Well….damn, just looked outside here in Muskegon and it’s snowing…on the 20th of April…it’s so darn cold out there that I just skipped doing any work outside today and my furnace has been running like it’s February….so it looks like a hibernation day for me…I did get errands run this morning and then continued to clean the counters on either side of the sink that were just coated in black goo and splashes of food that took me almost 3 hours to get to the point that I can live with it….lots of razor blading and bleach cleaner that took all of the oil out of my hands and I’m still coughing from the fumes…but it looks pretty good and the shiny trim is shiny again and I can put things on it again and not cringe from it being so dirty…and I’ve been putting stuff away that had piled up from the work I’ve been doing around here…but I need to get after the rest of the things that I haven’t put away yet…but not now, going to watch some soccer and take a break…at least my legs are not as sore as they were and I was able to walk around all day with just a little limping…baby steps…

Well…running quite early today with getting out of bed at 5:44 after waking up for good at 5:20…but, I feel pretty good this morning so I’ll take it….but that makes me early for everything I have to do today…need to do the grocery run and go to the bank but that can’t get started until after 8:30 so I have a couple of hours to kill…I even have an hour or so until the news sites I read update with the new articles that usually start my morning….it is kind of weird now that I look more forward to the no cocktail nights  than I do to the cocktail nights…and the pain is not too bad today…I am almost walking normally again and I sure hope that doing the grocery run doesn’t flare up the pain in the calf again….I did get all of my garden seeds planted yesterday and I have all of my window sills in the kitchen filled with them…and that means I need to prep the garden soil over the next week or so and work a little manure in…I think the outside is going to be a full time job over the next few weeks since I need to weed around the house and get my flower seeds planted…have all kinds of flowers to get in and I’m not going to plan it too much…I do have some tall poppies that need to go near the house but then the rest of it is just going to be a mix of everything I have…I kind of like it being unorganized and surprising when the flowers come up…..not much to do today….just the grocery run and will probably skip the bike ride today with how cold it’s going to be all day today and tomorrow….but then it appears that the temps are going to moderate and get back to normal next week and I am looking forward to that….more later…

Well…you know I’ve been bitching and whining about being stiff and in pain all of the time and I’m even getting tired of it…the whining that is, but I may be able to stop that now…when I was out on the bike today it dawned on me that the wind is always blowing out here and I’m going into it either out or back from the lake…and it’s not a slight breeze but a 15 mile an hour gale that stops me in my tracks when the gusts hit…and then I remembered how I felt the day after a ride into that wind in GR…I was stiff and sore but it got better after a couple of days of normal rides….but I don’t have normal rides out here when the wind is always blowing and I don’t get the recovery days to let my legs heal…so, I wonder how or if I’m going to adjust to this new normal? The strange thing is that now that I think I have it figured out, my legs don’t seem to hurt as much since it’s not a permanent condition and I’m doing it to myself just like all of the other stupid stuff I still do at my age….now I guess it’s a challenge to figure out how to cope with it without more ibuprofen….oh, one good thing today…I talked to my insurance agent and the 450 buck check they sent me is mine…the house insurance came out of my loan and they sent me a bill by mistake…so that’s found money and it will buy me my new garage door opener, ladder, push broom, hose end sprayer, weed killer, stuff to repair the top on the car, grass seed, and paint for the door frame on the garage entry door….and I’ll still have 200 bucks left for the rest of the stuff I need…maybe a grill? Who knows?

Well…that was a little better…didn’t get out of bed til 6:30 and I slept okay but I have a question…how the heck do you hurt yourself while you’re sleeping? When I walked out of my bedroom, my damn calf hurt worse that it did when I went to bed last night…okay, it could be that the ibuprofen that I took wore off but darn, I expected that rest would make it better but I guess the weird way that I’m contorted when I sleep is not helping….the weather is going to be crappy the next few days with rain coming in in the next couple of hours and then it will only be in the low 40’s tues and wed and that is just damn depressing for the middle of April…but, it’s another one of those things that I can’t do anything about so I just need to forget about it…weather is going to be what it is and being annoyed just wastes energy that I need to conserve…and I can get out and finish the weeding and get the flower seeds planted along with filling cups to start my veggie plants in so I can make some progress….but that won’t happen until after the rain comes through….not much to do today….just going to ease into the day and have some more coffee and read the news…can’t wait till it’s warm enough to do this on the porch with the windows open…but that won’t happen until the middle of May the way it looks…more later…

Well…damn, I almost forgot to come here for this one today since it’s been a rough day…no, nothing big happened…no one died, the house didn’t burn down, I didn’t wreck the car, but it was rough physically…can’t remember feeling so sore and creaky and exhausted and I sure hope this is not my life from now on….I did get a bike ride in but that didn’t help and even a short nap didn’t do anything for me….and now my back is sore on the right side like I strained it…but I can’t figure out what the hell I did to do that…cripes…I feel my age and I don’t like it one bit…but, we’ll get up and get going tomorrow morning and get back to it….I do need to get a ladder this week and take the old opener down in the garage so I can get a new one and move back into the modern age….but right now, all I want to do is watch tv and go to bed early…but, that won’t happen either….

