Well…that was a little better…didn’t get out of bed til 6:30 and I slept okay but I have a question…how the heck do you hurt yourself while you’re sleeping? When I walked out of my bedroom, my damn calf hurt worse that it did when I went to bed last night…okay, it could be that the ibuprofen that I took wore off but darn, I expected that rest would make it better but I guess the weird way that I’m contorted when I sleep is not helping….the weather is going to be crappy the next few days with rain coming in in the next couple of hours and then it will only be in the low 40’s tues and wed and that is just damn depressing for the middle of April…but, it’s another one of those things that I can’t do anything about so I just need to forget about it…weather is going to be what it is and being annoyed just wastes energy that I need to conserve…and I can get out and finish the weeding and get the flower seeds planted along with filling cups to start my veggie plants in so I can make some progress….but that won’t happen until after the rain comes through….not much to do today….just going to ease into the day and have some more coffee and read the news…can’t wait till it’s warm enough to do this on the porch with the windows open…but that won’t happen until the middle of May the way it looks…more later…

Well…damn, I almost forgot to come here for this one today since it’s been a rough day…no, nothing big happened…no one died, the house didn’t burn down, I didn’t wreck the car, but it was rough physically…can’t remember feeling so sore and creaky and exhausted and I sure hope this is not my life from now on….I did get a bike ride in but that didn’t help and even a short nap didn’t do anything for me….and now my back is sore on the right side like I strained it…but I can’t figure out what the hell I did to do that…cripes…I feel my age and I don’t like it one bit…but, we’ll get up and get going tomorrow morning and get back to it….I do need to get a ladder this week and take the old opener down in the garage so I can get a new one and move back into the modern age….but right now, all I want to do is watch tv and go to bed early…but, that won’t happen either….

Well…yeah, I’m running late this morning with going out to get the paper and reading it before coming here but that is kind of normal for a Sunday….didn’t sleep for crap last night after falling asleep sitting up on the couch and not getting to bed until after midnight….and I’m paying for that right now and I really hope the coffee will help soon…it seems every time I walk for any bit of time my damn right calf starts to hurt again and I still don’t know how I hurt it other than wearing the wrong shoes and I sure hope that is not my life from now on…but I’ve found that as I get older, it is easier to hurt myself and takes much, much longer to heal than it used to…cripes, I probably should buy some stock in an ibuprofen company I have been using so much of it just to get through my day…okay, 400 mg a day is not a lot but I’ve never had to take anything for just maintenance and it irritates the heck out of me…oh, well….didn’t get anything done yesterday but go into town and ride the bike and today looks much the same with lots of sports on tv and me having no motivation….I still have to accept that I can take a day off here and there without feeling guilty….but that is going to take some work…more later…

Well…just got my mail and it had a weird thing in it…my house insurance company sent me a check for the entire 450 bucks that I paid for my policy…I thought the first year was included in the mortgage loan that I got but then I got a bill in the mail for it so I assumed that it hadn’t been paid out of the loan and wrote them a check for it back in March and then just forgot about it…so, I guess I’ll have to call the agent on Monday to check what is going on…it would be cool if I can put this check in my account…this will pay for my new garage door opener and I’ll have almost 250 bucks left…fingers crossed….

Well…yeah, that title is cheating a little but I don’t feel too creative right now…and I know I’ve used it a lot but it really is descriptive….started the day with driving into GR to help my son install his new range hood and it went pretty good even with having to improvise with the power cord and I left there with it up and working and looking pretty cool….the drives out and back were smooth and I seem to have found that the vibration in the car was a loose wheel that came after I changed over to the summer wheels and forgot to go back and re tighten them after driving a bit…and I even got to put the top down on the way back here and that was fun…I did discover that the coolant has gone bad and I need to do a flush and fill soon but I think that will wait until it gets a little warmer…the coolant has almost a gel consistency with lots of rust in it and will probably take a few flushes to clean it out…I should probably just put water back in it and then drain it in a couple of weeks before I put antifreeze back in….it looks like it won’t freeze anymore so I should be okay….and I got a brutal bike ride in going out into a 15+ mph wind and it was a little cold but I did get out in shorts so that was okay…and now I’m just going to veg the rest of the day…damn, it’s almost 5:30 already and I am really looking forward to watching a bad old movie tonight and having a cocktail or two knowing I don’t have anything to do tomorrow unless I want to…

Well….running a little late today with not getting out of bed until almost 7…and I don’t feel that hot with having cocktails last night…I think I slept okay but I do remember waking up and trying to find my covers that had been tossed off the bed so I must have flipped and flopped a bunch….and no dreams to speak of but that’s okay….after the horrible sleep from thurs night, I’ll take just sleeping a little…don’t have a lot of pain in my calf or heel this morning and that is a relief since I am going to have to mow the lawn again Monday…won’t use the garden shoes again and I hope that helps…I did get a bike ride in yesterday but it was in almost full thermasuit and that sucks for April….and there is going to be no respite from the cold until May comes and I guess I’ll have to wait until then to plant my garden…I do need to flush the coolant out of the car since it is almost like gel and full of rust but again, I need it to be warmer before I climb under the car and pull off the lower radiator hose….and then just stick my hose in the rad and let it run….and I think the ramps will help with that….not much to do today…have to make a run into town to help my son put a range hood up at 11 and then back here to get a ride in and I hope it will be warm enough to get out in shorts….more later…

