Well…crap…up at 4:50 this morning and there really is no reason for it…especially after waking up at 2:30 for the first time….I should have been able to sleep more after all the work I did yesterday…you would think that would tire me out and make it easier but no, not me….oh, well….the ibuprofen worked last night and I don’t have nearly the pain I expected today….but that will probably come tomorrow with the two day rule…everything hurt like crazy last night and I found myself laughing about it when it hit…yeah, I know that’s weird but I feel good that I can still do all that stuff at my age…I do have a plan worked out in my head how to arrange the garden and got the idea to plant some garlic around the edges…it won’t look like normal garlic since you need to have that in the ground over the winter for it to develop the cloves that we normally see but it will have single cloves that have a milder garlic flavor that you can still use in cooking…and you can just plant the cloves you buy in the store….so that might be fun…I did get out on the bike yesterday and got a nice ride in but didn’t have time to get a second one in and I don’t think I will today, either…want to get started on painting the downspout so I can flip it over and do the front tomorrow…but right now I need coffee…did this one without it and that was just too damn much work….more later…

Well…I’m really not sure what got into me this morning…all I was going to do was go out and clean the downspout so I can paint it over the weekend but, one thing led to another, and I got started on finishing cutting the sod out for the veggie garden…and three hours later, I had it done along with putting in the blocks for the walkway that runs down the center of it…and I used the sod that I took out to level the yard along the fence and fill that in instead of just piling it behind the garage….and that came out okay and it looks better so that is cool…but cutting out two sections of lawn that are 30 inches by 10 feet took a toll on every damn part of my body and I am really, really sore…and after the bike ride I couldn’t take it any more so I took some ibuprofen in the afternoon…something I very seldom do…and next week looks like I can get started on the outside since garden centers can re-open today and I can get out and get some topsoil and grass seed next week along with paint for the trim on the house…so it looks like I’m going to get really busy again but I’m only going to paint the downspout this weekend….too damn sore to do much else…and it will get worse Sunday…

Well…running a little late this morning with not getting up til after 6….feel pretty lousy and I know why that is but I earned it so I’m not going to bitch too much…I am going to start slow but I’m not going to bitch…it was nice to get out on the bike yesterday and with the cold and rain there was no one on the trail…and the eagle wasn’t there but I did see him the other day…and I think I saw a female sitting in a tree across the pond so maybe we will see so eaglets later this summer…I am hoping to get out in shorts today but that will mean waiting until the afternoon to go so that will give me time to work outside this morning….I do need to organize the work out there so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming and then just start chipping away every day….want to get the downspout cleaned today so I can paint it over the weekend and I just realized that I can do that in the garage if I move the car out….and that is a cool luxury….and I need to get the garden cut out today with my tomato plants almost a foot tall downstairs and needing to  be planted soon…I have lots of peppers that have come up too, I was worried they wouldn’t and planted extras so now I have 6 each of green peppers and jalapenos…will be giving lots of them away this summer….not much to do today….just the outdoor work and then riding….and I need to plan what I need to take out of the freezer for meals….or make some pasta…not sure yet….more later…

Well….you know, after all the work I’ve done here over the past 7 months, you’d think that it would be pretty easy for me to just sit here and do nothing for just a little while…but after trying that while we are in lockdown, I find that I’m really bad at it…especially when I know there are still loads of things that need to be done. Just this morning, I was waiting for the temp to come up so I could get on the bike and thoughts just flooded into my head so I got some work done on the downstairs project, made lunch, and then got out to measure up the downspout I found behind the garage to make sure it will fit in the open space…while outside, I had to move all the stumps behind the garage as I try to figure out how to get rid of them since they don’t do yard waste pickup anymore….then it started to rain so I came inside and got laundry started and now I’m back here doing another one of these while I wait for the rain to end so I can get out on the bike later in between this first rain and the big stuff that is coming later…yeah, this is much harder than I expected…to just relax and veg and enjoy having a house for the next few months….I still have the garden to get ready and the flowers to plant, and to mow the lawn, and to re seed the front lawn and paint the trim, and re putty the windows…you get my drift…just too much to do to not think about it….

Well…up early this morning and that still made it almost 6 1/2 hours so I’ll take it…feel okay though, with some energy that I didn’t expect and my head is pretty clear with taking something for it last night for the first time in a while…still a little stiff and sore but not too bad after getting a bike ride in yesterday….and I’ll be getting out a little later today…not sure if I want to wait to go out so it’s not in full thermasuit again…it was nice that there were few people out there with the cold but I’m still depressed that it is that cold at the end of April….oh, well….after the grocery run yesterday, I have 4 whole miles on the new tires but that is enough to know that having full tread on tires is better than bald ones…they ride pretty good and even the bad manhole covers over here don’t slam the car like they did with the old ones…can’t wait to see how they do in the rain…I could spin the old ones on flat ground they had hardened up so much with age…oh, and being bald didn’t help that, either….didn’t get a lot done yesterday since I couldn’t drag myself out to work on the garden in the cold but I am going to try to at least get the sod cut out today…or maybe wait til tomorrow when it is warmer….but with the warm I want to get back to double rides and that takes time…oh, and with warm I mean over 50 degrees….and that should be over 60 degrees and smells like spring…that would be nice after being cooped up in here for so long….more later….

