Well…after having problems with my back for the past few weeks from just riding the bike into the wind, I knew that mowing the lawn and picking up leaves was going to make it much, much worse…and it did…just had the biggest spasm I’ve had since this crap started and I could not move in any direction without breathtaking pain stabbing at me….and now it has spread even farther up my back so it is almost to my shoulder blades now and extends all the way around my sides…damn…I hate complaining about this crap but it is limiting what I can do and I don’t like it…I did get 7 big bags of leaves picked up but more than half of them are still on the trees so I’ll be back at it in a few days to pick up some more…will have to go out and get more bags, too…still have three in the garage but it doesn’t take long to fill three of them so I’ll get 10 more and hope that will be enough for all of the rest of them…I did get two bike rides in today to go with all the outdoor work so I think I can take some time off until we have to talk to the travel agent at 5….not sure if my laptop will work for a zoom meeting it is so old but I can try my tablet if it doesn’t work….ouch….
Any PA friends out there?
Well…have some time on my hands this morning with the temp dropping to 30 outside right now and that is way too damn cold to go out and work on the leaves…so I thought I’d come here to talk to my PA friends about the senate race there…the other night, there was the one and only debate between the carpetbagger Oz, and John Fetterman and if you listen to the modern media, the only story coming out of it was that Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke just a month or so ago is not able to do the job as senator since he has symptoms of the stroke still and at times haltingly speaks and takes time to formulate answers…now, is the media trying to do the repubs work for them? I would focus on the policy that each candidate has put forward, and on that it was shown that Oz is just another repub who wants to take rights away from women in PA and showed it with this comment from the debate…when asked if women’s healthcare choices should be only between her and her doctor, Oz responded that the choice should be “between the woman, her doctor, and local government officials” yeah, you heard that right…for the most intimate medical decisions that a woman can make, Oz wants her to have to go to “local government officials” to get approval to save her life if there is a problem with a pregnancy or even if there’s not….now, PA men, how would you like it if you had to go to “local government officials” to get approval for a colonoscopy that could save your life? Or get approval from these same officials if you want to get a vasectomy or be treated for an STI? Do you have to bring one of these officials with you to your doctor’s appointment? Yeah, I know I’m using a little hyperbole but there is only one person in this race that will protect the privacy of all Americans and that is John Fetterman….and he will help to restore the rights of over half of this country to what they were under Roe…and Oz won’t…it’s that clear…vote Fetterman for a better US….geez….
October 27th
Well…that was okay I guess…only up once at 2:51 and out of bed just a little before 6 and that’s pretty normal for nights when I’m being good…and that was number two on the way to seven getting ready for my doctor’s appointment next Tuesday….so I feel okay this morning and have plenty of time before I need to get on the bike by 7:30 or so to get the first indoor ride in…it’s only 32 out there right now and I’ll need it to warm up some before I make the first pass on the leaves today and bag them up to go out next Monday night….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the grocery run and working on the notes for the trip…and we have the zoom meeting with the travel agent this afternoon and I hope my laptop will do the job for that…if not, I have my tablet and phone that I can try….and I did use my tablet to watch an episode of the Rockford Files last night and it was clear as a bell so I’m sure it will work….I did forget about a side trip to Liverpool from Manchester on the trip since I do want to do a Beatles walking tour and Liverpool is only 35 miles from Manchester….so that’s now on the agenda and we will finalize most of it today….I have been trying to crack my back for a couple of days to deal with the lower back pain with not much luck…and I aggravated it going into the wind yesterday and I’m sure I’m going to make it much worse today with working on the leaves….not much…okay, that’s wrong…have lots to do today…starting with getting 8 miles done downstairs in an hour or so, then out for the leaves, on the bike for an outside ride, more work on the trip, watching Man U play, and then the zoom meeting….geez, I’m going to need a break later…and I do need to make lunch and dinner…so yep, a busy day that is going to start here in a little while…but right now I need coffee and to look for a topic for later….more later….
