Well…already running late today…damn, I say that every day but it is true…it’s 6:35 and I need to get on the bike by 7am and I just had my first sip of coffee…so it will be a struggle to get going…I still have so much cleaning to do that I’m going to be busy all day…have the couch, bathroom, and kitchen to clean so I need to get going as soon as I have three rides in…don’t have to cook today with all of the pork shoulder I made yesterday that will last me until the end of next week and I’ll probably have to freeze some before it spoils…I did get 160 pages into the last book yesterday and that leaves about 300 pages left to read and I need to make time for that today, too…man, I’m tired of being so busy…damn, I need to vacuum the back stairs, too…maybe I’ll just do two rides today…at least it’s not snowing and it looks like we’re not getting any big storms for the next 10 days and that gets us 10 days closer to spring…but it’s going to be cold with highs in the 20’s…oh, well…need more coffee and to get on the bike….more later…

Well…my new shop vac was just delivered and I really like it…took it for a test run on my wood floors and it has such strong suction that it pulled the dirt from between the boards and you could feel it almost sticking to the floor…and it came with a  huge paper bag that you can put in it and then just throw it away when it fills…pretty cool…oh, and it pretty darn quiet…way quieter than the little 2 gallon one that just failed…the cord is a little short but that’s what extension cords are for the on/off button is huge and the entire unit is pretty light so I can use it to do the back stairs with no problem…all in all, a nice perfect sized unit…will probably go over all of the wood floors and the kitchen with it tomorrow…it was a good day today and I’m down to 124 miles to 1,000 so I’ll make that in Feb easy…and I made the 6 pound pork shoulder today and it came out great…I’ll be eating off that for a good week even having two meals from it every day…I did finish up the second book today and started the third but I don’t think I’ll get that one done by Monday…we’ll see…back to reading…

Well…darn, another day of being up at 4am and then struggling to get back to sleep and I am worn out…again…the wind was blowing so hard last night that the power blinked about a dozen times and I had everything plugged in and charged…but it stayed on since all of the appliances still have the correct time on them and that was a relief…it’s going to be a busy one today with doing the 6 pound pork shoulder in the instant pot for lunch and that needs to go in by around 10 and it will take two hours with a natural pressure relief which means you let the pot slowly release the pressure that normally takes about a half hour…and I’ll do the third ride while all that is going on..going to brown the roast in my cast iron dutch oven and then deglase  it to get the flavor bits into the instant pot…I wonder if I should just brown it in the instant pot? I think it may be too big to do that….I guess we’ll see…it looks like we’re getting a little snow tomorrow and it’s going to stay cold all week never getting above freezing but no big snow storms and I’ll take it…one week closer to spring…not much to do today…just cooking and cleaning but most of the cleaning will be done tomorrow…need to do the kitchen today scrubbing my small counters and microwave….will finish the second book today and just might be able to do the third one before Monday….more later….

Well…the cleaning continued today with working on dust here in the living room and getting the tv and stereo stand cleaned along with the bookcase so all I have to do Sat is clean the couch and rotate the cushions along with vacuuming the rug…my new shop vac is going to be here tomorrow and I can’t wait to have one that works all the time…it was not supposed to arrive until Monday so I’m pleasantly surprised and can use it to do the final touch ups around here before the visitors Sunday…I did get the three rides in today then went out and shoveled the little snow we got overnight before I cleaned…only have about 140 miles to go to 1,000 so that will be the week after next and that is the only goal I have for the year…so far…I do have to go out Monday to pay the water bill and my house taxes along with mailing my house insurance check and I would like to hit the library, too, since I’ll have two of the three books done by then so I may just as well pick up a couple more since I can see the library from the city offices…okay, it’s time to read some more…I did make some pour over coffee this morning and it the only coffee I can drink black…will probably order some more beans to have in stock here but I still have three pounds and I guess I can wait a while….

Well…that was not as good as has been usual for me lately and I was  up around 4 and then didn’t really get back to sleep…so I’m feeling pretty worn out and having a hard time getting going…we are under a winter weather advisory and I’m glad I did the grocery run yesterday and don’t have to go anywhere until Monday when I need to pay all the bills…have 1,700 bucks going out and that stings a little but it’s all part of owning a house…taxes and insurance every year…I did get some cleaning done yesterday and I think I’ll do the living room today since I still don’t need to cook…tomorrow will be the big pork shoulder in the instant pot and I think I may go down to just two rides so I can get it going for lunch…have about 160 miles to go to get to 1,000 in Feb for the year and that will be a record for me…still have the kitchen counters and sink to do but that may wait til Sat when I do the bathroom, too….oh, and the stovetop but that will wait til after I use it tomorrow to brown the roast and make gravy…and I may steam some cauliflower to go with the pork…not much to do today…just need to get on the bike by 7am and get three rides in and then I can start the rest of the day…I still have to figure out what to do with the chicken thighs I bought and I think they will end up in the freezer later today…more later…

