Well…just finished up my work for the day and got a few things done…made a run out to depot for some color chips and to get some fast setting cement to fill a seam in the basement that was leaking dirt onto the floor and may have been the entry for the two mice I killed a month or so ago and wanted to get it fixed before winter….then I washed the bike and put that downstairs after it dried and rolled up and drained the hose, put up the hook for it, and put it in the garage…oh, and rode the bike before any of that so I’m pretty much done for the day…should do a once over of the bathroom and I just might after I get done here…but I want to take a break for a few minutes before Man U plays at 3:15….I did watch the new Venom movie last night and it was just okay….didn’t really see the point of it at all but it filled and hour and a half so maybe that was it’s purpose? Who knows?

Well…my damn phone woke me up this morning and I may have been able to get to 7 or so…but I guess I’ll take 6:32…that’s not bad so I can live with it….I was really hoping to ride outside today since it is already almost 50 out there but the wind is blowing  20 and that is a bit much for me….so, I wonder if I should just wash the outdoor bike and put it in the basement? Not sure yet….I guess it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit….my hip is still sore and it has hurt my whole life so I guess I shouldn’t hope for it to get better…..same for my right shoulder…and I am getting fatigued from it…oh, well….didn’t get much done yesterday but cooking and riding the bike downstairs and I now have enough leftovers so I won’t have to cook for about a week…..it looks like we’re going to have at least half of December without any big snow storms so I am going to wait to put the snowies on the car for a while….I did try to use some stripper on the floor in the spare bedroom but it’s about 40 years old that I brought from the Valley house and didn’t work too well…even with that, most of the glue came up in two spots so I think I may just get a gallon of new stuff for 25 bucks or so and see if the floors are salvageable….will start working on the walls in there next week….I may make that one my bedroom since it is a lot bigger than the one I’m using….not much to do today….I should go out and get color chips for the interior painting but I’m not sure if I will…just don’t feel like it right now and it can wait til next week….I think I may need to cut back to a thousand calories or so with only riding once a day since I feel like I’ve gained a bunch of weight already….this is going to be a fight all winter and I’m tired of the fight already….can I take one day off and eat what I want? Nope…never have, never will….more later….

Well…after looking out to the curb last night at about 7 and seeing my leaves still out there, I just assumed they weren’t going to pick them up on the last day of leaf pickup….and I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do with 100 pounds of shredded leaves in two big bags…but, to my surprise, they were gone this morning when I went out to do the grocery run today…so, yay! And that completes my outdoor work for the winter other than putting up a hook and draining the hose and putting that away….so, I guess that means I need to get my butt in gear on the inside of the house….will probably go out and get paint chips tomorrow so I can plan the inside colors…especially the kitchen that is going to be the most work…and I need to get a new range hood to replace the gross one they painted white…that will be stainless but I may wait til I paint to replace it….so it will surely be next year…I really hope to have the inside complete next year but we’ll see….still not too motivated…but, the pork shoulder came out great so I guess that’s something….

Well…running a little late today with not getting out of bed til 7:30 or so but I woke up around 5 and that  is not enough sleep….and that has been the pattern lately…not sure why….had an okay day yesterday but didn’t accomplish much but I’ll need to change that today with all of the things I have to do….they didn’t pick up the last of my leaves yesterday so they will go into the trash next week…will have to put them in trash bags, though, and I hope that I can just put them in 30 gallon bags without taking them out of the paper bags…a little bit of a pain in the butt….I may not be able to get out on the bike today since it was spitting some rain when I put the food out for the chickens a few minutes ago and I don’t want to get wet…or cold…my right hip has been really painful the past week or so and I’m not sure why that would be…haven’t really done anything that would hurt it so that’s a little confusing…not much to do today….okay, that’s not true…going to be on the run most of the day starting with the grocery run here in a minute….and then on to cooking when I get back here….going to have a big meal for lunch today and I’ll have leftovers that will last me most of a week…pulled pork sandwiches that I want to try some new sauces with….more later….

Well….damn, where the heck did November go? It seems to have passed so quickly that I almost missed it….but, it is nice that the first wed of December is the first so I get more cash in my account in only two weeks…..I’ve gotten a few things done this month and am making slow progress on this place but that pace needs to pick up if I want to get the interior painted over the winter…but that’s about 3 months so it should be enough time…and then I can take the summer off next summer and just fool around and go to the beach a lot….and if the damn virus will just go away, I will be able to go out sometimes and have a beer or two and get to know more of Muskegon….and maybe make some friends out here….I did get laundry done today along with fixing part of the cold air return for the furnace so it will pull air from up here instead of just the basement….and four of these if that counts for anything….I did do a bike ride, too, and I think it was the hardest ride yet….came away with my t-shirt totally soaked when it normally is only half soaked…I may be outside for the ride tomorrow but I just noticed that the black bike has a flat on the front tire and I must have damaged it putting the knobby tires on it last week…darn….I will have to wash the grey bike tomorrow and get it downstairs since it is going to be warm enough and I will then need to put a hook up for the hose after I drain it and hang that in the garage…and I may have to replace the valve I put on the outside faucet with the cap for the winter since the valve is plastic and probably won’t survive sub zero temperatures….so, it looks like a full day tomorrow with  doing the grocery run, cooking the 7 pound pork shoulder, riding the bike, and then cleaning it up….trying a new recipe for the pork that has a sauce made of onions, bay leaves, garlic, chicken stock and butter…and, since I used rosemary for the turkey, I am going to substitute Italian seasonings for that….and it all cooks in the instant pot while the pork is cooking…and then you thicken it with some cornstarch when the pork is done…not sure if 12 cloves of garlic is too much so I think I’ll cut that back to 6….oh, and some roasted carrots and mashed potatoes to go with it….so, I only had one meal today with the big one coming tomorrow….happy December…

