Well…after giving up on the F1 race from Monaco since it was just another “follow the leader” parade that the announcers tried to turn into a race by showing the 4th and 5th place cars following each other for lap after lap, I got on the bike for the 2nd ride and noticed a huge vibration when I got down he hill to the trail…so I stopped to figure it out and the front tire had failed in two places leaving 2 bulges in the tread…so I turned around and came back here to fix it remembering that I had a used tire with 1/4th tread that I had taken off the rear last year…so with 15 minutes of work, I was back on the bike and got a nice 2nd ride in and I think that one will last until I get a new tire this week…but damn, the prices of the tires I buy have gone from 24 bucks to 35 bucks each thanks to the idiot’s tariffs…I really had to think when I last replaced the front tire and I think this is the only hybrid tire I’ve had on the front since I replaced the knobbies with them…and that would make it at least 7 years old with over 40K miles on it…that seems like a lot of miles since I only get about 8K out of the rears but the inside of the rim looked pristine so maybe that’s true…and the entire tread of the tire was cracked and falling apart so who knows? This is the 3rd day of peace and quiet up here and it is just so damn nice to not hear the assholes in the rental…

Well…damn, I really wasn’t ready for how much my right forearm would hurt after pulling weeds in the lawn for and hour the other day…have had to treat it with topical painkiller and will have to do that again today before getting on the bike…we’ve got a couple of really hot days coming with the high getting to 90 Monday and then some rain and storms late Monday and I’ll take that…I love the heat and have the big fan out and set up in the living room so I’m ready for it…didn’t get much done yesterday but I really do need to clean today for at least a bit…started a little yesterday but need to get off my butt after the rides…or one ride until later since the F1 race from Monaco is on at 7:55 and there is no way I can get 2 rides in before then..or I could if I went out in the dark right now but without coffee, that is not going to happen…and even with coffee that’s not going to happen…I’m tired of rushing around all the time and just want a day of doing what I want instead of what I’m compelled to do…so I’m going to take time to have coffee and a bagel before I get on the bike…for the first time in months the wind is calm out there and that is going to be weird after going into 20-30mph wind all the time out here…so it’s bagel and 2nd cup of coffee time…more later…

Well…with getting out on the bike this morning in the fog, by the time I got the 1st ride in I was getting damp and a little cool so instead of refilling my water bottle like I normally do between rides, today I got out a contego non spill coffee cup that just happens to be the same size as my stainless 1 quart water bottle…so I filled the cup up with hot coffee and headed it out…and it was kind of nice to have coffee on the bike since I only took time to have one cup before I started out at 6:15am and I really needed it…so I think I’ll do the same thing tomorrow but that means I’ll have to set up the coffee maker for extra coffee in a few minutes…and I think I’ll grind some beans for that since I have 4 pounds coming and still have about 4 1/2 pounds here…

Well…after seeing that the ground coffee I bought a few weeks ago has doubled in price, I took a look at the Hills Brothers beans that I bought a week or so ago for 11 bucks for 32 ozs and it was still priced at that so I ordered another bag of beans this morning to make sure I don’t run out of coffee as the price soars on all of it…I mean the beans I used to buy at 13 bucks are now 37 dollars…who the hell can afford that? So, I rolled the dice even without tasting them but I have the advantage (disadvantage?) of not being able taste much so I don’t think of coffee as anything but a CDS (caffeine delivery system) and any of it should work for that…I also bought some cheap post it notes that I can use to make notes to myself like I used to when I was working…and I bought 8 100w LED light bulbs since I don’t have any spares here and these were cheaper than even at the dollar store where I used to get them for a buck but are now 1.50…that stuff will be here tomorrow but the coffee is going to take a couple of weeks for some reason..who knows?

Well…slept all the way til 5:30 this morning and that is such a win that I don’t know what to say…I mean with ups and downs that is a solid 6 1/2 hours and I’m feeling the energy this morning…even with just pouring the first cup of coffee…it’s 60 out there right now and we have a heavy fog warning on right now and I haven’t been out in fog in quite a while and it should be fun…don’t have to cook today with chicken tacos to have for the next 4 or 5 days and still have 3 days of turkey dogs and I am loving the homemade pickles and red onions but damn, cukes are over a buck each and I’ve never seen that before…and the cheap ground coffee I bought for 11 bucks three weeks ago is now over 22 bucks so I think I’ll see if the Hills Bros beans I bought are still 11 bucks and I’ll buy another bag of them even without tasting…how bad can they be? We did get some good rain yesterday and even even overnight when the rain woke me up even wearing earplugs so it will be interesting to see how flooded the trail is this morning…need to get off my butt and get moving so I can get both rides in before the MotoGP sprint race at 9am…I really do need to clean at some point and do the windows that I started with the kitchen ones yesterday…more later…

Well…after the rides and all the yard work yesterday, i took it easy today with just the rides and making some chicken soft tacos for lunch…which came out great and the avocado was a nice touch…but I forgot to put cheese in them that I’ll remember tomorrow…I did get two nice rides in this morning and my legs were not as flat as they were yesterday…it has been raining a while here but not enough to help my yard…that would take days of rain every week and that is just not going to happen…the female swan I’ve been watching on the nest for a month now finally had 4 cygnets hatch and took them from the nest into the water for a swim today…pretty cool since I thought she was out of luck…and on the way back from the 2nd ride, I saw a female turkey with 10 chicks out by the country club…they were so tiny I could have held 6 of them in one hand…I sure hope she avoids the busy road she was standing next to…okay, back to reading..

