Well…it’s 12:42 and it’s still only 47 degrees out there so it looks like it’s going to be a day off the bike for me…I know I’m going to have to get used to the cold here pretty soon if I want to keep riding outside but not today…I am going to use the pain in my back and sides as an extra excuse since it still hurts to just sit here and it won’t get better if I strain them more today….I do need to try to get the feeling of enjoyment that I used to have on days off back again but I’m not sure how to do that…I’m terrible about just living in the moment and my mind races to think about what I should be doing even though I accomplished a lot this week….I used to be able to sit in front of the tv on days off and enjoy an old movie or two and now I have thousands of them available on plex and other streaming services but I can’t sit still long enough to do that…maybe I should see a shrink? I should be able to figure this out since I do have a degree in psych but I haven’t been successful at it yet….oh, well….I probably shouldn’t bitch too much…life is still okay and, as I always used to say to my kids when they had a normal problem that they were blowing out of proportion, “you’ll live through it”…and I probably will…
Wake up old folks….
Well…with the repubs now saying they want to end social security as it now exists and replace the guaranteed income with something that has to be re-authorized every 5 years and every 5 years folks like you and me are going to have to sit here and wonder if we are going to be able to live at all, all I have to say is wake up folks! Look, as the polls say, most older people like me vote for repubs for some damn reason, we need to make sure that people living on SS know what is going on and know that a vote for repubs is a vote for their own death from starvation….right now, I can pay all of my bills and put a little away every month and I feel secure for the first time in my life…and I paid for this security my entire life out of every paycheck I ever got from the time I was 15…so it’s NOT an entitlement, it’s our money that we paid for…in my case for 50 years and even talking about taking it away from me is pissing me off…and yet I know people who will continue to vote for repubs even if their lives will be destroyed by them since they just can’t believe that they will ever do that to them…and all I have to say to those folks is that the repubs just made more than 50% of this country second class citizens and most people thought they wouldn’t do that and then Roe was overturned and the repubs immediately started to criminalize women’s healthcare…so, yes, if they are given the power, of course they will eliminate Medicare and social security….they have hated those programs since they were passed and have tried and tried to eliminate them over the years…so, open your eyes old folks…disaster is coming to you if you continue to vote for these assholes….geez…
Ramble on…
Well…as I’m taking it easy this morning, I was looking out the kitchen window and saw the leaves start to fall and it always makes me think of the song “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin…”leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way, thanks to you I’m much obliged, for such a pleasant stay, but now it’s time for me to go, the Autumn moon lights my way, for now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it’s headed my way”….it’s funny how much the events of living trigger me into thinking about music that I like….time is passing and I know I’m getting closer to the end but I’m not sad about that…maybe more introspective but not sad…I do find it kind of odd that I’m almost 70 and I’m still out there working on my car, cleaning the garage, riding my bike, and working on this house…when I was young, 70 was ancient and there were no old people doing this kind of stuff so I consider myself lucky….but I have done the work to stay healthy…I mean how many other almost 70 year olds ride their bikes over 5,000 miles a year? Here’s the weird thing….the other day I put my height and weight into a BMI calculator and, at 175 pounds, I am still considered almost obese…overweight at least, and I can’t figure that out….oh,well….more later…
October 7th
Well…that was a strange night…woke up at 4 or so but went back to bed until 7 then just laid there until 7:44 and wanted to just not get out of bed at all…and I still feel that way…just frickin worn out and I may take the day off the bike today since it will be a long pants day if I don’t…it’s barely going to get over 50 this afternoon and I really need a day off after all the work this week….it’s only 40 out there right now and there is no way I can take that right now…I’m still very sore and moving gingerly today and that could be another reason to take a day off the bike…I wonder how that would work? And how do I cope with the guilt? Hmmm…I did get a lot of work done yesterday as I did all week and I should clean in here today and I just might…the bathroom can use some work as the kitchen does and I still have all of the tools to put away after working on the car yesterday….I really like the new electric toothbrush but it feels weird like you have a bunch of bees in your mouth as it vibrates….and it does clean better than the spinbrush….and I do like my phone a lot better with the new case on it…I can feel where the on button is when I had to look at it before…and it’s pretty grippy feels better than the naked phone that was just too thin….not much to do today….it’s 8:25 and I don’t want to do anything and my back and sides still hurt like crazy just sitting here so I am heading toward a day off….I think I may have done enough work this week to hold the guilt at bay if I do just hang out and do nothing…but, we’ll see…..more later….
Owww…
Well…damn, getting old is literally a pain….after working on the car and garage the past couple of days, I can barely move my back and sides hurt so much…I guess bending to get in the wheel well to lube the parking brake is not such a good idea when you are getting old…but it has to be done at least once a year or they will hang up and leave the parking brakes on and you go nowhere….and I had to hit the rear suspension bushings with some wd to keep them from squeaking..again, at least once a year….and I think all of the sweeping and cleaning didn’t help much but I have been planning on doing that to the garage for quite a while now…and I just walked out to look at it a few minutes ago and it makes me feel good to have a clean space to store my car and tools in…I probably should have taken some ibuprofen when I finished up at 2:30 since it hurt to just reach for my laptop on the back of the couch but I still don’t want to take any more of them than is absolutely necessary…and the dust from all the sweeping has plugged my head up and I should have taken something for that, too…but, I’m an idiot and I would rather suffer and be able to bitch about it…yeah, I’m that weird…oh, well…I am done for the day…no more later…
I did it again….
