Well…running early for a Sunday with getting up at 5 or so after not sleeping much last night…it sounded like a damn war zone around here last night and it was so loud I had earplugs in and pillows on my head and still couldn’t sleep…going to put a complaint in with the city today to see if I can join with the people trying to get fireworks outlawed in GR…there just is no reason the whole damn neighborhood has to suffer just because some ass wants to play soldier….but, my foot doesn’t hurt even without ibuprofen so I guess that’s something…for right now anyway….it did feel good to only take one ride yesterday but I’ll be back on for two today…and I need to get the first one done before 9 so I can watch the F1 race…I am a little sore from weeding the gardens yesterday but it feels good to see them looking neat and tidy….I may even pick some beans today to try them…have never gone straight form the garden to the plate with beans and I am looking forward to that…can’t wait for tomatoes later in the month….I am going to try to clean up the back of the garage today so I can make some headway on painting the garage siding this week…and I started trying to save the front lawn by watering it yesterday and it looks like I’ll need to keep that up for weeks until the next time it rains…whenever that will be….more later…

Well….the day I have been anticipating since I planted my gardens is here! Today, I picked my first crops, 4 Jalapenos, from the plants in my garden so I could make pickled Jalapenos….and I did but added red onions and green peppers to make a sandwich topping that I used on a chicken sandwich with dijon mustard for dinner tonight. Yow, 4 jalpenos and the other vegs in a quart of pickling liquid and they are still damn spicy….and I’m not sure how my body is going to react to them but they tasted good and I ended up sweating from them so I’ll just hope that I can tolerate them this time…not sure what I’m going to do with all of the jalapenos if I can’t eat them but I guess I can give them away…and the green beans are almost big enough to pick some for a meal but I should have planted double the plants I did…I have 5 of them but I can eat all of them that are ready in one meal so I guess I’ve learned something for when I get my own house…plant lots of bean plants…maybe a dozen or so….plant more of everything except tomatoes….I think I’ll have plenty of those….still it’s pretty cool that my gardens have started to give me some good, healthy food to eat….can’t wait for the tomatoes….

Well…not sure what is going on but I have felt pretty good today…I wonder if it is only doing one ride today or something else going on? All I know is that I got the gardens both weeded today and cleaned up so they look good again…and my toe doesn’t hurt too much so that is cool, too…but, I just remembered something when I was outside working…you know I’ve been concerned about the swelling in my foot and not having any luck getting it back to normal no matter how much water I drink or how much I keep it elevated…then it dawned on me today that it has been in the 90’s or close to it for a couple of weeks now and whenever that happens, my foot swells up some…and that has been happening since I was in my 20’s but that memory was pushed to the back of my mind by the recurrence of the gout and thinking that they were related….but, what if they aren’t? What if they are two overlaying problems that just happen to be occurring at the same time? If I didn’t have the redness an pain from the gout, I probably wouldn’t think much about the swelling or I would have remembered that it happens all the time when it’s hot. so, I’m not sure what to think now…I’m still going to keep drinking every bit of water I can since that will help with the gout but I may just live with the puffiness until we get a break in this weather in a few weeks and see what happens…nothing seems to work anyway and it may take a little stress off my brain….hmmmm…

Well…damn, it’s still hot and I just looked at the weather forecast and it is going to be in the mid 90’s as far out as the forecast goes…that means at least another two weeks of this crap and that is depressing in itself…I didn’t sleep too bad with a fan running all night and now I have two going to try to pump cool air into this place before it gets sweltering again…but it looks like I’m only going to do one ride today with F1 coming back for qualifying at 9 and then Man U plays at 10, Indycar races at noon and then nascar at 2 so there isn’t a window to do two today…and that is not a bad thing…I can use a semi rest day since I am pretty damn stiff this morning….so stiff that I took an ibuprofen already for both my foot and for the stiffness….didn’t get much done in the heat yesterday and today will be the same since we old guys have to be careful when the temp gets to 95 and the humidity goes nuts…I may try to do a short, hard cleanup of the back of the garage and then back into the fans inside…even with a half hour I can make some progress there and I need that to try to stop the depression…just feel so damn useless not being able to work around here as time ticks away and I need to find a house to buy…not much to do today…okay, I’ve already said what I’m going to do so I won’t repeat myself…don’t need to cook but I may pick some jalapenos to pickle them for some burgers…sure hope I can tolerate them but if not, I’ll have some to give away….more later….

