Well…darn, no dreams and crappy sleep last night and up at 6:46 but woke up an hour earlier than that….on the first cup of coffee and I sure hope it starts to work soon…I almost had that elusive day off yesterday but I did clean the kitchen so I guess it doesn’t count….but, I’m getting close and may get there tomorrow…I do have to cook the big t-day meal so I wonder if that counts as work? I do have to get the turkey into brine this morning and I’m not sure what flavors I’ll put in…rosemary, of course but I think I’ll add some bay leaves and thyme along with some garlic cloves….I’m thawing some bacon so I can put that in the cavity with the celery, carrots, and onions tomorrow to give me some good tasting gravy…..didn’t get much done yesterday but the kitchen and today looks like more of the same…I am going to try to get out on the bike today since it is already 41 out there and I would like to do a few more rides outside…but there is a gale warning right now and lots of wind out of the south so we’ll see…..would like to see what the countryside looks like after riding indoors for the past 10 days….not much to do today…I do need to clean off my dining room table that I have been using for storage for dinner tomorrow…..and I think I’ll open all of my shades to let some light in too…there is a huge change in the weather coming on Friday with cold temps and maybe some snow so I need to get out and get the leaves picked up today or tomorrow…or wait til next week but I want to put them out so I would like to do them today….we’ll see…more later…

Well…as you remember, when I got up this morning it was only 18 degrees out here since it was clear all night last night…and I had a few trees that still had most of their leaves on them… when I opened the shades that look over the back of the yard I saw something really weird…all of a sudden, the leaves on those two trees started falling off them in sheets and in less than 10 minutes they were bare…and, you know me, that triggered the first line of “Ramble On” by Zep…”leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way…” I’m weird that way…but, my big tree still has almost all it’s leaves still on it and I hope they fall so I can get them picked up by next Tues since Wed is the last day of yard waste pickup…and I don’t want to store them over the winter…I know there will be limbs down over the winter but I can store them next to the garage where they won’t be in the way…still pretty weird sight to see…

Well…that was a little different…woke up at around 5 or so but was able to go back to sleep until 7:34 and had some weird dreams in that 2 1/2 hours that I am still thinking about…offices and being chased were part of it and I’m not sure why…hmmmm…think I slept okay and part of it was straightening out my sheets and blankets and getting back under them…darn, it’s 18 degrees out here right now and I was hoping to get out on the outdoor bike today but I don’t think that is going to happen….I should be able to get out tomorrow if I wait til the afternoon or I’ll make it a two ride day with one inside and one outside….I do need to get back to a two ride routine to keep the weight off and I already feel like I’m getting huge with only one ride downstairs a day….but, I have adjusted what I eat down to about 1K calories a day so I may be able to maintain where I am now…I haven’t been able to get the birds to use my window feeder but they are eating the feed that I put out for the chickens so that is a little confusing…it’s been three weeks that I’ve had it up and I guess I’ll have to wait til the yard is snow covered to get some on it….I was looking forward to watching my bird tv…oh, well….I did get new oven mits and 100 watt led bulbs for my opener at my dollar store yesterday and they replaced the ones that I had burned on the heating elements at the Valley house….and that had become useless with the holes in them….not much to do today…that is true today since I got all of the yard work done yesterday and I don’t count indoor work….but, I do need to clean some today to continue the little that I got done yesterday but not right now…still have to read the news and have lots more coffee…still do want to take a day off but is it a day off it you plan it? Who knows? More later…..

Well….I usually have the tv running in the background all day so I don’t hear my tinnitus as much and with that, I hear commercials all day and they run lots and lots of them for peloton and the other stationary bikes that are out there…and I think that was in my head this morning on the bike when I marveled at the cost of those things…I mean 2500 bucks and up? I know they have cool internet connectivity for group rides and that kind of stuff, but they also have the people running the groups “encouraging” people to do more and I find that to be distracting and is  the reason I ride alone all the time…it gives me time to think and be alone and I think that is the best part of the ride…then it came to me that I spent 100 bucks for both the bike and trainer  to get the same exercise as the peloton people get and my little computer keeps track of time in the seat, speed, and mileage I’ve put in…by the way, that is about 7 hours and 96 miles so far….and I have variable resistance that is controlled by a switch on the handlebars but I also have gears so I can vary the amount of work I put in…I wonder how guilty those people feel when they don’t ride their 2500 dollar bikes? Probably not as guilty as I feel when I don’t ride my 100 dollar bike but that’s my problem….all I know is that I would never spend 2500 bucks on exercise equipment just to have some stranger yell at me that I’m not working hard enough….

