Well….damn, where the heck did November go? It seems to have passed so quickly that I almost missed it….but, it is nice that the first wed of December is the first so I get more cash in my account in only two weeks…..I’ve gotten a few things done this month and am making slow progress on this place but that pace needs to pick up if I want to get the interior painted over the winter…but that’s about 3 months so it should be enough time…and then I can take the summer off next summer and just fool around and go to the beach a lot….and if the damn virus will just go away, I will be able to go out sometimes and have a beer or two and get to know more of Muskegon….and maybe make some friends out here….I did get laundry done today along with fixing part of the cold air return for the furnace so it will pull air from up here instead of just the basement….and four of these if that counts for anything….I did do a bike ride, too, and I think it was the hardest ride yet….came away with my t-shirt totally soaked when it normally is only half soaked…I may be outside for the ride tomorrow but I just noticed that the black bike has a flat on the front tire and I must have damaged it putting the knobby tires on it last week…darn….I will have to wash the grey bike tomorrow and get it downstairs since it is going to be warm enough and I will then need to put a hook up for the hose after I drain it and hang that in the garage…and I may have to replace the valve I put on the outside faucet with the cap for the winter since the valve is plastic and probably won’t survive sub zero temperatures….so, it looks like a full day tomorrow with  doing the grocery run, cooking the 7 pound pork shoulder, riding the bike, and then cleaning it up….trying a new recipe for the pork that has a sauce made of onions, bay leaves, garlic, chicken stock and butter…and, since I used rosemary for the turkey, I am going to substitute Italian seasonings for that….and it all cooks in the instant pot while the pork is cooking…and then you thicken it with some cornstarch when the pork is done…not sure if 12 cloves of garlic is too much so I think I’ll cut that back to 6….oh, and some roasted carrots and mashed potatoes to go with it….so, I only had one meal today with the big one coming tomorrow….happy December…

Well…damn, how did this happen? Woke up at 6:23 but was able to go back to sleep until after 8…I haven’t slept in til after 8 in years and I really don’t know why it happened today….don’t feel refreshed, though, so I don’t think it did any good….and I slept on my right shoulder again and it hurts like crazy this morning…oh, well…I did get a few things done yesterday but probably won’t do much but clean today…if I even do that…just not too motivated right now but that could be that I’m on my first cup of coffee and it hasn’t had time to work yet….I may be able to get out on the bike tomorrow and Thurs since it’s supposed to be in the mid 40’s but it it’s just so easy to  go downstairs to ride that getting cold has lost it’s attraction to me….and I’m pretty sure the trails are getting some ice on them…and being careful is just too much work…..the chickens have been here a lot since I started to put some food out for them and that is pretty cool….they just stand there and wait for me to put out a couple of cups…and they have already been here this morning to completely clean up the leftovers from yesterday…need to get out there with more here in a minute….not much to do today…just going to ease into it and have more coffee for a while and then see about getting on the bike downstairs…again, no motivation….and I’m not sure if that is going to change….more later…

Well…I sure wish I could figure out how I got to 7:44 this morning before waking up….I wonder if it’s from not sleeping much the past couple of days? Whatever it is, it was nice to wake up with the light today….I did get some work done yesterday…had some peeling paint in the bike room that was bugging me so I scraped it and used a wire brush to clean up the spalling, then painted it with the exterior white paint the I had left over from doing the door frames…have to figure out what color I’m going to paint the room but I think it will be the grey theme that I’m going to use on the rest of the interior…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and I’ll do that again today but I am having trouble getting going so it will probably wait til later this morning….have to run an errand this morning to get a pork shoulder that I’m going to cook tomorrow since I’m getting tired of turkey and it’s only 99cents a pound….that will keep me going for almost a week…and I haven’t had any pork for quite a while….not much to do today…just the errand and then back here to do the ride and then figure out what else I need to do….but I need coffee and to read the news right now…I feel like I’m running behind after the long sleep…but, I know I’m not….I have all day but it’s 8:24 already and I need to get moving….more later…

Well…darn, another 5:13 morning and I didn’t sleep for crap last night….tried to get a little more sleep but gave up at around 6…but, I feel okay so I guess that’s something….I did get out to get the paper this morning and the roads are really icy up here…the summer tires did okay but I am going to put the winter ones on this week….I did ask if there was a self serve car wash when I went out to get the paper this morning and there is one on Sherman so that is only a mile or so from here so I’ll look for it when I go out for groceries wed….I did get a ride in yesterday but not much more than that with the Michigan game on and taking up 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon…I am over 100 miles on the inside bike and over 8 hours in time on it and I hope I can get another 100-200 miles before the end of the year…that should get me to 4700 miles or so and that’s not a bad year…..and this year I can start riding on the 1st of the year and should have close to a thousand miles before I get out on the trails….not much to do today…Man U plays at 11:30 so I need to get the bike ride in before that and maybe even some cleaning….Meijers has pork shoulders on sale this week for 99cents a pound so I’m going to get one and cook it in the instant pot and that will give me protein for the entire week after I finish off the turkey….more later….

