Well…damn, back to 4:55 wake up time today and didn’t get back to sleep so I got up after trying until 6:30….and I feel pretty worn out and disappointed that I’m not closing on my house until Monday with the title problems that the seller is having…crap…I was looking really forward to getting started on the move this weekend…oh, well…I guess I’ll just keep packing stuff up…got the kitchen done yesterday and I have my tools to do today along with all of the car related fluids and stuff that I have downstairs…put that stuff in garbage bags for the last move and had gear lube leak all over my passenger’s seat…and it took months to get that smell out of the car….so they’re going in a tote this time so if they leak, no problem…my arm is healed up from the vaccine I got on Sunday and the only lingering effect is a runny nose but that may be from stirring up dust around here as I pack and triggering my allergies….and I think they will probably be bad until I get both houses cleaned up in a couple of weeks….not much to do today…have to remember to watch the new rover that is being landed on Mars this afternoon…it can’t be4 live since it takes 8 minutes for the signal to get here but they have cameras on this one that will record everything for playback later…and this one even has a little helicopter that they are going to fly but I wonder how that is going to work with the atmosphere there only 1% as dense as Earth’s….should be a fun diversion….more later….

Well…running a little late today with not getting up til after 6:30 and need a coffee jump start to get going…I broke down and took some ibuprofen last night since I was so sore everywhere but especially my right elbow from the pounding it’s been taking from shoveling….and that one dose seems to have helped quite a bit…I could barely take cleaning out the end of the driveway yesterday it hurt so bad but it doesn’t hurt much now…and it didn’t snow last night but it is 4 below right now so I’m wondering if my car will start even with it being in the garage…I do have the new charger/starter that I bought the last time it didn’t start so I should be able to start it…I am going to let it run in the driveway for a while to warm it up and that will be the first time this year…and I hope the last time since it is going to warm up starting tomorrow…I did get the entire kitchen packed up yesterday but it took 5 of the 8 totes I bought the other day so I think I’ll buy a few more this morning to make sure I have enough….not much to do today…need to make the grocery run after 9 and that will be 4 stops today with hitting DD for some chicken patties that I bought the last time they were on sale and they are pretty good for a quick, easy meal when I don’t feel like cooking….more later….

Well….running pretty late today with not getting out of bed until after 7 and I wonder why that would be? I think I slept okay but feel pretty slow right now…I wonder if it could be from the vaccine? My arm almost doesn’t hurt and the slight fever seems to be gone, too, so I guess it’s about over….man, got 4 more inches of snow last night but I’m going to wait a while to get out and shovel…can’t remember being so sore from shoveling, shoveling, shoveling….at least it’s almost over with getting toward March and next week is going to be in the upper 30’s to around 40 on moving day….so, I think we’ve survived another Michigan winter….not going anywhere today and all I’m going to do is pack…have two totes done already and have 6 more here to pack today…should have the kitchen and all of my car stuff done today and then I need to start getting my tools packed but it’s too damn cold to work out in the garage so I’m going to let that wait til later…not much to do today…just packing and cooking and getting the move organized in my head…after much more coffee that is….more later….

Well…no, I’m not having remorse about getting the vaccine…I believe in the science behind them and would do it again in a minute…my remorse is the fact that there may have been someone else that needed it more than me and now can’t get it because it’s in my arm. When I was at the clinic yesterday, I really didn’t fit in since most of the people there were leaning on canes or in wheel chairs and the ones who weren’t didn’t move too well….and here I go striding through the place with my normal fast walk like I’m twenty years younger than anyone there…and that is still bugging me a bit…I probably could have waited til later but I guess I’m still part of the process of getting to herd immunity that everyone who gets the vaccine is part of…I try to not be selfish but I guess this is one time that it is warranted and I really don’t want to die from this damn virus or even get sick since it would cost me 5K in what medicare doesn’t cover….so, I guess I’ll just live with the idea that I may not have deserved to get the vaccine yet…but, there’s nothing I can do about that now….but that won’t stop me from thinking about it…

Well…man, I’m sore just about everywhere and I wonder if it’s the vaccine or that I didn’t take any ibuprofen before bed last night? Or any allergy meds and my nose is running like crazy and my head hurts from the congestion…other than that, I feel okay…ha,ha….I did sleep okay last night but had weird dreams about an apartment I never lived in and people I never knew…but it was a dream and I’ll take any of those I can get…I did get started on the kitchen yesterday and I need to get out to Menard’s today to get some totes to pack all my dishes and the rest of my stuff in…I can get 18 gallon ones for only 4 bucks and that is only a buck more than u-hual wanted for boxes so I think that’s a good deal…I wonder if the 8 I need will fit in the car? I guess we’ll see when I go out to get them….didn’t get much else done but the vaccine yesterday but I do need to get started packing more today…and I need to dig the trash bin out so I can put it out Friday if I fill it by then….but, with how sore my shoulder is from the shot, I may wait to do that until tomorrow….more later….

