Well…this is going to suck…we are now under a winter weather advisory until tomorrow morning at 10….and we are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow and ice so that means I’ll be in all day tomorrow…and I didn’t get much of a bike ride in today…it was just too damn cold and windy to stay out so I limited it to just a run over to the post office to mail some bills and then back here to do a little work on the yard and start prepping for planting grass in the bare spots…but that is going to have to wait until it gets warmer…it looks like I’m going to try to seed the dirt that is there since it looks more usable after I raked it and then I can save some cash on topsoil and only get some to fill the big hole next to the garage that people have been using to drive in the yard….not sure if I’m going to chop out the roots or not…I can get it close to usable by just filling around them and then I can stabilize it with grass after I pack it down with the car….but I do need to spend a bunch of cash this month and into next…almost 2 grand and that is not even with the new ladder I need and the garage door opener and lawnmower….oh, and a broadcast spreader to feed the lawn….so, I need to sit tight for a while and just plan when I can spend some cash….
Not a damn one of them…
Well…I think I may have used this topic before, but I think it bears repeating and repeating and repeating….as the relief checks and child’s tax credit along with help for damn near everyone in the country except the rich starts to roll out, not one damn repub voted for help for regular Americans…they fall all over themselves to give unneeded tax cuts for the 1%, but for you and me? Nothing…and you can see how much they care about us by their posturing and bitching and complaining….and they are really going on and on about the dems doing the relief plan on their own without “bipartisanship” but I think they are just pissed that Schumer and Biden learned something about the repubs during the fight for the ACA…that no matter how much you compromise and put repub ideas into any bill, they are still going to vote against it so why take that step? Why waste that time when people are going homeless and hungry? To me, that is the best thing they are finally realizing…that repubs don’t want to govern and don’t have any ideas that would make life better for most Americans…you just have to look at the 300+ bills that are being proposed in repub controlled state legislatures that will gut the right to vote for anyone who is not a repub…that is what they are all about…so dems, kill the filibuster and get the new voting rights act passed…that will kill all of this repub cheating and make for fair elections again…geez….
March 15th
Well…darn, woke up at 4:31 this morning…or was that 3:41? I do know that I got out of bed at 6:30 or so and that would have been 5:30 on Saturday and that sucks….and I feel pretty slow this morning so there will be no quick movements until after I have a few cups of coffee….I’m still pretty sore from going harder on the bike as I get my fitness back but I think it’s helping my back…at least I hope it does since I’m coming up on lots of yard work here in the next week or so…need to clean up the leaves and start figuring out how to seed the bare parts of the yard along with prepping the garden to grow veggies this summer…might even try to grow some cabbage or lettuce this year….but that needs to be planned over the next few weeks…will probably do less tomatoes and more beans and need to add some better soil since the entire yard is pretty sandy….as it should be so close to Lake Michigan….going to try to get the tire tracks raked out of the yard today and do some calcs on how much topsoil I’m going to need to be able to make a yard…not much to do today….still need to ease into it since it’s only 7:30 and it’s still dark with the time change and I’m only a half a cup of coffee in…and I need to get a bike ride in at some point but that will wait until it warms up some…probably not until after lunch…so that means I have to clean in here this morning but I’m not too motivated right now….more later….
A good ride…
Well….just got back from the ride where I took a different trail called the Laketon trail that runs along the main drag out here until it heads south to the Musawaka trail that I didn’t get to today since I had already gotten to the ten miles I wanted to do but, once I got back towards the house, I decided to go down to Heritage Landing just to take a look at the lake since I was not ready to stop riding yet….and I just fooled around down there and it dawned on me that I can go down there every day and fish if I want to there is so much room on the pier that juts out into the lake…there is even a good sized grass picnic area at the end of the pier that I had never seen before…but, after that thought, I immediately remembered that there have been guidelines for how much fish you can eat per month or you can get pretty sick…so basically you can only eat fish you catch about once a month and that is only a couple of filets…which sucks since I love fish and what could be better than getting it for free? And it really doesn’t matter where you catch them…the guidelines apply across the state and in any waters so that sucks…so maybe I’ll go fishing once a month…that would still be fun….and I can take my morning coffee down to the landing when it’s warm enough in the morning so I guess that’s something….damn it smells good in here….making chicken thighs, baked potato, and roasted asparagus for lunch….yummy…
March 14th
Well…just noticed that I didn’t come back here for a second one yesterday but there was good reason for it…my son and his wife got in late in the afternoon and I went back to GR to meet up with them and hand over the keys…it was good to see them and they seemed happy with the house after noisy NYC…and they have a puppy that is really cute so they are setting up for a nice life I hope….so, no more runs into GR for a while except for to pick up mail…going to put an online change in today since it appears that the hard copy I put in didn’t get into the system….so, I had a nice relaxing night last night but I think I was tired since I fell asleep sitting on the couch and I did sleep through most of the night and got up around 6…or 7 with the time change and that is going to take a little getting used to as it always does….I did get out for a bike ride yesterday and got about 10 miles in going around the east end of the lake just to see what was there….might go out to Lake Michigan today after it warms up some or I may take a look at the Laketon trail that goes the other way…into Muskegon proper and I would like to see some of the city….not much to do today…just need more and more coffee and to read the paper before I get started….more later…
March 13th
Well…running a little late today with not getting up til after 6:30 and then reading a bunch of news before coming here…I think I slept okay but still feel pretty slow today with having a couple of cocktails last night….and driving over a hundred miles to shoot pool yesterday…and I’m not sure I’m going to do that again…just a bit much and there has to be a compromise solution to that….but it is cool that my 27 year old car has taken the abuse of running back and forth to GR to the tune of almost a thousand miles in the past three weeks…and that is more than I’ve driven it in the past two years combined…..might have to change the oil soon, though, since the oil pressure is down to about 40 psi on the road….didn’t get a bike ride in yesterday with shooting pool and having a couple of beers but I will get out today after it warms up some…not sure when I’m going to go back to GR to meet up with my son and his wife when they get here….I may just wait until tomorrow and I do need to remember the wrench to change the discs on my grinder and my axe that I will need to chop the roots out of the back yard to smooth the entrance to the yard out….not much to do today…just going to take it easy as I get the day started and wait for the temp to come up so I can get on the bike…I sure wish the wind would stop for a change…it’s still blowing about 12 mph and that makes the ride a bit of a chore….more later….