Remember this before you vote…
Well…with the repubs screaming their heads off about gas prices and inflation and trying to pin it all on the dems, you just have to remember this before you vote…they were given the chance to attack the main cause of inflation, price gouging by corporations, especially oil companies whose profit are up by almost 100% over the past year, and every damn one of them voted against doing anything about it…this shows they don’t care at all about any of this…the only thing they want to use the inflation that is hurting their constituents for is to attack the dems. Have your heard any policy plan they have to deal with inflation? Nope, didn’t think so because they don’t care about it…just like they don’t care about doing anything for the people…they just want power to reward their big donors with another tax cut…and these same donors are pouring hundreds of million of their money into these races to elect more repubs…and there is something wrong when a rich guy can give 30 million to elect repubs and get a 250 million dollar tax cut…I think it’s become the new investment for most of these folks…buy a legislative seat, get money back…and that has got to end….and the only way that will happen is to elect more dems…so vote..and not for repubs…geez…
I was a good samaritan this morning…
Well…when I was out doing the grocery run this morning, I pulled into daily deals parking lot and in the corner was and old Ford Ranger pickup truck with it’s hood open and a sign saying “jump” stuck in the front of the engine bay…so after I got what I needed at DD, I wheeled over to the truck to see if there was anyone in it and there was, so I told him I could give him a jump if he had cables and he did, so I backed the Miata up to the front of his truck since the battery in it is in the trunk and he hooked his truck up to my car with some homemade jumper cables that were pretty thin and I sat there for a few minutes with my car running to get a little charge in his battery and his truck started right up…after talking to him a bit, I found out he had spent the night in that parking lot since he is basically homeless so I reached in my pocket and gave him the 9 bucks I had in it since I can afford it…the thing is, I’ve been in that situation before and could feel for the guy sitting there in the cold and rain…not homeless but stranded and broke with a dead car…and I can’t figure out why no one else stopped to help him…I guess people aren’t as nice as they used to be….I think I’ll buy a set of jumper cables to keep in the car just in case someone else needs help….
October 26th
Well…it looks like the first ride today will be downstairs and I need to get to it in 15 minutes or so so I can get to the grocery run by 8:15 or so…and I have just started my first cup of coffee so that is going to be a stretch…slept okay last night but I am struggling with allergies and have had a sore throat from it since yesterday that is pretty damn annoying…had a good day yesterday but needed to work on the trip research but didn’t…so today will be all research, all the time so I can be ready for the conference tomorrow afternoon…should only take me a few hours for that and with the rain out there, I’ll probably not be able to ride outdoors so that will make it easier to get my work done…I thought my back was getting better after I took the day off Monday but it went right back to crap after riding only one ride yesterday so I need to figure out what is going on since it hurts to just sit here…yeah, I know I’m getting old but this shouldn’t hurt like this…I wonder if it’s from bone loss? Shouldn’t be since it feels like muscle pain and not the deep pain that comes with a disc problem…hmmmm…not much to do today…just the ride and grocery run are the only plans I have and I should be done with that by 9:30 or so and that will open up my day for the rest of the things I need to do…so, I should get at it….more later….
