Almost bitterly.

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Cold, that is.  For the speed at which it hit.  But, that's... how these things go.  And I won't complain.  It has been fairly reasonable after that last big drop.  But, tonight, just a bit ago, I checked.  At 28, I could feel it.  That's a hard cold.  The first freeze I have seen.  Even if it doesn't get colder, that will leave a mark.  The first hard freeze this year, to my knowledge, hereabout anyway.  Wow.  Cold.

I griddled burgers earlier.  Havarti, is the other cheese.  That and gouda, slices.  I was really impressed with these cheeses.  Some of the others simply don't translate well as slices.  Munster, as I mentioned, was absolutely dull.  Cheddar is very good.  Blue cheese, if I'm in the mood.  I completely avoid american "cheese", because... that ain't cheese.

What a day.

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Not down until 22:30, I think.  Pretty close.  I set the alarm for eight and ten.  I shut the eight off immediately, snoozed through the ten alarm until twenty two after, or so.

Then a shower.  I had moved dishes out so I could get to a shower first thing, and... roughly... did.  Took a while.  My body does hurt.  Why?  I can't say.

Nice!

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Still a bit cool, 54 at around 07:50?  But, the sun is out, coming up.  Green, outside, too.  From my lawn to the field next door.  Wonderful.  Love it when it does green up.  I haven't had to water for weeks.  Enough rain, from time to time.  I have only watered for about two weeks this summer.  So, as for drought?  I'm... not... so sure.

Feeling pretty good.  Thinking about hitting dishes, showering, then getting dressed to go out and do a bit outside.  First, cutting some weeds.  If the trimmer will run.  Then, perhaps, getting the hatch rods changed.  That will be it for today, if I can do that, assuming I can get dishes and a shower resolved first.

I opened the front door, it was getting just a bit stuffy.  turned on some fans, to move air.  The upstairs is open, with the alternative fans running.  Fresh air, love it.  And, upstairs and down are all open and from one to the other.  It allows a lot more airflow.  While still cool, I am enjoying it.

I did find the thread.  I had in mind the cone shape that the thread is, in basic form.  But, they were in boxes.  I had forgotten that.  Overlooked them a dozen times, possibly even moving them out of the way, without realizing it was what I was looking for.  All good.  Actually, I have black and cream, not white.  Cream fits more things.  Still, will need white before long, probably blue (for at least one of my quilts), though grey and a few other colors are okay.  The thing, with a serger anyway, is that only one thread will possibly be seen.  So, I really don't need a lot of various colors, just one larger cone.  To that end, I am now considering buying a large color collection, of singles, and finding less expensive, longer length, bulk threads... while it doesn't matter what color, a few basics might still be best, like grey, white, black, blue, cream, and maybe red?  Even those may be mixed, just... because.  But those will be by price and reasonable quality.  As well, I'll want to craft an open display, for those.  Pegboard, perhaps?

All theory, until it is done.  Even then, that is all just to make function more doable.  But... you still have to use what you just developed.  To be honest, it isn't that much work, but it does take a bit.

Something is a bit off.

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Sometimes, when starting medicine again after being off it for a bit, the day I start to three or four days after, I can take a hit.  It has been three days that I have been back on medicine and I am taking a hit.  It's a good thing.  The hit is the whole engine and drivetrain of my body shuddering, as it comes back into a more... sustainable set of functions.  BP drops, pulse slows, veins and else adjust, but it's hard on the system to do that.

A bit of a headache.  Mild.  Medium, really.  Shoulders, neck, and skull all just a bit off.  Arteries of the neck aching just a bit.  Everything is adjusting back to some sort of trim.  Well, and it might be cooling?  Hmm, not really.  I have acclimatized, I think, to the heat.  It got up to 92 by the time I went to bed today.  But it... felt okay.  I am sure it probably climbed into the mid, perhaps higher, 90s?  I can't be certain.  But I felt fine, slept well, and woke well.

