Well….I’m exhausted this morning with another morning of getting up at 4:34…and that means only about 8 hours of sleep for the past two days and I’m going to pay for that later…and it was the third day of no ibuprofen or allergy meds along with no cocktails and that has left me sore and coughing with my allergies being so bad….and it is going to get worse as the pollen from the trees and everything else gets started…..and I’m already miserable….didn’t get much done yesterday but start putting the tools and materials away…kinda….I moved the bookcase into the utility room that I am going to use for storage but with no sleep yesterday, my motivation was pretty damn low…I did get a bike ride in and hope to get out in shorts before the rain comes in later today…we’re supposed to get almost an inch of rain over the next day or so and maybe even some thunderstorms tonight as the temps crash Friday back into the 30’s….I am going to try to get out to Meijers this morning to do a little more stocking up and I am going to try some obscure stuff that I think most people won’t be buying like bread flour and yeast to make bread and pizza crust…and I need to pick up soup materials for the two batches I’m going to make next week to put in the freezer….I have one container of ham soup left in there that I am going to thaw over the next few days so I can start fresh…the instant pot is going to get a workout over the next month or so…not much to do today…just the errands and a bike ride…need to get materials for the downstairs project and hit the dollar store for a big mixing bowl and some measuring cups that I don’t have…then, I think I’m in here for the next month…more later…

Well….with the latest reports that this virus situation is going to get unmanageable with the incompetents in charge and it could lead to a complete lockdown, I admit my anxiety level has ratcheted up quite a bit from earlier in the week….I guess that’s one of the problems with having time on my hands and reading so much news every day…I sure don’t want to have to put the new bike downstairs on the trainer just when the weather is going to get warm and not being able to go out is going to bring the progress on the house to a halt if I can’t get the materials I need…and the rule looks like you have to stay in unless it’s an emergency…but, I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this yard go to hell again and I am going to grow tomatoes and peppers out back this summer….so I guess I need to get the seed for that stuff this week and get it started in the basement…my anxiety is also high that I’ll have enough food to make it through a couple of months so I am going to make another run out tomorrow to see what is available in the stores and buy what I can in small quantities so that other people have the chance to stock up, too…I may even have to practice meal skipping and go down to one a day if it gets to that point…I do have ham bones for ham soup and a turkey carcass for turkey soup that I just need to get veggies for and make…that will give me 4 days per container for 3 containers for both so I can get 24 days just out of the soup if it comes to that…hey, I may even lose some weight….I’m hoping that Meijers institutes what other stores are doing and set aside a couple of hours twice a week so we old people can get in a sanitized store to shop with less crowds….that would help…and I still have a few venison steaks to eat, too….but I’m still a little concerned…have never gone through this in my life and it is new…I guess I’ll adjust once the uncertainty is gone…that’s the hardest thing for me….

Well…okay, that was one weird night last night but I did get back to bed at around 5 and stayed there until almost 7 but was only sleeping for about an hour…I wonder what that was all about? It was just another normal no cocktail night and there wasn’t anything unusual that happened yesterday so I’m not sure why my sleep would be so broken up….oh, well…just hope it doesn’t happen again tonight…had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get a lot done but some cleaning and today will probably be more of the same….will probably be shifted into low gear most of the day…or at least until the coffee starts to work….I stopped coughing for some reason and that is a welcome change…that may be why I was able to get at least a little sleep this morning…it is a pain having to ration my meds that help with that but one good thing may be that I’ll be able to see how  bad my allergies are without medication…maybe I can tolerate them without taking anything but I won’t know that unless I stop…working on the third day of no meds at all and I wonder if all this is my body reacting to being clear of them for a change? I guess we’ll see later today….not much to do today….going to just ease into it and see how I feel….will probably just do the tools today and then get started on the linen closet doors tomorrow….I want to get at the mailbox on the front porch soon, too since it needs to be sanded and painted but that will probably wait til Sunday so I can get it painted and back up before the mailman comes Monday….more later…

