Well…I’m not sure how this day got away from me but it did…I did think about doing a political one but just couldn’t do it….I needed to take a day off from trump and his cronies or my brain will turn to mush just like theirs and I am not going  let that happen to me…so, let’s talk about the day instead…you remember from this morning I said I had found a new trail to ride after the flooding started on the normal trail…well…that worked for two days and then, when I got to the entry to the tail this morning, the whole trail was flooded and that meant I had to take the road up to the high parts of the trail and cut across the fields to get back to it…so I got started and got all the way to the other side of the park but then one of the ring roads was flooded and it was the damnest thing that I saw…there were fish swimming across the trail and into the woods against the flow of water that sounded like a waterfall and was 300 yards long….saw some big damn carp that must have been 20 pounds and even saw a couple of steelhead heading upstream….pretty cool even with having to find dry trail to ride…but, that wasn’t the only thing that happened…I had planned to only take one ride today to try to not hurt so much and have more energy…and to help the re-occurrence of the gout…so instead I got after the trim on the driveway side of the front of the house and got that painted today along with the gutter that is hung on that side that is aluminum and not the copper of the rest of them…but standing on the ladder for two hours really made the swelling in my foot explode and I am going to have to keep it raised all night to try to help it….so I do have an excuse for not doing a political one today but I’ll get back to it tomorrow…you can count on that…but, right now…..I am going to have a cocktail or 3 tonight and get caught up on the shows I’ve ignored all week….

Well…damn, it’s a bitch living in a body that’s wearing out….the damn gout came back yesterday and I know I did it to myself with all of the double rides and work on the house…just like the last time…so now I know I need to drink gallons of water over the next few days and cut back on the bike rides…I was going to try a new schedule anyway with having three days of doubles and then a day of only one ride to see if I can make the pain go away and stop hobbling around here….the trail was flooded yesterday in two places but I discovered a new trail that got me to the 15 miles I needed and I am going to use that one for the next week or so until the water goes down…need to try to figure out how to add that one in to the normal rides…it is cool that I can change it up a little now and still get my miles in….I wonder if I can take a day off in the near future and just heal up? The thought came to me on the bike yesterday that maybe I’m doing more damage to myself than I’m helping with all of the rides as I age but I just can’t be one of those people who sits and does nothing….I think I need to do some research on that and maybe start to tailor my nutrition to what I want to do….there has got to be a way to keep going….not much to do today….I am going to do at least one ride today and I want to start to paint the trim on the front of the house that I scraped the paint off yesterday but with my foot hurting, climbing the ladder is a bit much…and there is a race on at noon that I may just watch instead…and I do need to cook some chicken today since all of the leftovers are gone…at least I get to have cocktails tonight….more later…

Well…yep…it’s a pattern….up at 2 again this morning and then back to sleep…fitfully…until almost 6 but doing the math that’s only about 5 hours or so…just like yesterday but I survived the day so I guess I can do that again today….I did get two rides in again yesterday and I am back to pain everywhere again so I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to do that every day…and I do have work to do around here so I may have to cut back on riding or move it til later in the day…want to get moving on getting the trim painted and I need to start on repairing the back yard and that is going to take a lot of work since it is almost all weeds will need to be reseeded….I have 16 sunflowers that have come up and I can’t wait to see how that is going to look when they grow….should be kind of cool around July…and I have 4 tomato plants that have started to set some buds for tomatoes but they are pretty sparse so I am going to plant a bunch more…having to use the brute force method just to get a couple of every kind has been a lot of work….it looks like I may be able to salvage a couple of green pepper plants and a couple of Jalapenos but I do have a few each of beans and cukes that have survived…not what I was expecting….I did get my latest gas bill yesterday and it is down to 56 bucks so that is cool it will be nice to get it down to 30 bucks or so in the next month….not much to do today…need to do the grocery run at aldi’s and meijers and then move on to working around here since the rain has stopped for the next few days and I should be able to get the prep done to paint he front…will need to get out and get the rest of the paint that I need next week and then hit HF to get a sprayer to get staterd on the siding both on the house and the garage…and today I’m doing the grocery run in shorts with the top down…spring needs to come….more later…

