Well…have been trying to get outraged about something to write about today and have had a little luck but I don’t really want to talk about politics right now…and I think I’ve done enough today to earn a little downtime…I did get over a thousand miles on the bike today and that met the first goal for the year of getting there before the end of April….but the computer on the bike has gone wonky so I may have to do a hard reset and go back to the start and enter all the information again…but, I’ll do that tomorrow with the forecast rain keeping me off the bike til Friday maybe…so I’ll have all day to screw with that…after the first ride this morning, that I got in early since it got warm early, I went after finishing up getting sod put in to level out around the fence…after I got that done, I decided to finish up chopping the sod out of what was a little rose garden when the in-laws lived here…but that had been left to overgrow with weeds and grass over the past 18 years or so….I got that done without much injury, although I won’t know how much for a day or so, and got it leveled out and got the idea to make it another garden but one less organized…will just load everything into it and just see how it works….it appears to have about 6-7 hours of sun a day so it may just work….and it will give me overflow room to put in more stuff to give away after I harvest…then I got the second ride in and that makes 4 days in a row with doubles and I could feel it on the way back…I did get the windows open today and it feels nice to have a breeze blowing through the house for the first time…and it changes how the house feels, too which is kind of weird but I do like the smells and sounds of spring that are out there…my allergies won’t thank me but I don’t care…it’s worth it to have some fresh air…and the breeze is in here even without having the screens in the doors…and that will give me some time to have them replaced once everything is open again…so, I think I did enough today…

Well…back to the 4:50’s again this morning but I went to bed 15 minutes early last night so that makes it about 6 hours and these days that seems like a miracle…I was almost not good last night but I resisted having cocktails from boredom and feel okay this morning other than I’m still a little sore from the garden work and from re-seeding parts of the lawn yesterday…oh, and the two rides I did, too…only have 7 more miles to go to get to 1K before the end of the month so that will happen this morning and it might be fun to get out early since there is supposed to be thick fog and I like riding in it…can’t wait to get my garden planted but it looks like it will be another week or so to get past the 40 degree low that is necessary to make sure the tomatoes won’t die…I even planted 4 more of the better boys yesterday since the ones downstairs are looking a little wilty….I do need to get started on the paint prep for the garage trim in the next couple of days and then get paint to cover it…and that is a pain with all of the restrictions at depot…but I think I’ll only need one more gallon of the brown and then one of a cream color to cover the siding on the dormer…and I do need to get out to HF to get the new air compressor and some more fap discs later this week or next week…not much to do today…going to ease into it today and might just have to make some french press coffee since there is not too much leftover in the coffee maker….and I do need to set some more sod along the fence after I fill it to make it level…then I need to figure out how to plant my sunflowers in the area I just re sodded….didn’t think about that when I started on it…oh, well…more later…

Well…on the bike ride the past week or so, I’ve seen what I thought was a female bald eagle sitting in the trees across the pond from the male that I’ve seen quite a bit this spring…and today, that thought was confirmed when I saw the nest that they’ve built only about 20 yards from the trail and with the female on the nest….so we have a nesting pair and I am a little excited about that…when I was a kid, there were no bald eagles in this part of the country and now I get to watch as a pair raises some eaglets over the summer…I just hope that people will stay the hell away from the nest and leave them in peace…but, with the morons I’ve seen on the trail lately, that is pretty unlikely…

Well…made it all the way to coffee o’clock this morning but went to bed late so I’m not sure how much of a success that is…at least it’s not 4:50 so I guess that’s something….and the soreness from cutting out the sod for the garden is subsiding and I can use my right arm again without much pain…and that is good since I need to get out and get potting soil, top soil, and grass seed this morning and re-seed the front yard to take advantage of the rain that is coming in tomorrow….and I need to re pot the tomatoes downstairs since the plants are up to 18 inches tall and I have 4 of them in each small pot…can’t wait to get them out in the garden…and I do need to try to get another double ride in today to make it to 1K before Thurs…only need 30 more miles so that goal looks attainable….still haven’t gotten my 1200 bucks and I am starting to get annoyed about that…but I haven’t checked this morning and I think this was supposed to be the week it gets deposited…we’ll see…not much to do today…just going to do the yard stuff today and might finish leveling off the back yard but that can wait…don’t want to aggravate the damage from cutting out the last sod so maybe I’ll wait a few days….more later….

Well….was sitting here getting ready to get out for the first bike ride this morning and my oldest son and his fiance called to causally let me know that they got married back last November but just decided that they shoud probably let people know…I laughed at that one since it is just so him…so some good news today made it a good day….and I got some work done, too…took the copper downspout down and took my little grinder to it there was so much peeling paint…got most of that off and I think I may be able to take the rest of the paint off with stripper now…it does look pretty cool with the shiny copper showing through…and I was going to paint it but I just couldn’t….so I put it back up and fixed the straps that hold it so now it is nice and sturdy and I can continue to try to get the rest of the paint off…used my grinder so much that the fap disk I had is used up so I had to stop….so I did get some work done this weekend…and now on to the yard tomorrow…..