Well….yeah, I was going to take the day off and just veg it out but I think I now realize I’m not capable of doing it….started out the day running an errand to pick up the rest of the stuff for t-day so I don’t have to go out again this week but when I got back here I almost didn’t ride the bike, but after lunch I couldn’t stand it anymore so I went downstairs and got my 8 miles in…then I had branches all over the yard from the big winds last night that needed to be picked up, bundled and set out at the curb and even had some big ones that needed to be cut up…then I put the 6 bags of leaves out with them and came back inside and got the laundry done and cleaned the bathroom a bit….but, I’m done now and I guess I can take it easy for a while…one of these days I’m going  to surprise myself and take one off….yeah, right…

Well…one of these days I’d like to wake up with the covers still on me instead of the floor….not sleeping much at all now and I am feeling it today….I wonder what would happen if I took the day off today? The only thing I want to do for just one day is lie on the couch and do nothing….just worn out and feeling old…the wind was howling out here last night with gusts of over 50 mph…it shook this place and sounded like a jet plane was landing in my yard…..but, it didn’t snow so that’s cool…I wonder what was in the head of the person who wired up my garage for the door opener? They drilled through the roof beams to connect it to the box for one of the flood lights over the door…why didn’t they just run it over to the box where the power comes in? I am going to tear the feed out and do it as it should be so the power to the opener is on all the time and not switched…weird….but not today…don’t feel like doing it today….don’t feel like doing anything right now….not much to do today…I need to make one final grocery run before t-day and it needs to happen before wed…I may do it this morning if I can get motivated but that’s not looking too likely…but staying off the bike is….just want to have coffee and sit here for a bit…I think this is going to be a second gear day where I just go slow and take it easy….I need one of those every once in a while….more later…

Well….damn, that was a crappy night of sleep and I am feeling it right now…have been sliding back to bad sleep for a while now and I’m not sure why…not doing anything different other than not riding enough but that shouldn’t do it….oh, well….was planning on being sore this morning after all of the yard work yesterday and I am a little…and in new places…yay! Yep, that was sarcasm…I am just so tired of being sore all the time from doing anything…stuff that I could just rip through when I was younger now cause days of pain that leaves me hobbling around here and I don’t like it….didn’t get much done yesterday and I am seriously considering skipping the bike riding today….won’t be riding outside with the rain showers and wind that is forecast and I would like to get a few more in before the end of the year…..glad I got the leaves done yesterday so I don’t have to worry about getting that done but there are quite a few more left to fall…my big tree is still green but I’m hoping that the wind will blow the leaves somewhere else so I don’t have to pick them up….not much to do today….just going to ease into the day and watch the F1 race at 9 and will probably wait til after the race to ride if I do….I need a day off….more later….

Well….have been waiting for the leaves to dry out and today was the day they did…so, after getting my miles in downstairs, I put the bag on the mower and got to work….it took almost an hour and a half but I got it done…filled 5 of those big paper bags and only about 2/3 of the leaves are down…but it looks really nice and feels nice to have the first pickup done…and I have 5 more bags in the garage so I may not have to buy more this year…when I cleaned up the garage to get ready for the new grill, I made enough space to put all 5 full bags in the garage to keep them from getting wet until I put them out Monday night…so, I’m taking the rest of the day off to watch some college football…..

Well….damn…must have tossed and turned a bunch last night since I found one of my bed pillows in the living room this morning and I’m not sure how that would have happened…but, I did make it to 6:24 so I guess that’s something…had a good day yesterday but didn’t do much but ride the indoor bike and put the black bike back together that should have been done weeks ago…it was some work with putting the crankset and pedals back on and then changing out the tires to put the set of knobby ones on that I had from the Motobecane to replace the front tire that had come apart at the cords and was shaking the front end of the bike….I hope the knobby ones will work in the snow if I ride outside this winter…I still laugh a bit when I now have a “winter” bike to take out in the snow…have been waiting for the damn leaves to fall so I can pick them up and put them out to the curb but it looks like some of them will stay on the lawn since I only have two more Tuesdays that the city will pick them up and I don’t think they will all be down by then…I am going to try to get some of them done today but it is spitting rain out there and I may have to wait til tomorrow….not much to do today…need to get a ride in before F1 qualifying at 9 and then I will try to get out and do some leaves…still working on leftovers so I don’t have to cook today…I did watch the latest James Bond movie last night and it was pretty good…at least it kept me interested through the whole thing which is unusual for me…not a wasted night….more later….

Well…as you can see, I didn’t come back for a second one yesterday and I have an excuse…it was a busy day and I had to run into GR and that was a 90 mile round trip and I didn’t get back here until around 5….and I still had to make dinner but that was easy with having a container of ham soup that had finally thawed….slept okay last night but had some weird dreams that I am still thinking about….had a group of friends turn on me and I wonder what that is about? I guess it doesn’t matter….cripes, I’m going to have to put gas in the car today and I haven’t had to do that in weeks….and I need to hit Meijers to get my turkey this morning if they have any….not sure if I’m going to brine the turkey this year since last year’s came out pretty bad…but I think it was the turkey and not the process that was bad and I even threw the leftovers away instead of freezing them for soup….I think I’ve made enough room in the freezer for the carcass but I may just make the soup before I freeze it this time….and I think I’ll do it in my instant pot again since the ham soup came out great in it….not much to do today…just need to run the errand this morning and then get on the bike downstairs and take it easy for the rest of the day…will have to wait til tomorrow to pick up the leaves since there is still some snow on the yard that needs to melt today and then dry up before the mower will work to vacuum them….more later….