Well…running about on time with waking up at 5:24 but then staying in bed til 6:23….getting up has started to be a process as I’ve gotten older and I miss the days of just popping out of bed and getting on with the day…and yes, I know things change but that doesn’t mean I have to like it….slept okay last night and feel okay today if a little tired but that seems to be normal now so I can live with it…I am going to remember to take my vitamins today since they seem to help…it was so cool to have the tree guys come yesterday and now I have a cleaned up yard that I don’t have to think about…I did take the turkey out of the fridge this morning so I can make sure it will be thawed to dry brine it tomorrow and cook it Sunday…doing the whole t-day meal with stuffing, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy with brown and serve rolls…and I’ll be eating off the turkey for a week or more….it looks like it will be warm enough to ride outside staring Sunday and going for a few days until it gets cold again late in the week next week….not much to do today…have been looking for an excuse to take a day off but I can’t see it right now…so I’ve got an hour to sit and have coffee before I go down to the torture machine and get the miles in…more later…

Well…the tree guys are here and working and I got such a pleasant surprise when the quote was only 450 bucks…about a quarter of what I expected and it will be cool to have everything cleaned up…the old rotten tree is down and they have started the chipper…yay!

Well…up at 5:22 this morning but was able to lie back down for an hour so I guess that’s a win…I’m in the slow motion mode that comes with being depressed and I could feel that was coming on for a couple of days….I wonder how long this one is going to last? Who knows? Slept okay but sure don’t feel like it right now but I just started drinking coffee so maybe that will help….didn’t get much done yesterday but read and a little cleaning but today I do need to clean the bathroom after I ride the bike….was going to try to ride outdoors today but the wind is already over 15 and it’s not too warm so I guess I’ll head downstairs around 8…I really could use a day off but probably not today…even though I’ve hit my goal of 4K miles, I still need to lose weight so I need to do at least 16 miles a day…my brain is not cooperating this morning and I wish I could allow myself a day to take it easy and just wing it….still working on leftovers but I do need to get the turkey dry brined tomorrow so I can cook it Sunday…or Saturday depending on how fast it thaws….not much to do today….just going to sit here for a bit and have more coffee as I try to decide what to do…and yep, that’s a Joe Walsh lyric….more later…

Well…it’s raining and 38 degrees out here right now and I don’t mind the sound of it…it’s almost 7 and I have an hour to get going so I can do the grocery runs this morning…I am going to buy a turkey today since I can’t pass up protein at 59 cents a pound…and I’m going to try a new way of brining it…a dry brine was recommended by one of my Mastodon friends so I’m going to try that….just kosher salt and herbs and you can leave it in the fridge for up to three days….going to cook it Sunday if it thaws fast enough….slept okay last night and didn’t get up til 6:21 but my right hip is howling in pain today so I must have slept wrong last night…I wonder if I will be able to get on the bike today? Yeah, that won’t keep me off it….I do need to hit Menards today to get a hand brush for cleaning stuff up around here and I need to replace the outdoor water faucet but that will wait til spring….and that will give me time to plan it…got a lot done around here yesterday but I am thinking of taking the day off today…think I need to get over my compulsion to fill each day with work…when do I really get to retire? Going to get started on the dining room next week and that will keep me busy through the end of the year….not much to do today…after the grocery runs I’ll get on the bike downstairs and I should be able to get two rides in before 11…then I’ll decide what I’m going to do….more later…

Well…up at 6:14 this morning and slept okay…even went to bed early with the boredom I was feeling so that made a good 7+ hours…feel a little worn out…still…but I’m pretty sure it from calorie restriction and nothing else….have a lot of work to do today with getting two rides in and starting on the leaves…I may even try to get an outdoor ride in since it’s going to be in the upper 40’s today….did 31 miles yesterday with doing two rides downstairs and then outside for 15…and I hit my goal of 4,000 miles for the year Sunday so I may be able to add another 500 on top of that…and that is pretty good with having 11 weeks off for medical stuff this year…only have one more appointment about the surgery this year and I can’t wait til there are no more….I am going to set the goal for 7,000 miles next year and that is going to take a lot of work…at least two rides downstairs all winter and then lots of big days outside of at least 45 miles a day…and I’ll have to throw a few 105 mile days in there, too….not much to do today…need to get moving soon to get the day started so I don’t get behind…behind from what, I don’t know….one of these days I’m taking a day off and just lying around and doing nothing…but not today….more later…oh, and I will get to a political one later….

