Well…this morning when I was mowing the front lawn, Dan, the guy who has been rehabbing the house across the street, came over to chat for a while and told me that the owner’s son, his wife, and their small child will be moving in  a couple of weeks from now when they get the house finished…that will be cool to have another occupied house here in the neighborhood and the same guy owns the run down house next door to that one and they are going to start on the exterior on that one next. But, the big news is that the vacant lot across the street has been sold and they are going to build a new house on it…I really hope that last one is true because that will make two new ones behind me and one new one and one rehabbed one across the street….and I counted 7 new houses already in progress within two blocks of me and I can already count the money from what that is going to do to the value of my house….I really don’t have to think much about that since this is probably the last house I’ll live in but I can leave more to my kids and I have more equity that I can borrow against if I need it….pretty cool turn of events…and I might be able to get a car loan and buy a really nice Miata…

Well…that was better…didn’t get out of bed til 7 this morning and slept pretty well so I’ll take that….and I don’t feel a lot of pain today so I’ll take that, too….had a good day yesterday with K coming out to visit and we went down to the local bar with the rooftop seating and had a couple to talk for a while and catch up…that was fun…I did get back on the bike yesterday but for only one ride since I was still recovering from my stupidity…felt pretty good all day yesterday and feel okay today so I think I’ll edge back up to two rides today and see how I feel…I do need to mow the lawn at some point but I think I’ll wait on that til tomorrow…I picked my first cuke yesterday and had it bagged up with some beans for K but forgot to give it to her so I think I’ll make some pickles today…have another one ready in the garden so I can fill a quart jar with them…still no tomatoes yet and I am getting a little impatient waiting for them….I’m going to have to figure out how to use them all when they start ripening….will need to get the blender out to make some pasta sauce and then search the internet for other uses….not much to do today….it looks like a beautiful day out there so I’m going to ease into it and have more coffee and read the news before the bike ride….still think I need to take one more recovery day and take care of myself and make that a habit….still have two more sides of the house to clean but I will only ride once when I do them just to be safe….and I do need to hit the beach at least once this week…..more later….

Well….damn, I feel better this morning after 3 gallons of water, more food, and sleeping a little better…but I still think that this is a bug and allergies combined since I was freezing then sweating all night last night….had the ac on but that was too cold so I put the comforter on and then sweated my butt off so I shut the ac off and uncovered but that was too cold…you get my drift, so I was struggling to get comfortable all night but still slept better than Friday night….and the allergy headache has started and that will last until October or so and that is just damn annoying…I am going to get on the bike for one ride today….not going to push it but I would like to get out….it is really, really humid out here today and the windshield on the car fogged up from it on the run to Meijers and that is supposed to last all week…I probably should buy a blanket so I don’t have to use my comforter when sleeping….haven’t had one in 20 years and I probably should get one….I did get a cool new bath towel set from Target last week that is mildew and smell resistant and has a loop on the side to hang it from that works perfect with the hook that I hang mine from and I think I’ll take a look at blankets there this week….not much to do today….going to get a bike ride in here in a few minutes and then I need to make potato salad with the potatoes and eggs that I cooked Friday…and I may be making a run to Coopersville to meet up with K…haven’t seen her since she helped me move in Feb and I do need to get out of here….more later….

Well….it’s 12:30 and I’m still doing nothing….am recovering a bit but still have crud in my lungs and it may be ragweed and goldenrod that normally blooms this time of the year….just tried some nasal spray allergy meds and I hope that helps….I think part of this might be dehydration, too, so I have already had almost a gallon of water today….I was so thirsty overnight that I got up twice to have some water so there may be something to that…..so, I’m going to lie back down on the couch here in a minute and try to get a nap….it may take two days to heal up…and for sure no cocktails tonight…..need to get serious about taking care of myself…..

Well….damn, still feel like crap today and I made the early decision that I’m not getting on the bike today….need to take better care of myself and that will mean adding more calories today…didn’t sleep at all last night with waking up at 1,3, and 5 and then just giving up and got out of bed at 6…this hasn’t happened in a long time and I am exhausted from it…I even ran the ac last night and it was able to keep the room pretty cool and dry so that’s a good thing with the heat that is coming this next week….I still have water in my ear from swimming yesterday so it looks like I’ll need to get some swimming ear plugs to prevent it….it looks like the storms that were supposed to get here are missing to the north…again….so I will need to put the sprinkler on the garden today but that is all of the work I’m going to do…need an entire day off and just lie on the couch and watch the olympics…I do need to cook some chicken and green beans for lunch and I think I’m going to have some toast with peanut butter here in  a minute…..need to start cutting the calorie deficit soon or I’ll feel like crap all day…again….more later…

