Well…as you know if you’ve been here over the past few years, I try to do at least one long ride every year that matches my age in miles….and I’m not sure why but today was the day…did 5 laps of my 15 mile loop today for 75 miles…and no that’s not my age but you can’t just ride half of the loop….just like last year, I didn’t plan that I was going to do it today….I had just started thinking about doing it a couple of days ago but when I got done with the first lap this morning, I felt so good and there just a little wind so I thought I’d give it a try…it was pretty easy through the first 4 laps but the fifth one was brutal with quickly running out of energy and the wind that had picked up to almost 15 mph out here…and now everything hurts…not just my legs but my arms, shoulders, and even my left knee which really surprises me since it has never hurt before…but, with being on the bike for over 6 hours, I guess everything really should hurt….and I feel pretty good right now…I guess I couldn’t take a day off after all…

Well…damn, I feel worn out today…and I’m drinking two day old coffee since I couldn’t bring myself to throw out half a pot that I didn’t drink yesterday with working on the lawn after the first ride…I am seriously considering not working on anything today and just taking the day off other than riding….need to have some time to heal up after pushing hard all week and I think I need more time for recovery as I age…and I just don’t feel like working today…did lots of cooking yesterday with making potato salad, tacos, and burgers so I won’t have to cook again until Monday or so….I had run out of leftovers to eat and I think I took a couple of hours to restock the fridge since I didn’t have anything in the freezer for quick meals….I do need to get out to the beach in the next few days and just relax and get a swim in…I mean I live 5 minutes from the beach and I haven’t been out there to swim in two weeks? Damn, now my right shoulder hurts, too…felt it crunching when I moved it last night and it is still doing it this morning so I really do need to rest it and my elbow….so I think my body made the decision for me…rest day…not much to do today…a bike ride here in a few minutes and then I just might veg out and watch the TDF this morning before I do the second ride…..I did notice yesterday that I have tiny cukes on my cuke plants and now I’m just waiting for my peppers to bloom and everything will be producing…my garden looks better than I expected with the poor soil out here and I should have cherry tomatoes ripened in a couple of weeks…can’t wait….more later…

Well…as I’ve written about before, the high water in Muskegon Lake over the past few years washed out the trail that runs right along the shoreline…I rode what was left of it early in the spring and there was very little of the pavement left, just holes where it used to be and it got to be impassable near the point so I found a new route out to Lake Michigan that used the roads and some sidewalks…until today, that is….on the way back from this morning’s ride I decided to check out the trails since I hadn’t seen any workers on it for a while and the trail was complete and open…and it is really nicely done and has some great views…probably the best that I’ve seen on any trails I’ve ridden on…they even have a bridge that hangs out over the water that goes for a hundred yards and has a set of steps that go down to the water so you can dangle your feet in the lake if you want to…and they have installed swinging seats that you can stop and relax on that are really cool. With this addition, I can ride on trails for all but a mile out to the lake…and that mile is on the street where there is a bike lane so I can stay away from the traffic….and the trail adds another half mile to my ride so that is cool…it was sure a nice surprise to see this today…but, I damaged the hell out of my elbow doing the string trimming today and it hurts like crazy….can’t wait til I can take something for it…18 minutes…

Well…I think I’m in a rut…I sit here every day and agonize over finding a political topic, but I have other interests that I can write about and I wonder why I don’t do a few of those? Or would that bore you guys and then you won’t come back? Hmmmm…okay, I’ll do one more political one and then maybe start talking about other stuff…the SC today sent down a ruling that the repubs voter suppression laws in Arizona is just fine with them…and Alito said that yeah, we see that minority and dem voters will be the ones most affected but, hey…just work a little harder to vote and everything will be fine…stand in line a little longer, bring two kinds of ID, that will be just fine…so now that makes passing the for the people act even more urgent…and hey, Sinema…this crap is happening in your state and you still think the filibuster is more important than restoring voting rights to your people? I think there is going to be a big backlash against this crap in the next election…independents really hate these laws and are moving over to our side everyday…I really hope this is happening and we can ‘throw the bums out”….geez…

Well…this is a little weird…for the past few days, I woke up around 6 and was able to get back to sleep for an hour or so and didn’t get out of bed until almost 7….I think part of that was I was so beat after all of the work yesterday…and I’m going to do the same thing today with mowing the lawn thrown in for good measure….I can’t believe how fast the grass is growing…I cut it Monday and it is almost 6 inches tall…maybe a I made a mistake seeding it and feeding it….but it is starting to look like a lawn and that was my goal from the start…had a couple of boards in the front steps come loose yesterday from the screws rusting out so I need to get out to the hardware store and see if I can some stainless steel ones to replace them…not sure if the hardware store has bulk screws but I don’t want to buy a package of 20 from the big box stores….I ran out of leftovers yesterday so I need to find some time to cook today, too…want to make some potato salad and I got burger for 1.79 so I can make tacos, too, along with olive burgers so maybe I’ll put washing the siding on the west side of the house off for a day so I can get the cooking done today…..and I wonder if I can just do one ride today? Or do the second one later? One of these days, I’m going to take an entire day off and just veg out and eat bon bons and sit on the couch and watch tv…..I’m not sure how long I can sustain this pace…but what happens when I slow down? I wonder if I’ll get old? More later….