Well…don’t worry, I’ll get to a political one later this afternoon, but right now I want to talk about the pork shoulder I just made in my instant pot…and the only thing I have to say is  yummy, yummy, yummy! Decided to try something new for the cooking liquid and hit it out of the park…easily the best one I’ve ever made and it had so much flavor I just couldn’t believe it….after liberally salting and peppering it, I browned it in the pot with some olive oil on all sides and then took it out and put it on a plate…then I melted some butter and added onions, garlic cloves, and bay leaves along with black peppercorns, some lemon pepper, and Italian seasoning…the I just sweated the onions until soft, then added some chicken broth to deglaze the pot…then added worcestershire sauce along with some soy sauce…put the shoulder back in the pot without the rack so it was in the cooking liquid and pressure cooked it for 90 minutes…damn, it came out so tasty that I couldn’t believe it…have been trying for years to get a flavorful pork shoulder and finally hit it with this one….going to stop even looking for a better way since I can’t imagine making one that tastes better…oh, then I flipped the shoulder to get the rest of it in the cooking liquid and added potatoes and carrots and pressure cooked those for 5 minutes…if I was going to just do the shoulder, I would have cooked it for 45 and then flipped it for the second 45 to get all of it in the cooking liquid…didn’t even need a knife to cut it the shoulder was so tender….can’t wait to make some pork shoulder tacos with queso fresco and some picked red onions a in a tortilla with some lettuce and salsa…another yummy…

Well…that sucked…had probably the worst night of sleep I’ve had since I moved in here with being up and down all night starting at 1:13 after going to bed at 11…and I finally gave up at 5:43 and got out of bed for good…but I don’t feel that bad even with that and my heel and calf are much better today and I’ll take that trade off any day….and that was day 5 of being good this week so that has to count for something…not sure what, but something…I am a little depressed that I haven’t been on the bike for two days but damn, I am so tired of going out in thermasuit….and it’s past half of April and it’s only 33 out there? I think that’s the most depressing part….that we haven’t had any spring yet and I haven’t gotten that first whiff of the smell of spring, either….I wonder how many more springs I have? I did decide to keep the tree trimmer I bought a couple of weeks ago after looking at all of the dead stuff that has to be cleared out of my trees and I just don’t want to have to borrow one when I need it…I know it’s a lot of cash but I think I’ll get enough use out of it to justify buying one…I do have to put some hooks up in the garage to hang it and the new ladder that I’m going to buy next week to get it up and out of the way…and that will complete the tools I need to maintain this place and then I have to start saving like crazy to pay my taxes and car insurance in August…that should be about two grand…or more and don’t want to deplete my cash reserve to pay it….not much to do today…I do have a pork shoulder that I’m going to cook in the instant pot but I think 9 pounds is too big so I’m going to cut it in half and only do 4 pounds or so…can’t wait to make some pork tacos with  queso fresco, or Mexican cheese, and the pickled red onions I made the other day….should be yummy….and I am going to get a ride in today even if I have to go out in long pants and gloves…might as well get used to that since it is going to be cold until the end of the month….more later….

Well…didn’t take a bike ride today since it was damn cold and the wind was blowing almost 20mph and I just can’t take that anymore…so, I decided to start to work on the inside of this joint and do the deep cleaning that I should have done a month ago…started with cleaning the stove and trying to get rid of the sticky crap that was left all over it and burned on….so I took the top apart and drenched the whole thing in goo gone and let it set for an hour to see if it would remove the crap…it kind of worked and it is much better than it was but not all of the crud came off so I will have to find another solvent to get the rest off…so, that took a couple of hours and then I got tired of looking at the dingy curtains over the kitchen sink and started to clean the window and the sink and faucet..yikes…the faucet looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years and had build up of black crud and minerals crusted over it so I had to take the handles off to get at the mold under them and it took 4 applications of mineral remover to cut through the buildup along with taking a razor blade to scrape the crap off it….along with taking a toothbrush to the window to get the dirt out of the cracks and then more razor blade work to get the crap off the window that the ammonia wouldn’t cut, the process took almost 2 1/2 hours and trashed the skin on my hands with all of the harsh cleaners I had to use. That’s enough for now…Man U plays in about 45 minutes and I am going to watch that as a reward for finally getting to the deep cleaning that should have been done long ago…I sure like the results but there is still lots of work to do in the kitchen and the rest of the house just to clean it enough to suit me….baby steps….

Well…damn…it is not supposed to snow on the 15th of April…and this damn cold weather is going to last the rest of the month and, as I get older, the wait for spring gets more and more excruciating, like I don’t have the time to wait anymore….is it too much to ask to have some warmth for an old guy? At least my sleep is consistent…not good but consistent with waking up at 3:23 the past three days and then out of bed at 6:13…at least I’ve been good but, as time goes by, I wonder why? Yeah, I know, it’s better for my health but the nights are just so damn boring and my brain just won’t shut off any more and it should be relaxing with having my housing situation finally settled…oh, well….I did get some yard work done yesterday with getting the weed and feed on the lawn and I like the little spreader I bought…it only took three fillings to do my yard and I have a little of the 10K sq ft bag left to take care of the spots I may have missed….and it is cool that I was able to get the mower drive adjusted…I am looking forward to the next mowing if my damn calf will heal….and that is the other thing…being in constant pain and limping around here is starting to get old but I will admit it is a little better this morning with taking two ibuprofens yesterday and staying off the bike…I guess I’ll put the long clothes back on for a ride today and see if that will help my mood….not much to do today…I may take the day off working outside and do some cleaning in here…I do need to get the rest of the weeding done so I can plant my flowers if it ever warms up…have some really cool looking poppies that I can’t wait to see along with the rest of them…the color will look nice against the white of the house…and I’m sure it will make me smile….more later….