Well…that takes a load off…the furnace just kicked on and is running fine..stinks with 5 months of dust on the burners, though but I’ll take that to know I don’t have to pay someone 150 bucks to come out and fix it…or to replace it..don’t need to spend 5 grand for a new one….yay!
September 20th
Well….running a little late today but that’s pretty normal for a Sunday…got up way too damn early at 5:20 and couldn’t get back to sleep so I just gave up and got up…had to get out the warm clothes to just sit here yesterday since it is only 66 in here and I wonder if the furnace is going to work without having someone come out and take a look at it? I did check the pilot yesterday and it is running so I have my fingers crossed it will work when I need it….I did get a pleasant surprise in my e-mail this morning that my new rear cassette is going to be here tomorrow when they initially said it was going to be October 5th so that is cool…I did lube the chain to help the worn one keep working and that helped on the rides yesterday…it didn’t skip once but I kept the power lower as I pedaled in top gear since I knew it would if I laid on it hard….okay, need more coffee….there, that’s better…still haven’t adjusted to having to wait to get on the bike with it being so cold but I am not ready to get the gloves and long pants out just yet….I guess I’ll have to in a week or so since the highs are only going to be in the 60’s starting later in the week….only have about 25 miles to go to beat my all time mileage record and I think I’ll do that today…need to get to 4585 since I rode 4584 last year and then it’s downhill to 5K…I was pretty sure I could make it and the day off when I do is going to be welcome….not sure about what I’m going to do next year but doing doubles every day has gotten to be a habit and I’ll probably continue that….not much to do today…just going to take it easy and look for houses…then I’ll get back to working on the last awning tomorrow….more later…
RIP RBG
Well…the thing we were all hoping would not happen until after the election has happened…Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last night at the age of 87. I am filled with despair today for this country…no one did more to protect the rights of every American than justice Ginsburg did for the last 27 years…she was out in front fiercely protecting our LGBTQ friends and family from the discrimination and hate that the right wing justices tried and tried to codify into law by giving religious people the right to discriminate against them under the guise of “religious freedom” while RBG read the constitution as meaning equal treatment under the law is for everyone, not just rich, white, straight people….she carried the hopes of people all over this country that someone would do something to keep the hard fought gains in equality that people had bled for…and she took it upon her tiny shoulders to carry this country through these dark times but the time came to lift that burden from her shoulders and let her find the peace that we all deserve. RIP RBG….we will all miss you…and thank you for showing us what dignity and perseverence looks like…now it’s time for the rest of us to pick up the fight….
September 19th
Well…that was a little odd…slept all the way through the night until 6:13 and that should make me feel okay…but I still feel quite slow this morning…but, I haven’t had any coffee yet so that could be part of it…it’s only 38 degrees outside right now so I am curious if my tomato and pepper plants will survive it…it’s getting close to the point where they will die and that will take away any chance of getting any more tomatoes to ripen…have about a hundred of them on the plants still and it would be a shame to just put them in the trash….and with the temp outside, I won’t be able to get on the bike til at least 10 am and that will mean only one ride today since Man U starts their season at 12:30 and I do want to see that…it looks like a good sports day if I decide to take the day off…Moto GP qualifying is on right now and then soccer starts at about 7:30 and goes most of the day until the nascar race on tonight….so, at least I’ll have something to listen to in the background as I do a couple more of these….not much to do today….need to pay a couple of bills that I will put out for the mailman but will probably have to drop it off at the post office tomorrow to make sure they get there on time…and I am going to clean the hard floors today since there is a lot of dust and grit that I have tracked in from outside that is annoying the hell out of me….more later…with all the change to my gas service, I wonder if my furnace is going to start when I need it? One more damn thing to worry about…
A disappointing day…
Well….just when things were starting to go well…I have a day like this one to bring me back to reality…okay, it hasn’t been that bad but I did wear out the top gear sprocket on the back of the bike and it has started to skip when I put some power to it and that is just so damn annoying…and I only got a little over 4,000 miles out of it…so, that turned my mood pretty black since I don’t have an extra one of those that is not worn out…so I had to order a whole new cassette…but I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much since it was only 17 bucks but Amazon’s delivery performance has declined so much I’m not supposed to get it for almost two weeks…and that sucks….and they didn’t have a new pair of riding gloves that I need in black, only in some ugly assed lime green that I would never wear and wonder if anyone else would either. I did get the awning prepped for painting so I guess that’s something…oh, and I splurged and bought myself a new set of hair clippers…I figured that if I’m going to cut my own hair I probably should have the right tool for it instead of my tiny beard trimmer…they only cost 25 bucks for a whole kit with lots of stuff in it and that would pay for itself after just skipping two hair cuts at the place I used to get it cut. Okay, so I guess it hasn’t been too bad of a day…but I only got one ride in and have 60 more to go to beat my record….and with the bike skipping, I just don’t want to ride….I know I can cope with it but it just damn annoying….oh, well…
Let’s compare…
