Well…that was better…slept through most of the night and didn’t wake up til 6 and not out of bed until 6:37….still feel pretty worn out but I guess I should…going to hit the 10,000 mile mark today and I’m not sure how I feel about that…I know it’s an accomplishment but where do I go from here? Is riding 24 miles a day now the new normal? I know I have to ride to control my weight but I have been longing for a day off to do what I want for a change but that can’t become a habit with my well developed sense of guilt….and I don’t think I’ve done any permanent damage with all the miles…I still have the last goal of riding every day for the calendar year and that means a couple more weeks of every day on the bike…I wonder if I should just keep riding to have two years in a row? Not sure yet….it did snow a couple more inches last night and didn’t get above 14 degrees overnight but a warm up is coming to almost 50 by Monday and the it will stay in the 30′s for the rest of the year and I’ll take that over the teens any time…I do have to figure out the meals for the day today with the first big ham finishing up and having chicken thighs in the fridge so I’ll probably make two days of those and make the next ham Sunday…will probably do the next batch of ham soup next week but I’m not sure if it will be with the bones in the freezer or the new ones…not much to do today…just need to get off my butt and get started on the rides and then see how it goes…more later…

Well…after the three rides and getting 24 miles in today, I only have 18 miles left to get to 10,000 for the year…so that will happen tomorrow and I’m not sure how I feel about it…after I get there, I still won’t be able to cut back much or I’ll be 200 pounds again quite quickly…I guess I’ll have to go down to 6-800 calories a day and that means one meal from now on…and how the hell do I gain 5 pounds in two weeks? That’s what I did from my checkup to Monday when they weighed me again and I went from 170.5 pounds to 175 and I haven’t been eating anything so you can understand my frustration…and in that time, I averaged almost 30 miles a day…so how can you burn 12-1400 calories on the bike and still gain weight on under 1K calories a day? Oh, well…I did get out and shovel and my feet stayed warm in the new boots and it was only 12 degrees when I was out there…took me about 45 minutes to shovel with the 2 foot drift I had on the sidewalk on the east side of the house…but I’m done now and I’m taking the rest of the afternoon off to watch Man U and read….

Well…damn, it’s only 10 degrees out here right now and that is going to make shoveling the 6-7 inches of snow a two step process…and I don’t think my new boots are going to keep my feet warm in that but I guess we’ll see later…didn’t get out of bed til almost 7 today and I feel pretty crappy this morning and that continues how I felt last night…just off a bit and I’m not sure why…oh, well…coffee is starting to work but not fast enough for me so I’ll have to wait a bit to get on the bike…only have 42 miles left to get to the goal and I’m a little amazed that my body survived all the abuse…I really hope that I’ll heal up after I lighten up the load…don’t have to cook today with making the soup yesterday and still having ham on the first bone but I will have to do some meal planning soon….the bathroom needs a cleaning and I may get to that today but I’m not sure….I am happy that I don’t have to go anywhere for a week or so and this weather is making me want to hibernate for a while….not much to do today…just the rides and no other plans right now…and that is needed since I plan way too many days and I have been trying to just let my days flow a bit….more later…

Well…darn, I’m a little confused about the turkey soup I made today…when the noodles were finally cooked, I had a bowl and, even though I made it like I always do, it really didn’t have much flavor…so much so that I added a quart of chicken broth at the end…now I wasn’t sure if it was the soup or that I’ve lost more of my ability to taste anything…it was better when I added a little salt which I only do when I ladle it out into the serving bowl and after it sat cooling for an hour, the flavors started to come out and it’s okay…but not as good as last year’s but that may be that I didn’t brine the turkeys so the flavor of rosemary isn’t there…I guess I’ll try just a little of that when I have a bowl tomorrow…down to 42 miles to go on the bikes and it feels good to be able to still ride so much at my age…if I start taking shorter rides, I’m going to have to cut back to one meal a day if I want to maintain my weight…and that is going to suck since I already don’t eat much…oh, well…going to go over to Kos right now and then come back for a political one…more later…

Well…running about on time this morning with getting out of bed around 6 am…and I slept okay and I’ll take a night like that any day…and the pain from riding outdoors is subsiding so I’m heading back to just being creaky and old and I can live with that…we do still have a winter storm warning on for today and tomorrow but just a light dusting of snow so far and the radar doesn’t show much but with lake effect, it can set up and snow like crazy any time…damn, it’s nice to have a day where all I have to do is ride the bike and make soup…I took the turkey carcasses out of the freezer last night since I may have to cut them up some to make two of them fit in the instant pot…and I cleared space in the top of the freezer to put 3-2qt containers in there…and 3 of the ham soup I’m making this weekend…don’t really have to go anywhere for a couple of weeks and that is pretty relaxing but I do have to get off my butt and find a new car soon…I did check my BP yesterday and it is still high so it looks like it will have to be treated and I’m okay with that…it’s not a personal failing that it is high…I mean I’m old after all and that is what happens when you get old….not much to do today…just going to get on the bike here in 25 minutes or so to get started on the three rides to get closer to the goal…sure hope the power stays on in the storm today…it’s pretty quiet right now but the wind is supposed to come up around 10 am or so….more later…

