Well…just got back from my checkup and the news is good…BP is down to 122/72 and the doctors says that’s just where it needs to be…I am going to have a huge freckle on my forehead removed later in the month give that my brother is on his 7th melanoma removal and we have the same skin tone…so white we’re almost transparent… and when I showed the doctor my white tongue, he thinks it’s a yeast infection and it is what is causing me to lose my sense of taste…so I pick up a prescription that I take for only 4 days and he thinks that will clear it up…damn, it would great to be able to taste food and coffee again….I miss potato chips….so, it could not have gone better and I guess all of the hard work I do to take care of myself is paying off…and that was the joke I made to the doctor when I said it would be a shame to have a freckle kill me after all the work I do to stay in shape…I can be funny at times…more later….

Well…darn, up at 4:23 this morning but I went to bed before 10 so I guess 6 hours is not too bad…feel okay this morning but it’s only 50 degrees here right now so getting on the bike is going to be iffy to get the rides in before the checkup this morning…but the temp is supposed to rise pretty fast and it will be 56 or so by 7 so I’ll get it done…no coffee until I get back from the appointment to try to keep my BP in acceptable range and I am going to take both BP meds this morning to see if that helps…going to be almost 70 before I head out at 10:15 so I can put the top down on the car…might even run over to DD since they have 12 oz packages of thin sliced ham or turkey for 1.29 and that’s pretty cheap…going to assemble the potato salad this morning before I go out on the bike since it just a little after 5 and I won’t be going out til 7 or so…not sure what is going on but I was freezing again last night that turned into sweating again with my winter sleep clothes on…I do need to make the sourdough dough for the bread I want to bake tomorrow but I can’t start that until I have a few hours that I can dedicate to it…so I’ll do that this aft…not much to do today…might wash the car this aft since it’s pretty dirty from driving in the rain the other day and I want to try out my new soap and wash mitt….more later…

Well…as you know, I have been feeling lots of pain on the bike and I had to try to figure out what the heck was going on…so, I decided to cut back to only two rides and 25 miles a day starting last Saturday…that made me feel like a slug but the fruits of that decision showed themselves today when I rode both rides without pain for the first time since I started to ride outdoors this year…no thigh or knee pain or any tricep pain either and that has been killing me for better than a month…the only bad thing about that is it makes me feel like my body has just given up some of it’s capability that I’ll never get back…but I am going to try to start alternating 25 and 38 mile days just to see what happens…and I do need to train for the “ride my age” day that has to happen before my birthday in July…I did go crazy at Menards today and bought car wash soap and a new bottle of Meguiar’s wax along with a new wash mitt since the old one is 15 years old an getting pretty raggety…so I spent a hundred bucks today that I shouldn’t have…oh, well…I can always not buy anything next week…

Well…have been waffling about buying a new beach lounger for weeks no but today I bit the bullet an ordered a really nice one…it was 70 bucks but it looks so nice and it sturdy, not like all the rest of them I looked at…and it will never fit in the trunk even folded up so it will have to fit in a garbage bag to contain the salt…the seat surfaces are cloth and look pretty damn comfortable and it sit higher and more stable that my old jelly chair….again, this could be my last chair to go with my last car and last house…it is pretty heavy at 15 pounds but the beach is only half as wide as it was after they dredged and I can manage that with the shoulder strap that comes with it…I shouldn’t be spending any money right now but it’s heading to July and I’m going to need it…and guess what color it is? Gray, of course and it has a hanging bag that has room for a cupholder and my phone etc…so I guess we’ll see if it a good purchase or not by the end of the week…time for weight work…

Well…after I bought the new car, I was confused about the philosophy of it…and I know that sound a little out there but there is such a difference between the two iterations of them that it got me thinking…the first two models of them, the NA and NB were on the same chassis and were loud, rude, crude sports cars that made you grin about their sharp edges and could readily be called sports cars in the vein of the Lotus Elan or the other British sports cars that came before…kind of a minimalist car that just did the one thing well…handle…and cause lots of grins…but with having the new one for 5 weeks now, it dawned on me that it really is a grand tourer in the European tradition…it is quiet and comfortable but retains or exceeds the roadholding of the first two models…a grand tourer is like a Bentley, made to cover long distances in comfort and get you there not tired out like my 94 does…I wonder who made that decision…I guess the car had to “grow up” to appeal to more drivers that wouldn’t put up with the rawness of the original…the new one is just more refined and does everything better…and while I miss some of that rawness…at my age I really do appreciate that it is a grand tourer and treats my old body much better…my two cents anyway…

