Well…damn, it’s getting to be almost winter out there with the temp only 33 right now…and it’s going to get colder later in the week so I need to winterize the outside of the house this week…need to trim the trees that have grown around my power lines today to make sure I don’t lose power over the winter…I did get out for two rides yesterday and I’m going to try to do the same today but that means I’ll have to wait until it gets up to at least 40 today…slept okay last night but I still feel worn out and it’s getting on to three weeks of feeling this damn bug and I am so tired of it….I just want to go back to bed and that is not right…and the little widget on the bottom of the screen says “cold weather” and I know I’m not ready for it…my right hip is howling in pain this morning and it has to be from sleeping wrong last night since I didn’t do anything to hurt it yesterday…other than ride twice…I did read an entire book yesterday and that made me neglect this site and Mastodon and I have fear that no one will keep coming here if I don’t have new content…I’ve done almost 12,000 of these over the years and it’s been a lot of work…more later….

Well..damn, I’m cold again this morning and have the heating pad on me to try to get warm…up at 6:23…again, and I still feel so worn out that all I want to do is sit here and do nothing…but I won’t…as soon as it gets light I’ll suit up and get on the bike…but it’s going to be full thermasuit today with the temp only 40 right now….didn’t do anything yesterday and I feel pretty damn guilty about that…I wonder if there will ever come a time when I can just let go and relax? But that would mean cutting calories down to around 500 and I’m not sure how that would work…I feel pretty crappy at 1K and that might be why I don’t have any energy….at least it’s not raining right now but I do have to spray the bike to get the grit out of the shifters from riding Friday in the rain…it just damn annoying to have the bike not work smoothly but I guess it’s to be expected after abusing the bike…don’t need to cook anything today with all of the leftovers in the fridge…still have pizza and soup that will last me until Wed or so and then I’ll do the pork shoulder in the instant pot….and I need to freeze the rest of the ham…or toss it…not sure which…not much to do today…just need to keep pouring coffee down me until it starts to work and then get on the bike in the freezing cold….not coughing as much today so I’ll take any small improvement I can get….more later…

Well…I could make excuses for not doing a damn thing today like it was raining, or there were sports on I wanted to see and both of them would be true…but I just didn’t have the energy to do anything today…and it is the damn cold still hanging on after two weeks plus and I wonder if it is ever going to go away? Don’t feel too bad but I am still coughing and that is annoying…but the last time I had a cold years ago, it just stopped overnight and the coughing and fatigue were gone…I still have a headache but that is probably from allergies sine my little widget at the bottom of the screen has turned red and says “pollen tomorrow” so that can’t be good…going to be able to ride tomorrow so I don’t feel too bad about taking a day off but I do need to get the inside bike prepped so I can start riding that when it’s ugly outside…and it will be a few days this week…I did get to 3600 miles this past week so the 4000 mile goal is doable…not a lot for me but I’ll get to trying for 7K next year…and next year, I’ll get to a total of 100K miles since I started keeping track…and that is a long way…tv time…still the rest of the nascar race, the F1 sprint race is on in 8 minutes, and Michigan plays State tonight at 7:30…

Well…damn, it’s not a good start to the day when you wake up thinking you’ve slept in, look at the phone and it’s only 6:23…then you look at the weather and radar and see that it’s 38 degrees and rain is starting that will last most of the day…does that mean I’ll get the indoor bike ready and get some miles in? Probably not….I think I’ll make this a day off and watch some soccer and races instead…slept okay last night and forgot to turn the hepa filter off so I can breathe this morning…but I can’t leave it running for another day…or can I? I did make a new batch of potato soup yesterday that came out good but I have chick peas that I could have added but I forgot them…and maybe they wouldn’t have added anything…I will use them in the next batch of ham soup that I’ll make soon….have the heating pad on my back this morning but it’s not from pain but just that I feel so damn cold today that I needed to do something…damn, I hate getting old…not much to do today…going to try to not feel guilty about taking the day off the bike…but that will be hard as always….more later….

Well…damn, I hurt this morning and my right hip has decided to join in the fun…yay! Slept okay last night but sure don’t feel like it this morning…so how do I know I slept okay? Yeah, that’s the problem…I don’t know but I hope I did….just poured the first cup of coffee and it’s way too soon to say if it’s working or not…it should but I’m not taking anything for granted….had a good day yesterday with making a pizza on the grill and having it come out good…I do need to use the rest of the ham today in some potato soup that I’m going to use yellow potatoes in and I am curious how they are going to taste…it is still raining out there so I won’t be on the bike for a while if at all…only one ride yesterday so I need to control the calories again today…only had a bowl of soup and one piece of pizza yesterday so that surely would be under 1K calories and I need to do that again today to shed the 10 pounds I’ve put on since the UK trip started….still have the pork shoulder to make this weekend or I may wait til early next week with all of the leftovers in the fridge….need to cut up the celery in there for snacks with ranch later so I don’t waste it…not much to do today…the F1 practice and qualifying from Texas is on later so that will give me something to stave off the boredom…more later…

