Well…running about on time this morning and had a pretty good night of sleep with getting up at 4:14 and then being able to go back to sleep until after 6 so I’ll take it…I am pretty sore after the yard work yesterday and my shoulder bugged me all night trying to not sleep on it to make the pain worse but it’s nothing I can’t handle…I am going to work on the front of the house again today and edge the sidewalks with my spade and that should take a couple of hours but it will be worth it when I get done and have that finished look it gives it….once I get all of that stuff done, it will be easy to maintain it and it will look good all summer…the fence does need some repairs and I wonder if I should paint it black…that will a project for later once the rest of the lawn work is done….I did take a ride along the beach trail yesterday to take a look at the damage the high water did last year and that entire part of the trail is trashed and will probably take a couple of years to restore…most of is it washed away and the pavement is in the lake…won’t go that way again since I just had to turn around and some of the approaches to the bridges were pretty sketchy…but they are working on it and making progress…not much to do today…I do have the grocery run to do here in a couple of hours and I may be able to put the top down for that run…and I think I’m going to buy a spiral ham at Meijers today…only 87 cents a pound and that will give me protein for almost a week and I can’t wait for ham and swiss sandwiches on rye bread…really don’t have anything else in the fridge so I’ll have to cook it today…I should use some of the chicken thighs I have in the freezer and I’ll probably start thawing some today….more later…

Well…yeah, I almost forgot to come back here today and do another one of these and no, it won’t be about politics…it may be about bitching a little but I probably shouldn’t do that since that’s not what I’m about anymore….I did get into GR today and was supposed to meet up with T but she texted me a few minutes before were supposed to meet and said she just got out of bed and wanted to move the meet back a day…and then texted and moved that one back a day so it looks like Thursday now…but, I got these texts after I was already in GR so all I did was pick up some leftover stuff and drive back here…I did get to have the top down both ways so that was cool but a waste of time and mileage on the car….so, when I got back here I got on the bike and did 20 in shorts and a t-shirt and then worked on the front of the house until my back wouldn’t take any more…I did get the fence cleaned up with the string trimmer and chopped out a bunch of bushes that had grown into the fence and raked some of the leaves and trimmings….and it does look a lot better but I have to use my spade to trim the grass that has grown over the sidewalk and that is going to take a full day with how wide the lot is….I sure hope it rains tonight like it’s supposed to and waters my grass seed….I am so damn sore right now that there will be an ibuprofen in my future…I am tired of hurting so much…darn…

Well…that was a normal night for a no cocktail one…up at 3, 5, and then for good at 6:11 so that gets me here about on time this morning…I seem to have slept okay and don’t feel too bad…I am starting to get used to no cocktail mornings and having a little energy…I did get a bunch of stuff done yesterday mostly outside with filling more holes and seeding all of the bare spots in the lawn that I hope will sprout after we get rain for the next few days…I did have the top down on the car yesterday while running errands and that was cool…and I need to run into GR this morning and it looks like I can have the top down out and back but the wind is going to be blowing pretty hard and that will move the car around a bunch….have to remember sunscreen or I’ll be baked red by the time I get back here…have already stated to burn on the bike rides so I need to remember that before I ride…I did get a ride in yesterday with the wind blowing about 18 mph so I am finally getting used to it and it won’t keep me off the bike this spring and summer…now, if it’s gusting to 25 or so that might be a chore but we’ll see…not much to do today….need to go into GR to pick up the rest of my stuff and meet up with T for lunch…haven’t seen her since last year…it could be almost 6 months….yow….more later…

