Well…darn…didn’t sleep much last night and I am feeling it right now….and I need to get out on the bike before 8 so I can be back here before Man U plays at 9…it will barely be light by then but I can’t take another day with only one ride…I think I’ll work on the inside bike today so I can ride it tomorrow with the rain that is coming in…and there is a gale warning for tomorrow with the wind forecast to be 20-40 mph all day and there is no way I’ll even consider going out in that….should be able to get two rides in before noon and I want to go over to the library again to see if there are any books left to buy at 3 bucks a bag….I’m not sure how it happened but in all of the moves I’ve lost a bunch of books and would like to replenish them….didn’t get much done yesterday and probably won’t today with all of the sports that is on…want to watch Man U and the race that’s on later but the Lions are on a bye week so that gives me a window to go to the library after the bike rides…it’s only 43 right now and I’ll have to do full thermasuit today but I’m happy the wind is only blowing about 4 out of the NW and that will make it pretty comfortable…but sunrise is not til almost 8 so I need to sit here for almost another hour…not much to do today…not going to get any work done today but I will be busy enough with the rides and the trip to the library and then the race later….the next two weeks are going to be busy with the colonoscopy, the zoom meeting with the travel agent that I need to prep for, the dentist appointment, and my big doctors appointment…can’t wait for it all to be over so I can relax for a bit….damn, I’m getting old…more later…

Well…I did get a bike ride in this morning but it was one of the most brutal rides I’ve ever done with the wind just howling…should have realized that when I could hear the wind just sitting here on the couch before I went out…I do feel like a slacker, though, when I decided to only do one ride when I was coming through the tunnel of trees out by the beach and my legs hurt so bad after a climb into the wind….but, the wind was so brutal that a ride that normally takes around an hour and 10 minutes took me an hour and a half today….and the wind was so strong that I had to shift all the way down to 2nd on the back sprockets and could barely make any headway on the point…the worst thing was when I crested the hill going to the beach and the wind was so nuts it stopped me dead and I had to ride down the hill in 3rd when I normally just coast down it to the boardwalk and get up to 20mph or so…I know I’m going to be really sore tomorrow and I may just have to take a day off…even after doing more than 5,000 miles this year, I still feel the guilt when I take any time off….and if the wind goes down, I’ll probably be out on the bike again…yeah, I’m that stupid….more later….

Well…damn, it’s only 39 out there and I’m not sure if I want to go out on the bike with it that cold…and the wind is blowing out of the west at almost 15 so I may just wait a while even though I did go out at 42 yesterday and survived it….slept okay last night but was up at 5:11 and then out of bed by 7…had to figure out what was wrong with emby this morning to be able to have some tv to watch and it’s still screwed up with the sound not synchronized….and I haven’t had to sign in to it in years but I figured that out at least….can I take a day off? Feel pretty crappy this morning and not motivated at all so I’m not sure what I will accomplish today…didn’t do much yesterday other than go to the library and get two rides in but I should get the blinds down in the dining room and get the paper up on the windows so I can start getting them ready to paint…and I need to start prepping for the UK trip since we have a zoom meeting with the travel agent in two weeks to finalize the agenda….going to get to see Abbey Road studios and the street crossing where they took the picture for the album Abbey Road and I think were taking a day trip to Canterbury and to Stonehenge which will be pretty cool….but the planning is going to be a lot of work and I need to get started on that this weekend….not much to do today…just need to drag myself out on the bike here in a few and then figure out what I need to do for the rest of the day…and I need to reconstruct the channels on emby so I have most of the ones I used to have and that will take a while but that will be for later today….want to have coffee and read the news first…man, I’m worn out….more later…..

Well…with getting back out to do a second ride today, I got to the 5,000 mile mark on the bike for the year and that makes me smile a bit even though I know I won’t make it to my 6,050 mile goal…and I feel better now that I have broken the ice of going out in full thermasuit and that opens the entire day up to riding outside and I don’t have to wait for the temp to come up to go out in shorts….and it was nice to come back here to the slow cooker making a great smell in here and I have been waiting for the carrots and potatoes to finish so I could add the pasta which I just did and now it will only be about 15 minutes until I can have my first meal of the day…probably the only meal of the day since it’s so late in the day and I can skip one meal to make up for only riding once a day the past two days anyway….okay, that’s enough…time for food….