Well…damn, stayed up til almost 11 last night but that didn’t help…up at 5am again and I’m quickly getting to the point that I need to try something else to sleep more…it looks like rain today but I’ve got til almost 10 to get the rides in…going to be lots of wind but it’s already warm enough to get out in shorts and a t-shirt…and we’ve got some almost 90 degree weather coming for the later in the weekend…about time…not as sore as I should be after all of the work yesterday and I won’t need an ibuprofen…yet…but I’ll wait for that until later…it’s going to be nice to be done for the day and then read while it’s raining this morning…need to figure out food for today…the avocados are not ready yet but I think I’ll make the chicken soft tacos anyway…still have the pickled red onions to have with it so that will be enough…I actually tasted the turkey dogs with homemade pickles yesterday and I think these are the best batch I’ve made in years…a cross between dill and sweet with lots of heat and I’ll have to make another batch next week…not much to do today…I do need to clean the kitchen and dining room and should tear the fridge apart and clean that, too but that will probably wait til Sunday…need to get the day started with more coffee and the weight work before I get on the bike in a half hour…more later…

Well…it was a pretty busy morning today that I kind of planned but not all of it…I started out with getting two rides in beginning at about 6:20am and by the time I was done with the 2nd, my legs were completely flat and I was struggling a bit…and when I got back here, I discovered that I had used up all the weed killer from the last application from a month ago and I really did want to feed the lawn with the rain that is coming tomorrow…so darn, I had to put the top down and make a run to menards to get what I needed…when I got back here, I pulled weeds in the lawn for an hour or so to get rid of the tree of heaven sprouts that we all through the lawn…and the bending over gave a good stretch to my hamstrings and even made my back feel better for a bit…after that I fed the lawn and hit it with weedkiller since the weeds were trying to take over even with the grass really stressed from no rain…then I treated the ant nests that were big enough to swallow my lawnmower and I was done…oh, after the rides, I cleaned up the trash that the idiots in the rental left on the street and in the vacant lot and poured it all on the front steps of that run down piece of crap so they would have to deal with it…I was done by 11:45 but that’s enough after getting started a little after 6am…so now it’s pushing 2pm and I’ve barley gotten any reading in but that is going to be the rest of my afternoon…

Well…another day of getting up before 5am and I said I wasn’t going to talk about that anymore..so that’s it…but that else do I have to talk about? My life is pretty boring, after all…I do feel pretty good even after no sleeping last night so I’ll just go with that…and it’s 57 degrees out there right now so I can go out in shorts as soon as the sun comes up…but I need to get the weight work in before that happens in an hour…and I do need to have lots of coffee before that…today looks like yard work after the rides are done and I need to do the weed walk with the pump sprayer since I don’t have enough weed killer to use the hose…not sure if I’m going to mow the front today but I know I’m not mowing anything else since my lawn is dying and not growing much…I’ll be out on that by 9am and should be able to carve out some time to read today…I did make the homemade pickles late last evening so I’d have some to put on the turkey dogs I’m having today…going to have to wait to make the chicken tacos since the avocados are in a paper bag ripening and won’t be ready for a couple of days…so, I don’t know what the 2nd meal is going to be…maybe some quickie stir fry? It looks like we have rain in the forecast for a couple of days starting tonight and through Sat but I’ll believe it when I see it…the weather widget is saying an inch of rain Fri but that just makes me laugh…need to air up the tires on the bike before I ride since it’s been since I put the old wheel on on the rear of the bike and the tires do lose air over time….more later…

Well…to celebrate this International bike day, I got two great rides in today and really enjoyed them…I did get the grocery run in and have the ingredients for all kinds of dishes…chicken breast with asparagus that I already made for dinner today, and chicken soft tacos with pickled red onions and avocado, along with omelets and chicken stir fry…oh, and I have some uncured turkey dogs that will go well with the pickles I’m making tomorrow and the pickled onions…so I’ll be cooking a lot and I don’t know why since I still can’t taste anything…maybe it’s just habit? The new power pack I bought has tons of capacity and I’ve used it for a week to power the mp-3 player and the charge indicator still reads 100% so that’s cool…and when the charge starts to fall in the player, it automatically starts charging it so I don’t have to hit a button like I did on the old one…and only 10 bucks so that’s a deal…I did run across some people helping out a hatchling turtle today just like I do and I laughed and said to them: “so you do that, too?” They smiled and showed me a tiny green back they were moving…and I’m still getting all the smiles, waves, and good mornings I’ve been getting on the trail and it feels like the trail is our little community and that makes me smile,too…okay, need to find something to watch tonight…