Yesterday I mowed the front lawn, and cleaned the patio.  Today I will work on the inside, will have the house ready for tomorrow's Thanksgiving day.  Will have about 30 people over and will have a lot of FOOD!  

Cleaned the driveway

Patio is done

Will be cold tomorrow, not sure we will be outside

Front is done!

3 weeks since I last posted.  The chiropractor did not do much good.  I pain is not from the spine, or the sciatic nerve.  I thought it might be my thyroid, and had the doctor who watches the thyroid do a blood test, and it came back normal.

I will get with my primary care physician to figure out were all the joint pain is coming from.  Advil is the only thing that makes me feel better.  Just can't keep taking that.

Yesterday I sprayed the weeds to get rid of them.  Getting ready for the Thanksgiving day.  A lot of Rufina's family will be over and I have to get the house ready.  On Tuesday I will mow the front lawn and finish up the outside to make sure it ready.  We will have rain on Thursday, so everything will be inside.

The last couple of weeks, I have had problems with my hips and pelvis.  They are very painful and it is hard to even get up.  I saw my primary doctor and she suggest I see a chiropractor.  So today was my 4th time seeing him.  He is making adjustments to my back and pelvis.

Now it feels worse than it did before, lol.  He said it just takes time to relive the pain.  I am doing stretches and a heat pad on my hips and pelvis.  I will see him again at the end of the week.  If it does not improve I will probably take a week or 2 before I see him again.  Hopefully it will get better!

We are having people over on Friday, and I wanted to put up the lights on the patio.  Took me longer than I expected, just have to realize that it takes me a lot longer now than when I was younger.  The back also is still hurting.

Lights are in! 

Worked on the front yard today.  Need to get some weeds out and trim some of the bushes, and one of the irrigation sprinkler needed to be replaced.  I went out in the afternoon, even though it was 90 degrees.  We had a nice wind, so that helped.

Did the sprinkler first, and it was easier that I thought.  I was thinking that I had to dig it up, but luckily the threads were still there.  I just had to put a new one on.  I turn them on, and it worked good.

Then I had to get the weeds out, just use the lawn edger to get them out.  After that I just used the rake to get them out, and also the amount of leaves that had fallen - winter is coming on, heh.

Done with the front

Got the weeds out and the leaves too 

                                   

Been 10 days since I last posted.  Another health issue.  Threw out my back.  Have not been able to do much.  Went to the doctor yesterday and she gave me a muscle relaxer for my back.  I will also have to go see a chiropractor to work on it.

I did manage to mow the back lawn yesterday, but it took awhile to get it done.  Looks much better though.  Today, I am just watching news about Trump.  Will try to do some stretching.  Hope that helps.

Finally able to work on the backyard.  I took out the ugly bush in the back right corner.  I think I will put in a tree there.  Maybe a lemon or lime tree.  I want to get a smaller tree, as there are overhead power lines.  I will take out the shrub that is behind the planter box too.

After 

Before 

The raised planter box is done.  Just have to throw in some plants.  There are plenty of vegetables that can be planted now.  Nice to have a mild winter.  

I have not been on the blog for awhile.  I have been really sick.  Last Wednesday I had to go to the Urgent Care.  My temperature was 100.6 degrees.  I did not feel good at all.  I still have the cold a bit, but it is much better.

I have not done much the last 10 days, just watching President Trump making a fool out of himself.  Hard to believe that the President of the United States is asking foreign countries (Ukraine and China) to investigate Joe Biden.  This is AGAINST the law.  Will see what happens.

I have been sick the last 2 days.  Did not do much on Sat and Sun.  Just watched TV.  I have a chest cold.  When I get sick, in usually starts with a sore throat and congestion.  This time it started in my lungs.  I don't have fever, so I will wait a few days to see if it improves.

If it does not improve, I will have to see my doctor.  Anytime the cold gets in my lungs, I have to watch it very carefully.  So today,  I will watch TV again, and rest on the couch.  I have to get better, so I can start working outside again.  There are things that I want to do....

Have a good day everyone.

Have not been on the bike since Tuesday.  But I have been busy around the house.  Working on the yard behind the garage.  Still not sure what I am going to do with it.  I was going to make it a spot for the raised garden beds, but noticed that it did not get enough sun.

Garden beds need 8 to 10 hours of sun.  So I decided to move the garden beds to the east side of the yard, where there are no trees.  Will get enough sun there.  In the northeast corner is a bush that I need to take out.  The beds will be about 5 feet from the fence.