Well…stayed up late last night watching the Beatles documentary again and that makes waking up at 5 a little too early but I was able to get back to sleep for an hour or so….even with not doing anything yesterday, I feel pretty worn out today and I’m sure it’s just from getting old….I shouldn’t hurt today but my ribs on the right side are stiff and sore and it’s probably from sleeping wrong…okay, that’s enough whining….looks like the ride today will be inside with snow/rain coming in and a winter weather advisory in effect for the day…still haven’t put the old snowies on the car and I’m not going to to do it today…think I’ll just stay in until the snow melts this time and get them on next week…going to try to not take the car out in the salt as much this year and that will mean I’ll be staying home a lot with how much it snows out here…I really only need to go out once a week for groceries so that may be doable….I have to get started on the inside of the house soon and get some color chips to decide on the color scheme for the house…still want to do it in greys but I’m not sure how dark I want to go…not much to do today…need to get the bike ride in downstairs since it is cold and wet out there and I’m not riding in that….and I need to get that done before the Michigan game today…they play Ohio State and are going to get whipped so I’m sure I won’t watch the whole thing….more later…

Well….I’m not sure what the reason is but I’m finally taking a day off of everything…I think it’s been around 3 years since I’ve allowed myself to just do nothing for a day…no cleaning, no cooking, no bike, no nothing…it’s even almost two in the afternoon and I haven’t even gotten in the shower yet…and I don’t feel one bit guilty…okay, maybe a little but I’ll live through it….and I just got the first birds on the feeder in a couple of weeks….I guess the snow we got out here covered up their normal food….have a blue jay on the sill right now but he hasn’t figured out how to get on the feeder yet….still haven’t had any sparrows on the feeder yet but I have hope I’ll get some other birds soon….okay, that’s enough….need to get back to doing nothing….

Well…running a little late this morning with not getting out of bed until after 7….and it snowed out here last night and it is sticking to the roads so I’ll be riding indoors today….had an okay day yesterday but I am a little irked that I didn’t hear from two of my kids after I reached out to them….only had one meal yesterday but it was a big one with doing the normal turkey for t-day and I’m not sure what I’ll do today…still have leftover ham that needs to be used or put in the freezer and I do want to have turkey sandwiches so maybe I’ll have a small lunch so I can do two meals today…..I can’t figure out how I hurt so much yesterday with just doing one bike ride and no other work but it might have been doing the leaves Wed…and, as I’ve bitched about before, it seems everything I do makes me hurt these days…it was almost a day off yesterday other than cooking and I think today will be the same….just don’t have any motivation right now and I hope there will be some soccer on later…I did start the Beatles documentary done by Peter Jackson last night and it was so cool to see how they worked to develop songs that I’ve only heard in their finished states….more later…..

Well…yeah, I usually don’t do one of these…they seem to be pretty self-indulgent and a way to brag about how much you have and how good things are going for you…and I know that many people in this country aren’t doing great…in fact almost 60% of the people in this country wouldn’t be able to meet a surprise 400 dollar expense….that said, I have had a lucky year that has been pretty good to me and my future….I have been in my new house now for 9 months and that in itself is something to be thankful for….with all of the moving parts that had to happen just right to get everything I wanted in a house for a good price, I will thank my brother the realtor…and to have the beautiful trails I ride on everyday and to have Lake Michigan so close is something I never thought could happen after looking for houses for a year….it has been a lot of work to tame this neighborhood but it has gotten so much better that I can go weeks without making a noise complaint…and I have enough money in the bank to take care of any emergency that might arise and that is all happening with my only income being SS….and that is something to be thankful for after being broke 4 years ago and having to borrow money to live….I’m on pace to have 100K of assets by early next year and that is just so damn cool…so, it has been a good year…I am thankful to have all four of the kids doing well, too, and for my grandchildren that I hope this damn virus will stop preventing me from seeing….and I’m thankful for the turkey that is making this place smell so good as it roasts….I think I may be at peace for the first time in many, many years and I always thought that was unobtainable….it’s not all rosy…I’m getting older and the daily aches and pains are always here and getting worse but I can still rip off 15 miles on the bike so I should stop bitching…so I will…Happy Thanksgiving…..

Well…running about on time this morning with waking up at 5 but staying in bed til about 7….slept as well as can be expected but still feel kind of slow and I’m going to ease into it this morning…it’s pretty warm outside right now and will probably get on the bike here in an hour or so and try to get an outdoor ride in if it isn’t raining…but it’s going to get colder as the day goes on and we may get some snow showers later in the day…glad I got the leaves picked up yesterday so I don’t have to think about that….had an okay day yesterday and got a few things done but I’m not planning on doing much today but cooking the turkey and watching football…just flipped the turkey over in the brine so I could get the back of it brined and need to get it in the oven by 10…going to slather it in rosemary butter to get a nice crisp skin…and I’m putting garlic, celery, carrots, and bacon in the cavity as it cooks to get some good flavor in the turkey and gravy…not much to do today…just cook and veg and then cleaning up after I’m done….and eating too much…I’m sure there will be a nap in there somewhere, too….more later…

Well….once the temp got up to around 40, I decided to take an outdoor ride today even with the wind blowing over 15mph…but it was out of the south so it wasn’t too bad…and the waves were huge and so loud that I had to take my earbuds out just to listen for a while…they must have been 8 feet or so and they were not just at the shoreline but stretched a quarter mile or more offshore and I’ve never seen that before….it was a fun ride and so different than riding indoors an it took me a while to get used to it again…once I got back here, I decided to pick up the rest of the leaves that had just fallen and filled two more bags to go out Tues on the last pickup day…the big tree still hasn’t lost it’s leaves but I think it’s tall enough that the wind will blow the leaves away when they do drop…oh, and after that, I washed the car in the driveway for the last time until spring and I need to find a car wash around here so I can wash it over the winter….need to put a hook up to hang the hose on over the winter….oh, and I did put the turkey in brine this morning to get ready for tomorrow…it’s a small one….only about 9 1/2 pounds and that’s probably the smallest one I’ve ever gotten…and fresh this year, not frozen…thought I’d pay a little more and see if the quality is better….we’ll see…