Well…how I felt when I got up this morning, I wasn’t really planning on doing much other than trying to get a bike ride in…but I still had the annoying creaking wheel on the back of the bike and the wind was blowing about 25 so, when I got down to the end of Heritage Landing I gave up and turned around…but then looked at my lawn and how shaggy it was getting so I decided it would be a good time to mow it since I couldn’t ride…after mowing I decided to get off my butt and work on the new rear wheel for the bike…still hadn’t found what was causing the flats even with using the tube for a measure to try to see where the flaw in the wheel could be…but the holes in tubes moved around and were never in the same place twice so that means there must have been something moving around, too….I did find a small, small rock when I cleaned it but that could have come from me taking it apart last time…so, I cleaned it again and ran my fingers all over it and it was perfectly smooth…then I cleaned the inside of the tire and the tube protector and put it back together with my last spare tube, changed out the sprockets and put it back on the bike…was only going to take a short ride to put a couple of checks in the mail at the post office but it the bike was riding so nice that I decided to do a full 15 and made it all the way out to the beach and back with no flat….but, I made it 5 days between the past flats so I guess it really doesn’t mean anything…after I got back here, there was soccer on so I watched the first half, then gave myself a haircut since I was looking shaggy, too, watched the rest of the match and then cleaned up the bike room…I have a bike room! Put the trash out and then here to do this one…wasn’t planning on working too much today but I guess it snuck up on me….I do feel better that I accomplished something today and that gives me a clear day to get started on projects tomorrow…oh, joy…
Is there any wonder why religion is dying?
Well….yeah, that title may be a little misleading since this is really just about catholic bishops here in the US who are voting to withhold communion from Joe Biden, but the hypocrisy that this action shows is spread through all religion here in the US and across the world. These right wing bishops, who were perfectly fine with the idiot trump and the fact that he was the opposite of Joe Biden, are taking this action to highlight that Joe does support a woman’s right to choose…but it’s more than that…like almost every damn religion, they have taken a turn to be a refuge for hard right thinking and have strayed away from the teachings that underpin their religions…and let’s remember, the catholics spent decades protecting pedophile priests across the world and, to me, they have no moral authority left…and let’s remember another thing, religion in general here in the US don’t pay any taxes and to keep that tax free status, they have to stay out of politics…but this is a purely political act that is meant to damage Joe and give the repubs talking points to attack him in the next election….so , if you wonder why religion is dying here in the US, you just have to look at actions like these that should appall anyone who cares about hypocrisy…it appears to be a poison that is eating religion here from it’s core….geez…
June 21st
Well…as I woke up and then laid in bed, the question came to me: what would happen if I just didn’t get out of bed? What if I just rolled over, pulled up the comforter, and stayed there? One of these days I think I’m going to try that…I think I missed the storms last night since they came after I went to bed…and the ones that were supposed to come during the day fell apart….here anyway…and we didn’t get the rain we were supposed to….had a nice visit from my son and his wife yesterday and they hung out here with their dog for a few hours….and then I got out on the bike but it still has the creak in it…not as bad but it is still creaking and I’m not sure where it is coming from…I am going to work on the new back wheel today and put it back together…looked at it yesterday and still can’t find why it is causing flats on the inside of the tubes but I am going to put some duct tape in there where the punctures are and just try it…it is just weird that there is no obvious cause that I can see or feel…hmmm….not much to do today….I do need to mow the lawn this morning after the first ride….it is as warm as it is going to get today at 65 degrees and pretty windy so the ride is going to be some work…and it is going to get down to 47 tonight so the heat may come on…in the end of frickin June….more later….
Still the same after all these years…
Well….there were lots of racist assholes around when I was a kid and it is still the same after all these years til now….just last week, on the idiot tucker’s show, the racist in chief spewed on and on about white people getting replaced by black and brown people and he lamented that every new immigrant voter (that doesn’t exist) dilutes his political power because white people won’t get everything they want anymore and won’t be able to run everything anymore. Now, this same rant could have been done in the early 60’s and was done by repubs trying to kill the voting rights act…now, as then…it has nothing to do with non citizens voting since that never happens but it has everything to do with people like tucker thinking that only white people should even be allowed to vote….and that hasn’t changed, either, with all of the repub voter suppression laws passed across the country that are specifically to keep non-whites from being able to vote…just like they did during the Jim Crow era. I wonder why people like tucker are so scared of citizens of color voting? Could it be they know that their ideas will be destined for the ash heap of history if they can’t control voting? Things haven’t changed since I was a kid in the 60’s…and it really should have by now…geez…
June 20th
Well…yeah, running really, really late this morning with having some bike problems when I went out at 7:30….the rear wheel was making a creaking noise that annoyed the heck out of me so I turned around, came back here, and took the wheel apart to grease the bearings and axle and that made me too late to get a ride in since I had to clean before the F1 race with my son and his wife coming over this morning…the wheel is better but still has a little creak to it so I need to get off my butt and figure out what is wrong with the new wheel so I can put that one back on and not get flats…so, I have most of the cleaning done but still need to do more before they get here but I did remember I needed to do this…didn’t ride yesterday with the malaise that I was feeling and the pain I felt in my elbow and the pain is still there today and it feels stiff, too…and swollen so I may have to take something for it before I try to get out on the bike later in the afternoon…it’s supposed to rain around 5 or so and keep raining all night so that should keep the dust and noise down out here…the idiots were loud again last night after being quiet all week so I had to call in a noise complaint again…but it was the first one in a week so there has been progress up here and I feel good about that…not much to do today….just going to hang out with the kids and Art for a few hours and then on the bike for a hard one to make up for taking yesterday off….more later….
