Well…I wonder why we never get storms out here during the day? The ones that rolled through here last night woke me up even with ear plugs in and they would have been cool to see but I wasn’t getting up at 3 am….and it looks like they are done for the day so my excuse to take the day off the bike and just fool around is gone….darn…I sure could use a day off to cook and clean but it won’t happen without an excuse….feel pretty slow this morning but my elbow is better and I’ll take that improvement….not much other pain that I was anticipating after washing the siding so I may just get at the back of the house today…I am going to try to find a place to put my hummingbird feeder up but I don’t think I have enough sugar to make the food…might have to wait until next week…and I need to get some small nails to repair some loose siding that I found yesterday and I have a couple of pieces of soffett that need to be replaced on the back of the house but I don’t feel like going out to get them today…maybe later….not much to do today…it is going to be warm so I may go out to the beach and only do one ride today….I do need to use the last 4 eggs and make some potato salad and cook some chicken and green beans…I probably should take the day off and just veg but you know I won’t be able to do that…where is the rain when I need it? More later…..

Well…how the day started off with me feeling depressed and completely not motivated, I really did accomplish something today. After getting the two rides in and making lunch, I decided to get off my butt and get after the yard side of the house with my scrub brush…that side of the house was really dirty but it came out good and only took me a little over an hour to do….even got the side of the kitchen that faces the yard done and that was the dirtiest part of the entire house with lots of black mold and other crud and I even cleaned the basement windows and the foundation to get rid of all of the spiders that were coating them with webs….I think this cleaning is going to have to be a yearly thing with the white siding but we’ll see as time goes on…and with the siding being old vinyl, I don’t think it would have held up to a power washer…and this is easy enough that I really don’t need one….going to be sore in new places tomorrow, though, since I can already feel some pain in my mid back and my elbow is screaming at me….again…darn….

Well..I’m depressed again this morning and this is getting to be a pain in the butt….didn’t get out of bed until almost 7 and can’t get started…again…but started for what? I do have things to do but don’t want to do any of them….maybe it will change later but not now…I slept okay last night but still no dreams to speak of and I wonder if I should be concerned about that? Maybe I should just veg and go out to the beach today but I don’t really feel like doing that either….okay, enough of that….I wonder when the damn tomatoes are going to start to ripen? It’s already the end of July and not even a little pink on the plants…I do have way too many beans and lots of cukes ripening and I think I need to make some pickles in the next couple of days….and some potato salad to use up the last 4 eggs…I do need to feed the garden today but the plants look like they don’t need it…I do have some peppers that have set and are growing and that will be an improvement over last year when I got two green peppers off the 6 plants I had in….need to figure out some recipes for them and I may make some stuffed peppers or a pizza to put them on….not much to do today…I am dreading getting on the bike today with how flat my legs were yesterday and I don’t think that is going to change until I rest them…might be able to get down to one ride tomorrow with the rain that is forecast or maybe I’ll force myself to just not ride at all….who knows? More later…..

Well….you know I talked about my surprise low gas bill last month…I mean 10.73 for a gas bill? Today I got another one that broke even that record…only 7.13 and this one is just weird…I do have a gas stove that I use almost every day and I have a water heater that heats water for at least two showers every day, so how the heck can it be this low? I know the water heater is new and efficient but what’s next? Are they going to pay me to use gas? I guess I have a pretty small carbon footprint here in the summer especially when I only drive about 15 miles a week to go with the gas usage. Oh, I did get my new sprinkler today and it works pretty well…covers a lot of ground so I don’t have to move it as much but it won’t go narrow enough to do the parkway in the front so I still have to use the old sprinkler for that….and only 10 bucks so that was cool….that’s enough for today…

Well…running a bit late with getting up after 6:30 and I just can’t get started…I think I’m edging up to a day off here in a bit….just need to heal up some from the work and bike riding…just so sore all the time and I really hope it’s not from getting old…I did get out to one of the parks here for a concert by one of the local bar bands and that was some fun…Muskegon really is a small town and the whole thing had a small town feel to it and how cool is it that I could park 50 feet from the band shell? Will probably go to a couple more of those this summer….it was nice to get out and do something that was not riding the bike…I do need to do the grocery run this morning and hit depot to get a new sprinkler so that will take some time so I won’t be on the bike until around 10 or so….I may make it a one ride day and go out to the beach instead…not sure yet…it looks like it’s cloudy out there and still a little cool so we’ll see….I do need to do the research on the ballot issues out here and get my ballot done and in this weekend so I can keep my record of voting in every election I have been eligible for intact…I am hoping that we get some rain this weekend so I can take some time to just relax and veg a little…I am happy that I got the lawn mowed yesterday so all I have to do is water it today but I do need to cook today…or maybe I won’t…still have a couple of days of burger to cook and and I really do need to cook some green beans today since my container in the fridge is stuffed full….more later….

