Well…man, I’m sore this morning but I got the biggest awning on the front of the house painted yesterday…up and down the ladder a hundred times to get the two coats done…and using a roller worked out really well…it looks pretty darn good and now I only have 5 more to go….and my foot survived and doesn’t hurt at all today…I think I may have even cracked my back with all of the twisting and reaching on the ladder and the swelling is down some in my foot too, it was nice to finally work with still being able to walk afterwards….I even slept okay and didn’t get up until 6 but that took some aid to do that…I can probably take that again tonight or even for a few days to help fill the sleep deficit I’ve had for the past few months…I did have my own personal bat that I found sleeping under one of the awnings yesterday…was getting rid of the wasp nests that are constantly being built there and thought it was a big mud wasp nest…had to go and get my glasses to figure out what it was and it was pretty cool that a small brown bat was sleeping under there….it left to go hunting last night and it doesn’t appear that it is coming back…going to check again after the sun comes up…not much to do today…they are coming to move the gas meter this morning so I need to get a ride in before they come…only did one yesterday since the awning took almost 3 hours from start to finish and beat me up pretty well…going to try to do two rides today but I need to text my brother to find out when I can pick up the bike I’m buying from him….and I need to start to prep the next awning I’m going to paint…the rest of them are much smaller so I may be able to do two a day….more later…

Well….damn…5:08 again today and I am just worn out…again…and being back on the bike for only two days and I am stiff and sore just like before…okay, part of that may be climbing on the ladders to do the awning and will be doing that again today to paint the large awning over the living room window…I think I’m going to try a roller to get a better finish on this one and to be able to reach all of it…that will be a pain having to climb up and down for every roller full but it should be a lot easier if the roller will reach down into the corrugations….we’ll see….I may have to cut down an extension handle to reach everything but I won’t know that until I get started on it….I did start to feel a little better about the election in the fall with Biden’s VP pick yesterday and I need even some little crack in the darkness that has smothered this country since 2016…but I don’t talk politics here so I leave that where it is….I am going to take some allergy meds today since I am miserable and plugged up today and this is the time of year they normally get really bad…and I wonder if that is one of the reasons I’m so tired lately? I think I’m going to have to try to figure out how to sleep more or take some of the otc sleeping pills I used to use every day…might have to try one on a night I have nothing going on the next day since I know they leave me groggy…not much to do today…need to get the first ride in here in a few, then the grocery run, and then painting but I think that will be enough for the day depending on how hard the painting is going to be…the second ride was a chore yesterday but I do want to go over 3700 miles today and it will take two rides to do it….more later…

Well…sitting here waiting for my mp3 player to charge up so I can get on the bike for the second ride and thought I’d use this time for something other than tv or reading the news…got all suited up and suncreened and noticed that my player wasn’t charged so now I sit and wait for a while until it gets enough charge to make it through the hour and a half on the bike….I did make some progress on the house today and got the small awning on the round window painted with two coats of paint. I looks pretty good so I am going to do the big one on the living room window tomorrow  but that one is at least 4 times bigger so it will probably take a couple of hours at least and will probably keep me off the bike for the second ride…climbing on the ladders is already hurting my foot so I may not even be able to work tomorrow…who knows? But, it does feel good to accomplish something finally…

