Well…it’s another 5:04 morning today and I may stop talking about it since it appears to be the new normal and who wants to read about normal? I really hate that it is starting to stay dark later and later in the morning and that it is only 52 out there which is borderline for getting on the bike right now…so I am going to go wash the car here in a few minutes instead and let the sun warm things up some before I go out…I was nice and parked my car across the lot so the guys replace wood on the building could get their trucks closer and then the sprinklers came on and left the car covered in huge ugly water spots and I can barely see through the windshield…so I’ve dug out the quarters and will be heading out after I have some coffee…but I have to detour since they have the street blocked off for the mud run sponsored by the church behind me and that is just damn annoying…oh, well….my thumb still hurts where I smacked it earlier and I keep whacking it on the bike and that is not fun…I’m glad I’m taking the weekend off to heal up some since I am really sore everywhere but I think I am going over to 28th street to look at the cars today…but I need to see Man U play at 10 first and have a bagel with my coffee before I get moving…more later…

Well…when I was pulling out to head over to the house today, I looked back at my parking spot and saw there was a small spot of coolant left from the car and the only thing I could think of was damn, not now…just don’t need some car problems right now…but after having the hood open the other day to put a new set of plugs in it, I noticed that the entire hose that runs from the radiator to the overflow tank was wet and couldn’t figure it out…so, tonight, it was bugging me so I went out and took the hose off and it had collapsed inside and was completely plugged off…it was funny that the thing felt like a wet noodle and I couldn’t blow any air through it…so, I hopped on the bike and rode over to autozone to get a new piece and they sold me some cool fuel injection hose for only 2 bucks that should last as long as I own the car…so, I think I fixed the coolant leak and it was easy as could be…at least I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it’s fixed…we’ll see next week since I won’t drive my car again until Monday….

Well…I have a new game to play called guess what time it is that I am going to play when I wake up every morning…I will confess that with today’s performance, I’m not very good at it…guessed that it was 4:34 when it was only 4:04…and that means I’ve been up since 4:04 and that really sucks…I am just so worn out that I should take another day off today but I can’t…need to get electrical and paint prep work done today so I can paint the bathroom Monday…didn’t sleep for crap either, so there may be a nap this afternoon when soccer is on…couldn’t believe how much I hurt on the bike yesterday with my back and hands just screaming in pain throughout the entire second ride and I’m not sure why that would be…I mean my hands hurt and cramp up some on most days but yesterday they were so numb I couldn’t feel to shift the bike…I did get over 3200 miles yesterday and that leaves me with just over a thousand to do to break the record…I guess that’s something…I really should clean some around here today but will probably let that go until the weekend…will be worn out by the time I get back here today so I won’t be dong much….more later…

Well…another 4:54 morning today and you would think that there would be at least one morning when I would sleep until later than that…isn’t the lack of sleep supposed to build up until you have to sleep in? I think I do need to change the timer on the coffee maker so I’ll have it ready when I get up and I won’t have to wait for it to run…as I am right now…had a pretty good day yesterday and got the hand rail done at the house so that leaves me with the closet fixtures and the bathroom to finish and the necessary work will be done and I just have to wait for the windows to be installed and I can get the water turned on….still have lots of painting to be done but that is easy stuff that can be done any time…I am taking the day off from the house today since I have to get supplies to finish the bathroom and need to make two grocery runs since I am out of food and have been eating weird stuff out of the freezer…well…not really weird stuff but food that is not a first choice…and I have laundry to do and some general cleaning to do around here along with getting two rides in…it’s funny that I have enough to do with errands today that I have three lists on the pad instead of just the Meijers list…so, I guess I should get going….after a little more coffee that is…more later….

Well…hey, made it all the way to 5:14 this morning….at least that’s a half hour more than yesterday and I’ll take any little victory I can get…and I slept well enough to have really weird dreams that took me back to my college days and a final exam that the professor didn’t give us any study materials for except for some half blank pages…why that would come up now after being done with college for so many years is a little puzzling…I had an okay day yesterday and got my car insurance sorted out after the company didn’t send me any renewal paperwork…and it only went up about 50 bucks so that is cool…have that paid for another year so I don’t have to think about it until next August….I got the railing built at the house yesterday using some barnwood that was in the garage but I did get my first hammer injury when I whacked my left thumb and split it open like a tomato with blood everywhere…but I made a bandage out of paper towel and painter’s tape and was able to finish it up…looks kind of ugly this morning but doesn’t hurt much so I’ll be back there today to put up the handrail on the attic stairs…making some good progress and should have everything done by the end of next week…I hope…but I do need to wedge in my Lake Michigan swim next week so maybe it will take until after labor day…I am happy with the new battery and spark plugs that I put in the car…it starts really well and has not missed at all since I did it…I may have to put a new set of plug wires on it, too, since the ones on it have been on it since I bought the car almost 7 years ago and I’ve been holding them together with blue silicone…we’ll see…more later….