All good.  It happens.  Being back on medicine is better, by far, than being off them... now that I have medicine that actually treats what is wrong.

It isn't all that cool, tonight, or yet?  It is 62 outside, and 75, 76, or 77 indoors, downstairs.  I just turned off the fan, near the front door.  But am leaving the other fans going and the front door open.  While the numbers don't show, it is really cooling down.

I have been looking over tools, reviewing manuals, looking up owners manuals, and just... thinking about things.  Remembering.  While there were things about mechanics I didn't like, there were things I did like.  When you started something, you, or someone else, would definitely finish it.  Usually it was you.  Whether it was greasing every zerk on the command deck, tagging out removing repairing and replacing a ball valve, or while on duty also filling a tank which holds a full atmosphere of air when near enough to the surface to do so, and cycling another tank to replace a full atmosphere of air on the ship.  An atmosphere of air, on a submarine, is all the air within all the compartments the submarine can hold, or... as I remember things.  But, what that adds to, is... doing a job, getting it done, and the satisfaction of a job well done and truly done.

Anyway, so... I keep looking up little jobs on the motorcycle.  Especially things which, in theory, have me shying away.  I'm not so afraid of an oil change, or spark plug check, or even chain maintenance and checking.  But bleeding the brakes, changing sprockets especially if sizing up or down for specific wants, or checking and adjusting valve clearances?  Those... make me nervous.

A motorcycle.

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Yes.  Not certain it will ever come about.  But the plans are in motion.  Prices, costs, tools, all sorts of doubts.  To be honest, I was more concerned with picking the bike up after a fall.  Going to happen.  Then I looked around.  Oh, I realized, it isn't a pure deadlift, or bench press, thing.  Even so, I wasn't sure.  Now, while I have almost no stamina, I still have a good deal of serious physical strength.  Good for a short operation... to include picking up a bike.  Plus, I looked around.  There is a method or three to it.

Once that was out of the way, I wanted to look up some other things.  Modern automobiles are beyond the ken of most people.  The Xterra?  Not sure.  Though I may end up trying to figure out how to change my oil on that.  The rest?  So far, no problems.  But... for the most part... I'm not secure in working on that.  But a bike?  Maybe.  At least for some things.

Here are a few ideas of what might be possible.  There are other services that are rather possible, with a motorcycle.  As mentioned, I don't have every tool I would like.  But I do have quite a few tools.  Including small to larger torque wrenches, most standard sockets and wrenches, even a mechanical impact wrench... though I may have a weaker cordless impact?  Maybe.  Anyway... I have quite a collection of tools.  Not pro-level, Snap-On... or such.  But enough for a single bike, or bike and suv.  As, I suspect, I learn on the bike, I may transfer that to the Xterra.

Some videos.  The thing is, as you learn more, you either do more, or back out, back off, and change directions.  Biking, itself, will go that way too.  Though, hereabouts, biking is pretty much limited to six months of the year, maybe eight.  Though, on drier years, maybe even more if one can sort out the cold.  But... a starter collection for ideas on what can be done.  Further, what isn't shown, is break bleeding (using a compressor loader, so a one-man job) and changing a tire, down to taking  off the tire, and repairing tubes, as needed.  But, those too, are required... because of the off-road factor.  Here you go.

The motorcycle that keeps popping into radar.

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Fancy?  It costs a bit.  But, it runs off-road, and on.  It's a reasonable fit.  It isn't a monster off-roader, nor a pure touring, but about as close as a mix, rather than compromises, as I can find.  The problem?  They can't keep them in the shops.  Selling out.  Probably jacking the prices?  Will find out soon enough.

Nearly August.

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July, for summers here, is like Wednesday is to the week.  The hump.  The hottest section.  It will continue into the 90s, but be broken by cooler days, or if any regularity remains.  Cloudy, from time to time.  Which has already been happening.  So, I am hoping, rain will come sooner, and cool will be accelerated.  Time will tell.

