Well….running about on time this morning with another night of of okay sleep and some pretty weird dreams about college projects and I haven’t had one of those in a while….my foot is gradually getting better and the swelling is going down but I’m wondering if I should continue to treat it or keep the last three days worth of medicine in reserve…we’ll see after the bike ride in a few…..had the third no cocktail night last night and that is helping with the swelling but it looks like it will take a couple of weeks at least to get it back to normal…and not being able to use any salt at all makes the food a little boring…but I did that for years and years so I just need to activate the old habits….got through two rides yesterday with no problems but I throttled back to about 80% on both rides and I’m not sure I like that too much…going hard is my thing, after all, and I would hate to think that I can’t do that anymore…I know I’m old but damn, I need to have my hard rides…I did get out to HF yesterday to get some tools that I need and got myself a new hedge trimmer that I used immediately to start to clean up the bushes out front and it works great…don’t think I’ve ever had a new one before…especially with padded handles and I like it a bunch for only 12 bucks….and I got my electric sprayer so I need to get out to depot to get the paint to do the siding on the garage and the dormer….I am a little excited that the premier league starts back up today and I am going to veg all afternoon and watch the two matches that are on…it has been a long time coming….so I won’t be doing much other than that and the grocery run this morning…..more later….

Well…okay, that was a little strange…had a good night of sleep and dreams again with a solid 6 hours and I’ll take that any day of the week….and the miracle drug that I am taking for my foot has worked it’s magic after only one day of treatment and I am walking around here with no pain at all this morning…but, I think me being good has something to do with that since the swelling in my foot is down by half at least and I can move my toes almost normally today…I think I’ll do another day of treatment and then save the rest of the medicine for the next flare…I could barely get my shoe on to ride yesterday and it hurt the whole 30 miles…yeah, I’m still doing 30 miles but I have throttled back to about 75% and that seemed to help how I felt all day…and I’m trying to eat more since I don’t have empty calories to think about anymore but as I have said before, I find it hard to eat more after years of calorie restriction…again, I didn’t get much done yesterday but work on the garden but today I am going to get out to HF to get the hedge trimmer I need to clean up the bushes out front and the paint sprayer I need to do the garage and the siding on the dormer….I have to remember that I have all day to get this done so I don’t need to rush to get the rides in and the errands run….I need to just relax about this stuff and treat it not as tasks but as life to be enjoyed…but to go against a lifetime of running as fast as I can is another thing that is going take some work….like right now, I’m going as fast as I can to get out on the bike by 7:30 but there is no reason to have to rush…I want to enjoy my coffee and reading the news before I get out so I need to take a deep breath and just relax for a few minutes…cripes, everything takes work these days….more later….

Well….the first night of the new normal went okay and I got a little sleep so that was cool….still woke up around 5 but was in bed a little after 10 so that was better….and I don’t feel too bad so far with no cocktails for the foreseeable future…but my foot still hurts and that is to be expected with it being just the first day of treatment…I may have to call my doctor to see if they will give me another prescription since what I have left will only last through the week…we’ll see how it goes…I did only do one ride yesterday and I may have to do the same thing today to stay off my foot as much as possible and let the medicine and all the other changes I’ve made have some effect….just have been feeling lousy lately and had to make some changes in my life that I hope will do the trick….didn’t get much done yesterday and today may be another easy day but my well established sense of guilt is going to have to be suppressed for that to happen….had to go out to get some hydrocortisone to treat whatever the problem is with my arm….must have gotten into something poison and it’s not healing too well yet but at least it has stopped itching….not much to do today…going to ease into it with the temp still being too cold to get out on the bike but that’s okay…I need more coffee anyway and still don’t have a lot of energy so taking a little time to get ready is okay….more later….

