Well…up and moving at a little after 5 this morning and that is getting to be pretty normal with my self imposed dryness that I’m 10% of the way into and that will end on the 19th of November…after all the work the past couple of days, I hurt just about everywhere and I’m going to look at some topical pain relievers since I’m running out of biofreeze and it really doesn’t work as well as I would like…my neck especially since it’s not a joint and voltaren doesn’t work on it…it was nice to get some work done the past couple of days but I’m paying for it today…still have 5 windows to do but the weather is going to stay warm enough to do those later in the week…it was nice to play some vinyl as I worked yesterday and I think I’ll repeat that for the last 5 windows…not sure if I’m going to put the window bird feeder up this year…it makes such a mess but it is fun to watch the birds…I guess I’ll have to think about it…like to feed the birds but don’t want to spend 50 bucks for a feeder hanger and new feeder….the leaves have started to fall finally and I should have the time to get them picked up before the end of November deadline for putting them out…going to try my angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to get the parts of the stump out of the fence that grew into it….not much to do today…on the bike downstairs in a half hour or so and then the grocery run where I need to load up on veggies, and then back on the bike for two outdoor rides…no window work today as I need to pain to subside first…more later….

Well…having a laptop that starts up every time in about 3 seconds is such a luxury after having to fool with the last one for minutes every time just to get it started so I can come here without thinking about it…after I washed the car the other day, as I was pulling it back into the garage, I noticed a spot from an oil leak on the garage floor that was about 6 inches across and I couldn’t figure that out since Miatas are not known to leak oil…so I just went out to check on a hunch I had and it was right…the oil filter had come loose and I was able to turn it a good quarter of a turn by hand to tighten it up…so I’m pretty sure I’ve fixed it and that takes a load off since I’m trying to get it though the winter so I can buy a new car in the spring…a bit of good news…

Well…I just officially retired the old laptop by unplugging it and putting in the storage container where I have my first two laptops…I used that one for almost 10 years but I got to the point with the new one that I trust it and have all of the sites that I use bookmarked on it so there is no stress when I need to use the 4 or 5 that I use every day…took that thing all over the place with the longest trip the one to the UK last year…it was sure a heavy lump compared to this one and quite thick but it did the job for me so I hope this one will do the same…I did get some work done today and I really hurt my neck doing it and I am going to tell my doctor about it at my yearly checkup…I mean it’s been 4 months since I first felt pain in it and after cleaning the wheels on the car and then doing 7 windows today…it hurts worse now than it ever has so I think we’ll have to get some x-rays to see if it’s something with the nerves being pinched in my neck…sure don’t want to have to have surgery like T had to…oh, well…

Well…it was a good wildlife day on the bike today starting with the 1st ride when I got up to behind the water filtration plant where I saw three deer yesterday…today I looked down into the little wood to the right and saw what I consider to be a herd of deer…there were 17 of them standing there, 2 small 4 point bucks and 15 does and I took the earbuds out so I could here their hooves clickety clack across the trail when they took off running…so, pretty cool to start…then, heading out for the second ride and crossing the bridges that line Muskegon Lake, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the huge female red tailed hawk that had perched on the railing of the bridge..when I got to her, she took off flying down the trail only about 8 feet to the left of me and at my eye level…felt like I was flying in formation then she started to climb to the left to get to one of the oak stumps at the top of the bluff that was the result of the high winds a few months back…that sure brightened up my day….

Well…that was a little better…slept okay and only woke up once overnight and I’ll take that any day…damn, just scrubbing the wheels on the car has my right elbow stiff and throbbing this morning so there will be voltaren applied before I get on the indoor bike…and that is going to happen in about a half hour to keep the 33 mile days going as long as I can…today looks like the day I unplug the old laptop and put it downstairs in storage with the two other ones down there…I am happy with the new one and I’m getting used to the different keyboard layout so I can get back to speed typing…I do have books that need to go back to the library today or tomorrow…probably tomorrow after the grocery run since I just need to get off at the downtown exit and go a few blocks to get there…I have lots to read from the 52 books I got at the sale and even have one Jonathan Kellerman almost finished after starting it only a couple of days ago…I wonder if I should do a countdown on the days remaining of the 30 days of being good that I’m doing before the checkup…tonight will be three and that makes 27 to go…not much to do today…just the rides ad some cleaning…cooked yesterday so I have leftovers for 3 days or so but still need to to plan some meals….more later…

