Well…darn, I feel pretty crappy this morning and my head is plugged up completely with all of the tree pollen…and I have trees out here that I can see which are in bloom so I think I’m going to have to take something for it this morning…and I think I’m going to lose the bean plants in the garden today with the temp down around 30 right now…but, this should be the last day of freeze and the temps are supposed to start getting warmer…we may even get to 70 next week and get back to almost normal highs for this time of year…so that means double rides to try to get my mileage up….I did start working on the old bike to try to replace the drivetrain but it looks like I need a puller to get the pedal arms off and then a special tool to get the crankset keeper off….I know I’ll need to do that to the current bike when it wears out so I should get on it…I did buy a new pair of riding gloves and a big bottle of chain lube yesterday since I am almost out of lube and I have been using my gloves for almost 5 years now and they are pretty much worn out….they have been good ones so I bought another pair just like them and can justify the 13 bucks with all of the use I get out of them….I did discover that there are a few other people out here who are getting tired of the loud music and have been calling in noise complaints…talked to another police officer last night who confirmed the 50 foot rule…that music can’t be played so loud it can be heard from more than 50 feet away and she welcomed the noise calls that come from it…while I was talking to her, one of the people who is responsible for the noise came up and said”why would walmart sell me a speaker that is too loud if playing it loud is illegal?” Man, that is some twisted logic right there…I am making it my goal in life to build a nice, quiet neighborhood here…and I don’t think the long time residents get that things are changing out here and they have to follow the rules since it has been the wild west for so long….and they have been able to to whatever they want…no longer…more later…

Well…my sleep seems to be deteriorating over the past couple of days but at least I’m consistent with waking up before 5…and I feel okay so I guess I should stop bitching…but, damn…it’s 32 degrees outside right now and that means I’ll lose my bean plants that are in the garden…how the hell can it be 32 on May 12? Oh, well…that means I’ll have to wait until Friday to get at planting the tomatoes that are ready downstairs…but still no green peppers or cukes to replace the ones that died in the garden…I did get a bunch of stuff done yesterday with the grocery run and then mowing the lawn and that was a lot of walking…but I think I’m getting used to walking the mile it takes to mow it since only my big toe is hurting right now and my calves used to scream at me after I was done…probably the shoe change I made after the first mowing…still not losing any weight after cutting back on cocktails and nuts and that is a little disappointing…especially after cutting down to one meal a day…I mean all I had to eat yesterday was a bagel with cream cheese and a third of a chicken breast…no lunch or dinner and a hard ride, too, so that is a little confusing…might have to wait for getting double rides in next week…I am going to make a small pork shoulder in the instant pot for lunch and may make some pork tacos to go with the pickled red onions I made yesterday…have tomatoes in the fridge that need to be used, too, so I’ll need to start that by 9 or so…or 8:30 since it takes a while to get up to pressure and I want to get out on the bike by around noon or so and the potatoes and carrots take a cycle, too…more later…

Well…ever since I moved out here, I had it in the back of my mind that I saw a concert at Heritage Landing…the park at the end of my street just down the hill and something just made me look for it to confirm…and yep, I saw Joe Walsh and Buddy Guy there in 2000 and that was pretty cool…see, my memory is not completely gone….and, while I was looking for that ticket, I found tons of others that I kept…from Peter Gabriel, the Who, Neil Young, lots of Steely Dans, and, get this, I have a ticket for the Eagles when I saw them in 1974 out at Grand Valley…spent a whole 5 bucks on that one….who would hang onto a ticket for 47 years? I guess weird people like me…I still have my ticket from seeing Led Zeppelin in Chicago in 1975 somewhere and that was only 7.50 while Joe in 2000 was 17 bucks…still worth it and would do it again in a minute…I wonder if I have the ticket for Joe and Bob Seeger when I saw them here in Muskegon, too…and that was at LC Walker arena that is also just down the street from here, too…man, I would like to see one more concert before I die…

