Well…it finally rained! But it’s still damn hot and I really hoped the rain would change that….still have to have the fans running and that is going to cost some cash I’m sure…slept okay last night but feel pretty crappy this morning and I know part of it is not eating enough…just didn’t feel like cooking yesterday so all I had was a brat and a tomato with some tortilla chips for a snack…and I know that is not going to work if I want to do two rides today…there are more storms on the way but they are all the way over in Wisconsin so they’ll take a few hours to get here…should be able to get the ride in and then deliver the gift to my grandson before they come in…need to stop at the Meijers out in the south end to get some pickling spices to make some more pickles since they don’t have them out here right now…my brother brought me some of his home roasted coffee yesterday and I need to get the process right to use it in the french press…he makes the best coffee I’ve ever tasted and I am going to savor that for special occasions…didn’t get anything done yesterday but cleaning and today will be the same with the second round of rain coming in…I may take some time and clean up the new bike this afternoon and continue getting it dialed in so I can ride it when I want but probably won’t get to much else….I do need to get back to the routine and actually cook today and then dig in the freezer for some food to cook later…but that will be it for the day….more later…

Well…as I talked about this morning, I had a bunch of stuff planned for today that included heading out to have a couple with G but she was not feeling well and I guess that worked out okay….my brother got here with my new/used bike about 12:30 and I expected he’d be here for an hour or so and then take off…well…that hour turned into 4 1/2 hours and I can say I enjoyed the visit quite a bit….talked about a bunch of stuff and reminisced about just about everything and it was nice to see him…but, with not going out by my son’s house to meet up with G, I didn’t deliver the gifts I bought for my grandson…so, I’ll do that tomorrow morning if it’s not raining…or if it is, I guess….not the day I expected but a good one…and I’ve already taken the bike out for a ride up and down the street…weird looking but quite comfortable and sits more like a cruiser than my mountain bike….I think it will be my city bike that I’ll ride when I’m just screwing around….it does have a computer on it so I can keep track of that mileage, too…that makes 5 bikes and my brother has another one he wants to give me…hey, I’ll take it….

Well…man, I can’t wait until this heat breaks tomorrow….I think it’s a factor in how worn out I feel when it doesn’t let me sleep too well…so, of course, didn’t sleep for crap last night and feel it today…and it’s going to be another busy one with lots of running around and my brother coming over to bring me the bike I’m buying from him….and I need to get out to target to get my grandson some Red Wings onesies that I am going to drop off this afternoon as I go out to meet up with G for a couple….so, it looks like not much work on the house today and I didn’t get anything done yesterday, either with doing the yearly swim…I guess there’s always Friday, but it’s supposed to rain…finally…so it might be a day for indoor stuff….didn’t get out for the second ride yesterday until almost 1 and that was a mistake…was just too damn hot and I struggled through the whole thing…so I think I’ll only do one ride today and let my legs rest up a bit…I need to straighten this place up before noon and I need to get the target run done before then too since I don’t know when I’m meeting with G….so, another day of busyness….I need to take one off and may just do that this weekend….more later….

Well…I’m  a grandpa….and hearing that news last night, all I could do was flash back to when my daughter was born and remember what it felt like…my son told me he was running on adrenaline after the birth since it took almost 20 hours…he texted me a photo since I can’t go to the hospital to see them…..I’ll get the details later today…and I am so happy for them…can’t wait to see my grandson in person…okay, back to normal…slept okay last night and feel okay this morning if a little slow since I had cocktails to celebrate last night…it looks like there are storms to the north but they appear to be staying there so the run out to GH is still on for this morning…I wonder if it will ever rain here again…it’s storming from GR all the way to the UP but nothing here…oh, well…didn’t get much done yesterday and probably won’t today, either with the beach run and then the second ride and cleaning this place up….I am still stiff and sore and I know it’s from riding too much…or from painting Monday…it’s the dreaded two days later so the pain from climbing the ladders a hundred times should hit today and keep going for a day or so…maybe more since I am not doing anything for it…maybe the swim will help? I know my back is stiff today and that is kind of new…but it’s not the normal lower back pain I have all the time…must be from wrestling the 50 pound wooden ladder around Monday…not much to do today…damn, I hate waiting for it to get light to get on the bike….just need to do the beach run after I ride then back here for screwing around the rest of the day….not sure how much work I’ll do but I do need to put the groceries away from yesterday and straighten up…more later….

Well…the past two days have been busy but with a lot of waiting for word on my daughter in law who went into labor at 2:30 am this morning and is still waiting for progress on the birth…last update around 5 or so was that she was sleeping she was so worn out from it…I wonder if it could go 24 hours or if doctors will do something? so, I wait…but I did get out to get groceries this morning and just had to get a bargain at DD…I mean 12 pounds of cheddar brats for 9 bucks…but you had to buy a whole case so I have a freezer full….Tom, you want any brats? I am going to do my yearly Lake Michigan swim tomorrow morning and it will be the 62 years in a row as I said this morning…the lake temp is still 70 degrees so it shouldn’t be too cold and it is supposed to be 90 degrees air temp…but I’ll be heading back before 11 so it won’t be too warm and I won’t be cooked like a lobster…then I need to clean this place up since my brother is bringing my new bike over around noon thursday…and bringing something else too, what, I don’t know…but it will be good to see him…and then later I’m meeting up with G for a couple so, with getting two rides in, it will be another busy day….oh, and I am going to hit 4,000 miles tomorrow…only have 8 more to go so I’ll make it on the first ride of the day…cripes, I’m going to need Friday to rest and recover….