Well…I’m still drinking coffee at 2:30 in the afternoon and there is something wrong with that…but I am not going to dump out good coffee or make it last for a third day….it’s been somewhat of a theme of being busy lately and I did it again today…I was able to get out on the bike as soon as it was light this morning so that meant I could get two rides in before 11 and then get the last of the lawn food on before lunch….right after lunch I got started on the car and while I was waiting for the rust preventer to dry, I thought it would be a good time to finish getting the sand out of it and then wash the glass and the plastic inside since that needed to be done…I had planned on doing that tomorrow but I had plenty of time just standing there so I thought I’d finish the car today….once I had that done, I decided to sweep the garage floor and that turned into sweeping the interior walls, too, and I could not believe how much dirt was on them…they probably had never been cleaned since the garage was built and there were so many cobwebs that I think they were helping hold the damn thing up….that took quite a while but it was worth it to have a clean garage for the first time since I bought this place…that took until 2 or so and I have just gotten cleaned up and here to do this one…so, I really do need to take a day off here soon….the rain just came in and that’s why I put the food on the lawn today…I love it when a plan comes together….now it’s time to relax and read some news…I think I’ve earned it…
The Saudis and Russia need to pay…
Well…damn, I am so tired of the Saudis and the Russians meddling in our elections…and they are at it again for the mid-terms when yesterday they announced that they are going to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day which will send oil prices soaring and give the repubs a huge talking point for the next month…now, I wonder, did the repubs even talk to the Saudis and ask them to do it? They’ve done everything else treasonable so that is not much of a stretch, is it? Let’s remember that trump and his cronies actually did work with the Russians to steal the 2016 election and I’m sure they still have the “backchannels” the the idiot kushner established with both the Russians and the Saudis…and they are still joined at the hip as evidenced by jared getting 2 billion dollars from the Saudis after the 2020 election that has still never been explained. Let’s remember that there needs to be conspirators here in the US or none of this would work…and you can guess who that would be…no, you don’t have to guess…it’s the damn repubs..cheating, cheating, and cheating…it’s the only way they can win….geez…
October 6th
Well…damn, that was odd…slept all the way through the night and didn’t get up til 7:07 and that hasn’t happened for a long, long time…but I wasn’t good last night so that’s probably why…and I sure hope that’s not what I have to do to sleep since there is a trade off of how I feel…darn….it looks like I can get out on the bike as soon as it gets light for the last time this year since it is already 55 out there and that means I can work on the car this morning, too…and that’s good since it is supposed to rain this aft and then get cold for the next few days….it looks like today is not going to be as busy as my days have been lately and that is a welcome relief…after all, I’m getting old and that pace was really tiring….but I do still have a lot of work to do today to start on the dining room…and I should put the rest of the fall food on the lawn before it rains so I may do that before I work on the car….I do need to plan meals for a few days and get that out of the freezer since I only have food for two meals today…I am going to have a burger today to try to use up some more tomatoes but I can see the end of my crop coming…it was a good year for them and I didn’t have to throw any of them out….not much to do today…I need more coffee before I read the news and get out on the bike…it’s still not light enough but that is coming fast so I need to get going….more later….
Damn, this is getting to be a stuck record…
Well…after I wrote that title, it occurred to me that a lot of you out there may not know what a stuck record is…or what a record is for that matter, but a stuck one is where a record sticks and plays the same few seconds over and over….and that is what my days have seemed like since I got back to work around here…busy, busy, busy and today I didn’t get done till almost three after getting going about 7:30….started out with getting out to do the grocery run this morning…hit 3 stores that would have been 4 but the dollar store was closed and I wonder if it is having business trouble? After the run, I got back here and got straight on the bike at 10 and finished the rides at about 12:30 and then straight into working on the car…got the rust treated and painted over on the drivers side and then vacuumed the trunk and drivers seat and floor, then repaired the mat that was frayed and that took me til almost 2:30 and I have the passenger’s side to do tomorrow but I did put the first coat of the rust treatment on and will do another one tomorrow before I paint over it…after I got that done, I got the laundry started and then made a batch of pasta salad since I like it and it is handy to have with anything instead of chips or fries…after I got that done, I checked on the front steps for the package that was due and it was here, so I opened it and put the new case on the phone…I really like it, the phone just didn’t have anything to grip or to tell you where the buttons are and this case takes car of that…pretty cool…and I got my Phillips sonicare rechargeable toothbrush and I can’t wait to use it later…it really vibrates and I sure hope that it helps with keeping my teeth clean and infection free…it’s very slim and is supposed to last 14 days on one charge and that would be cool…so I retired my spin brush pro battery powered one that I have been using for almost 20 years….damn, I’m getting pretty modern and it’s all by accident…now it’s time to take it easy for a bit…long, busy day…again…
Justice Jackson is going to be a good one…
Well…have been looking for a topic since I finished up with all the work I had to do today and I found one….with the seating of Justice Ketanji Jackson on the supreme court…people have been focusing on the fact that she is the first African American woman on the supreme court, but after her first day on the court and with how she handled herself and illuminated how damn good she is, all I can say is I’m damn impressed and I know she is going to be a good one. During arguments where Alabama is trying to gut the voting rights act, blathering that any redistricting in Alabama must be race neutral, she patiently explained the history of the 14th amendment and that it specific purpose was to protect the rights of freed slaves…and she asked how that could be “race neutral?” And she went on to explain that taking race into account in redistricting is perfectly constitutional….how much this going to matter with the right wingers salivating to allow the repubs to gerrymander to their hearts content and them not needing any reason in the constitution or law to make that happen, it is still heartening to see someone explode the idea that the “fix” is in and her opinion doesn’t matter…I can’t wait to read some of her dissents…I think she is going to end up a legal giant who will rule to the law and not to political goals…and she will show just how much the right wingers on the court are just hacks with no business at all of being there…can’t wait….