Well…in trying to get to 2500 miles by the first of July Wednesday, I added a three mile loop to each ride today making them 18 miles instead of the 15 I had been doing…and I’m not sure if that is a good idea or not….with the problems I’ve been having with dehydration and the gout it causes, I may just be tempting fate by working harder every day…I have been trying to drink enough water to avoid that problem and how do I know if it’s a good idea or not unless I do it? I do know that adding that 6 miles finally made me feel like I’m working hard again and that is not a bad thing…the rides had gotten too easy and the idea even floated into my head that I should just make every ride an even 20 miles and leave it at that. That will be something I’ll need to think about a while and just get used to the 18 miles first…I will get to 2500 wed after raising the mileage so we’ll see how I feel after a couple of days and then decide….

Well…cripes, I’m running late today but I got up before 6 and I can’t figure that out…slept kind of iffy last night and woke up with my back sore for some reason and it may be the sanding I had to do on the front door when I repaired it Saturday….but, it came out okay so I guess I can live with the pain…or I’ll take something for it…we’ll see after the first bike ride…I wonder why I feel like I need to hurry in the mornings when I really have all day to do what I need to? I’m already getting antsy that I’m not out on the bike yet and it’s still before 7 o’clock…weird….I did get out to hang out with K at her place for the first time since this whole mess started…and I realized that it has been 4 years since I’ve been out there…boy, two days in a row that I was able to talk to someone and after being cooped up here for so long and it took a lot out of me…I wonder if the isolation is having the same effect on other people? I am so used to being alone that I think I’m losing my interaction skills….but I guess it’s just like everything else, you need to practice to be good at things so I’ll just need to practice more….not much to do today…it is going to be hot all week so I’m going to have to get most of the work done in the morning along with riding…going to have to be careful on the bike to make sure I don’t get too dehydrated…don’t want my foot to go nuts again….but I do need to cook today so I should get that done for lunch and it is going to be cleaning week since I have slacked off on keeping this place clean….more later…

Well….running about on time for a Sunday and I remembered to come here before the bike ride…I consider that a win…and I slept okay last night and don’t feel too bad today but I am sore so I took an ibuprofen already to help with that…had to work on the front door when I got home from shooting pool since the damn foam weatherstripping had stuck to the door and ruined a good bit of the paint so I had to sand, fill and repaint the door…what a pain in the butt…but, I did get to go out and shoot pool and that was such a relief to finally get out and see someone and restore some small part of normalcy to my life…and Tom and I were two of only four people inside the whole bar so social distancing was pretty easy…and I took my disinfectant and mask with me and wiped everything down that I touched along with doing my hands throughout shooting…I think I did more damage to my lungs working on the door and breathing in sanding dust than going out…completely forgot to put a mask on when I was working on the door so I have been coughing this morning…and I haven’t taken any allergy meds in almost two weeks so I’m sure that is part of my plugged up head and coughing…not much to do today…need to get the bike rides in this morning, then I’m going out to K’s house to hang out for a while this afternoon…haven’t seen her since March so it will be cool to catch up…oh, and I need to put the second coat of paint on the door as soon as I do the first ride…so, it will be another busy day but a fun one….more later…oh, and I will get to another one here today…lots of stuff to talk about…

Well…running about on time this morning with the damn birds waking me up at 5…there must have been a hundred of them out there and I left the window open to get some air so it was really, really loud…slept okay last night with having cocktails for the first time this week and it may be the last time, too…just don’t enjoy it like I used to and what’s the point if I don’t enjoy it? Was so sore yesterday that I had to take some ibuprofen for it and had the thought that maybe I should take a day off the bike? Nah….I am only going to do one ride today since Tom and I are going to try to go out and shoot pool this morning and maybe that will do the trick….I have been drinking a lot more water lately…something I didn’t think was possible….but I’m not sure if it is doing anything for my foot…my toe barely hurts but my foot is still a little puffy and I have started to get my back to crack in little pops so I’m hoping that will help, too….I did get some work done on the downstairs project yesterday but I still have a bunch of work to do there and need to get on it tomorrow….I think I’m taking the day off today and just vegging with watching racing….I may clean some but I won’t feel bad if I don’t….the bathroom and kitchen needs work but they needed work all week and I didn’t die from it so I guess I’ll get to it when I do….more later…

Well…I made it…5 days of no cocktails and it is getting easier as time goes by….and my foot and liver are thanking me today…I did sleep okay and had some weird dreams again that had to do with my gardens being pulled up for some reason and that was a little strange…but, I feel okay this morning and the first ride is coming up in a few minutes that I am looking forward to….it feels good to have gotten so much done yesterday that I don’t have a lot to do today but work downstairs and on the gardens and watch some soccer this afternoon…I do need to start cleaning the oxidation off the garage siding so I can paint it next week but I think I’m going to wait to do that until next week…I am taking the weekend off to just fool around and clean…this place needs a scrubbing everywhere and I have been putting it off to get other things done…and this afternoon could be the perfect time with the storms that are predicted…the damn power outage from a couple of weeks ago has ruined storms for me…I used to anticipate seeing them and watching from the porch but now, after the 10 hour outage, I cringe when I see them coming in….I guess I’ll have to see how durable the power is here but it doesn’t look good with it failing  during the first big storm of the year…my lawn sure needs the rain after hitting it with crabgrass killer yesterday and not having any rain to speak of for weeks…water costs too damn much here in the city to water it so I guess I’ll just let it go brown…not much to do today….going to finish the first cup of coffee and then get out on the bike by 7 so I can get two rides in this morning….then I’ll just wing it for the rest of the day with no plans….more later….

