Well…after the total slug day that I took yesterday, I really felt like I needed to get off my butt and do something today….even after getting up late, I was on the bike by 9:15 or so and got a nice, hard ride in and nothing hurt afterward so I decided to go out and work on the car…pulled both rear tires and squirted the parking brake linkages and cables with some ATF that I put in my new pump can, and I hope that will work in over the next week or so to keep it from seizing up like it did Monday….okay, Man U is going to start in a few minutes and I have to find the channel it’s on….more later…

Well….running really late today with not getting out of bed until almost 8 and I must have slept okay but no dreams to speak of….the wind is blowing like crazy out here right now and it must be going at least 40 mph with gusts…..the chickens were being blown all over the place while they tried to feed and when the gusts come, it is really loud….it is 48 degrees out here and I may have to go out and just feel the wind in a bit….I did get some work done yesterday with taking the curtains and hardware down off the windows here in the living room but I just realized I missed the ones on the kitchen windows and will have to do that today….I can’t believe how sloppily the curtains and shades were put up….they must not have had a tape measure or a level since not one of them was in the same location on the window frames as the others….I am going to replace them with grey ones in here but that won’t happen until I do all of the repair work from the damage from all of the brackets, nails, and screws….oh, some good news the other day when it was announced that every insured driver here in Michigan is going to get a 400 buck refund on their car insurance that will just about cover my insurance for a year so that is cool….not much to do today…I skipped the bike ride yesterday but will get that done here in a half hour or so after F1 qualifying is over….and then more work on the interior…and Man U plays at 12:30 so I need to get everything done before that….more later…

Well….running late again today and just can’t get going…up at 6 or so but was able to go back to sleep…or tried to until 7:14 but then just gave up…not too sore today and the is a welcome relief from the overall pain I’ve had the past couple of days…but I think most of it is my own fault…went hard on the downstairs bike the past few days and have been working on windows the past few days and whenever I work over my head, my shoulders usually hurt from it….I think I’m going to buy a new detail sander to work on my windows since there are a lot of angles that I need to sand…and the new ones have dust collectors on them so that might make it easier to get them done without having paint dust go everywhere…..and I can get one at HF for only 20 bucks but the sandpaper for them is not cheap….it looks like a windy couple of days out here with gale warnings and high wind warnings on until tomorrow night and I wonder what that will do when it snows later in the winter? I can see some big drifts everywhere that will have to be shoveled….not much to do today…need to run an errand after F1 practice ends at 9 but that is about all I have to do today….other than ride the bike and taking the curtains and their hardware down….going to be an easy day…..more later….

Well…cripes, running really later today with not getting up til 7:30 and I just can’t get going….feel like I didn’t sleep well again but I can’t be sure of that for a while yet….I could go back to bed but that has never happened so I guess that’s not an option…I’m not too sore so I guess that’s something….even after shoveling yesterday….my right shoulder should hurt but it’s just a little stiff and I’ll take that….I did get started at taking the old brackets off the windows yesterday and got three done…it’s a pain in the butt to chip 40 years of old paint off to get to the screw heads and they even had 3 inch nails holding some of them on….I wonder why they didn’t just remove them when they put new shades/curtains up…I have one in the kitchen that has 4 sets of old brackets on it and that just makes me shake my head…it’s going to take a couple of days each to prep them for paint…and I think I’m going to have to buy one of those small detail sanders to get into the corners and get the old paint off…don’t want to have to strip them but that may be an option with how much paint is on them….not much to do today….just going to continue working on the windows and clean some but need to get on the bike here in a few minutes first….I’m edging up to taking a day off soon but I don’t think it will be today…maybe….more later….

Well…it has been another day today and I got a few things done…read a nice article in Rolling Stone with an interview with Neil Young that was fun to read…I did get out to shovel the snow but there really wasn’t a lot of it to do and it only took about 15 minutes…will probably take 5 times that when the snow gets going out here but it was nice to get outside to just fool around for a bit….I did get a hard ride in early today and made it to 200 miles and 15 hours on the bike and it looks like I’ll get another 100 or so miles in before the end of the year leaving me short of 5K but that’s okay…didn’t have an indoor bike to ride all year so I took a few days off with the wind/rain/snow that kept me in….I’m really hoping to get 5-600 miles in before the snow melts in the spring and that will get me close to 1K miles in downstairs from now til then…I did cook a big Cook’s spiral sliced ham today and I really like them…especially for 89 cents a pound and that will keep me going for a week or so and then I need to start clearing out the freezer and making soup with all of the ham bones in there…but not today…need to start paying attention to the Man U match that is on right now….and start planning the work for tomorrow….