Well…I guess the thought of the day is “be careful what you wish for” as I sit here in howling pain in my left shoulder…just yesterday, I was hoping that the pain I was having in my forearms and elbows would move somewhere else since I was so tired of how badly it hurt whenever I used them…and last night, while I was just sitting here staring at the tv, pain started in my left shoulder and continued to get worse as the night went on….and now it still hurts like crazy even with taking an ibuprofen last night as I normally do….and the pain meant that I was going to toss and turn all night since sleeping on it made the pain worse….damn…oh, well…I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and, when I was sitting on a bench out at the beach, I noticed that the unobstructed view allows you to see the curvature of the Earth in Lake Michigan and that is just too cool…and the ride out there and through the forest makes a loop that is 12 miles and that is almost enough for a daily ride…just need to find another 3 miles to get to 15 for the day or to do two for 30 miles…I did discover that there are two sledding hills on the route that are built into the dunes right near the beach that have stairs to get up them and I think I may have to go out there in the winter to try them…a tube would be fun to ride and a hoot…and one of the hills has to be 500 feet tall that empties into a cool little park at it’s foot…still discovering what’s cool about his place and, even though I’m old, I want to take advantage of it….not much to do today…need to make a run out to Menards to get grass seed and some more dirt to finish filling in the holes in the yard entrance…I think I can seed now since it is getting warmer slowly and spring is the right time to seed….and I need to continue to work on the yard to get it growing and cleaned up….more later….

Well….running really late this morning and decided to read the paper first before coming here…and I laid in bed until almost 7 after waking up at 5:41…just wasn’t ready to get out of bed then so I didn’t….and that made me late, too, so that’s why I’m here at 8:19 and not two hours earlier as normal….I did sleep okay but I think I’m done with cocktails for the week after two days…that seems to be enough and I think I may be moving to cutting them out completely since I don’t enjoy them as I used to…that may change as it gets warmer but we’ll see….my darn ribs still hurt as my forearms and hands do and I think I’m taking something for it before I get on the bike today….I wonder if two ibuprofens a day is too many? Don’t want to kill my kidneys and liver but I think 400 mg a day is not an excessive dose…I’ve read of people taking 2,000mg on a regular basis so I think I’ll be okay….I’ll be glad when the pain moves to another part of my body as it does every year….I did talk to another neighbor yesterday and he told me we have a skunk that cuts through a hole in my fence so I need to repair it…luckily, I have the light wire that I cut out of the back of the house and was going to just dump in the trash but I think I’ll dig it out and keep in the garage for repairs since I do have a couple of places that could use it….not much to do today…going to rake a bit today and cut up the vines and put them in bags to go out in a couple of weeks and then the bike ride but that’s about it…still haven’t taken the couple of weeks off that I was planning after I moved in here and I think I really need it…I hurt everywhere and the only thing that will help that is rest….more later…

Well…as you can see, I’m not going to do a political one today since I feel so lousy right now….I feel like I pulled something in my left ribs cutting out the lamp post yesterday and it hurts to just breathe…but I hurt everywhere and have all day today…probably should have taken something for it earlier before I got on the bike since that aggravated it a bunch…and I am just exhausted…not sure why I would feel this way other than I’ve been under with calories for the past few days…but I couldn’t even eat a whole pork chop for dinner since I felt so damn full…and I should be able to eat more than a small burger (1/8th pound) and a handful of chips and a pork chop with asparagus for the day yesterday, especially with doing 15 miles on the bike today…I know that’s under a thousand calories but to feel this lousy is just weird….and it can’t be the cocktails from last night…cripes, I only had three and they were the first ones for the week…..so, I don’t know what is going on….all I know is I don’t like it and don’t know what to do about it….crap….I did want to have cocktails tonight but now I’m not so sure if I will….oh, well…oh, I did get my first gas bill for this house today and it was only 64 bucks for the month…so maybe the 80% efficient furnace is doing it’s job….

