Well…that sucked…had probably the worst night of sleep I’ve had since I moved in here with being up and down all night starting at 1:13 after going to bed at 11…and I finally gave up at 5:43 and got out of bed for good…but I don’t feel that bad even with that and my heel and calf are much better today and I’ll take that trade off any day….and that was day 5 of being good this week so that has to count for something…not sure what, but something…I am a little depressed that I haven’t been on the bike for two days but damn, I am so tired of going out in thermasuit….and it’s past half of April and it’s only 33 out there? I think that’s the most depressing part….that we haven’t had any spring yet and I haven’t gotten that first whiff of the smell of spring, either….I wonder how many more springs I have? I did decide to keep the tree trimmer I bought a couple of weeks ago after looking at all of the dead stuff that has to be cleared out of my trees and I just don’t want to have to borrow one when I need it…I know it’s a lot of cash but I think I’ll get enough use out of it to justify buying one…I do have to put some hooks up in the garage to hang it and the new ladder that I’m going to buy next week to get it up and out of the way…and that will complete the tools I need to maintain this place and then I have to start saving like crazy to pay my taxes and car insurance in August…that should be about two grand…or more and don’t want to deplete my cash reserve to pay it….not much to do today…I do have a pork shoulder that I’m going to cook in the instant pot but I think 9 pounds is too big so I’m going to cut it in half and only do 4 pounds or so…can’t wait to make some pork tacos with  queso fresco, or Mexican cheese, and the pickled red onions I made the other day….should be yummy….and I am going to get a ride in today even if I have to go out in long pants and gloves…might as well get used to that since it is going to be cold until the end of the month….more later….

Well…didn’t take a bike ride today since it was damn cold and the wind was blowing almost 20mph and I just can’t take that anymore…so, I decided to start to work on the inside of this joint and do the deep cleaning that I should have done a month ago…started with cleaning the stove and trying to get rid of the sticky crap that was left all over it and burned on….so I took the top apart and drenched the whole thing in goo gone and let it set for an hour to see if it would remove the crap…it kind of worked and it is much better than it was but not all of the crud came off so I will have to find another solvent to get the rest off…so, that took a couple of hours and then I got tired of looking at the dingy curtains over the kitchen sink and started to clean the window and the sink and faucet..yikes…the faucet looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years and had build up of black crud and minerals crusted over it so I had to take the handles off to get at the mold under them and it took 4 applications of mineral remover to cut through the buildup along with taking a razor blade to scrape the crap off it….along with taking a toothbrush to the window to get the dirt out of the cracks and then more razor blade work to get the crap off the window that the ammonia wouldn’t cut, the process took almost 2 1/2 hours and trashed the skin on my hands with all of the harsh cleaners I had to use. That’s enough for now…Man U plays in about 45 minutes and I am going to watch that as a reward for finally getting to the deep cleaning that should have been done long ago…I sure like the results but there is still lots of work to do in the kitchen and the rest of the house just to clean it enough to suit me….baby steps….

Well…damn…it is not supposed to snow on the 15th of April…and this damn cold weather is going to last the rest of the month and, as I get older, the wait for spring gets more and more excruciating, like I don’t have the time to wait anymore….is it too much to ask to have some warmth for an old guy? At least my sleep is consistent…not good but consistent with waking up at 3:23 the past three days and then out of bed at 6:13…at least I’ve been good but, as time goes by, I wonder why? Yeah, I know, it’s better for my health but the nights are just so damn boring and my brain just won’t shut off any more and it should be relaxing with having my housing situation finally settled…oh, well….I did get some yard work done yesterday with getting the weed and feed on the lawn and I like the little spreader I bought…it only took three fillings to do my yard and I have a little of the 10K sq ft bag left to take care of the spots I may have missed….and it is cool that I was able to get the mower drive adjusted…I am looking forward to the next mowing if my damn calf will heal….and that is the other thing…being in constant pain and limping around here is starting to get old but I will admit it is a little better this morning with taking two ibuprofens yesterday and staying off the bike…I guess I’ll put the long clothes back on for a ride today and see if that will help my mood….not much to do today…I may take the day off working outside and do some cleaning in here…I do need to get the rest of the weeding done so I can plant my flowers if it ever warms up…have some really cool looking poppies that I can’t wait to see along with the rest of them…the color will look nice against the white of the house…and I’m sure it will make me smile….more later….