Lowest gas bill ever…
Well…just a shorty on something I find funny….just got my gas bill in the mail and I don’t ever remember getting a lower one…only $10.73….yep less than 11 bucks and I can’t figure that out…after all, I have a gas stove I use every day, I have a gas clothes dryer…okay, I only run one load a week, and I have a gas water heater but I guess even two showers a day is not a lot and it’s a new, more efficient one, so I guess that helps…still think it’s funny to have a gas bill that is so low…
Some days you just don’t feel like it…
Well…yeah, I did mention that I may take the day off the bike today and I was looking for it to rain all day so I wouldn’t feel guilty if I did…but, the rain stopped around noon and then I had a decision to make…but I guess it wasn’t too difficult to stay off the bike today…I just had no energy from the time I got up and my elbow is screaming in pain so that helped me stay off it…for now…and I wanted to see the Germany/Portugal match that just ended and Indy car qualifying is on here in 20 minutes and then a nascar race right after that…and that lasts until 6 and that is too late to get out….okay, those are excuses…some days you just don’t feel like going out and today is one of those days….I wonder if I have to cut out dinner today to make up for it? I had a chicken thigh and a handful of baked fries for lunch and that is under 500 cals and I know I need more than that even when I don’t ride….oh, well….I’ll get back to riding tomorrow…maybe….
June 19th
Well…I’m not sure why I’ve been consistent with my wake up time lately and it’s a little unnerving to pick up the phone and see 6:30 again…for two weeks now and that is just weird….okay, my damn ribs hurt this morning and that is new…I wonder if it’s from running the edger yesterday? All I know is it hurts to just sit here and I can’t get comfortable…it’s probably a good thing that it is raining out there and I won’t be able to get on the bike until the afternoon….and that will make it a one ride day today…and probably tomorrow so maybe I can get rid of the pain that is down my entire right side…cripes, it is a pain getting old…I think I need to eat more than I have been lately…only had a salad and a piece of smoked sausage yesterday and that was well under 1500 cals for the day…but, with that, I should be losing weight like crazy and I’m not….especially with burning 1200 a day on the bike….oh, well…I need to get planning on the indoor work here and get the tools out to get started…will that be today? Not sure but once I get started I need to just go and get it done….not much to do today…F1 qualifying is on in an hour or so and I need to drink an ocean of coffee to get myself jump started….still just worn out and want to go back to bed…but I won’t….more later….
Protecting voting rights here in Michigan…
Well…the cancer of repub voter suppression that has infected this country from coast to coast is one of the most important problems facing us in my lifetime at least…and while we have passed anti gerrymandering constitutional amendments, with repubs still in control of the congress here, they are still trying to rig the system by making it harder to vote…and a thought came to me on the bike today how to fix that…in Michigan, you can get referendum on the ballot if you get enough voter signatures…so, why can’t we do that for a constitutional amendment that would force any change in voting laws to be voted on by the people and not just the legislature? This would keep the repubs from being able to cheat in any election and make fair representation the norm here….if you’ve lived in Michigan, you know how the repubs are spending most of their time trying to rig the next election and to make it easier for them to overturn the fair results if they don’t like the outcome as is happening in many other states, too…so, let’s get this done and stop this election meddling in it’s tracks…geez…
June 18th
Well…it does appear that 6:30 is the new wake up time and I think I can live with that…but the storms kept me up quite a bit last night and I am a little worn out this morning…and emby wasn’t working so I had to uninstall and re-install it to get to the tango server since my son moved it to a new server and that took some time so I’m even more late than normal…but the rain is going to stop soon but I was hoping it would continue all day so I could justify taking a day off the bike but, no such luck….and my damn elbow is back to hurting again and I can barely lift my coffee cup…and I forgot to make coffee last night so I had to make it this morning and that is not a normal part of my routine….I am hoping my lawn will green up after all the rain since it was looking pretty brown with no rain for a couple of weeks but I am not going to water it…have to get a new mindset with a lawn this big and accept that it will be brown at times….I do hope that this rain will help the small patch of grass seed to sprout so I can move on to another 6 by 6 patch and get the bare spots filled in….not much to do today…..oh, I did see my first bald eagle yesterday and it flew over me only about 8 feet up…it will be interesting to see if I can find the nest out here…just going to take the bike ride and then watch some soccer after cleaning up and sorting some clothes to be donated…have bags of them that I haven’t used in years and they need to be gone….more later….