Well…I know it’s starting to get old with me saying that I was too busy or busier than heck…etc…but it is a good description of the day today that started out with the first indoor ride at 7:30 am followed up by the second one at 8:30 am…then I started working of the little 3 legged stool I’ve been planning to refinish…got that all sanded and then ran out to depot to get some stain and urethane, stained it and let it dry for a bit, then I mowed the lawn and then decided to get an outdoor ride in…but before that, I put urethane on the legs and handle of the stool so they would be dry when I got back…then I finished up the top of the stool and now I’m just waiting for it to dry so I can tighten the legs up and put it back in the bathroom where I use it…came out pretty damn good and I should have taken before and after photos of it to show the contrast…oh, well…still drinking coffee at almost 3 pm but I need to stop that and start pouring water down since the gout is back in my right big toe…but right now I’m going to watch soccer and read a bit….

Well…crap, have been up since 4:24 and out of bed at 5 since there was no way I was getting back to sleep…so I turned the coffee maker on early but that is too slow so I got the french press out and made a couple of cups and I do agree with Tom…the French press coffee is much better than drip and I’m going to enjoy the lack of bitterness for two cups…big cups…using the big red double sized cup my daughter left me…woke up to a surprise in my e-mail that my new laptop has been shipped and it’s supposed to be here tomorrow…it said temporarily out of stock when I ordered it…so that means I only need to get this old thing to boot up two more times…have never had a new laptop so it’s going to be a little strange with it running Windows 11 and being relatively modern…I know it’s not a high performance machine but it will be better than this one where I always have to fool with it to get it to boot up…it’s pretty cold out here at 37 and it’s not going to warm up enough to ride outdoors until after noon so it will be a two indoor ride day just like yesterday…and then I’ll try to get out for one ride for only 29 miles today…not much to do today…have leftovers for one more day to go with the pasta salad I made yesterday…I do need to get some stain and urethane to refinish a small stool I use in the bathroom and then do the same for some dried out veneer on the front porch just to get it through the winter…and clean out there a bit…but I need to sand the stool today first to see what I’ve got under the old stain and finish…more later…

Well… after doing two rides indoors for 16 miles today, I really thought that was going to be it for the day…but then the sun came out and I decided to try an outdoor ride even though it was only 50 degrees out there…and it was pretty darn cold and my hands still hurt even after being indoors for over an hour…probably should get the electric gloves ordered soon but it is going to be in the 60’s for a week so I guess I can wait a few days…the damn hot water cartridge in the kitchen sink was leaking a small drip after I used it to do dishes today and I tried to fix it but the whole faucet is shot and needs to be replaced…it did stop dripping so I’m not sure what is going on…maybe some dirt in it…I hope…after spending 300 bucks on the laptop yesterday, I just don’t want to spend another 100 bucks right now…okay, need to do the weight work…

Well…finally, we got some rain out here yesterday but I’m sure it’s too little, too late for my lawn…slept okay last night and was only up once at about 4am but I feel so worn out that the bike ride is going to wait until the coffee starts to work at around 8am…it’s only 40 out here right now and the high is going to barely get above 50 today so the outdoor rides will wait until the afternoon…I know I should be ready for the cold since it’s already halfway through October but it gets harder as I get older…man, I feel like crap this morning…haven’t cooked for a few days and need to start planning meals for the rest of the week…think I’ll make some pasta salad today and I need to take some chicken out of the freezer for Masala that I’ll make tomorrow…and I’ll make some more chicken, rice and potatoes to use up the open chicken broth in the fridge…this could be a short ride day with the rain forecast for this afternoon and the cold and I really could use an easy day…not much to do today…just need to dig down deep and get moving but not until I have another cup of coffee…man, I feel old today….but I will get moving and accomplish something today…not sure what that will be but something…more later…

Well…I did get back to the library for bag day today and with the 19 books I got Friday, today’s haul got me to a total of 52 books for 30 bucks…but I threw in an extra 10 as a contribution to the library so I guess I really spent 40 bucks…but that’s still only 76 cents a book and I got a lot of hardcovers…and a lot of books from my favorite authors that I haven’t read so I’ll finish the last one I checked out and then get into my books…I don’t think I’ve ever owned this many books in my life…all the new ones fit on the desk my daughter left and I still have enough room to use it for an ironing board…I think I’m going to look for another book case if I can find a reasonably priced one…or maybe I should make one…I guess I’ll price out a flat pack one just to see…

