Well…darn that was close…as I was mowing the lawn, the sky kept getting darker and darker with a stray spit of rain, and just after I finished and was trimming some bushes along the fence, the sky just opened up with huge raindrops pounding down…just walking from the garage to the house soaked me completely and it is still raining now a half hour later….so, I didn’t get the weedkiller on the lawn and it appears like that will have to wait for a couple of days now with the rain that’s forecast….I did get to sit on the porch couch after I showered with a cup of coffee and some news and that was really relaxing…I have made it quieter up here but there is still a ways to go…but I’m up for it….oh, and Lake Michigan was gone when I got out there this morning…the fog was thick enough that you couldn’t see that there was water there and that was pretty cool…
June 8th
Well…running a little late again today with not getting out of bed until almost 7….and I looked outside and there is fog out there…not too thick but it’s supposed to be foggy all day today…I rode through a cloud yesterday at the high point of my ride out by the lake yesterday…I guess you’d call if fog but it wasn’t diffuse like fog normally is but a discrete cloud that was moving in off the lake…and that was pretty cool…going to get out here in the next hour or so and ride out to take a look at the lakeshore and see how the fog is out there…there is even a dense fog advisory for the day and tonight so I have my fingers crossed that it gets that thick…got a little work done yesterday on the yard and garden and got the tomato cages put in and I need to mow and put weed killer on the lawn after I get back from the ride…..and I may put some more seed in the bare spots with the possibility of rain the next couple of days…it would be pretty nice to get some storms tomorrow so I can sit on the porch and watch them….we are so under in rainfall this spring that it could rain for 3 straight days non-stop and we still wouldn’t get back to normal…at least it shouldn’t be dusty mowing today with the showers that came through yesterday…not much to do today…just lawn work and riding…and some cleaning in here but that’s enough, isn’t it? More later….
Got my absentee ballot application…
Well…forgot to talk about this one…but I got my first absentee ballot application for my first election here in Muskegon…and all I have to do is sign it and send it back and they will send me the ballot for the local election that is coming up….that is for now, the repubs here in Michigan are trying to make this easy, smooth process much harder in many different ways that include having to send a copy of your ID in with it…and who the hell has a copier anymore? I mean anyone who is retired and doesn’t need one…and that would mean going out to UPS or some other store and paying 1.50 for a copy…what about the people who don’t drive anymore? This is the kind of bullshit that the repubs are doing all across the country to still support the idiot trump’s big lie that mail in ballots are rife with fraud when there was absolutely none in Michigan with almost 7 million ballots cast….so, call your rep or senator and tell them to stop this crap of trying to make sure that people can’t vote…it’s the Russian playbook still in work….and the repubs are more than happy to support Putin over the US….geez…
Had a brainstorm…
Well…as you know, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the outdoor faucet to stop it from leaking and had settled on trying to glue a piece of inner tube to the hardened gasket inside of it…but, this morning, I had a brainstorm that gave me a simple fix for it….when I was at Menard’s getting weed killer, it hit me that I could just buy a screw on hose valve that I could turn off and on to stop the leak without shutting my water off or tearing the faucet apart or cutting the faucet out and sweating on a new one…so, five bucks later, I have a non leaking outdoor faucet that I can now leave the hose hooked up to…and the valve is a really nice one with a big off and on handle that makes it easy to control…so, yay for me…my brain still does work…sometimes….and I even went out to get some new t-shirts from target and repaired a slit in the top on the car that I hadn’t noticed before…and now I’m waiting for the rain to move through so I can put the weed killer on the lawn….and, I got thirty miles in on the bike…is that enough for the day?
June 7th
Well…that was okay…didn’t get out of bed until 6:30 but feel kind of slow with having a couple of cocktails last night….it is nice to have a breeze blowing through the house this morning after having to have a fan on last night to keep from sweating my butt off…and it looks like that is going to be the weather for the next couple of days until it rains Wed…..so that means I should seed some more of the bare spots in the lawn before then but I still don’t have any motivation so we’ll see….I think we’re over 5 inches under the average in rainfall for the year so far and my lawn looks like it…it is turning yellow but I am not going to spend the money to water it but I really don’t know the cost since my water bill has been the same 24 bucks a month since I moved in and I am dreading when they actually read the meter and bill me….I think the pain in my right elbow is arthritis instead of tendonitis since it now has a big lump right on the bone that is sensitive to touch…and that is keeping me from working around here since the pain is pretty intense when I do anything with it…there is going to be a point where I’m going to have to suck it up and get working but I just don’t feel like it right now….just pouring coffee sets it off and I’m think I may have to take something for it this morning….not much to do today…I think I’ve figured out how to fix the leaking outside faucet using one of the bike tubes that I have downstairs but it will mean shutting of the water for an hour or so and I am not ready to do that today…need a different adhesive that I’ll get on the grocery run wed….so today I think I’ll just clean some and get the two rides in…and I have some chicken thawed that needs to be cooked so that will be my day….more later…..