Well…as I went out to put the pizza that I made this afternoon on the grill, I notices that the trees have regrown surrounding my power and internet cable so I need to get after clearing them out again…I did it when I bought this house but have neglected it since so, the next time it’s not raining, I’ll get my extension trimmer out and cut a bunch of the branches down…I really don’t like working around power lines but my trimmer is fiberglass and plastic and I hope that will protect me if I slip and happen to touch the line…that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway and it does need to be done before the winter storms howl through here…and it’s always windy out here anyway so I’ll get after it Saturday…or tomorrow if the rain holds off and I’ll have my rubber shoes on, too, so maybe that will help…oh, the pizza came out good but my daughter donated my pizza pan so I had to make it in a rimmed baking pan she gave me…worked out good since it is nonstick and the pizza came right out…only had one piece since they are pretty good sized and now I’ll have pizza for 5 more days….

Well…damn, I was really expecting to take the day off with the rain today but it’s over already so I’ll be riding here in a while…still coughing like crazy and feel pretty crappy right now and I am wondering how long this damn cold is going to hang on? It’s been two weeks today since I started coughing on the UK trip and it’s getting really old…had a good day yesterday and got a lot of work done…did the grocery runs, then mowed the lawn, then out on the bike for two rides and finished it up with two loads of laundry and the smaller loads left everything wrinkle free out of the dryer….today was going to be a rest day with just using up leftovers and reading but it’s already over 50  so I’ll be out as soon as it gets light…not sure if I have the energy to cook anything today but a pizza on the grill would taste pretty good…and I have yellow potatoes to make another batch of soup and use up the rest of the ham…can I just sit here for a while and not do anything? I need a day of rest but I’m not sure if I’m capable of that….not much to do today…just going to ease into it for the next half hour or so and have more coffee….man, I’m tired….more later…

Well…got up at 6:30 this morning and that is getting to be the new normal and I don’t mind that…slept okay and I am a little confused that my right shoulder doesn’t hurt after abusing it yesterday…it’s a little stiff but not really any pain…still feeling the cold that I’ve had for two weeks now and I am getting damn tired of it…still coughing and feel stuffed up but part of it could be allergies since the pollen count is pretty high…and I really can’t figure that out since nothing is blooming right now….oh, well…going to get on the grocery run here in an hour or so and I wonder if I should get boneless skinless chicken thighs at 8 bucks for 5 pounds or a pork shoulder for 1.49 a pound? I’m thinking pork shoulder and cooking it on the grill using it as an oven…or I could do it in the instant pot and then I could make gravy to pour over some potatoes….hmmm….I do have to mow the lawn today and get two rides in since I have gained too much weight and need to stop that right now…and I am going to do laundry today to keep the loads a little smaller so the dryer will work better…okay, I need more coffee and to go over to get the morning post out on Mastodon…more later…

Well…it was so darn cold this morning at 38 degrees when I got up that there was no way I was getting on the bike til around noon so I needed something to do until then so I got the string trimmer out and did the final trimming before winter and then changed to the edger head and edged all of my sidewalks…something I should do more often to make it easier to do…I am waiting for my right shoulder to start to really scream in pain but that will probably be tomorrow although I can feel some tightness in it already…so, I think I’ll coat it with Voltaren here in a minute to try to stay ahead of the pain…think I’m going to do the final mowing of the lawn in mulcher mode tomorrow since it’s going to rain Thurs and Fri…then I can convert it to bagging to pick up the leaves…but first thing, I’m going to do the grocery run tomorrow morning…need to get potatoes to make another batch of soup to use up the whole milk before it spoils and use up more of the celery and onions that were left after the last batch that I hope to have for lunch tomorrow..then get a couple of rides in since I only did one today…and I want to make a pizza that I’ll cook on the grill later in the week to use up some of the leftover ham….and I still need to make the chicken masala at some point…probably not til the middle of next week…right now it’s break time…

Well…damn, that was weird…had the police banging on my door this morning looking for a missing woman…and an even weirder thing is that they know I’m the guy that calls on the loud music out here and they said they understood…a strange way to start my day…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get much done and it looks like I won’t be getting out on the bike anytime soon with the temp only 38 right now…I do want to run the string trimmer and edger this morning to do the fall cleanup and prep the lawn for the winter…got the fall food on it yesterday but I’m not really motivated to do anything right now since it’s still dark out there and I’m on the first cup of coffee….I did get two rides in yesterday and I’m going to try to do that again today after I get the work in…froze my butt off on the rides yesterday and had to put my long riding pants on along with double socks just to get through…it’s supposed to be as cold today so we’ll see how it goes…not much to do today…just the yard work and the rides…still have leftovers so I don’t need to cook and I have been eating too much lately anyway….have overshot the weight that I wanted to gain so now it’s time to slowly lose again….more later….