Well…okay, felt a little cooped up for the first time today and this new routine just doesn’t feel right…I guess part of it is the uncertainty of new regulations every time I venture out to get groceries…I don’t know if I’m going to have to wait in line or what I’m going to be able to buy every week…like today…there was not one container of margarine in the coolers at Meijers…and that is the first time I’ve heard of a margarine shortage and I read a lot of news…I wonder what is going on there? I did finally get some more allergy medicine and that takes a bit of a load off since I was down to my last 5 and, with the trees starting to bloom, the pollen counts are going through the roof…have been skipping taking them for almost a week now but I am getting tired of the low grade headache that I have constantly…so now I can take them when I need them for the next 53 days until I run out again…I don’t think I’ve been out on the bike in full thermasuit this late in the year ever and it is going to stay cold into the second week of May now….this appears to be a year of no spring since it’s only gotten to 60 twice and the average high temp for this date is in the low 60’s….and that is really triggering the depression since I can’t get outside to work on the yard or the garden and probably shouldn’t plant for weeks anyway with how cold it is…I mean 23 degrees this morning? Not sure how much more of that I can take….just some strange days….

Well…not a bad night last night with staying in bed until 5:43 and sleeping okay….I was really expecting to be sore from cutting out sod yesterday but it just feels normal to me…still pretty creaky but that is just from getting old…going to get to the rest of it later today but want to get back on the bike first but it will be in full thermasuit after I go out for a short grocery run in a little while…still haven’t put one mile on the new tires since I got them last week and I would really like to know how they work before they are out of warranty….the tomatoes downstairs are almost a foot tall now and I can’t wait to put them in the garden outside and I have 4 each of jalapenos and green peppers….have the layout of the garden worked out in my head and will have the green beans and cukes in the shaded end of it…I also have green onions to plant around the border of it and I am going to put some pavers down the middle of it so I have access on both legs of it both front and back…it’s going to be u-shaped with each leg 2 feet by 8 feet and the end 1 foot by 8 feet to put the cukes and beans in….I will need to build a trellis to give the cukes and beans something to climb on but that can wait a few weeks…I’m a little excited to have a garden after so many years…and I can’t wait to see how tall the sunflowers get when I get them planted…not much to do today…the weather is still damn crappy for the end of April with no end to the cold in sight so I will be working inside more than outside for the next week or so…I would like to get some grass seed to get started on the re-seed and I may try the Ace hardware over on Lake Mich drive to see if they have any….more later….

Well….haven’t had much energy today so just sitting here and doing this is much more work than it should be…and I’m not sure what the heck is going on other than the allergy flare that left me coughing, sneezing, and with a sore throat all last night and all day today….I did get out to get started on the garden this morning and made some progress laying it out and starting to cut the sod out…will finish that up tomorrow and have it ready to plant by the weekend but I’m not sure if it will be warm enough yet….I did clean up some of the seed that the birds have spilled under the feeders and it was such a pain I think I may just give up feeding them….we’ll see….I do still have half a bag of seed and probably should use that up before I stop….probably won’t make that much of  a difference to the mess…I did get good news with the gas bill yesterday when it was only 76 bucks and that is down 40 bucks from it’s peak…and I hope that continues…a 30 dollar bill would be welcome….still haven’t gotten my 1200 bucks yet but that is supposed to happen this week…I need to get out to HF and get my new compressor and accessories…and I’ll save that much by not getting groceries this week since I don’t need anything with a full freezer….might not even have to go next week either….okay…I think I will fill the feeders and then get some pork chops marinating for dinner….more later? Who knows?

Well….man, I think that was a record for waking up the first time with getting up at 1:14 after going to bed at 11….but, I was able to stay in bed until 5:39 so I guess that’s a win..my allergies are really bad with a concerning sore throat but it hasn’t gotten any worse so maybe that’s a good sign….my head is plugged up and I’m back to coughing, too….okay…I’ll stop bitching about how I feel…generally I feel okay even with the allergy flare but it gives me something to write about to get my brain started first thing in the morning….man, it’s not even going to get to 40 degrees today and it’s nearing the end of April…where the hell is spring? No 60 degree days in all of April? That pretty much sucks but what can you do? I think I’ll take the day off the bike since the wind is supposed to be over 20 too and that is a combo that I don’t want to deal with anymore….I did get to 900 miles yesterday and I will get to over a thousand by the end of the month and that may be the earliest to 1K ever…I’ll have to look at my records to see…didn’t get anything else done yesterday but I’ll clean some with the day off the bike and I have some downstairs work to do, too so I can stay busy pretty easily….if I feel like it and that is not certain at this point….more later….

Well…cripes, I’m running late this morning and didn’t get up until it was light….but that didn’t help with my energy levels and I just want to go back to bed I feel so worn out….and I overheated the coffee so I have to wait for a while to have any…and I think it’s going to be a french press morning since there is just not enough coffee to get me started today…I did take both ibuprofen and allergy medicine last night since I was hurting and miserable and just needed some relief but I don’t think it carried over to this morning since my back is still stiff from the double ride yesterday and my head is plugged up, too…oh, well…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I am going to get to the garden plot today and at least start to lay it out and get the sod cut out so I can plant in the next couple of weeks…I think I’m going to plant the flower seeds in the front of the house this week since they take almost two months to flower and I want some color out there as soon as possible….not sure how much cold they can take but I’m willing to take the risk….can always buy some to put in if things open up in a month or so….not much to do today….just going to ease into it with how I feel right now…need to pay some bills but the mail pickup doesn’t come til late in the day so I have time for that….more later….