No flat today…
Well…still have my fingers crossed that I figured out what was causing the flats on the rear tire of the bike….never did find anything wrong when I inspected it but I changed out the spoke band anyway and washed the entire inside of the wheel so maybe whatever was puncturing the tubes got washed out…who knows? I do know that I got two rides in today and feel sunburned and had to use some aloe just now to get rid of the tightness in my face….I think I need to upgrade my sunscreen and start to buy name brand stuff again instead of the dollar store stuff I have been using….even with 30 and 50 spf on, I have been burning and making the biker tan worse…and it already looks way too weird….so maybe out to the beach again tomorrow to try to even it out….I did buy some ham from DD this week and got 6 pounds for 6 bucks but was not happy with it…it really had no taste and I was pretty disappointed until I heated it today and it finally tasted like ham…strange, but it made me feel better I didn’t waste the 6 bucks…so, hot ham and cheese sandwiches are in the future…have 4 pound in the freezer, too, so I’ll have to find some recipes that use ham….okay, the race is going to start so I’ll end here….
Joe Manchin should just go be a republican…
Well…you know, I hate it when people who are supposed to be on our side…the side of America and democracy don’t see it that way…I’m sure you’ve seen all of the vote rigging/voter suppression laws that have been passed across this country by repubs who can only win elections when we are prevented from voting…and now Joe Manchin has come out against the for the people act that would fix all of those laws so more people can exercise their right to vote. Look, if he thinks that protecting the right to vote from partisan bullshit will only make it more partisan, then he just needs to go and join his fellow re[publicans and stop the pretense that he is a dem at all….how he came up with that convoluted logic is beyond me…like we can’t try to fix the roads since they will just wear out again? Or we can’t pass laws against murder since that will cause more people to murder? Geez…how do such stupid people get to run this government? Just go, Joe….you are just worthless to this country if you won’t protect the sacred right to vote…just frickin go…
June 6th
Well….crap, woke up again today with a bout of the damn depression I’ve been fighting for a month or so now and that makes everything just so much effort…didn’t even read the news the first thing as I normally do and I’m even bored with MotoGP that is on right now and I can’t get excited for the F1 race that is coming on in about 20 minutes…oh, well….I do have to get myself a new hose since the expandable one I have is rotting and falling apart daily…have had to repair it the past two days and that is getting old when I need it to water everything since it doesn’t ever rain out here…..and I probably should get a hose reel to store it on since it looks like hell just laying in the yard….but they are 40 bucks or so and I don’t want to spend any money right now…..and the hose will be another 25 bucks…so that’s not happening until next month…or for two weeks when I get my next deposit….still need to plan for 4K going out in August for taxes and car insurance and that is going to hurt….I did get through the bike ride yesterday without a flat and I have my fingers crossed for a another uneventful day today but I won’t be getting out until after the race around 10 or so…and that may make it a one ride day today…it was a little cool yesterday when there were 4 WWII planes doing a flyover of the beach and Muskegon lake trailing smoke behind them and doing some aerobatics…..and I think there are more planned for today with it being the anniversary of D-day and that would be cool to see….not much to do today…just going to veg out for the next couple of hours and have coffee and read the news as I watch the race….don’t feel like doing much else….
Hit a wall today….
Well…damn, I am going to be guilty the rest of the day with skipping the second ride…just hit a wall and couldn’t do it…lost all my energy and just wasn’t feeling it so I’m just going to take the rest of the day off and just do these after getting everything watered outside and chasing a damn ground hog that I think has a den under my front steps…so it looks I need to gas that hole, too, just like I did the one under my sidewalk but that will mean taking the lattice work off the side of the steps to get at it…but, not today….just feel off and want to sit here for a while as I try to think of a political one for today….I did get out to the beach for a second day in a row but the wind was blowing so hard that I was getting sandblasted and cut it short….and that was probably a good idea since I do have some sunburn and don’t want to need aloe for it….more later…maybe…
June 5th
Well…running a little late this morning with not getting out of bed until 6:30 or so….for the first time I had all the windows open last night and it was nice to get up to a breeze blowing through this place…and it was a nice, quiet night and I will take credit for that….I am going to try to take it a little easier today and not rush around like a crazy person to try to get things “done” when I really don’t have to…I know I should have the kitchen cabinets torn down already and have them stripped to paint but I just don’t feel like taking on a big job right now….and my right elbow won’t let me do it anyway…it still hurts like crazy and I’m having a hard time just picking up my coffee cup this morning…but, I’ve had this before where I couldn’t pick up anything where I had to grip with my hand and it went away after a few months so I guess I’ll just gut it out and take some ibuprofen….I did get two rides in yesterday without a flat but it will be weeks without one before I can relax about it….and the problem is that I didn’t find how the tubes were being punctured so I don’t know if cleaning the wheel and changing out the spoke band fixed it…I guess we’ll see today….not much to do today….F1 qualifying is on in a few minutes and then out on the bike but it’s going to be a windy ride and a lot of work…so maybe only one today….more later…