Well…when I was out on the bike this morning and heading toward 8,000 miles, it dawned on me that I still have 90 days left in the year to ride…so immediately I did the math in my head and realized to do 2,000 more miles to get to 10,000 would only take an average of 22.5 miles a day…so guess what? A new goal of 10,000 miles is now accepted and gives me something to shoot for instead of the vague one of just getting as many miles as I can…so for this last goal oriented year of riding, here we go to a new goal…and the thought hit me that if not now, when? I’m getting nothing but older and less capable so this is it if I’m ever going to get into 5 figures for a year…so, I’ll get started piling on the miles tomorrow after just doing two rides and 25 miles today…just too strong of winds out there and after all of the work yesterday, I need a recovery day to just clean a bit…and I hurt my neck pulling into the wind that really does need some rest…
Trump lies, of course…
Well…with the devastation that hurricane Helene left behind in Georgia and NC, the shameless liar trump spewed lies lies and more lies about the response to the disaster and blatantly tried to use it for political purposes saying that “maga areas of the states have been abandoned” by Biden and he is not even taking phone calls from the governors of those states…the only problem with that is that governor Kemp of Georgia debunked that lie an almost real time saying that he talked to Biden Sunday and is in almost contact with the federal agencies that Biden has mobilized to deal with the disaster…and guess who didn’t ask the governor to kiss his ass before he’s send any aid at all…yeah, trump did that but Biden didn’t…with Biden and Harris, it’s all hands on deck to bring the full force of the federal government to help the affected areas…but, in the 2025 project the the idiot trump says he will implement, these types of efforts will be left to the states and they will have to fend for themselves…look, there are things that should be the purview of the feds like these disasters…no one state can shoulder the burden and shouldn’t have to…but they hate the federal government so much they don’t care…they just want to prove the point that government doesn’t wok…and they are doing their best to make sure that’s true…geez…
October 1st
Well…another month starts and I am frickin sore today…might even have to take some ibuprofen before I get on the bike today…I was hoping to be able to take a little time off but the rain missed to the north so I’ll be on the bike by 8…not sure if I’ll do three rides today…probably not but we’ll see…got all the work I had to do this week done yesterday other than cleaning in here so a two ride day would help me get that jump started…if my ballot doesn’t get here by Thursday, I’m going over to the city clerk to find out why…they were supposed to be mailed out last Thursday and it shouldn’t take a week to go 4 blocks….it’s going to be down in the 60’s for highs for a while so I’ll need to adjust riding to it and wear some warmer clothes…I am going to buy some rechargeable heated gloves for this winter since I seem to be more sensitive to the cold as I get older…and maybe follow that up with some heated socks…the I could ride comfortably right through the winter if it doesn’t ice the trail over…I can ride the roads here I guess like I did last winter…but I don’t want to think about that right now…still going out in shorts for the next couple of weeks…damn, my right hip hurts this morning…okay…everything hurts and it would be easier to name the parts that don’t hurt…not much to do today…I feel good that I got so much done yesterday but at the end of it, I was so worn out…damn, I hate getting old…just need to do the rides and get the grocery list made up…need to stop at menards tomorrow to get some fencing ties since all of them are missing where I removed the shrub yesterday…and I’m missing a lot of them all along the fence….more later…
Man, I’m sore…
Well…damn, I’m sore…spent the day busy as heck starting with getting on the bike for two rides at 7:30 and getting them done by 10…then got the string trimmer out and did the whole yard…then got the sawzall out and went after two of the three trash bushes that are ruining my fence…got all of them but the stumps and put out 5 bundles for pick up tomorrow and hurt the crap out of my right thumb after abusing it with the saw…then I converted the string trimmer to the edger and edged all of the sidewalks and the cleaned up after that…then I fed the lawn with fall food and put everything away and I am beat…I did the math on the bike mileage for the year and saw that I am only 44 miles from 8,000 and that makes almost 900 miles since I broke the record the first week of September…now I think that 9,000 miles is possible for this year and that would get me to 20,000 miles for the past three years combined…and that isn’t bad for an old guy like me…it looks like it’s going to get cold starting tomorrow with highs in the 60’s from now on…so, I guess I’ll have to get the fleece out for the first time since May…oh, well…it is October after all…
Every damn repub…
Well…god, I hate the liars in the repub party..I just frickin hate them…ever since the dems passed the infrastructure act without one repub vote and it has started to do what it was supposed to do, fund infrastructure projects across the country and stimulate the good jobs that come with these construction projects…and as soon as the projects got started, every damn repub who voted against the act has tried to take credit for the jobs and economic activity it has spurred…and that includes the idiot jd vance who was caught on camera bragging about the 200 million dollars in projects for Ohio…I wonder if any of the media is going to get off it’s ass and ask him how he can take credit for something he voted against and railed against as “wasteful” spending when the law was being passed…I have had enough of these hypocrites who always try to have it both ways and no one holding them responsible for their lies…geez…
September 30th
