Well…ick…just looked outside and there are at least 4 inches of snow on the ground that I am going to have to shovel when it gets light and it is still snowing…and that is going to turn to rain later this morning so I’ll have to shovel before then…slept okay last night but my right heel hurts for some reason and I am limping this morning…and my hip hurts, too, but I think that is just a continuation of the pain from yesterday…and I may take something for it so I can do the snow…didn’t get a whole lot done yesterday other than the bike ride and fixing the faucet but I do need to get the snowies on the car at some point today but that will come after I do the snow….but, I’m not in any hurry to do anything right now since I have nothing but that to do all day and I don’t want to get cold just yet…it took all day to warm up after the ride yesterday and I was sitting here under a blanket all night last night…and I never have to do that…not much to do today…more coffee…and more coffee and reading the news for an hour or so is the only thing on the agenda right now….just don’t want to move yet….more later..

Well…damn, that was cold…when I went out for the ride today it was only 26 degrees but the sun was shining and I wanted to see the soccer matches that started at 1 so I took off and immediately thought it may not have been such a good idea when my eyes started to hurt from the cold in the first quarter mile and my feet were cold just getting the bike out of the garage…but, with the storm coming and the probability that I won’t be on the bike tomorrow, I had to go today…it wasn’t too bad for the first 10 miles but from there, the cold turned to pain in my toes and I knew it was going to be bad when I got back here and it was…when I took my socks off, both of my big toes were white and I couldn’t feel them…and that was a little scary…and now, three hours later, they are still numb after transitioning from pain…think I need to be a little more careful when I go out in this cold…would hate to do permanent damage to this old body just to get exercise in…

Well….sitting here waiting for the temp to come up enough so I can get out on the bike so I thought I’d talk about some work that I got done this morning…you know I’ve been screwing around trying to repair the bathroom faucet and get it to stop leaking, replacing the 40 year old cartridge with an off brand one to save a few bucks…but that one only lasted a couple of months and it never really fit right…it had to be forced in to get the retaining clip to slide into place and was always stiff to operate…so, this morning I went out and got a real Moen cartridge, for only about 4 bucks more and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to install it…just the force of my fingers instead of using a hammer to get it to go in all the way and it works so smoothly and with little effort that I think it sometimes pays to buy name brand parts….and for only 4 bucks more? Now I need to try to find the receipt for the other one and see if I can still return it…it’s nice to have a faucet that just works right and doesn’t leak…

Well…darn, not sleeping again and I feel so exhausted that I just want to go back to bed…and I know part of it is from not eating enough…just couldn’t bring myself to eat a second meal so all I had was a slice of ham and some tots for lunch and I know that’s not enough especially with getting on the bike…oh, well…must have slept weird last night since my right hip is howling in pain this morning and I hope it works out when I do the grocery run this morning…need to do that today since we are getting a huge storm tomorrow with 6 inches of snow possible starting tonight…so the snowies need to go back on the car today, or I guess I could wait til tomorrow since I won’t be going anywhere….and this will close the trails for the rest of the winter so there will just be short rides on the roads from now on…it is going to be around 40 starting Friday for about a week so maybe they will melt clear again….didn’t get anything done yesterday and today looks much the same…all I have to do is replace the cartridge in the bathroom sink that I am going to pick up this morning and Man U plays this afternoon so that will be enough for me to do today….more later….

Well…it looks like I’m going to do one of my “bucket list” trips in 2022….just talked to my daughter and she and my son in law want to take me to England, Ireland, and Scotland in the spring of 2022…three places that I have always wanted to go and I’m such an Anglophile that this is going to be pretty cool…so now I have something to look forward to….flying into Heathrow and then taking trains all over the islands…oh, and we are going to Manchester so I can see Manchester United’s stadium and maybe even see a match….I can’t wait to touch Old Trafford….the stadium has been a center of my Premier League watching since I got interested in it 25 years ago….and going to Ireland where some of my ancestors are from is something I’ve always wanted to do….and I really won’t have to do anything but show up with my suitcase and passport since my daughter is such a planner…she seems as excited about it as I am and that is cool…can’t wait…