Well….after mowing the lawn on Monday and feeling like I was doing more work than my new self propelled mower, I got the owner’s manual out that my brother included and tried to see if there was any adjustments included to solve the problem…there wasn’t, so I did the next thing and just did a voice search for it and turned up a video on youtube that addressed exactly the same problem with exactly the same mower I have….so, even though I’ve been working on feeding the lawn and running errands all morning, I just had to try the fix that looked too simple to work…so, I went out and loosened the one nut that the guy showed on the video and moved the cable sheath less than a half inch to take some slack out of the cable, then started it up and tried it…damn, the thing moves now! The easiest adjustment I’ve ever made on a mower that transformed it back to like new…now, next week’s mowing is going to be a piece of cake…just hope my damn calf is healed up by then…it still hurts so much I’m limping and I’m sure it’s from my rubber garden shoes….darn…

Well…that was day two of an all natural sleep and it was a little less restful than Monday night…but, it is how I remember my sleep for years so it’s nothing new…and I feel okay so I guess I can live with it…I do feel less sore today and I have been walking okay with my heel feeling better and my right calf not nearly as bad as it was after mowing Monday…so I’m going to hurt it again today with putting food on the lawn with my new spreader but that needs to be done before it rains tomorrow…or snows tomorrow which is possible with how cold it is going to be…I did get out for a bike ride yesterday after helping my brother move a car around for service and it wasn’t too bad even with the wind blowing almost 15….and it was good to get out since I’m probably taking today and tomorrow off since I don’t want to go out in half thermasuit anymore…I did have a surprise when I was mowing out front Monday…the woman I bought the house from pulled up with her husband and we had a nice chat…she just wanted to know that the house she grew up in was going to be taken care of and told me I already have the yard looking better than she could remember…that made me feel good….very nice people and I told her I love the house and will probably live here the rest of my life…and that made her happy…pretty cool…not much to do today…have to hit Aldi’s and depot for food and a plug for the new exhaust fan I’m going to help my son install Saturday back in GR and then need to do the lawn food…I do have to work on the mower since I think the drive belt is slipping some…it just doesn’t take off like it should and I think it’s probably from sitting for a couple of years without use…and I do need to get to know how the thing works so I can maintain it….more later….

Well…that was a little interesting…even with getting my check, I was still good last night and even skipped the sleep aids that have been helping me sleep and it wasn’t terrible…tossed and turned a lot and woke up about 5 times but stayed in bed until 6:13 and I’ll take that…and I’m not a sore as I expected after all the walking with mowing the lawn for the first time…my achilles were howling at me after I finished and I was limping most of the afternoon….so I think I need to get better shoes to mow with than the rubber slip ons I’ve been using…but the yard is starting to come together and I need to get out to Menard’s to get the spreader and weed and feed today…I can get 20K sq ft coverage for about 30 bucks and with the spreader costing 36 bucks I can get out for under 70 bucks….and I can get an 8ft aluminum step ladder for 79 bucks but I have to wait til Friday to get that when it will be warm enough to put the top down and stick it up in the air from the passenger’s seat….and that will be the process for getting the new garage door opener here, too…when I buy it next week…not much to do today….going to do the Meijer run this morning since it is near the bank where I need to deposit the check and I have some staples that I need to make pickled red onions to go with the pork shoulder I’m going to make in the instant pot later in the week….going to make some pork taco wraps and other stuff that will keep me fed for the next week or so….more later…

