Well…when you get weather like this in November, it makes me feel like I need to jam in a lot of tasks to take advantage of it…and with today being the next to last 70 degree day, I have been busy, busy, busy. Started out my day at around 8 getting out on the bike for the first ride in a t-shirt and shorts since it was 64 already….went hard and pulled top gear all the way along the west side of the park which I have never done before…I wonder if that has something to do with the changes that are happening after the election? After the first ride…I finished up the coffee and got back on the bike for a second one by 10 and, when I got back here, I started lunch and, while that was cooking, got the garden waste bagged up and into the trash, moved the blocks that I had in the center of the lawn garden, and then raked and leveled the garden space and seeded it with grass seed. Then lunch, and after that I got started on the front lawn where I edged the sidewalks, then mowed the lawn for the last time and picked up the leaves….after I put all the tools away, I pulled the car out and washed it…just in case I want to do the top down park run tomorrow…it is going to be over 70 again so I may just pack a couple of beers and take a cruise. Then I came in and did three of these…but now I am done for the day…oh, I did laundry, too…that I need to get in the dryer right now…then I’m done….whew…

Well…man, I feel like I’m going through cortisol (the fight or flight hormone) withdrawal today after 4 years of having a ball of it inside me…from the day that idiot boy got elected, I have had elevated stress levels from worrying about what the latest outrage from the moron was going to be and how it was going to affect me. It dawned on me today when I was out riding that one of the effects of having the great outcome of the election is that music is becoming just music again…let me explain…over the past four years, I have had to have many coping mechanisms to allow me to survive the trump years…and music was one of the components of my shield along with drinking too much, riding too much, and keeping myself pretty isolated from the news. But today, music started to return to the thing I have enjoyed all my life…something that made me happy and helped elevate my mood…and with that change I started to notice the songs again and enjoy every note, they were no longer just a noisy shield that kept my brain occupied and the world out but they were different, like they had color again and nuance and even got me bopping to some of them on the bike. This kind of change hasn’t happened with food yet and I wonder if it will? It would be nice to savor some tastes and think of food not just as fuel but to be able to enjoy it…that might be too much to ask.

Well…woke up at 4:14 this morning and just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep…that worked for a while but the coffee maker woke me up at 6 and I thought to myself “what if I just don’t get up…what if I just lie here instead?” That thought was overruled by my bladder but it was still an okay night of sleep…no dreams to speak of so I’m not sure how well I slept…didn’t cough much until I got up so I guess that’s a plus…My legs finally started to feel the excess riding I’ve been doing and have a dull pain that won’t go away but that’s pretty much normal…down to 36 miles to go to the last goal and should make it tomorrow if it doesn’t rain too much…I am getting a little tired of riding this year and that hasn’t happened before…so I’m a little concerned that I may be getting bored with it and may start to make excuses to not go when I know I don’t have a choice if I want to stay healthy…..I’ve already started to gain weight with only doing one ride a day after I got to 5K miles and reducing calories hasn’t really helped….I did only have two pieces of pizza all day yesterday so maybe that’s a start…not much to do today…going to finish the clean up on the yard and then clean in here but that’s about it…..just feel pretty worn out right now and need to ease into it….more later…

Well….running late for this one with getting my new tablet and then spending a couple of hours with my routers tech support trying to make it connect…finally gave up on them and just did a hard reset and now everything works…I kind of like the tablet…it has quirks with being from amazon and lots of the things I use are app based but that is just like my phone so I’m used to that…it is kind of cool to have a huge screen instead of the 3.5 inch one on my phone and the battery is supposed to last a full day which is a lot more than my phone and I think it will be fun to figure it out over time….still am having trouble just buying anything for me and that is going to be something that I’ll get over in time…I hope….oh, and this thing has alexa built in so I can talk to it just like my phone once I figure that out….I did get two rides in today but I think I ate lunch too late to have a second meal today so I guess I’ll just have a snack later….

Well…that was a better night with remembering to take the cough medicine before I went to bed and sleeping okay…had a weird dream that made no sense so I won’t report on that one…I will say it wasn’t a fun one but tedious…and that’s not what I like in dreams…it was a pretty good day yesterday with the big political news and then getting two good rides in…only have about 60 miles left to do and I should get that done by Tuesday….I did get the news that my new tablet is supposed to be here today and I am a little excited about that…haven’t spent any money on myself in a long time and it is still hard to do and I know I’ll agonize over it for a few weeks but I only had about 50 bucks to pay on the credit cards this month so I know I can afford it…that really doesn’t help, though…didn’t get any work done yesterday but I’m going to finish up the yards today and get all of the waste bagged and in the trash before it rains Tuesday….it’s going to be 75 today and that means the second ride will be in a t-shirt and that is pretty cool for November…but the weather is going back to normal later in the week and that means highs in the 40’s and lows around freezing so I’ll be back in full thermasuit then….not much to do today…don’t have any work left on the house and that is kind of a relief….but there is soccer and races on so that will be a nice relaxing thing for the afternoon…it sure feels good to know that trump is going to be gone…I didn’t know normal could feel so good….more later…

