Well…forced myself to stay in bed after waking up at 4:10 and I wonder if that’s the key since I didn’t get out of bed til 5:47 and I feel okay…need to get on the bike in 20 minutes but I haven’t had any coffee yet so I guess I better get going and drink some…it stayed warm overnight at 57 so I’ll be out in shorts when I go and that is pretty cool for the 10th of October…the used book sale is today so I’m going to go over and see if there is anything I want…I need some science fiction and everything else…would love to get some books I haven read so I can read my own books for a while…just checked and the sale starts today at 10am so I need to get the rides in early so I can get there when it opens…need to have a bagel and more coffee first so I need to get going for that, too…it’s going to be a sports day today with Man U playing along with college football and a race but the race is going to be rained out by the hurricane that just hit the gulf coast…so that will make it a two race day tomorrow…going to have to cook today and more pork chops are on the menu…more later…

Well…I don’t know what it’s going to take but getting out of bed at 6:05 this morning didn’t help the exhaustion I’ve been feeling lately…damn, I sure hope it’s not how I’m going to feel from now on…oh, well…I did get two rides in this morning and then right into working on the winter wheels to get rid of the rust on them…finally finished that around 1:30pm and by that time I was sore from lifting the damn things…but I did get all the rust coated with rust preventer and then painted over that…they do look a lot better…it was a pain to mask the tires off so I could paint the edges of the wheels that were the most rusted part of them…just couldn’t let them get as bad as the ones I had on the old Miata…but they were rusted when I got them and nothing I did helped that…so they are now standing in the garage to dry completely before I stack them in the corner again….after that, I really didn’t do anything else today…the 2 rides are still taking a lot out of me and will until my body gets back to fitness again…when that will be I don’t know…soon I hope…

Well…damn, that was odd…didn’t get out of bed til 6:05 this morning and that never happens…and I even had weird dreams to go with it so that’s not bad…but that puts me behind for my day that should have started with a bike ride 25 minutes ago…oh, well…have been trying to break from my schedule and routine for quite a while now since I really don’t have to have one anymore…and it’s damn cold out there again at 47 degrees so it will be long pants on the first ride…and lights…charged up the bike lights after yesterday and I got 4 rides out of that one so that means about 5 hours on a charge and that’s not bad…the pain from the shots want away after one day and that is better than any time before and I’ll take it…another 30 mile day today if I’m feeling it and I need to do that since I can feel that I’ve gained weight and I have a doctor appointment coming up that they’ll weigh me so starvation is on the menu…not much to do today…going to get started on the winter wheels since they should be dry after washing them a couple of days ago but it has to be over 50 before I can paint them…more later…

Well…had an okay day today but didn’t get a lot done other than go over to the city offices to pay the water bill and then to the library to get more books…felt a lot better today even with only getting about 45 minutes more sleep and I even had enough energy to get back to doing two rides, one completely in the dark and cold of 46 degrees but then I came back here and changed to shorts and a lighter fleece as it warmed up…I could tell after only about 3 miles that my legs had the energy to do both rides and that made me smile a bit…saw my first group of turkeys that I have been seeing since they were little featherballs in pickleball park and that made me happy that most of them lived to almost adult size…I did get some cleaning done today in the kitchen since the stove was getting pretty ugly from cooking and now it’s clean and ready for me to get it dirty again…made bean coffee again today since I still have about 12 pounds in storage and it should be used so I’m doing bean coffee every day…and that gives me enough to take on the bike for the 2nd ride…and from what I’ve read, you can have as much coffee as you want with no bad effects…and I stop drinking it before noon so it won’t affect my sleep…so the plan for tomorrow is to start on the winter wheels with paint and rust preventer I have on hand since I can’t get to Menards with the road all torn up there…I know I have enough for 2 wheels at least so that will keep me busy for tomorrow…okay, done for the day…

Well…that was a little better…didn’t get out of bed til 5:17 this morning and that is so much better that waking up at 3am…and I slept better, too with just a little tossing and turning and I’ll take that, too…I am pretty sore from the vaccinations yesterday but an ibuprofen will take care of that…not nearly as much pain in my shoulder as last year and it didn’t spread down into my elbow so that’s a good thing…it’s in the 40’s again today so I’ll have to dress for that on the bike…still contemplating doing 2 rides this morning since all I have to do is pay the water bill and go to the library to return some books that are due and get a couple more…the book sale is this weekend and I plan on spending 50 bucks or so on another bunch of them to continue to expand my library…not sure why but I like having books around here…I may start working on the winter wheels this morning if they are dry but I probably will have to wait another day or so for that…one of the best things about being home is that I can have as much coffee as I want and I made another pot just for that reason today…need to be able to take some on the bike for the 2nd ride…the first one is going to be in the dark and cold but I really do like riding in the dark with the lights on…think I’ll wait to drop my ballot off until next week since I have some research to do on the proposals…one of them is to chip away at citizens united by prohibiting our gas and electrical suppliers from making political donations and I am on board for that….time to get moving…more later…

