Well…it was a damn war zone up here last night and with it being calm, the smoke was so thick it looked like the fog we get here all the time…and it was so damn loud that the earplugs weren’t enough…I am so glad the 4th is over…and we didn’t get any rain and it looks like it will be dry today even though the forecast called for a 100% chance of rain…but it may rain in a few minutes…ha,ha…yeah that made me laugh, too…need to get on a bike here soon and I’m not sure if I should do the inside bike or not…if the damn rain would start it would make the decision for me…I need to go to the library this morning and return the books I finished up yesterday…and I need to do laundry and figure out what to eat today…I am so disappointed in the garden this year that I may have to do something different next year…maybe put everything in containers with new soil since I think there is something in the soil that is killing all of it…oh, well…I do need to put a new trellis up for the peas I planted in the leek space since 6 of them have come up and they will need something to support them…man, I just can’t get going and it’s almost 7….so it may be a 16 mile day today…but it won’t be…more like a 33 miler but we’ll see…off we go…more later…

Well…I purposely made my schedule a little lighter today with how busy I’ve been the past week and had everything done by 12:30…got on the bike for the first ride quite early at 7am and saw a freighter going in to Verplanks east docks and finally got a photo of a blue heron that was standing alongside Muskegon Lake…he normally gets spooked when I stop to get the phone out..got all three rides in by 10:30 and then got the string trimmer out and did the whole property which just trashed my right shoulder and it hurts even not moving it…that will have to be treated later…and I got the downspout part painted since the duct tape I removed pulled all the paint off of it…tried some new bourbon marinade by SBR and I will be grilling the 6 legs I put in it along with 4 ears of corn…thinking of opening a can of baked beans, too, since I’m under on calories with only having a two egg omelet with a little cheese that couldn’t be more than 400 calories and with having just corn and two chicken legs, that’s only about another 300 cals and that is not enough…down to only 80 miles to get to the 5K before my birthday but it looks like a short day tomorrow with the rain that is supposed to be coming in and it may mean only 16 miles on the indoor bike and I wouldn’t mind that…rain is supposed to start at 3am and rain until 2pm but I’ll believe that when I see it since the rain did the splits again today and went to the north and south of us here…oh, well…

Well…damn, I am so tired of being sore all the time…and of being worn out…it’s such a struggle to get going every morning…but I have to so I’ll stop whining now…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I hope to get the downspout painted and the string trimmer run but need 3 rides first that are going to start before 7am…down to around a hundred miles to go to get to 5K and have 11 days to do it so I’m pretty sure I’ll hit it by early next week…tonight is going to suck out here with all of the assholes shooting off fireworks all night like they did last night…I do need to cook today but I’m not sure what it will be…I do have some chicken legs in a marinade to put on the grill and I need to make an omelet before the ingredients spoil but I have no appetite for anything right now….coffee…more coffee…I think I may have broken a shock in the car…it is riding a little weird and the bumps are being transmitted into it…I guess I should get off my ass and find a new one…have plenty of money but will probably have to spend 12 grand or so to get another Miata…I wonder if I should look at another model of car?…Nope, my last car needs to be a drop top…not much to do today…just need to drag my ass off this couch and get going…and will be busy until late in the afternoon…with the big maple tree gone my house is now in full sun all day and that sucks…much warmer and it will be that way til I die…oh, well…more later…

Well…damn, spent a hundred bucks today and bought way too much food that was on sale…got some ground chuck on sale at Meijers for 1.97 a pound and 6.5 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken thighs for 9 bucks at DD…1.37 a pound and that is about half what they normally cost…some smoked turkey for 3 bucks for 4- 9 oz. packages…oh, some chicken legs for 99cents a pound again from Meijers…so I filled the freezer again and still need to make room for half the burger and half the chicken legs…man, I’m going to be grilling a lot….and I got 3 12 oz packages of hard Italian salami with no nitrites or preservatives for 5 bucks…so I have lots of food…will make it easier to eat enough with the variety I have now…and I bought lawn food at Menards and stumbled on some bootie socks for 4 bucks for 6 pairs that I really like…so much that I went back over there and bought two more packs so now I have 18 pair and I can finally get rid of the stretched out and holey ones I’ve had for 5+ years…these new ones are even stylish and stay on my feet when the other ones wouldn’t anymore…it’s really weird how just a little thing like finding some cheap, nice socks can make me happy…and I only have a little over a hundred miles to ride to hit 5K before my birthday…and I’ve ridden every day this year…185 days in a row and that makes half a year plus…got a lot done today but it’s 20 to three and I am done for the day….

