Well… damn, I’m injured….when I was sweeping up after edging and using the string trimmer, I caught my right thumb on the sharp top edges of the chain link fence and ripped a big chunk out of it….it’s been bleeding for an hour now and it is starting to throb so I took some ibuprofen and I’ll keep changing the band aids as they get soaked in blood…it seems to be slowing some but it’s ripped into the nail bed for my thumbnail and the nail is turning blue along with the joint…damn, damn, damn….so, it looks like things are going to be on hold for a day or two as it heals enough that it stops hurting….and that is my shifting thumb so I may be off the bike, too…crap…oh, well…it’s been a long time since I’ve been injured and it could have been worse…

Well…running really late this morning with not getting out of bed until 7:39 and I’m not sure how that happened…feel really worn out today and it’s probably from only eating one meal yesterday even with doing two rides…just didn’t have any desire to eat more and I think I’ll have to force myself to stay healthy….didn’t get a lot done yesterday other than the rides but I need to change that today….why, I don’t know…but not accomplishing anything is depressing…cripes, I don’t even feel like getting on the bike today…but I will….if I skipped that would be even more depressing….I need coffee…still pretty sore this morning and I think I’m going to get some topical pain reliever to rub on my elbow and thumb to stop taking ibuprofen for relief…I know it can’t be good to take one every day but I’m not sure how I’ll sleep without it….it looks like it’s not going to rain all week so I need to decide how much money I want to spend on my lawn watering it…it cost almost 50 bucks last month and I know I can afford it but it still hurts to pay a 75 buck water bill…I really hope that the cooler temps will help….going to only water once every three days instead of two but I don’t want to lose the progress I’ve made over the summer….not much to do today…need to get on the bike soon and then do some work on the yard and figure out what I’m going to cook today….I wonder if I can do some fast food in the near future? Haven’t had any of that in over two years and it may be convenient soon…who knows? More later…..

Well….have been having trouble getting comfortable on the bike lately and it felt like I was pushing forward on the pedals instead of down and couldn’t get any power into them…then yesterday it dawned on me that the seat had come loose a couple of times in the past month and it may have moved…and yep, the seat was back all the way in it’s travel and that was causing me to be too far rearward on the bike…so, I moved it to where it normally would be and that was only about an 3/4th of an inch forward but dang, what a difference it made…just that little bit put me back over the pedals and now I’m pushing down on them again and I’m not adjusting myself on the seat for the whole ride…much more power and I’m sitting on the right part of the seat to keep it from hurting my butt…with that small change and the re-gearing, this is the best bike I’ve had…the shifters are working perfectly and I was able to use 24th gear almost all the way back and average over 20 for the sprint….this is what the bike should have been from the start and now that I know how to rebuild them, I may not need another bike…now I just need to figure out how to fix the wear in the swing arm bushing…will probably look at that in the black bike since they are identical….break time…

Well….darn, running late today and the only reason is I forgot…okay, and reading the paper, and having coffee….got up around 6 and then out for the paper…had the top up on the car for the first time since April and I think I need to wd it to get rid of the small squeaks out of it….I think I’ll leave it latched for a while to  stretch it back out….I do need to do some work on the car that I have been putting off all summer…needs plugs and plug wires since I have been holding them together with blue silicone for a few years now and I still need to change the oil before winter…going to try to not run the car in the salt this winter since I really don’t HAVE to be anywhere anymore but we’ll see how that goes…I really wouldn’t need the new snow tires if I could do that but the all weather tires are so crappy in the snow they are dangerous so I am going to buy them anyway…I am thinking about planning a day off soon to just live for a bit but I wonder if I should wait til winter for that? I need to buy some interior white paint in satin finish to do the trim since I like the way it looked in the valley house and I can get a gallon of that for about 18 bucks….and, while I like the flat outdoor paint, for the interior I’m going with satin on everything since the clean up is easier with it and I  want all of it to match….going to get on the bike as soon as the F1 race is over and it looks like there is no wind today and I hope it stays that way…it has been so brutal out there the past few days that I am sore and could use an easy day….not much to do today…going to take it a little easy but will still probably do two rides today…and I know I won’t do any work on the house today…maybe that will be my day off? More later…

Well…dang, another busy day and I’m finally done…and it’s a little after three again and I guess that’s the new quitting time for me…got two bike rides in and they were pretty brutal with the wind blowing over 15 out here, and then I masked off the front door frame and put two coats of paint on it so that one is done…only two more to do but those are both interior doors so I can do them any time…their frames have old trim on the inside that will need to be sanded since they have about forty eleven coats of paint on them so the prep will probably take a few hours each….and I got almost all the paint off my hands already so it will be easy to clean them in a while….and I got done before the Michigan game that comes on at 3:30 so now I’m taking a break for a few minutes to catch up on the news for a bit…so, a political one today? Who knows? If I find a good topic I just might get to one….I did re-injure my lower back today somehow and I am stiff as heck again…darn…

