April 27

Just a quick update.  On Wednesday I started feeling bad.  I had a head ache, sore throat and muscle ache.  That night my temperature was 100F.  So I went to bed early but did not sleep well as I tossed and turned.  I did fell better on Thursday morning and went to work.  This was much to the wishes of Elizabeth.  By the evening I felt worse but not as bad as the previous night.  And I did not have a temperature.  I slept much better the night.  While I felt better this morning I decided not to ride.  Now, 5:45, I feel pretty good.  I plan to go to my usual Friday night meeting and then ride my bike in the morning.  Right now I am off to walk Candi.

I should have mentioned on my previous post, many years ago I spent 11 weeks in Korea working.  There you had to learn to use sticks to eat.  I guess I still retained a bit of the knowledge.  I guess eating with chop sticks is like riding a bike, once learned you never forget.

Wonderful supper

Tonight I had a wonderful.  Actually that is nothing new.  Almost every meal I have is wonderful.  But here are a couple of pictures.  Elizabeth made chicken and rice.  She also had home made egg rolls.  Actually two kinds of egg rolls.  Ones filled with veggies to eat with supper and some made with apples and cinnamon for dessert.   It was all very good.  The only problem I had is I tried to eat using chop sticks.  I know why most orientals are thin.  Do you know how long it takes to eat a bowl of fried rice using chop sticks?  I could only pick up one or two pieces at a time.  I finally gave up and broke out the fork.

April 21

On April 15 I rode the Tour de Braz.  The name comes from Brazoria county where most of the ride occurred.  The ride was to raise money for an animal shelter.  It was another day of vicious wind.  The ride started into the wind and again I could only average about 11 miles per hour.  I did that for 30 miles.  Then we turned and the wind was at our back.  Now the average speed was around 23 miles per hour.  Below is a picture of the check in tent.

Here is a picture of me ready to go

At one point we had to stop and wait for a train that was blocking the road.

And here I am home and all cleaned up.  Elizabeth said I smelled like I had ridden 65 miles.

So far this has been a busy week end.  For us the week end includes Friday.  On Friday Elizabeth had a doctor's appointment in the morning.  She has a couple of issues that need to be watched.  It will be difficult since our insurance will no longer pay if we use this particular clinic.  I think it a an absolute shame.  And we all know why, the insurance company wants to make more money.  We have absolutely no concern for the patients.  And they really do not care because their customer is the company and not the individual.  It is not like we can take our business to another insurance company.  If BO wants to really improve the health care in this country then stop the insurance companies form practicing medicine.  OK I got that off my chest.

After that we had some errands to run.

Today I got up and went for a ride.  There were not an many riders on the road as normal.  This week end is the MS 150.  That is a two day bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for the battle against MS.  I have ridden it 9 times and it is a great ride.  But it is not for me this year.  In fact I an not sure I will ever ride another multi-day ride.  The logistics are just difficult.  After getting home and eating breakfast, I worked on the yard.  I had to mow and edge.  I also pulled some weeds that are trying to take over.  It is a gorgeous day.  Low humidity and temperatures in the 70s.  For lunch Elizabeth made a pasta salad and ribs.  They were wonderful.  While ribs are not on the forbidden food list it has been a while since I had them.  We ate outside to enjoy the nice weather.

After eating we ran a couple of errands including a stop at Barnes and Noble.  Once back home we both rested.  For supper I had a sandwich and chips.  After the big lunch a light supper was all I needed.  All in all a very nice couple of days.

April 14

It has been a busy couple of days.  Friday I did not get to ride as I had to go to the doctor's office at 9.  This was a ear nose and throat guy.  He started by removing a lot of wax from my left ear.  It got packed in there a couple of weeks ago when I mowed the lawn and jammed an ear plug in.  After he got that out I had a hearing test.  No surprise I have had some hearing loss.  We are now looking into hearing aids.  They are kind of expensive so the question that needs to be answered is if the hearing loss is severe enough to justify the expense.   We will see.  After lunch I worked around the house.  I had to replace a fence post and plant a couple of bushes.  The old 4 by 4 post was rotten at the the ground.  The hard part was removing the old post and concrete without making a huge hole that then needed to be refilled.  But I got it out and the new one cemented in.