Well…another crappy night of sleep where I had to have the fan on all night just to make it tolerable and that was annoying…and I was up and down all night so something like 4 hours of sleep just isn’t going to get it…but, the weird thing is I don’t feel too bad right now so I guess I just go with it and see what happens today…didn’t get much done yesterday but I do have to mow the lawn today and I think I’ll do it in between rides…set the mower at the highest setting to keep the grass long in this heat and drought but I still think I’m going to lose it since I won’t spend the cash to water it…my water bill is already insane and I’m not going to add to it…I am going to try to get to washing the siding on the garage this week end so I can paint in the near future but that means a lot of work around the back of it to clear out all of the dirt and blocks, etc that are leaning against the garage….I really like the opening windows here and I wonder how it was even tolerable without them and without air con…it was 84 inside when I got up but that’s down 4 degrees since I put the fans on to pump some of the 66 degree air in….and I think I’ll leave them on when I take the first ride here in a few minutes….I took some ibuprofen already this morning since I woke up with some pain in my foot and thought I’d get ahead of it…it worked yesterday and I was mostly pain free all day on just one 200 mg dose…not much to do today….the rides of course and I need to cook some chicken that is thawing downstairs that will last me a few days and I want to pick some of my jalapenos to pickle them with some red onion and garlic to use on some burgers or tacos….oh, and I think I’ll put some green pepper in, too…not mine since I’m not sure if I’m going to get any off my plants but I have a half one that I can cut up….more later….

Well…just can’t get motivated to do politics today and politics itself may be a component to why I feel depressed today…I know there is plenty of good news for our side but I still have a sense of foreboding that something is going to happen to install the idiot trump again and the result will be the end of the US…can you see why it is affecting me so much? But that is not what this is about…after thinking a little this morning, the thought dawned on me that another reason for the depression today is the realization that riding the bike used to fix things and it doesn’t anymore….if I felt like crap from a cold, get on the bike and take a hard ride and I’d feel better…if I had a hangover, I’d get on the bike and feel better after going like crazy for 15 miles…if my foot was swollen, get on the bike with my shoe laced up tight and take a hard 15, and it would be better…if my back hurt, get on the bike and lean over the bars and it would crack and the pain would go away…you get the idea…but lately it doesn’t work anymore…haven’t been able to get my back to crack in months and my foot is puffier than ever…and I hurt so much after doing the 36 miles daily that I constantly take ibuprofen for the general pain and my foot…and I very seldom come back feeling better mentally than I did when I started out…the bike used to be my oasis from life and the crap going on but it just doesn’t work anymore and I can’t figure it out….and that is depressing as hell…so what’s the point of the bike riding if it doesn’t help? Yeah, still pretty depressed but I can’t even self medicate with cocktails anymore…crap….and the bars are closed again so no more pool for a few more weeks…ick…

Well…crap….the depression came howling back yesterday and it’s still here this morning…I think it may have something to do with my foot not healing and even getting worse and the realization that I’m going to need treatment of some new kind for it since nothing I’m doing works…and I know they are going to tell me to stay off the bike for weeks and that is something I just can’t do….and the unrelenting heat and humidity is keeping me from getting any work done outside since I know that will make my foot worse and working outside in 95 degrees is just too dangerous for an old guy….or anyone for that matter….hey, and let’s add in not sleeping for crap lately and I think you can see why I’m depressed…oh, well….I did make it to 2,500 miles yesterday and need to keep up the pace of 36 miles a day if I’m going to get to 5,000 miles…but that goal may have to go away if my foot keeps up hurting…it looks like the trees are even starting to wilt from the heat and no rain…there is a maple across the street that is turning yellow and dying and there are leaves falling all along the trail…and it looks like this keeps up for at least the next two weeks and that is depressing, too….not much to do today…going to get on the bike here before 7 and then I need to run out to Meijers to get a bunch of stuff I forgot yesterday but I really don’t care about food right now so maybe I don’t need to go?  More later…

