Well…running a little early this morning with getting up at 5:23 and not sleeping worth a damn…and the rain that I was counting on to keep me off the bike fell apart coming across the lake so it looks like I’ll be back at the grind here in a few minutes…but, I don’t want to…don’t really want to do anything today….at least my foot doesn’t hurt so I guess that’s something….and I noticed that I have reached the last hole in my belt when I was going out for the paper yesterday and that means I’ve lost about 2 inches off my waist this summer which normally I would be happy about but who cares? Didn’t get a lot done yesterday but work outside on a few things and I think I’m going to have to water the front lawn today just to keep it alive until the next rain that who knows when is going to come? This damn weather is just wearing me out….I can’t remember a summer where it has been over 90 so much and doesn’t cool off much overnight….everything is so damn sticky all the time with the high humidity and it is almost impossible to get relief from it…and yet I’ll be out on the bike in a minute sweating my butt off because I don’t know what else to do…not much to do today….sweat, sweat, and sweat some more and I’m going to try to work on the outside of the house some to see if my foot will hold up to it…it’s kind of nice to be able to get my shoes on without trouble but I know that will end if I’m out in the heat and on my feet too much….more later…
Monthly Archives: July 2020
Another depressing day…
Well…it’s been another depressing day in a depressing week that is turning into a depressing life and I’m sure I don’t like it much…not getting anything accomplished with the damn heat and knowing that if I work in it it’s going to flare my foot again and I’ll be off my feet for another week…but I need to get off my ass and finish this house soon since all of my efforts now need to be focused on finding a house that I feel is going to be impossible with the weird assed housing market right now…prices are exploding and I’m pretty sure I’m priced out of the market…houses that were going for 120K a couple of months ago are now priced over 150K and that’s too rich for me….and the prospect of going back into an apartment at my age is just too ugly to contemplate….so, I’ve got about 5 months to figure something out….and the stress from all of that is always in the back of my head so I can’t really enjoy anything anymore….I’m getting too old for this crap…and my option of just pulling up stakes for somewhere else is gone with two of my kids expecting grandkids and I do want to be part of their lives…so taking what cash is left and moving to Costa Rica is off the table….I don’t even enjoy getting on the bike anymore but I still do it because I’m supposed to and I have a goal that I need to meet…don’t even care about that anymore…can you tell I’m depressed? I can….and my sunflowers are dying and my three important plants out back are dying, too and I’m not sure why that would be…and my tomatoes are dying to the point that I’ll probably get a dozen tomatoes off 20 plants and that is depressing too….should probably just pull them all out so I don’t have to take care of them anymore…have already pulled out 6 of them that weren’t growing any tomatoes on them and chopped down 6 sunflowers that were attacked by that damn squirrel and a couple that were just mutated and weren’t going to blossom….oh, well…I’ll get over it in time…and maybe something will happen that will lift the depression…what that would be, I don’t know but it’s happened every time and just took time….so I wait….
The economy is not going to recover…
Well….how’s that for a click bait headline? I wanted to add “until the virus is controlled” but that telegraphs a little too much so I didn’t. But it is true…you just need to take a look at Florida where the outbreak is uncontrolled and unemployment is skyrocketing to see it….who the hell is going to go out and spend money (other than the maga assholes) when there are 15,000 new cases a day and the government is doing nothing to stop it? Even here in Michigan where we were down to around 150 cases a day has seen them jump to over 600 a day with the re-opening of bars and people relaxing their social distancing that got us in control of the virus. So, the bars are closed again and more restrictions are in place for mask wearing in all stores to try to stop the increases…and even here, old people like me are not going out to the restaurants that are still open and even youngsters are apprehensive of trying to go back to their old lives so they don’t spend money either. Without demand, the economy is not coming back any time soon…ignoring the virus continues to make the economy worse across the country so we need to concentrate on controlling it first, and no amount of wishful thinking by the idiot trump or his toady governors is going to change that…and opening the schools and turning them into huge virus incubators that is going to kill teachers and children is not going to help anything…especially since the repubs don’t want to pay for safety measures that could possibly protect our vulnerable children…of course they don’t, once you’re born, you’re on you own with these assholes….