Well…the no cocktail sleep pattern is back again…to bed at 11, trying to get to sleep for an hour, and then up between 4:30 and 5 and trying to go back to sleep for at least until the coffee maker starts at 6…I wonder if I should take some comfort in the consistency? Who knows? Had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get much done with the lack of motivation I’ve felt lately but I did get two rides in after taking the day off Sunday….and my legs were supercharged after just resting one day so I guess I’ll have to do that more often…I had been on the bike for doubles for 16 days straight and was just miserable for my rides on Saturday…legs were just flat from the start through the entire 30 miles and it was torture to keep going…and it hurt which doesn’t happen very often…I did have a funny surprise when I took a walk around the yard after the first ride yesterday and discovered that a flock of grackles had punched holes all over the front yard looking for insects I guess…it looked like someone had run one of those aerator machines over it and that should be good for the lawn to loosen the soil some and let air and water down to the roots of the grass….and the food and weed killer I put on it looks like it is working even though it rained after I put the killer on….I am going to get out on the bike here in a few minutes since it is already 55 degrees out and there is rain coming for later this morning…just don’t want to be wet today…but after today, the weather is going to turn nice with no rain and temps in the 70’s to near 80…going to have to break out the shorts and put the top down for a ride in the car….it is kind of cool that I can just pull the car in the garage and leave the top down if I want to and not think about rain….not much to do today…I should start working on getting the loose paint off the trim in the front to get ready to paint it and I might if I don’t get sidetracked with fooling around with other stuff….more later…

Well…cripes that was a lot of rain yesterday and it looks like it’s going to continue all day today too…it does look like I may have a window to get on the bike around 1 this afternoon and I hope that happens…I can’t go two days without riding or I’ll go nuts…it was an okay night of sleep last night with only getting up once at 4 but then getting back to sleep until it was light…and the heat came on last night for the first time in a couple of days so I am looking for my gas bill to be down some this month….I really don’t want to go out and look at the gardens after all the rain yesterday…I don’t think the small tomato plants have survived so I planted 4 more of each in cups yesterday downstairs but that will negate the whole get them started early plan that I was working on…tomatoes are usually so damn easy to grow that I can’t figure out how I’m having so much trouble getting them to stay alive….oh, well…I was really planning on taking the day off yesterday but I had work to do on the downstairs project that couldn’t wait so I spent a couple of hours taking care of that but that was all I did yesterday…and I really don’t have much to do today so I am going to just ease into it and have some coffee right now to try to get jump started….not sure if that will work but it’s all I have the energy for right now….more later…

Well…damn…we’re more than half way through May already and I don’t feel like we’ve had any spring at all…is it bad that I am hoping for rain all day today so I can justify taking a day off the bike? Hmmmm…at least it may be easier to take the day off if it is raining…not sure if I could do it without the rain…so rain already…I did sleep okay last night but still feel worn out today and I think it may be that I have been working too hard around here…damn, it’s hard getting old and not being able to go like you used to….I mean in my 20’s and thirties I worked 50 hours a week, went to college full time, and took care of my house and young kids and never felt this worn out….oh, well…I am going to try to take the day off today with racing coming back and needing some rest…napcar might be just the thing I need for this afternoon…but I still miss having the premier league to have running in the background on the weekends…MLS games on Pluto just don’t do it for me….not much to do today….it is going to be interesting to see if I can take the day off….I should clean some and get started on the front door…see…I just can’t do nothing…I wonder what that is about? More later….

Well…yeah, I know…there is lots of stuff going on but nothing that has pissed me off enough to write one in my head on the bike ride so I don’t think there will be a political one today…I’ll never say never but I’m pretty worn out from all of the work from today and all I want to do is write this one and then have some water and take a frickin break…today started out as normal for me with getting out for the first ride a little after 8 and got back here just after 9 and decided it would be the perfect day to get after the detail work on the front yard so I dragged the edger out and edged the sidewalks then got the string trimmer out and did the rest of the trimming…then I mowed the lawn and put food and weed killer on it and then cleaned up…after a quick lunch, I got back on the bike for another hard 15 miles and when I got back here I was so dead that I thought I was just going to melt into the couch for the rest of the afternoon…but, after about 20 minutes of that, I decided that I had enough of looking through dirty windows so I got out and washed all of the outside of the windows and then remembered that the chain on the bike needed lube, so I took care of that, put the window washing stuff away, and came back here for this one…can I take a break now? I should be able to get a couple political ones done tomorrow since it looks like it is going to rain all day…supposed to get and inch or two of rain and that is a lot…going to put mason jars over the seedlings I planted to protect them from pests and the rain…so I better find where I stored all of those….damn, more work to do…..