Well….when I got up this morning and looked out the kitchen window as I normally do, I really had to smile since there were three young deer just standing in the yard next door…and when they moved off, it was with no urgency at all…just strolling as they sniffed the ground looking for something to eat…and that is a little surprising since most of the yards are fenced in out here like mine is and access is pretty limited…but, I have seen deer of this age easily clear a 4 foot tall fence so I guess it wouldn’t be too hard for them to get around…not sure it the other sight I saw this afternoon is wildlife but those 5 kittens I saw following their mother the other day were all playing in a shrub next to the garage next door…climbing up and knocking each other out of it as they play fought…not wildlife but pretty fun to see…all long hair kittens when their mom is a short hair gray cat…genetics at work…

Well…damn, my forearms are sore from using my pole saw yesterday so it looks like I’m going to need to wait a couple of days to get back to working on the dead branches….and that’s okay since I do have to mow the lawn today after the grocery run and Man U plays at noon…and I have to do a little more conditioning of the garden soil to do and start planning when and where to start planting the tomatoes…I am a little concerned that I am having so much trouble getting the green peppers to come up downstairs and I may just have to bite the bullet and buy some plants…oh, I did get up around 5:30 this morning and, with no hope of getting back to sleep, I just got up and got started on the day and my annoyance of that is getting smaller as the days of being good go on….I did go out to what was supposed to be a car show at the distillery along shoreline road but there were only two cars there so that was a bust but I got to drive around a bit with the top down on the car and that was cool…I sure wish it would have been warm enough to ride the bike over there since it is only about 3 miles and you don’t need any space to park…not much to do today…just the grocery run and outdoor work but it looks like the bike ride will wait until after Man U plays at noon…I do need to start getting doubles in every day or I won’t get anywhere near to 3K miles that is the small goal for the year…I did turn over 700 miles a couple of days ago and that is not much but better than nothing….and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate next week so I can get a morning and an afternoon ride in…so, yay! More later…

Well…I really am happy I decided to keep the extending tree trimming saw instead of returning it to depot….spent 3 hours using it this morning getting at more of the dead branches on my trees and still have quite a bit to do…the big dead branch on the tree that hangs over my power line is next in my sights but I think it will take some planning to not get electrocuted  since I’ll have to go over the power line and take the branch down piece by piece since it would land on the wires and the roof if I cut it all down at once. Ended up with 5 more bundles of branches and a full bag of twigs and small branches to put out for pick up tomorrow…and, while I was bundling them and tying them up, I looked down and saw more glass buried in my yard but it wasn’t the pieces that I have been finding, it was a cream bottle from a dairy that was all in one piece so I washed it out and I think I’ll use it for a vase if I ever get any flowers to come up this summer…it must have been in there for years and years since the last time I saw one was when I was a kid…and that was a long time ago…back to work again tomorrow since I have to mow the lawn and work on the garden…almost have tomatoes that are big enough to transplant but there is a freeze warning for tonight so I’m glad I didn’t jump the gun and plant them today….

Well…that was crappy…didn’t sleep well at all and feel pretty lousy this morning so it will be an easy morning as I try to feel better with lots of water and coffee….and I even hurt almost everywhere with that dull ache that doesn’t need ibuprofen but it is going to slow me down all day…oh, well….and it is going to be cold for the next two days with a high of 53 each day that is a good 15 degrees under the average high for this time of year…and looking at the weather, there is no relief for the rest of May…I can’t remember a spring where it has been this cold for so long…by this time last year, I was out on the bike for doubles every day in shorts and a t-shirt but I’ve only been out that way 3 times this year so far….I did get an e-mail off to the community officer for this neighborhood since the idiots to the north of me had their damn music playing loud all day and I’m not going to take this crap anymore…I know I live in the city but, after living in GR without this problem, there has to be a solution that doesn’t involve me calling in noise complaints every damn day…but, I will if I have to…and maybe that will get the city off their asses to do something…not much to do today…I am going to run out to Harding’s just to see if the chicken they have on sale is a good deal since I have to wait for the temp to come up to get on the bike anyway…so that means I’ll get the dirt and stuff for the garden tomorrow when I do the grocery run since depot is right by Aldi’s….more later…

