Well…got the new BP machine and tried it out and the news isn’t good…this one is pretty consistent and shows me with really high pressure so I’m sure they will want me on BP meds from now on…oh, well…I was the only one of the men in my family that escaped that fate and at 71 I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…and people I know have been on the meds for quite a few years and haven’t had any problem with it…and I really don’t want to have a frickin stroke from it…but I would really like to know why it’s so damn high and just last year it was only about 130…and I’ve dropped 35 pounds and get way too much exercise so that will be the question for the doctor Monday…I did call the public works dept. here to get them to come out and plow the darn streets and alley so I can get out for the appointment Monday…no way I wanted to shovel the 40 yards out to 7th street…but they haven’t done the alley yet so we’ll see if I have to shovel it Sunday…damn, I need some time off…

Well…damn, didn’t get out of bed til almost 8 this morning and I really needed a night of long sleep after only about 4 hours yesterday…but I feel out of synch today and I’m not sure when I’ll get on the bike…it may turn out to be a day where I’m still trying to get the third ride in late in the afternoon…it’s not snowing right now but it looks like it will be in a few hours and I am sure tired of it…it’s going to be in the 40’s starting Sunday but then down into the 20’s from Tuesday on and the winter is wearing me out already…haven’t been able to shift into survival mode yet and I really do need to have that happen soon…didn’t get anything done but shoveling the snow and cooking yesterday but don’t need to cook today so it will be easier…but I really don’t have any easy days anymore and I wonder if I ever will…man, it would be nice to just sit here and drink coffee, watch the birds, and do nothing for just one day…but that’s not my life and I’m going to get on the bike in a few…I am under 200 miles to get to the goal for the year so that means 10 days of riding 24 miles a day and then I’m going to go down to 8 miles a day for the rest of the year…still have the goal of riding every day for the calendar year but I can use a rest but I need to keep burning calories….not much to do today…I do have to shovel the snow at some point but that won’t happen til after lunch since it’s already 8:30am and I should have a ride in by now….oh, well…more later…

Well…after shoveling a ton of snow the past two days, I hurt everywhere and there is more falling right now that I will have to shovel tomorrow…so there will be ibuprofen tonight along with the voltaren for my thumb that got beat up from using the shovel…I do like the new boots and keeping my feet dry and warm and still don’t know why I haven’t bought any before now…hmmmm…it is Michigan after all and we do get snow…the birds were much quicker finding the feeder this year at only 2 days when last year it was two weeks and I wonder if it’s all of the snow that is covering their normal food sources? I do know I’ve had chickadees, juncoes, blue jays, and lots of doves so far so that is cool…got the big, 10 pound ham cooked on the grill today and that is going to feed me for at least a week and then go into some ham soup but I need to make turkey soup first this weekend…man, getting up at 5 every day is wearing me out and I didn’t have time to take a nap this aft…maybe tomorrow…it looks like I’m going to have to shovel from my driveway out to 7th street since they don’t seem to be plowing anywhere up here anymore…still might not be able to get out of here Monday if they don’t do the streets…crap, that’s one thing I’m tired of…in GR, all of the streets would be cleared by now…okay…that’s enough for now…want to read a bit before the Lions play later tonight…

Well…used the new boots to shovel the snow for the first time this morning and came in after an hour out there with nice warm feet for the first time since I moved out here…and the lugged soles just bite into the snow so shoveling is so much easier not having to worry about slipping and sliding all over…well worth the 55 bucks  paid for them…but, I’ll be back out there again later this aft since the snow is still falling at almost 3 inches an hour…but at least the power has stayed on and no damage to anything from the surges when it was going on and off…so now it’s time to prep the big ham to go on the grill around 1 or so since it’s huge and needs to heat through..and that usually takes about 3 hours….

Well…that was some pretty extreme weather last night that is continuing this morning,,,8 inches of snow overnight with 8 more coming today with lots of wind and drifting…and the power was off for more than 4 hours last night that I coped with well after Tom reminded me I had a light in my booster box for the car and I used that to be able to read and keep myself from getting too bored…and I now know that the kitchen stove will keep this place from freezing…didn’t even have to run all four burners on the range top to keep it over 60 in here…but I prefer having power…going to try out the new boots when I go out to shovel the snow later this morning after I get the bike rides in…bought a 10 pound ham for 8 bucks yesterday and I’m going to make that later today and then I’ll have food for the next week or so…I really don’t like having my routine disrupted and I think it’s going to take all day to relax back into it…didn’t sleep for crap last night and went to bed late, up at three, and then out of bed at 5:30…so I’m going to try to take a nap this aft…probably won’t work but I’ll give it a try…not much to do today…it looks like a three shovel day after three rides that will get me down to only 200 miles left for the year…I know I didn’t eat enough yesterday with just a bowl of soup and then a chicken leg quarter for dinner…so I’ll have to do better today…it sure is comforting to have the furnace come on…more later….