Well…have been up since 2:30 and can’t get back to sleep so I thought I’d come here for one of these as I sit here frustrated as hell…with having to ration my allergy meds, I have been coughing all night and that isn’t helping at all…I did find out that “Cannon” is on a 3 am…not sure what that piece of information is going to do for me but now I know….haven’t seen Clarence Ponsler on antenna channel 64.2 yet…he’s normally on at station breaks with the weather…oh goody..”Barnaby Jones” is on now at 4….this is going to be a long, long day if this keeps up….have to remember to hit the delay button on the coffee maker just in case I do get back to sleep at some point….I am going to need coffee this morning…I wonder if it’s going to rain? Yes it is…so I may not be able to get on the bike until later if at all….but the forecast calls for just cloudy today even though I see the radar has rain coming in from the west….but tomorrow is rain all day and maybe some thunderstorms tomorrow night…then it’s getting cold again and I am getting tired of it…..okay…I need to try to get back to sleep for a while….3 1/2 hours is just not going to do it…more later….okay…that didn’t do it…went back to bed and just knew it wasn’t going to happen so I’m back up at 4:20 and it looks like the day is going to be weird from it….damn….boredom is bad enough when it is at the normal times but at 4:20? Oh, well…don’t have anywhere to be so I guess it’s no big deal….

Well…okay, this isn’t going to be a daily series after all…I don’t think I have enough to say and my life is not so different than normal to be interesting…but, I do have some observations that I want to share….when I was out to Meijers doing the end of days shopping, I had never seen anything like it…empty shelves everywhere and I still don’t get the whole “buy all the toilet paper there is” thing that is going on…I did buy 6 rolls but that is enough to get me 6 weeks with the mega rolls I was looking for….but, I was able to get almost everything that I needed but forgot a bunch of stuff…or didn’t think of getting the ingredients to make soup with the ham bones and the turkey carcass I have in the freezer…so, in a couple of weeks after things settle down some, I’ll make a run out to get the veggies I need…until that time I’ll just use what I have here…I can easily get through three weeks to a month with what is on hand…on thing that is concerning me some is what people are going to do that can’t afford to be off work? I know that when my kids were little there is no way we could have weathered this without help from the in-laws…at that time, there was just no emergency cash and there are so many people in this country in that boat now that someone has to do something…I wonder if we could try not giving huge tax cuts to the rich for a change so the government would have options? I feel fortunate that I am retired and my cash will keep coming in no matter what happens…I hope…but I also have my house down payment money I can use in an emergency that will get me through at least two years…I sure hope we can figure out something so the suffering is not centered on the people who need it the least…we can but will we?

Well….it is a little funny that the same pattern repeats itself with my sleep on nights when I am being good with no cocktails…and that means up at 2:45, then trying to get back to sleep for an hour and then getting two more hours of fitful tossing and turning…and this time there was a little added stress of this whole coronavirus thing and what’s going to happen with the economy and it’s effects on my family and friends…but, I’ll deal with that later today….have been coughing again, too which I know is allergies but I couldn’t get any more allergy stuff yesterday so I have to ration the 27 doses I have and make them last for 6 weeks or so…and I do have other stuff that I don’t like that I can use in a pinch…I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and it looks like I have the shifter adjusted right so that made it fun…and I am going to get out this morning after I take it easy a little and have some coffee…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but a little clean up and I think I’ll continue that today…need to find places to put my tools and materials downstairs since I don’t want to have to go out to the garage for everything…I do have a book case that would serve so I think I’ll start there…and there is trash that needs to be put out…have empty plaster containers and lots of old sandpaper that needs to be discarded and containers of screws, etc. that need to go back outside…and when that’s done, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning…..but that will be later…I need to have more coffee and make some more in the French press…more later….