Well…damn, I’m tired of having to get going every morning…and that’s the case today…have 14 minutes until I need to get on the indoor bike for the first ride before the grocery run and I have 5 stops to make today…not as sore as I was expecting to be this morning after the pain I had last night but I’ll take it…it did rain a bit yesterday and it’s supposed to rain again today but not a lot…I should be able to get outdoors on the bike when I get back and I do have outdoor work to do today…going to run the string trimmer and try to paint the downspout but I may have to wait til tomorrow for it to dry…have to hit DD and HF today along with menards,aldis, and meijers and that is going to be a chore but I do need to finish up feeding the lawn today or it will look pretty strange…so I can get going a little after 8…I did ride over and paid the water bill yesterday and I need to go to the library Friday to get more books…I really hope none of the assholes will be blasting fireworks tomorrow…that just gets so old…not going to go down to the fireworks since I’m over that…not much to do today…just want to survive the grocery runs and get to the afternoon so I can take a break….more later…

Well…with the rain today, I didn’t get the outdoor work done I had planned to do…I did get food on most of the lawn before it rained but need to pick up some more at menards tomorrow to finish up the small part I couldn’t do…I do not understand it, but I am sore everywhere and I guess it must be from dragging the ladder around and climbing it a bunch of times yesterday…so, if the two day rule works, it is going to hurt even worse tomorrow…it is going to rain starting at about 1am tomorrow morning and keep up til around 8 so I may do an indoor ride to get the day started before the grocery run…Meijers has corn on sale for 8 ears for a buck so I’m going to get some of those along with some chicken legs to grill later in the week and have some baked beans instead of potatoes since they are so damn expensive…I do have the ingredients for an omelet so I’ll make one of those in the next couple of days…only have about 150 miles to 5,000 so I’ll get there easily before my birthday…then the long slog for 2,100 more miles…this has been a lot of work and I hope I’m not doing permanent damage to my body…

Well…I am so tired of being sore…woke up this morning and every damn part of my body hurts…and I’m having such a hard time getting moving that it’s almost too much effort…rain is coming in but I am going to put my rain gear on and ride outdoors since the radar never matches reality out here…need to be on the bike by 7:30 and that gives me 25 minutes to pour coffee down me and become human…the weird thing is that I think I slept okay but it’s not having any effect…feel pretty lousy with coughing and my head is plugged up…just the damn allergies that nothing works on…oh, well…got a lot done yesterday but I can’t do two days of that in a row…but I do have trimming and painting to do today but can’t imagine doing that right now…I did make some peanut butter toast a few minutes ago since I didn’t eat enough yesterday and need more calories to support what I do every day…think I’m going to need an ibuprofen this morning…just a pool of pain and my right elbow hurts just picking up the coffee cup…darn…more later…

Well…man, what a busy day today…but I did accomplish a lot so that makes it okay…didn’t get on the bike for the first ride until almost 9 this morning since I had to wait for the temp to come up from the low of 46 last night…was not going to put on a fleece in July…got the second ride in right after the 1st and then got cleaned up and made a run out to depot…then back here and got on the bike for ride three…only have about 190 miles to go to get to the 5K goal by my birthday…after the 3rd ride, I got started on fixing the downspout but the part I bought to do that was too short so I thought I’d peel all of the duct tape off the old part to find that the only thing wrong with it was that it didn’t fit tight enough…so, I drilled a hole and put a pop rivet in to hold it together…worked like a champ so it’s really sturdy now…before I put the downspout back up, I cleaned the siding under it and all of it that faces my front steps…looks pretty good with it clean and that stupid duct tape gone…I do have to paint the parts tomorrow if it doesn’t rain since a lot of the paint is off it and it looks a little shabby…after I got that done, I mowed the lawn and trimmed some bushes so I could fill the bag that needed to go out tomorrow…so, yep…it was a pretty busy day today and I didn’t get finished until after 3pm…tomorrow should be easier but I do want to run the string trimmer to finish up the yard along with spotting some weeds…the work never stops…

Well…it’s only 46 degrees out here right now and I wonder if the heat is going to come on before it starts to warm up? Didn’t get out of bed til almost 7 but I don’t feel like I slept much overnight…it is going to start to warm up pretty quickly and should be warm enough to get out on the bike by 8am when it is supposed to be 57…hurt like crazy last night but I just feel fatigue right now…all of the miles have started to wear me out at my advanced age but I’m sure I’ll make it to the goal for the year…there is no wind out here today and that will be a welcome sight after coming back into a 25 mph blow yesterday…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I really do need to clean the bathroom today…I did eat almost twice what I normally eat yesterday and I wonder what the effect of that will be on the bike today…I know I haven’t been eating enough to support 38 miles a day on the bike but I don’t want to gain any weight either…going to have a second cup of coffee and watch the tour for a bit before I suit up and get on the bike…more later..

Well…running about on time with getting out of bed around 6 today and I think I slept okay…but still feel pretty worn out and I hope the coffee starts to work soon…it’s only in the 50’s out there right now and I need to get on the bike by 7 or so so I can watch the F1 race at 9…I’m a little concerned that I’m wearing my body out with all the miles I’m putting in…so darn sore all the time and it’s new places that hurt..and I slathered biofreeze on everything last night just to be able to sit here and not wince every time I move…I really thought I ate enough yesterday but then I did the math and my big meal of a chicken thigh, a couple of small red potatoes and some beans and peas from the garden only added up to about 500 calories so I was under 1,000 for the day again…I wonder why it’s so hard to eat enough? I know I’ve been complaining about that for years now and I’m bored with it as I’m sure you are…not much to do today…don’t have to cook with the chicken and brats I grilled yesterday and I wonder if I should only do two rides today to give myself a break? I know I could use it and it is really hard to get moving right now….more later…