Well…cripes…more problems with this wearing out body…okay, just a rash on my left arm that looks like poison ivy and I am having trouble figuring out where I got it from…I know it’s annoying as heck so I may even make a run out to Meijer’s later to pick something up to put on it since it does itch….and my damn foot is hurting again today as I try to not take anything for it but that’s not going to work…so it looks like no more cocktail nights for the near future since that is one of the big no nos with this type of inflammation…oh, well…I can use less calories and my liver can use the rest, too….had an okay day yesterday and got a couple of rides in but I think I’m only going to do one today to get a little rest…and it’s too cold to go out right now and it looks like it won’t be warm enough until 10 or so…so I have 3 hours to kill and that is going to be some work since I have already read the paper and the online news….I could clean some but I don’t have the motivation for that yet and my foot hurts to walk so I may just work on figuring out meals for the week…or take a nap since I was up all night and got up for good at 5…I did get the last of the green peppers planted yesterday and that ends putting anything new in and I’ll just live with what survives…I know I’ll get beans and jalpenos since they are already producing fruit and probably cukes too but I don’t remember what they look like when they flower…oh, and potatoes…I am a little disappointed that I am still having flower drop on some of the tomatoes and I may have to look to see if there is something I can do to treat them so I can at least get a few off the plants…but right now I am going to get another cup of coffee and take it easy for a while….more later….

Well…my brain wasn’t working too well this morning when I did the first post and forgot a couple of things that I wanted to talk about…first, and I am going to be blunt about this…don’t take zyrtec…just frickin don’t…no matter how bad you are sneezing, coughing, or your head is plugged up…don’t take zyrtec. I got up with all of those symptoms and I was miserable but without being able to take any red dots, I broke down and took a zyrtec and regretted it as soon as I started to feel it…cripes, I don’t understand how anyone can function taking that crap…I felt nauseous and like I had a thousand cups of coffee in me and the damn crap lasts all day…I even cut 5 miles off the second ride I felt so lousy and I never do that…did I say Don’t take zyrtec? Don’t take zyrtec…the second thing is something that is making me smile…as I reported earlier, I bought some new bike lube since I was tired of the wd 40 leaving black gunk all over the chain and sprockets and having to apply it all the time to keep them quiet…so I bought what is called Finish Line dry bike lubricant on Amazon for 9 bucks….kind of a steep price for 4 ounces but it works so well and makes such a difference in the bike that I think it is worth it…it has paraffin and teflon in it and all you have to do is clean the chain and then apply a drop to every link and let it dry overnight…it makes such a difference in how the bike rides and shifts since I use it on the suspension and the rear shifter too….and it stays on the chain and keeps it quiet for over 300 miles with no gunk build up even with riding in the rain and slop….I know some of you out there are bike riders so give this stuff a try…I’m sure you’ll like it and I think this one bottle is going to last me at least 6 months with weekly applications…that’s not a bad deal…more later…

Well…that was a little better…slept better last night and didn’t get out of bed til 6 or so and it is strange just how good you feel after a small amount of better sleep….and my eye is slowly healing too, and that is welcome after a couple of weeks of treating it…but, I’m still feeling old and decrepit with my foot still swollen and red..oh well….I can still get on the bike and ride and it’s a little better today so I’ll take it…didn’t get anything done yesterday and today looks the same with just some gardening in the plans…have a couple more green pepper plants that have sprouted downstairs that I need to put outside today but that will end the additions to the gardens and I’ll just have to go with what I have out there…I am a little disappointed that the peppers have been hard to get going but I am going to have way too many beans and jalapenos and probably tomatoes too if they ever set any fruit….I am curious about the garlic too, I may even dig one plant up to see what they are doing underground…..I do need to get started on the rest of the outdoor work on the house next week but I am taking the weekend off other than just fooling around outside and cleaning some in here….and there are two races on today so there will be some napcar going on this afternoon….more later….