Well…started the day running today with getting on the indoor bike before 6:30 so I would be ready to go outdoors when it got light a little after 8…outdoor rides in by 10 or so but then dived back into working on the car…after I dragged the compressor up stairs to fill the tires on the bike since I hadn’t put air in the tires for almost a month…and they lose 20 psi in that time so now they are back to a little over 60 psi like they should be…then I got started on cleaning the wheels on the car and that was a pain since I hadn’t cleaned them in quite a while so I used wheel cleaner, dish soap, and wd and they all took a little of the black off them but they are still not clean…oh, well…I did need to take the rears off to get at the parking brake linkage that freezes up if I don’t lube it twice a year…and then I hit all of the rubber suspension bushings with wd to keep them from squeaking and that whole thing took me til almost 1pm..started cooking the Masala about 2 or so and that took an hour and a half then I had the weight work to do that got me til 4 when I was finally done for the day…that made it a long day and with the lack of sleep last night, I’m feeling pretty worn out right now…but I guess I’ll feel that way for the next month as I take the time off cocktails and sleeping…oh, well…getting toward 7pm and I need to find something to watch tonight….

Well…if there is anything I hate it is having to wait to get on the bike until it gets light…I’m warmed up and ready to go but at 7:30 I still don’t see much light out there…so I guess I’ll sit here for a bit and have more coffee…the temp is already up to 61 so no fleece this morning and that will be welcome….I probably should get dressed and drag the compressor out to the garage since I haven’t aired the tires on the bike up in a month…and I should do the same for the car tires since I haven’t checked them in months…and I do want to clean the wheels and try my new battery powered impact wrench to get the lugs off…I do need to cook this afternoon so it’s going to be busy all day…okay, need more coffee and to start prepping to head out…more later…

Well…the agony of not sleeping started last night as I take the next month off of having cocktails to prepare for my yearly checkup…I’ve got three weeks to get my cholesterol down along with my blood pressure so there will be lots of veggies and not much meat in my diet…but not today…have chicken thawed and need to make some Masala this afternoon but boneless/skinless chicken isn’t too bad…I hope…going to get 33 miles in today but that starts by 6:30 am when I’ll get on the indoor bike since I’m not going to wait for the sun to come up before the first ride…it’s warm enough to get out on the bike as soon as it gets light so that’s where I’ll be…have a lot of stuff to do today so I’m hoping to have the rides done by 10 or so…need to get the string trimmer out and take down the husks of the perennials and get them bagged up to go out today along with some small branches that fell in the last wind storm…and I want to take a wire brush to detail the wheels on the car for the last time along with lubing the handbrake so it won’t freeze up over the winter…so it looks like a long one today…I dd have to put compression socks on to try to get the swelling down in my right foot and I need to stop eating pretzels that make it worse…cripes, soon I won’t have anything fun I can eat…oh,well…

Well…I’m still thinking about that 209 dollar e-bike I saw yesterday…but I’m questioning why I want it…I can’t include any miles on it into the total for the year and I wonder than what it’s good for? I mean I can still ride with just leg power and I don’t have any extra time in my day to just waste fooling around without any gain from it..the big question to me is how the hell can they sell an e-bike for less than half the cost of my mountain bike? So I guess I’ll have to think about it some more…I know I can afford it but to buy something to just have it sit is not too smart…it does have a cool LCD screen with a speedometer and battery charge meter in it…okay, going to go look at it again…okay, I found the problem…shipping costs 199 bucks so that’s where they are making their money so no, it not worth almost 400 bucks…

Well…my 30 days off of cocktails starts today and I think I’m looking forward to it…not looking forward to the sleep disruptions that will come with it but that’s part of the deal…oh, well…I damn near bought an electric bike last night since there is one on Amazon for 209 bucks and I wonder how the heck they can sell one for that price? It says that it has 22 miles of all electric range and the reviews were good for it so I may go out and see if it holds up to the light of day and coffee…man, I need to get going and get the indoor ride in but I’m so damn tired that I don’t even want to walk downstairs…I think I had a batch of pasta salad go bad yesterday since it stated to taste weird so now I have to figure out what to eat today and that is harder than it looks…have a tray of chicken thighs in the fridge that I guess I could cook but I was planning on using them for another batch of chicken and rice that I like….not much to do today…have to get off my butt and do something today so I’m not the damn slug that I was yesterday…and I really don’t think the bike rides count for anything…so I need to get moving…only have 1,600 miles left to get to 10K and that looks pretty daunting right now,,,more later…