Well….after the big rain clouds fell apart before they got here, I thought I’d get a second ride in just in case it does rain tomorrow…so I jumped back on the bike and, when I got to the bottom of the hill, I noticed a huge gravel freighter just off Heritage landing heading out to Lake Michigan…so I thought “what the hell” and decided to race it out to the lake….went harder than I ever do on the second ride and beat it by a mile…I was averaging over 17 on the way out and got to my bench on the boardwalk and sat there to wait for it to come out of the channel…and waited, and waited…after my 5 minute water stop was over, it still hadn’t appeared so I got back on the bike and headed home…and I beat the small rain shower that happened by about 5 minutes…it only lasted a few minutes and that was disappointing since it was supposed to rain most of the day and into tomorrow but the big storms are to the east and noting is going on here anymore…darn…I did get the bathroom cleaned and the lasagna made since I thought it was going to rain and I was going to have the afternoon off…no such luck but I’m still hoping for a day off tomorrow….and might get it with the gale warning that is in effect for tonight and tomorrow morning…we’ll see…

Well…another 6:09 morning and I really did contemplate trying to go back to sleep but getting up seemed to be the easier thing to do….I did get scorched a bit at the beach yesterday and my skin is pretty tight right now…had to go out there yesterday for the last time with a huge weather change that is coming later in the week that is going to keep high temps around 60 or so and I think that will be the end of the 80 degree highs…the water was even warm enough to stay in for a half hour or so and I swam out to the huge sandbar that is about 50 yards off the beach where the water was only about a foot deep…I walked out about 150 yards before the water started getting deeper and that was pretty cool…and I got two rides in but that won’t happen today…there is a lot of rain coming up from the south but it won’t be here until 10 or so and that will let me get at least one ride in….and it is still already 70 out here so I am going to enjoy that while it lasts and get ready to find the gloves and the rest of my fall and winter riding clothes…I am going to make lasagna today for lunch after I get back from the ride and this will be only the second time I’ve ever made it….and I am still not sure why I haven’t done it more it is so easy….and then, if it rains, I am going to clean this place up and maybe get started on the inside of the front door trim but I think it is going to need some sanding first….more later….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting up until coffee o’clock and then going out for the paper and some stuff I need to make lasagna and getting on the bike by 7:40 to get back here in time to see the Man U match…my legs hurt like crazy on the ride this morning and I’m not sure why…no…my whole body hurts after mowing the lawn and painting yesterday and there will be a need for painkillers later this morning…the house is finally starting to look finished with getting the raw wood on the door frames painted and getting the last part of it washed….now I just need to get some topsoil and grass seed to fill in the bare spots so it will be ready to sprout in the spring…it looks like rain is going to come in later tonight and all day tomorrow so I may finally get that day off the bike I have been needing to heal my muscles up some….and I need to get 9 paver blocks to make a little pad to park my garbage bin on this week…not sure what color I’m going to get…I can get some that almost match the grey paint on the blocks in the foundation or do I want to get red ones for a splash of color and to match the ones I put in front for the mail people to walk on? Or do I get 5 red ones and 4 grey ones to make a pattern? That might be cool….not much to do today…just one more ride and then I’m taking the rest of the day off I think…more later…..oh, happy last day of work, Tom…

Well…cripes, have had another busy day today with getting started on the bike before 8, then back on it again before 10 and back here around 11…then I mowed the lawn, made lunch, and then on to masking off the front door trim and then giving it two coats of paint and cleaning up after I finished…and now it’s almost 3 and I’ve just sat down for the first time today…it is nice to get the last exterior trim painted so everything else can be done whatever the weather…will probably do the interior portion of it tomorrow but I just may take a day off…other than the bike rides, that is…going to need to get on the bike by 7:30 tomorrow morning with Man U playing at 9 an then I’ll be out for the second ride by 11….the bike is working as well as I can remember and that is so cool….just going to leave it alone and ride….and try to find a political topic to talk about…but, I haven’t even read the news yet today…should get off my butt and get that done…more later…

Well…5:32…darn….I am pretty sore this morning from the beating I took in the waves yesterday and my right elbow is the worst it’s been in quite a while and I’m not sure why that would be….it mostly hurts on the inside this time so that’s new….or it hurts enough so I feel it through the whole thing….not sure how that is going to effect painting this afternoon or mowing the lawn…will probably have to take something for it before I get on the bike….had to go back to watering the lawn yesterday with the lack of rain out here and will probably have to do it again today but it looks like rain for Monday and Tuesday…yeah, right…so that will help if it happens….I do need to get started on the winter wheels this week so I can get the winter tires ordered and mounted before it gets too cold to have the top down to transport them to discount…should only be a little over 300 bucks for the tires and I’ll never have to buy another set since I only put about 500 miles a year on them…I hope they will be as good as the worn out blizzaks that I have been using…..I also need to start figuring out my winter routes for the bike around here…I know they don’t clear the trails so I have to have at least a 10 mile route on the road so I can stay in shape…I am going to set up the old bike on the trainer so I can ride downstairs if it’s too snowy to go out….not much to do today…two rides and then a decision to make on whether to paint or mow the lawn or both…..but, I am going to do something or the guilts will get me….more later….