Well….after getting out on the bike yesterday to mostly just wet trails with patches of snow and ice, I expected that they would be even better today…and at the start they were…but, as the temp started to fall, the slight dusting of snow that had started to melt refroze and black ice appeared all over the trail…so the mantra that I needed to keep repeating to myself was “pay attention…slow down and don’t lean the bike” about every thirty seconds…trying to rid myself of 8 months of warm riding habits is not as easy as it sounds since I rarely turn the handlebars and steer the bike by leaning it into the corners….on the fast downhill/uphill combination I even got the bike into a two wheel slide at over 20 mph and I can’t remember ever doing that before….after that, I really did pay a lot more attention and I did slow down…and got back here basically intact other than my hands and feet were damn near frozen since going slower left me out in the cold for an additional 15-20 minutes and that is enough to push me over the edge…but, I survived it…and I did go over 5,900 miles this morning…won’t make it to 6,000 but 5,900 isn’t bad….

Well…I get so tired having to remember how to sleep and that there is a specific way I have to lie in bed to sleep at all…and I missed it completely last night so I feel like crap today…and I’m coughing and my head is plugged up and that is a direct result of sleeping on my left side instead of my right…crap…I guess I’m just getting old…pretty worn out right now, too, so I’m going to hope the coffee works pretty fast…the damn faucet in the sink started to leak again yesterday so I’m going to throw one more cartridge at it and see if that helps…one good thing is that I now know how to replace them pretty quickly so it’s not really a big job like it was taking the original one out that had been in there for 40 years….it really does look like I’ll end up in an apartment since the house listings have dried up over the holidays and I haven’t gotten any the past few days…and that sucks…not much more to say about that….didn’t get anything done yesterday but ride the bike but I do need to start packing my stuff up and cleaning today after the bike ride….and I need to get on the bike as soon as it gets light since it is only going to get colder as the day goes on….more later….

Well…finally…I got a bike ride in this morning and it wasn’t too bad…just a little cold and I’ve already warmed up from it…and the trails were okay…some snow and ice but nothing that was worrying at all…and that should make for clear trails tomorrow…I will be curious to see how my legs fare after being off the bike for three days…they feel a little sore right now so I’m sure they’ll get worse overnight…but, I didn’t go too hard so maybe it won’t be too bad…just got in from washing the car and bike so I think I’m going to make that my work for the day and do the kitchen tomorrow since there is a third soccer match that is starting right now and I feel like watching and vegging some….so, I’m not sure about a political one right now but maybe later….

Well…man, I feel like crap this morning…didn’t get to bed til late and then up around 6 or so…it was even a lot of work to go out for the paper so after I do this, I’m going to take it easy for a while and maybe even take a nap when the first soccer match comes on at 9…I do have to figure out when I’m going to get on the bike but that won’t be for a while…maybe this afternoon….I did get some work done yesterday and I have a clean bathroom to show for it but I’m not sure what I’m going to do today….maybe nothing if I don’t feel better soon….just worn out and I think it’s stress from not finding a house yet….but, I’m not too sore so I’ll take that and build on it…I am going to take a look at the trails today to see what they look like…I’m hoping I can ride on them instead of the street but I wouldn’t mind riding into downtown just to see what it looks like…haven’t ridden there since spring and I’m sure the bike lanes will be clear so I can get at least a few miles in….just can’t go 4 days without getting out of here and getting some exercise….not much to do today….coffee, coffee, coffee and then some news is all I can think about right now….more later…

Well….I’ve already made the decision to not ride the bike today since it is only going to get to 30 and I just don’t feel like getting cold…it is the first time this year that I’ve taken 3 days in a row off and I don’t feel guilty at all…and that is weird with my well developed sense of guilt…I did get the bathroom cleaned already and will probably do the kitchen later today as I listen to soccer…and soccer will get me through until 4:30 or so and it’s nice to have something running in the background that I don’t have to pay attention to…regular tv shows just don’t do it since they demand more attention than soccer…I did get a few texts from one of my nieces last night and that was a little odd since I have only talked to her probably twice in her life…but it was kind of nice that someone was thinking about me and to find out my youngest sister is still in remission from the bone cancer she had….hmmm…what else? Not much right now but I do have one on racing that I want to do…but it may be a repeat and I don’t want to do that….but, I really don’t want to search through 9,000 of these to find out….more later…