Well…I wonder why I keep doing this to myself? I’m retired and still pack my days with too much work and I’m beat from it….started out with getting on the bike before 7 am to get the first ride in and open up the rest of the day….then off to do the grocery run to two stores and back here by 9:30…back on the bike by 10 for another 15 miles and back here by 11:30…then I dragged out the ladder and the rest of the stuff I needed to scrub the siding on the front porch and worked on that til 1:30 and now I’m done for the day…most of the siding came out looking pretty good but there is a bunch of sticky stuff under the porch light that looks like it came from a nest of some sort that was there…going to try some goo gone to see if that will cut it or maybe some wd….my elbow was better until I started to abuse it with all the scrubbing and now it is howling in pain and I may have to take something for it here in a few minutes…I’ve got to stop doing this to myself…I’m not 30 anymore…..but I have an 8th of the house clean so I guess that is something….I know I didn’t drink enough coffee this morning…

Well…up at 6:05 this morning after a night of fitful sleep and I feel really slow this morning…but I need to get moving to get out on the bike before 7 so I can get a ride in before I do the grocery run…and that will set me up to get the second ride in right after I get back at 9:30 and then get started on washing the siding on the front of the house after lunch…it’s pretty dirty and needs a good scrubbing…not sure how my elbow is going to hold up to that today but it feels a little better this morning so I guess I’ll find out…I did get all the stuff I need to get all the work done on the car yesterday and I think I’ll start on the cooling system first next week…then I need to do an oil change and I am going to try to use the ramps my brother gave me by backing the car into the garage and then put the ramps on the concrete that is at the entry and driving it onto the ramps just outside the garage door…there may be too much slope there but I’m going to try it and see if it works…would make the jobs much easier than jacking the car up….and I do have a bunch of 2×4’s I can use to level the ramps so I think it will work….not much to do today…just the grocery run and then some work on the yard…I did get my ant killer on the ant nests yesterday and need to water that in since it was supposed to rain but didn’t…so I have busy day again….more later…

Well…I think I may have bought my house at the right time…while I was reading the news after I got back from running my errands this morning, I came across an article on housing prices that put a little smile on my face…since I bought my house, prices are up almost 5% so that means I’ve made almost 5 grand in equity in the past 4 months…and the predictions are that prices will rise almost 15% in the next year so that means my equity will be up almost 20 grand in  a year and I’ll have almost 60 grand in equity in this place and that is kind of cool…for me, but not for other people who are trying to buy a house in this weird market. I am still amazed how many things fell into place that allowed me to get this place, and even with the noise problem, which is 80% better by the way, I do like owning a house and being able to do what I want with it….and I have a yard that is coming in and a garden that has already given me enough beans to make a side dish and is showing lots of tomatoes that I should be harvesting by the end of July….and I got through a ride without a flat this morning and will be going out again after the match and the rain…things could be worse….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting out of bed until almost 7 and I’m not sure why I would have slept okay…I did run the ac unit last night with how humid it was out here and I didn’t sweat at all so that was cool…but, I’m not sure how it’s going to cope when it gets to 90+ out here…part of my sleep might have been riding the bike back here 6 miles on a flat and I’m still sore this morning from it…I’m almost at the end of ideas on why the flats continue on that wheel but I tried replacing the spoke protector band with two layers of electrical tape wrapped around the wheel….it fit perfectly and covered more of the inside of the wheel so we’ll see if that helps when I get out this morning…the weird thing about the flats is that I got a week this last time between flats and that doesn’t make any sense…..I do need to run out to menards this morning to get oil for an oil change and a gallon of coolant so I can get the old stuff out since it has changed into a gel…and I am going to get some ant poison since I have these huge ant colonies all through my lawn that are annoying as hell….it was supposed to rain all day today but there is nothing on the radar so I may be able to get two rides in too….not much to do today…going to get on the bike here in a few and then out to menards before noon so I can watch the England/Germany match….I cleaned the back steps yesterday so I’m not sure if I’ll clean today….maybe….more later…

Well…running late today with waking up at 5:45 but staying in bed for another hour….but that didn’t help and I am worn out this morning…I wonder when I can take a day off and not be so busy? Probably never…I did get a bunch of stuff done and I’m glad I mowed the lawn since it appears like it’s going to rain this morning…I am going to get a ride in before the rain gets here and then wait til the afternoon for the second one….it been a week since the last flat on the bike so I may have fixed it…but I need to put the new tire back on the new wheel and will probably screw it up and start the flats coming again…I think it may have been the small stone I found in the wheel…but the tire that I have on the new wheel is bald and coming apart so it needs to be done…I do need to get out and get some exterior latex paint to do the trim on the garage entry door and all of the doors that have been replaced since they just have the primer on them…but I’m not sure if I’ll do that today…don’t feel like doing anything right now and I think I’ll just have coffee and read some news before I drag my butt out and get on the bike….more later…