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…

Well…darn, there were auroras as far south as NC last night but none here and I stayed up to look for them…oh, well…I guess I’ll just have to live the memory of the best ones I’ve seen from 30 years ago…and when I was diving my Fiat 124 spyder at night with the top down in the cold and that was cool…I guess I’m lucky to have seen great ones twice…went to bed early last night and was up by 5:14 and slept about normally so I’m okay with that…the broken laptop is still working and I’ll be careful with it until I find a new one to buy…I did look at an Acer for about 300 bucks that would suit my needs but I’m waiting to hear back from my son what his opinion is…but I probably won’t hear from him so I guess I’m on my own…and 300 bucks is not too much of a risk…it’s warm enough to ride outside right now but it’s dark til almost 8 and I need to have a ride in before that…so, I’ll be inside for the first one since I have a morning schedule I have to keep…want to get two rides in before I head to the used book sale at 10 and then back here and on the bike again to have 3 in before noon…then it’s going to be warm enough to clean the front porch siding so that will be the project for the day along with the porch windows…have leftovers for today but will make some bean burritos tomorrow to use up the tomatoes I have in the fridge…not much to do today…okay, that’s not true…going to be running all day until I get the porch done and that’s okay…need to get off my butt and get things done…more later…

Well…the second hinge on the laptop display just broke so now I’m using a small wood clamp to support it…works okay but I need a new one soon so I just texted my son and asked him what he recommends …probably won’t reply so I’ll be on my own and I’ll just have to wing it…oh, well…I did get a lot done today and have the chain link fastened to the posts and have drilled and put stump killer in the holes to get the rot started so I’ll be able to take them out easily in the spring…what a pain in the butt…I did see three herons fighting in Muskegon Lake this afternoon and that was pretty cool…have never seen such big birds fighting before…have never even seen three herons in the lake at one time and that was pretty cool…damn, I’m pretty bummed with the computed failing on me so I’ll stop here…need to find a political topic so I should go out and get looking…more later…

Well…darn, up before 5am again today and have a very busy day today…even without sleeping well, I feel okay this morning with being good for the 4th day in a row and tonight will make it 5 in a row…it’s only 38 degrees out here right now and it’s not going to warm up enough to ride outdoors until after 10 this morning so that gives me the chance to get a bunch of other stuff done after the indoor ride…need to get fuel for the string trimmer and mower along with getting another gallon of milk I forgot yesterday…then over to depot to see if they have stump killer and a cover plate for the ground fault/light switch in the bathroom…might do one more mowing of the lawn in mulch mode since there aren’t many leaves down yet and the grass is still growing…and I want to work on the fence to get the ties replaced that are gone…and need to get that stuff done today since it is the  used book sale tomorrow morning at the library and I don’t want to miss that…it will be nice to do something just for me instead of the house or health…so it’s going to be a busy one today but at least I don’t have to cook with the potato soup I made yesterday and the leftover chicken/rice I made over the weekend…I did get 5 pounds of Jasmine rice for around 7 bucks yesterday and that will be enough for the rest of the year…and I got a big can of chock full o’ nuts coffee for 10 bucks and that will get me through till at least Thanksgiving…and that’s why I spent a hundred bucks on groceries…oh, well…more later….

Well…the title to this one is kinda accurate since I didn’t get a lot done for me…I did get three rides in, hit menards and the grocery stores, and then made potato soup this afternoon…that does seem a little busy but not like yesterday…I think I’m going to plan to try to wash the front of the house tomorrow if it ever gets warm enough…but it’s barely getting into the 60′s so I may wait til Friday when it will be in the 70′s…maybe I’ll mow the lawn and run out to depot to get some stump killer tomorrow…then I can go to Meijers to get the extra gallon of milk I forgot today…so I do have lots to do for the rest of the week and need to get off my ass and do some of it…okay…want to read a bit…

Well…damn, that was an expensive grocery run…spent over a 100 bucks but that included 10 bucks for coffee and another 9 bucks for the saline that has been working on my allergies and 9 bucks for stop leak for the car just in case I need it to get through the winter…and I bought a 5 pound bag of Jasmine rice to have here…so lots of stuff that I won’t need to buy again for a long time…and heck, I can afford it so no big deal…oh, and I did buy some cocktail materials for next week that is about 26 bucks…but not for this week…have two more days of being good and I have enough mixed up from two weeks ago for Friday and Sat…the only protein I bought was 4 pounds of chicken breasts for 8 bucks that will go into Masala later in the week…menards didn’t have the stump killer I needed so I’ll hit depot Friday when I need to get another gallon of milk since I’m going to use a lot of it to make potato soup this aft….and I’ll do that before I hit the library for the yearly book sale…okay, need to suit up and get on the bike….more later…