Well….you know, I think I just needed a day off…decided pretty early today that I was going to take the day off the bike…it wasn’t even a hard decision since it is still only 32 and cloudy out there and I think I still feel cold from yesterday…and my allergies have been pretty bad today from the time I got up and that has taken a lot out of me…I did cut the pork shoulder in half and only cooked 4 lbs of it and it came out great with slicing up a whole onion, lots of garlic, and bay leaves to make the sauce…just threw that in and sauteed them and then cooked the shoulder for a little over an hour…and the strange thing is that the onions just melted away by the time it was done and with a little cornstarch, it made a pretty good sauce to spoon over the meat and the potato…and I am going to make some home made bbq sauce for pulled pork sandwiches later in the week…yummy….probably one of the easiest big meals I’ve made in a while….I think it helped that I browned the pork and sauteed the veggies in butter…and it only over browned a little and I got that cleaned out of the pot with baking soda and vinegar….now it’s time to take the rest of the day off….

Well…I guess that was okay…up at 4:10 but then back to sleep until 6:22 and I feel okay so I’ll take it…had a strange dream that the only thing I remember is the phrase “remembering the future”…what that has to do with anything, I’m not sure but it would be a good title for a novel…I’m planning on making a pork shoulder in the instant pot today and I was worrying about what I am going to do with 8 pounds of pork…then, it dawned on my that I can cut it in half and only make 4 pounds while I freeze the rest for later…or, I could cook the whole thing and freeze most of it but I don’t like freezing cooked food…so, half the shoulder it is…and I want to take advantage of the spiral sliced ham on sale this week for 87 cents a pound…haven’t had ham this year yet and I do like the cook’s they sell at Meijers…..didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I am going to clean today if I can get out on the bike early…but, it is only 27 out there right now and, with how long it took to warm after yesterday’s ride, I need it to be warmer and sunny before I go out…so it may be after the F1 race at noon…and the SCCA runoffs are on all afternoon and they have a spec Miata class that is always fun to watch so when the Lions start to lose, I’ll have something to look at….more later….

Well…sitting here trying to warm up after the bike ride and I’m not having much luck…still freezing even after a shower so hot that I thought I was going to have 2nd degree burns from it…and I haven’t been able to come up with a topic for the day so I may just give up and not do a political one today…I almost turned off the Man U game when they looked so terrible and were down by a goal going into the second half…but with just a couple of changes, the team woke up and won the game 3-1 and it could have easily been 5-1….so that made me smile a little…my lungs were giving me fits on the bike today and I can’t figure that out…back to the BS coughing I’ve had off and on for 6 weeks now and it is just damn annoying…but it was a good ride other than the cold and I feel better with not skipping today….still just feel worn out, though, and I think a bowl of soup and half a chicken breast is not enough to eat for an entire day and could be contributing to the malaise….okay, that’s enough for today…want to watch some soccer and relax a bit….

Well…damn, running late this morning and I just can’t get going….didn’t even get out of bed until 7:30 but it wasn’t from sleeping…just didn’t have any motivation since the F1 qualifying is not until noon or so and just lying there seemed like a good idea at the time…oh, there is soccer on and I completely forgot about that…oh, well….didn’t dream at all so that leaves me pretty worn out and hoping that the coffee will start to work soon….I think I may have to take a day off the bike soon just to let my legs heal up some…they just ache all the time again and I know it from riding into the wind almost every day…and yesterday was another 15 mph day and that makes it a lot less fun to ride….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the ride and laundry but that means I don’t have a lot to do today but clean and I may not even do that the way I feel right now….okay, just going to end here since I’m still not motivated and need to have more coffee….more later…

Well…another day of trying to find a topic in politics to write about with very little luck so I think I’ll talk about ham soup instead…I tried the instant pot to make ham soup for the first time this morning to get all the ham bones out of my freezer and I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out…it tastes just like the stuff I used to make in my big stew pot but it only took about an hour total instead of the 4 hours that it takes in the stock pot…and that includes all the veggie chopping…and, of course, I had to try some of it but it was only about 9:30 when I finished it so I guess there was ham soup for breakfast today…a meal that I never eat…I’ll probably never go back to the stock pot now that I have the process down for the instant pot since it is so easy….so now I have 3 containers of ham soup in the freezer again and even room for the leftovers from the pork shoulder I am making in the pot Sunday….more later….