Well…crap…that was a bad night of sleep and I have been up since 5:24….oh, well…I guess that had to happen sometime….or every time when I think about it…but, I feel okay this morning so maybe 5 hours is enough sleep for me? I really tried to eat more yesterday and we’ll see if that had any effect when I get out on the bike when it gets light…I discovered that I really like vinaigrette dressing so I need to get more today when I do the grocery run and more fixings for salad too…okay, the eating more was just a small salad that only added about 150 calories but it is something to support the almost 40 miles I’m riding every morning….and I will get to halfway in my quest to ride 5,000 miles this morning….I did the math and if I keep up the daily 36-40 miles…it will only take me about 90 days to get to 5,000 and maybe 6K could be attainable? But that means no days off or slacking at all and I’m not sure I want to work that hard….and I’m not sure my old body can take that pace with how it feels every morning….I feel a little better about my garden after taking a look at the better boy plants yesterday…while the celebration tomatoes have had blossom drop to where they have very few on the huge plants, the better boys have twice as many on one plant as on all four of the celebrations…so there will be salsa by the end of the month…and pickled jalapenos that I may just get to this weekend since I have a half dozen peppers almost ready to pick…and a few beans but I’m not sure how many of those I’m going to get….I will have cukes to make pickles since they started to set this week and I have lots of tiny ones on the plants….not much to do today…I’m still being careful about the heat but I think I’ll need to just ignore that if I’m going to get anything done….I do need to weed the gardens today and start cleaning up behind the garage so I can wash the siding back there to paint it….and I have the grocery runs to do around 9 but need to get a ride in first….it’s 6:20 and it appears that it is light enough to get out but I do need one more cup of coffee before I head out….more later….

Well…cripes it’s going to be pretty miserable for the next week or so with the temps getting to around 95 every damn day and the lows not much lower than 75…oh, well…I’ve always liked the heat but this may be a bit too much…although it’s not too bad with a fan on me while I sit here…but, that means the work outside has come to a halt since I do need to be careful about dehydration…I am going to try to get the siding on the garage washed today so I can paint as soon as possible…it’s a nice big slab that I can use to figure out the new paint sprayer before I get to the siding on the house…didn’t sleep too hot last night with my allergies going nuts so I feel pretty worn out today…but I still need to get my 36 miles in this morning so I can make it to 2500 tomorrow….I do feel the extra miles that I added yesterday but it is in my back and that is a little strange…normally my thighs take the brunt of extra miles but they feel okay today…stiff but no too sore and that will work out once I get out on the bike…I do almost have Jalapenos ready to be picked and I think I’ll make pickled peppers with them since that will go with almost everything and the sugar in the pickling process will take the heat down a notch…haven’t tolerated them too well lately but I’m sure not going to waste them…not much to do today…just going to have a normal day with bike rides and Man U to watch this afternoon…and I am going to clean the kitchen since I got the bathroom done yesterday and that made me feel good….more later….

Well.. with actually getting out of here for the past couple of days, I had been letting things slide which annoyed the hell out of me so today I decided to stop that crap and get working again…got the downstairs stuff done that I had put off a day, got the hardware put back on the front door so I can lock it again, and cleaned up the front door sill to get rid of the cobwebs and the dust from sanding the filler in the door…got the package of chicken I bought Wed broken up and in the freezer, cleaned the bathroom, and cut up some carrots and celery for snacks later…oh, and took care of the gardens…I have Jalapenos that are almost ready to pick along with some beans, and now have some cukes growing and even have some tomatoes that will be ready before the end of July…which was the goal of starting everything downstairs in Feb. Now I am finally caught up and I am going to watch some soccer in a few minutes…I think I’ve earned some downtime….