Well…damn, I want this coughing to be over…I am exhausted and feel like crap….and my brain isn’t even working very well with not sleeping much last night….I want a nap and I’ve only been up an hour…cripes….I did have a semi productive day yesterday and got the doors back on the linen closet and that finishes up the work I’m going to do here…and I’m down to about 80 miles to go to get to the last goal on the bike and that should happen on Tuesday…the first ride yesterday was a chore but the second one was better with going hard the whole way….but, I’m going to wait to go out today until after ManU plays at 7:30 even though it’s warm enough to go now…but I am going to ease into it today and let the coffee work for a while before I do anything other than this….I should be more sore than I am after all of the riding but the only thing that hurts is my right heel that has started to crack and it is a pain to walk on it…need to continue to use the lotion that is supposed to prevent that but I guess I got after it too late this year….okay, I’m tired of whining, too, so I’m going to end here and watch some Moto3 qualifying and have some more coffee….more later…

Well…if you’ve been here a while, you know that I don’t like to spend money for things that I’d like to have versus things that I need…and I even don’t like to spend on things that I need usually making whatever I have work or just doing without…I mean, I drive a 26 year old car and have a 46 year old stereo and I have some clothes that are over 25 years old….but, I think I just may buy something that I don’t need but I want for the first time that I can remember. I have looked at tablet computers with an eye toward buying one for quite a while now and a deal that I don’t think I can pass up just showed up…amazon has their best Fire 10HD tablet on sale for 80 bucks for the next few days when it is normally 150 bucks and at that price, I think I can justify splurging on myself…I can get one with 32 gigs of memory and no ads on the start screen for 95 bucks…the reviews said it was a screaming deal at 150 bucks so I wonder if it is a double screaming deal for 50 bucks less? It would be pretty cool to have a new toy to play with and to be able to read the news on something bigger than the 3.5 inch screen on my Galaxy S-7 phone. I still have to think about it for another night but I am inching up on buying one…after all, how much longer can I wait? I am getting pretty damn old….

Okay…I just bought one….yay!

Well…another night of sleeping better and I don’t quite know how to act…had some dreams about a vacation where everyone knew me but I didn’t know many of them…and it was not a place that I’d ever gone…weird…and I didn’t cough much but it started back up when I got up and I can’t understand that other than I didn’t take any allergy stuff with trying to make it last until I can buy more…so my head is plugged up and I have that damn headache that I’ve had for weeks now…but, aspirin helped that yesterday so I’ll try that again this morning…had two great wide open rides yesterday and it felt good to go hard again so I’m going to try that again today…I do hope the wind is a little calmer, though, it was blowing pretty hard on the second ride going out but that made it fun coming back with the wind…was able to run in 24th all the way back and I was flying at almost 20 from the turn all the way through JBZ…..lots of fun….didn’t get anything else done yesterday but put out some trash but I am going to get on the linen closet doors this morning and then hang them this aft….and then I’ll take the weekend off other than cleaning…I do need to figure out what to eat and get it out of the freezer downstairs…or may I’ll do pasta…or pizza….have a few options but I don’t really want to think right now….need more coffee and to read some news….more later…

Well…that’s probably as close to a normal night’s sleep that I’m ever going to see again…only woke up once around 3 and the only reason is I was cold with not sleeping under any blankets to start the night…how the heck can you be shivering sleeping in full indoor thermasuit and with it still 66 in here? After working downstairs for an hour or so yesterday, I was expecting to be coughing all night but it really didn’t happen until now and it’s not even that bad…still feel congested but maybe getting two rides in daily this week is helping to clear out my lungs…and it is 55 outside right now so I can get on the bike early today…as soon as it gets light and that will be a good start to the day….still have that damn headache I’ve had for weeks now and I’m not really sure what it could be…I think it started when I had to close up the house with the cold weather but I can’t be sure of that…can’t really take anything for it since I am running out of allergy meds and can’t get more for a couple of weeks…might try some aspirin to see if that will help…I do have to finish up cleaning the yard today and get the last of the gardens bagged up but then I’m done other than trying to fill in the garden I put in the yard but I have to find usable dirt to do it…might have to buy a few bags of topsoil if it’s still available….then I’ll probably seed it with the seed I have left after repairing the front yard….not much to do today…going to just take a normal day with two rides and then fooling around a bit…need to start putting the hardware back on the linen closet doors and get them hung this week…they came out really good and look nice…and that will complete the work I’m doing here other than cleaning….now to get to finding a house for me….more later….

Well…okay, this is a little weird…was just out getting rid of the dead flowers out front in shorts and a t-shirt…and when I got back in here I looked at the temp and it is warmer outside than it is in here….so, it’s November, 70 degrees, and I have the windows open….that’s pretty cool…haven’t felt a real Indian summer in a long time but this week is it…I was even out on the bike in a t-shirt and shorts for the second ride today and that was pretty neat…supposed to stay like this until next week and I just realized that all of the time I spent outside has my cough better…still coughing but not nearly as much as earlier….I needed that break since my abs and chest have been hurting…oh, and I only have about 125 miles to do to make it to my  last goal of 5416 for the year…looks like I’ll make it if I can keep up riding doubles every day….one last thing…I got the first of the listings for houses from my brother today and found one house in Ionia that looks interesting…it’s in the village but it has a nice lot and a two stall detached garage with a big front porch…and, it’s only 96 K so if I were to put 45K down…my payments would be around 500 bucks a month including taxes…and I could swing that pretty easily….and they have a Meijers in Ionia….supposed to be a nice little town…I wonder if there are bike trails there? Guess I’ll have to search and see….