Well…damn, the sun is shining and the wind has dropped so even though I’ve done two rides already, I may go out and get an outdoor ride too….it’s 55 out there right now so it is warm enough…let me go look at the wind a minute…okay, it’s 61 out there but the wind is blowing out of the SW at 18 with gusts so it may be too much…I got a call from my brother to have lunch so a burger and fries is all I can have for the day…and I know that is too much at over 1,000 calories…so I really should go out for another ride…I did get a call from my doctor to recommend that I take some mucinex to help break up the congestion in my lungs and luckily I had some here…waiting for it to work and if it doesn’t in the next week, they are going to prescribe some antibiotics just in case…no pneumonia so that is a good thing…but I saw that on mychart so I already knew that…so now I need to decide whether to ride again….

Well…man, I feel worn out today and it may be restricting calories to lose the weight I need to lose….slept okay last night but I’m only on the first cup of coffee so that hasn’t had the chance to work yet and I sure hope it does soon…just had a gust of wind shake the house and it must have been close to 50mph…loud….and the wind is blowing like crazy without the gusts so the rides will be inside today…if I ride at all…I do need a day off even though I had one last Wed…it appears there are some showers coming in but not a lot of rain so I may be able to pick up the leaves tomorrow or Wednesday…it was nice getting an outdoor ride in yesterday and I may be able to ride out there again later in the week when it’s in the upper 40’s….I do need to clean the bathroom today so that means I’ll have to get on the bike by 8 or so to get two rides in before I get started…I do need to find a topic for a political one today and I will find something…just haven’t been too motivated lately…I do want to go outside and stand in the wind and feel a gust or two today…it’s warm enough to do that at 51…not much to do today…just the rides and cleaning…don’t even need to cook for a couple of days with leftovers of pizza and chicken Masala…I do have eggs that need to be used so I thawed some breakfast sausage and will be making that later in the week….more later…

Well…when I got up this morning, the plan was to take the day off the bike and have a rest day…but the guilts got the best of me after having my coffee so I went downstairs and got a ride in…then the plan was to take the rest of the day off and just watch races…but I made the mistake of looking at the weather and saw that it was 54 degrees and the wind was only about 12 out of the SW so I suited up in shorts and got a ride in outdoors, too…and that felt good but the congestion in my lungs really hurt and I had a hard time going full out the entire way like I normally can do…tomorrow may be a day off with the gale warning that is calling for winds of 25- 35 mph with gusts of over 50 and rain but I guess I can ride indoors…and I need to do that if I’m ever going to lose the 10 pounds I’ve gained since the surgery…but right now, I’m done for the day and going to watch a race…

Well…the time change is working it’s magic this morning and I’m back in conversion mode trying to figure out what the real time is…got out of bed at either 7 or 8 and whatever time it was I slept okay but I am in slow mode this morning…it is damn cold out there today so it looks like I’ll be back on the indoor bike again today for at least the first ride but I would like to get outside today…I think I need to make the coffee a little stronger since I can see through it with this pot and that’s just not right….and I could really  use the extra caffeine today….if I wouldn’t have take a day off last Wed, I’d take one today and just watch races and football but I won’t…had sports on last night and when that happens it just doesn’t feel the same as entertainment like “Svengoolie”…it’s like I wasted a night and I wonder why I feel that way? I did get a few things done yesterday and I have bedding to put in the washer today….need to clean up my bedroom and get the clothes put away that I’ve piled on my chair to make it less messy….and the bathroom and living room need cleaning, too…so there is a high bar for accomplishments today that I’m not sure I can meet…not much to do today…staying on the one meal a day plan to lose weight so there is no need to cook for the next few days…have leftover pizza and chicken Masala that will last for the next four days…or 8 days if I can keep up the one meal a day…and I can eat out of the freezer after that for probably a month…think I’m going to make the potato soup again since I bought yellow potatoes Wed…more later….

Well…when I got up this morning, I didn’t really feel like doing anything even with sleeping in til 7…and that continued for quite a while until after lunch…I did make the chicken Masala for lunch but that is the only meal for the day…had the chicken over some rice with one piece of Naan bread and with a glass of milk that should be about 600 calories for the day…then I got on the bike for two rides and got the laundry done so I did get a few things done…after that, all I did was finish up the 6th book I’ve read since I got the 30 books from the library…I do have to set the clocks back this afternoon so I don’t have to do it in the morning and my coffee maker will have the coffee brewed at the right time…it was a little relaxing knowing I’ve got the tree removal set up but now I think I’m going to replace that one in the middle of the yard and it’s down to either a red maple or an apple tree…I won’t live long enough to see apples off it but the next owner will…so I’ll need to have them chip the tree stump out…and I’ve decided to try to keep the low hanging branch on the big tree since it rebounded nicely after I trimmed the branches at the end of it and the leaves are not wilted so the circulation is still working even with a small crack in the bark….