Well…sitting here feeling as bad as I can remember in a long time…have no energy at all and I think that from what I’ve eaten the past 4 days with only a burger and a dog and a few chips for each day…so worn out that I gave up cooking my second meal today and that leaves me with only about 500 calories today and that is not going to help…darn….but the worst part is my question in the title: how the heck do you hurt yourself just swimming? My right shoulder, elbow and thumb are throbbing and my hips have joined in the action, too,…along with that, I got scorched just being out in the sun an hour and a half and that is not helping….so, it looks like I’m going to be forced to take the day off tomorrow if it rains….or if it doesn’t….I think I’ve hit the point that I need to do a rest day…okay, my back now hurts, too….and my thighs….I think I’ve used my body up finally and this sucks….darn….

Well…I wonder why we never get storms out here during the day? The ones that rolled through here last night woke me up even with ear plugs in and they would have been cool to see but I wasn’t getting up at 3 am….and it looks like they are done for the day so my excuse to take the day off the bike and just fool around is gone….darn…I sure could use a day off to cook and clean but it won’t happen without an excuse….feel pretty slow this morning but my elbow is better and I’ll take that improvement….not much other pain that I was anticipating after washing the siding so I may just get at the back of the house today…I am going to try to find a place to put my hummingbird feeder up but I don’t think I have enough sugar to make the food…might have to wait until next week…and I need to get some small nails to repair some loose siding that I found yesterday and I have a couple of pieces of soffett that need to be replaced on the back of the house but I don’t feel like going out to get them today…maybe later….not much to do today…it is going to be warm so I may go out to the beach and only do one ride today….I do need to use the last 4 eggs and make some potato salad and cook some chicken and green beans…I probably should take the day off and just veg but you know I won’t be able to do that…where is the rain when I need it? More later…..

Well…how the day started off with me feeling depressed and completely not motivated, I really did accomplish something today. After getting the two rides in and making lunch, I decided to get off my butt and get after the yard side of the house with my scrub brush…that side of the house was really dirty but it came out good and only took me a little over an hour to do….even got the side of the kitchen that faces the yard done and that was the dirtiest part of the entire house with lots of black mold and other crud and I even cleaned the basement windows and the foundation to get rid of all of the spiders that were coating them with webs….I think this cleaning is going to have to be a yearly thing with the white siding but we’ll see as time goes on…and with the siding being old vinyl, I don’t think it would have held up to a power washer…and this is easy enough that I really don’t need one….going to be sore in new places tomorrow, though, since I can already feel some pain in my mid back and my elbow is screaming at me….again…darn….

Well..I’m depressed again this morning and this is getting to be a pain in the butt….didn’t get out of bed until almost 7 and can’t get started…again…but started for what? I do have things to do but don’t want to do any of them….maybe it will change later but not now…I slept okay last night but still no dreams to speak of and I wonder if I should be concerned about that? Maybe I should just veg and go out to the beach today but I don’t really feel like doing that either….okay, enough of that….I wonder when the damn tomatoes are going to start to ripen? It’s already the end of July and not even a little pink on the plants…I do have way too many beans and lots of cukes ripening and I think I need to make some pickles in the next couple of days….and some potato salad to use up the last 4 eggs…I do need to feed the garden today but the plants look like they don’t need it…I do have some peppers that have set and are growing and that will be an improvement over last year when I got two green peppers off the 6 plants I had in….need to figure out some recipes for them and I may make some stuffed peppers or a pizza to put them on….not much to do today…I am dreading getting on the bike today with how flat my legs were yesterday and I don’t think that is going to change until I rest them…might be able to get down to one ride tomorrow with the rain that is forecast or maybe I’ll force myself to just not ride at all….who knows? More later…..

Well….you know I talked about my surprise low gas bill last month…I mean 10.73 for a gas bill? Today I got another one that broke even that record…only 7.13 and this one is just weird…I do have a gas stove that I use almost every day and I have a water heater that heats water for at least two showers every day, so how the heck can it be this low? I know the water heater is new and efficient but what’s next? Are they going to pay me to use gas? I guess I have a pretty small carbon footprint here in the summer especially when I only drive about 15 miles a week to go with the gas usage. Oh, I did get my new sprinkler today and it works pretty well…covers a lot of ground so I don’t have to move it as much but it won’t go narrow enough to do the parkway in the front so I still have to use the old sprinkler for that….and only 10 bucks so that was cool….that’s enough for today…