Well…I sure hope this is not the new normal…woke for the second day in a row at 4:50 and tried to go back to sleep for a while but no such luck…with very little sleep the past couple of days, and all of the work I’ve been doing, you would think sleep would be easy…but I guess that’s just not me….and the two day rule has reared it ugly head with the pain from chopping out the garden sod Friday landing on my right arm…can barely move it this morning but that’s not unexpected…but it’s going to be a few days before I can abuse it again…will probably need ibuprofen again this morning just to get on the bike…and I am going to do a double today to get to the 1K goal by the end of the month…supposed to be in the 60’s this aft so just shorts and a t-shirt for the afternoon ride will be cool and I can even go out in shorts for the morning ride….I may take the last copper downspout off to be able to try to get the paint off it…will probably have to paint it since I’m not sure if it is in good enough shape to just leave it…we’ll see after I get at the paint removal… I do know that I have to rework the straps that secure it so it won’t bang around in the wind as it does now….but, at least they are there and I don’t have to get new ones….not much to do today…okay, that’s not true…have plenty to do but I may choose to not do much…I’m already pretty worn out with the lack of sleep so I’m going to ease into it this morning and not really think about too much….more later….

Well…I still have to remind myself when I get depressed about how little progress I’m making on the house that I am still making progress…and today, the project was to clean up and repaint the downspout I found buried behind the garage…wasn’t even going to try to hang it today but it was dry when I got back from the second ride and I decided to just finish it and hang it….and it was pretty easy…only took about 10 minutes from start to finish and it looks pretty good and completes that side of the house…I’ve always hated the hole that was there without it and the water running off the roof left an algae streak down the side of the house…had to clean that off with a wire brush before I hung the spout and that  got rid of one more dingy thing that should have been taken care of….so, when I sit down and think about it, I did get a lot done today…I did get the lawn mowed first thing…then on the bike for the first ride, then painted the downspout… swept out the garage, then made lunch and then back on the bike for another 15 that damn near killed me on the last climb but I survived it…then hung the downspout, cleaned up everything, and now back here for this one…so maybe I won’t get to a political one today…I did get to 950 miles for the year so far so it looks like I may be able to get to 1,000 before the end of April….man, I’m sore…

Well…crap…up at 4:50 this morning and there really is no reason for it…especially after waking up at 2:30 for the first time….I should have been able to sleep more after all the work I did yesterday…you would think that would tire me out and make it easier but no, not me….oh, well….the ibuprofen worked last night and I don’t have nearly the pain I expected today….but that will probably come tomorrow with the two day rule…everything hurt like crazy last night and I found myself laughing about it when it hit…yeah, I know that’s weird but I feel good that I can still do all that stuff at my age…I do have a plan worked out in my head how to arrange the garden and got the idea to plant some garlic around the edges…it won’t look like normal garlic since you need to have that in the ground over the winter for it to develop the cloves that we normally see but it will have single cloves that have a milder garlic flavor that you can still use in cooking…and you can just plant the cloves you buy in the store….so that might be fun…I did get out on the bike yesterday and got a nice ride in but didn’t have time to get a second one in and I don’t think I will today, either…want to get started on painting the downspout so I can flip it over and do the front tomorrow…but right now I need coffee…did this one without it and that was just too damn much work….more later…

Well…I’m really not sure what got into me this morning…all I was going to do was go out and clean the downspout so I can paint it over the weekend but, one thing led to another, and I got started on finishing cutting the sod out for the veggie garden…and three hours later, I had it done along with putting in the blocks for the walkway that runs down the center of it…and I used the sod that I took out to level the yard along the fence and fill that in instead of just piling it behind the garage….and that came out okay and it looks better so that is cool…but cutting out two sections of lawn that are 30 inches by 10 feet took a toll on every damn part of my body and I am really, really sore…and after the bike ride I couldn’t take it any more so I took some ibuprofen in the afternoon…something I very seldom do…and next week looks like I can get started on the outside since garden centers can re-open today and I can get out and get some topsoil and grass seed next week along with paint for the trim on the house…so it looks like I’m going to get really busy again but I’m only going to paint the downspout this weekend….too damn sore to do much else…and it will get worse Sunday…

Well…running a little late this morning with not getting up til after 6….feel pretty lousy and I know why that is but I earned it so I’m not going to bitch too much…I am going to start slow but I’m not going to bitch…it was nice to get out on the bike yesterday and with the cold and rain there was no one on the trail…and the eagle wasn’t there but I did see him the other day…and I think I saw a female sitting in a tree across the pond so maybe we will see so eaglets later this summer…I am hoping to get out in shorts today but that will mean waiting until the afternoon to go so that will give me time to work outside this morning….I do need to organize the work out there so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming and then just start chipping away every day….want to get the downspout cleaned today so I can paint it over the weekend and I just realized that I can do that in the garage if I move the car out….and that is a cool luxury….and I need to get the garden cut out today with my tomato plants almost a foot tall downstairs and needing to  be planted soon…I have lots of peppers that have come up too, I was worried they wouldn’t and planted extras so now I have 6 each of green peppers and jalapenos…will be giving lots of them away this summer….not much to do today….just the outdoor work and then riding….and I need to plan what I need to take out of the freezer for meals….or make some pasta…not sure yet….more later…