Well…yeah, I’m running late this morning with going out to get the paper and reading it before coming here but that is kind of normal for a Sunday….didn’t sleep for crap last night after falling asleep sitting up on the couch and not getting to bed until after midnight….and I’m paying for that right now and I really hope the coffee will help soon…it seems every time I walk for any bit of time my damn right calf starts to hurt again and I still don’t know how I hurt it other than wearing the wrong shoes and I sure hope that is not my life from now on…but I’ve found that as I get older, it is easier to hurt myself and takes much, much longer to heal than it used to…cripes, I probably should buy some stock in an ibuprofen company I have been using so much of it just to get through my day…okay, 400 mg a day is not a lot but I’ve never had to take anything for just maintenance and it irritates the heck out of me…oh, well….didn’t get anything done yesterday but go into town and ride the bike and today looks much the same with lots of sports on tv and me having no motivation….I still have to accept that I can take a day off here and there without feeling guilty….but that is going to take some work…more later…

Well…just got my mail and it had a weird thing in it…my house insurance company sent me a check for the entire 450 bucks that I paid for my policy…I thought the first year was included in the mortgage loan that I got but then I got a bill in the mail for it so I assumed that it hadn’t been paid out of the loan and wrote them a check for it back in March and then just forgot about it…so, I guess I’ll have to call the agent on Monday to check what is going on…it would be cool if I can put this check in my account…this will pay for my new garage door opener and I’ll have almost 250 bucks left…fingers crossed….

Well…yeah, that title is cheating a little but I don’t feel too creative right now…and I know I’ve used it a lot but it really is descriptive….started the day with driving into GR to help my son install his new range hood and it went pretty good even with having to improvise with the power cord and I left there with it up and working and looking pretty cool….the drives out and back were smooth and I seem to have found that the vibration in the car was a loose wheel that came after I changed over to the summer wheels and forgot to go back and re tighten them after driving a bit…and I even got to put the top down on the way back here and that was fun…I did discover that the coolant has gone bad and I need to do a flush and fill soon but I think that will wait until it gets a little warmer…the coolant has almost a gel consistency with lots of rust in it and will probably take a few flushes to clean it out…I should probably just put water back in it and then drain it in a couple of weeks before I put antifreeze back in….it looks like it won’t freeze anymore so I should be okay….and I got a brutal bike ride in going out into a 15+ mph wind and it was a little cold but I did get out in shorts so that was okay…and now I’m just going to veg the rest of the day…damn, it’s almost 5:30 already and I am really looking forward to watching a bad old movie tonight and having a cocktail or two knowing I don’t have anything to do tomorrow unless I want to…

Well….running a little late today with not getting out of bed until almost 7…and I don’t feel that hot with having cocktails last night…I think I slept okay but I do remember waking up and trying to find my covers that had been tossed off the bed so I must have flipped and flopped a bunch….and no dreams to speak of but that’s okay….after the horrible sleep from thurs night, I’ll take just sleeping a little…don’t have a lot of pain in my calf or heel this morning and that is a relief since I am going to have to mow the lawn again Monday…won’t use the garden shoes again and I hope that helps…I did get a bike ride in yesterday but it was in almost full thermasuit and that sucks for April….and there is going to be no respite from the cold until May comes and I guess I’ll have to wait until then to plant my garden…I do need to flush the coolant out of the car since it is almost like gel and full of rust but again, I need it to be warmer before I climb under the car and pull off the lower radiator hose….and then just stick my hose in the rad and let it run….and I think the ramps will help with that….not much to do today…have to make a run into town to help my son put a range hood up at 11 and then back here to get a ride in and I hope it will be warm enough to get out in shorts….more later…

Well…don’t worry, I’ll get to a political one later this afternoon, but right now I want to talk about the pork shoulder I just made in my instant pot…and the only thing I have to say is  yummy, yummy, yummy! Decided to try something new for the cooking liquid and hit it out of the park…easily the best one I’ve ever made and it had so much flavor I just couldn’t believe it….after liberally salting and peppering it, I browned it in the pot with some olive oil on all sides and then took it out and put it on a plate…then I melted some butter and added onions, garlic cloves, and bay leaves along with black peppercorns, some lemon pepper, and Italian seasoning…the I just sweated the onions until soft, then added some chicken broth to deglaze the pot…then added worcestershire sauce along with some soy sauce…put the shoulder back in the pot without the rack so it was in the cooking liquid and pressure cooked it for 90 minutes…damn, it came out so tasty that I couldn’t believe it…have been trying for years to get a flavorful pork shoulder and finally hit it with this one….going to stop even looking for a better way since I can’t imagine making one that tastes better…oh, then I flipped the shoulder to get the rest of it in the cooking liquid and added potatoes and carrots and pressure cooked those for 5 minutes…if I was going to just do the shoulder, I would have cooked it for 45 and then flipped it for the second 45 to get all of it in the cooking liquid…didn’t even need a knife to cut it the shoulder was so tender….can’t wait to make some pork shoulder tacos with queso fresco and some picked red onions a in a tortilla with some lettuce and salsa…another yummy…