Well…we are under a winter storm warning…again…with the possibility of 8 inches of snow with winds blowing up to 40 mph…so I ran out to Meijers to get everything I need to get through til next week Monday and the doctor’s appointment…won’t be able to get the car out until then since they are not plowing the alleys…I did stumble on a sale on Skechers winter boots there and got a pair of 95 dollar boots for 65 bucks and got a coupon for 10 bucks off next weeks grocery run so that makes them only 55 bucks and that is a steal…haven’t had a pair of winter boots in a long time and these are insulated and waterproof with memory foam and are so damn comfortable…for some reason, I walked down the shoe aisles with no plan to buy boots today but I’m happy I did…one less thing to do..oh, and these are leather boots, too, so I’ll probably never have to buy another pair…now I can go out to shovel the snow and not freeze my feet off…and I put the bird feeder up and I’ll bet the first birds will be doves just like last year…but damn, I spent 135 bucks at Meijers today…yow!

Well…damn, I need to get moving right now and that’s harder than it looks…it appears that we have a winter storm coming in  with 8-10 inches of snow and that means I need to run an errand before the snow starts to hunker down and not go anywhere until the doctor’s appointment Monday…the wind has already started to howl out here and it must be blowing 30mph….oh, well…I did get the downstairs bike cleaned up yesterday but still have some cobwebs to remove and to clean the rest of the basement……I do want to get the bird feeder up this weekend with all of the snow so I’ll need to get some more bird food today….have been feeling pretty worn out the past week or so and it has to be allergies still….my head feels like it’s full of concrete and I’ve had a low grade headache to go with it and I’m really tired of it…still pretty freaked out about my blood pressure and it looks like I’ll have to take medicine for it…have been lucky to not have to take anything until now but I would still like to know what has changed…or if it’s just getting old…because I am getting old after all….not much to do today…just the errand after the first ride and some cleaning…I did make potato soup yesterday but I’m not sure what the second meal will be today…maybe some pasta? Who knows…more later…

Well…man, I don’t know how the heck I always have so much to do but that seems to be every darn day…like today…3 rides in that I finished at 11am, then straight into making potato soup and went out to shovel the walks and the alley while the veggies cooked so I can get my car out later in the week…then made the ruax  and thickened the milk to finished the soup…had lunch and did the weight work and now I’m almost done for the day at 2:40pm…but I should go down and clean the bike room with all of the dust that has accumulated on the indoor bike…I started to lubricate it yesterday and need to finish that, too…and I need to make dinner for today, too…and that will take some time since I’m making chicken and roasted potatoes to try to use up the 6 pounds of potatoes I got last week for two bucks…but I also want to read some but I guess that will have to wait til after dinner…oh, and there is some soccer I want to watch but don’t have time for it…oh, well…

Well…darn…we got a few more inches of snow out here last night and I really hope it’s not the pattern for the winter setting up…we do have a warm up coming over the weekend and it looks like into the 40’s and then settling into upper 30’s for highs for most of December and I can live with that…going to put the bird feeder up this weekend when it will be warm enough for the suction cups to grab the window…and the doves have already been looking for the feeder so I need to get it done….I do have to cook today with all of the leftovers gone so it looks like a day for making some potato soup and cooking some chicken leg quarters that I took out of the freezer the other day…it will be nice to not have turkey for a change…now I’m waiting for the ham for the holidays to go one sale next week….will be eating out of the freezer for the next couple of weeks and need to make the turkey soup over the weekend to get some room in there and I need to remember that I have ham bones for soup in there, too…that I will be adding to…even bought some more containers so I’ll have enough for at least two each of turkey and ham going in the freezer…not much to do today…need to get on the bike in a few minutes to get three rides in and get to the soup for lunch…will need to get to the weights since I skipped them yesterday…just forgot but I won’t today….more later…

Well…after getting nothing but 200 Bp readings on the new B
P machine, and having an appointment to calibrate it next Monday morning, I had to order a better one today…but to get it here before Monday, I had to sign up for the free 30 day trial of Prime and then it will be here Friday for no shipping charges…just have to remember to cancel it before they charge me the 139 bucks it costs…I may just take advantage of it for the next month and order stuff that I could use like food since there is no 35 buck minimum order to get free shipping…so I’ll start looking tomorrow for stuff that I am going to buy anyway…and the new BP machine normally goes for 49 bucks and I got it for 27 on sale, only 5 bucks more than the first one…and this one comes with bluetooth and an app that graphs the readings and gives you trends, etc…now I just need to figure out how to return the other one since I’ve never returned anything to Amazon in all the years I’ve been buying from them…