Well…as I talked about this morning, I was going to try my new waterproof shoes on the bike today just to see if they were warmer than the running shoes I’ve been using for the past couple of years…yeah, that was a mistake…while the shoes are great to work around in the yard, using them to ride the bike was a big mistake…my right foot started to hurt so badly that I had to cut the ride short at 8 miles and they are no good for the cold either…they are way too flexible for the pressure I put on them riding…and I couldn’t get comfortable like I can in my running shoes…they seem to just fall where it’s comfortable and they are stiff enough to not hurt the bottom of my feet…and the rubber shoes screwed up my entire position on the bike, too, and that made everything hurt from the waist down…so, big, big mistake…oh, well…

Well…running a little late this morning even with waking up on another engine size at 4:40….have been coughing and wheezing all night from the work I did downstairs yesterday and I am still coughing like crazy this morning…I sure hope it doesn’t take 6 weeks to stop like it did last time…feel a little better this morning but I think I’ve been under a thousand calories a day for 4 days now and I can’t keep that up and feel okay….so, I’m going to try to fix that today and have a couple of big meals…okay, big for me that is so I should be at around 1500 for the day…the bike ride was such a huge chore and so damn cold yesterday and I am starting to try to figure out what has changed to be so sensitive to it…I’ve ridden in the cold for years and years in the same thermasuit that I’m using now and the cold never hung on throughout the day like it has been these past few weeks….I am going to try out my rubber slip on shoes today to see if they will be better than the running shoes I have been using…other than the downstairs work, I didn’t get much done yesterday but I do have an errand to run this morning to get some new furnace filters and some new registers to fit in the openings in the walls that have been open since I moved in here…only 8 bucks at Menards and that will be the finishing touch that I am going to do here….more later….

Well…even with no sleep and feeling crappy today, I dragged myself downstairs and finished up the project that I had going down there…and I’m already feeling my allergies from it…my eyes are scratchy and puffy and my head is plugged up…but, it’s worth it to finally get that done and shut down….now comes the hard part of cleaning up everything but that is going to wait until later in the week…now, I just need to get a bike ride in here in a few minutes…but, I’m going to have lunch first….more later…

Well…running so late today with not getting to sleep until almost 6 this morning and then getting up at 8 or so….damn, that’s going to make for a crappy day today and I had some work to do on the last of the downstairs project that I guess can wait until tomorrow….man, I can’t remember feeling this lousy in quite a while and I wonder it I’m going to get out on the bike today…didn’t go yesterday with how cold it was all day and I am at the bottom of the energy tank right now…it’s a hell of a lot of work to just do this and I can’t imagine getting on the bike and doing 15 miles…didn’t get a lot done yesterday and today will be the same after I finish this….need to start cleaning this place up but I don’t have to cook today so that will be a relief….and I know I need to eat more than a couple of pieces of pork and a bowl of soup so I’ll try that today….need to get motivated but the coffee is not working so I think I’ll just sit here and read the news for a while and hope that I feel better….more later…

Well….you know, I think I just needed a day off…decided pretty early today that I was going to take the day off the bike…it wasn’t even a hard decision since it is still only 32 and cloudy out there and I think I still feel cold from yesterday…and my allergies have been pretty bad today from the time I got up and that has taken a lot out of me…I did cut the pork shoulder in half and only cooked 4 lbs of it and it came out great with slicing up a whole onion, lots of garlic, and bay leaves to make the sauce…just threw that in and sauteed them and then cooked the shoulder for a little over an hour…and the strange thing is that the onions just melted away by the time it was done and with a little cornstarch, it made a pretty good sauce to spoon over the meat and the potato…and I am going to make some home made bbq sauce for pulled pork sandwiches later in the week…yummy….probably one of the easiest big meals I’ve made in a while….I think it helped that I browned the pork and sauteed the veggies in butter…and it only over browned a little and I got that cleaned out of the pot with baking soda and vinegar….now it’s time to take the rest of the day off….