Well…just couldn’t work up enough outrage or motivation to get to reading about politics today so that means I don’t have a topic to write about…so I think I’ll just talk about the day I’ve had…I did find something out…I really like going into the wind on the first leg of the bike ride…and I really hate going into the wind on the way back…it was just so brutal today with a 15 mph wind coming from the NE that I’m sore still and I got back here before 2 and it’s almost 6 right now….I did get more seeds planted since I have had to change to brute force to get enough plants for my garden…still haven’t gotten one green pepper plant to come up and I planted over twenty of them….and I’m going to plant 8 more seeds tomorrow to go with the 8 more bean seeds I planted today….I do have to plan to go to Harding’s market tomorrow since they have boneless skinless chicken that if you buy 2 family sized packages, they give you three more for free…so I expect that the two I have to buy will be about 25 bucks but it still should be about 1.29 a pound after I get the three free ones…if it’s not that good of a deal, I’ll pass on it since I really don’t need 20+ pounds of chicken in my freezer…I did make room for it by taking out the half pork shoulder that I had in there and I’ll be cooking that Tues or Wed…but that much chicken would get me through the entire summer…would have to get really creative to not get tired of chicken by then….okay, that’s enough….going to get ready to veg for a while and stare at the tv…

Well…I think this is about on time for a Sunday with getting up a little before 6 and running out to get the paper…and it’s still damn cold out there at 36 degrees and I have to remember not to think about that or I’ll get depressed again..but still, 36 degrees in the second week of May?  Oh, well….I did have a funny little surprise yesterday when one of the feral cat mommas that are all over the place out here strolled through my yard trailing 5 kittens behind her and seems to have taken up residence in the garage next door…pretty cute little things with colors that ranged from black to white and multicolored….and that made me smile a little….I did get out for a bike ride yesterday when I thought it was going to be a miss day as it was so damn cold all day…but, it got to 48 degrees around 4 pm so I decided to give it a try and it wasn’t too bad….and I am getting used to the wind as I talked about the other day and even going into a 15 mph headwind is tolerable now…so I will get out again this morning after the F1 race and ManU playing at 9….it was a pretty quiet day out here yesterday with just a little music that I could tolerate but I’m afraid that it was only because of the cold….but, we’ll see…I do have my fingers crossed….not much to do today….I do have to water the garden to try to keep the bean plants I planted alive and I need to go out and get some garden food and some potting soil tomorrow so I can start to transplant the tomatoes…need to put a big ball of potting soil in the holes in the garden when I do to give them a chance to survive…I did hang one of the led lights downstairs yesterday to get the plants growing more and I hope they will be ready to move by next week….but, right now I need much more coffee and to read some news to just ease into the day with soccer on in the background….more later….

Well…you don’t know how disappointing it is when you wake up and see that it is light, roll over and go back to sleep thinking that you are finally sleeping in, but when you wake up for good and look at the clock, it is only quarter to seven…damn, I wonder when I’m going to be able to get more than 6 hours of sleep? Oh, well…feel a little slow this morning with having a couple of cocktails for the first time in a week and that fits right in with the plans to do nothing for a while this morning with F1 qualifying on in a little while and it too damn cold to get out on the bike with it being only 32 out there and that means the bean plants I put in the garden are toast so I’ll have to plant another 8 in cups today so I’ll haven enough to put outside if it ever gets warm enough…I guess that will give me time to prep the soil better than I have since it looks too sandy for good growth and, with firing up a light downstairs, I don’t have to rush to put them out anyway…I wonder if I should start one of the LED lights instead of the T5? The tomato plants sure are liking being under the lights and I’m sure the new bean plants that are coming up will, too….that sounds like a plan and I think I’ll do that later today…but that means transplanting them into bigger pots so I’ll have to go out and get some potting soil Monday….or maybe today…who knows? Not much to do today…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and I think I’m getting used to riding in the high winds out here…it was blowing almost 20 from the NW yesterday and I just shifted down to 21st to grind it out until I made the turn to the beach…and the ride coming back was rocket propelled with 20mph at my back and that was fun….oh, forgot to talk about today…just going to watch races and fool around but may clean the kitchen after starting on it yesterday….more later….