Well…as you know, I was a little confused why no birds were using the feeder that is attached to the window while the round hanging feeder has a traffic jam of sparrows…just a few minutes ago, a chickadee found the window feeder and I think it is telling the rest of the flock that it is there since there is one coming in there every few seconds…and that is pretty cool…but still not one sparrow on it and that is a little weird since there is a waiting area below the round feeder where the sparrows sit until there is a place for them on it…maybe later in the day they will figure it out…now I need to make sure that I keep them filled since they will be depending on them for food…they have eaten half of what was in the round feeder already in just a day or so…I wonder if I’ll see any other birds than sparrows and chickadees?

Well…that was a little bit better…slept most of the night with little coughing but that started back up as soon as I got up but it is actually clearing my lungs some and I wonder if this is a combo of my allergies and a cold…it’s hard to tell but I don’t feel too bad today so I’ll take it…and I’m here early today with getting up at 5:47 and it being too early to go out for the paper…I will say that the allergy stuff I took last night helped some to get rid of the itchy eyes and plugged up head so I may take some more later this morning…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and will do that again this morning before Man U plays at 10…I really don’t mind riding indoors and not having to worry about ice and snow…but it looks like it will be spring before I get outside again…don’t miss the cold at all….didn’t get much done yesterday and I think I’ll take the day off today, too…just can’t take any more dust that will flare my allergies…will need to get a a better respirator for all of the work around here…can’t wait to be able to open this place up and air it out…not much to do today…just going to take it easy and make some tacos for lunch…more later…

Well….just finished up riding the bike and when I came upstairs and took a look at my feeders, there were 5 sparrows on the round feeder! They haven’t figured out the one on the window yet but at least they’ve found one of them…that is pretty damn cool…I’m smiling…

Well…that was a little better…still coughing some but I did sleep through until almost 6 and that was so much better than Thursday night that I have hope that I have figured out why I have been feeling so miserable lately….we’ll see as the day goes by…I am starting to have some hope that this is going to be an easy winter with getting to Feb with no huge snow storms and the forecast of temps in the 30’s for highs for the next week or so…and it is staying light later and later so I think I have hope for surviving another winter….after all, March is only a month away…but that means I need to get after it on the bike since I am under 200 miles for the year and need to get to 600 by April…didn’t get much done yesterday but build some stuff and get a bike ride in and today looks much the same with soccer starting in a few minutes and then the 24 hours of Daytona starts in the early afternoon and I always watch as much of the first race of the year that I can…or, I nap for as much as the race as I can…at least it will give me some background noise to read by…I really should get back to working around here and finish the last room but I just haven’t been feeling it lately…I am going to clean some and cook today since I only had one meal yesterday and I have some chicken that needs to be cooked and I need to thaw some venison to make tacos again since I have tomatoes and lettuce that needs to be used…but, right now it’s coffee and news time while I wait for the first soccer match to start….more later…

Well….I think 5 days of waiting for birds is enough so I give up….you would think that at least one bird would have stumbled on the feeders just by accident but it doesn’t look that way….I have been watching the one that suction cups to the front window and there have been no birds as far as I can see and the piles of feed in it look just the same as when I filled it Monday….oh, well…I guess I’ll still look at them occasionally but I was really looking forward to seeing some birds there on a regular basis…I think one good thing is that I didn’t buy new feeders to try this out but just used the existing ones so I’m only out 5 bucks….I did get an airlock built at the bottom of the basement stairs today so that may help with my coughing…we’ll see tonight when I go to bed…..and I think I’ll look for a better filter/respirator for when I have work to do downstairs….have to do everything I can to keep the cough away….

