Well…just spent the last 20 minutes getting the laptop re-configured after it updated last night…what a pain….didn’t get up until almost 7 this morning but I don’t feel like I slept much…and my right forearm still hurts like crazy and I would really like to know how I hurt it so I don’t do it again…it finally did rain yesterday and it looks like it’s going to off and on for the next day or so and that will be good for the lawn but not good for getting things done…but, I’ve bitched so much about how it doesn’t rain out here that I should just stop about it raining…shouldn’t have to mow the lawn until after the rain stops and the only other thing I have to do is put in the blocks for the trash bin landing pad that I am going to pick up this morning but I need to decide exactly where I want to put it and then set them into the dirt so I can run the mower over them….I do know I’m getting two colors so I can make a design that will look like an X….and that will basically finish the yard for the year although I’m thinking of planting a hedge along the back fence but I think that will wait til spring…I do need to get a window bird feeder so I can watch the birds this winter but I haven’t picked one out yet…still have time for that…not much to do today…have the grocery run to do and then I need to clean the kitchen and scrub the floor…. and get at least one ride in but I’m going to try for two…I think Man U plays this aft so I need to get moving this morning….more later….

Well…when I got up this morning, the plan was to take the day off the bike with the rain and just putter around here and take it easy but, as always, that never works out….once I had some coffee in me, I got at putting some area rugs in the washing machine since they were looking pretty ratty…and then got to cleaning up my bike room downstairs and putting my tools away…finally…then, the rain ended so I decided to get at least one ride in and got absolutely muddy on the ride so then I had to clean the bike to get all of the grit off it…then I had to let it dry so I could re-lube it and put it away…I had run out of clean clothes so I had to do a load of laundry and while that was running, I decided to mop the floor of the bike room to get  the dirt and grease off it from working on the bikes but I had to get the shop vac out first to get the dirt and other crud off it..so then I mopped it with dish soap that works well on grease and let it dry for an hour or so and then put all of the bike stuff back along with getting rid of all of the punctured tubes and boxes from moving in…and I just finished getting  the clothes out of the dryer and putting them away and it is after 3:30…so, another 7 and 1/2 hours of working around here…I’m supposed to be retired…I need a day off…maybe in the winter?

Well…”6:05, outside the stadium” anyone who is a dan fan recognizes that line from “Glamour Profession”….sounds like we got a little rain out here around 5:30 or so when I could hear it hitting my siding even through I was wearing earplugs…and it may rain again but the forecast has been scaled back to where I will be able to get on the bike a little after noon…and the gale warning is still in effect but I sure don’t see any wind…..it was so cool last night when I went out to just sit on my front steps for a while and listen to the wind in the trees…it was so nice and quiet…no thumping music and it was neat that you could hear gusts of wind coming from the noise the leaves on the trees made….and the big dipper was in the sky right in front of me…I think I sat out there for an hour and I can say I have almost fixed this neighborhood…something that I didn’t think I could for a long time….not sure what I did but my right forearm is howling in pain this morning…it can’t be from just scrubbing my bathroom yesterday? All I have to do is rotate it to trigger the pain and stiffness….going to hurt on the bike today….but, I do like how the shower and  the rest of the bathroom looks so it’s worth the pain….not much to do today…I was really ready to have a day off the bike and just clean around here but the rain won’t last all day…it is going to be pretty cool today and from now on with the temp struggling to get to 70 for highs….and the next few days in the low 60’s…but that is okay…I love the fall except for cleaning up the leaves…I wonder what the color is going to look like out here? Should be pretty cool…I do get to take it easy this morning with the last rain getting here in the next half hour or so…and it looks like I’ll be on the bike by 10 or so….so maybe two rides again today…and cleaning…have to clean up the bike room and put my tools away, then mop the floor since it is greasy from the bikes….and I do want to clean the kitchen since it really needs it…more later…

Well….after the big rain clouds fell apart before they got here, I thought I’d get a second ride in just in case it does rain tomorrow…so I jumped back on the bike and, when I got to the bottom of the hill, I noticed a huge gravel freighter just off Heritage landing heading out to Lake Michigan…so I thought “what the hell” and decided to race it out to the lake….went harder than I ever do on the second ride and beat it by a mile…I was averaging over 17 on the way out and got to my bench on the boardwalk and sat there to wait for it to come out of the channel…and waited, and waited…after my 5 minute water stop was over, it still hadn’t appeared so I got back on the bike and headed home…and I beat the small rain shower that happened by about 5 minutes…it only lasted a few minutes and that was disappointing since it was supposed to rain most of the day and into tomorrow but the big storms are to the east and noting is going on here anymore…darn…I did get the bathroom cleaned and the lasagna made since I thought it was going to rain and I was going to have the afternoon off…no such luck but I’m still hoping for a day off tomorrow….and might get it with the gale warning that is in effect for tonight and tomorrow morning…we’ll see…