While waking and doing a few first things, I kept looking at the clock.  Between groggy vision and still sleepy mind, I couldn't tell if it was eleven or thirteen hundred hours, or even what in change after.  As I sit, I see it is noon, so... must have been half past eleven hundred when I finally got up.  I woke earlier, to shut the house down.  I got up twice.  I thought the front door might still be a pickle holder... I mean... ajar.  But no, I had worried for nothing.

A fatted coffee, and some meat sticks, to start out.  I did purchase eggs last time I was in.  They aren't too expensive.  But they aren't brown eggs, or from pasture raised chickens.  But, it is what I was willing to pay, per egg.  Only mediums, but that is pretty familiar.  Though, compared to other store bought eggs, I know where these were hatched.  Couldn't quite throw a stone and hit the place, but... proverbially, as a crow flies, perhaps.  Of course, not literally in any sense, if there is any fact to literal in most realities?  Something like that.

Today?  I don't know.  I really am beat.  Just getting the watering done through the night pretty much tuckers me out.  The sprinklers aren't much, it's the 150' of constructor grade hoses that get me.  But, the watering was done.  And is ready to go again Tuesday.  Things are greening.  Just, but they are.

I would like to get another shower, but later.  Hitting dishes would be good.  I cleaned out pee jugs this morning, three.  I have been... busy with other things.  Counters and maybe boxes.  Little bits of the living room.  I just don't have it in me.  They remain the goal until the goal is reached.

I believe I am going to call off the review, and stop playing with the buyers.  I am just going to stick around, for now.  No one can afford the house, one way or the other, or will.  At least as she sits.  If I could get her cleaned up, maybe.  Not as worried about the crash in house sales.  I wouldn't be selling to typical buyers.  I would be selling to California and Illinois escapees.  Usually with cash.  Or Chinese or Blackrock scalpers, also in cash.

I'll spend a couple of months trying to get the place in order, as it cools this fall.  Then, consider maybe even putting it on the market.  But, on the official market.  Let them bid against real buyers.  While there is some slow down, in some areas, for houses in this range, locally, there is a high want and need.  But... it has to be viewable ready.  Then, perhaps, I could get the competition going.  We aren't in drought here, regardless what they try to say.  And, compared to the rest of the South West, that means something.  Plus with acreage, outbuildings, and a dry basement in an area where most basements flood every other year?

It needs work.  That $30k loan, if it had gone through, would have seen new furnace, central air, a new electrical panel, new flooring where needed, some wall work in the kitchen, the bathroom completed, an automated sprinkler system, maybe a backup generator, a new window in one of the rooms, and more.  Perhaps even new siding.  It seems like a lot, but that would probably nearly double the value of the house.  It used to be, depending on where you were, that a bit would get you back a little less.  But, in hot markets, a little can get you far more.  It's want and perception, when they are biting.  Bling, baby?  Yeah, unfortunately.  I just can't do bling.  But I can improve it so that there can be viewings.  But... not now.  Just too damned hot.

I did get some things.  And I am keeping that even in the heat.  So, I am hoping I can push through as it cools.  Then, pretty much, just live, and live small, in just a few areas.  Keeping up on those.  Then again?  There... may be a resource, for the $30k, that... remains.  I hadn't thought of it, until just now.  No promises.  Probably no.  But... there is one last place I could check.  I might be able to find a personal financier.  Maybe.  I'll... have to check.  How to even approach such?  Directly, of course.

Oh, I keep looking up things about bikes.  While I looked at extra fuel options, I also looked at ways to increase mileage.  Well, some technical ways.  The truth is, learning to ride "boring" will save a lot of gas.  As will cruise control, if that only works on some bikes.  Most bikes?  Some.  Why?  Well, I don't want to run out of gas a hundred miles from nowhere.  I have nearly done that with the Xterra, here in Utah.  A road outage, for some reason, running into a secondary detour while thinking gas was just ahead, not paying absolute attention (difficult in the heat, regardless of ac, on long trips)... and... almost ran out.  And, down there, it is 90 at night.  So, yeah.  That... could easily have been fatal, especially with no vehicles passing or following.  

