Well…running about on time this morning after forcing myself to stay in bed until I heard the coffee maker start…slept as good as I can ever expect and I’ll let the coffee wake me up and get me going…there is a little good news that the amoxicillin is helping my eye heal up with most of the swelling down so it doesn’t look so bad…my eye is still watering some from the irritation so I’m going to do one more day of antibiotic to make sure it doesn’t rebound…I am looking forward to maybe getting a day off the bike Wednesday to get a little rest for my body that is feeling a little worse for wear with 30 miles a day becoming the new normal…I wonder how that happened? I mean, 15 miles a day should be enough for an old guy like me and I know I have the 5K goal but the compulsion to go out twice daily is a new thing that is confounding me a little…I wonder if it is trying to chase away the age that I see in the mirror every morning? If it is, it’s not working….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but gardening but I do have to get out to get some lawn food today to get it down before the storms tomorrow night and into wed…and I think I may want to mow before that but we’ll see….I do need to wash the car too, since C’s road in Mt. P is gravel and it is covered in dust…but, I may let the rain do that on the grocery run wed…it’s a little weird that I am letting little things like car washing and fooling around in the garden fill my time when I still have big work to do on the house….I guess I’m just burned out from working on it almost daily for a year…..I think I deserve a little time off to enjoy life for a bit….I am going to get to the front door this week and get it painted…and I do have to get on the membrane roof and replace the cement that has dried out to eliminate the leaks…maybe that will be this week, too? More later…
All posts by James DeVol
A few things…
Well…got the political one in for the day but still had a few other things I wanted to talk about that are just things…not important at all but I have time so I thought I’d just go…I did get the oil changed in the car today in between the two rides I took and I had forgotten how big of a pain it is to get the filter out since you have to take it out through the top with the plastic pan under the car blocking even being able to see it…and every time I end up with scratches on my arms from snaking them down past the intake runners…but it’s done and I even cleaned up the oil that always spills from the filter boss and ends up on the ground…it is nice to have 50+ psi at idle again…and it looks like I did get a couple of the last green pepper seeds to sprout, finally and I can get them planted next week so I’ll actually have a few of those to go along with the jalapenos that are blooming all over the place…and I may even get some tomatoes out of the many, many plants that I have going..but, I’m not sure about that with the withering of lots of the blossoms on the celebrations…my beans have even stated to look like they may be blooming, too so I guess I need to stop stressing out about every damn plant….after all, gardening is supposed to be relaxing but I think I’ve made it a competition with myself just like everything else and that is not healthy…but the brute force method I used on everything has left me with 19 sunflowers along the fence that are going to be a sight to see when they start to bloom….so, I guess I need to relax some, huh? Okay, I will…taking the rest of the day off to just veg and watch the race…and I hope to get a nap in since it is napcar after all….
The irony is just delicious…
Well…have been taking it easy a little today but I did want to comment on what I see as just a frickin delicious irony…just saw pictures of the crowds protesting in DC a few minutes ago and the thought struck me…they are larger than the idiot trump’s inaugural crowds by a huge margin! Okay Lincoln project, where’s the ad stabbing at idiot boy for this? You know how much everything about him and he gets the biggest crowds etc…this one could be a two fer…they could jab him about the crowd size and then throw in that he lies about damn near everything with photos and everything…this would really piss off the moron in chief and would be in addition to the defection of lots of repubs of the past few days who said they wouldn’t support or vote for idiot boy….he just has to be stewing over the trashing he has been getting by these same repubs and just a little nudge should be all it takes to push him even farther over the edge…oh, and one more great ad would be directed at the enablers of the idiot and should say that trump can’t pardon everyone before he leaves office so the ones who are helping him break the law and trash the constitution are going to pay for their criminality…I’m talking to you Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo….and the rest of you…it’s going to get real in 5 months so I guess maybe you should stop criming? Nope, they are too stupid to understand that when we take back the government, the rule of law is going to apply again…just like it should have for the past 4 years….
