Well…yeah, I’m running late this afternoon getting to this one…had lunch with T that turned into a laugh fest and lots of fun an just got home a bit ago…after reading an article about natural gas supplies in Europe and that the price is crashing, all I can say is I’ll bet Putin didn’t see this coming. Since the start of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, he has used the threat of cutting off natural gas to try to keep Europe and the rest of the world from supporting Ukraine…saying it was going to be “dark, cold winter” for them this year…but then, something happened and natural gas storage in the EU is at almost 94% filled which would keep the area going right through the winter even if they never got another btu…and you have to remember that Germany used to get 60% of it’s gas from Russia before the invasion happened and now it is at zero…what happened is they turned to other sources like the US and have built new LNG terminals across Europe to be able to handle the ships hauling it…and, unlike the US, the EU is undergoing a crash program for increasing renewable energy like solar and wind and even the weather is cooperating with warmer than normal temps so far this fall and winter….so now that leaves ole putie selling his gas to India and China at a 50% discount and Russia will be even more broke than it is…and all the blame is on the moron who launched this invasion…I wonder when the generals and oligarchs will get tired of this crap and say bye, bye to ole putie? It can’t come too soon…geez…
Monthly Archives: October 2022
October 25th
Well…you would think that with not sleeping at all Sunday night and all of the stress from yesterday, I would have slept like a rock last night…but no, tossed and turned all night and was up at 5:36 but was able to go back sleep until almost 7 so maybe it was better than I thought…feel okay today but have so much to do that I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now…didn’t get on the bike yesterday so that means two rides this morning and that needs to happen as soon as it’s light because there is rain coming in later…and I really should start picking up the leaves on the lawn but once the rain starts, it is going to continue until tomorrow afternoon off and on…I just noticed that my back is better with getting it some rest yesterday…still has pain but it doesn’t make me gasp when I move so I’ll take it…one weird thing I don’t understand is the coolant leak on the car…checked it yesterday after lubing the bike and it’s still almost full after three weeks since the last check….so that means I’ll just let it go for the winter and not spend the thousand bucks to fix it…I’ll put that money towards a new car and start looking for that soon….I do need to get on the planning for the UK trip this afternoon since we are talking to the travel agent Thursday and I may even have lunch with T today but I’ll find that out later….right now I need to have another cup of coffee before it gets light but that is still a half hour away so I’ll be able to read some news to go with it…I am relieved with the test results from yesterday but there are new questions that trouble me a bit….more later…okay, I’m late…was on the phone with my daughter for two hours talking about our UK trip…
Some good news…
Well…as you know, I had a colonoscopy scheduled for today and I was a little concerned what they would find…to start, the new cleanse is so much better than the old stuff with just 24 pills to take over 12 hours instead of drinking the gagging gallons of the old stuff…and it cleaned me out so well the procedure only took about 20 minutes and the good news is they found nothing…no cancer, no polyps but just a little bit of diverticulitis that is to be expected in someone my age…and that pushes the next one back 5 years if I have one at all…and he thinks my prostate was a little large on one side but with no symptoms he was not concerned at all…and that made for a pretty good day for me…and I had pizza when I go home that tasted great but I only had two pieces since I didn’t want to give up the calorie reduction that I’ve had with not eating for the past two days….I may have some cheese and crackers later to get over 1,000 calories for the day but we’ll see….right now I’m just going to enjoy not having any health problems and have a cocktail or two tonight…
All you have to do is look…