I put one together, and leveled the ground, and then put it in.  There should be 2 more coming for a total of 3 raised beds.

leveling the ground

Ready to put the raised garden bed in 

Garden bed is done 

Will have to take out the bush in the back 

I have not been on the bike in 9 days.  I had to rest my right leg.  The tendon was a little sore, and I did not want it to get worse.  The rest helped.  I was able to get a ride in today, and the leg felt much better.

Wanted to do about an hour ride, and easiest was head west on the SART.  Rode out to Van Buren, and came back home.  I stopped at Mclean-Anza park off of Jurupa, and again at Jurupa/Van Buren intersection. 

Speed was 12.2 MPH over the 12.3 miles.  Kept it slow, always have to watch my heart rate. 

Looking east from Mclean-Anaz park

From the bike trail near Van Buren/Jurupa intersection

After I worked outside this morning, I had to finish the cabinet for the stereo/records that is in the office.  I almost had it done, but had to put in the final bottom of the cabinet.  I already had it built, I just had to install it.  Bad thing is, I had to take everything out of the cabinet.  Records were easy, the stereo was a bit more difficult, lol.

This was my Dad's desk before I took it apart.

After I took the desk apart, I used the material to make the cabinet

Now it is done.  You can see the bottom of the cabinet that I installed today.  It is the light strip to make it a bit higher.  It will make the center speaker work a bit better too.  ( heh, that is Toto singing "I'll be over you".  Michael McDonald is in the video too. )

Well it is Monday.  I have been busy last week, working on the house.  I did not get out on the bike.  I will have to do it this week.  This morning I worked outside a bit.  I am getting the yard behind the garage ready for raised garden beds. 

I had to move all the wood, and have to level it.  I think I will put in 3 raised garden beds.  Will probably take me a month or two to get them in.  Still trying to decide what kind of lay out I want.  Will have to get Rufina's input too. :)

The top picture was from 2 weeks ago.  The bottom one is after I moved everything out.

Finally finished the garage.  Been working on it for the last 2 days.  Got rid of some items, but organized the rest of the garage.  I still want to go through the plastic containers, I am sure there is a lot more that I have to get rid of.  I guess if we have not used the items for the last 10 years, why keep them.  Probably be best to donate them.

                   

This is what the garage looked like.  I had already painted the floor.

About a year ago, I met my biological parents for the first time.  They were still married, and I was the only child from the two of them.  I have some half brothers and sisters.  I was lucky to meet them and that time, because my biological father passed away 6 months later.

I find is strange that they lived 50 miles away in Hemet.  I found them from the Ancestry DNA testing.  Took about 1 month to find them.  I am still talking to Bette, and she will be coming back to Hemet in a few months.

Bette and Tom Brashear, my biological parents

Mowed the front yard yesterday, so I had to mow the back yard today.  I also did some trimming of the bushes.  Another very nice day.  I was out there for 2 hours and the high temperature was 78 degrees.

I have to figure out what we are going to do with the back yard.  Right now there is a lot of grass, and I want to get rid of some of it.  Also, behind the garage, I need to put is some planting boxes to grow vegetables.  The planting boxes will be my project for the next couple of months. 

The Back Yard

I needed to mow the front lawn today.  It has been 10 days since I mowed it.   I bought a new lawn edger, but had to put it together first.  The old one would not hold the battery anymore.

It took about 45 minutes to mow the lawn, and I felt that I need to do a bit of trimming the bushes.  The one that is in the corner up front was getting to big.  I did trim it, but I think I will take it out and put something there that I won't have to trim it, to keep it out of the driveway.

After I cleaned everything up, it too me 2 hours.  Wow.  It is now 2pm and I will have something to eat!  Have a good day everyone!

This is the bush that I want to take out.

Rode the bike on the SART (Santa Ana River Trail) with John.  First time I have rode outside in more than a year.  When I got back home, my quadriceps on the right leg was hurting a bit.  It seems that my tendon the goes from the groin to the knee was irritated a bit.  Just will have to rest it a bit.

Link to Strava website that shows the ride that I did with John

Today was Xavier's birthday party.  Xavier is Rufina and my godson.  He is 8 years old, and his parents always have a nice birthday party for him.  A lot of Rufina's family come over to celebrate.