Well…damn, how did this happen? Woke up at 6:23 but was able to go back to sleep until after 8…I haven’t slept in til after 8 in years and I really don’t know why it happened today….don’t feel refreshed, though, so I don’t think it did any good….and I slept on my right shoulder again and it hurts like crazy this morning…oh, well…I did get a few things done yesterday but probably won’t do much but clean today…if I even do that…just not too motivated right now but that could be that I’m on my first cup of coffee and it hasn’t had time to work yet….I may be able to get out on the bike tomorrow and Thurs since it’s supposed to be in the mid 40’s but it it’s just so easy to  go downstairs to ride that getting cold has lost it’s attraction to me….and I’m pretty sure the trails are getting some ice on them…and being careful is just too much work…..the chickens have been here a lot since I started to put some food out for them and that is pretty cool….they just stand there and wait for me to put out a couple of cups…and they have already been here this morning to completely clean up the leftovers from yesterday…need to get out there with more here in a minute….not much to do today…just going to ease into it and have more coffee for a while and then see about getting on the bike downstairs…again, no motivation….and I’m not sure if that is going to change….more later…

Well…I sure wish I could figure out how I got to 7:44 this morning before waking up….I wonder if it’s from not sleeping much the past couple of days? Whatever it is, it was nice to wake up with the light today….I did get some work done yesterday…had some peeling paint in the bike room that was bugging me so I scraped it and used a wire brush to clean up the spalling, then painted it with the exterior white paint the I had left over from doing the door frames…have to figure out what color I’m going to paint the room but I think it will be the grey theme that I’m going to use on the rest of the interior…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and I’ll do that again today but I am having trouble getting going so it will probably wait til later this morning….have to run an errand this morning to get a pork shoulder that I’m going to cook tomorrow since I’m getting tired of turkey and it’s only 99cents a pound….that will keep me going for almost a week…and I haven’t had any pork for quite a while….not much to do today…just the errand and then back here to do the ride and then figure out what else I need to do….but I need coffee and to read the news right now…I feel like I’m running behind after the long sleep…but, I know I’m not….I have all day but it’s 8:24 already and I need to get moving….more later…

Well…darn, another 5:13 morning and I didn’t sleep for crap last night….tried to get a little more sleep but gave up at around 6…but, I feel okay so I guess that’s something….I did get out to get the paper this morning and the roads are really icy up here…the summer tires did okay but I am going to put the winter ones on this week….I did ask if there was a self serve car wash when I went out to get the paper this morning and there is one on Sherman so that is only a mile or so from here so I’ll look for it when I go out for groceries wed….I did get a ride in yesterday but not much more than that with the Michigan game on and taking up 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon…I am over 100 miles on the inside bike and over 8 hours in time on it and I hope I can get another 100-200 miles before the end of the year…that should get me to 4700 miles or so and that’s not a bad year…..and this year I can start riding on the 1st of the year and should have close to a thousand miles before I get out on the trails….not much to do today…Man U plays at 11:30 so I need to get the bike ride in before that and maybe even some cleaning….Meijers has pork shoulders on sale this week for 99cents a pound so I’m going to get one and cook it in the instant pot and that will give me protein for the entire week after I finish off the turkey….more later….

Well…stayed up late last night watching the Beatles documentary again and that makes waking up at 5 a little too early but I was able to get back to sleep for an hour or so….even with not doing anything yesterday, I feel pretty worn out today and I’m sure it’s just from getting old….I shouldn’t hurt today but my ribs on the right side are stiff and sore and it’s probably from sleeping wrong…okay, that’s enough whining….looks like the ride today will be inside with snow/rain coming in and a winter weather advisory in effect for the day…still haven’t put the old snowies on the car and I’m not going to to do it today…think I’ll just stay in until the snow melts this time and get them on next week…going to try to not take the car out in the salt as much this year and that will mean I’ll be staying home a lot with how much it snows out here…I really only need to go out once a week for groceries so that may be doable….I have to get started on the inside of the house soon and get some color chips to decide on the color scheme for the house…still want to do it in greys but I’m not sure how dark I want to go…not much to do today…need to get the bike ride in downstairs since it is cold and wet out there and I’m not riding in that….and I need to get that done before the Michigan game today…they play Ohio State and are going to get whipped so I’m sure I won’t watch the whole thing….more later…

Well….I’m not sure what the reason is but I’m finally taking a day off of everything…I think it’s been around 3 years since I’ve allowed myself to just do nothing for a day…no cleaning, no cooking, no bike, no nothing…it’s even almost two in the afternoon and I haven’t even gotten in the shower yet…and I don’t feel one bit guilty…okay, maybe a little but I’ll live through it….and I just got the first birds on the feeder in a couple of weeks….I guess the snow we got out here covered up their normal food….have a blue jay on the sill right now but he hasn’t figured out how to get on the feeder yet….still haven’t had any sparrows on the feeder yet but I have hope I’ll get some other birds soon….okay, that’s enough….need to get back to doing nothing….