I really like vinaigrette dressing so I need to get more today when I do the grocery run and more fixings for salad too…okay, the eating more was just a small salad that only added about 150 calories but it is something to support the almost 40 miles I’m riding every morning….and I will get to halfway in my quest to ride 5,000 miles this morning….I did the math and if I keep up the daily 36-40 miles…it will only take me about 90 days to get to 5,000 and maybe 6K could be attainable? But that means no days off or slacking at all and I’m not sure I want to work that hard….and I’m not sure my old body can take that pace with how it feels every morning….I feel a little better about my garden after taking a look at the better boy plants yesterday…while the celebration tomatoes have had blossom drop to where they have very few on the huge plants, the better boys have twice as many on one plant as on all four of the celebrations…so there will be salsa by the end of the month…and pickled jalapenos that I may just get to this weekend since I have a half dozen peppers almost ready to pick…and a few beans but I’m not sure how many of those I’m going to get….I will have cukes to make pickles since they started to set this week and I have lots of tiny ones on the plants….not much to do today…I’m still being careful about the heat but I think I’ll need to just ignore that if I’m going to get anything done….I do need to weed the gardens today and start cleaning up behind the garage so I can wash the siding back there to paint it….and I have the grocery runs to do around 9 but need to get a ride in first….it’s 6:20 and it appears that it is light enough to get out but I do need one more cup of coffee before I head out….more later….

Well…cripes it’s going to be pretty miserable for the next week or so with the temps getting to around 95 every damn day and the lows not much lower than 75…oh, well…I’ve always liked the heat but this may be a bit too much…although it’s not too bad with a fan on me while I sit here…but, that means the work outside has come to a halt since I do need to be careful about dehydration…I am going to try to get the siding on the garage washed today so I can paint as soon as possible…it’s a nice big slab that I can use to figure out the new paint sprayer before I get to the siding on the house…didn’t sleep too hot last night with my allergies going nuts so I feel pretty worn out today…but I still need to get my 36 miles in this morning so I can make it to 2500 tomorrow….I do feel the extra miles that I added yesterday but it is in my back and that is a little strange…normally my thighs take the brunt of extra miles but they feel okay today…stiff but no too sore and that will work out once I get out on the bike…I do almost have Jalapenos ready to be picked and I think I’ll make pickled peppers with them since that will go with almost everything and the sugar in the pickling process will take the heat down a notch…haven’t tolerated them too well lately but I’m sure not going to waste them…not much to do today…just going to have a normal day with bike rides and Man U to watch this afternoon…and I am going to clean the kitchen since I got the bathroom done yesterday and that made me feel good….more later….

Well.. with actually getting out of here for the past couple of days, I had been letting things slide which annoyed the hell out of me so today I decided to stop that crap and get working again…got the downstairs stuff done that I had put off a day, got the hardware put back on the front door so I can lock it again, and cleaned up the front door sill to get rid of the cobwebs and the dust from sanding the filler in the door…got the package of chicken I bought Wed broken up and in the freezer, cleaned the bathroom, and cut up some carrots and celery for snacks later…oh, and took care of the gardens…I have Jalapenos that are almost ready to pick along with some beans, and now have some cukes growing and even have some tomatoes that will be ready before the end of July…which was the goal of starting everything downstairs in Feb. Now I am finally caught up and I am going to watch some soccer in a few minutes…I think I’ve earned some downtime….

Well…in trying to get to 2500 miles by the first of July Wednesday, I added a three mile loop to each ride today making them 18 miles instead of the 15 I had been doing…and I’m not sure if that is a good idea or not….with the problems I’ve been having with dehydration and the gout it causes, I may just be tempting fate by working harder every day…I have been trying to drink enough water to avoid that problem and how do I know if it’s a good idea or not unless I do it? I do know that adding that 6 miles finally made me feel like I’m working hard again and that is not a bad thing…the rides had gotten too easy and the idea even floated into my head that I should just make every ride an even 20 miles and leave it at that. That will be something I’ll need to think about a while and just get used to the 18 miles first…I will get to 2500 wed after raising the mileage so we’ll see how I feel after a couple of days and then decide….

Well…cripes, I’m running late today but I got up before 6 and I can’t figure that out…slept kind of iffy last night and woke up with my back sore for some reason and it may be the sanding I had to do on the front door when I repaired it Saturday….but, it came out okay so I guess I can live with the pain…or I’ll take something for it…we’ll see after the first bike ride…I wonder why I feel like I need to hurry in the mornings when I really have all day to do what I need to? I’m already getting antsy that I’m not out on the bike yet and it’s still before 7 o’clock…weird….I did get out to hang out with K at her place for the first time since this whole mess started…and I realized that it has been 4 years since I’ve been out there…boy, two days in a row that I was able to talk to someone and after being cooped up here for so long and it took a lot out of me…I wonder if the isolation is having the same effect on other people? I am so used to being alone that I think I’m losing my interaction skills….but I guess it’s just like everything else, you need to practice to be good at things so I’ll just need to practice more….not much to do today…it is going to be hot all week so I’m going to have to get most of the work done in the morning along with riding…going to have to be careful on the bike to make sure I don’t get too dehydrated…don’t want my foot to go nuts again….but I do need to cook today so I should get that done for lunch and it is going to be cleaning week since I have slacked off on keeping this place clean….more later…