Well…okay, this is weird…I should hurt like crazy everywhere after the day I had yesterday but I don’t…not really much pain anywhere so I guess the ibuprofen I took for it last night worked….and I’ve been able sit around here in shorts for the past day and that hasn’t happened since I moved in here…I even slept okay last night and didn’t get up til around 6 so I am a little confused about what is going on…but, I’ll take it…feel okay this morning if a little tired but that is pretty normal and the coffee will help with that after I get a cup down….okay, I just noticed that my right arm and shoulder hurts and I know that is from spading the grass, dirt, and moss off the blocks next to the garage yesterday but it looks good so it was worth it…and I want to get at the front yard today with doing the edging and running the string trimmer…and I need to haul the stiff, heavy duty hose out and run it around the back and side of the house so I can have water in front while I wait for the new collapsable hose to come…and then I can feed the front lawn and hit it with weed killer, too….so, does it sound like I’m going to abuse myself again today? Yep….and I’m going to make a homemade pizza for lunch to fuel it…another busy day that is going to start on the bike in a few minutes…but more coffee first…more later….

Well….one of these days I am going to stop torturing myself and take a day off…but that didn’t happen today and I really don’t know why I keep doing this to myself. It started out with getting on the bike at about 8 am even with feeling pretty damn crappy but it was 60 and I am not going to miss an empty trail and going out in just shorts and a t-shirt…so, I got a nice hard ride in and was back here by 9 or so…then I got right on doing the rest of my veggie planting as soon as I got back here and planted everything that was sprouted downstairs…beans, cukes, tomatoes, and even both kinds of sunflowers and that took me until almost 11…then lunch and back on the bike for another 15 miles and I thought I was going to be done after I got back here and took a shower…but, after an hour of being lazy and reading the news, I took a wander out in back and thought I’d get at the stuff that has been beside the garage since I moved in…and had to move what looks like well pipe…what the heck that is for I’ll never know…after I moved that, I got at clearing off the blocks that are along the garage and that were covered in dirt, grass, and moss…so I spaded them off and then washed all the rest of the dirt off too…along the way, I had to chop out about 20 small stumps that were left from the brush that I cut out last fall…and that took me until almost 4 so I guess I had an 8 hour day again today…and I got sunburned to go with everything…oh, and I did discover that I had 5 of the sunflowers that I planted outdoors that had come up so I’ll have at least 12 of them if they all survive….so, another busy day…I wonder when I’ll get a day off? I’m pretty damn sore….

Well…man, I feel like crap this morning….just worn out completely and I really should think about taking a day off the bike…I know, I was going to take yesterday off but when it looked like the rain had stopped, I just couldn’t resist getting out…and about a mile in it started to rain…and it rained so hard that I stopped at one of the pavilions along the trail to wait it out…something I never do once I get started….after about 5 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore so I got back on the bike and did the rest of the 15 miles in the pouring rain…but the stupid thing was I did the same thing in the afternoon…but in a t-shirt so I was wet AND cold and I think that took a lot out of me….and it rained so hard my shoes were filled with water and they are still soaked this morning….but it’s 59 degrees out there right now and when it stops raining I’ll probably get out and torture myself again….I do wonder how long I’ll be able to keep this up….I do have a lot of planting to do today with the beans and cukes needing to go in along with more tomatoes before they get too big…and one of my sunflowers that I planted outdoors has come up to go with the 7 more that have sprouted downstairs that also need to be planted today…so, I do have a lot of stuff to do today but not right now…I need coffee and to read the news first…and to feel better….more later….