Well…when I got up this morning, the plan was to take the day off the bike with the rain and just putter around here and take it easy but, as always, that never works out….once I had some coffee in me, I got at putting some area rugs in the washing machine since they were looking pretty ratty…and then got to cleaning up my bike room downstairs and putting my tools away…finally…then, the rain ended so I decided to get at least one ride in and got absolutely muddy on the ride so then I had to clean the bike to get all of the grit off it…then I had to let it dry so I could re-lube it and put it away…I had run out of clean clothes so I had to do a load of laundry and while that was running, I decided to mop the floor of the bike room to get the dirt and grease off it from working on the bikes but I had to get the shop vac out first to get the dirt and other crud off it..so then I mopped it with dish soap that works well on grease and let it dry for an hour or so and then put all of the bike stuff back along with getting rid of all of the punctured tubes and boxes from moving in…and I just finished getting the clothes out of the dryer and putting them away and it is after 3:30…so, another 7 and 1/2 hours of working around here…I’m supposed to be retired…I need a day off…maybe in the winter?
Ignoring the virus isn’t working for the repubs…
Well…gee, who would think that ignoring the virus and doing nothing to fight it wouldn’t work for the repubs? In Florida, Ron DeSantis’ approval rating has plunged to the lower 40’s from the high 50’s in just a couple of months once the milestone of him killing more people than his margin of victory was passed…and, with 99% of those dying being unvaccinated and 99% of those being repubs, the damage is going to get worse….how the hell do you run on killing 50K people and doing nothing for anyone but your rich buddies? The ads write themselves for the 22 election and if Charlie Crist can’t win in this environment, he just needs to go away. Oh, and here’s a funny bit…with the trampling of women’s rights and voting rights in Texas, a new poll shows that Abbott would lose to…wait for it…Matthew McConaughey by almost 10 points if the election was held today…and Abbott’s approval ratings are flirting with the 30’s as many, many tech companies are re-evaluating their moves to Texas as women are turned into second class citizens with less rights than men….I really hope these morons lose and lose big next year…how can you live in Texas or Florida with these assholes in charge? Geez…
September 21st
Well…”6:05, outside the stadium” anyone who is a dan fan recognizes that line from “Glamour Profession”….sounds like we got a little rain out here around 5:30 or so when I could hear it hitting my siding even through I was wearing earplugs…and it may rain again but the forecast has been scaled back to where I will be able to get on the bike a little after noon…and the gale warning is still in effect but I sure don’t see any wind…..it was so cool last night when I went out to just sit on my front steps for a while and listen to the wind in the trees…it was so nice and quiet…no thumping music and it was neat that you could hear gusts of wind coming from the noise the leaves on the trees made….and the big dipper was in the sky right in front of me…I think I sat out there for an hour and I can say I have almost fixed this neighborhood…something that I didn’t think I could for a long time….not sure what I did but my right forearm is howling in pain this morning…it can’t be from just scrubbing my bathroom yesterday? All I have to do is rotate it to trigger the pain and stiffness….going to hurt on the bike today….but, I do like how the shower and the rest of the bathroom looks so it’s worth the pain….not much to do today…I was really ready to have a day off the bike and just clean around here but the rain won’t last all day…it is going to be pretty cool today and from now on with the temp struggling to get to 70 for highs….and the next few days in the low 60’s…but that is okay…I love the fall except for cleaning up the leaves…I wonder what the color is going to look like out here? Should be pretty cool…I do get to take it easy this morning with the last rain getting here in the next half hour or so…and it looks like I’ll be on the bike by 10 or so….so maybe two rides again today…and cleaning…have to clean up the bike room and put my tools away, then mop the floor since it is greasy from the bikes….and I do want to clean the kitchen since it really needs it…more later…
I raced a freighter today…
Well….after the big rain clouds fell apart before they got here, I thought I’d get a second ride in just in case it does rain tomorrow…so I jumped back on the bike and, when I got to the bottom of the hill, I noticed a huge gravel freighter just off Heritage landing heading out to Lake Michigan…so I thought “what the hell” and decided to race it out to the lake….went harder than I ever do on the second ride and beat it by a mile…I was averaging over 17 on the way out and got to my bench on the boardwalk and sat there to wait for it to come out of the channel…and waited, and waited…after my 5 minute water stop was over, it still hadn’t appeared so I got back on the bike and headed home…and I beat the small rain shower that happened by about 5 minutes…it only lasted a few minutes and that was disappointing since it was supposed to rain most of the day and into tomorrow but the big storms are to the east and noting is going on here anymore…darn…I did get the bathroom cleaned and the lasagna made since I thought it was going to rain and I was going to have the afternoon off…no such luck but I’m still hoping for a day off tomorrow….and might get it with the gale warning that is in effect for tonight and tomorrow morning…we’ll see…
Career rehab continues…
Well…I guess with Woodward’s new book “Peril” coming out, it’s time for the repub career rehab to continue starting with Lindsey Graham where it states that he vehemently disagreed with the trump voter fraud bleating and found that the evidence was suitable for “third grade”…if that’s the case then why didn’t ole Lindsey say anything to the public and continued to play along with the lies to the point of calling the Georgia Secretary of State and ask him to throw out mail in votes that had “irregularities” with the signatures? And why to this day does ole Lindsey continue to support trump if he does nothing but lie? Look, this is just like ole GW giving a speech last week comparing the capital attackers to the Taliban…where the hell has he been for the past 4 years? Does he think this one speech wilI erase the memory of his failures? I know he loves sitting in his tub and painting but damn, couldn’t he muster just a little concern for the country? After all, he and his administration started the whole lying about everything that the idiot trump grabbed and ran with…so no amount of rehab is ever going to get rid of the stench of failure these traitors will carry the rest of their lives…geez…
September 20th
Well…another 6:09 morning and I really did contemplate trying to go back to sleep but getting up seemed to be the easier thing to do….I did get scorched a bit at the beach yesterday and my skin is pretty tight right now…had to go out there yesterday for the last time with a huge weather change that is coming later in the week that is going to keep high temps around 60 or so and I think that will be the end of the 80 degree highs…the water was even warm enough to stay in for a half hour or so and I swam out to the huge sandbar that is about 50 yards off the beach where the water was only about a foot deep…I walked out about 150 yards before the water started getting deeper and that was pretty cool…and I got two rides in but that won’t happen today…there is a lot of rain coming up from the south but it won’t be here until 10 or so and that will let me get at least one ride in….and it is still already 70 out here so I am going to enjoy that while it lasts and get ready to find the gloves and the rest of my fall and winter riding clothes…I am going to make lasagna today for lunch after I get back from the ride and this will be only the second time I’ve ever made it….and I am still not sure why I haven’t done it more it is so easy….and then, if it rains, I am going to clean this place up and maybe get started on the inside of the front door trim but I think it is going to need some sanding first….more later….
