Well…after buying the coffee grinder an whole beans and using the french press to make coffee a couple of times…and then having to clean the grounds out of the bottom of the press, I started to think about a way to get that good tasting coffee but not have to do the pain in the butt clean up…and my french press started to leak from somewhere so it was time to replace it…so I mocked up a pour over method using a big plastic cup, a coffee filter, and a rubber band to hold the filter on and it worked like a champ…no clean up at all…just threw the filter away…so then I went out to amazon to see if they had pour over coffee makers and they did…and the one I’m buying is a Bodum just like my french press and comes with a stainless coffee basket that you put the grounds right in it or you can use a cone style filter in it so you can just dump it in the trash…and it is only 18 bucks and that solves my clean up problem completely…the carafe is 34 ounces so that will be enough for a whole day…so I’m buying another two pounds of beans and a pack of 100 filters with it for only 35 bucks…thought about getting an electric water pot but I have 2 -2 cup pyrex measuring cups that will fit in the microwave…don’t really have any counter space for another appliance…and that’s the last I’ll talk about coffee…
December 27th
Well…up and moving at around 6 today after waking up around 5 or so and that makes it three days in a row and that is wearing me out…have been trying out new ways to use the whole coffee beans and grinder I bought and I’m leaning toward buying a pour over coffee maker since the french press is just such a pain to clean…tried the method out this morning with a coffee filter and rubber band over a big plastic cup and that worked quite well…I can get one for 17 bucks with a re-usable stainless steel filter that I can just dump the grounds out instead of all the cleaning the french press needs…and the pour over method makes a great cup of coffee…so it looks like I’ll be spending more money today to go with the 36 bucks I spent yesterday to buy a new dish dryer, drain screens, and chain lube….BP was 125/70 this morning and getting a green light on the BP machine is cool…I’m thinking of just doing two outdoor rides after it gets light today since it is already 41 degrees out there and I enjoyed the ride yesterday….it is supposed to rain around noon today so I’ll have to get moving at first light…not much to do today…just the rides and then some football…I really wish I had room in the freezer since DD has smoked pulled pork for 8 bucks for 5 pounds and chicken breast tenders for 1.50 a pound…need to get back to eating more healthy foods and the tenders can be used in stir fries and Masala….more later…
You ain’t seen nothing yet…
Well…when people who voted for the idiot trump and who thought voting for him would bring down inflation that was already brought down by Biden, they are going to be slapped upside the head with inflation that they have never seen once idiot boy imposes tariffs on everything that comes into this country…for example, his 25% tariff on imported lumber from Canada will raise the price of a house built with it (which is damn near every house built here) to the point where none of these voters will be able to afford a house…how about an instant 70K rise on an “affordable” from 230K to over 300K…and his plan to deport every immigrant will take away the workforce that builders use to control costs…so, of course, costs will rise there, too, and and the capacity to alleviate the housing shortages in this country will be destroyed when 30% of housing workers are deported…and what about food? Over 60% of the food in this country is harvested by undocumented farm workers doing jobs that no American will do…Florida got a taste of that 2 years ago when they made it illegal to be undocumented there and half of the produce rotted in the fields…how about 20% inflation on food? The people who voted for the idiot must be the dumbest people that have ever walked the earth…and their hate is going to cost them trillions of dollars…I sure hope lots of them end up homeless or starving…it would serve them right…geez…
I did get an outdoor ride in…
Well…after getting the two indoor rides in and the temp coming up, I decided to try out the new gloves and get on the bike at 36 degrees outside and it was fun…no ice on the trail at all and I went as hard as I could go the whole 12.5 miles…the new gloves were better than the old ones and I can live with them…only about 5 minutes of pain in my fingers after I got back here and I can live with that…the beach road is closed and covered in sand along with the trail by the beach…had to walk the bike for about 50 yards but that was okay…it looks like I’ll be able to ride outdoors for the next few days and then back downstairs for the rest of the winter…need to reset the computers to zero next week and that is always a little daunting starting from nothing again…still haven’t figured out new goals for riding next year but I guess I can just wing it for a while….will be back for a political one later….Man U is starting…
December 26th