Well…after using my little wet/dry vac to do the floors yesterday the on/off switch failed completely after sparking for a couple of years…and I started to plan how to take it apart and cobble in a new switch but then it came to me to just buy a new one since the old one has been used to do my son’s house and half of this one…I got my money’s worth after buying it at HF for 39 bucks…but it is really small at two gallons and it doesn’t have wheels…you have to carry it everywhere…so, out to Amazon and I found a Stanley 6 gallon for only 49 bucks that does have wheels and a lot of accessories…and it has a four horsepower motor for some reason that really should suck the dust in when I use it with my hand sander…I’m still going to try to figure out how to get the old one apart and replace the switch since you can never have too many vacuums…and it will be here Monday for the next round of cleaning…

Well…up and running at 5:30 this morning and it is going to be another busy one…slept okay last night but I’m not drinking enough water since my right big toe has been howling at me all night and dehydration is the cause….we may have to adjust the BP meds since I have a couple of hours yesterday that I was dizzy while I was doing the floors but it may have been that I haven’t been eating enough…a half bowl of soup and some Masala is probably not enough to support 3 rides and then working on the place for 4 hours….oh, well…I did like the kung pao sauce in the stir fry yesterday…going to move the grocery run back to tomorrow since I really don’t need anything and I need to think about meals for the next week…DD has 2 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts for 6 bucks so I may get 5 pounds so I’ll have some in the freezer…or not…we’ll see…I did get some thighs earlier in the week so maybe I’ll just wait til next week…the kitchen and bathroom still need to be done so I’ll be working on that but probably not til the weekend so it stays clean…skipped the weight work yesterday since I was pretty worn out after the floors but I will do it today…finished a book in one day and I really don’t know how the heck I did that…I may have the other two done by Monday so I can get three more after I pay the taxes and water bill and drop the house insurance payment off at the post office…1,700 bucks going out this month and that is going to hurt…oh, well…more later…

Well…damn, this has been one of the busiest days I’ve had in  along time…started on the bike at around 7 and got three rides in…then I mad the stir fry with Kung Pao sauce and it came out great…added lots more veggies so I think I’ve got enough of that for 4 days…so that means I’ll make the pork shoulder Friday…oh, back to today…after lunch, I vacuumed the kitchen and mopped it…then vacuumed the hardwood floors and mopped them, then waxed them all…cleaned up the table beside the fridge and washed the fridge along with the dining room table and couch side table…and now it’s 3pm and I am done for the day…but that gives me a leg up on having this place clean for my son’s visit Sunday…I may push the grocery run back to Thursday this week since I really don’t need anything right now…time to read…

Well…running late again this morning and I must have slept on my eye since my vision is quite blurry today and that is just damn annoying…the good news with my BP takes one thing away that I don’t have to worry about any more but I’m sure I’ll replace it with something else…I do need to cook today with no leftovers in the fridge and lunch will be a chicken stir fry that I am going to try some Kung Pao sauce in that my daughter left me a year ago when she was here…and I’m going to add bunches of veggies that I’ll steam ahead of time…going to put some cauliflower in again with celery, carrots, and onion to make enough for a few days…then probably pasta for dinner to use up the open jar of sauce in the fridge…the huge pork shoulder will probably be Friday and I have chicken thighs to use, too…I am a little excited that my son is bringing me a sourdough starter that they made from the one they’ve had going for 6 years and I’ll be making bread next week…I really do need to learn how to knead bread to get it rise…only 20 minutes before I need to get on the bike and I need one more cup of coffee first…I do need to start cleaning today and I’ll probably do the living room to get the full whole house cleaning started…more later…

Well…as you know, I had an appointment with the office pharmacist this morning in the ongoing saga of getting my BP under control and it is finally…it was only 132/63 down from 160 two weeks ago…and with it being down to 117 this morning, he thinks we can leave the medicine dosage where it is…it’s already at the lowest dosage that you can get so I feel good about that…and when you took a look at my test results, he saw that my bad cholesterol is a little high but he’s never seen a higher reading on good cholesterol so he sees no problem with that…and the kicker was that commented that he has never seen a healthier 70+ person and that made all the work I do staying in good shape worth it…so, no ticking time bomb or stroke risk at all…so now I can read this afternoon and relax a bit…I did pick up a big pork shoulder today and that will feed me for a week starting Friday…more later…