Well…okay, I hurt everywhere this morning and I can’t believe how badly my hands hurt and how stiff they are…and everything else feels the same so this is going to be an interesting day on the bike…and I need to get out as soon as it gets light since there is some rain coming in and I really don’t feel like getting wet today….it is going to be a big day today…going to become a grandpa this morning and I am excited about that…just wish I could be there and I wonder how I’m going to be able to see my grandkid with the distancing still going on? This whole thing just sucks….I am going to do the grocery run this morning so I can do my beach day tomorrow morning and that is the reason why I had to do the two awnings yesterday…and I just realized that I have the decorative railing around the flat roof to clean up and paint still and that is going to be a lot of detail work and a lot of peeling paint that needs to be removed….could take three or four days to get that done but I’m going to wait until it cools off later in the week…still feel worn out from the heat yesterday and I don’t think I should test my body by doing another day like that…not much to do today…just riding and the grocery run and I can get to 4K miles if I do both rides at 18 miles this morning….but that will depend on how I feel after the first one….more later….

Well…damn, it was hot outside today…and, like an idiot, I chose today to paint the last two awnings just to get them finished…and that was after I did 20 miles on the bike to start the day…started on the awnings at 9 and kept busy until almost 1:30 until I was done…by the time I finished, everything I was wearing was soaked…all the way down to my shoes and I am beat up from it…and I really struggled while I was doing it at times….having to stop to get some water 3 or 4 times and to take a breather when I just couldn’t go up that damn ladder again….my feet didn’t fare too well and I am expecting that the gout will flare after all the abuse today but it was worth it to get the job done…now I just need to figure out how to get the last one down so I can take it apart to paint it…man, I just feel used up right now but I am going to celebrate finishing by having a cocktail or two tonight…I think I’ve earned it….texted photos of the before and after to my son and daughter in law and my daughter in law replied that she loves what I did to them…I do think they look much more modern…oh, and one funny thing that I noticed today is that the ladders I’m using have paint on them from the last time they were painted probably 40 years ago….and now they have paint on them from this time…pretty funny…I wonder if the ladders will last til the next time? I’ll be dead and gone by then….

Well….damn, I think I’ve got another eye infection…at least it feels that way…or it could just be allergies that I haven’t taken anything for in a while…so maybe I’ll try that today to see how it feels…didn’t sleep for crap last night and had dreams about forest fires for some reason…but I’m back to getting up at 3:40 and that just sucks….and I still have two awnings to do the next two days but I am still sore from the last one and that is going to make these two a little more difficult…at least they are in the open and I won’t have any problems getting the ladders to them like the last one….I do have to get my Lake Michigan swim in this week and I think that will be wed since it is supposed to be hot and the lake temp is almost 70 still so that will make it nice….and that will make it 62 years in a row that I have had a swim in the lake….and it will be nice to get the hell out of here for a while and drive the car a bit…so that means I’ll have to do the grocery run thurs but that’s okay…or maybe tomorrow…we’ll see….not much to do today…just the bike ride and the awning but I should mow the lawn too…I did get the grass to start in the big bare spot out front so I’ll have to patch the rest of them out there and keep watering it to maintain it….more later…

Well…cripes, I just noticed that I didn’t do a second one yesterday and there really is no reason for it…I wasn’t busy and didn’t do any work on the house…I did chase the damn squirrel that has been eating my tomatoes and knocked him off the fence…I’m at the point that I’m going to kill the damn thing the next time I see him…and I’m not a violent person but I didn’t grow my garden to have that little varmint ruin all of my tomatoes by taking a bite out of every damn one of them….so, I’ll have to look for it this morning…slept okay last night but still feel pretty crappy right now but one good thing is that I’m only doing one ride today and that is not going to happen until 9 or so since there is a Moto GP race on at 7:30 that I want to watch and that will last until then…and there are races on all day again today with the Indy 500 on this afternoon that I never miss…so there probably won’t be any work done again today…and it is supposed to rain a bit so no painting today….my foot is still not hurting and it has been a couple of weeks now…I’m even almost back to my normal walk and I’m surprised that it has taken so long to stop favoring it….I still think about the pain so I think that will take a while to fix….not much to do today…need to get some cleaning done but I don’t need to cook since I have leftovers to use…and I have chicken downstairs that I haven’t even opened yet….and lots and lots of tomatoes…need to eat a couple today before they get overripe….more later…

Well…crap…another morning of being late to come here and I sure don’t like it…I mean, it’s 7:21 and I just poured my first cup of coffee and I should be out on the bike already…but, I don’t have much to do today and just need to get the two rides in by 12:30 when the first race of the day starts…feel really slow this morning and probably need to stop taking the otc sleeping pills again…but I do sleep with them and that wasn’t happening before….three to four hours a night was killing me and I think I may need a plan to attack that other than the pills…what that would be I don’t know…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but that was the plan with way too much ladder work this week and with the pain that came from it…was so damn stiff yesterday that I could barely walk but that seems to be better today….but, I am going to do two rides again today since I’m pretty damn dumb….I did go over 3900 miles yesterday and need to keep up the pace….I have way too much food waiting to go into the freezer and need to get that done today…pork loin and chicken thighs that I probably shouldn’t have bought this week….but I did take a pizza out so there may be room for it downstairs….and I need to eat a couple of tomatoes today so they don’t spoil but there aren’t any calories in them so I can not feel too guilty about that…not much to do today…need to get moving and get on the bike and I do need to clean some today but I’m not really motivated right now…maybe later….