Well…okay, got my screed for the day out and now it’s time to lighten things up for one to talk about little nonsense things that I have been observing or that have happened that I haven’t had a chance to talk about yet…one thing I’ve noticed since I started filling the bird feeders is that sparrows travel in packs…I have never once see a solitary sparrow on either feeder…when they come, it’s in flocks of 25 or more and they push and shove each other to get to the feeders…yep, feeders…yesterday I had two of them at a time on the one that hangs on the window and that is the first time that has happened…and even though it’s just sparrows on the feeders, it is still fun to watch them. You know I talked about my disappointment with the adhesive that I used to attach the latch/stop to the side of the house when I built the new gate for the fence…it just turned to powder and the 2×4 I’m using for the stop was just hanging from the latch hasp as the gate swung…after that, I cleaned off the old adhesive but still had half a tube of it left so I tried it again and it is so weird to me that this time it is still adhered to the side of the house through winter while the first time it fell off after a couple of weeks…not that I’m complaining but I am a little confused since it is the same adhesive out of the same tube…strange…is that enough? Yep, that’s enough for today…oh, one more thing…I did get the last room ready for painting today with masking off the closet door and the windows, and playing finger painting with plaster to make the smooth repaired areas look like the rest of the textured walls…I can’t wait to see how they look after painting…okay, that’s enough….

Well…running about on time today with another morning of getting up before 6…one drawback of not tossing and turning so much is that I spend too much time sleeping on one shoulder or the other and that leads to inflaming the tendons in my shoulders…have had huge pain in my left for a couple of weeks now and that is going to make painting Monday a little hard…but I’ll try a little ibuprofen and see if that helps…I did get the rest of the sanding done yesterday and most of the clean up but still need to mask off the closet door and wipe down the walls to get the rest of the dust off…but that only leaves me a little work to do over the next two days and I can get that done easily….I do need to plan the next steps after I finish that room and I think the first thing will be cleaning the laundry room since I haven’t touched that yet and it is a little gross with all of the dust and cobwebs….and I do need to figure out the baseboard trim that will work in the areas where the original trim is missing…and I have the rest of the windows that need to be repaired and painted along with cleaning the blinds…so, it’s not like I don’t have enough work to do….and when it warms up I’ll have a full time job on the outside so I think I may have to get my rest time in over the next few weeks…not much to do today…I am going to veg a little and watch some soccer with my coffee before I get to working today…and I am going to try to get out on the bike but that will have to wait til late afternoon with it only 6 degrees out there right now….more later….

Well…running a little late today with getting all the way to 5:37 before I got up but I didn’t sleep that hot so I’m feeling it this morning…and I’m sore from sanding the spare room yesterday and will aggravate that this morning with the final work on the repaired areas…and then I need to clean up all the dust that it makes before I can start painting this weekend since I don’t want to track it all over the hallway and the rest of the place…after I get this done, it is going to be a busy morning with some work downstairs and then a run out to HF to get a bunch of stuff that I need…will probably spend 30 bucks there today but there are such good deals I can’t pass it up…I think it’s the first time I’ve had to make a list of things to get there and I have 6 coupons to use for the bargains…going to buy a little 4 1/2 inch angle grinder to remove paint on the front door since the old paint is so hard that my sander won’t cut it even with 100 grit paper…and I’ll probably do the same with the garage door that I did a fast paint job on just to meet code but doesn’t look good enough for me….I just discovered that the gutters on this house are copper under the paint that is peeling off so I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them…I may just try to remove the paint and clean them up but that’s for the spring and I have enough work in here to think about…more later…

Well…that was a weird night…up at 2:14 and had to come out here and watch tv until 3:30 then back to bed until 5:37 making it about 4 1/2 hours for the night…and that kind of sucks…but I can live with it…and I had a double feature dream that started with trying to survive a nuclear explosion…which didn’t work and then some work stuff that is strange since I’m retired now…I guess that’s one thing about being good, I get dreams but still don’t sleep much…I know I talk about sleep a lot but the main reason is that it’s easy and helps me get started on these things every morning…it looks like I’ll be off the bike for a couple of days with the cold coming in and highs in the 20’s the next two days and that is just too damn cold to be out on the bike…it took me hours to get warmed up after yesterday’s ride and I was even under a blanket watching tv last night…sure hope it’s not a bug but I don’t feel too bad today so I don’t think it is….probably just from lack of sleep and being cold outside…didn’t get much done yesterday but work on the last room a little but today is sanding and prep day in lieu of riding the bike…should be able to get started painting tomorrow and have it finished up by early next week…will probably need one more gallon of paint but that will be the last until I get started outside….and that will be a full time job for a couple of months with having lots of landscaping to and trim to do…more later…

Well….I’m in a little bit of shock after getting the statement for my doctor’s appointment and x-rays in the mail yesterday…now, I know that medical care is expensive, but 5,000 bucks for a few x-rays? I’m not sure if this is because I have insurance or if they charge this much to everyone…but damn, how can anyone without insurance even afford to get sick? I am sure happy I survived the 16 years I went without insurance without any health problems…yow…