Well…as I had planned this morning, I went over to the Hackley library this morning to get a new library card and to look at the used book sale…this library is in a cool old stone building that has been there since the 1800’s and the people were so nice and it only took about 5 minutes to get my new card…and they don’t cost anything and that is so cool…I did get down in the basement to look at the books and found 12 books that looked interesting…a couple from George RR Martin, Patricia Cornwell, Harlan Coben, Lawrence Sanders, and even found a Larry Niven that I had never read so I’m pretty happy about that little trip…and it’s only 5 blocks from here and I was able to park right across the street so I think I’ve found a new happy place for the winter months…they even have the NYT that I can go in there and read every morning if I want….and I even got a ride in today in almost full thermasuit but I’m not sure if I’m going out for another one with the wind blowing 25+ out of the NW…my legs really hurt from the first one but if the wind comes down, I just might…who knows?

Well…damn, feel like crap this morning and I’m depressed after looking outside after hearing the rain/hail pounding on my siding…the cars going by are leaving trails in the slush it’s so cold out there and it just reminds me that winter is coming….ugh….slept okay last night but I wasn’t good so that offsets it pretty much…have no motivation right now but I need to get off my butt and load the slow cooker with carrots and potatoes right now….using one of the pork loins I got Wed instead of chicken and it will be better with no bones to pick out of it….but I’m not going to put the pork in til the last hour so it’s not overcooked…should have food for the next 5 days or so after running the cooker today….but I do need to figure out what the second meal will be for that time….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but clean a bit but I want to go to the library today to check out the used book sale they have going…and I need to get a library card since the one I have is for the Kent county library system and it won’t work out here….but they don’t open til 10 so I will have time to have all of the coffee since I’m not getting on the bike til the afternoon…I really hate this transition time when I can’t get two rides in every day so I guess I’ll work on the downstairs bike today and get it lubed up so I can start riding down there again….and I’ll need to get the full thermasuit out…don’t want to be as cold as I was yesterday….not much to do today…just need more coffee to get going but I don’t want to….it would be easy to be a slug today and sit here..oh, one pretty cool thing…my daughter was in Rome yesterday and sent me pictures of the Colosseum and the Vatican…they have been on a cruise through all of the Mediterranean over the past week…and it looks like they are having fun….more later…

Well…the first ride this morning was so damn brutal going into a 15 mph wind all the way out to the beach…and with it only 48 degrees, I was frozen by the time I got back here and worked so hard going out that I am calling it 1 1/2 rides with only doing one…and that was a really good decision with the rain starting up again and, if I would have gone out, I would be getting wet along with being frozen and I just couldn’t take that today…going into the wind was so hard that everything hurts from my back down and I’ll never heal if I don’t take care of myself….not sure how much work I’m going to get done today with the Jan 6th hearing going on at one and then Man U plays at 3 so I may just take the day off other than a little light cleaning….and I am going to try to not feel guilty about it…more later….

Well…that was okay…tossed and turned a bit but slept well and had dreams all night…and I can’t remember the last time that happened but I take it all day long….I wonder if it was the late bike ride yesterday? Had a good day yesterday and got a bunch done and want to continue cleaning up the dining room just to make a mess of it again with starting on the trim in there today….it has been so nice not living in dust over the summer but that has already ended with doing the bathroom door and frame and the dust settling on the stove and everything else out there but I’ve learned how to clean it up quickly…I do need to figure out why the vacuum is not pulling the dust out of the sander anymore and I may have to blow it out with compressed air to clear it….it looks like I’m going to wear gloves on the bike today with the high of 51 happening right now and it not getting any warmer…and the wind is already blowing over 10 out of the west so the out runs are going to be brutal again but I will do two runs today…I should get the bike out when it gets light to hose all the grit off it since it was interfering with shifting on the ride yesterday…I do need to drop my ballot off at the drop box this morning on the first ride to make sure it gets counted but it’s 3 weeks before the election so I think I’m okay….the January 6th committee’s last hearing is on today at 1 so I need to have everything done before that so I can watch the whole thing….not much to do today…don’t have to cook since I have leftovers but I may make a last batch of pasta salad since I still have a green pepper and celery that needs to be used and don’t want to throw that away…and I like having an easy side to go with sandwiches….more later….

Well…damn, never thought the rain was going to let up enough to get out on the bike, but at around 5:30 I looked at the radar and then out the front porch and it had stopped…so, like an idiot, I suited up and got on the bike and it was cold, wet, and dirty and the wind that was supposed to be blowing at 3 out of the nw was actually blowing 10-12 and that made it  a bit of a slog going out…and by the time I started back from the beach, the temp had started to drop like a rock and by the time I got back here my hands were frozen and I was nearly shaking…but a hot shower fixed that and now it’s time to settle in for a little tv…feel a lot better with getting one ride in at least….