Well…up at 5:35 again today and that is to be expected with being good for the first of 5 days…it’s the end of the month and I’m short on these by a few so I just my do a lot of them today…but, I might not with all of the yard work I have to do today…want to get the sidewalks edged and take out more of the trash bushes along with filling and seeding a washout in the front that I’ll have to use a block to stabilize until the grass grows…it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so I want to feed the lawn with fall food, too so it will be a two ride day to get all that work done…I will be able to get out as out as soon as it’s light since it’s 56 out there right now but it crashes down into the 60’s for highs for the next two weeks and I think the warm is going away for the year…as it should be since it’s October tomorrow…it is such a process to get ready to get on the bike every morning starting with doing my teeth, then biofreeze on my neck, then voltaren on my right thumb and elbow along with 100 sunscreen everywhere…tried 50 for one ride yesterday and got burned so no more of that…old bodies take a lot of work to keep them moving…just like old cars…I won’t say “not much to do today” since I have a lot to do and need to get started on it as soon as the second ride is done at 9:30 or so and I’ll keep working right through lunch…I’m hoping my absentee ballot gets here today along with my 4 new covid tests I ordered Friday…still need to get the parts for rebuilding the bike and that will be a project for this week….more later…
More miles today…
Well…I blame Manchester United for me going out to ride 38 miles today…they just sucked so bad I couldn’t watch it so I got back on the bike and did the extra 12 1/2 miles…I did see 4 deer and the tiniest little hatchling turtle today so that was cool…it was about the size of a quarter just crawling across the trail so I stopped to take a photo of it to post to Mastodon…so tonight I start my 5 days in a row with no cocktails to try to settle into the new pattern…it was funny when I read an article today that gave the recommended amount of booze you can safely drink in a day…and it said 4 cocktails a day for men is just peachy but then the article went on to say that any amount of alcohol is bad for you because it causes elevated rates of cancer of all types…hell, on a big cocktail night I don’t drink 4 of them so that’s pretty weird…but I’m going to stick with the new pattern and only have cocktails 2 days a week…feel a lot better in that pattern and it’s good for me to dry out completely for a while…didn’t get anything done today but the rides and putting some weedkiller on some weeds that had popped up but tomorrow I’m going got attack the trash shrubs in my fence with the sawzall and get at least two of them completely out so I can bundle them up to put out tomorrow…and tomorrow is going to be the last day of the year where it is going to be 80 then we go down into the 60’s for highs until mid October…won’t mind that at all but I’ll have to start wearing a fleece in the mornings and I haven’t had one of those on since May…oh, well…
Western NC is gone…
Well…I don’t want to hear from any damn repub again that global warming is a hoax after what the hurricane just did to western North Carolina….30 inches of rain in less than a day…whole towns wiped off the face of the Earth from flooding…no power, no water, no internet…every road closed and no way to get repair crews in to do anything until the flooding subsides and that could be days to a week…and where the hell is the reporting on the aftermath? It should be front page news on every paper and news site in the country but where is it on CNN? Scroll all the way past the trump news and elon news and the Koalas at risk articles and then you see one tiny little blurb and that’s it…millions of people at risk and they have an article on elon that is 10 times bigger than the reporting of this disaster…this was a supercharged hurricane that went from a tropical storm to a category 4 monster in one day with the temp in the gulf water the highest it’s ever been…so don’t bullshit me that the “science is not settled” as the repubs continue to bleat…the climate is changing fast in ways that can’t be predicted…who would ever have thought that half a state could be wiped out by a hurricane? Katrina was bad, but this one was far worse and unless we get off our butts and do something the east coast is going to be uninhabitable in my lifetime…they already can’t get house insurance in Florida and that is going to spread like it has to California where the major insurers have exited the market due to the climate change driven wildfires there…if you vote for repubs, this will only get far worse…geez…
September 29th
Well…another morning of getting up around 7 and that is going to end tonight when I don’t have cocktails and I’m okay with that…I’ve figured out that cocktails are too much work and I don’t like feeling like crap…so today starts 5 days off them and I’m looking forward to it…I did get some work done yesterday with cleaning the couch and rotating the cushions and vacuuming the living room rug…but I only did two rides yesterday and today will be the same with Man U playing at 11:30 and not giving me enough time to get three rides in since I can’t get started and it’s already 7:30…just started the coffee and need to pour another cup down as it gets light here…it’s only 58 here and just got a “high wind” alert so I do need to get going soon…it was windy yesterday and I hurt my legs coming back into it but they feel okay now…I have too much food in the fridge that can spoil so there will be no cooking today…still haven’t gotten to the bean burritos I have been talking about for a week now and won’t today with chicken masala leftovers and braunschweiger that is getting close to it’s expiration date…along with the pasta salad I made a few days ago…oh, well…not much to do today…the whole day hinges on Man U playing at 11:30 and getting everything done before that…and it’s quickly heading toward 8am…damn…more later…
Only two rides today…
Well…with the wind blowing 20mph out of the NE again, the first two rides took everything out of my legs so there won’t be a third today…there is another freighter grounded at the mouth of the channel into Muskegon Lake today and it is a different one than the last two times when the same freighter grounded…I did see another 5 deer and 16 turkeys on the first ride today and that was cool…but going into that wind hurt my left neck again after it had started to heal and that sucks since I can barely move my neck right now…damn…I really should clean some today and I will probably do the couch and living room later but right now, I want to watch the start of the Michigan game…and there is a race on later today so the afternoon is pretty much set…so, I think I’ll stop here and look for a topic for later…oh, and order my 4 new covid tests…more later…