Well…it was another 5:37 morning but not a normal one…slept all the way through from 10:30 with just a little tossing…even had dreams last night where I had a Miata stolen…but it wasn’t my Miata, it was a white one and I’d never own a white one…I’ve never owned any white car in my life…the closest was a cream colored 1962 Falcon wagon…and I was good last night so I feel pretty good this morning but I think I’m going to have the same problem I have every early morning…going to run out of things to do and get bored early too…but I do have the grocery run to do and I have been making progress on the last room to the point where I am going to be able to paint in a few days…and I discovered that the dust and dirt in this place is a huge component to my allergy flare I’ve been having since I moved in…once I started working in there and stirring it up the dust, I have been miserable and taking antihistamines just to be able to breathe…I am hoping that, once I’m finished, the allergies will get better…but that will take a couple of weeks since I am going to have to get the electric sanders out to sand the repairs I’ve made this week…and I can’t close the door since I took it off to repair it and the hinge pin along with the door frame…oh, well…going to do another street ride today but it looks like I’ll have to take Thursday off with the 3-5 inches of snow we are supposed to get and it is going to be too damn cold to go anyway…but it looks like a warm up is coming that is supposed to last until the end of Feb and if that happens, this will have been a pretty good winter…unless March turns into Feb….and that has happened….more later…

Well…this is a little weird coming here before the coffee is even done but I’ve been up since 5:08 and I’m already getting bored with Dragnet on tv and reading all the news already…I was good last night and was in bed early so the 5:08 isn’t that bad and I didn’t toss and turn too much so I think I feel pretty good so far…and I hope that continues….had a good day with not coughing too much yesterday but I am doing it a little right now…think the measures I put in place to help the allergies seem to be helping some but my eyes are still itchy and I can feel a little pressure in my head but it is so much better than it was a couple of weeks ago so I’ll take it…I did get a bike ride in yesterday but it was on the streets since the trails are snow covered with slush under the snow and that is just no fun…and I am getting used to road riding here in the city…something I couldn’t do when I lived in the south end with no bike lanes on any street out there…took a new route yesterday and that was fun and I may do that again today after it warms up and I get my hair cut….then I need to make a run out to DD to get some cheap chicken strips…how can you pass them up at 5 bucks for 5 pounds? I need to get something in the freezer for the days when I just don’t want to cook…not much to do today…I did make some progress on the spare room again yesterday with getting the big holes plastered and getting the door frame repaired but now it needs sanding before I can paint but I will get that done today…there is a huge dent in the bottom of the metal frame that needs to be pulled out, too and I think I’ll need to drill it and put a screw in so I can try to pull it out and I want to get that done today, too…might not get to painting this week but I’ll have that done and the door rehung next week and then it’s going to be a week off with just cleaning…more later…

Well…only made it to 5 this morning and feel worn out again…and part of that was in that half sleep where you’re still aware that you’re not sleeping but you’re not really awake either…and that doesn’t actually count as sleep so it was another short night with staying up late to watch the end of the Oscars…didn’t get on the bike yesterday and it looks like I won’t be riding much this week with the snow we got yesterday…will have to take to the streets to get my miles in if they got the bike lanes plowed…took some time yesterday morning to go up to the hospital to visit my younger sister who had a mild heart attack to go along with the chemo she is undergoing for bone cancer…hadn’t talked to her in a few years and it was nice to catch up….she now has to have a stent put in tomorrow before she can go home and back to the cancer treatment…so I didn’t get much done with the start of the racing season on tv and just having no motivation at all…and I’m not sure what I’ll get done today…need to put the second coat of plaster on the big hole repair in the spare bedroom and get started on the rest of the cracks and nail holes so I can paint later in the week…have to do something if I can’t get on the bike and I want to start wrapping up the repairs and start getting my tools and repair materials put away so I can start the deep cleaning and detail work….more later…

Well…almost forgot to come here this morning since it’s Sunday again and I got distracted by the newspaper…slept all the way through til coffee o’clock this morning…for the newbies here that is 6 am when the coffee maker turns on…and that made it almost 7 hours of sleep last night which broke the string of 5 hour nights but I’m not sure if one night of okay sleep is enough to make up for the deficit I’ve had lately…we’ll see…still feel pretty worn out today even with skipping the bike ride yesterday but I am going to get out as soon as the temp comes up to near 30…will probably have to do a street ride with the snow that fell yesterday which will make the trails too icy to ride…and there is supposed to be more snow coming starting at around noon today with 3-5 inches forecast so it looks like I’ll be off the bike for a few days but I’ve gotten a head start on the calorie restrictions I need to eliminate at least 600 per day from my diet to make up for not riding…just had a bowl of soup and a salad yesterday and will do the same today…just a bowl of soup for lunch but I should make chicken in the instant pot today but I’m not sure about that yet…it would put me at about 1500 for the day and that is too much for a no riding day….I did get the big hole patched in the spare room yesterday but I don’t think I’ll get any more done today…my youngest sister had a mild heart attack yesterday to go with the cancer so I should go to the hospital and see her…after all, it’s just up the street from here and that’s not too much to ask of me…more later…

Well…the two days of 5 hours of sleep is starting to catch up with me and I am damn exhausted and it is only 1 in the afternoon….I think I will attempt to take a nap in a little while just to see if it’s possible…I have decided that there will be no bike ride today or tomorrow with all of the snow we’ve gotten are going to get later today and tomorrow…I may try to do a street ride tomorrow after they work on the streets some but we’ll see…I did make the lasagna soup from the new recipe yesterday and it came out really good and even tasted better for lunch today..that one is going to join the refrigerator recipes as a keeper since it so easy to make and is so damn filling that I had one bowl and that will probably keep me for the entire day…and it’s not too unhealthy with just a little ground chuck in it but lots of veggies so I can have it about once a month and still not feel too bad…I did get the 4 inches of snow that we got here cleared already since I wanted to get at it while it was still light and fluffy and easy to push…and I cleaned the kitchen some since the sink and counter was needing some work but I’m pretty sure that will be the extent of the work today with the morning coffee wearing off and with me running out of steam already…oh, and I vacuumed the car with a little shop vac that I found in the garage since the driver’s footwell was full of crap and it was annoying the hell out of me….and I filled the bird feeders again…hey, I already did quite a bit today…I guess I don’t have to feel too bad about trying to take a nap…