Well….woke up at 6:22 and stayed in bed 9 more minutes so I could be consistent with getting out of bed…don’t know why I did that but I don’t know why I do a lot of things….even with abusing the heck out of my elbow yesterday, it doesn’t hurt much right now and I have hope that it really is healing this time….I did get some scorching out at the beach yesterday and I may have to do that again today…I can’t remember a time that I was at the beach two days in a row other than Harbor Springs where we used to go for vacations every year…but I really should get at cleaning the siding on the house so maybe not…..I guess I’m not too good at being retired yet and I wonder if I will ever get to the point where I can just blow off a day and do nothing? Yeah, probably not….I did see a woman paddling a kayak at the beach yesterday and it looked like fun so I think I’m going to start looking for one…it would be cool to be able to get out on the water and get some upper body exercise and just fool around….lots of places to explore and could even go up both branches of the Muskegon river to look around….it already looks like just the 15 minutes or so of watering the lawn is helping it green up some so I’ll do that again today after I get my work done….I don’t think I’m going to mow until late in the week since I don’t want it to burn….we may get some rain on Thursday so I may wait til Friday to mow….not much to do today….feeling kind of slow right now but I think I’ll be out on the bike by 8 or so….I think I’ll take a photo of the side of the house on my tablet so I can do a before and after post on fb….need to remember to do that for all of the work I do…but I forgot to do that for the stairs and that irritates me some….more later…

Well…you know, I really thought that being retired was going to give me some days off and I wonder why I just can’t take any….today started as normal with getting on the bike at 8am and getting back here around 9:30, then I took a scrub brush and a bucket of suds to the front steps that lead up to the porch since they were covered with green algae and looked like hell…and they look pretty good now….then back on the bike until 11:40 or so and then decided that I needed to get out to the beach for some color and a couple of swims, and that took until almost two…oh, and I forgot to have lunch so only one meal today….then back here to work on the garden and and put the sprinkler out and move it around the yard to try to keep the lawn alive….I do need one that is more suited to the size of this yard, not the postage stamp sized one I bought it for….and it is now 5:30 and I have just finished up the dishes and can take it easy for the first time today….okay, sitting on the beach is taking it easy so I guess this is the second time…still a damn busy day….I’m beat….

Well…another day, another time up at 6:31 and I just realized something….I haven’t had any dreams in months and that is a little concerning since you normally do when you get into rem sleep…so I wonder if I’m getting to rem every night? Just another thing to worry about….my brain is probably slowly turning to mush….oh, well…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get anything done but I am going to make sure I do some work on this place today….will probably work on cleaning the front steps to get the green gunk off them but I’m not sure when…still do want to get two rides in so it will have to be in the afternoon…..I may have to re-think not watering the lawn since it is not going to rain out here again for a couple of weeks and I’m already losing the young grass that grew in from the seed I planted….might do that today on a test plot just to see if it will work…..I am a little impatient trying to get a yard to grow in the bare spots….I really thought it would have grown in by now but it still looks pretty scraggly…..I’m not going to say not much to do today…I have way too much to do and that is a little overwhelming especially since I want to go to the beach, too, and I don’t want to be a slave to this house….I guess there is always the winter to do the interior work….more later….

Well…today as I was taking my water break out on the boardwalk by the lake, a loud group of motorcycles came by, shattering the nice quiet of the beach but this group came with a new, more annoying twist…at least a couple of them had the loudest damn stereos on them I have ever heard…and the thought came to me: Aren’t motorcycles annoying enough already? Whey the hell do they have to add to the 100db from their pipes with 100db in crappy music? Are they so insecure that they need another way to shout “look at me”? I will be so happy when all of the damn cycles leave here after today…It has been a pain in the butt to have to hear them and have them racing all around here since last Thursday….I wonder what the next annoying thing is going to be around here? Okay, it’s not that annoying…the people look like their having fun and I know they bring a lot of money in to the businesses here and, after the last year, I’m sure they all can use the cash….I guess I’m still adjusting to a new town….

Well…another 6:30 morning today and another struggle to get out to get the paper…but again, the cool, top down run out to Meijers helped wake me up but my eyes are full of stuff from allergies and it’s a pain trying to clear them up….and I wasted the day yesterday and didn’t get anything done other than the rides and taking care of the garden….I need to get at the front steps this week since they are covered in green from algae and look pretty shabby…more scrub brush work and I think my elbow will take it…it doesn’t really hurt today and the swelling is way down so it just may be healing….I don’t think I’ll get much done today with the F1 race on at 10 and then nascar on this afternoon and I’ll need to wedge the second ride in before 3 so it will be a little bit of a rush this morning…need to get out of here before 8 and that is only 37 minutes away and I haven’t read any news yet….or had my second cup of coffee….so I need to end here, fill up the coffee, and read some news….more later…