Well…the day went pretty much as I planned today with getting the bike rides in and then washing the garage siding that only took me about an hour and a half since it was nowhere near as bad as the first time I cleaned it when it took me over 3 hours…it looks good so I am happy with it…going to start on the house tomorrow after I go to depot to get another extension pole to allow me to reach most of the siding from the ground…and I still had time to read today since I don’t think I need to work all day just part of it…I need to pick up a prescription tomorrow so I’ll probably hit aldis for more cukes since I’m halfway through the last jar of pickles I made…the espresso coffee beans work really well just grinding them and putting in the coffee maker and they have a good taste that I can even taste a little…so I’ll probably buy another kilo…I did get the t-shirts I ordered and they are pretty nice for 4 bucks a piece…100% cotton and the larges fit me perfectly so I’ll probably buy 5 more so I’ll have new ones to take to Italy…I do need to hit the bank to order my Euros I need for the trip so I may do that Wed when I do the grocery run…and I should order some more checks that I get for free since I have more than 25K in my checking account…okay, time to write a couple of checks to pay my car insurance and property taxes….oh, well…

Well…just poured a cup of coffee made with the espresso beans and it just tastes like coffee to me so I may buy another 2.2 pounds today…from what I can taste, that is…I wonder what it would taste like to someone who can taste? A storm rolled through here last night and it woke me up at 2am…kept raining until almost 5am but it’s over now but I’m going to drink coffee and wait to get on the bike til a little later this morning…would like it to dry up a bit before I go out…I did find some t-shirts and a polo to try for the Italy trip since most of my clothes are pretty worn out looking…got 5 t-shirts for 20 bucks and that’s a pretty good deal…and a polo for under 10 bucks…100% cotton for all of them…but I still have to find another pair of shoes to take and that’s more difficult than it looks…the skechers on amazon seem like a scam on prices when it’s one price when I’m looking at them but if I don’t buy them right then, when I come back to them later the price is 15 bucks more especially when I look for the normal size 9 that I wear…weird…so today I get back to working outside and will spend 3 hours or so washing the garage…might run out and pick up a prescription this afternoon and then I can hit depot and buy another extension handle that I can use to reach up the side of the house without climbing to the top of the ladder…so, I need to get going since I’m running late already and need to get on the bike….more later…

Well…I think it may be a little hard to change from reading every day for the past year to working around here but I am going to start washing the garage tomorrow after the rides…have to do something and I’m getting some black mold on the siding that needs to go…but I am not going to bust my ass doing it like last time when I did the whole garage in one day…okay, I’m going to try to do it but I’m 4 years older than the last time I did it so that may be a little tougher…but I’ll give it a try…I did discover that the Lavazza espresso whole beans are still available at 14.99 for a kilo (2.2 pounds) so I opened one of the bags I already bought to make coffee tomorrow morning to see if I like it or not so I don’t buy something I don’t like…and I need some more ground coffee and the stuff I bought last time for under 12 bucks for a huge can is still that price so I’ll buy some of that, too…and that will give me 10 pounds of beans here so that will get me through the rest of the year…other than the rides, I didn’t get anything else done today but today is the last day of that…going to start working my butt off around here so I’ll be ready for fall…it did rain a little today but with how much thunder there was, we should have gotten a few inches and we didn’t get a quarter inch…oh, well…okay, back to the last book…

Well…I wonder if today is going to be that one ride day that I have been thinking of taking? I can get the first one in at 6am but then I want to see the motogp race that is on at 7:30 and it appears that there is rain coming in by 8am or so…yeah, I know, it doesn’t rain here but there is a 70% chance of it this afternoon…so maybe today is the day…so the 2nd ride may be at 9 or so when the race is over if I decide to do it…slept okay last night but still feel worn out today so I probably should have some toast at least before I head out on the bike…going to do the weight work here in a minute so I don’t forget to do it so I need to get moving since it’s already 5:30 and that give me a half hour to get everything done…not sure what the food for the day is going to be but probably eggs, toast and sausage for one and then I’ll just wing it for the 2nd…then I’ll plan something for this week…I am going to read the last book today and then start to do other things tomorrow…there are lots of little jobs that need to be done and I’ll start to take them one at a time…more later…

Well…damn, I have got to stop having these easy days where I don’t get anything done after I get the rides in…and that will probably mean taking a break from the library and reading so much..I mean I’ve read 5 books this week and think about how much I could have accomplished if I had just gotten off my ass and got started…so, I have one more book to read and then I’ll start working around here instead…do want to wash some of the siding starting with the garage and then I need another extension handle so I can reach most of the house siding without having to stand on the top of the big ladder…I really feel pretty worn out after getting up at 4:41 this morning but I did take a 15 minute nap this afternoon…I know that’s not enough but sleep is not really part of my life anymore…I did get out on the bike in the dark again this morning and I kind of like it…don’t see that well in the dark and never have so bikes sneak up on me until it gets light…it looks cool with the lights on and being out on the trail almost by myself…okay, it’s still hot and pretty humid here so I just put the fan on and I’m going to watch the rest of the race…