I’ll bet Putin didn’t see this coming…
Well…yeah, I’m running late this afternoon getting to this one…had lunch with T that turned into a laugh fest and lots of fun an just got home a bit ago…after reading an article about natural gas supplies in Europe and that the price is crashing, all I can say is I’ll bet Putin didn’t see this coming. Since the start of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, he has used the threat of cutting off natural gas to try to keep Europe and the rest of the world from supporting Ukraine…saying it was going to be “dark, cold winter” for them this year…but then, something happened and natural gas storage in the EU is at almost 94% filled which would keep the area going right through the winter even if they never got another btu…and you have to remember that Germany used to get 60% of it’s gas from Russia before the invasion happened and now it is at zero…what happened is they turned to other sources like the US and have built new LNG terminals across Europe to be able to handle the ships hauling it…and, unlike the US, the EU is undergoing a crash program for increasing renewable energy like solar and wind and even the weather is cooperating with warmer than normal temps so far this fall and winter….so now that leaves ole putie selling his gas to India and China at a 50% discount and Russia will be even more broke than it is…and all the blame is on the moron who launched this invasion…I wonder when the generals and oligarchs will get tired of this crap and say bye, bye to ole putie? It can’t come too soon…geez…
October 25th
Well…you would think that with not sleeping at all Sunday night and all of the stress from yesterday, I would have slept like a rock last night…but no, tossed and turned all night and was up at 5:36 but was able to go back sleep until almost 7 so maybe it was better than I thought…feel okay today but have so much to do that I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now…didn’t get on the bike yesterday so that means two rides this morning and that needs to happen as soon as it’s light because there is rain coming in later…and I really should start picking up the leaves on the lawn but once the rain starts, it is going to continue until tomorrow afternoon off and on…I just noticed that my back is better with getting it some rest yesterday…still has pain but it doesn’t make me gasp when I move so I’ll take it…one weird thing I don’t understand is the coolant leak on the car…checked it yesterday after lubing the bike and it’s still almost full after three weeks since the last check….so that means I’ll just let it go for the winter and not spend the thousand bucks to fix it…I’ll put that money towards a new car and start looking for that soon….I do need to get on the planning for the UK trip this afternoon since we are talking to the travel agent Thursday and I may even have lunch with T today but I’ll find that out later….right now I need to have another cup of coffee before it gets light but that is still a half hour away so I’ll be able to read some news to go with it…I am relieved with the test results from yesterday but there are new questions that trouble me a bit….more later…okay, I’m late…was on the phone with my daughter for two hours talking about our UK trip…
Some good news…
Well…as you know, I had a colonoscopy scheduled for today and I was a little concerned what they would find…to start, the new cleanse is so much better than the old stuff with just 24 pills to take over 12 hours instead of drinking the gagging gallons of the old stuff…and it cleaned me out so well the procedure only took about 20 minutes and the good news is they found nothing…no cancer, no polyps but just a little bit of diverticulitis that is to be expected in someone my age…and that pushes the next one back 5 years if I have one at all…and he thinks my prostate was a little large on one side but with no symptoms he was not concerned at all…and that made for a pretty good day for me…and I had pizza when I go home that tasted great but I only had two pieces since I didn’t want to give up the calorie reduction that I’ve had with not eating for the past two days….I may have some cheese and crackers later to get over 1,000 calories for the day but we’ll see….right now I’m just going to enjoy not having any health problems and have a cocktail or two tonight…
All you have to do is look…
Well…if you want to see what the proposed repub plan for the economy will do, all you have to look at Britain and the fallout from the exact same proposals that the Tories have planned for their economy…and it’s the same old bullshit…trickle down economics where tax cuts are given to the rich and they then are the engine of growth that will trickle down to the workers…and the only problem with that is has never worked anywhere in the world…and cuts to the social safety net are part of the deal since since they “can’t afford” them anymore…exactly the same thing that the repubs are saying here as they propose even bigger tax cuts for the rich that did nothing but make income inequality worse here in the US…not one damn job was created from the 2 trillion dollar giveaway that came from the trump tax cuts…other than lawyers who worked on stock buyback plans that made the rich richer and made the rest of us pay more in taxes….and let’s be blunt, we all paid for SS and Medicare our entire lives and they are not an “entitlement”…it’s something we bought with 7.5% of our income paid in from the time we got our first paycheck and all we have to do to protect it is to get the hell out and vote for the dems who will protect and expand these programs so those of us who depend on it can continue to eat and pay our bills, it’s that simple…the repubs want to kill all of us on SS so they can steal that money and give it to the rich..and voting for any repub is going to make that happen…get out and vote…and only for dems…geez…