Well…got my second vaccine dose today and that is a major relief and takes a load off my head…but, the side effects seem to be a little worse this time with soreness in my arm and a general feeling of being off and not feeling right…it hasn’t gotten worse over the last hour or so and I think this is perfectly tolerable for the results that have been reported for the Pfizer vaccine that I got…in a new study out of Israel where they compared the vaccinated population to their remaining unvaccinated people that had 600,000 people in it, they showed that a week after the second dose the vaccine was 95% effective and that grew to almost 97% after two weeks…and many in the vaccinated group who did contract the virus didn’t even know it the symptoms were so mild. So, there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel….I just hope that the Moderna and J&J vaccine is as good and people get vaccinated as soon as they can….I still worry about my kids and my friends who are not eligible yet…sure hope they get it figured out soon…

Well…you’ve all read about my real estate saga that played out over the past 7 months or so, but new statistics emphasize just how lucky I was to find and buy a house in this market. Just yesterday as I was doing my normal reading, I was astonished to see that the stock of available housing for sale is down almost 50% from last spring…and that is one factor in how screwed up the market is….when I was talking to my brother the realtor the other day, his new reality is the asking price has nothing to do with how much a house will sell for….in my case, I immediately bid 10K over the asking since I knew it was the best house I had seen and had everything I wanted and I didn’t want to lose it….in the cases my brother talked about, he is selling houses for 30 to 40K over asking and has 20 or more bids in on all of them….and the days of it taking months to sell you house is long gone unless it is a dump like all of the houses I looked at before I found mine. I guess what I have to say is that, as time goes on, I feel more and more lucky to almost have the whole thing behind me and to have a place to live that I’ll be in two weeks from yesterday…phew…

Well…running a little late today with not getting out of bed until after 6 and then reading the paper….as I always do on Sunday…I wonder if I can keep that habit up after I move? Haven’t checked if I can get the press delivered out in Muskegon, or any paper for that matter…when I was young it was easy…every city had at least one newspaper and even two or three….but for some reason, the local news is not important anymore or it has gone online and that is just not the same….slept okay last night but wasn’t good so I’m feeling it today and will just ease into the day today…don’t have much to do but go out and get my second vaccine shot at 4:15 and continue to pack…I am going out to get some totes to use instead of boxes since I do need storage at the new house…and I can get 18 gallon ones for 5 bucks each but I wonder if I can fit them in the car? Going to get 6 of them tomorrow and then see if I need more….I did make progress on the kitchen yesterday but I’m not sure how much I’ll do today….Man U plays at 9 and I want to see that and I need more coffee and to read the news…I am going to have to widen out the driveway here to get the truck into it but I’m not motivated to do that right now…still have a couple of weeks until the move so I have plenty of time….more later….

Well…that was a little better…didn’t wake until 5:41 and stayed in bed til after 6 but I was not good last night and I wonder why…just feel lousy this morning and don’t like that at all…and I have a new crack on my right heel that hurts like crazy and I hope I can heal it up before the move in two weeks…I did decide to get out Monday to buy some plastic totes to help with packing for the move since I don’t have any boxes here and I will need some storage since the new house doesn’t have a lot….should be able to pack the entire kitchen in two of them and then use lots of garbage bags for the rest of the house…just like I did in the last move….I am a little excited that I get the second vaccine dose tomorrow and will be almost immune by moving day…and the vaccine protects you from dying from the virus even if you do catch it so that takes a load off…I did get out to shovel the driveway and walks yesterday and got some packing done and it looks like snow again today so I’ll be out there again…and it’s going to be the coldest night of the year tonight with it getting down to -1 but I’m sure the car will start with it being garaged….not much to do today…just packing and cleaning and watching some soccer….more later….

Well…damn, the string is broken and no more precessing….didn’t wake up at 2:14 like I was heading to…I did wake up at 2:20, though…and yeah, that was snark…then got back to sleep til 5:30 and stayed in bed til 6:30 so it wasn’t too bad…and I was good last night and that may be turning into a habit…would like to go a week or so just to see how I’ll feel and that just may be possible…feel pretty good this morning and just looked outside and there is no snow so that is a relief….it’s going to be damn cold the next few days but not a lot of snow in the forecast so that’s a good thing, and we are moving toward March which is supposed to be warmer than normal so maybe we’ll survive another Michigan winter…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but packing and will continue that today have almost all of the downstairs done and now I need to start packing up my tools that I have from working on this house and get them ready to work on the next house….I do feel like I have one more house in me and I am looking forward to transforming the next one into something cool that will be uniquely mine….and working on my own yard….have been thinking about planting some apple trees in the top part of the yard but I know I won’t live long enough to see the apples, but that will be okay…the next people to live in it after I’m gone will have a treat….not much to do today….just going to try to finish up the packing in here and start on the kitchen…have way too many dishes that I don’t have any place for at the new house but that will help me slim down to keep only what is necessary….more later….