Well…after another night of constant coughing and not sleeping, I have gotten to the point that I had to try something to clear up the congestion in my lungs and stop the coughing…so, I made a run out to Meijers this morning to pick up some OTC stuff that is designed to do just that…man, there is so damn much stuff out there to address every symptom of everything you may have but I didn’t want one that would take on a dozen symptoms, just the two that I have. Luckily, they make medicine that does address just the congestion and the coughing so I bought some…not cheap at 10 bucks but if it works, it will be worth it…took some and feel a little weird like an old time antihistamine but, after tonight, I don’t have anything to do other than the grocery run so I can take just feeling a little strange if it works…don’t see how anyone could take 6 of these a day…I may be able to tolerate 2 but that would be my limit…think I’ll save the second one for bed tonight and maybe I’ll get some sleep…

Well…that sucked….went to bed a little early last night but woke up at 2:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep until 4 or so…even got up to watch tv for a while….then 5:30 rolled around and I was awake again so I just gave up…and I was coughing all night again last night so I am going to go out to get something OTC for it this morning…there has to be something that will break up the crap in my lungs once and for all and get rid of this damn cough…so, I feel a little lousy and worn out this morning and that may lead to a nap later in the day…I did get invited over to my youngest son’s house for dinner tonight and that is the first time I’ve been there since they got married 4 years ago…talk to him all the time but this will be fun…I did have to fill the feeders yesterday with the sparrows emptying the round one in only three days once they found it but it is still weird that they won’t use the clear one at all…may have to replace that one with another hanging one if they don’t want to use it….think I’ll check how much another one costs at Meijers when I’m out getting the lung stuff later this morning…didn’t get much done yesterday but clean a little and the bike ride and today looks the same…I really should get at the last room some today and I may work on it a little but I’m not sure….have to start figuring out how to afford a new weight machine, grill and new summer tires for the Miata…that should come to almost 600 bucks but I do need to spend it since I am feeling flabby without doing weight work and spring is coming so I will need the new tires since the old ones are bald…I guess I could put off the grill but I do miss grilling chicken and smoking fish…hmmmm….more later…

Well…that wasn’t a bad night of sleep…I did wake up at 4:30 but went back to sleep until after 6 so I’m going to consider that a win…and I didn’t cough much overnight but it started up again just a few minutes ago but I can live with it….I now know it’s allergies since my eyes are scratchy and my head is plugged up, too…I know it’s a little weird but I am relived that it is allergies and not something else…can’t wait til it’s warm enough to open this place up and air it out….but then I guess the outdoor allergens will hit me then but what can you do? I am thinking about taking the bike off the trainer to take it our for a ride to look at the trails and see what condition they’re in…and the fresh air might help the allergies some…but I think I’ll wait til later in the week to give it a little more time to melt…I think I’ve started to count down to spring already since we’re only 5 weeks away from March and I can’t wait for this winter to be over…I know, it’s not been a bad one so far and it’s going to be above freezing for the next 10 days or so but I do want to get started on the yard and my garden…I may get some tomato seeds and get them started indoors so I can have tomatoes early in the summer….that would be fun…and I think I’ve been good enough not spending money that I can afford a grill here in a few weeks…not much to do today…still working on prep work for the last room and need to get moving on that so I can start on piecing the base trim together and get that painted…but not right now…need coffee and the news to find a topic for later today…okay, you know what it’s going to be….Bolton, Bolton, Bolton….more later…

Well…as you know, I was a little confused why no birds were using the feeder that is attached to the window while the round hanging feeder has a traffic jam of sparrows…just a few minutes ago, a chickadee found the window feeder and I think it is telling the rest of the flock that it is there since there is one coming in there every few seconds…and that is pretty cool…but still not one sparrow on it and that is a little weird since there is a waiting area below the round feeder where the sparrows sit until there is a place for them on it…maybe later in the day they will figure it out…now I need to make sure that I keep them filled since they will be depending on them for food…they have eaten half of what was in the round feeder already in just a day or so…I wonder if I’ll see any other birds than sparrows and chickadees?