I think some people knew this area had become... a problem?  Went different ways.  I just didn't know enough, or have resources to let me know.  That... got my attention.  I may have had tanks of water, but... you can only carry so much and...  No... I probably would have waited by the side of the road, with the water.  Until I could hitch.  Walking away from five gallons of water, in a desert, is very possibly a death sentence.  If you get down to what you can carry, then go?  Aye, as I see it.

I probably want a bigger tank, an auxiliary tank, and extra external storage.  Especially going into Mexico, and then on the South America.  Oddly?  I fear Canada more than I fear Mexico, if I fear Mexico more than South America.  All can be dangerous.  Just... how I weight things.  Canadians won't kill you, but their government will arrest and hassle you.  There government is even more unhinged than the US government has become.

Grilling.

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With a headwind?  Sort of.  When it hits the 90s out there, or more, it's like driving, actually though, with a tailwind.  In the winter is when headwinds are faced.  The roasts got there first check, and turn, twenty minutes in.  And... they... are cooking fast.  To be honest, after this next twenty minutes, and  final turn, I will probably cut the dampers and let them finish in there for another twenty minutes.  The smells...  Oh, I do love meats grilling, or cooking rightly in just about any way.

While waking, I started thinking about other ways to get to Argentina, or Ecuador, or else.  Currently not possible, completely, by road.  Not all the way down anyway.  But, driving?  Motorcycling?  The problems with any of those is... I suspect you have to have the covid vax before they would let you in.  No go.  Further, there isn't a road between Panama and Columbia.  Even if they started that today, and that is very unlikely, it would take ten, twenty, thirty years? to complete.  It won't be easy or fast.  More, there is no fairy around the Darian Gap (the area between north and south).

Yes?

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The roast and whole chicken are finished.  The roast is being tended, the chicken just allowed to cool.  I just slice off roast as and when wanted, the chicken, though, will be carved and bagged.  I might have a wing?  Maybe.  Or a breast?  Depends on how full I feel after a decent piece of roast.  Sure smells good.

With the dishes drained, I need to get a shower taken.  Then set those up for a final rinse.  Laundry is still going.  Those towels are heavy.  I didn't put the pillows in, will do that after.  It was just too big of a load, with pillows.  But they will be next.  Then, everything out on the line.  I'll bet they will smell sweat tonight.  And, having two clean towels back in the cupboard is good.

It's been a good day.  Just hitting 74 in here, near the computer, 76 outside, or was.  Became distracted.  I decided to close the place up... oh, but best close it up upstairs too.  Bleh.  Upstairs had gotten up to 77.  The rest of the house is 74, this front room is starting to get warmer now... a few degrees at a time.  Well, the ac and fans are on up there, that, hopefully, will work out.

No cream this morning.  But they may have some later.  I'll go in, in a bit?  Meh.  With the grilling done, I'll put the roast up, carve the rest of the chicken... had a breast as it turns out... and get that put away.  Then get a shower, and put the whites out, setting up the pillows to wash.  I'm sure I have some other pillows around, for a temporary use.  Old, but... they... work.  I suppose I could wash the old ones, see if they make it through.  If they don't, just toss them.  If they do, bag them in airtight, vacuum seal, bags and put them up.

Then, put the dishes in for the final rinse, with the hope of air drying, then getting cream, and then finishing dishes and putting the pillows out to dry.  I... might get a goodly lot done today.  I think there is a solid possibility.  Well, and I paid my dairy bill up and in some advance, while at it.  Not a bad evening and morning.  And it isn't even finished.  I really am doing pretty good, if I struggle some days.  Even then I do some work.

Moving right along.

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Laundry is reset.  The clothes weren't dry, so I gave them another spin.  And, while I haven't started whites, I have put what was in there in, in preparation for doing them.  I have another towel in the bathroom, and will be putting pillows in.  If it isn't going to rain today.