Well…damn, up at 4:41 this morning and that is going to make today a survival test instead of just normal…or is getting up so early the new normal…all I know I didn’t sleep at all last night and I wonder if I should just skip trying so I’ll be so tired I’ll have to sleep…going to have to do something…going out in the dark on the bike again this morning since sunup is all the way back to 6:45 and that’s too late to get moving…it looks like another wasted day today with no motivation to do anything but the bike rides but maybe that will change later…still on leftover food but that runs out today and I’ll really need to plan some meals…I think I’ll make a pizza tomorrow since I have green pepper and pepperoni to use along with mozzerella and that will give me three days of meals…I do have eggs and breakfast sausages to make one meal for the next two days so I guess that’s taken care of…I was right about the rain in the forecast when it all fell apart before it got here just like every damn time…we are almost 10 inches under the average rainfall for the year so far and if this keeps up Muskegon is going to turn back into dunes again…oh, well…pretty warm and humid here right now and I’m already sweating just sitting here doing this…at least the AQI is around 70 this morning….more later…

Well…had another easy day today with nothing but laundry getting done…okay, the bike rides, too….but that is a given and the baseline for a day…it is jut so cool to not have to worry about my laptop overheating anymore when I use it on the couch…have the fans running on a low speed that I can’t hear and it’s still cool to the touch…I still feel lazy with not getting another room cleaned today but the house looks okay so I can live with that…the AQI was over 100 this morning and I could small smoke again but I really didn’t have an effects from it when I was riding…but you could sure see the smoke, too mixed with the fog we had here…you couldn’t even see Lake Michigan at the end of the 2nd ride but that was kind of nice…it is supposed to rain…okay, yeah, that made me laugh, too since the Muskegon force field has worked the last two times rain has been in the forecast…even some of the condos along Muskegon Lake have stopped watering their lawns and they have turned as brown as my lawn…at least I won’t have to worry about mowing when I’m in Italy if this keeps up…okay, still have the weight work to do and need to get on that right now…

Well…darn, not up until a little after 5 and I’m already behind for the day at 5:44 an I’m still not sure how that happens…yeah, I know, it’s just that I still feel like I have a schedule at this ripe old age but who knows how to stop that? I sure don’t but I guess I’ll just have to live with it…slept okay for me last night and I’m hoping that the coffee works soon but I’m only on the first half cup so I’m behind on that, too..didn’t have enough leftover coffee in the carafe so I just made another pot so I’ll have enough to take on the bike for the 2nd ride…the AQI is back to concerning levels again today at about 100 but that is not high enough for me to wear a mask out there…and the goldenrod is blooming so I’m going to be miserable for the next month or so…we need some rain to wash the pollen out of the air and may get some tonight and tomorrow…ha,ha…yeah, you know how I feel about rain in the forecast…going to clean the kitchen today and maybe my bedroom to get rid of the cobwebs and vacuum the rug in there…the bedding is due to be done so that may be a project for today, too…I did service the bike yesterday to lube the chain, cables, and swingarm but I do need to clean everything to get the gunk out of the chain that builds up over time…haven’t washed it in a while but I’ll probably wait til after I get it dirty again in the rain….more later…

Well…got to the point today where I really needed to accomplish something or I’d rekindle my guilt that I’ve been suppressing lately…so I started out by servicing the bike after the two rides and running over to the city offices to pay my water bill…it cost me 10 bucks to water the lawn for 2 hours over 2 days and I really need it to rain so I don’t have to spend money on it…after I got the bike done and did a bit of reading, I got after cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom and even found some clr to remove the water residue build up that gets applied just by using the shower…lots of lime scale and other stuff that I finally got rid of…now the shower is shiny and smooth again…had that done by noon so after that I treated myself to some reading and finished off the latest “Reacher” book I got from the library…I do like the laptop fan/stand since even on the lowest setting…it moves plenty of air even with no rise of the keyboard…so a good purchase for 14 bucks…started to buy some clothes for Italy today with getting a pair of shorts for 17 bucks…hope they fit…okay back to Jeffrey Deaver…

Well…here’s the first post using the new stand and I think I’s going to be okay…it’s a little different to have the keyboard elevated but I think it will be easier on my hands…I did figure out the slow drain in the bathroom yesterday after I got tired of it filling the sink and taking forever to empty…and the clog was right at the top of the drain just under the stopper that I got cleared with a screwdriver…the clog still had drain cleaner in it and I burned my hand a little from it…at least the damn thing is clear…okay, who the hell listens to “christian” hip hop? That was what was coming from the park last night on the first night of the 4 days of christian music festival that I’m already tired of…oh, well…don’t have a lot to do today other than ride the bike and hit the city offices to pay the water bill…probably should clean some since the kitchen and bathroom need a once over and I think I’ll start with the bathroom when I get back from the rides…got some whipped Philly cream cheese for 99 cents at DD yesterday and I may try that out on the bagel this morning just to see if I like it or not…depends on if it’s thawed or not but I need to get moving to have enough time before I need to get on the bike….more later…