Well…it stormed last night and the power didn’t go out! A pretty low bar to make me happy but with it going out for 10 and 6 hours the last two storms, it was pleasant to be able to sit outside and watch it and then stare at the tv for a while and have light and fans running…same old sleep so nothing there to report but my allergies are starting to get bad again so I think I’ll take something for it today…I think I’ve gone long enough so I can buy more next week and I have 10 of them to last til then…I was stupid and got back on the bike for two rides yesterday but the stiffness from it is not too bad this morning and I was able to move around okay all day yesterday…but I think I’m going to work on a new schedule where I’ll do the first ride, then work around here, and then see if I want to do the second ride….have been too fixated on getting the two rides in that I’m not getting much done around here and I’m running out of summer….I am finally getting some produce off my gardens and filled a container with jalpenos, beans, and tomatoes yesterday so it looks like I am going vegetarian for a few meals over the next few days…got a 14 inch long cuke off the vines, too and have quite a few more that will be ready in the next week or so….need to start finding more things to use them for other than pickles since I can’t give them away like I planned….I do have two of the big sunflowers that survived in the back yard that are already over 10 feet tall and have just started to bloom so I wonder if they will get to the 15 feet that they are supposed to? Still looks pretty cool…not much to do today…I am going to get at the small awning in the front today and get it painted so I can see how they are going to look….need to take a before and after photo so I can send it to my son for his opinion…but any color will be an improvement since they have very little paint left on them and they look pretty shabby….more later….

Well…another 5 hour night and I am still a little worn out today and I am a little stiff from sleeping last night but the legs are still good from the rest day yesterday…not as good as they were last evening but I’m always a little creaky when I get up in the morning…it was nice to get the new router up and running with not much problems and now the computer starts as it’s supposed to without forcing it and it seem to be faster than the old one…but it should be with 15 years of improved technology in it…so I guess it’s worth 65 bucks…but, with paying my car insurance, I need to not spend any more money for about a month…that was over 700 bucks going out and that stings a little….I am going to get on the bike this morning and get at least one ride in today but I may just ease into getting back to two rides a day….I really want to see how the one day of rest works and if I can get by with only taking a little time off to heal….I really don’t want to go back to hobbling around like I was but that might just be unavoidable since I do want to get to the awnings this week….but, it looks like it may rain this afternoon so I might have to wait til tomorrow….would hate to have the rain ruin the finish and have to sand the whole thing down and repaint…not much to do today…need to have more coffee and think about the day a bit before I get moving but I will get something done…not sure what yet….more later….

Well…as you know, I have been taking the day off to try to repair my damaged body and have been pretty good at that so far…I damn near got out on the bike a little while ago, though but it’s almost 90 out there and I just couldn’t get motivated to get out….but damn, the guilt has been pretty strong all day but I have tamed it, knowing that I just can’t keep up 36 miles a day…and a weird thing happened…was just taking care of a few things downstairs and noticed that I am walking around almost normally with little stiffness or limping and it is so surprising to be able to walk like I used to…I really can’t remember being able to do that since I started the 36 milers every day and I kind of like it…and it is relieving to know that I can repair my body with just some rest and the pain and stiffness is not permanent. Didn’t even have to take any ibuprofen although I thought about it earlier today….that I may need to use some to help the inflammation and start the healing but it looks like that’s not necessary…but, one thing that is a little strange too, is having almost 3 hours to kill today that I would normally spend on the bike….boredom has crept in even with races on all day…but it appears like I will survive it…I may even just go out and walk around in the yard to just feel it….okay, my new router just got here so I need to try to set it up…

Well…maybe there is something to this taking care of myself…got up this morning and the pain is gone in my foot for the most part and the swelling is even down some…and I am not anywhere near as stiff as I normally am when I get up and that is just from not taking the second ride yesterday…so, maybe taking the day off today will help even more…it is hard to look at the bike and know it’s all lubed up and ready to go and it is going to sit there all day….but if taking a day off once a week will help me not hobble around here all day, I guess that’s a good thing…I even got over 5 hours of sleep last night…broken up into two parts but I can live with that…and I don’t feel too bad this morning but getting over the guilt of not riding and cutting out at least 600 calories today is going to be a little tough…but, I don’t have anything thawed for the second meal so maybe that will make it easier…I do have lots of veggies and could make a salad so maybe that’s what I’ll do….my new router is supposed to get here today and I hope to get that set up as soon as it does…the one I’m using now is over 15 years old but is probably one of the most reliable pieces of equipment I’ve ever owned…it was even used when my son gave it to me but I’ve never needed the latest and greatest of anything, just something that does it’s job like my 26 year old car….not much to do today…I do have to do laundry but that is about it for my day off…other than taking care of the gardens…I have a cuke that needs to be picked that is 18 inches long and almost 4 inches in diameter and it looks like I’ll have overflow of those and jalapenos that can be frozen….so it looks like an easy day for me with races to watch and no work to do….but 7 o’clock is here and I could get out on the bike…man, this is harder than I expected….more later…

