Well…if you come here often, you know that I sometimes do a monthly recap on what has happened to me this month and put a few final thoughts down before it ends…so, here it is…I did  a lot of damage to myself this month whether from accidents that mashed my thumb, that still hurts by the way, to the stupidity of not eating enough that continually is a problem for me…but, that said, it was a pretty good month and I am still thankful that I have a house to live in and can still get out on the bike every day…and I should have enough cash saved by spring to buy another Miata if I can find one… still have tons to do here and I would like to get a garage door opener and install it over the winter so I can stop getting out of the car to open it manually….and I do need to buy a new weight machine since I need to tone up from the waist up….and I’ll probably buy that from Amazon since I can get it delivered and won’t need to find someone to pick it up for me….I still have a lot to do to get the yard ready for winter with edging the front walks and running the string trimmer one more time but, I think I’ll be done after that other than picking up the leaves and they have barely started to fall yet…sure hope they get down before the end of November since that ends leaf pickups and there is a rule out here that you have to get the leaves off your lawn before winter…the weather is going to change markedly this week and the days of 50 degrees are pretty much gone…but, I do look forward to my first winter out here and hunkering down during snowstorms…I’ll probably get out and walk around in the storms since the quiet is just so cool to hear…shoveling is going to be a pain but I’m sure I can handle it…for this year anyway…then I need a snowblower….Happy October…oh, and that’s 88 of these for the month….not a bad month for an old guy….

Well…Muskegon is a weird little town….just yesterday on the ride, I saw a small boat sitting just off 7th street with a duck blind on it and two guys were shooting at ducks…right in the middle of town and it was strange to hear shotgun blasts going off as I rode by…and this morning as I rode through the trees on the way to the beach, it appears that someone shot one of the almost tame deer that live on the dunes….there was blood all over the place on the trail in huge smears as they dragged it out of there…that doesn’t seem to be cool…these deer just stand there and anyone could walk up to them and hit them with an arrow…and how do you explain the blood on the trail to the kids that walk it every day? I know some people are idiots but damn, how do you justify killing a tame deer? Just no damn sport in it…geez…

Well…up at 5:30 this morning but was able to lie in bed til 6:20 so that’s okay…and I slept okay and feel good this morning…well…not good but okay and I have to remember to eat something before I get on the bike in a little while…I did go out and look for the northern lights last night and that was a bust…it was nice and clear and saw a bunch of stars so that was cool….didn’t get anything done yesterday and today will probably be the same but I do need to clean the bathroom and vacuum the rug in the living room and that will be after I get two rides in this morning….my legs feel okay today but they hurt pretty bad sitting here last night and I’m glad the ibuprofen worked…and I had the first day of no pain shifting the bike yesterday and it is nice to not have to think about it anymore….have been working the thumb to try to get some range of motion back but I think that ship has sailed….but I can use it again for most things and I think it will get a little better over time…not much to do today…it’s still only 7:15 and it won’t be light enough to get on the bike until 8:30 or so and that gives me time to read the news and have more coffee…..I do have to remember to eat more today since I think I may have been close to not enough yesterday…this really is harder than I thought…and it’s weird, like me….more later…

Well…okay, I feel so much better today that I’m really surprised what just eating a little more does to me…got two great, hard rides in this morning and now I’m sitting here trying to figure out what to watch with a race, Man U, and Michigan playing at the same time…and the only thing I added was two pieces of toast and an apple yesterday but I did have a big plate of pasta that may have helped the most and I had pasta and garlic bread again for lunch today and toast after my first ride so I’m on my way to eating enough again today. At least I hope I am…don’t want to feel like I did yesterday when I had no energy and didn’t even ride the bike at all…so, you know I do this to myself all the time but I’ve had to to control my weight my entire life….I’d weigh 300 pounds if I didn’t….and I’m still fat after burning 1200 calories a day on the bike so you get my obsession…I guess I’m just going to enjoy feeling better….and a really bad movie on Svengoolie tonight…

Well…dang, it’s funny how eating enough makes you feel better…got up at 6:41 this morning and I feel better even with just getting to the coffee….and it looks like I’ll be able to get on the bike as soon as it gets light…there are still some showers around but I think they’ll stay to the east…sure don’t want to get wet when it’s in the 40′s….didn’t get anything done yesterday but clean the microwave and cook and there is so much sports on today that I probably won’t get much done today, either…Michigan plays state today and Man U is on at the same time along with two races so I could just veg on the couch from noon on but I am going to try to get two rides in this morning so that means I’ll have to get out by about 8:30….I don’t think my thumb is going to get a lot of it’s motion back since it is still really stiff and the joint barely moves…but it doesn’t hurt much so I guess that’s something….and I don’t have much pain anywhere else so that’s a good thing, too….I do hope my legs are better on the bike today…they have just been so flat that riding even at 80% has been a chore lately and I think it’s related to not eating enough…but, I am going to try to continue the fix for that today…should have some toast with peanut butter before I get out and then have a big lunch after I get the rides in….and try to forget about counting calories for a couple of days…and that will be hard since I’ve done that in my head since I was young….not much to do today….just the rides and sports on tv…I do have to clean the couch and rotate the cushions to spread the wear out but I can do that while I watch sports…and I do need to vacuum the rug in the living room, too, but that’s easy….more later….

