Well…it looks like I’m going to do one of my “bucket list” trips in 2022….just talked to my daughter and she and my son in law want to take me to England, Ireland, and Scotland in the spring of 2022…three places that I have always wanted to go and I’m such an Anglophile that this is going to be pretty cool…so now I have something to look forward to….flying into Heathrow and then taking trains all over the islands…oh, and we are going to Manchester so I can see Manchester United’s stadium and maybe even see a match….I can’t wait to touch Old Trafford….the stadium has been a center of my Premier League watching since I got interested in it 25 years ago….and going to Ireland where some of my ancestors are from is something I’ve always wanted to do….and I really won’t have to do anything but show up with my suitcase and passport since my daughter is such a planner…she seems as excited about it as I am and that is cool…can’t wait…

Well….after getting out on the bike yesterday to mostly just wet trails with patches of snow and ice, I expected that they would be even better today…and at the start they were…but, as the temp started to fall, the slight dusting of snow that had started to melt refroze and black ice appeared all over the trail…so the mantra that I needed to keep repeating to myself was “pay attention…slow down and don’t lean the bike” about every thirty seconds…trying to rid myself of 8 months of warm riding habits is not as easy as it sounds since I rarely turn the handlebars and steer the bike by leaning it into the corners….on the fast downhill/uphill combination I even got the bike into a two wheel slide at over 20 mph and I can’t remember ever doing that before….after that, I really did pay a lot more attention and I did slow down…and got back here basically intact other than my hands and feet were damn near frozen since going slower left me out in the cold for an additional 15-20 minutes and that is enough to push me over the edge…but, I survived it…and I did go over 5,900 miles this morning…won’t make it to 6,000 but 5,900 isn’t bad….

Well…I get so tired having to remember how to sleep and that there is a specific way I have to lie in bed to sleep at all…and I missed it completely last night so I feel like crap today…and I’m coughing and my head is plugged up and that is a direct result of sleeping on my left side instead of my right…crap…I guess I’m just getting old…pretty worn out right now, too, so I’m going to hope the coffee works pretty fast…the damn faucet in the sink started to leak again yesterday so I’m going to throw one more cartridge at it and see if that helps…one good thing is that I now know how to replace them pretty quickly so it’s not really a big job like it was taking the original one out that had been in there for 40 years….it really does look like I’ll end up in an apartment since the house listings have dried up over the holidays and I haven’t gotten any the past few days…and that sucks…not much more to say about that….didn’t get anything done yesterday but ride the bike but I do need to start packing my stuff up and cleaning today after the bike ride….and I need to get on the bike as soon as it gets light since it is only going to get colder as the day goes on….more later….

Well…finally…I got a bike ride in this morning and it wasn’t too bad…just a little cold and I’ve already warmed up from it…and the trails were okay…some snow and ice but nothing that was worrying at all…and that should make for clear trails tomorrow…I will be curious to see how my legs fare after being off the bike for three days…they feel a little sore right now so I’m sure they’ll get worse overnight…but, I didn’t go too hard so maybe it won’t be too bad…just got in from washing the car and bike so I think I’m going to make that my work for the day and do the kitchen tomorrow since there is a third soccer match that is starting right now and I feel like watching and vegging some….so, I’m not sure about a political one right now but maybe later….

Well…man, I feel like crap this morning…didn’t get to bed til late and then up around 6 or so…it was even a lot of work to go out for the paper so after I do this, I’m going to take it easy for a while and maybe even take a nap when the first soccer match comes on at 9…I do have to figure out when I’m going to get on the bike but that won’t be for a while…maybe this afternoon….I did get some work done yesterday and I have a clean bathroom to show for it but I’m not sure what I’m going to do today….maybe nothing if I don’t feel better soon….just worn out and I think it’s stress from not finding a house yet….but, I’m not too sore so I’ll take that and build on it…I am going to take a look at the trails today to see what they look like…I’m hoping I can ride on them instead of the street but I wouldn’t mind riding into downtown just to see what it looks like…haven’t ridden there since spring and I’m sure the bike lanes will be clear so I can get at least a few miles in….just can’t go 4 days without getting out of here and getting some exercise….not much to do today….coffee, coffee, coffee and then some news is all I can think about right now….more later…