Well…yeah, I knew this was coming…my body just gave up on me today…woke up to pain in my foot again and then got on the bike and it was probably the worst, struggling ride I’ve had this year…and I finally got it through my head that it’s time to take some time off…I was going to get the ladders out and work on the awning in the front of the house but with the pain in my foot, I just can’t do it…or shouldn’t do it…so, no second bike ride today or even tomorrow…I may even take the entire day off Sunday with how I feel…I have to make myself realize I’m not 40 anymore and have to take better care of myself and that means no 36 mile days for the near future….I can’t remember feeling like this and I know I’m doing it to myself….but that doesn’t help my feelings of guilt at all…but, this one time, I’m going to have to suck it up and just do nothing for a whole day…yeah, I know that sounds backwards, for most people it’s easy to take a day off but I’ve never been able to do that unless I was actually away from home on vacation…and even that took work…so, here we go….going to sit on the couch and watch some races and soccer and just see how long that will last….wish me luck…

Well…didn’t sleep for crap again and I am just worn out this morning…not sure how long I can go on with less than 5 hours a night but I’d sure not like to test it….I did get some work done yesterday with wire brushing the two front awnings to get them ready to paint and my foot is feeling it today…the starting of pain is there and I’m not sure if it will hold up to painting today…I would like to get the small awning done today at least so I can see how the brown satin finish paint is going to look and decide if it works or not…but if I do that, I think I’ll only do one ride today…just don’t have the energy to do two and work outside…I did see that my sunflowers are being used for the purpose I intended when a female goldfinch landed on one in the back yard and picked some seeds out to break open and eat and I wonder why they go through that much work…but it was cool to see and I still have the two biggest ones to flower yet so that may be something to watch in the fall….I did finally get my new checks in the mail yesterday along with my license plate tabs and paid my car insurance that actually went down by 50 bucks a year instead of going up a hundred but it should have gone down by half with how much I drive…. a little over 600 bucks for a year is not too bad so I can live with it….not much to do today…I do have F1 qualifying to watch at 9 so I need to get out on the bike soon…I wonder if I should follow my rules and take the weekend off of working on the house? We’ll see how I feel when I get back from the ride….more later….

Well…haven’t done one of these in quite a while as I waited for some weirdness to pile up and make it worthwhile to write about…I wonder what the deal is with seeing all of the normally nocturnal animals on the trail over the past week or so? Have seen raccoons and opossums running across the trail and this is the first time that I have seen them on this trail but you would think that I would see loads of them with all of the time I spend out there every day…there are lots of groundhogs but never any raccoons…I did see a stoat the other day crossing in front of me and that was the first one I’ve seen over here, too…looks just like a ferret and it probably should since it’s part of the weasel family just like ferrets are….I do have one question…what the heck are snapping turtles doing on the trail hundreds of yards from and water? I know they like to lay their eggs on high ground but damn, that’s a long walk for a turtle, and I must have seen a dozen of them over the summer. Oh, and I have a set of three weird deer that stand along the same part of the trail every day and just watch me go by…no skittishness or running away, just staring…and this morning, one of the does in that group was standing on the trail as I went by and didn’t budge and inch….I could have reached out and touched it but again, all it did was watch me as I went by…I guess they don’t mind being venison steaks later in the year because that lack of flight is going to do it….okay, so maybe this one was not so weird…but I think it is so I guess that’s enough…more later…