Well…as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve toenail infections for a few years now and they got so bad that I lost the one on my right big toe…doesn’t hurt but looks ugly so I asked for a prescription med since none of the OTC ones worked at all…so I picked up the prescription yesterday for a medicine called  Ciclopirox that looks like a nail varnish that you brush on once a day…but the thing that surprised me was the length of treatment…the instructions say to use it once per day for a whole year…yep, a whole darn year and I have 11 refills of this tiny little bottle that costs me 10 bucks in copay for each one that retails for 291 bucks per bottle…so, I’m glad I have medicare prescription drug coverage since goodrx has a price of almost 25 bucks a bottle…so, I’ll have big toenails that look like I’m using a clear polish on them for a year until the new nails grow in…weird…

Well…damn, it almost 1:30 in the afternoon and I’m still drinking coffee since I did the three rides indoors without stopping to have coffee in between them…and that gets me down to 64 miles left to go and I’ll only have 18 to do Friday to make it…I did wash the outdoor bike yesterday and didn’t want to get it dirty so I left it at that…it is sprinkling out here and I sure didn’t want to get wet at 40 degrees…I did run out and get the ingredients I forgot for the two batches of soup I’m making this week starting with the turkey soup tomorrow…was going to experiment a little on the turkey soup but it is already great the way it is so the experimenting will wait until I do the ham soup over the weekend…going to use some new kinds of beans instead of the kidney beans I normally use…I have cans of great northern, black, and garbanzo beans…or chickpeas that I’m going to put in and that will be one more can than I normally use…needless to say, this batch is going to be extra hearty with extra ham, too…might end up more like a stew but that’s okay…I did find a Larry Niven novel in the books I bought last year called “The Mote in God’s Eye” that has a forward by Heinlein who called it the best sci fi novel ever…so that gets started today along with Heinlein’s “Friday” that I got this year…so with all of the groceries I got today, I don’t have to leave this place for a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to that…just cooking, cleaning, and reading…maybe that will help my BP…

Well..I never knew how much pain the daily ibuprofen was masking until I stopped taking them Saturday and then rode outdoors for a couple of days….everything hurts and I really do mean everything….and I’ll have to deal with that on the indoor bike rides today…cleaned the outdoor bike yesterday so I won’t be riding it again for a week or so when it warms up again after the extreme cold that is coming in Thursday…I did sleep better last night but was up again at 2:43 but today I was able to get back to sleep and not out of bed til 6:10…but yesterday took a lot out of me and today I need to lay low and rest a bit…I have that 10 buck coupon from Meijers that needs to be used so I may go out today and get some chicken thighs with it…or maybe the second ham of the season…I know I shouldn’t be eating ham with my BP so high but damn, protein at 89 cents a pound? Can’t pass that up…think I’ll make the turkey soup Thursday and then ham over the weekend since I do have ham bones in the freezer I can use…only have 90 miles left to go to the goal so that times out to Friday…and that means I need to get going after one more cup of coffee….more later…

Well…had the doctor’s appointment this morning and while the BP machine checked out, my BP was quite high, over 160, so now I have a treatment plan going forward where I have to get data by taking my BP only once per day for two weeks and the going in on the 23rd to discuss the plan…I really do like my doctor’s office and the people who work there…once they determined that my BP was considered high, they snapped into action and a team of 4 people worked with me to diagnose and put together the plan…pretty sure I will be on meds but the dosage will be tiny so no side effects..the LNP who saw me told me to take the BP once a day and then put the machine back in the bag and to not freak out about the readings…I’m well under stroke risk numbers…and I got the medicine for my toenail fungus and that treatment will last a year…11 refills on the medicine in that time…every day for a year…oh, well…went under 100 miles left for the goal today…

Well…up at 2:45 this morning and then tried to go back to sleep and gave up at 5:30…so I’m here early and am waiting for the coffee to brew so I can get moving today…it’s going to be a busy one with the two indoor rides and then to the DR appointment, over to Meijers to pick up a prescription and some ingredients for the soups I want to make over the next week…the BP is still nuts so it looks like I’ll be taking some meds for it…I wish they would just get that started so I don’t have to think about it anymore…have already stopped the allergy meds and ibuprofen and no salty foods but that has made no difference at all so lifestyle changes aren’t going to do it…oh, well…I do need to get on the bike indoors by 6:30 to get two rides in before the appt. and that will be followed by two outdoors after I get back here for 41 miles today…then I need to wash the bike since I won’t be outdoors again this year…and I have the last of the flowers that need to be removed and put out in the trash tomorrow…the math works out that I will hit the goal Friday even without extra rides so after today, back down to three indoors…it’s raining out there right now so the outdoor rides may wait til the afternoon or maybe just three indoors…we’ll see…will be making turkey soup later in the week and then ham soup next week…more later…