Well…damn, getting out of bed at 4:30am I guess is no excuse when there are things to be done…got a bike ride completely in the dark this morning and then did the grocery run, filled the car up, then back in to Meijers to get my covid and flu vaccinations, then home to drag the winter tires out of the garage and clean the wheels, then washed the car…and that got me to about noon when I started to feel pretty exhausted but no damn nap…and I sure can’t figure that out…one of my Mastodon friends suggested it might be a delayed reaction to jet lag and the 6 hour time change and I guess that’s as good a reason as any…and then I got a nice surprise when my ballot for the election came in the mail today so I can drop that off after I fill it out…was a little worried that it wasn’t going to come but it is the normal time so I didn’t have to worry about that…right now I have to figure out what to make for dinner that doesn’t take a lot of work…maybe a sandwich with some cool hot and sweet mustard I found at aldis today…going to be an early night but I still need to finish the book I’m working on before I can melt into the couch…

Well…I wonder if my sleep can get worse than last night? Up at 3am and then not much more sleep until I just gave up and got out of bed at 4:30…I have too much stuff to get done today to walk around in a daze all day…pouring coffee down at 5am to help me get started and it looks like this might be a 2 pot day but we’ll see…need to get on the bike by 7am to get a ride in before I head out to the grocery run that will include getting my covid and flu shot at Meijers after I get the groceries done…then when I get back here, I am going to drag the winter wheels and tire out to wash them and get them ready for painting after they dry for a week or so…then I think I’ll wash the car since it’s really dusty after sitting outside for more than two weeks…going to look for some cloth top protectant to make sure the winter won’t get to it…it needs to last until I die and that may not be for a few years yet…getting back into riding shape is going to take some time and I am going to try 2 rides tomorrow but damn, my butt hurts like I’m just starting out when I’m coming up on 6,000 miles for the year…decided to not renew my service contact with Dell for my laptop since they raised the price to almost a hundred bucks and that is for a 279 dollar computer…I’ll just buy another one when this one dies…more later…

Well…I know I’ve talked about this before but I am so happy about how the car has turned out with the clutch and transmission work I did that I’m going to talk about it again…you remember how I bitched that the car was almost impossible to shift when the trans was cold? So today I wanted to run an errand to DD just because I could being home…so I put the top down on the car even though it was only 42 degrees when I left here and when I backed the car out, it went from reverse to 1st with no effort at all…and when I shifted to 2nd and 3rd that used to need lots of muscle to do, this morning it was just as easy as when it was 80 degrees…and it’s all from changing the trans oil to a full synthetic and making sure it was full…and the shifting is getting better the longer it’s in there just as the commenters said it would…but the kicker to that is getting the air out of the clutch completely so it is easy and silky smooth to take off…so I was tearing around in the car just enjoying it this morning and feeling like it is finally how it’s supposed to be…slick shifts and no effort at all…and that is so cool after the first year when I had to warm the car up on the cold mornings to get it to shift at all…and to realize I can still work on cars and make them better even at my advanced age makes me smile…didn’t have to pay anyone to do this for me that would have cost close to a grand…now I don’t cringe when I get in the car…and that is cool…

Well…back to the same damn sleep pattern I had before the trip and I was really hoping that I could break that and sleep just a little later…I did fall asleep on the couch twice yesterday and that is all from feeling so exhausted from traveling…that should go away after a few days of taking it easy that I’m going to continue today…and that’s partly because it’s only 42 degrees out there and I am not ready to be that cold on the bike…so I’ll wait til it gets over 50 around 10am and that gives me 4 hours to settle in and get some things done around here and read some since I have books that have to go back thurs…I really do hope my ballot comes this week so I don’t have to go over and figure out why it didn’t get here…and I’ll have to vote in person that I don’t want to do…oh, well…I do have to maintain the bike this morning with putting air in the tires and lubing the moving parts…and I do need to start thinking about whether to buy a new bike or rebuild this one one more time…probably one more rebuild and then I may just try to get the black bike back on the road over the winter but that would mean trying to find a new rear wheel or getting one repaired…might stop at the bike shop to see if it can be done…but damn, a new wheel is almost 100 bucks if I can find one that will work with the Shimano rear cassette…sitting here with my new coffee mug from Venice and it feels good to have a remembrance of the trip that I can see every day…more later…

Well…today has really turned into a recovery day after I did 15 miles on the bike this morning…it was a fun ride but I’m back to starting at scratch with my bike fitness…my butt hurts and my legs are still sore…I know I also mowed the lawn but with all the walking we did on the trip, that shouldn’t be a problem…it just felt good to be out on the bike again and the best thing was no people…no crowds, no nothing and lots of open space that just doesn’t exist where I was in Italy…way too busy and way too many people and I think it is going to take a week or so until I get back to being used to riding here…but I won’t be back to fitness on the bike for weeks and that sucks…going to try 2 rides tomorrow but we’ll see…I may need to ease into it and work up to 2…I even fell asleep on the couch reading this afternoon as the exhaustion I feel caught up to me…trying to get through the last book I have before I have to return it Thurs but I don’t know if I’ll make it or not..I did get my flu and covid shots scheduled for Wed morning so I’ll have to do the grocery run later that day…but I’m really trying to no just fall back into my routine of go,go, go and just let things happen when they will…I wonder how that will work?