July 26th
Well…running really late today and it was just a choice…I remembered to come here but only after I was suited up to go out on the bike so I decided to go out instead…so, here I am late as normal for Sunday….and it was another 3:40 morning with only fitful sleep after that so I am still a little worn out today….and I need to get back on the bike in a few minutes so I can get the second ride done before Man U plays t 11:00…jut talked to my daughter and she and her husband just bought 80,000 dollars worth of new cars and that is pretty cool…so glad they are doing so well….my foot doesn’t hurt much again today but the redness is coming back and that normally means my toe will hurt here in a while…have been taking vitamin c and lots of water to try to avoid it but we’ll see…I did make the pulled pork in the instant pot yesterday and made a southern vinegar based thin sauce that I will be trying today….very spicy with cayenne and red pepper flakes but it tastes good…but I only had two small sandwiches for the whole day yesterday so that may be one reason why I was struggling on the bike on the first ride…damn, I need to get going…it’s already 9:15 and I need to get ride two in….more later…
July 25th
Well….crap, another 5:15 morning after going to bed late too so that means less than 5 hours…again…and getting up at that time always reminds me of the Who song from Quadrophenia….I may have reached the point where I have to take it a little easy on the bike for a few days or take a day off completely with the overall pain I have been feeling the past few days…I hurt everywhere and have been running out of energy so much lately that I even cut the second ride short yesterday and only did 34 miles for the day. And something I’m allergic to just bloomed yesterday and left me coughing and with a plugged up head on the second ride and I am still feeling it this morning even with taking something for it last night….that could be why I felt so lousy yesterday…I guess we’ll see when I get out this morning….I think I’m just finally feeling my age and can’t go like I used to…but, I’m not willing to accept that just yet. I made up a new rub for some pork shoulder and tried it out on a small piece off the 7 pounder I bought this week…tasted great but I forgot to put the brown sugar in it but I will do that for the rest of it I’m cooking in the instant pot for lunch…going to make some pulled pork sandwiches out of it and then think about what else I can use 5 pounds of pork for….thinking of trying a vinegar based thin mustard sauce like they do in SC but I’ll have to look that up…and the pulled pork should go great with the jalpeno pickles I made the other day….not much to do today…I did chase the damn squirrel that is attacking my sunflowers yesterday and I m going to try to hit him with a rock if I see him today…and I got some other outdoor work done but I really need to get at the garage soon…but, not this weekend…I am going to take the weekend off except for cleaning and cooking and try to heal up and get back at it hard Monday….and I will get to a political one later today…just have been hovering on the edge of depression the past week or so and that makes it hard to focus and make sense here….more later…
they just hate Americans…
Well…watch what happens over the next few days with the repubs and the next relief bill and you will see how much these assholes hate Americans. While every reputable economist is calling for much more help for working Americans who are facing eviction or losing their houses since they can’t pay the mortgage with being out of work and the economy undergoing a “dead cat bounce” on the way to an even more severe recession as the virus rages across the country and the stimulus payments expire, the repubs just can’t help themselves and have loaded this next bill up with business bailouts while slashing the aid to individuals….with no work and no aid, there are potentially 20 million Americans that will face homelessness if nothing is done. But does that matter to the repubs? Nope, not at all as they go on and on about the extra unemployment payments keeping people from working for work since they can make more money staying home than going back to the crappy jobs they were laid off from….and the repubs can’t get it through their heads that there are no damn jobs…40 million Americans have filed for unemployment because their jobs are gone…have the repubs magically created 40 million jobs while no one was looking? Yeah…that’s a big no damn way and typical repub magic thinking…as the economy dives again with the virus surge and the cuts to aid hit and further kill demand for anything since no one will have any money they will be willing to spend. So, of course, the repubs will blame someone other than themselves for the tanking economy…after all, “I take no responsibility” is the repubs new mantra…..throw them all out…
July 24th
Well….running a little early today…or should be with getting up at 5:14 but I just can’t get moving…okay, this is really weird…when the cops put up their radar sign yesterday, I didn’t expect there would be much of an effect…but damn, traffic has slowed down to an average of 30 from 50 and the volume of traffic has even decreased this morning…no trucks hauling butt down the street or people flying down it….not sure what the deal is but I’ll take….slept okay last night but I am pretty worn out from all of the riding but I’ll be back on the bike this morning even though I hurt everywhere….didn’t get a lot done yesterday and probably won’t today either but I do need to watch for the damn squirrel that is killing my sunflowers…I was going to be nice but no more…I’ll kill that little shit if I get the chance…okay, yeah, I guess a few plants aren’t worth killing an animal….and the brush killer they sprayed next door is killing them anyway…or it’s the lack of rain…who knows? I am re learning a bunch about tending a garden so I guess that’s something I can apply to the next one….I did make up my own rub for some pork shoulder I got wed and it would have been perfect if I had remembered to put brown sugar in it so I will when I do the rest of of the 7 pounds in the instant pot over the weekend….and I made a new batch of jalpeno pickles that came out good again so it will be my new go to for pickles as I get more cukes from the garden….actually have 5 more cukes that are growing, too….should have a hundred but what can you do? more later….
