Well…that was crappy…probably the worst night’s sleep in weeks and I’m feeling it this morning…and that was night two of cocktails so that’s it for the week…maybe I’ll sleep better tonight from it….but I think part of it is my allergies exploded yesterday and I could barely breathe all night…and that continues now and I may just have to take something for it this morning…I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and got a look at the new sculpture they are installing out at the beach…not sure if I like it or not…seems a bit cutesy with the colored glass and moving lights but we’ll see when it’s finished…and I got the whole thing in without a flat but I thought about it the entire ride since I couldn’t figure how the tube failed and worried I may have missed what caused it..but, I was happy that the tire and rim weren’t damaged and the bike still rides smooth so I’ll take it….I did get some work done on the yard yesterday with getting more grass seed down after I got back from riding…was counting on it raining today but that chance looks slim right now with nothing on the radar….my son and his wife are coming out to see the house this morning after taking their dog to a vet appointment in GH so I need to straighten up after I read the news and have some more coffee…and I really want to work on the garage door opener to see if it can be salvaged…it would be really cool if it’s just a fuse and I could get away with just buying an opener for it…but the new belt drive ones with battery backup look pretty cool and they are only 159 bucks….and I can get a stripped down one for about a hundred so I need to think about this a bit….more later…

Well…I wonder why almost everything I do has to be harder than it needs to be? Just today when I was out trying to buy a new ladder to work on stuff around here, you would think you could just pick one up, take it to the checkout, and pay for it…but no…every one of the 8 ft. ladders they had in stock didn’t have a bar code on it so I had to have the cashier look it up on the computer…after about 15 minutes of that, the ladder I wanted didn’t show up anywhere so then she just charged me for a different ladder and I got 5 bucks off…but now, if the damn thing fails on me, I won’t have a correct receipt and I’ll have to explain it to the return people…that is if it fails…I’ve never had one fail so I don’t think that is going to happen…the ladder did fit in the front seat easily and I got it home with no problem….and the hooks I put up yesterday will hold both the ladder and the pole saw that I decided to keep so that is cool….but still, nothing easy…at least my legs only hurt a little after all the work yesterday…yay!

Well…that was a mistake…I gave in to having cocktails last night after the busy day I had and I am feeling it right now…and to keep to my 2 day a week schedule, that means no cocktails for either tonight or tomorrow night and I’m okay with that…after all of the walking and the flat tire ride yesterday, I expected my legs would be really sore today but surprisingly they are just fine…and my right calf is normal after mowing and I think it may have to do with getting out my old mowing shoes and not using my rubber garden shoes…whatever it is, I’ll take it since I’m walking around with no hobbling at all….changing out the tube in the back tire was a mess yesterday since I had a slime tube in it that is supposed to plug off any small hole in the tube but there was no way it could fix a half inch hole and all of that sealer ended up inside the tire and leaking out onto the rim…so, that meant I had to wash all of that crap out of the tire before I could put it back together…and the sealer is a bright green that looked like crap…and I hope that leaving it a little damp won’t hurt it….not much to do today…I have to run an errand to get my Mega tickets since the jackpot is almost 300 mil and then I need to buy the ladder I want and I hope it will fit in the passenger’s seat with the top down…and then I need to take the garage door opener apart and check if it has a fuse…it would be cool if I can just replace a fuse and not the opener but I may wait til tomorrow to do that…it is supposed to rain and I like working in the garage in the rain….more later…

Well…yeah, I know I haven’t come here this afternoon but I have a good reason….had a damn flat on the bike today in the worst possible place…all the way out to the beach at exactly the halfway point of my daily ride…okay, a little under halfway but I was still 6 miles away when it went and that meant either walking back or riding the damn thing on the flat so, of course, I rode it back…after all 7 mph riding for 6 miles is much better than walking at 3 mph for 6 miles…and no damage to the tire or rim but the tube had a hole in it as big as my little finger so I think it was just a failure with the tube being an old one that I found in my totes that must have been at least three years old….so, no political one today after all the work I’ve done…I need some time to rest after mowing and feeding the lawn and putting the hooks up in the garage for the ladder I’m getting tomorrow, and of course, riding back on the flat that is no fun at all…

Well…that was okay, only got up once at about 4 and didn’t get out of bed til after 6 and I feel okay this morning…and I discovered or re-discovered something overnight…if I sleep on my right side, my nose stays clear and I can breathe quite well all night and I think that has something to do with how I feel this morning…and I was good for the fourth night and tonight will be five in a row and that HAS become my new habit….man, it’s cheap not buying cocktail materials every week….I’m still walking without pain this morning and I am going to test that today with mowing the lawn, putting weedkiller down, and feeding the new grass for the first time so we’ll see how I feel later today….damn, I have so much work to do around here….need to put hooks up in the garage for the new ladder I’m buying tomorrow and put a shelving unit together to store all of the stuff that is spread all over it….and with it warming up over the next few days, I need to get the weeds pulled from around the house so I can put in my flower seeds and keep them watered until it rains….and I still have 6 windows to be cleaned along with buying a couple of new shades for the dining room since the ones there are dirty and don’t work….so I won’t say not much to do today since I do have lots to do….now I just need to get to it….more later…oh, and I ordered my free parking passes for the city parks on Lake Michigan last night just in case I want to take the car out there this summer…a small perk of being a Muskegon city resident…saves about 10 bucks in parking fees every time…pretty cool…