Well…running late today even with being up and down all night and getting up for good at 5:30…and my foot is howling in pain so I had to take the prescription that I had refilled a couple of weeks ago…looks like another round of treatment is necessary to be able to walk comfortably again…and I have been pouring the water down since I got up and have almost 3/4 of a gallon in me so far and that will have to continue all day to the tune of at least a couple of gallons to get rid of the chronic dehydration that is caused by riding too much….and I bit the bullet and took a generic zyrtec allergy med this morning since my allergies are so bad…going to just take the side effects that make me feel weird so I can stop sneezing and coughing and my eyes will stop itching….would prefer the little red dots but I can’t get any more of them for a month or so and I need to do something I’m so miserable…I did see a hummingbird yesterday but it didn’t stop at my feeder and it may be that the food has gone bad so I am going to clean it and make a new batch this morning…just need one of them to find it and I’ll have a bunch of them on it but it has been more than a week since I put the feeder up and I am getting a little disappointed that I haven’t seen any birds yet….I may have to move it to the back yard since they like it a little quiet and this place is anything but quiet out front….the damn power outage from Wednesday has ruined my enjoyment of storms since now all I think of is that it is going go out with every storm that comes through….and 10 hours without power in the pandemic is the largest kind of boring….but, I survived it so I guess it wasn’t that bad….not much to do today….didn’t get a lot done yesterday and with my foot acting up, I don’t think I’ll be doing much but riding the bike today….and I probably shouldn’t be doing that with how bad my foot is….I did get to 2K miles yesterday and only have 3K more to go to get to the goal….a daunting task for sure with the damage I’m doing to myself to maintain the 30 miles a day that it is going to take…oh, well…already starting to feel strange from the allergy meds and I need more coffee so I’ll end here….more later….

Well…that was a wasted day…I think that was the longest power outage that I can remember since at least 20 years ago but, living in town, I still had water so I guess it wasn’t that bad….but I did miss the re-start of the BPL season and that really sucked after waiting for it for months…and with this place all electric, I couldn’t even cook anything so I had to fire up my little brick grill to make some food…but I did find the old portable radio that the grandparents brought on vacations and it still worked even with being 50 years old and that at least made a little noise to keep me sane….stayed up late last night after the power came back and I am feeling it right now with getting up at 5:30 so I think today will be just getting back into the normal routine and taking it easy…not sure what just bloomed but my allergies are terrible right now and I am miserable….I could feel it coming yesterday but man, this is bad enough that I may take the zyrtec that I don’t like too much…can’t stop sneezing and my head is plugged up like concrete…the storm didn’t last too long yesterday but it was pretty violent and took down a bunch of trees on the trail…I had to carry my bike over three big ones that were across the entry and then there were two other places that were blocked on my normal route and it will be interesting to see if they have them cleared today….not much to do today….going to just ease into the day but I do have laundry and gardening to get done later along with cooking but I am going to take an hour or so right now to just have more coffee and try to feel better….more later…

Well…that really sucked…my power went out at noon today and just came back on at 10:20…..all that for a damn storm that lasted about 10 minutes…and the irritating thing was they said it would be fixed by 4:30…then it was 9, then it was 2:15am…I wonder if they were doing the “Scotty” thing from start trek…where you give them a time you know is too long and you know you can beat and beating the deadline will make you look like a miracle worker…all I know is my power is back and I need to watch the race that’s on and I’ll get back to it tomorrow…..

Well….that was a mistake…for the first time since I’ve been working on this house, I felt relaxed last night and had cocktails while sitting on the front porch listening to music and watching the rain…put the screen in the front storm door to get some more air in here and that made it all click…not sure if the neighbors were too happy with “Dark side of the moon” playing really loud but I don’t really care, do you?…Okay…yeah if you read the news you get that dig…and with all of the rain overnight, there are no leaks in  the front porch ceiling so I must have gotten it fixed and that is pretty cool….cripes, I just realized that I can’t get out on the bike with the rain this morning and I don’t know what to think about that with being on the bike for 30 miles a day for the past two weeks…I could use the rest for my legs since they are in low grade pain all the time now but I wonder if I have to limit my calories to about a thousand with not riding? Didn’t get much done yesterday but work on the garden and the downstairs project and mow the lawn…but I am going to start on the front door today since looking at it open with it ugly and peeling is bugging the hell out of me….not much to do today…feel pretty crappy right now but I need to make a grocery run out to aldi’s and DD to get a couple more pizzas but that is about it for the day…going to just hang out and recover and try to get some work done….more later…