I have had enough of the anti vaxxers..
Well….I am about at my last frickin nerve when it comes to the morons who espouse anti vax and anti mask lies…these idiots have spread the delta so far and wide I’ve had to go back to masking whenever I go out around people again and I am tired of having my life screwed up just because these people are too stupid to take a free vaccine that would keep them safe with no side effects….and I worry every day about my grandkids who are too young for the vaccines and who can’t even have a life since they can’t be around anyone because the anti vaxxers won’t wear a mask to keep them safe…so, I have a 8 month old granddaughter I have only seen in pictures and a 1 year old grandson I’ve only seen once and I won’t put their lives at risk even though I’m vaccinated…if these asshole anti vaxxers would just get vaccinated, by now I would have been able to see them safely with the delta controlled…and I have had enough of the bullshit of the anti vaxxers saying they have the “freedom” to not get vaccinated since it only affects them…no it doesn’t, you morons…with your selfishness, you have put me back into semi lockdown and are keeping me from having a life even though I did my part for my community and even for you…and you are killing people every time you catch the virus because you spread it before you’re sick…I have just had enough of these assholes controlling my life…I’m a peaceful person but I hope they all die from this preventable disease so we can finally get some semblance of normal back….geez…
September 19th
Well…running really late this morning with not getting up until coffee o’clock and then going out for the paper and some stuff I need to make lasagna and getting on the bike by 7:40 to get back here in time to see the Man U match…my legs hurt like crazy on the ride this morning and I’m not sure why…no…my whole body hurts after mowing the lawn and painting yesterday and there will be a need for painkillers later this morning…the house is finally starting to look finished with getting the raw wood on the door frames painted and getting the last part of it washed….now I just need to get some topsoil and grass seed to fill in the bare spots so it will be ready to sprout in the spring…it looks like rain is going to come in later tonight and all day tomorrow so I may finally get that day off the bike I have been needing to heal my muscles up some….and I need to get 9 paver blocks to make a little pad to park my garbage bin on this week…not sure what color I’m going to get…I can get some that almost match the grey paint on the blocks in the foundation or do I want to get red ones for a splash of color and to match the ones I put in front for the mail people to walk on? Or do I get 5 red ones and 4 grey ones to make a pattern? That might be cool….not much to do today…just one more ride and then I’m taking the rest of the day off I think…more later…..oh, happy last day of work, Tom…
Darn, another busy day…
Well…cripes, have had another busy day today with getting started on the bike before 8, then back on it again before 10 and back here around 11…then I mowed the lawn, made lunch, and then on to masking off the front door trim and then giving it two coats of paint and cleaning up after I finished…and now it’s almost 3 and I’ve just sat down for the first time today…it is nice to get the last exterior trim painted so everything else can be done whatever the weather…will probably do the interior portion of it tomorrow but I just may take a day off…other than the bike rides, that is…going to need to get on the bike by 7:30 tomorrow morning with Man U playing at 9 an then I’ll be out for the second ride by 11….the bike is working as well as I can remember and that is so cool….just going to leave it alone and ride….and try to find a political topic to talk about…but, I haven’t even read the news yet today…should get off my butt and get that done…more later…
September 18th
Well…5:32…darn….I am pretty sore this morning from the beating I took in the waves yesterday and my right elbow is the worst it’s been in quite a while and I’m not sure why that would be….it mostly hurts on the inside this time so that’s new….or it hurts enough so I feel it through the whole thing….not sure how that is going to effect painting this afternoon or mowing the lawn…will probably have to take something for it before I get on the bike….had to go back to watering the lawn yesterday with the lack of rain out here and will probably have to do it again today but it looks like rain for Monday and Tuesday…yeah, right…so that will help if it happens….I do need to get started on the winter wheels this week so I can get the winter tires ordered and mounted before it gets too cold to have the top down to transport them to discount…should only be a little over 300 bucks for the tires and I’ll never have to buy another set since I only put about 500 miles a year on them…I hope they will be as good as the worn out blizzaks that I have been using…..I also need to start figuring out my winter routes for the bike around here…I know they don’t clear the trails so I have to have at least a 10 mile route on the road so I can stay in shape…I am going to set up the old bike on the trainer so I can ride downstairs if it’s too snowy to go out….not much to do today…two rides and then a decision to make on whether to paint or mow the lawn or both…..but, I am going to do something or the guilts will get me….more later….