Well….have been casting around for a topic in politics today and haven’t come up with anything yet so I think I’ll let it percolate in my brain for a while and do this one instead. When I was out on the bike this morning, with it running so good I almost felt happy for the first time in a long time….everything is working out right now…I have money in the bank, a nice house to live in that is near the water and bike trails, and I’m still relatively healthy for an old guy…so that triggered a run out to the beach today instead of painting trim…and I got to play in some 5 foot waves again…not sure how many more times I’ll get out there but if it’s never, it was still a good summer. Normally, I hover quite near depression as I have my entire life but now the only thing I have to think about is finishing up the interior of the house and getting at the insulation in the attic…but, I have had other times when things were going well and I just couldn’t enjoy it…and some of that is still happening now, as you can see from the title…other people would be ecstatic to have my life as they struggle with their own but depression is not logical…it just is….luckily, even when it comes, it’s not as bad as it used to be….now I need to find a topic…more later….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting up til 7:20 and that is sleeping in for me….and probably a result of the two rides and washing the back of the house yesterday…worked my butt off and was pretty worn out….and it’s almost 8 and I have just started my first cup of coffee so it is going to take a while to get moving today….still hurt almost everywhere this morning and it was so bad yesterday that I did have to take an ibuprofen during the day and another one last night so I could sleep…and I think I’ll take another one before I get on the bike this morning….I did get the grey bike close to being like new after I threw all the parts at it and it is so nice to have the full suspension again…it is so strange that just 4 inches of travel in it makes such a big difference…I don’t know how people ride non suspended bikes….I wonder if I’ll ever take the road bike out again with the thin tires that have to be filled to 60 psi? That thing just rattles my body on the bumps……I was going to run an errand this morning since my potatoes are rotten but I just don’t feel like it…I can wait til next wed…have plenty of food here and I’ll just have to find something else to eat….not much to do today….just the rides and some cleaning but that will wait a while until I have more coffee and read the news…thinking about mowing the lawn again today but it may wait til Monday….we’ll see…more later….

Well…damn, that was a crappy night…up and down all night last night and I thought I had a mouse chewing on something all night and I could hear it even through my earplugs…but, I just found out that I hadn’t latched the front door all the way and the wind was moving it just enough to make the noise…so, I don’t have to run out this morning to get mouse poison….but I probably should since I need gas for the mower, too, and it’s only 50 out there so I’ll be waiting to get on the bike…don’t want to have to wear gloves this early….and it’s almost cold enough to wear my long pants….darn, I abused my hands yesterday working on the bike and they are going to need a couple of days to heal…just like the pain and stiffness from climbing on the roof Tues….that is pretty bad, too, with my back and hips really bad…I think I’ll take an ibuprofen before I get on the bike today…and I need to get the last part of the house washed today, too….that should only take about an hour or so and then I can get at cleaning the windows for winter…and I need to start planning the painting in here…going to do the living room first and then get the extra bedroom done…and I’ll have weeks in the trim and windows in here…probably take a month to complete the room…..but I can’t wait til I can sit here and see a modern paint job and curtains….but it is much more of a pain to paint when I’m living here and have my furniture in here….I’m tired of moving stuff and all that crap….not much to do today…after only eating one meal yesterday, I need to make sure I don’t slip back into feeling like crap from it…I may run the errands I need to do today since it looks like I’ll have to mow again tomorrow and I don’t have any gas….but I really don’t want to do anything right now other than read the news and have more coffee….so that’s what I’ll do….more later…

Well…damn, I am not sure how the day got away from me but I do know that it is after 3 and I just finished up with lunch…and I have been busy all day…started with getting out for the grocery run around 8:30 or so then on the black bike for the first ride…and on that ride I decided to get the grey bike rebuilt and take the crankset off the black one to put on the grey one…that only took about 45 minutes to get it up and running again but damn, the front shifters on these are such a pain to get adjusted, especially when you have to move it to compensate for the larger sprockets in front and while doing that, the cable became frayed from adjusting it so much so that will have to be replaced soon…and I worked on it for over an hour just to get it to move from the big sprocket to the medium one…and all that work beat the heck out of my hands and they are just screaming in pain…but I did take the bike out and got the second ride in and getting the rear shifter adjustment close so I can finish it tomorrow morning…and I hurt everywhere from the roof work yesterday so I should take some time off or some ibuprofen…not sure which yet…maybe both? I am going to try to do a political one in a while but I haven’t read any news yet for a topic… so that will have to happen first…man, I’m beat….

Well…6:36…that’s all I’ll say about that…damn, I’m sore in a lot of new places today after climbing on the roof to fix the soffit siding yesterday….and I got that all done with Tom’s help and that was cool…and I got out for a bike ride after the wind got down to 16mph and I’m going to do two today before I start tearing down the black bike to transfer the crankset over to the grey bike and try to get that up and running today…but, I need to do the grocery run today first…don’t have a lot to get since I am trying to eat out of the freezer and have plenty of food in there….I did get the lawn mowed yesterday morning so that frees me up to do other stuff today…I do have to remember to get gas for the mower Friday since I used the last of it yesterday but it’s not bad that I only used about a gallon and a half since I moved in here….I did check my bank account this morning and went over the 20K barrier this month…that’s a gain of 8K since I bought this place 7 months ago and it is nice to not have to worry about money anymore…but I am going to burn 6K in the spring to buy another Miata but I should be at 25K by then so I’ll still be near 20K…and I may get to the point of having 100K in assets next year if housing prices keep going up and I don’t spend much…I do want a garage door opener but I need to pay off the 150 bucks I spent on bike parts first….not much to do today….just the grocery run and bike rides before I get to working on the bikes…it will be nice to have front suspension that works and a lot less pain in my thumb and elbow….more later….