Well…5:29…that’s all I need to say about that…feel okay this morning but I really hate being late on coffee…and I may have to drag out the french press since I decided to not make coffee last night and I think I misjudged how much was in the pot…oh, well…slept okay last night even with getting up early and feel okay…not too sore even with the rides and all of the work yesterday and that is welcome after being so stiff for a few days…I may still have to think about riding today if the forecast winds do appear…10-20 mph is a bit much if it hits the high end of the forecast and I think that’s how I hurt myself earlier in the week…..I am going to get the front door masked off today so I can paint the interior portion of it either today or tomorrow…and there is no rain in the forecast until next sat so I can do that any day….I’ll be done with the outside after I get that frame painted but I need to get on the winter wheels this week to get them painted so I can buy the new winter tires in the next couple of weeks…want to be ready for the snow that may come earlier out here…will be my first winter here and I’m not sure what to expect…probably lots of lake effect snow and lots of shoveling since I decided to not buy a snowblower this year…still able to shovel and I know I can use the exercise….not much to do today…just going to watch F1 qualifying here in a few minutes and need to check when Man U plays so I don’t miss that…they have been stinking up the place and I’m not sure why…but I’ll still watch in case they put together a good match…and Michigan plays sometime today so I won’t be too bored….more later….

Well…darn, it has turnd into another work day today and I just finished up and it’s almost 3…again…had to get started early today with running a couple of errands both to get grass seed and a furnace filter and then over to Meijers to get my powerball tickets with the jackpot over 500 mil and 6 bucks is cheap to have hope for two more days…then out on the bike for a good ride and then mowed, fed, and seeded the lawn…had lunch and then back on the bike for the second ride and I realized why I normally don’t do two rides on mowing days…legs were flat as heck all the way through the ride and they hurt like nuts right now…and I got my water bill and I spent 45 bucks watering the lawn last month but that comes with trying to make a new lawn…with cooler temps, I can cut back to every 3 or 4 days of watering to try to get that bill down…and I hope it starts the fall rains at some point since it is fall now…it is going to rain overnight so I won’t have to water until probably tues….now it’s time to take a little break and watch some F1 and soccer….

Well…running about on time this morning but I’m still having a hard time getting started….I wonder if the cooler weather has anything to do with it? Not going to be able to get on the bike until after 9 today when it will be warm enough to go out in shorts…and the wind is going to be manageable…only around 5 mph or so and that will make for a good ride that won’t make me hurt like I do right now…but, I need to get out to Menards to get some grass seed before that and then hit Meijers to get my powerball ticket for tomorrow since the jackpot is over 500 mil…need to look at bird feeders at both places, too, and buy one if I can find a stick on for under 15 bucks….I can get a nice one on amazon for that price but I’d like to buy local if I can…want to get that up before winter so the birds can find it and get used to it….I do need to get the last of the food on the lawn this morning, too, and I may mow the front of the house since the grass is getting pretty long and I do need to continue to mulch until the leaves fall….and I do need to continue to finish the painting on the front door but I need to mask it all off first and that will take about an hour with having to do all the hinges to keep them looking new…not much to do today…the day looks pretty busy with all I have to do and that’s okay…I can rest during winter…but I know I won’t with all of the work I have to do in here…still not sure how nice I want to leave this place for the next owner….more later….

Well…after getting the kitchen cleaned and the floor scrubbed then cleaning the living room and the couch…and then rotating the cushions so they get the same amount of wear, I was done for the day, or so I thought. I just loafed for an hour or so and then noticed that it had stopped raining so, of course, I got suited up and got on the bike…but I forgot to check the wind and when I turned north out of the alley, the wind hit me hard and I almost turned around…after the brutal ride yesterday, I didn’t want another one of those…but, I’m an idiot…or an optimist so I kept going with the hope that it would be better…and it was, a little, with the wind almost out of the north instead of NE like yesterday…but it was still blowing over 17 and that made it brutal at times but I survived it…and I saw a flock of 6 Blue Herons just standing next to the trail along the lake and I’ve never seen that before…and there was a bunch of deer standing in somone’s front yard on the way out to the lake…and that was kind of cool, too…I think these rides have contributed to my middle back pain since it hurts bad again right now but it’s not bad enough to take anything for it…so now, it’s almost 3…can I take the rest of the day off?