Well…man, this has been another busy day and I have been running since I got out on the bike for the first ride around 7…and it was a good ride with fog, cool temperatures, and so many animals I felt like I was in a Disney cartoon….after I got home from that one, I needed to make a run out for some more groceries since DD had pizzas on sale for 1.99 again and I splurged on some beef brats for 1.88 for 6 of them…then, over to Aldi’s for some chicken since they are a block away from DD…and then to Menard’s to get some crabgrass killer, and then to Meijers to get the rest of the stuff I needed to make a pizza later in the week….after I got back here, I jumped back on the bike for the second ride and when I got back, I mowed and edged the lawn, then put crabgrass killer on…then, on to leftovers for lunch and then back out to wash the car…whew…pretty damn busy for someone who is supposed to be retired….oh, and then I did two of these and that does take some time and effort….so, I worked from 7 to 3 today and got a solid 8 hours of work in…and I still have to vacuum the car and do the glass since I haven’t done the glass yet this year…and I have work to do on the downstairs project that needs to be done too….I wonder if I should have saved some of this for the weekend? Nope, I like to take weekends off just like when I was working…okay, didn’t take them off then either….I am going to take an hour or so off and watch a little soccer and get some more water in me….

Well…okay, that was weird…went to bed early last night from boredom and had some strange dreams where I was in charge modernizing Russian industrial production in the 50’s…yeah, I get it, who the heck dreams about that kind of stuff? Just the fact that I had dreams at all was pretty cool but the weirder, the better…I even slept okay with the normal tossing and turning and didn’t get up til 6 so that’s a win for me…. and my foot could be back to normal if I skip cocktails this weekend but I think that is a bit much….I’ve been so good this week with no cocktails or salty foods and lots of veggies that I think I have earned being bad just a couple of days….we’ll see….I did get some stuff done yesterday and today I want to work on the lawn and car….fooling around stuff that I don’t consider work…this is kind of funny…my car gets dirtier just sitting in the garage with all the dust than it ever did sitting outside…and I haven’t done a full interior cleaning yet this year and the glass is pretty ugly so that will be done today even though it’s going to rain tomorrow and saturday….I got some detailing brushes at HF for 1.49 last week that I am going to use to try to clean the wheels since they really need it…and I’m going to make another grocery run this morning since I only did Meijers yesterday and only spent 10 bucks…I may splurge on some brats since I have been good and they are easy and they have pizzas for 1.99 again at DD so I think I’ll get one of those, too….but I need to get on the bike first and have another cup of coffee….more later…

Well….cripes, I wonder if this no cocktail thing is going to be a habit now? It is getting easier and easier to sit here with a glass of water at night and I think I’m easing up to it being a no decision thing but the default for my nights…and I slept okay again last night…tossed and turned, sure…but, all in all, not a bad night and I can live with that…and my right foot is down to only about 20% bigger than my left and it doesn’t hurt at all this morning so how can you argue with those results from no cocktails? I can’t so I’ll keep it up and see where it goes…I did get the front door painted yesterday but didn’t use the new sprayer I bought…it was just too much work to put up the sheeting to capture the overspray and then try to use a new tool so I just painted it with a brush like the back door…came out pretty good but it needs a second coat after going from beige to dark brown…but, I’m out of paint so I’ll need to get another gallon mixed today so I can get that done…and I forgot that I’m going to use the same color on the awnings so that will be the trial for the new sprayer…I do like how the color looks on the door…looks sleek and modern and I think the awnings will be the same…oh, and DTE came yesterday to put a new gas meter in since the old one was put in in 1980 but that was pretty painless so that was cool….not much to do today…need to get on the bike in a minute so I can get the first ride in before the grocery run, then I need to get out and get the paint for the door and siding before I get back here for lunch….then I think I’ll take a ride before I paint and watch Man U play…going to be a busy day…more later…

Well…that wasn’t a bad night…didn’t get up til almost 6 with only the normal amount of tossing and turning so I’ll take it…and I don’t feel too bad this morning after being good for the second night in a row…I wonder how I’ll feel after another 5 days off week? I know my foot is appreciating it and it may even be back to normal since it looks good this morning….the poison oak is finally healing pretty well and the only thing left on my arm is a red mark and it doesn’t itch too much but I am still going to treat it with hydrocortisone again today to keep the progress going….going to be much more careful about the trail from now on….I am going to get the front door painted today and I am curious how the new sprayer is going to work on it….I do know I need to build a little paint booth in the vestibule with a drop cloth since I just noticed that the dust from sanding is all over the living room and will need to be cleaned more…don’t want any overspray to get on the floor or walls since the dark brown would look nasty on my clean white walls…..or the hardwood floors…I think the brown is going to look classy on the door but I do still need to buy a new lockset and dead bolt so the door will work normally….not much to do today…need to get out on the bike here in a few minutes but want more coffee and to read a little news first….the bike rides felt good yesterday and I went hard on both…yeah, stupid, I know but damn, what’s the point if you can’t go hard? More later…

Well…finally…got something done today! Got the front door filled and sanded today and it’s ready to paint….it has been a struggle to get moving lately and part of it was the pain everywhere that I’ve had for the past couple of weeks…along with the pain in my foot it has been tough at times…I am so glad that the dust from sanding is finally over…I am tired of cleaning up and having it everywhere…I think I may try out my new sprayer if I have enough paint left…really don’t want to spend another 38 bucks for a gallon if only have the door and 4 feet of trim to do…it’s going to be close….but I think I’ll be able to thin the paint with some water for the sprayer and make it work….hope so anyway….time to take a break…