Well…another damn 4:44 morning and I am exhausted…again…I may have to make trying to sleep better a project and try a few new things to make it at least tolerable…I can’t go on with this little sleep and keep up all of the work I’ve had to do on the house…oh, well…I did get two rides in even after going over and painting yesterday and today looks like it will be the same…need to start building the handrail for the attic stairs today and I found almost everything I need in the garage so that is cool…it is a little strange that I went through the whole weekend with no pain or stiffness in my legs but it came back yesterday and continues this morning…at first I thought it may be doing two rides a day but I did that over the weekend, too so that can’t be it…maybe it’s just that I’m getting old and my body is confused….or maybe it’s telling me to stop…a thought popped into my head on the ride yesterday questioning why I’m riding so much and I narrowed it down to two possibilities…that I’m either trying to stay healthy or I’m trying to kill myself…and I’m not really sure which it is…who knows?  More later…

Well…you know, one of the things that I have been concerned with during the rehab of the house is that my car is going to have a big failure just when I need to be there for the windows or for the fence…or something else is going to fail that is going to cost money that I don’t want to spend right now with all of the cash that is going out for the house…and yesterday it appeared that everything was going to fail. First, the battery on the car died and I had to buy a new one, but during the online purchase, my printer died, and I haven’t been able to get either one of the lawnmowers running and it cost about a hundred bucks to have them fixed so it makes more sense to just buy a new electric for about 90 bucks… oh, and the car started missing like crazy and almost dying when coming to a stop and that normally is not cheap….so, I guessed and put a new set of plugs in the car and it seems to have helped…at least today it hasn’t done that but it could be the cleaner that I put in a few days back, too…who knows? Oh, again…the guy I had put the last muffler on is on vacation so I can’t get that done until a couple of weeks from now so I’ll have to live with the noise until then…I did wash the car for the first time in a month and noticed that more stitching has fallen apart on the top and had to glue that back together this afternoon…and just shows that I’ll need a new top over the winter…so, yes…there have been lots of failures over the past week that have me pretty tired…but, at least the car now starts really easily so I guess that’s worth 104 bucks…

Well…not feeling all that hot this morning and hurt quite a bit after not taking any ibuprofen as a test last night….wanted to see if I was taking it for a reason or not and I guess I was…didn’t sleep much and was up at 4 so that sets me up for being exhausted again today and I have too much to do to have that…oh, well…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but getting the new battery and a little cleaning but today I do need to get over to the house and start building the handrail to the attic and maybe even some paint in the bathroom…and I do need to put the kitchen door back on but I may have to put a second coat of paint on before that…but I need to get my hair cut first and see if I can get the new exhaust scheduled to be put on…getting tired of it lying here in the living room and I really need the car to be quieter…but, I need more coffee first and to read a little news before I get on the bike…more later…

Well…it has been a busy morning with getting the bike ride in and then getting a new battery for the car…so that is one down of the stuff I needed to do this week…I had been buying them from Autozone but they raised their price so high, 149 bucks, and had no special deals so I went to Advance since they had an online coupon for 25% off so that got the battery down to 104 bucks…this one is just a little bigger than the last one and I had to massage the hold down to make it fit but it worked out okay and now I don’t have to worry about that for about another 18 months…talked to the guy at Advance and he doesn’t know why they don’t make a better batteries for Miatas…and I don’t either…over the winter I am going to research other batteries that may fit but I didn’t have time to do that now since I have to be at the house so much in the next couple of weeks…I think I’ll buy a new shut off switch, too, just to make sure that everything is working right…after all they are only about 5 bucks and that is cheap to know that it will continue to work…

Well…another night of up at 3:14 and I am just damn exhausted…have been saying that a lot lately and I wonder how long this will go on? Probably until I have the house finished so I need to get moving on it..and the car problems are on my mind…need to get the exhaust installed and a new battery this week…just too much to do and not enough time to do it…and they may be putting the windows in this week, too so I just need to hunker down and get things done…I’m already doing my bedding at 5:45 since my pillows had a weird smell to them and needed to be washed…my new washer is big enough to take two of them and that is kind of cool….okay, need to go get coffee…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but clean my stove top and I think I’ll continue to work on the kitchen today since it is supposed to storm this afternoon and that will keep me off the bike after the ride this morning…and my legs feel okay even after doing two yesterday but I don’t want to push it and hobble around here today…more later….