Government that works again…
Well….I don’t want to gush about Joe and the changes he is bringing to almost everyone’s lives here in the US, but damn, after 4 years of bullshit lies and feeding all the money to the rich, it feels good that we have someone on our side again….and finally, the dems are bulldozing the repubs for a change and it is for the people, not for the rich. I mean the recovery act is forecast to cut childhood poverty by 50%…I can’t remember when a piece of legislation did something so well for the people who need it…and the cool thing is that the dems are not apologizing for it but are owning it and the repubs don’t know how to act with over 70% of the people supporting it….I think ole moscow mitch made a huge mistake by not allowing any senator to vote for it just as the idiot McCarthy did in the House….how do they explain voting against help for Americans? The media has even started to tear into the repubs when they whine about the “exploding” deficit by reminding them that in just 4 years of trump, the repubs added over 7 trillion dollars to the national debt and they never once bitched about it….so let’s get to work on HR1 to protect the vote in the entire country from repub voter suppression…and if it means getting ride of the filibuster, then just do it and take away the only thing that gets any repub elected…go Joe…
March 12th
Well…that was a little weird…slept all the way through the night until the coffee maker started and didn’t get out of bed until 7:11….and I know it’s from having a few cocktails last night after being good all week…and I’m not sure I want to pay the price for that anymore…feel pretty slow today and I think it’s going to take a while to get moving….I did get a bike ride in yesterday even with the wind blowing almost 20…rode all the way to the eastern shore of Muskegon lake just to see if the trails were clear and the ride back was pretty brutal but I got 10 miles in so that was okay….can’t wait to get some rides in when the wind isn’t blowing like crazy….would like to go all the way around to the state park and that will be a 20+ mile ride…and I think it will be one of the standard rides for the summer….and I’ve never been to the state park here and would like to see it…I am getting a little tired of my damn elbow hurting like crazy all the time and I think I may have to take something for it before I get on the bike for a while….not much to do today…I think we’re shooting pool today so I need to run into GR and stop at the Valley house to get my mail on the way…not sure why my mail forwarding is not working and I think that will mean another stop at the post office over there to find out next week…more later…
I was mistaken…
Well…I was mistaken when I got the impression that my son and his wife were going to be here today…they won’t be here til late Saturday since they are going to take a couple of days to get here and are picking up a puppy on the way….so, Tom…I’m open any time to shoot pool tomorrow…give a me a call and let me know when you want to go…and they don’t know when their stuff is going to get here…it could be a week….
Don’t let them take credit….
Well….after the passage of the wildly popular covid relief bill yesterday, without one repub vote in either the House or Senate, we need to make sure that the repubs don’t use the bill to lie to the American people…after all, they did nothing to pass it or to give input on what should be in it other than say that tax cuts for the rich should have been included. Just yesterday, the bullshit started with a repub senator touting the help the bill would give to small businesses when he voted no on the bill and he made it look like he was part of the approval and was taking credit for it…just another lie that flows from the mouths of repubs as easily as they breathe. So far, the rest of the repubs have been uncharacteristically silent on the bill since even they can see that going against the most popular bill in 40 years is not the smartest thing to do but the flip side of that is that our side needs to shout it that the repubs didn’t have anything do with by their own choice, they were not shut out of the negotiations by the bad old dems, they chose bad faith amendments that would gut the bill and prevent the American people from getting the help they need to survive this pandemic…again I ask this question: with more than 70% support of the bill, who are the repubs representing? This bill is the most progressive one in my lifetime and really does help most of the American people and make their lives easier and is the difference between us and the repubs…all they do is hurt people and try to restrict participation by voter suppression and the hate they level on anyone who is not a white christian is the purpose of their party…I hope Americans understand that there is only one party that cares about them…and it is not the repubs…