Well…cripes, big yards are expensive to restore and maintain….went out to get supplies to do just that this morning and spent 72 bucks on food, weed killer, a new push broom, seed, a hose end sprayer, and a pack of green pepper seeds…but, the good thing was that I was able to walk around Menards with very little pain…no heel pain, no calf pain, no back pain and I almost have my normal gait back after favoring everything with how bad the pain was…it may have helped that I skipped riding yesterday and I’m going to skip again today since it’s snowing here again today and I just refuse to ride in the snow again…so, some good news that I hope will survive after I mow the lawn and feed the new grass and walk all over spraying the weed killer on it tomorrow….and I started the day with over 17K in my checking account which give me some breathing space and it is about 5K more than I had after closing on the house in Feb….but, I’m going to burn a bunch of that this week buying my new ladder Friday and the new garage door opener next week….but that will be the extent of what I’m going to spend until June….I almost got to just living today…so close but no cigar…I think it’s coming soon…

Well…running about on time this morning with getting up a little after 6 and I consider that a win with only getting up once overnight….and I feel pretty good this morning so that’s a win, too, but I’m laughing that yes, I can hurt myself sleeping…my left side ribs hurt today and I know it’s not from doing anything since it was too cold to work outside yesterday and all I did was scrub parts of the kitchen…and that looks pretty cool and makes me want to get to the stripping so I can repaint the cupboards…but, I want to do that outside so I don’t die from the fumes and it won’t be warm enough for that until May at least…I do have to make a run to Menards this morning to get some more outdoor supplies….need a push broom, a hose end sprayer, some weed killer, grass seed, and some more green pepper seeds so I can get them started in cups inside…didn’t get out for a bike ride yesterday but I am going to try to get one in today if it gets above 43 so I don’t have to wear a stocking cap….I am so over having to put my thermasuit on to ride but I know it’s not good for me to skip getting exercise….the weed and feed I put on the lawn doesn’t seem to be doing anything for all of the weeds in the lawn so I am going to get some liquid stuff to treat it again over the next few days and I still have lot of bare spots that need seed and I would like to get that in before it rains on Sat….not much to do today…just the errands and maybe some weeding outside and I need to cut the sod out for my garden so I can prep the soil but nothing has sprouted in the cups so I have a couple of weeks to get that done….more later…

Well….damn, just looked outside here in Muskegon and it’s snowing…on the 20th of April…it’s so darn cold out there that I just skipped doing any work outside today and my furnace has been running like it’s February….so it looks like a hibernation day for me…I did get errands run this morning and then continued to clean the counters on either side of the sink that were just coated in black goo and splashes of food that took me almost 3 hours to get to the point that I can live with it….lots of razor blading and bleach cleaner that took all of the oil out of my hands and I’m still coughing from the fumes…but it looks pretty good and the shiny trim is shiny again and I can put things on it again and not cringe from it being so dirty…and I’ve been putting stuff away that had piled up from the work I’ve been doing around here…but I need to get after the rest of the things that I haven’t put away yet…but not now, going to watch some soccer and take a break…at least my legs are not as sore as they were and I was able to walk around all day with just a little limping…baby steps…

Well…running quite early today with getting out of bed at 5:44 after waking up for good at 5:20…but, I feel pretty good this morning so I’ll take it….but that makes me early for everything I have to do today…need to do the grocery run and go to the bank but that can’t get started until after 8:30 so I have a couple of hours to kill…I even have an hour or so until the news sites I read update with the new articles that usually start my morning….it is kind of weird now that I look more forward to the no cocktail nights  than I do to the cocktail nights…and the pain is not too bad today…I am almost walking normally again and I sure hope that doing the grocery run doesn’t flare up the pain in the calf again….I did get all of my garden seeds planted yesterday and I have all of my window sills in the kitchen filled with them…and that means I need to prep the garden soil over the next week or so and work a little manure in…I think the outside is going to be a full time job over the next few weeks since I need to weed around the house and get my flower seeds planted…have all kinds of flowers to get in and I’m not going to plan it too much…I do have some tall poppies that need to go near the house but then the rest of it is just going to be a mix of everything I have…I kind of like it being unorganized and surprising when the flowers come up…..not much to do today….just the grocery run and will probably skip the bike ride today with how cold it’s going to be all day today and tomorrow….but then it appears that the temps are going to moderate and get back to normal next week and I am looking forward to that….more later…

Well…you know I’ve been bitching and whining about being stiff and in pain all of the time and I’m even getting tired of it…the whining that is, but I may be able to stop that now…when I was out on the bike today it dawned on me that the wind is always blowing out here and I’m going into it either out or back from the lake…and it’s not a slight breeze but a 15 mile an hour gale that stops me in my tracks when the gusts hit…and then I remembered how I felt the day after a ride into that wind in GR…I was stiff and sore but it got better after a couple of days of normal rides….but I don’t have normal rides out here when the wind is always blowing and I don’t get the recovery days to let my legs heal…so, I wonder how or if I’m going to adjust to this new normal? The strange thing is that now that I think I have it figured out, my legs don’t seem to hurt as much since it’s not a permanent condition and I’m doing it to myself just like all of the other stupid stuff I still do at my age….now I guess it’s a challenge to figure out how to cope with it without more ibuprofen….oh, one good thing today…I talked to my insurance agent and the 450 buck check they sent me is mine…the house insurance came out of my loan and they sent me a bill by mistake…so that’s found money and it will buy me my new garage door opener, ladder, push broom, hose end sprayer, weed killer, stuff to repair the top on the car, grass seed, and paint for the door frame on the garage entry door….and I’ll still have 200 bucks left for the rest of the stuff I need…maybe a grill? Who knows?