Well….I’ve already made the decision to not ride the bike today since it is only going to get to 30 and I just don’t feel like getting cold…it is the first time this year that I’ve taken 3 days in a row off and I don’t feel guilty at all…and that is weird with my well developed sense of guilt…I did get the bathroom cleaned already and will probably do the kitchen later today as I listen to soccer…and soccer will get me through until 4:30 or so and it’s nice to have something running in the background that I don’t have to pay attention to…regular tv shows just don’t do it since they demand more attention than soccer…I did get a few texts from one of my nieces last night and that was a little odd since I have only talked to her probably twice in her life…but it was kind of nice that someone was thinking about me and to find out my youngest sister is still in remission from the bone cancer she had….hmmm…what else? Not much right now but I do have one on racing that I want to do…but it may be a repeat and I don’t want to do that….but, I really don’t want to search through 9,000 of these to find out….more later…

Well…the day after christmas used to be my favorite day of the year…when the running for presents and visits to family were over and all I had to do was just get up and do whatever I wanted for the day…but, since I don’t celebrate it anymore, it’s just another day…oh, well…I did sleep okay last night but feel pretty slow this morning and need to ease into the day…not sure if I’m going to try to ride the bike today since it will have to be on the bike lanes since the trails will still be snow covered and icy…I did watch the new WW 1984 movie last night and I’m not sure how it got a 7.8 rating on rotten tomatoes…not much to it and I would rate it a 5 at best…but it killed 2 1/2 hours so I guess that’s okay….didn’t get anything done….again…yesterday but I need to get off my butt today and clean the bathroom at least…still working on leftovers so I don’t need to cook and that is a little boring…I may try to make some scalloped potatoes tomorrow and will need to work on a second meal, too, and I’m not sure what that would be yet…need to look in the freezer to see what’s there….not much to do today…Man U plays in a half hour so that will take up most of the morning…or a good part of it and then there are other games to watch…but right now it’s more coffee and some news….more later…

Well….yeah, it’s another day and I’m bored…have already gotten everything done I wanted to and it’s only 12:45…so it looks like another grind it out day…can’t even find anything to watch on tv other than Doctor Who….just watched the first one with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and that just makes me even more meh on the new ones….I did have to listen to some Mountain this morning with Leslie West dying Wed night and had it up pretty loud….which you really should do when you listen to them….haven’t been thinking about politics much the past couple of days and I really don’t want to write about it….at least right now but maybe later in the day if the boredom holds….don’t feel like cleaning today so I think I won’t…or maybe just do the bathroom counter and sink since they are looking pretty ugly….I don’t get this….my forearms hurt like crazy right now and they are stiff…I feel like I have a bug coming on and it is about time for my yearly cold that goes on for a month…and I have been coughing and sneezing this morning but with shutting down the downstairs project weeks ago, I had hoped that my allergies would subside some but I’m not feeling it since I wake up every morning with my head plugged up and coughing…oh, well….hey, it’s one o’clock now! Only 10 hours and I can go to sleep again……that’s how bored I am….

Well…I promised that I wasn’t going to talk about sleep anymore since it’s only interesting to me so I won’t do that today…okay, just a little…got out of bed at 7 and that’s why I’m late coming here today…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t do much at all…I am going to clean some today and I might make some scalloped potatoes that don’t come from a box…the ones I made yesterday to go with the ham didn’t have a lot of taste so anything I make has to taste better and I have a lot of ham to go with it…just couldn’t do the normal mashed potatoes with gravy again…I was going to shovel the driveway and sidewalks yesterday but couldn’t get motivated to do it…and there is only a half inch or so of snow out there that is going to melt Sunday with it getting to 40 or so…and that means I might not have to put the snowies on the car today…don’t have anywhere to go so I may wait til Sunday when it’s a little warmer….not much to do today…I do have to do laundry since I am out of t-shirts and I may clean but that’s still up in the air…won’t do a bike ride since it is only going to be in the 20’s again and the trails will be icy with the snow from yesterday….so, It looks like another lazy one today….and that’s not a bad thing….more later…

Well…it has been another wasted day to go with the wasted night that I know is coming….and the birds haven’t come back to the new food that I put in the feeders…they stopped a couple of times but the mosh pit I’m used to is gone and I wonder if someone else has put up a feeder with stuff they like better? All I know is I’m done trying…both bags of food I have can’t be contaminated, could they? Oh, well…it will save me money in the long run…haven’t done a damn thing today but run the errand and take a shower…and do these but that still makes it a wasted day for me…at least my son got the outage fixed so I have my tv back and I can get caught up on the shows that have been piling up on plex…have 4 of the expanse to do and I wonder if there is a new Star Trek out there? Will have to take a look after I finish this….I did cook my big ham today since I really don’t do christmas so I asked myself what I was waiting for and did it today….so that means no cooking tomorrow so maybe I’ll have time to put the snowies on the car? We’ll see…