June 7th
Well…normal time for a Sunday and I’m not sure why I’m depressed this morning…it appears that with the start of re-opening of the state, everyone has jumped to doing whatever they damn well please…no masks anymore and people at the zoo yesterday were jam packed into large groups and maskless, too…so I guess the three months we spent isolating and protecting ourselves is just being thrown away and now we wait for the second wave that is going to be worse than the first….bars open at 50% capacity Monday so I guess that’s something…I did get a good week of rides in last week with 250 miles in and if I can keep that up, I may just be able to get to 5K for the year…will break 2K this week if the weather will cooperate…supposed to rain a few days but if it’s warm enough I’ll go out in the rain…it’s a little cool right now but I’ll be out here in a few minutes do I can get the second ride in before lunch….I need to change the oil in the car today but I need to check to see if I have some blue silicone left to make the gasket for the drain plug so it won’t leak….if not, I’ll run out tomorrow and get some and do it then…I do need to get planning the rest of the outdoor work here and do the front door too but I just don’t feel motivated again today….that is starting to become a problem but I’m not worried too much yet…I’ve done enough work over the past 6 months to last a year and I am tired….more later…
The whole damn barrel is rotten…
Well…I am getting so damn sick and tired of the excuses being made for bad cops across this country and their daily abuses of the people they are sworn to protect and serve…and the culture of lying and coverup that permeates police departments everywhere. Just yesterday a couple of cops in Buffalo pushed a 75 year old to the ground where he hit his head and was bleeding out of his ear immediately…but it just gets worse from there…if you look at the video shot by a local tv station, you’ll see one officer bend down to help the injured man but he was then yanked back up by what I’ll assume is a supervisor and told to ignore him…which the whole bunch of maybe 30 cops did and the injured man laid there bleeding until the national guard came to his aid a few minutes later. Then a perfectly predictable thing happened….the cops lied about the incident in their reports…lying that the injured man just “stumbled and fell” all by himself…and these “bad apples” are so damn dumb that they didn’t even see that they were being filmed….but, even worse, when these two thugs were suspended, 57 cops resigned from the voluntary rapid response team in support of the thuggery and lying the two officers did…and just today when the two officers were arraigned on assault charges, 70 of their fellow officers stood outside of the court and clapped and cheered for the thug officers who injured the 75 year old. Now by my count, that is at least 120 other officers who think that beating up 75 year olds and lying about it is perfectly fine behavior for the police in Buffalo…look, as we’re seeing across the country there aren’t just a few ‘bad apples”…the whole damn barrel is rotten and every damn one of them needs to be fired…there is no saving the rotten barrel and the rotten officers that live in it…they all need to go…
June 6th
Well…man, just can’t get started this morning…stayed up late to see if that would help trying to sleep but all that did was get me started to sleep later and got up at the same time that I normally do…so, that didn’t work…but, I think the amoxicillin is starting to work on my eye infection since it seems to be less inflamed this morning…this one has been annoying with it itching every time I blink….I did get two rides in yesterday even after the long ride on Thursday and my legs were just a little flat…much less than I expected and that was a little bit of good news…but, I haven’t been eating enough to support all of the extra miles and I need to figure that out today before I end up flat on the couch and exhausted…I think the new lube on the bike chain is working quite well since it is still silent after over 100 miles…and I think I’m going to test out how long I can go before I have to re-apply it…the bike seems much smoother when I ride and I’ll take it…didn’t get much done but gardening yesterday and I think I’m just going to give up and take the weekend off from beating myself up about it….I did get the first blossoms on my jalapenos and it looks like some of the beans are heading that way, too and that is pretty cool…and I found out how to tell when the garlic will be ready so I’ll have to take a look at those plants later today….still no hummingbirds on the new feeder yet but it’s only been a couple of days so I need to be patient…but, I may have to change out the food since it is only supposed to last a week or so before it goes bad…not much to do today…just going to ride and watch races later and if I get a little motivation I may clean a some but who knows? More later…
Bill Barr’s brownshirts…