Well…it another 4:14 morning…sung to the tune of “Tequila Sunrise” by the Eagles…it does fit…I tried it….but I did go back to semi sleep until 6:30 so I don’t feel too bad this morning…my lungs are a little raw and I’m coughing again but that’s pretty normal for the mornings….the wind wasn’t as bad on the bike yesterday and that made the ride a little better but it was still damn cold and that hung on for hours after I got back here…still feel it this morning,too, even though it’s the normal temp in here…maybe the coffee will warm me up…just got a little cleaning done yesterday but today is going to be a soup making day…going to use up the ham I have in the freezer and use the veggies that I got for t-day that I didn’t use….and do it in the instant pot again since that cuts the time down to an hour or so instead of the 4 hours it takes in my big stew pot…I do have an 8 pound pork shoulder that I have to make Sunday and I think I’ll look for sauce recipes to go with it…and make some pulled pork sandwiches….that should last me a few days and I couldn’t resist at 99 cents a pound….not much to do today…going to start the soup here in a few minutes and then get a bike ride in but I don’t know how much else I’ll do today….they have just issued a warning that no one over 65 should be grocery shopping or be around anyone with the virus going nuts but I’m still going to do it…with precautions it should be okay…I hope….more later….

Well….amid all of the crap that is going on and all of the changes that have been happening, I’ve had a bit of a struggle lately with losing my long term friendship with T and having so much time alone around here…and that made me wonder, how are other people handling this? I’m pretty good at being by myself and I can adapt readily to changes, but what about the people who can’t? I worry that there is going to be long term psychological damage that won’t surface for years in many people…especially those who are on the front lines of this pandemic…who is going to take care of them when this is over? I read a story this morning about a traveling nurse who showed up at her new job in Arizona and lost 4 patients on the first day…and it didn’t get any better after that…what happens to her? I know people are tough but are they tough enough to handle that? I guess what is happening in this country is weighing on me a bit….and not being able to find a house is stressing me the hell right out…but, we move on…one foot in front of the other…what else can you do?

Well…I learned something yesterday morning…it’s probably not good when your half and half is chunky when you pour it into your coffee…woke up at 5:11 this morning and it was real close to the 500 cubic inch engine that Cadillac put in their Eldorados in the 70’s…but I went back to sleep…kinda…and didn’t get up til almost 7…that didn’t help me feeling pretty slow this morning but I have fresh half and half so I guess that’s something…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t accomplish much…I did finally get the bike washed after running through the mud that they made in the road the other day working on the water mains again….and they still didn’t fix it since I found water bubbling up from one of the caps that cover the shut off valves when I was on the ride and had to report it so thousands of gallons didn’t just run down the storm drain…it will be interesting to see if they fixed it when I ride by there this morning….I couldn’t believe how sore I was in the afternoon after riding yesterday….my hands and wrists hurt like crazy and that was new….but, they are better this morning so I guess I can live with it….well…kind of better…they are still stiff and my triceps have a dull ache that I hope doesn’t get worse…not much to do today…just going to work on the laundry room some more and clean here in the living room…I did dry rub some big pork ribs overnight and can’t wait to see how they turn out for lunch…I normally marinade them but thought I’d try something new this time….more later…

Well…not going to do the engine size comment this morning since I don’t think there was ever a 6:19….maybe in a truck…slept okay last night but I’m back to coughing again and my head is stuffed up and that is pretty damn annoying…but I’m not too sore even after the ride into the high winds yesterday but that will come tomorrow especially after going out in the wind again today…I do need to continue to clean today but that is going to wait until after I do the grocery run this morning….might make ham soup today since I have lots of ham bones in the freezer and need to get rid of some of them before I buy another ham for the holidays…but I may wait until the weekend to try to spread out the work and help with the boredom…at least Man U plays this afternoon so that will take up a couple of hours….and there is an early game, too, so that might make three hours….not much to do today…need to hit three grocery stores on the run today since I want to check out DD for vegetable egg rolls that they have on sale for 3 pound for 3 bucks…and then just the normal aldis and Meijers stops for the rest of it….more later…

Well…sitting here freezing after getting out for a bike ride, one of the most brutal I’ve had in a while going out into a 15 to 20mph wind and it only being 31 degreess when I left here…oh, the sparrows just found the feeder and it only took them 6 days this time…have a flock of them out there right now…oh, back to the work….I got really tired of the laundry room looking so shabby so I got after that this morning, cleaning the lint and dirt up and vacuuming the paneling that was coated with it…then I replaced the rotting 2×4 that was used to level the dryer with a new piece of pressure treated stuff that was left over from the fence….I cleaned both the washer and dryer, too along with vacuuming off and washing the top of the fridge…getting rid of some spilled goo that had run down the side of it and then cleaning part of the floor and the laundry sink…and that was enough for the day…I still have a couple of hours more work to finish it but it does look a lot better than it did…and now I’m going to watch some soccer and take a nap….