Well…I guess that was okay…up at 4:10 but then back to sleep until 6:22 and I feel okay so I’ll take it…had a strange dream that the only thing I remember is the phrase “remembering the future”…what that has to do with anything, I’m not sure but it would be a good title for a novel…I’m planning on making a pork shoulder in the instant pot today and I was worrying about what I am going to do with 8 pounds of pork…then, it dawned on my that I can cut it in half and only make 4 pounds while I freeze the rest for later…or, I could cook the whole thing and freeze most of it but I don’t like freezing cooked food…so, half the shoulder it is…and I want to take advantage of the spiral sliced ham on sale this week for 87 cents a pound…haven’t had ham this year yet and I do like the cook’s they sell at Meijers…..didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I am going to clean today if I can get out on the bike early…but, it is only 27 out there right now and, with how long it took to warm after yesterday’s ride, I need it to be warmer and sunny before I go out…so it may be after the F1 race at noon…and the SCCA runoffs are on all afternoon and they have a spec Miata class that is always fun to watch so when the Lions start to lose, I’ll have something to look at….more later….

Well…sitting here trying to warm up after the bike ride and I’m not having much luck…still freezing even after a shower so hot that I thought I was going to have 2nd degree burns from it…and I haven’t been able to come up with a topic for the day so I may just give up and not do a political one today…I almost turned off the Man U game when they looked so terrible and were down by a goal going into the second half…but with just a couple of changes, the team woke up and won the game 3-1 and it could have easily been 5-1….so that made me smile a little…my lungs were giving me fits on the bike today and I can’t figure that out…back to the BS coughing I’ve had off and on for 6 weeks now and it is just damn annoying…but it was a good ride other than the cold and I feel better with not skipping today….still just feel worn out, though, and I think a bowl of soup and half a chicken breast is not enough to eat for an entire day and could be contributing to the malaise….okay, that’s enough for today…want to watch some soccer and relax a bit….

Well…damn, running late this morning and I just can’t get going….didn’t even get out of bed until 7:30 but it wasn’t from sleeping…just didn’t have any motivation since the F1 qualifying is not until noon or so and just lying there seemed like a good idea at the time…oh, there is soccer on and I completely forgot about that…oh, well….didn’t dream at all so that leaves me pretty worn out and hoping that the coffee will start to work soon….I think I may have to take a day off the bike soon just to let my legs heal up some…they just ache all the time again and I know it from riding into the wind almost every day…and yesterday was another 15 mph day and that makes it a lot less fun to ride….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the ride and laundry but that means I don’t have a lot to do today but clean and I may not even do that the way I feel right now….okay, just going to end here since I’m still not motivated and need to have more coffee….more later…

Well…another day of trying to find a topic in politics to write about with very little luck so I think I’ll talk about ham soup instead…I tried the instant pot to make ham soup for the first time this morning to get all the ham bones out of my freezer and I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out…it tastes just like the stuff I used to make in my big stew pot but it only took about an hour total instead of the 4 hours that it takes in the stock pot…and that includes all the veggie chopping…and, of course, I had to try some of it but it was only about 9:30 when I finished it so I guess there was ham soup for breakfast today…a meal that I never eat…I’ll probably never go back to the stock pot now that I have the process down for the instant pot since it is so easy….so now I have 3 containers of ham soup in the freezer again and even room for the leftovers from the pork shoulder I am making in the pot Sunday….more later….

Well…it another 4:14 morning…sung to the tune of “Tequila Sunrise” by the Eagles…it does fit…I tried it….but I did go back to semi sleep until 6:30 so I don’t feel too bad this morning…my lungs are a little raw and I’m coughing again but that’s pretty normal for the mornings….the wind wasn’t as bad on the bike yesterday and that made the ride a little better but it was still damn cold and that hung on for hours after I got back here…still feel it this morning,too, even though it’s the normal temp in here…maybe the coffee will warm me up…just got a little cleaning done yesterday but today is going to be a soup making day…going to use up the ham I have in the freezer and use the veggies that I got for t-day that I didn’t use….and do it in the instant pot again since that cuts the time down to an hour or so instead of the 4 hours it takes in my big stew pot…I do have an 8 pound pork shoulder that I have to make Sunday and I think I’ll look for sauce recipes to go with it…and make some pulled pork sandwiches….that should last me a few days and I couldn’t resist at 99 cents a pound….not much to do today…going to start the soup here in a few minutes and then get a bike ride in but I don’t know how much else I’ll do today….they have just issued a warning that no one over 65 should be grocery shopping or be around anyone with the virus going nuts but I’m still going to do it…with precautions it should be okay…I hope….more later….