Well…if you want to see what the proposed repub plan for the economy will do, all you have to look at Britain and the fallout from the exact same proposals that the Tories have planned for their economy…and it’s the same old bullshit…trickle down economics where tax cuts are given to the rich and they then are the engine of growth that will trickle down to the workers…and the only problem with that is has never worked anywhere in the world…and cuts to the social safety net are part of the deal since since they “can’t afford” them anymore…exactly the same thing that the repubs are saying here as they propose even bigger tax cuts for the rich that did nothing but make income inequality worse here in the US…not one damn job was created from the 2 trillion dollar giveaway that came from the trump tax cuts…other than lawyers who worked on stock buyback plans that made the rich richer and made the rest of us pay more in taxes….and let’s be blunt, we all paid for SS and Medicare our entire lives and they are not an “entitlement”…it’s something we bought with 7.5% of our income paid in from the time we got our first paycheck and all we have to do to protect it is to get the hell out and vote for the dems who will protect and expand these programs so those of us who depend on it can continue to eat and pay our bills, it’s that simple…the repubs want to kill all of us on SS so they can steal that money and give it to the rich..and voting for any repub is going to make that happen…get out and vote…and only for dems…geez…
October 24th
Well…survived the night and just dumped the last 12 pills in me for the second round of cleansing and I am just frickin worn out….no food for two days and no sleep, or very little sleep is not a recipe for feeling good but the pills are just so much better than drinking the gallons of cleanse I had to do last time….9 hours from now it will be all done and I hope it’s the last one I have to do….finishing up the empty calories of the half gallon of apple juice I bought to keep my body idling over the past two days and I never want to see that again…and I’m going to have some coffee here in a minute since that is considered a clear liquid and I do need the caffeine to continue to move…but I have to be done with everything by 11:30 since I can’t have even water from 3 hours before the procedure and that is going to be a task…I can chew ice chips so I guess that will have to do…I am so looking forward to making the 4 cheese self rising pizza I bought just for this day and I am going to add olives, onion, and ham to it to bulk it up a bit….and I’ll probably eat half if it since that will give me a fast 1,000 calories and lots of carbs….and I am going to need to have a cocktail or two for tonight just to relax and try to make up for the sleep deficit from the past two days…okay, the pills are starting to take effect and I need to drink more water….more later….
Just lit the fuse…
Well…just took the medicine that is supposed to clean me out for the colonoscopy and it feels just like I lit the fuse for a bomb that is going to go off here in about an hour…this stuff is in pill form but the damn things are huge and you have to take 12 of them…still better than drinking the gallons of stuff I had to do for the last one…that stuff had me puking my guts out as it cleaned out my colon and I think that is why it didn’t do a very good job…and I have 12 more of them to take at 7am and I really don’t think I’ll be sleeping until tomorrow night…I don’t think I slept at all for the last one either but it would be nice to get a few hours tonight….at least the process has finally started…the waiting was a pain but I have less than 24 hours and the whole thing will be over…should be done by 3 or so tomorrow afternoon….it really hasn’t been too hard to not eat since last night and it did make me realize that I do eat sometimes by habit and not for fuel as I should….and I really will only have missed about 3,000 calories and that won’t make much difference….I’ll probably be pretty worn out after this whole thing but I will be back on the bike Tuesday….
83,000 miles….
Well…as I was out getting the last rides in before the colonoscopy tomorrow, I started doing the math of how many miles I’ve ridden on my many bikes over the years. I bought the first bike from my brother all the way back in 1974…a 1971 Schwinn Supersport that I still have and rode that for 30 years but never had a computer on that one but I rode it quite a bit when I was younger so I am going to claim 12,000 miles in that 30 years…..then I got my first mountain bike, a Motobecane that I rode for years and did have a computer on it the whole time and racked up 33,000 miles on that one before the rear swingarm broke and the thing was so worn out I couldn’t fix it…then I got the first of two Gravity mountain bikes…the black one that I rode 16,000 miles before the chain and sprockets wore out and, at that time, I didn’t know how to replace so I just bought another one just like it only in grey and black and I now have 21,000 miles on that one after replacing the sprockets and chain at the end of last year….and I almost forgot my other bike I bought from my brother…a Specialized hybrid that I use as my indoor bike and have ridden that one 1,400 miles over the past two years…so that totals to over 83,000 miles in my lifetime…or since I’ve been an adult…I couldn’t even begin to guess how many miles I rode as a kid….thousands, I’m sure…now the only thing left to wonder is if I can get to 100,000 miles before I die? that would be pretty cool and should only take about 4 more years….and I plan on riding til I’m 80 at least so that’s doable…who knows?