Well…damn, what a wasted day….haven’t done anything at all today but run an errand this morning and can’t come up with a topic for this afternoon…have been feeling pretty crappy all day and I know it’s from not eating enough so I have been trying to eat almost constantly today and I sure hope it helps straighten out my guts that have been giving me fits all day today…it’s a heck of a lot harder to eat than it used to be…I didn’t even get on the bike downstairs I’m so worn out…just have no motivation at all and just want to melt into the couch for the rest of the day…I am glad it has rained all day to keep me from feeling guilty about not taking the bike out….but, I need to do better tomorrow….maybe I can come up with a topic later and come back here for one more even though I’m way over the two a day goal for the month…but who knows?

Well…running a little late today with waking up for the first time at 5:30 but went back to bed til 7:17 since I wasn’t ready to get up….slept okay but just poured the first cup of coffee so I am just hanging on until it starts to work…don’t hurt too much this morning and I thought I would after going out in the wind yesterday…my right elbow has been hurting some lately and it feels like it did earlier in the year…I wonder if it is arthritis instead of tendonitis that I assumed it was since it doesn’t hurt all the time? The people that are trimming trees did a pretty crappy job along the alley yesterday and left a big branch that is growing into the power lines right behind my house and I don’t understand that….just hope the power stays on all winter…it has been good so far with no problems with the storms but there haven’t been many strong ones to test that….it rained some last night and it looks like more is on the way but I may be able to get out on the bike this aft for at least one ride…had planned to take the day off but then I remembered I have the bike on the trainer downstairs and I can ride inside now…but that is really, really boring so it will be a last resort…it is a little cool when the snow is flying to ride indoors….not much to do today…have an errand to run this morning since I ran out of butter and need it to make grilled cheese and toast in the morning and that will happen soon..but I need more coffee and to read the news first…have to remember that I don’t need to rush anymore….but that is such an ingrained habit that I don’t think I can change it…more later…

Well…as you can see, no political one today since I am so depressed with how the country got sold out by Manchin and Sinema that I just can’t talk about it right now…so, I’ll talk about this…for a while, I really felt like I got a lot done today, but when I thought about it, I didn’t get much done at all…and that is a little depressing, too….as I said before, I got two bike rides in and made an omelet for lunch and used up the leftover bacon…then I started to work on the computer for the downstairs bike so I can start to ride it when the weather is crappy…it took me almost 15 minutes to get the battery out of it’s packaging….have never seen anything like it…but I did get it in the computer and got it set up so it will read time in seat, distance, and MPH on the first screen…but, when I got on it, the chain was skipping from no lubrication and sitting so long so I had to go out and get the chain lube and lubricate it…works great now and I put about .3 of a mile on it before remembering I hadn’t put the outdoor bike away since I wanted to clean the idler sprockets on the rear shifter with them filled with gunk…so I got out the dish soap and the detail brush I use to clean it and got grease and dirt all over me but did get it clean…now it has to dry before I can lube the chain and the idlers…still have that left to do but can wait until tomorrow since rain is forecast…or I may do it today since it is probably the nicest it’s going to be for the rest of the year….but, I’m taking a break first…didn’t do much but I’m still worn out….

Well…got my last two rides in wearing shorts today and it was just brutal on the second ride…the first ride was okay if a little windy but manageable….so I came back here, had some more coffee, and then got back on the bike….and that was a mistake…as soon as I left here I could tell that the wind had picked up to at least 20 mph out of the East and I almost turned around since I never go out in wind like that…probably should have, really…on the way back, going straight into the wind, the gusts were almost 30 mph on top of the steady 20 that the wind was blowing and I was all the down to the 3rd sprocket in the back of the bike and I’ve never ridden any distance on that one….had one gust when I was riding across the ponit that stopped me dead and I could only balance until it died down…and my legs are telling me the ride was pretty stupid…one cool thing was on the way up the hill to the beach, I saw a huge tom turkey that was just standing there looking in the windows of the sun room on a house…I don’t think he could figure out why he couldn’t walk in there…and I just had to laugh…and on the way back, he was just standing on the trail and didn’t move when I rode by…pretty darn weird….