Then on to dishes.  I washed the load.  It's a bigger load, but went fairly smoothly.  Still a bit gunky, so all has been put in for one more soak.  But it is actually cleaning up better than I had anticipated.  I think one more shot, and I can then rinse, dry, and set them out.  I'll try to get the dishes which have been set out to dry put up in there, hopefully well before drying this next set.

Not a break.  It was a good run.  After the break, I'll head upstairs.  See about getting the last of the floor open and cleared, vacuumed, and powdered.  Then, if So, I will vacuum that all back up on Tuesday.  On the good side, it is cool enough tonight, and was cool enough today, so that I can get fresh air up there.  Deep winters and deep summers make it so airing the place out isn't all that possible, usually.  When I get a chance, I take it.  Fresh air is your friend, my friend.

I am pretty sure I can get the upstairs opened, vacuumed, and dusted.  Beyond that?  I don't know.  I honestly hope I have more time to get down, and work on the boxes and items collected in the living room.  Then hit dishes again.  Bringing down pillows and taking the white towels from the bathroom as well, into the laundry room.  I won't start on that until I am more sure about what tomorrow looks like.  I have two more sun-dried big towels, clean and folded.  So I don't need them, or even want them, the white towels, washed and ready unless they can go out on the line.  And those will last two, even three showers each if I have to push.  Heck, one can last a week of showers if I really must.

Oh, but after washing dishes again, while they are set aside, I will probably get a shower in, again.  I sure like those.  Especially with sunshine dried towels.  As well, sometime in there, I may grill the package of chops, and the pork roast.  And have a small pan of mixed veggies, for a side.  Maybe with some cheddar.

I found a video I thought was... interesting.  I watched it but... to a degree?  Was unimpressed.  Why?  I drive a big honking suv.  Maybe not as big as a big truck, but not a tiny delicate thing.  And, yet, I drive just as cautiously as he is suggesting to drive on a bike.  About seventy percent of drivers are basically aware and knowledgeable about driving etiquette, laws, and conditions.  Basically.  The other thirty percent are unable, unwilling, to abide driving rightly, or actively against those things.

When?

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I can't be sure when I went to bed.  I got the dishes washed, and reset.  The freezertop cleared and washed.  One laundry through to the dryer and another load in.  But couldn't finish the dishes.  Or work on items, boxes, in the living room.  I did close the place up, fed Sassy a last time, cleared her litter, and got water set up and run, which means I probably need to refill the reservoir next time I am out that way.  But when I went to bed?  Ten, a bit, or a lot after?  Hmm.  Actually past noon, nearly to one... I remember being awake then, I think?  I was crashing, but resisting the crash, so who knows.  No, I think I saw it past 13:00, but upstairs, as I was going in.  Though 13:01 or 13:48?  I couldn't say.

Warm, up there, when I woke.  It is 77 up near the bed, 75 in the main, 77 downstairs in the main, and 79 in the front room, it was 81 near the machine.  It is 66 outdoors, so I opened everything up, upstairs and down.  Giving the ac a break, if nothing else.  The fans are on, including the fan on the ac unit.  The door to the downstairs is open.  And there are breaths of wind, not quite gusts, curling through the cave.  Being that it is just 22:50, there is a reasonable change the cave will cool down well before the night is through.

I hit the litter box again.  When I keep up on it, there is only, usually, one number one and two in there, if I do morning and night and check when I'm going by.  She is a much happier girl, when that is managed better.  And the place does smell smarter.  I have two tins out.  If I am awake a longer shot, she will get them all, if just a regular day, a can and an half.  If I am only up eight hours, she gets one tin.  I have been closing off the dry food, at "night" (when I am sleeping) to give her timeouts from eating.  She isn't losing weight, or much.  She, like me, has become slightly trimmer, a bit tighter, but still a bit plump.  Hey, it's all we actually own, at this point.