October 23rd
Well…he we go…it’s the start of my two days of no food in prep of my scope tomorrow and I just want it to be over…the bad part is coming tonight and I’ll probably be up all night…and that goes with getting up at 5:23 this morning….so there will be a nap this afternoon and I’ll get myself into survival mode as the day goes on….the only thing I get to eat today is apple juice and water…oh, and the coffee I’m having right now….the one decision I need to make today is if I get out on the bike or not….not sure if my body can support that with no calories going in but it may be a chance to lose some weight if I burn a thousand calories or so….I guess we’ll see in a hour or so when it gets light….didn’t get a lot done yesterday and today looks the same but I really should clean some after I have more coffee…..and read the news….can I use the procedure as an excuse to veg out today? Nope….it will be a lot easier if I just do the day as normal…I did have the top down on the car going out to get the paper this morning and there was just this tiny sliver of the moon visible that looked really cool….and I looked up to see Orion hanging over my head it was so clear…pretty nice…and probably the last time I’ll do that on a Sunday morning since the temps are going to fall into the 40′s for highs later in the week…not much to do today….just going to wing it here for a bit and have more coffee as I ease into the day….can’t wait for tomorrow at 4 when all of this crap will be over….at my age, I think this will be the last colonoscopy I’ll have to go through…or they’ll find cancer and it will kill me and I’ll still not have to go through another one….more later….
A lazy day….
Well…I’ll admit that I really haven’t thought about a topic in politics today, but that doesn’t mean that I not going to try soon…I’ve just had a lazy day today with just getting the rides in and then running an errand to get some cash for Tuesday lunch with T and then to Meijers to get some pasta sauce since I wanted to have pasta for my last meal until Monday afternoon today….my back is really bad today for some reason and every time I need to get up off the couch, it stabs me with pain and I actually said ow a few times…I did have some medical paperwork to do on mychart that I finished up so I don’t have to do it at the office Monday….and I have to remember to bring my vaccine card so they can update my records Monday, too….it is kind of cool to have my medical records available any time I want them….and I did look at what they are going to do at my doctor’s appointment on the first and it looks like they are throwing every test there is at me….cripes, they are going to need a lot of blood….oh, well….okay, need to watch the race since Man U is losing….more later….
October 22nd
Well…damn, running late this morning with getting up at 5:11 and the laid back down til after 7…but there wasn’t a lot of sleep in there and I am just tired today…and I have two bike rides to get in before Man U plays at 12:30 and I need to figure out what will be my last meals until Monday night…can’t have any dairy so no pizza or milk…I should run out and to get some cash for lunch with T on Tuesday but I’m pretty sure that is not going to happen…I could use some pasta sauce to make pasta today…that doesn’t have any fiber in it and that’s another thing I have to avoid….really not looking forward to prepping for the scope but it has to be done to make sure I’m not dying….had an okay day yesterday and I’m glad I got the outdoor ride in early with the wind coming up later in the day….it’s already almost 60 out there right now so I’ll be able to get out as soon as it gets light but I sure don’t feel like it right now….didn’t get anything done yesterday and I don’t think I’ll do much the next couple of days with the scope hanging over my head….I don’t like having so many things going on with the scope, the zoom meeting with the travel agent, the yearly checkup with my doctor, and then another dental appointment going on in the next two weeks…once this stuff is over, I’m taking a week off to watch the world cup…it’s already almost November and I haven’t even started on the dining room yet and I wonder where the time has gone….not much to do today….need to get started on my day right now since it finally getting light out there and I can get on the bike….at least I’m going to lose some weight with not eating for two days…could get down to my target of 170 if I keep this up…more later….