Well…running a bit late this morning with getting up at 3:04 and getting out of bed at 6:23 but it took more than a half hour to come here and get started…just worn out and feel like I didn’t sleep at all…again….not sure if it was my messages to the city but they did come out and plow the streets up here last night so I should be able to get out for the grocery run tomorrow…they still haven’t plowed the alley but it appears it is packed down enough for me to give it a try….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the bike rides and today looks the same but I do need to make ham soup today to make room for the turkey carcass to go in the freezer but I’m not feeling it right now…probably won’t get to that til the afternoon but need to get that done before Man U plays at 3….I did start watching “Tulsa King” last night and it’s a pretty good show but I am going to get to the end of “Yellowstone” soon and that is too bad…it is going to warm up starting tomorrow so I think a lot of the snow will melt and I’m okay with that….I do have to remember to get some bird food tomorrow since I am out of it and the bird feeder is looking a little low…not much to do today….just the rides and soup but I am wondering what would happen if I took a day off the bike after getting to the goal for the year…I mean 6,051 miles is a lot for an old guy to ride and I am sore from it…or from shoveling the snow…not sure which but my side hurts like crazy…I still feel fat as hell so I probably should get going but I need coffee first….more later…

Well…damn, I made it…got to my goal for miles on the bike for a year today…6,051 miles as of today beats my previous record of 6,043 from a few years back…and that includes 4,823 miles outside and 1,228 on the inside bike…it feels kind of good to have made it when I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it when the snow came in and iced over the trails and I went from 30 miles a day outside to 16 miles a day inside…so I may try to do 49 more miles and get to even 6,100 and I have 5 days to do that…then I zero out the computers and it starts all over again…won’t beat that next year with having 6 weeks that I won’t be able to ride with the PSA test coming up the first week of Feb and then the 19 days in the UK in the fall…but that’s okay…it will just make ’24 the year I ride 7,000 miles…that’s the goal anyway…yee ha!

Well…with the lack of snow removal up here, I just sent an e-mail to my city commissioner to see if she can light a fire under the public works department to get them to do their jobs…and it is especially galling when I sit here and see my tax bill of a thousand bucks sitting on the table in front of me…so I guess we’ll see if that will do anything…it is such a pain to have to bitch about everything to get anything done up here…grrr….

Well…when I used to celebrate christmas, this was my favorite day of the year….after all of the present wrapping, traveling, and family, it was the day that it was all over and I could finally relax…and I normally had the week off….but now, it’s just a day I have to get off my butt and get on the bike here in a minute….had the day off yesterday but I don’t feel like it…had to put heat on my right hip last night since it hurt so much and while that pain is not new it is surprising at the intensity….slept okay last night but was up at 3:04 and out of bed at 7:22…and no, it doesn’t feel like I slept in at all….just want to sit on the couch for a second day but I won’t….the EPL starts back up today and I have soccer on right now and that is a good thing to have running in the background….I did discover a new show to watch yesterday when a writer that I follow mentioned it…it’s called Station 17 and it may be a good one….it’s already all the way up to 22 out there right now and it didn’t snow last night so I guess that’s a plus….but I am going to call the city today to get them to plow the damn streets and alley up here…they haven’t plowed since the snow started in November and that’s bullshit with the taxes I pay….not much to do today…got laundry done yesterday so I really don’t have much to do today…and with no snow last night I don’t have that to do so I guess I’ll just clean a bit after the bike rides….more later….

Well…I think this almost qualifies as a sleep in day with getting up at 3;04 and not out of bed til 7:45….and I’m taking the day off today other than cooking and that is a luxury that I am going to revel in…no bike rides but I am going to have to do the snow again since it is still snowing out there…but the wind is much lower and it’s 17 already so that is going to feel balmy compared to the past two days…I am pretty damn stiff today from shoveling through all the drifts yesterday so it will take some time to get moving this morning…going to get the turkey in the oven around 10 so I can have it for lunch at by 1 or so and the just fall into a turkey coma and veg the rest of the day…I did take a look at my gas bill and it is up over a hundred bucks but I planned for that so no big deal…the next one could be 150 or so with how cold it’s been….but my power stayed on through this storm so I guess that’s something….didn’t get much done yesterday but shoveling and the bike rides and that was enough and with taking the day off, cooking will be enough for today….not much to do today….just going to watch Doctor Who christmas specials for now and have more coffee…I will need to fill the bird feeder one last time and they still haven’t plowed the streets up here so I’m going to be in for the next few days…oh, well…more later….

Well…crap…almost forgot to come here and do another one of these for today…I haven’t been able to find a topic that grabs me so I’m just going to do what I normally do when that happens…just wing it and see what happens…man, did another couple of hours shoveling today and had to remove the 4 foot tall drift that was blocking my garage door…but that doesn’t matter since the alley is drifted in and I couldn’t get out if I wanted to…and there was another waist deep one over the sidewalk that goes to the garage that I had to wade through to get to my snow shovel in the garage…heck, every walk was under a drift out here that I had to shovel through and I am sore from it…I did get my first sparrow on the window feeder today and I still think it’s weird that I used to get hundreds of them when I lived in GR…so I wonder if this one will communicate with the others and I’ll get some now? I also had another Northern Flicker on the feeder today, too and they are cool looking birds….I am going to continue to try to find a topic for later before I settle in for the night…I am pretty excited that there are some new shows to watch out on plex but I’m not sure if I’ll finish up one that I been watching instead…it’s a good conundrum to have….

Well…damn, the wind is still howling out here but it’s all the way up to 11 degrees so I guess that’s something…it’s not snowing as it was yesterday but I still do need to dig my driveway out…woke up at 5:03 this morning and then out of bed by 7 and I’m not as sore as I should be with digging through all the drifts yesterday but there is still lake effect snow right now that looks like it’s going to go on for a while….I do need to get the turkey in the brine this morning but I’m not feeling it right now so that will wait until I get the second ride in around 10….the temp is all the way up to 15 so it will be easier to go out to do the snow later….not sure what I’m going to have for food today with running out of ham but I do have an open jar of pasta sauce so maybe some spaghetti and garlic bread? I have a couple of dinner rolls that I can make into garlic bread to go with it….at least my eyes aren’t blurry this morning as they have been for the past few days…damn, I’m getting old…not much to do today…just need to get going here by 8 and get on the bike…I feel fortunate that the power stayed on through the day yesterday but it did blink a couple of times and that was concerning…so I’ll sit here with my fingers crossed all day today as I hear my furnace run….more later…