Well…woke up at the big block time of 4:54 this morning…you car geeks out there know what that means…and then went back to sleep for a couple of hours and had dreams that had popcorn, boats, and dead squirrels in it…and yes, it was as weird as that sounds….slept okay last night…or as okay as I ever do and just for once I would like to sleep through the night…oh, well…didn’t do much yesterday and today will be much the same but I do have to cook today…have a spiral sliced ham to cook today and that will give me protein for the next week…..and I’ll get the bike ride in as it cooks so I don’t have to think about that….it looks like it did snow some last night but not the 3-6 inches they forecast…but, I think I’ll get out and shovel the snow off the walks after lunch and before ManU plays…want to keep them clear but with the warm up that is coming, I could just let it melt….and it looks like we’ll get through most of December with it above freezing during the day so, at most, we will have a couple of months of bad winter out here and I can live through that…..not much to do today…just going to cook and ride but that’s about it….I do need to work on the car at some point to keep the parking brake from seizing up but that can wait til it gets warmer….more later….

Well….since I started feeding the birds out here a few weeks ago, I really expected to see sparrows on the feeder or in the yard at least but not one has shown up…I wonder how that could be? Sparrows are everywhere and I have never been to a place that didn’t have any so that makes it especially strange….I mean I have lots of titmouses…clouds of them…and I have chickens even but no sparrows so I guess I’m going to have to feed the 40 lbs of food to the chickens and the squirrels…oh, and this is another strange thing…I have a feeder full of food that has been visited by a few birds and you would think they would remember and come back there…but, no….lots of them will feed of the leftovers that the chickens leave but if I get two or three on the feeder in a day that is a lot….and it’s the same damn food…..I miss my sparrow mosh pit….oh, well…

Well…darn, it’s 17 out here and it looks like the first batch of lake effect snow is going to set up tonight and we’re supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow…ick…but then it’s going to get back into the 40’s for the next week or so so it should all melt…I wonder if I’m going to have to shovel…could probably use the exercise…slept okay last night but still feel worn out right now and I guess that’s normal now…only did one ride yesterday with the errands I had to run but I may do two today since I don’t have anything else to do….have been on that bike for almost 14 hours already and will hit 200 miles the day after tomorrow depending on if I do two rides today or one….won’t get to 5,000 miles this year but it has been a good one and I should see around 4,800 and that isn’t bad for an old guy…I do need to do some maintenance on the black and grey bikes soon to make sure they are ready in the spring…going to try to figure out how to take the swing arm bushings out and see if they can be replaced since they are worn on both bikes….not much to do today…just going to ride the bike and clean some…damn, I have to clean a lot around here and I guess it’s because this place is so old….need to get the basement organized and I’ll probably start on that today…and I need to clear out the spare bedroom so I can start working on it…..more later…

Well…had to run a couple of errands this morning and the wind was blowing the car all over the place….it’s steady at 30mph and gusting to 50 so when I hit HF, walking across the icy parking lot was a challenge…and you can feel it when it gusts since the house shudders a bit when it does….I’ve never lived in place that is so windy….there is a gale warning up almost every day…and I needed to do the grocery run today since it is going to be snowy and icy the next two days….tomorrow’s high is only going to be 23 so all of the wet roads will be icy in the morning and wed has the possibility of 3 in of snow and still only 30 or so for a high…got a Cook’s spiral sliced ham that has a regular price of 37 bucks for 6 and couldn’t pass up protein at 89 cents a pound….and I like ham and can use it in lots of stuff…and that will leave me two nice ham bones to make soup after the first of the year…need to empty the freezer first but it seems I keep putting stuff in….have had a pizza in there for a few weeks now and that will be used up this weekend…oh, I can use some ham on it so I’ll have to remember that….now back to soccer….

Well….darn, I’m tired this morning…didn’t get out of bed until 7:13 but feel like I didn’t sleep at all…that seems to be normal these days and I sure don’t like it….but, I’m not too sore so I guess I’ll grasp at that to get my day started…it was nice to have fresh bedding last night and that may have helped me sleep better…the wind is already blowing like crazy out here and it is supposed to gust up to 50 today and I am wondering if I should do the grocery run today since the high is supposed to be in the 20’s with snow tomorrow….and I still don’t want to put the worn out snowies on the car….so I guess I’ll have to work my strategy of not driving when it snows….and I do need to get on the bike before I do anything but haven’t even read the news yet so I’m behind already….the plans for working on the inside of the house have started to form up in my mind and I think I’m going to start by working on the windows….need to get rid of all of the hangers for the shades, curtains, and everything else that is still attached to the frames…it is so strange that they just left all of that stuff on there when they put up new blinds….and then lots of hole filling and sanding to get them ready to paint….not much to do today…I think I may get out for the groceries today so I don’t have to think about that anymore but I’m not sure yet…we’ll see after the bike ride….more later….