Well…after my son was here and got me started on sourdough dough to make a loaf of bread and I finished up the kneading and pulling and then cold fermenting overnight in the fridge, I baked it for lunch and it was by far the best looking loaf of bread I’ve ever made…and it tastes great with a nice airy texture to it…and that’s something that has never happened for me before…most of the bread I’ve made turned out very dense like a brick with very little rise at all and that’s what this dough looked like when I put it in the oven…and I used parchment paper to line my 2 qt casserole dish so the loaf just lifted out of the pan…it looked so cool that I would buy a loaf that looked like that…nice and browned with a crispy crust…I guess I now have to buy an actual bread knife since I don’t have one and I know I’ll be making more bread…it’s been pretty busy today with getting two rides in then hitting the city offices, post office, and library…then getting back here for ride 3, and then making the bread for lunch…now it’s time to read…

Well…man, I’m tired…and I have another busy day today with needing to get two rides in before I head out to run errands and that means I need to get on the bike in 15 minutes or so and I just started the coffee…it’s been so darn cold here for the past week and it looks like it will be cold through the rest of the month so I’ll be in hunker down mode for that time…not going to get out out of the 20’s in that time and there is some snow coming in Wed so I’ll do the grocery run tomorrow…don’t have much to get other than milk since I have lots of chicken in the freezer and need to figure out what recipes to make…maybe more stir fry? I think it’s funny there is a culture around sourdough bread that I’ve just walked into with now having my own starter in the fridge and baking my first loaf of bread today…it’s only 17 degrees here right now and it’s only getting to 22 today and I am so damn tired of the cold…I mean it hurts to get on the bike downstairs when my hands turn white after I’ve been down there a while…not much to do today…just the rides, errands and baking bread and I will get to read more today after getting more books…I’m tired of doing, doing, doing….need some time off…more later….

Well…had a nice visit with one of sons today and he brought his dog Art so I got the chance to play with him a bit…he was fascinated by the dove on the feeder and stuck his face right up against the window…the doves didn’t care and kept right on eating…and my son brought me an entire kit for making sourdough bread with bowls, a kitchen scale, scrapers, flour, parchment paper, sourdough starter, and a bag to seal the dough in to overnight in the fridge…it is a lot of work to do it but fun so I’ll be making more of it over time…I do have the dough that he got me started on kneaded and folded and in the fridge for cold fermenting and I’ll bake it tomorrow in my 2 quart casserole dish that fits in my small oven..really curious to see how it comes out…

Well…sitting here waiting for my son and his dog to come and it is a little weird to not do anything…I’m really not good at relaxing…my DIL is not coming since he has studying to do and I remember those days even though they were 25 years ago…I did get two rides in this morning and will probably do a third later to keep the miles going…but maybe not…the super bowl is later today and I’ll probably watch part of that but I finished up the last book so I will have to dig into my library to find something if I want to read today…but, I’ll think about that later….more later…

Well…it’s getting boring being behind all the time and today is just another link in a long chain of days of them…worked my butt off all day yesterday and I am feeling it today…it’s not often that I have the entire house clean at once and I am going to enjoy that while it lasts…only going to do two rides today with my son coming over and I really do need the rest…hit 900 miles for the year yesterday and that means only 5 days to get to 1,000 miles and that will be my only goal for the year…I am really aching to get outdoors for a ride but I think it was a good idea to not do that this winter…just don’t want to be that cold anymore and the roads up here are still covered in ice…don’t want to work that hard being careful…found a new shower cleaner that I really like that doesn’t have strong fumes and leaves the shower shiny so I’m going to buy another bottle of it this week so I’ll have some for a few months…still need to do the mirror in the bathroom this morning and put a few things away but that will be it for today…have 9 minutes to get on the bike and need to pour down more coffee…more later….