Well….running about on time for a Sunday and I remembered to come here before the bike ride…I consider that a win…and I slept okay last night and don’t feel too bad today but I am sore so I took an ibuprofen already to help with that…had to work on the front door when I got home from shooting pool since the damn foam weatherstripping had stuck to the door and ruined a good bit of the paint so I had to sand, fill and repaint the door…what a pain in the butt…but, I did get to go out and shoot pool and that was such a relief to finally get out and see someone and restore some small part of normalcy to my life…and Tom and I were two of only four people inside the whole bar so social distancing was pretty easy…and I took my disinfectant and mask with me and wiped everything down that I touched along with doing my hands throughout shooting…I think I did more damage to my lungs working on the door and breathing in sanding dust than going out…completely forgot to put a mask on when I was working on the door so I have been coughing this morning…and I haven’t taken any allergy meds in almost two weeks so I’m sure that is part of my plugged up head and coughing…not much to do today…need to get the bike rides in this morning, then I’m going out to K’s house to hang out for a while this afternoon…haven’t seen her since March so it will be cool to catch up…oh, and I need to put the second coat of paint on the door as soon as I do the first ride…so, it will be another busy day but a fun one….more later…oh, and I will get to another one here today…lots of stuff to talk about…

Well…running about on time this morning with the damn birds waking me up at 5…there must have been a hundred of them out there and I left the window open to get some air so it was really, really loud…slept okay last night with having cocktails for the first time this week and it may be the last time, too…just don’t enjoy it like I used to and what’s the point if I don’t enjoy it? Was so sore yesterday that I had to take some ibuprofen for it and had the thought that maybe I should take a day off the bike? Nah….I am only going to do one ride today since Tom and I are going to try to go out and shoot pool this morning and maybe that will do the trick….I have been drinking a lot more water lately…something I didn’t think was possible….but I’m not sure if it is doing anything for my foot…my toe barely hurts but my foot is still a little puffy and I have started to get my back to crack in little pops so I’m hoping that will help, too….I did get some work done on the downstairs project yesterday but I still have a bunch of work to do there and need to get on it tomorrow….I think I’m taking the day off today and just vegging with watching racing….I may clean some but I won’t feel bad if I don’t….the bathroom and kitchen needs work but they needed work all week and I didn’t die from it so I guess I’ll get to it when I do….more later…

Well…I made it…5 days of no cocktails and it is getting easier as time goes by….and my foot and liver are thanking me today…I did sleep okay and had some weird dreams again that had to do with my gardens being pulled up for some reason and that was a little strange…but, I feel okay this morning and the first ride is coming up in a few minutes that I am looking forward to….it feels good to have gotten so much done yesterday that I don’t have a lot to do today but work downstairs and on the gardens and watch some soccer this afternoon…I do need to start cleaning the oxidation off the garage siding so I can paint it next week but I think I’m going to wait to do that until next week…I am taking the weekend off to just fool around and clean…this place needs a scrubbing everywhere and I have been putting it off to get other things done…and this afternoon could be the perfect time with the storms that are predicted…the damn power outage from a couple of weeks ago has ruined storms for me…I used to anticipate seeing them and watching from the porch but now, after the 10 hour outage, I cringe when I see them coming in….I guess I’ll have to see how durable the power is here but it doesn’t look good with it failing  during the first big storm of the year…my lawn sure needs the rain after hitting it with crabgrass killer yesterday and not having any rain to speak of for weeks…water costs too damn much here in the city to water it so I guess I’ll just let it go brown…not much to do today….going to finish the first cup of coffee and then get out on the bike by 7 so I can get two rides in this morning….then I’ll just wing it for the rest of the day with no plans….more later….

Well…man, this has been another busy day and I have been running since I got out on the bike for the first ride around 7…and it was a good ride with fog, cool temperatures, and so many animals I felt like I was in a Disney cartoon….after I got home from that one, I needed to make a run out for some more groceries since DD had pizzas on sale for 1.99 again and I splurged on some beef brats for 1.88 for 6 of them…then, over to Aldi’s for some chicken since they are a block away from DD…and then to Menard’s to get some crabgrass killer, and then to Meijers to get the rest of the stuff I needed to make a pizza later in the week….after I got back here, I jumped back on the bike for the second ride and when I got back, I mowed and edged the lawn, then put crabgrass killer on…then, on to leftovers for lunch and then back out to wash the car…whew…pretty damn busy for someone who is supposed to be retired….oh, and then I did two of these and that does take some time and effort….so, I worked from 7 to 3 today and got a solid 8 hours of work in…and I still have to vacuum the car and do the glass since I haven’t done the glass yet this year…and I have work to do on the downstairs project that needs to be done too….I wonder if I should have saved some of this for the weekend? Nope, I like to take weekends off just like when I was working…okay, didn’t take them off then either….I am going to take an hour or so off and watch a little soccer and get some more water in me….