Well…have been having some problems with the car barely starting after having it set for a couple of days even with the battery switch turned off and the only thing I could think of was that the switch had gone bad and had started to not shut the battery off completely…so, I went out to HF Thursday and bought a new one since they are so cheap…only about 6 bucks or so and replacing it would be the easiest way to figure out what the problem was…at first, I thought it was the new battery I put in a couple of months ago but having it fail that soon just didn’t make sense…so, this morning, after having the car sit in the garage since Thursday without running it, I gave it a try and the thing spun over fast like it’s supposed to so it appears that it was the switch and that is a relief…didn’t want to spend any more money on it since I am edging toward buying another Miata in the spring since this one needs a lot of work and I should be able to find one for 4 grand or so….this takes a load off my mind and almost prepares me for winter…I do need to put the winter tires on for one last winter…but now I have a garage to do it in…and a cordless driver to take the lug nuts off after I loosen them…I love having a garage….

Well…have been lazy getting going this morning after staying in bed until 6:23 and I really don’t feel too bad about that…after all, I don’t really have any schedule I have to follow but I still feel the need to get the first one of these done soon after I get up…just part of starting my day and I think it helps to de-fog my brain…along with the coffee…and I have been thinking about how my habit of making a 12 cup pot last two days is really restricting how much coffee I can drink…like today, after having half of the pot yesterday…or a little more than half, today is a short coffee day and I’m not sure why I just don’t make 8 cups and do it every day…hmmmm…that thought never came to me…after all, who measured what a “cup”of coffee is anyway? My smallest coffee cup is almost three of their “cups” and that makes me feel a little guilty drinking 6 “cups” every morning…I wonder what the normal consumption in ounces is? I’ll be it’s available on the internet and I am curious if I am a heavy coffee drinker or not…does it mean anything? Nope….I wonder if consumption increases as you get older and you need more of a jump start to get going in the morning? Not much to do today…I am going to try to drain the heavy duty hose and put it away since it is supposed to be 41 today and I do have the expandable one to use that came a few days back…and I’m going to go back out to the south end to have a couple with K later in the day…more later…

Well…not a bad night of sleep last night…for me, anyway…and I didn’t get up until around 6 so I can live with that…I am pretty sore this morning with all the heavy work in the garage yesterday but it was worth it to be able to get my car in a garage for the first time in my life…but my hands are so damaged that I need to rest them for a few days…just way too many cuts and my thumb is still sore so I think today will be a day off…I did find some of the baseboard trim that I thought was gone and I am going to try to see if that will still work in the living room to cover the joint between the wall and floor…if it does, I will need to repaint it since the black paint on the pieces is pretty chipped…and I can use my new drill/driver to screw it down instead of doing it by hand and that will make it easier on my hands….I don’t think all of it is there but I think I can do the living room with what I found and that will look much better….not much to do today…I really do think I’ll take the day off today and just rest my sore bones…think I’ll even take some ibuprofen later to help….more later….

Well…just got the package that had parts for a piece of equipment that failed the other day and found out that it is permanently shot…but, I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much about the failure since I have been using it since 2007 with only one breakdown in all that time….so, I upgraded to a much more modern piece that only cost 59 bucks and has lots of features that I’m not sure I’ll use but it is cool that they are there…and now, I need to stop spending money completely until the third wed in December…oh, I did get my new hose today, too and it came with a nozzle and a hanger for the back of the house…all that for 24 bucks and if I give them my order number, they will upgrade me to a lifetime free replacement warranty so I think I’ll do that in the next few days…have to drain the other hose when it gets warmer and get that put away in the garage…and will probably never take it out again…the new one only weighs about 2 pounds and that is pretty cool…so some good, and some bad today…

Well….have been trying to find a political topic…a little anyway…with little success today…I have been distracted by the crappy cold weather and the snow on my car this morning when I got up…and I couldn’t find my scraper so that irritated me even more…so, when I was getting the trash bin filled for pickup tomorrow, I kind of got lost in cleaning the garage and seeing if I could pack stuff well enough for me to get the car in so I don’t have to scrape in the mornings….and after about an hour’s work, I have a garage! It was actually pretty easy to get everything stashed and there is plenty of room to even work on every side of the car…so, everyone…if you don’t see my car in the driveway, I could still be here…this is the first time ever that I have had a garage to put MY car in…there was always room for everyone else’s cars to go in the garage but mine was always out in the snow and rain…so, I really don’t know how to act other than to smile a little…and now I can work on the car inside for the first time ever…that is going to be weird…but, cool….