Well…I am not really used to just buying things so to order the laptop from Dell today after only one day of thinking about it is not normal for me…but, how could I pass it up? It will do everything that I need and more and it has three times more memory than the Acer I was looking at and it’s less money…this one has Intel processors in it too when the Acer has chips I’ve never heard of before…so now I’m a little excited to have a computer that works as it’s supposed to and actually has a battery that will hold a charge…and the screen is two inches larger than this one and HD that this one sure isn’t…only 290 bucks after cash back on my card and it feels good to be at the point in my life that I can afford a new one with no stress…I’m sure that the new one will be cool and a little more modern than this one that I’ve been using for 10 years or so…and it was a couple of years old when I got it…and thinner by a long ways at 3/4ths of an inch vs the 1 1/2 inches of this one…and the best thing is that I won’t have to keep it plugged in all the time like I do this one sine the battery is shot…glad I didn’t bite the bullet and buy a new battery for this one for 50 bucks…and I’ll be able to use my bluetooth earbuds with it and it does come with a headphone jack, too…I just realized that this is the first new laptop I’ve ever bought…for the past 20+ years I’ve been using hand me down computers…and all of the laptops were Dells…weird…

Well..damn, having a hard time getting going today and I’m not sure what the rides are going to be…I think I’ve decided what new laptop I’m going to buy…Dell has one that has a 15.6 inch HD screen and a 512 gig hard drive with wifi and bluetooth for 279 bucks and that is  really a deal, I think, and I certainly can afford that…so, I may order it today…man, it will be weird to have a laptop that actually has battery life but it is going to be a pain to get everything that I need loaded up to it…but I do have time for that since this old thing is still working…but windows 11 doesn’t support external cd/dvd drives yet so I won’t be able to buy one of those…and no laptop has those drives anymore….it did rain yesterday for a bit and the little weather widget says it’s supposed to rain again today but I’ll believe it when I see it…damn, it’s already almost 7:30 and I’m not moving at all and I wonder if I’ve finally gotten to the point where I need a rest? I know I do but I won’t take it today…will be on the indoor bike here in a few minutes and then outdoors as soon as it gets to 50…not much to do today…just the rides and some cleaning but right now, I’m sitting here pretty worn out from cocktails last night…but I’ll be back to being good tonight and through Thursday and I wonder why I should be doing that…yeah, I know it’s good for me but a life of discipline is pretty wearing at times…I don’t even remember what it feels like to just let a day flow without anything that I have to do…and that sucks…more later…

Well…still crippling this old laptop along until I make a decision on  a new one…I can get a better one direct from Dell for about the same price as the Acer so that’s something to think about…didn’t get much done today after scrubbing the porch siding yesterday and getting up pretty sore today…I did get three rides in for 33 miles this morning…just heard some thunder but I’m not seeing any rain so I won’t get my hopes up…it hasn’t rained here in almost a month so we could really use some…it looks like I’ll get to 10,000 miles without replacing the driveline on the bike since it has been working really well for the whole summer and I might just as well use the sprockets and chain up and then replace the whole thing over the winter…I do have one more night of cocktails for tonight and may watch the new “Beetlejuice” movie but we’ll see…might just get caught up on some shows or go into the library to see if there is anything interesting…but right now I’m going to read for an hour or so…

Well…damn, didn’t get up til almost 7 this morning and slept through the night but I can’t get used to that since it was all the cause of having cocktails last night…and I’m paying for that right now since I’m having a hard time getting going…but part of that is I’ve just poured my first cup of coffee at 7:25 and it needs to work soon…had a good, productive day yesterday and I wonder how I can keep that going today…I should be on the bike already but that isn’t going to happen until 8 or so and, with the temp in the 40’s right now, outdoor rides will have to wait til 10 or so when it warms up into the 50’s…so I wonder if I can wait until 8:30 to get on the indoor bike?  Nope, no later than 8…I do need to make some bean burritos today but that will probably wait til dinner…I do need to think about meal planning but that won’t be for a couple of days…going to hold off mowing the lawn for a few days since not many leaves are down and the lawn is dying form no rain out here for weeks now…it is supposed to rain out here tomorrow but I’m laughing about that…haven’t been out here long enough to see the long term patterns but this sure looks like a drought to me…not much to do today…and I really wish that was true for just one day…man, I would savor just sitting here doing nothing for a change but that is just not me…but why is that? Who knows? More later….

Well…have been so busy today that I haven’t had time to look for a topic until right now at 2:15 pm and I do need to take a little break…so I’ll do this instead…it’s been a really busy day today with getting two rides in before 9am and then getting cleaned up and heading over to the library at 10am to look at the used book sale…and I hit the score with 19 bucks for 19 books and I found three Larry Nevin sci fi novels…”Ringworld”, “Ringworld Engineers”, and “The Integral Trees”…three books I really wanted…they are in paperback but I’m okay with that…and I got lots of other authors that I like…Michael Connelley, Patricia Cornwell, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, and others…so a good score and I’m going back Sunday for the bag sale…I really like the people at the  library…they are so nice and helpful and made sure I knew about Sunday…pretty cool… oh, and a couple of Frank Herbert “Dune” books…after I got back here, I jumped on the bike for the third ride, had lunch, and then got to work on the siding on the front of the house…have that done and now it’s 2;30 and I am done for the day other that the weight work…it looks pretty shiny and new and I’m really happy how it came out…I wonder if I’ll get the weather to do the sides of the house this fall? I guess we’ll see…need to do the weight work right now…politics later…