Well…running late today and I know why…didn’t get out of bed until after 6 and feel a little crappy this morning from having a few cocktails last night…and you know, I am quickly getting to the point that it is just not worth it anymore so maybe I’m heading to the point of not having cocktails at all from now on…hmmm…I did sleep through the night last night so that was one plus and I did like that but the tradeoff of feeling crappy for it is a high price to pay…oh, well…I did get a bunch of stuff done outside yesterday starting with getting rid of that stupid pole that was in the middle of the yard…I was going to just dig it out but the darn thing was sunk a few feet into the ground…so I just dug down a couple of feet and got out my grinder with a cut off wheel and cut it off….only took about 15 minutes from start to finish and the yard sure looks better…and I got some more bags of topsoil to continue to fill the yard entrance but I am going to need a few more before I can seed that and make it part of the yard…and I got a nice bike ride in out to the lake and I think I’ll do that ride again today…had a few minutes to just sit on the boardwalk and look at the lake and that was pretty relaxing….not sure what is going on but I was damn sore yesterday and was hobbling around here all day and I am a little concerned for the first time…I’m really hoping that it is not that I’m just getting old but I’m enough of a realist to know that it is probably what it is…I don’t have to like it, though, and I can figure out how to make it better…I hope…not much to do today…need to rake the leaves and get ready to seed the bare spots in the lawn but right now I’m just going to have more coffee and read some news…oh, I did meet my neighbors who bought one of the new houses across the alley yesterday…and now I’m not the only white person in the neighborhood…and they seem nice and have a nice dog so that is cool…more later…

Well…darn, I wish I could figure out this 3:40 waking up every night…I guess it’s not so bad when I did get back to sleep for a couple of hours…and I know I’m having dreams but I don’t remember them much lately…I wonder if it’s from being good all week? Yeah, 4 days in a row of no cocktails and I think I’ve earned a couple tonight…feel a lot better but I’m still pretty tired this morning and that’s without getting out on the bike yesterday…the wind was just howling out here all day, blowing from 20-30 mph and that is just a bit much to go out…but today looks better but it’s still cold so the ride is going to wait until afternoon….I did get some work done on the yard yesterday…went out to depot and got some topsoil to fill the holes that were in the yard but I only bought 3 bags at 40 pounds each since the Miata is not a truck and it was sagging with that weight so there will be a few trips to fill the holes in the entrance to the back yard and get the prep work done for the garden…going to use potting soil and manure to get that done but I have a month or so before I can plant outside…and I still have seeds from last year that I am going to try to use that I will get started in a couple of weeks…going to plant sunflowers again, too, since I like them and I have a perfect spot for them along the back of the house….I really can’t do much more on the yard for a few weeks since they don’t start picking up yard waste until the middle of April and I don’t really want to store it in the garage until then since the paper bags will degrade in the rain that is going to come if I leave them outside…more later….

Well…another 4:21 wake up but I was able to get back to sleep until almost 6:30 so that was okay…and I feel pretty good today even without getting to the coffee yet….and I don’t hurt as much as I should after all of the beating my hands and elbow took chopping out the vines in the back yard…I guess the ibuprofen worked…I did get a nice ride in yesterday but I am still looking for the trail that goes over to Ravenna since it is not marked or mapped…I know it’s there but I just haven’t found it yet….it looks like I won’t get out on the bike today since there is a gale warning out here in Muskegon with steady winds of 30+ mph and gusts up to 40 and that is way too much to ride through…so, I’m going to hit depot this morning and get yard bags and some topsoil to keep working on the yard…going to have to hit HF in the next few days to get another 100 foot extension cord so I can reach the entire yard and run the string trimmer around the house and fence….that will take a lot of string but I have a lot and will have to load the trimmer a few times to finish the job….so, that’s what I have to do today…but first, I’m going to have coffee and read the news before I get going…have to remember that I don’t have to rush…I have time to do the things I want to and can just putter around here…the yard already looks better than it did and it will continue to get better as I work…more later…

Well…finally, it got warm enough to get started on the lawn today after I got the grocery run finished…one of the big trees in the back by the garage was covered in vines that had woven into the fence and looked like hell…so I got my hatchet and axe out and tore into it and when I was done with the chopping and chopping, I had freed up a piece of chicken wire that I think they were using as a gate across the open part of the back by the garage and had removed all of the vine sprouts so they won’t grow anymore….and then I got started on the leaves but gave up after it got to be after 1 and I wanted to get on the bike for a ride before the rain comes in….now I need to get some lawn waste bags so I can put the vines out and then use my side cutters to cut up the chicken wire so I can put that out with the trash next week….my hands and elbow are sore so I am going to take something for it later but getting progress started made me feel good…I do need a shovel to dig out the broken off fence posts so I will have room to put in a gate later this summer…but that is going to wait a while…need to not push it too much since I am just now getting my back to heal from all of the moving….