Well…that was a little bit better…slept most of the night with little coughing but that started back up as soon as I got up but it is actually clearing my lungs some and I wonder if this is a combo of my allergies and a cold…it’s hard to tell but I don’t feel too bad today so I’ll take it…and I’m here early today with getting up at 5:47 and it being too early to go out for the paper…I will say that the allergy stuff I took last night helped some to get rid of the itchy eyes and plugged up head so I may take some more later this morning…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and will do that again this morning before Man U plays at 10…I really don’t mind riding indoors and not having to worry about ice and snow…but it looks like it will be spring before I get outside again…don’t miss the cold at all….didn’t get much done yesterday and I think I’ll take the day off today, too…just can’t take any more dust that will flare my allergies…will need to get a a better respirator for all of the work around here…can’t wait to be able to open this place up and air it out…not much to do today…just going to take it easy and make some tacos for lunch…more later…

Well….just finished up riding the bike and when I came upstairs and took a look at my feeders, there were 5 sparrows on the round feeder! They haven’t figured out the one on the window yet but at least they’ve found one of them…that is pretty damn cool…I’m smiling…

Well…that was a little better…still coughing some but I did sleep through until almost 6 and that was so much better than Thursday night that I have hope that I have figured out why I have been feeling so miserable lately….we’ll see as the day goes by…I am starting to have some hope that this is going to be an easy winter with getting to Feb with no huge snow storms and the forecast of temps in the 30′s for highs for the next week or so…and it is staying light later and later so I think I have hope for surviving another winter….after all, March is only a month away…but that means I need to get after it on the bike since I am under 200 miles for the year and need to get to 600 by April…didn’t get much done yesterday but build some stuff and get a bike ride in and today looks much the same with soccer starting in a few minutes and then the 24 hours of Daytona starts in the early afternoon and I always watch as much of the first race of the year that I can…or, I nap for as much as the race as I can…at least it will give me some background noise to read by…I really should get back to working around here and finish the last room but I just haven’t been feeling it lately…I am going to clean some and cook today since I only had one meal yesterday and I have some chicken that needs to be cooked and I need to thaw some venison to make tacos again since I have tomatoes and lettuce that needs to be used…but, right now it’s coffee and news time while I wait for the first soccer match to start….more later…

Well….I think 5 days of waiting for birds is enough so I give up….you would think that at least one bird would have stumbled on the feeders just by accident but it doesn’t look that way….I have been watching the one that suction cups to the front window and there have been no birds as far as I can see and the piles of feed in it look just the same as when I filled it Monday….oh, well…I guess I’ll still look at them occasionally but I was really looking forward to seeing some birds there on a regular basis…I think one good thing is that I didn’t buy new feeders to try this out but just used the existing ones so I’m only out 5 bucks….I did get an airlock built at the bottom of the basement stairs today so that may help with my coughing…we’ll see tonight when I go to bed…..and I think I’ll look for a better filter/respirator for when I have work to do downstairs….have to do everything I can to keep the cough away….

Well…that really, really sucked….the coughing is back and worse than ever and I think I finally figured out what it is…worked a bunch on the downstairs project yesterday and, even with taking hazmat like precautions, my lungs are on fire and I am completely plugged up from the sensitivity to it…so now it looks like I am going to have to wind that down since I can’t ventilate it well enough in the winter and I am just damn miserable….and the only way I could sleep last night was to use some flonase that is wearing off…and I just realized that the coughing started when the project did and that is just damn disappointing…and I didn’t sleep at all last night and I am exhausted this morning and I can’t keep that up….I hurt everywhere from the coughing and I am going to have to take some ibuprofen here in a minute…didn’t get much done yesterday except project work so I will need to do better today….didn’t even get on the bike yesterday but I will today and try to get at least 8 miles in if my lungs can take it….and I think I may wash the car if it gets to nearly 40 as forecast but we’ll see….first I need to drown myself in coffee and try to read some news…and there will be a nap in my future along with coming back here for another one a little later….more later…

Well…we’re up to three days after I filled the feeders and still no birds…and the strange thing is that I really don’t see any birds around here…you would think there would be some sparrows or chickadees in the trees but no, I haven’t seen one bird anywhere around here since I started to look for them…so maybe the feeders will be a bust and I won’t be entertained…but, that’s not the real reason I put the food out…at every house I’ve lived in I’ve had at least one feeder up and sometimes as many as four if you include the hummingbird feeder and I just like the idea of doing my little bit to help the wildlife…cripes I wouldn’t even mind having some squirrels attack the feeders…oh, well….the feed was only 5 bucks so I guess I can live with that….