Well…have been trying to figure out what to write about today and have finally come up with a topic….there were two town halls held in the presidential campaign this week and they could not have been more different…trump’s was filled with lies and lethargy as he sat on a chair looking like he wanted to be anywhere else than listening to real people with real problems hold his feet to the fire for his incompetence and stupidity. But at Biden’s, we saw what makes Joe the best person to go up against trump. Answering all the questions with details of policy and showing his trademark depth and empathy…and if you didn’t already know it, it showed he really does care for this country and the people in it…and he made sure to emphasize that he would be president for all of the people, not just those in the blue states. Watching Biden’s performance must have sent a few of trump’s cronies into shock since they have been trying so damn hard to label him as feeble minded and out of it…and sent the debate preppers into abject terror of what trump is going to face in the debates. It was so cool to see a normal America on the stage with Biden…not the “American carnage” and hate that trump spews and foments every damn day and have hope that if we elect Biden that things could start back toward normal and not live every day as if we all have PTSD. How could anyone who watched the idiot boy this week think he gives a damn about anyone but himself? That is the contrast that Biden’s campaign need to hammer on every day…and keep it up…
September 18th
Well…that breaks the string…didn’t get up til 6:20 this morning…for the last time that is…first time was 4:40 and that is easing back to the up and down crap that I have been fighting for years….but, I slept okay with weird dreams again so I guess I’ll take it…it is cold outside this morning and I am not ready for it..I am not going to put the thermasuit on to ride the bike so that will have to wait until it warms up around 10…so now I have a morning to kill since I don’t want to do outdoor work in the cold…and the awning will have to dry off before I can get at it with the sander today so that leaves me with a morning to kill and I’m not sure what to do…I guess I could clean in here some and I really should…tracked dirt in the back door over the past weeks of working outside that needs to be vacuumed up but I think I’m going to just take the luxury of taking it easy for now…it was good to finally get the awning down yesterday without injuring my back to finish up what I’m going to do on the outside of the house….need to get some spray paint to do the inside of the awning next week since it is the only one that is painted on the inside and it has about 4 colors there that don’t match…not much to do today….need to remember to put the trash out in a little while since the bin is full and stinks….but that is about it…think I’ll just have more coffee and read some news right now….more later….
Bill Barr thinks he’s king…
Well…just when you thought Bill Barr couldn’t get any worse, he open’s his mouth and spew more garbage into our air. Just the other day, Barr came out and justified his interference in the Michael Flynn case by saying that he can do anything he wants in any case in the US…and he can investigate anyone he wants and the rules that every AG in history has followed don’t apply to him….he can charge anyone he wants and the FBI, instead of being the independent investigative service that it has always been is his own personal police force that he can use any way he wants and they have a personal duty to him and not the oath they take to defend the constitution. This is some pretty fascist stuff right here and you know whey he said it…he is getting ready to announce bogus investigations into Biden with information that came from a Russian spy and he’s coordinating with Ron Johnson and rudy to get that done before the election…the so called “October surprise” that is supposed to tip the election to the idiot trump. Oh, and to show how batshit crazy Barr is, he went off at a speech at the ultra right wing Hillsdale college here in Michigan that lockdowns and requirement that people wear masks are the greatest threat to civil liberties in the history of the country to which the historian John Meachem replied that he was just so much bullshit, to paraphrase. This is what is at stake in this year’s election…fascism or our democracy….should be an easy choice, huh?
A good day…so far…
Well…sometimes you get a good day and it makes you feel pretty good, and today is one of those…I got an early start with the first bike ride then got back here and had my bagel and coffee before I started on trying to take the last awning down to prep it for paint…and it came down pretty easily although I had to bend a flange out of the way so I could get vice grips on the head of one of the screws I couldn’t get out with a screwdriver…after all, they have been in there for 40+ years and I was surprised they came out at all….once I got that done, I mowed the lawn and watered the repaired spots that have started to sprout new grass that I planted last week…then I was back on the bike by 10:30 for the second ride, and when I got back here I got a call from the woman I’ve been working with at the compliance department for the city of GR and she had good news…the guy who has been smoking up this neighborhood since I moved in here, has two weeks to move the smoker or the fines will start…and he has been working with the zoning commission to find out where he can move it to make it legal…that made my day when I was expecting that he was going to get a zoning variance that would allow him to keep smoking up the whole neighborhood but she said that can’t happen…so now I know that it’s going away…and soon…so, a pretty good day so far…and I’m going to take a break for an hour or so before I do another one of these and get out to wash the awning so I can start sanding it tomorrow….more later….
September 17th
Well….this is uncanny….another 6:03 wake up and I think I’ll start counting the days since this is around 9 days in a row of getting up at that time…yep, I’m weird that way so why not make it some fun? This is strange too…I’m walking around here in very little pain and, with how I felt yesterday, I never expected to feel this good this early in the day…we’ll see how long it lasts but right now I’ll take it….I did take some ibuprofen for it late in the day so maybe it’s the carryover from that….it was pretty busy yesterday and today looks busy too with getting the rides in, mowing the lawn and I’m going to try to get the side door awning down by myself…I have a plan and it looks like it only weighs about 40 pound or so and it needs to be done…that one is probably in the worst shape of all of them so it will take some time to prep it and paint it…but the weather looks great the next week or so and that will help…won’t have to put it in the garage to let it dry when I get to paint….and it will feel good to have them all done….it looks like I’ll be down to one ride a day for the next few with the low temp in the 30’s tomorrow and Sat…I did get to 4500 miles yesterday so I’m only 85 miles from getting to a new personal best for miles in a year….and that means I’m only 500 from hitting the goal of 5,000…have decided that I’m going to take a day or two off after I do just to rest…then no stress for the rest of the fall….probably won’t do that again but It was a good goal for the last one….more later….