The police were here…
Well…no, it’s not what you think…had a pleasant visit from a couple of officers from the GRPD this morning in response to my complaints about the excessive speed on the street here. They brought along one of those radar signs that show speed on a big display along with a speed limit sign showing what their speed should be…one thing I didn’t know about the newer signs is that every time it is triggered, it records the time date and speed on a computer card so that the cops will have 3 days of info to look at when they come and replace the card…one of the funny things that is happening is that some people are slowing down but some others appear to be speeding up to make their speed higher since they understand that you can’t get a photo radar ticket in Michigan. The bad part is that they don’t have the manpower to do an old fashioned radar trap with a gun and a few cars to stop the speeders so I’m not sure what use the data from the sign is going to be. At least someone in city government listened to me and something happened…really more than I expected.
July 23rd
Well…running late again today since I had to get a response out to the first ward commissioner who wrote me back yesterday in response to my e-mail about the traffic speed down my street…I mean 50-60 mph in a 25 mph zone? And not one damn cop in sight? They are great about citing people for peeling paint and unmowed lawns but reckless driving? Not so much…and I have never seen peeling paint or long grass kill someone like speeding down a narrow city street could. Oh, well…I’ll keep up the campaign until I get some results….oh, two days into the no foot pain count! Yeah, I know, it probably won’t last too long but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts….and the redness is almost gone too, along with some of the swelling so that’s progress but I’m not sure what I’m doing that is helping but I’ll keep up all of them since it’s not a lot of effort. Had a problem with the garage door for the past month or so and thought it was the receiver for the remote so I bought a universal replacement from depot and am waiting for it to arrive…but, in checking the wires that led to the receiver and that power it, I found they were corroded and cleaned them…and the receiver started right up so I guess I’ll have to return the new parts when I get them…but, I am going to wait for a couple of weeks to make sure my fix is permanent. No much to do today….I did the lawn yesterday and most of the other outdoor stuff so it looks like just the rides today and I have to pay a couple of bills but that’s it…I can use an easy day and I am thinking of scheduling a day off the bike just because I’m old and I hurt….more later….
More corruption from trump…
Well…as if the idiot trump wasn’t corrupt enough, it was revealed the other day that trump sent his ambassador to Scotland, a rich buddy of his, to lean on the secretary of state for Scotland to try get the British Open golf championship for one of his dilapidated golf clubs…and it went just as anyone who is not corrupt like trump would think…the SoS slapped trump’s crony down and told him to his face that even making the request was unethical…the same thing that every damn one of the career state department officials told trump’s buddy…and in trying to keep the interaction ethical of course cost an asst his job. Now, it’s bad enough that trump is funneling campaign contributions straight into his own pockets…but that is the rube’s money that they deserve to lose…but to use to state department to try to funnel money into his pockets is wrong and should have sparked outrage by the rest of the…crap I can’t even write that…the repubs don’t give a damn and will never do anything to stop him…please people…get out and vote so we can start to restore our country to one that is respected again….god, I hate trump….