Well…you know we’ve all been wondering when the fascist Bill Barr would use his position as AG to further corrupt the justice department but we didn’t think it would be forming his very own brownshirt army that only reports to him. You remember the brownshirts don’t you? They were Hitler’s personal army that he would sic on his enemies and many times the enemies would end up in jail, dead, or disappeared….and now Barr has his own version of the brownshirts that he has deployed around DC to “control the riots” that are only riots to him…everyone else sees that the protests have been peaceful until the police and Barr’s private army attacks the protesters…just like they did when the idiot trump just had to have his photo op of walking to a church that didn’t want him there. Never in the history of this country has an AG had his own private army that wear no insignias, who won’t identify themselves to the press or the public…cripes, the AG doesn’t even have the authority to command the police or any other group like the national guard that he has also usurped command from the normal chain of command. Now…the question I have to ask is “where is Nancy Pelosi in all of this?” It is her job to be a check on the executive branch and she can defund Barr’s private army today so why hasn’t she? this needs to be done now and Barr needs to be impeached for this abuse of power…get on it Nancy…the country may not last until trump is gone…
June 5th
Well…I just don’t get it…67 miles yesterday and my legs don’t feel it at all…my ribs still hurt and the infection in my eye lid is worse but my legs are okay….but, I am exhausted this morning and I’m sure it’s the excess miles that is at fault…you would think that riding that much would make me tired and able to sleep better but no such luck…still tossed and turned all night and feel pretty worn out and I only have third day coffee to have this morning and I’m pretty sure that won’t be enough….oh, happy birthday, Tom….didn’t want to forget that….didn’t get much done yesterday but run an errand and mow the lawn but I am going to try to work on the front door to get it ready for painting today…but, I’m not too motivated right now and may just take the day off after getting a ride or two in….I did start taking some amoxicillin to see if that will help with the eye infection and I hope something will help…it’s damn annoying to have your eyelid puffed up and scratchy every time you blink….I am getting some results in the garden with blossoms on some tomato plants and even on one of my jalapeno plants, too…and I have potatoes that have come up from the eyes that I planted a week or so ago…have never grown potatoes before and that should be good for a laugh….not much to do today….I may just take it easy and putter around here after the rides…I do have laundry to do later and should clean the kitchen but we’ll see…need a lot more motivation if that’s going to happen…more later…
Yep, I’m stupid…
Well…if you’ve been here a while and read about some of the things I do to myself for no reason, really…you won’t be too surprised about what I did to myself today…got out on the bike really early today and it felt pretty good…or not as bad as I expected so I decided to get out for another ride after having some more coffee and got that one done by around 9 or so…after that ride, and knowing that I already had 35 miles in, I decided to make this a day where I tried to do a long almost record day on the bike….and that led me to riding 66.8 miles today and that is a long way to most people…and the thought hit me that I may be able to break my 105 mile record for a day…but, on the last lap, everything started to give out and my legs and lungs both started screaming at me so I though that it would probably be a good idea to stop before I did some permanent damage to myself…it is going to be interesting to see how much I’m going to hurt tomorrow…feel okay right now but I will take some ibuprofen later today to try to get out in front of it…yeah, I don’t know why I do it…it’s probably trying to prove that I’m not becoming old and decrepit….or that I’m bored…not sure…
June 4th
Well…made it all the way to 6 this morning but with enough tossing and turning that I hurt my ribs again…just sitting still here hurts like crazy but ibuprofen did help yesterday so I think I’ll take some before I get on the bike here in a few minutes…I did get a hummingbird feeder yesterday and it looks like a hot air balloon with hand painted glass for the food container…and it was only 12 bucks but I’m not sure if I’ll get any birds to it…it did take the sparrows almost 3 weeks to find the seed feeder that I put out last fall so I guess I need to be patient…and this one even has little perches that the birds can land on so they don’t have to hover to feed….I finally got the super teflon lube for the bike that I have been waiitng for for a month and got the chain cleaned and lubed since it had to dry overnight…and it won’t leave the sticky black residue that the oil I was using did….I am a little excited to see if it will work as advertised since the chain was making noise as I let it dry out over the past week or so…didn’t get anything done yesterday other than screw around with the garden but I need to get after the front door and get it sanded so I can paint it…but, with my ribs still hurting, I’m not sure if I can handle my angle grinder to smooth out the paint chips…we’ll see…I do think I may have gone overboard with my gardens with all of the stuff that I have in them…I really don’t know how many beans are going to come off one plant and with having 6 of them growing, I may have way too many…cripes I could turn into a vegetarian this summer to use them all….oh, and the potato pieces I planted just came up yesterday so I’m going to have potatoes, too…more later…