Well…this used to be my favorite day of the year after all of the christmas duties were over and I could finally relax…with not celebrating anymore it’s not the same but the normal stuff starts up again and I am looking forward to soccer and football today…Man U plays at 12:30 but they have been so terrible that I wonder why I even watch anymore…I did take my BP when I got up this morning and it was 120/71 and I don’t know how I feel about that when I took it late in the day yesterday and it was 155/78…I thought the medicine was really working but I guess not…oh, well…didn’t get much done but the rides and cooking yesterday but I am going to try to get an outdoor ride in today after the Man U match with it getting up to 44 this aft…it will give me the chance to try out the new gloves but I am ready to be disappointed as I have been with every pair I’ve bought the past couple of years…I’ll have to drag the air compressor out to air up the tires on the outdoor bike since I haven’t done that in more than a month and that means they will be down to 30 psi or so and they need to be 60…don’t have to cook today with leftover burgers and ham in the fridge and that will last me for a week or so…then I start my healthy eating again with nothing but chicken and pasta…need to get moving by 7 to get two rides in before lunch and then break down boxes to get this place organized and cleaned up….more later…
Done for the day…
Well…it’s 12:45 and I have everything done I wanted to do…I was going to skip one ride today but had time while the ham was heating so I climbed back on the bike for number 3….then I fixed the big meal for lunch and cleaned up and put everything away…it is really nice to not celebrate the holiday anymore…no presents to buy, no gatherings to go to, just doing what the heck I want…and really, I’d be a hypocrite if celebrated any religious holiday and I don’t want to be that…I have enough ham bones for two batches of ham soup after I finish this one since the spirals stop about halfway through the ham so that leaves about 4 1/2 pounds in one big lump…it does look like I’ll be able to get on the outdoor bike at some point this week and then I’ll use my new indoor hose to wash it up when it gets cold next week…but right now it’s time for football and to read a bit…
December 25th
Well…damn, two days in a row of getting up at 4:53 and I’m pretty worn out from it…I am going to take a nap later but I just need to think about getting moving right now…I did take my BP when I got up and I am amazed that I’m down to 126/71 but my eyes are bad again and that is disappointing…crap…but that could be from sleeping on my side and putting pressure on my eyes from it…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I am going to get three….no, two rides in today and I need to make the BAH for lunch and that takes a lot of work…will put it on the grill by 10 am so I’ll need to get on the bike by 6:30 or so and that gives me 45 minutes to drink coffee and plan the day…don’t really need a plan other than to cook and watch some football…since I don’t celebrate christmas, today is Wednesday to me and I may have overdone the cocktails a bit last night…and probably will again tonight…going to really try to just let the day flow a little but you know that’s just not me so I’m not sure how successful I’ll be…I really do want to try to get outdoors on the bike in the next few days with the temp getting to almost 50…the snow is almost gone and we have rain coming in so I’ll have to dodge that….more later…
More weirdness…
Well…okay…my last BP check is pretty good at 143/68 and I noticed something just a few minutes ago that is weird but good…my eyesight is so good right now I can almost do one of these without my glasses…and when I look at the tv without my glasses, it is as clear as I can remember it and I can read the streamers at the bottom of the screen with no fuzziness at all…and all of this has to be a result of my BP heading down…so I’ll take that…there were days on the bike outside that everything was fuzzy and the pressure must have been distorting my eyes and causing them to go out of focus…man, I probably should have done this before….oh, and with the diuretic that is included is making me have to go all the time…more weirdness…
Do you hear a peep?
Well…with the release of house ethics committee on the perv Matt Gaetz finding that he broke house rules along with federal and state laws…including prostitution, statutory rape for buying sex from an underage girl, purchasing and using drugs while in office…taking impermissable gifts, providing favors, and obstruction of congess…and what is that silence you hear? Yep it’s not one damn repub member of congress saying one damn thing, no calls for the justice department to prosecute him for the crimes but idiot boy nominated him to be attorney general…that is how far the rot has gone in the repub party these days…rape an underage girl, get nominated for AG…after all that’s what the idiot did multiple times and look where he is now…I need to go read to get this sordid crap out of my brain…geez…
This is weird…
Well…just as a lark, I took my blood pressure a minute ago and I am shocked…down to 140/75 and that is even with having three cups of coffee already… I really don’t think the meds are working that well to get to that reading but I’ll be curious to see how it goes later today…the irony is how much work I’ve done for no result and now just two pills in and the BP is dropping like a rock….need to get on the bike here in 20 minutes or so and get started on today’s 24 miles….one more cup and then the torture machine….more later….