Well…damn, another night of no sleep and it’s starting to get a bit wearing…and I woke up around 1 just shivering so I have to put winter clothes on to stop it but then sweated the rest of the night as I am right now…pretty sure it’s the no cocktails as my body adjusts to it and I feel okay so I’ll take that…have 20 minutes before I need to get on the bike to get the day started sine I decided to do the grocery run this morning with the doctor appointment tomorrow…so it will be the normal routine of 1 ride, grocery run, then the 2nd ride when I get back and then on to doing meal prep…going to get the sourdough starter fed today to make the dough tomorrow and then bake it Thursday to go with the Masala I’m making over the weekend…and I think I’m going to prep for another batch of potato salad today, too, and make some chicken thighs I took out of the freezer for Wed…leftovers end tomorrow so I’ll have to make something…I did get half of the lawn treated for weeds and need to hit Menards for more killer today so I can finish that up this aft…so, it’s going to be another busy day and I need another cup of coffee in the next ten minutes…so I need to get going…more later….

Well…got back a while ago and the bad news is they couldn’t fix the player…but the good news is they worked on it for 2 1/2 hours and didn’t charge me a dime…so now I guess I’ll get started looking at my options to see what I can do…oh, well…drove through a storm on the way back and the car is so stable…not like the old one that was all over the place in the rain…I was flying at 80 plus and no problem at all…I did catch my right arm on the spikes on the fence today and even though it was only an inch scratch, it bled like crazy all down my arm until I stuck a band aid on it…what a day…

Well…I’m at the dealership in Holland and the traffic was pretty bad to get here and I’m sure it’s going to be worse going home…oh, well…you’ll laugh at this…just got a text from one of their sales people that they want to buy my car…I just laughed…this place was pretty easy to find after getting off 31 it was right there so getting back on 31 north is going to be easy…and now all of my business is on the lakeshore and the only reason I have to go back to GR is to shoot pool and have drinks with K…..now I wait for a couple of hours until I find out the damage if they can fix it…I’m glad I brought my laptop since they have free wifi and I can update these….

Well…it’s getting close to the time I have to leave for my 2pm appointment at the Mazda dealer and it’s been a busy day up till now…got on the bike for the first ride before 7am and had both done before 9…then went out to pay the water bill and when I got back here decided to mow the lawn…the I used what weed killer I had left to start treating the yard but I think I may try weed and feed applied with the spreader to keep the weeds from coming back…getting tired of having to do the weed walk every couple of weeks and that’s not cheap…weed and feed isn’t either but at least it will last more than a week…have everything I need to spend a couple of hours in the waiting room…a book, mp3 player, and my laptop in case they have free wifi…and I think I’ll bring one of my Contigo cups with water since they don’t leak…a little enforced idleness is not a bad thing…it looks like I’ve the top up for the trip back here with 90% chance of rain forecast for 3-4 pm…the only thing I have this week is the yearly checkup and I just looked at metabolic panel results and everything is right in the green so I won’t get bitched at…nice to know that the work I do to maintain my health is working….okay need to get ready…

Well…up and out of bed at 5:23 this morning after a fitful night’s sleep…up at 2:09 to start it off and then up and down all night…but I feel okay today after the first night off of cocktails…think I’ll keep that up all week and maybe longer…just need to give my body the break it needs to heal some…I will be on the bike by 7am or so to get two rides in before 9 and then over to pay the water bill…I did take it easy yesterday and that will continue today with just the rides and then sitting in the Mazda dealer waiting room for a couple of hours as they try to fix the cd changer…have a book and music to keep me busy so it shouldn’t be too bad…need to dig through the freezer for meal planning later in the week…probably make some more potato salad and I’m going to feed the sourdough starter to make some  bread Wed and then I’m not sure what else…need to mow the lawn tomorrow after the two rides…I did find a beach lounger that I like for about 60 bucks so I may buy one…it supposed to be sturdy but a little heavy but I don’t need to carry it far since the beach is about half the width it was after they dredged two years ago…and it will fit in the 30 gallon bag I’ll use to keep the sand out of the car…more later…