Well…that really, really sucked….the coughing is back and worse than ever and I think I finally figured out what it is…worked a bunch on the downstairs project yesterday and, even with taking hazmat like precautions, my lungs are on fire and I am completely plugged up from the sensitivity to it…so now it looks like I am going to have to wind that down since I can’t ventilate it well enough in the winter and I am just damn miserable….and the only way I could sleep last night was to use some flonase that is wearing off…and I just realized that the coughing started when the project did and that is just damn disappointing…and I didn’t sleep at all last night and I am exhausted this morning and I can’t keep that up….I hurt everywhere from the coughing and I am going to have to take some ibuprofen here in a minute…didn’t get much done yesterday except project work so I will need to do better today….didn’t even get on the bike yesterday but I will today and try to get at least 8 miles in if my lungs can take it….and I think I may wash the car if it gets to nearly 40 as forecast but we’ll see….first I need to drown myself in coffee and try to read some news…and there will be a nap in my future along with coming back here for another one a little later….more later…

Well…we’re up to three days after I filled the feeders and still no birds…and the strange thing is that I really don’t see any birds around here…you would think there would be some sparrows or chickadees in the trees but no, I haven’t seen one bird anywhere around here since I started to look for them…so maybe the feeders will be a bust and I won’t be entertained…but, that’s not the real reason I put the food out…at every house I’ve lived in I’ve had at least one feeder up and sometimes as many as four if you include the hummingbird feeder and I just like the idea of doing my little bit to help the wildlife…cripes I wouldn’t even mind having some squirrels attack the feeders…oh, well….the feed was only 5 bucks so I guess I can live with that….

Well….hmmm…slept all the way through til almost 5:30 this morning and didn’t cough much at all during the night so maybe the amoxicillin is starting to work? Still coughing right now so I’m not sure….but, I did sleep okay and don’t feel too bad this morning so I’ll take it…but I am a little sore from the bike ride yesterday with doing a hard 9 miles trying to burn this damn infection out so I may take the day off and just rest the lungs…but that will trigger my well developed guilt from not getting any exercise and I think that’s harder to take than getting on the bike for 45 minutes….I did get a few things done yesterday…had errands to run in the morning to restock the groceries and a little work downstairs but then I took the afternoon off to watch Man U lose again…it is pretty cool that I figured out the garage door opener adjustment and it opens every time now without stopping at about 12 inches up…it was getting damn annoying to have to use the release to open it almost every time and it really defeated the purpose of even having an opener with having to get out of the car to open it when I drove in…not much to do today…just a little work on the downstairs project and then I’ve been ordered to take it easy and heal up but we’ll see how that works…it’s just not me to do that even when I feel really crappy…feel like if I stop being active at my age that will start the downward slide that I have been keeping at bay with all of the riding….more later…

Well…as I told you yesterday, I finally decided to get some bird food to fill the feeders in the front of the house yesterday and now I am on bird watch waiting for them to show up and eat some of it…I’ve even gone out and looked to see how long it can be before they find the food and found that there is a “rule of 2” that you can go by…and that rule states: it can be two minutes, two hours, two days, or two months before you see birds at your feeder…yeah, I know, that’s a little tongue in cheek, essentially saying to have patience, that no one knows how long it takes for birds to find the food since it is basically by accident….but, that’s not good enough for me, dammit…I want to be entertained and if I went through the effort of buying the food and filling the feeders, the least the birds can do it get their butts here and eat it….oh, well…not sure if I’m going to make this a series yet but I am going to keep track of when they finally get here and that should be worth at least one more of these….

Well…that was a little better…slept okay last night and coughed much less that I have been but I wonder if it’s the amoxicillin or just naturally getting better…whatever it is, I’ll take it…my lungs are still wheezy and I could hear it all night but I was able to breathe much better which will put me on the bike here in a few minutes…still have the iron taste when I do cough, though but I can’t expect to be completely cured with only one day of treatment…I did get a few things done yesterday and need to run errands this morning to get the grocery run done for the week but I’m supposed to take it a little easy so that may be the only thing I do today…but, we’ll see how I feel later…I do need to cook today but I’m not sure what that will be yet…I do still have the cream cheese for pasta but I’m not sure I want to work that hard today…not sure why I’m getting more chicken after just freezing some yesterday but at 88 cents a pound, I can use the cheap protein…but I think I need to try some different recipes for it…I’m a little bored with what I have been making and want something a little spicier…maybe with some cayenne? Who knows? More later….