I brushed my teeth first thing.  If as I was doing that, I will resetting the dishes to a, hopefully, final rinse.  Around midnight thirty, I'll get in to get those drained, then dried, setting them out to air dry, then putting another load in.  The goal, at this point, is to get most dishes, pots, and pans, cleaned and keep them unused.  I need to get the grilltop going.  Between that and the charcoal grill, cooking most foods that way.  There will still be utensils, large and small, and this and that... a few small pots for cooking veggies.  

But, really, now is the time to cook out, mostly.  And not have much to wash.  While going through what I am keeping and what I am tossing.  Some of the pots and pans can be put into recycling.  Though, anything I find with teflon or else non-stick, if I still have that, will be ruined before being tossed.  It is, at this time, toxic.  And, yet, people don't care and would use it.  Even when obviously scratched, people will use that.  I don't want to encourage them to pull from the garbage and use.  And, yes, they... will do so.  But, if it's a stainless, but of lower quality, and worn and dirty, I'll leave it whole.  If someone wanted that, they could have it.  The way things are going, kids won't be going to school, they will, like some children in many foreign countries, be digging through the trash for metals and meals.  Joe did that!

Yeah, dishes.  Oh, and I checked the laundry.  For some reason, the laundry in the washer was still wet?  I tried the rinse and spin cycle.  Not sure that is doing what I thought it would do.  May just have to run the load through on a normal full wash again.  I have to wonder if electricity went out while I was sleeping?  Anyway, I'll check on laundry when I go to do dishes.  Or, actually, I'll just go in and reset it to run a regular load, if it isn't doing right.  I am drying what was in the dryer, again, on low.  See if that gets it any drier.  Wasn't very dry, I'll say that.  Thought it would be, but... nope.  I'll do whites, in the morning, if it isn't raining.  Then that will be that for a bit, regarding laundry.  Just more dishes to do, and sorting of boxes and things, plus work upstairs.

Then... the kitchen, bedroom, and on.  Not as good as things had been going, but not bad.  With it cooling nicely tonight, I sure hope to get a good load of various parts of those efforts in.  I'll definitely keep at it, pushing when possible, resting when required.  Yea, I can see the work paying off.  Just right here, near me... first the empty boxes were broken down, and that opened much of the room.  Then boxes of baubles have been taken to the other room, in groups, and managed.  I have removed half of what was left in here.  The the half that remains, of clutter, is functional items, like the swamp cooler and the paper shredder, a second desk, and another office chair, and old, mostly dead, computer I will want to disassemble to some degree, then toss.  And of the boxes that remain, many or dvd's, blurays, and games.  Not as much to go through left as before, though some.

Hmm... a fatted coffee, as I check on the laundry.  Then, maybe a show, or to look for one.  Often I won't find one.  I haven't played a console game in... a very long while.  They just don't make them like they used to make them.  All woke, broken, and dull on top of it.  Who would have known that wouldn't sell.  Ha!  Besides every gamer out there.  They can't complete, and put out, a functioning game, at this point, because if they did, and people saw to the end, they would tell everyone else that it's just another work propaganda piece.  Most of us realize that is all they put out, at this point, so don't even look at what is coming out next.  The young tools still do, but... that'll... fix itself.  Did with us, just much quicker.

Looks like parents are booting junior to the harsh world.  Or junior is finding the cleverness of the feminine.  It's a sucker bet, but that is life.  You can't win, but you don't have to lose.  Even if you, when... really, you lose... here or there?  Well, if you have chosen the right path, it... just doesn't matter.  Be true to God, the rest will tend itself.  Not that you shouldn't attempt to lend a hand, just... your hand isn't the final one.  And this isn't the final place.  You can hope for justice, but you can't have it as a certainty.  And, as a fact, expect to be spat upon wrongly, and by those who shouldn't.  If, too, turning the other cheek has limits.  It's not for lethal affairs.

Anyway... on to checking the laundry, getting water reservoir filled, and... fatted coffee plus maybe some sardines?  Maybe.