Well…finally, just got my 1400 dollar relief check in today’s mail and I want to have a cocktail to celebrate…but, it’s not a cocktail night so I guess that’s out….what a damn relief that I don’t have to work for another two weeks of wending my way through the government to try to get it…now the big decision is what do I do with it? I know I need a ladder and I would like a new garage door opener and that would take about 250 bucks of it and it would be so cool to just drive up to the door and hit a button instead of getting out of the car every time to lift it… and the new one comes with two remotes so I could have one for the car and one to put in the bike bag so I can put the bike away easily….and I do need to buy a spreader and weed and feed for the lawn and that will be about 70 bucks so that makes 320 bucks out of the 1400 gone….the other 600 dollar check paid for my washer already so that doesn’t have to come out of it…I really can’t think of anything else that I want right now so that will leave almost 1100 bucks to just sit there for emergencies and that is a good feeling…yee ha….

Well…damn, woke up pretty depressed for some reason…or for no reason, that’s how it works and I’m having a hard time doing anything right now…even tried something different this morning when I got up at 5:23…went back to bed to just lay there and that may have something to do with it…the weather may be contributing, too since it is going to be cold right through the end of April with highs no warmer than the low 50’s and that just sucks…don’t want to go back to long wind pants and gloves on the bike but it looks like I’ll have to…and that may put me back on planting the garden and the flowers since there may even be frost…and that’s depressing, too….being in constant pain is not helping, either, and I’m pretty sure I tore a muscle in my right forearm doing something since I can barely even pick up my coffee cup…it would be nice to know how I hurt it so I don’t do it again but all of the outside work is kind of a blur….not much to do today….I’ll have to wait til almost noon to get out on the bike so I can go in shorts so I’ll have to find something to do this morning…I think I’ll put the string trimmer head on the gas trimmer and I should run out to Menards to get some grass killer to spray under the fence so I don’t have to trim it every week and look at a small spreader for the lawn food that I need to get down soon…but I am still trying to not spend any money right now after burning 2500 bucks in the past month so that may wait…more later…

Well…as you can see, I didn’t do a political one today since I just had a bunch of stuff that I wanted to get done and I really didn’t have a topic anyway…this calm Biden admin is going to kill me…damn, I’m sore… it was bad even before getting on the bike but when I got back here, I couldn’t feel my hands they were just numb from pressure on them riding and it was hard to even use the shifters…and that has been happening lately and I’m not sure why…but, even though I was sore after riding, I went out to continue to pull weeds and got sidetracked by some stumps that had grown through my fence and had started to sprout again…so, I got my hatchet, axe, and pruning saw out and attacked a lot of them and got the biggest ones out after a lot of damn work…there was so much to cut out that it filled one of the huge yard waste bags and then I continued to work on the weeds but I was getting sore really quickly so I had to give up…and now, I can barely walk around here and need some ibuprofen soon…I am so tired of being sore all the time….I can barely use my right arm with all of the pain in my forearm that is so bad I can barely pick up my water glass…cripes, I’m getting old…

Well…decided to change things up this morning and come here for one of these before I read the paper so I don’t have to think about it and I won’t forget it…so, here goes…slept okay last night but I really think that will be the end of cocktails for me….have been inching up to it for a couple of weeks now and I just like the way I feel in the morning when I don’t have any…so it starts tonight but I’m not sure if it will be a hard and fast rule or if I’ll just go back to how it used to be when they were for special occasions and not every day…we’ll see….had some dreams again but waiting this long to do this has let me forget them so they must have not been very memorable….my allergies have been really bad the past week or so with all of the tree pollen and I am just damn miserable and that won’t be helped by doing yard work this week…it is nice that I have most of the equipment I need to take care of the lawn now and I guess feeding it can wait another week until the next payment shows up in my checking account….not much to do today…have to check the weather to see when I can get out on the bike…Man U plays at 11:30 so I hope it’s before that…and I may do some more weeding around the house so I can plant the flower seeds around it and get some color going….more later…