Well…another 6:09 morning and I really did contemplate trying to go back to sleep but getting up seemed to be the easier thing to do….I did get scorched a bit at the beach yesterday and my skin is pretty tight right now…had to go out there yesterday for the last time with a huge weather change that is coming later in the week that is going to keep high temps around 60 or so and I think that will be the end of the 80 degree highs…the water was even warm enough to stay in for a half hour or so and I swam out to the huge sandbar that is about 50 yards off the beach where the water was only about a foot deep…I walked out about 150 yards before the water started getting deeper and that was pretty cool…and I got two rides in but that won’t happen today…there is a lot of rain coming up from the south but it won’t be here until 10 or so and that will let me get at least one ride in….and it is still already 70 out here so I am going to enjoy that while it lasts and get ready to find the gloves and the rest of my fall and winter riding clothes…I am going to make lasagna today for lunch after I get back from the ride and this will be only the second time I’ve ever made it….and I am still not sure why I haven’t done it more it is so easy….and then, if it rains, I am going to clean this place up and maybe get started on the inside of the front door trim but I think it is going to need some sanding first….more later….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting up until coffee o’clock and then going out for the paper and some stuff I need to make lasagna and getting on the bike by 7:40 to get back here in time to see the Man U match…my legs hurt like crazy on the ride this morning and I’m not sure why…no…my whole body hurts after mowing the lawn and painting yesterday and there will be a need for painkillers later this morning…the house is finally starting to look finished with getting the raw wood on the door frames painted and getting the last part of it washed….now I just need to get some topsoil and grass seed to fill in the bare spots so it will be ready to sprout in the spring…it looks like rain is going to come in later tonight and all day tomorrow so I may finally get that day off the bike I have been needing to heal my muscles up some….and I need to get 9 paver blocks to make a little pad to park my garbage bin on this week…not sure what color I’m going to get…I can get some that almost match the grey paint on the blocks in the foundation or do I want to get red ones for a splash of color and to match the ones I put in front for the mail people to walk on? Or do I get 5 red ones and 4 grey ones to make a pattern? That might be cool….not much to do today…just one more ride and then I’m taking the rest of the day off I think…more later…..oh, happy last day of work, Tom…

Well…cripes, have had another busy day today with getting started on the bike before 8, then back on it again before 10 and back here around 11…then I mowed the lawn, made lunch, and then on to masking off the front door trim and then giving it two coats of paint and cleaning up after I finished…and now it’s almost 3 and I’ve just sat down for the first time today…it is nice to get the last exterior trim painted so everything else can be done whatever the weather…will probably do the interior portion of it tomorrow but I just may take a day off…other than the bike rides, that is…going to need to get on the bike by 7:30 tomorrow morning with Man U playing at 9 an then I’ll be out for the second ride by 11….the bike is working as well as I can remember and that is so cool….just going to leave it alone and ride….and try to find a political topic to talk about…but, I haven’t even read the news yet today…should get off my butt and get that done…more later…

Well…5:32…darn….I am pretty sore this morning from the beating I took in the waves yesterday and my right elbow is the worst it’s been in quite a while and I’m not sure why that would be….it mostly hurts on the inside this time so that’s new….or it hurts enough so I feel it through the whole thing….not sure how that is going to effect painting this afternoon or mowing the lawn…will probably have to take something for it before I get on the bike….had to go back to watering the lawn yesterday with the lack of rain out here and will probably have to do it again today but it looks like rain for Monday and Tuesday…yeah, right…so that will help if it happens….I do need to get started on the winter wheels this week so I can get the winter tires ordered and mounted before it gets too cold to have the top down to transport them to discount…should only be a little over 300 bucks for the tires and I’ll never have to buy another set since I only put about 500 miles a year on them…I hope they will be as good as the worn out blizzaks that I have been using…..I also need to start figuring out my winter routes for the bike around here…I know they don’t clear the trails so I have to have at least a 10 mile route on the road so I can stay in shape…I am going to set up the old bike on the trainer so I can ride downstairs if it’s too snowy to go out….not much to do today…two rides and then a decision to make on whether to paint or mow the lawn or both…..but, I am going to do something or the guilts will get me….more later….

Well….have been casting around for a topic in politics today and haven’t come up with anything yet so I think I’ll let it percolate in my brain for a while and do this one instead. When I was out on the bike this morning, with it running so good I almost felt happy for the first time in a long time….everything is working out right now…I have money in the bank, a nice house to live in that is near the water and bike trails, and I’m still relatively healthy for an old guy…so that triggered a run out to the beach today instead of painting trim…and I got to play in some 5 foot waves again…not sure how many more times I’ll get out there but if it’s never, it was still a good summer. Normally, I hover quite near depression as I have my entire life but now the only thing I have to think about is finishing up the interior of the house and getting at the insulation in the attic…but, I have had other times when things were going well and I just couldn’t enjoy it…and some of that is still happening now, as you can see from the title…other people would be ecstatic to have my life as they struggle with their own but depression is not logical…it just is….luckily, even when it comes, it’s not as bad as it used to be….now I need to find a topic…more later….

Well…running really late this morning with not getting up til 7:20 and that is sleeping in for me….and probably a result of the two rides and washing the back of the house yesterday…worked my butt off and was pretty worn out….and it’s almost 8 and I have just started my first cup of coffee so it is going to take a while to get moving today….still hurt almost everywhere this morning and it was so bad yesterday that I did have to take an ibuprofen during the day and another one last night so I could sleep…and I think I’ll take another one before I get on the bike this morning….I did get the grey bike close to being like new after I threw all the parts at it and it is so nice to have the full suspension again…it is so strange that just 4 inches of travel in it makes such a big difference…I don’t know how people ride non suspended bikes….I wonder if I’ll ever take the road bike out again with the thin tires that have to be filled to 60 psi? That thing just rattles my body on the bumps……I was going to run an errand this morning since my potatoes are rotten but I just don’t feel like it…I can wait til next wed…have plenty of food here and I’ll just have to find something else to eat….not much to do today….just the rides and some cleaning but that will wait a while until I have more coffee and read the news…thinking about mowing the lawn again today but it may wait til Monday….we’ll see…more later….