Well…it appears to be a normal morning with getting up a little after 5 but it is damn cold outside at 27 frickin degrees…just not ready for it to be this damn cold…and it is going to keep me off the bike for  a second day and that is annoying…I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen for my thumb last night and that was a good idea since it doesn’t hurt much today…not sure why I have been resisting using pain killers since I hurt all the time and I do need to keep the inflammation down…I did get my errands run yesterday and I am still surprised by how easy it is out here…even found where the daily deals is and got some smoked turkey breast for 1.29 a pound…had to buy over 6 pounds but that is still a deal and half of it will go in the downstairs freezer…I had to laugh about some stuff I ordered from Amazon yesterday that was not supposed to get here until next week but is coming today…that is pretty cool since I need it…I am going to make a run out to HF today to get a new battery switch for the car…the one that is in there appears to be shorting out and takes too many turns to disconnect it…and I am going to buy a cordless drill/driver for 16 bucks…not sure why I haven’t bought one before now since they are pretty handy and will keep me from having to drag my 100 foot extension cord around the house and yard….I am thinking of just driving the Miata through the winter and then buying a new one in the spring since this one has rust in it and needs a lot of money put into it….and I like the “B” body style so maybe that’s what I’ll do instead of getting a winter car…but, that still doesn’t help with hauling stuff but that is pretty much done with this house so I think I can get by…more later…

Well…I wonder if the earplugs are helping me sleep…slept through until 5:21 this morning and the only change was the ear plugs….well…that’s not entirely true…I finished the gate yesterday so that was off my mind so I think that had something to do with it, too….whatever it was, I’ll take getting a whole 5 and a half hours and hope it continues…it won’t but I can hope…I did get a nice, cold bike ride in yesterday and I think it’s full thermasuit from here on out….only have about 40 miles left to do to get to the record so that should be easy if the snow holds off…I am wondering if they plow the trails here in GR like they do in Kentwood? I know they clean them but it would be cool to be able to ride all winter…I was pretty sore yesterday from wrestling the gate into place but I feel better this morning and didn’t even take an ibuprofen last night…so, I think I try going without again today if the pain isn’t too bad today…I did hurt my thumb again but that even seems okay right now…not much to do today…have been thinking about running all my errands today since I do need to get out to get the hasp for the gate and I do want to try to find the daily deals out here so i can get some smoked turkey breast for 1.29 a pound…have to buy 8 pounds but that is such a deal that I don’t think I can pass it up…and I can freeze most of it….and they have roast beef for around 2 bucks a pound so that might be good, too….more later…

Well….after building the new gate yesterday, I went out to depot and got the hinges to hang it and got that done this morning…I also got some exterior adhesive to attach the stop to the side of the house without drilling any more holes…now, I only need to get a hasp and install that tomorrow and the job will be done…and before winter! I did take Tom’s advice and got some powder coated black hinges that look pretty stylish and are rated to hold 60 pounds each so I think they’ll handle the gate okay….one cool thing about them is that you can just pull the hinge pins if you want to remove the gate for maintenance and I think that is a pretty cool feature…they weren’t cheap at 17 bucks but I think they’re worth it…so now, the last big job outside is done before winter and that is kind of a relief….

Well…running a little late this morning with not getting up until almost 6:30…but that included getting up for the first time before 3 and then getting a new set of ear plugs to use to try to get back to sleep…that only took about an hour and a half so it was another night of 5 hours…ick…I am sore again from wrestling the new gate around yesterday…the dang thing must weigh more than 60 pounds and it is going to take more fitting today…I think I have to trim another inch or so off the width since I made it a little too wide for easy fitting in the hole…and I need to trim the height, too since I need clearance for the uneven ground…going to try to work on that this morning….but, it’s too damn cold out there right now and I haven’t had my coffee…oh, and it’s dark out there, too…I did get the last bike ride in wearing shorts yesterday and now the weather is going to go to hell and be cold for the next three weeks with highs almost 20 degrees below normal for this time of year….I am dreading getting my first heating bill for his place…it could be over 300 bucks a month and that is going to hurt….more later….

Well…running about on time this morning with getting up at 5:15 but that followed the first 3am wake up…feel a little worn out today but that is pretty normal these days…just don’t have a lot of energy today so far and I hope the coffee works soon…it is nice to have the electrics sorted out and have everything back to normal after the repairs I had to make this weekend…I still need to put all the covers back on the electrical boxes but that’s pretty easy…going to get started putting stuff away today starting with the fence stuff outside and start measuring the boards to see how much I need to cut off the bottoms to make the new gate fit that I am going to build…the ground is not flat and I want it to follow it…I am going to get one last warm bike ride in today with the weather getting really cold for the next two weeks…so I need to get out the full thermasuit with it going to be in the 30’s…I am going to get the final 60 miles in outside then I need to make room downstairs for the trainer and the little tv so I can ride the rest of the year…not much to do today…I am going to get the front door masked off so I can paint tomorrow and finish the vestibule and then just putter around here and do more detail work…more later…