Today I got up and did get to ride.  It was very windy.  Going out, into the wind, I averaged 13 miles per hour.  Coming back it was closer to 23.  I have an app on my phone called Map My Ride.  It keeps track of where I ride and plots on a map.  It also records stats like time distance and speed.  It also had a voice status option.  I did not realize this was turned on.  I had earphone on as I was listening to music.  Suddenly I hear this voice telling me how far I have ridden and how fast.  When I got home I showered and then we were off to run some errands.  When we got back we rested and then went to Mass.  I am going to ride in an organized ride tomorrow so we went to church tonight.

Phew no wonder I am tired.

By the way, Blogger was switched to a new format.  Art least it is new for me.  So far I have not found the comments tab.  So if you posted a comment and do not see it, please be patient I will find it soon.

Spiders

This evening as we were watching television, a spider ran across the floor.  I got a paper towel and removed it.  Then we saw several more.  I got more paper towel but when I put it on one it seemed the spider exploded into dozen of tiny spiders.  It must have been a mother spider carrying her young.  Well they are all gone now.  I have no doubt we will have an exterminator here bright and early tomorrow.

Easter

Well it is Easter evening.  It was a nice day.  I got up and rode my bike.  When I got home I had a breakfast of ham and biscuits and scrambled eggs.  I also opened my Easter gifts.  I got an iTunes gift card, some note paper and a subscription to Bicycling magazine.  Then I showered and off to Mass.  It was a long service.  When we got home we had lunch of a hot dog and chips.  We rested during the afternoon.  I also made a couple of Happy Easter phone calls.  For supper we had a prime rib roast and baked potato.  It was wonderful.  After supper we took Candi for a walk.   Before walking I downloaded an app to my phone called Map My Ride.  It tracks were the phone goes and records distance and speed.  It also plots where it goes on a map.  It should be useful when I ride my bike.  I tested it when we walked Candi and it seemed to work fine.  After we got hone we watched some television.  Now a little computer work and then off to bed.

All in all it was a very nice day.

April 7

The past two days have been busy.  Yesterday I got up and went for a bike ride.  I rode 34 miles.  When I got home I ate, showered and then we were off to run an errand.  Elizabeth had some packages to take to the post office to send.  When we got there the line was quite long so we decided to skip it.  Elizabeth had a finger nail split so she want to have a manicure to repair it before ti got worse.  She has been working hard to get her nails to grow.  We went to three different places but no luck.  I guess with it being Easter week end many people were having stuff done.  We got home and I got my stuff together to go get my infusion.  Normally my appointment is at 1 but this time it was at 11:45.  When I go I take by ebook reader, a portable DVD player and warm clothes.  The office is always very cold.  This week I also took lunch.  The infusion take nearly three hours so I was back home late afternoon.  We rested and then had supper.  After supper we went to Good Friday service.  It was long all of 2 hours.  On the way home we stopped at Starbucks in Barnes and Nobel.  When we got home I was tired and went to bed.

Today Started the same.  I got up and went for a bike ride.  Got home and ate, showered and then we were off to do some grocery shopping.  On Saturday a local store has a small farmers market.  You can get fresh veggies, meat etc.  Elizabeth got some beets that were only hours out of the ground.  Then we stopped at a couple of other places.  Once home we had lunch.  After lunch we took Candi for a walk.  After that I had to run an errand for the Easter bunny.  Now I think we are pretty much done for the day.

Technology upgrade

As I mentioned below, I was given an iPad for work I did on a project.  On Monday I picked it up.  I never seriously considered getting one so I really did not know much about them.  I have been learning.  One of the first things I did was take it to the local Apple store to have them help me set it up.  While there I also bought an iPhone.  This I have been considering for a while and the iPad was the final push I needed.  They are really impressive.  My previous cell phone was just a plain phone with no additional bells or whistles.  This is certainly a quantum leap in technology.  I also got a couple of books to try and learn more.  I am still not certain about the iCloud.  Some things get transferred from one device to the other while other things do not.

 The other day I went for a bike ride and it was quite foggy.  It did not burn off until late morning and then it was cloudy all day.

This week end has been a busy one.  Elizabeth had to go to the doctor on Friday morning for some blood work.  When we got home we ate breakfast and then did some yard work until lunch time.  After lunch we ran some errands and then came home and rested.  After supper I went to my Friday meeting.  Saturday I got up and rode my bike.  When I got home I ate and then had some work work I needed to take care of.  Saturday evening we went to Mass.  Today, Sunday, I again rode my bike.  After getting home and eating we went shopping.  Actually I say and read while Elizabeth shopped.  Then it was home to eat.  After resting we had to go non food shopping.  For supper I had grilled chicken home made potatoes and green beans.  Right now it is a few minutes before 9 and I am ready to call it a day.