Well…I have been thinking about doing a daily diary on the “social distancing” that we all have been asked to do by limiting our trips outside the house to essentials to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus…and with the shut down of basically everything but grocery stores and pharmacies here in Michigan, that request seems to be a little more than that…which I am okay with. After all, I am in the cohort that is at the most risk from getting infected since I am over 60…but I don’t have any underlying health problems so I guess that’s something…I do have something funny to relate as this whole thing starts…texting with one of my younger friends last week, she asked the question “how am I going to deal with having to be isolated for weeks?” If I could have laughed through the phone, I would have…and my reply was “that is my normal life”…I very seldom see anyone or go out to dinner or to have drinks anymore…or to movies or concerts…that stuff just has lost it’s appeal to me…I know I have thought about re-engaging some, but I guess it was a pretty good idea that I put it off to save money and and get more work done around here…so, after spending about 90 bucks at the grocery store today…I have enough here to hunker down for at least a month if necessary…I’ll run out of cocktails before then but I do have enough for the next couple of weeks and we should know something about how bad it’s going to be by then…I even got toilet paper this morning! I am going to still ride the bike every day even with my allergies trashing me…until they do a complete lockdown and tell everyone to stay in their homes…

Well…running late again today with sleeping in all the way to 6 again…but, that didn’t help how I feel today…just worn out from the allergies that have flared like crazy over the past few days and I’m sure are going to get worse…I know that working downstairs yesterday didn’t help either but that had to be done….I do have to make the last grocery run this morning and I am a little curious if there is anything on the store shelves to buy…I have enough food for a few weeks but I do need some toothpaste and cocktail materials if I am going to “socially isolate” for an extended time and not go out anywhere…shooting for enough for a couple of months of this but I don’t want to be one of those hoarders who are buying everything in sight….I should hit target for some allergy meds, too to get everything done at once…I did get a bike ride in yesterday but ran out of adjustment on the rear shifter trying to get the downshifts to work as they should so I had to make a big swing at it by moving the cable and resetting the fine adjuster…I think I have it set but we’ll see when I get out later today….I did get the fine adjuster freed up with a little wd so I guess that’s a bonus….not sure how much work I’m going to get done today with doing the grocery run and the bike ride…should probably take it a little easy for a day or so to let the allergies settle down so I think I’ll make today a work planning day and get a new set of tasks ready to be started….more later…

Well….running really late this morning and it’s not a case of forgetting to come here as it normally is on Sunday morning, but I didn’t get out of bed until 6:37 and have been trying to catch up ever since…yeah, I know catch up to what? Don’t have anyplace to be or much to do so why am I in a hurry? There isn’t even any soccer to watch today so I don’t have to get things done before that…I think I just need to relax, even though I do have some downstairs work to do this morning and I still have that need to get any work done since I hate having things waiting to be done…I did sleep okay and feel pretty good this morning other than the damn allergies are really, really bad and I may have to take something for them during the day today and I don’t like to do that…I need to save them for later in the day so I can breathe at night trying to sleep…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but cook and get a bike ride in and today looks the same….I am going to clean some and start putting my tools and materials away…the next time I’m at HF I may buy one of those cloth tool bags to keep the stuff I use a lot in…that will make it easy to just grab it when I need to do some work inside or outside….I am going to finish up the the paper and have some more coffee before I get to work…and then wait for the temp to come up before I get on the bike…more later…

Well…to all of the nerds out there…happy Pi day…and if you know what that means, you are one of them…really have been looking for a political topic for the day today but have decided it is just too much work for my tired brain so I’m just not going to do it…everyone needs a mental health day once in a while and today is going to be mine…I never knew how much I used sports as background noise as I did other things around here until there are no more sports with everything cancelled for the virus…it has been a boring day for that and with most of the channels in emby gone since yesterday…but I did discover a new free streaming service called Pluto that I put on my roku and that has some old tv shows and movies that appear a lot like broadcast tv since they have commercials but that really doesn’t bother me much…they have a Doctor Who channel along with the Addams Family and a bunch of other stuff and for free you can’t beat it….again, good for background noise when the antenna isn’t working…I did get the corned beef and cabbage made for lunch and it was the best one I’ve made so far…really came out tender using the instant pot and the mustard sauce started to grow on me…but, I’m still so full from lunch that I may not even have another meal today…and that will keep me going for 5 more days or so…but the place still smells like cabbage…I do like it, though….I did get a bike ride in today but I’m not going to do anything else today since it is already 4…I do have some work to do downstairs tomorrow but that shouldn’t take long….oh, and the new Star Wars movie showed up on Plex today so that is going to be the plan for tonight….and cocktails…

yesterday