Well…with my son coming out tomorrow, I had lots of cleaning to do today after getting three rides in this morning and it has been a lot of work…started on the kitchen first since the stovetop and microwave needed work along with the sinks and countertops next to them and then cleaned the trash can ad re vacuumed the floor…then on to the bathroom and did a full cleaning of everything in there including the floor…then on to the living room where I tore the couch apart, washed the couch cover, vacuumed the cushion covers and put it back together rotating the cushions…then vacuumed the rug…then I took some me time to read and finished up the third book a day earlier than last time so I will be able to hit the library for three more Monday after I pay the bills at the city offices…and I just took the new vacuum down and did the basement stairs so I don’t have to do them in the morning…it is so nice to have a vacuum that works and is light enough for me to carry so I can reach the cobwebs over the back stairs…so now I have the weight work to do before I settle in for the night…

Well…already running late today…damn, I say that every day but it is true…it’s 6:35 and I need to get on the bike by 7am and I just had my first sip of coffee…so it will be a struggle to get going…I still have so much cleaning to do that I’m going to be busy all day…have the couch, bathroom, and kitchen to clean so I need to get going as soon as I have three rides in…don’t have to cook today with all of the pork shoulder I made yesterday that will last me until the end of next week and I’ll probably have to freeze some before it spoils…I did get 160 pages into the last book yesterday and that leaves about 300 pages left to read and I need to make time for that today, too…man, I’m tired of being so busy…damn, I need to vacuum the back stairs, too…maybe I’ll just do two rides today…at least it’s not snowing and it looks like we’re not getting any big storms for the next 10 days and that gets us 10 days closer to spring…but it’s going to be cold with highs in the 20’s…oh, well…need more coffee and to get on the bike….more later…

Well…my new shop vac was just delivered and I really like it…took it for a test run on my wood floors and it has such strong suction that it pulled the dirt from between the boards and you could feel it almost sticking to the floor…and it came with a  huge paper bag that you can put in it and then just throw it away when it fills…pretty cool…oh, and it pretty darn quiet…way quieter than the little 2 gallon one that just failed…the cord is a little short but that’s what extension cords are for the on/off button is huge and the entire unit is pretty light so I can use it to do the back stairs with no problem…all in all, a nice perfect sized unit…will probably go over all of the wood floors and the kitchen with it tomorrow…it was a good day today and I’m down to 124 miles to 1,000 so I’ll make that in Feb easy…and I made the 6 pound pork shoulder today and it came out great…I’ll be eating off that for a good week even having two meals from it every day…I did finish up the second book today and started the third but I don’t think I’ll get that one done by Monday…we’ll see…back to reading…

Well…darn, another day of being up at 4am and then struggling to get back to sleep and I am worn out…again…the wind was blowing so hard last night that the power blinked about a dozen times and I had everything plugged in and charged…but it stayed on since all of the appliances still have the correct time on them and that was a relief…it’s going to be a busy one today with doing the 6 pound pork shoulder in the instant pot for lunch and that needs to go in by around 10 and it will take two hours with a natural pressure relief which means you let the pot slowly release the pressure that normally takes about a half hour…and I’ll do the third ride while all that is going on..going to brown the roast in my cast iron dutch oven and then deglase  it to get the flavor bits into the instant pot…I wonder if I should just brown it in the instant pot? I think it may be too big to do that….I guess we’ll see…it looks like we’re getting a little snow tomorrow and it’s going to stay cold all week never getting above freezing but no big snow storms and I’ll take it…one week closer to spring…not much to do today…just cooking and cleaning but most of the cleaning will be done tomorrow…need to do the kitchen today scrubbing my small counters and microwave….will finish the second book today and just might be able to do the third one before Monday….more later….

Well…the cleaning continued today with working on dust here in the living room and getting the tv and stereo stand cleaned along with the bookcase so all I have to do Sat is clean the couch and rotate the cushions along with vacuuming the rug…my new shop vac is going to be here tomorrow and I can’t wait to have one that works all the time…it was not supposed to arrive until Monday so I’m pleasantly surprised and can use it to do the final touch ups around here before the visitors Sunday…I did get the three rides in today then went out and shoveled the little snow we got overnight before I cleaned…only have about 140 miles to go to 1,000 so that will be the week after next and that is the only goal I have for the year…so far…I do have to go out Monday to pay the water bill and my house taxes along with mailing my house insurance check and I would like to hit the library, too, since I’ll have two of the three books done by then so I may just as well pick up a couple more since I can see the library from the city offices…okay, it’s time to read some more…I did make some pour over coffee this morning and it the only coffee I can drink black…will probably order some more beans to have in stock here but I still have three pounds and I guess I can wait a while….