We were at Rufina's sister, Lucia, house.  Lucia is Xavier's grandmother.  Kids had fun in the pool, the men sat around, drinking a few beers, and the women chatted in the shade.  Rufina's family are very nice people.

Happy Birthday XAVIER!

I have been busy this week.  Rode the bike the last 3 days (Wed, Thurs, Fri) and got my average speed above 13 MPH. I will ride outside tomorrow with John.  First time outside in over a year.  Temperature is coming down, and I should be able to ride outside now. :)

Football starts tomorrow, and I am in a Fantasy Football league with Rufina's relatives.  Been doing it 5 years with them.  Maybe I can win, lol.  I finished 2nd once, so we will see how I will do this year.

John came over yesterday for dinner.  Maria and Rufina are in Salinas so it was just the brothers.  We had Steak, Corn-on-Cob, and baked potatoes.  We just talked for a couple of hours and had dinner.

Today, I rode the trainer again, 6.8 miles in 33 minutes. I listed to the Creek Trail Playlist on the IPhone.  This Playlist is the songs I listen to on the Santa Theresa Creek Trail in Mountain View.  It last about 33 minutes and it was my time trial loop.

I did 6.8 miles in 33 minutes with an average HR of 116.  Average speed was 12.4 MPH.

I was thinking of riding outside today, but did not get around to that.  I need to get up earlier!  Rode on the trainer though.  Did 5 miles in 23m and 51s.  Last week Thursday I did the 5 miles in 24m and 10s.  Almost 20 seconds faster.  Average speed was 12.6 MPH, HR at 115 BPM average.  Heart rate max was 135 beats per minute.

Went to Home Depot and got a new edge trimmer for the lawn.  The old one was 18 years old and the battery kept falling off, and it used a lot of string.  The new one looks much better than the old one.

The last thing I did was get a hair cut.  It was getting LONG.  Looks much better now!

33 minutes on the Trainer, and rode to the end of the Creek Trail playlist on Itunes.  12.3 MPH, 6.7 miles, and a cadence of an average of 82 RPM.

Heart rate monitor is now working correctly with the Polar Strap.  Not sure why the Polar Strap works, and the Garmin Strap does not.  Will just use the Polar one.  Average HR was 117 BPM, with a max of 132 BPM.  In the pictures below, the top Strap is the Polar one, and the bottom one is Garmin.  I still use the Garmin device that transmits the HR on the Polar Strap. 

It is 1:30 in the afternoon, trying to decide if I will ride the trainer today.  I did mow the lawn this morning, so I got my workout, and I might ride outside on Saturday.  Still undecided ride the bike this afternoon.

The lawn did need to be mowed and it looks a lot better than it was.  I still have to mow the lawn in the back yard, might do that tomorrow.  Below is that picture from the front of the house.

Rufina texted me that her brother-in-law, that lives in Salinas, passed away today.  She will go up with her sisters this weekend to visit her sister that lives in Salinas. 

I rode on the trainer today, 20 minutes and took it a bit slower.  11.9 MPH, and the heart rate monitor is still not working.  The Polar strap should be here tomorrow, so I will see if it helps.

This was my 12th ride since I started 2 weeks ago.  I mention that, because in the last 2 years, I started riding each year in August, but only made it to 11 rides each year, and then I stopped.  I want to make sure that I keep riding this year.  Hopefully the temperature will come down so I can start riding outside.

Did a little work inside, moved some books from the storage in the garage and put them in the bookshelf behind the couch in the office.  I want to get things out of the garage.  I also put up some pictures in the spare bathroom.  I found them in the garage too. They remind me of northern California.

Rode the trainer again today.  30 minutes at 12.2 MPH.  My heart rate monitor is still not working.  I added some electrode gel to my chest, but it still did not work correctly.  I might have to buy a new strap from Polor instead of using the Garmin one.  Hopefully that works.  I need to keep track of that, just to see how fast my heart goes.  I need to keep it below 130 BPM.

Another hot day in Riverside.  Not doing much outside today.  I might have to mow the lawn later tonight when it cools down.  I will have to water it though.  Still another month to go of the warm weather.  Be nice once October get here!

Went to the Bruno Mars Cover Band in Dos Lagos this evening.  It was free at the shopping center in Corona.  I was surprise by how many people showed up.  I bet there were about a thousand people there.

I went with Rufina and Lourdes.  John and Maria showed up a little bit later.  The band was very good.  I was not feeling good after about 2 hours, so Rufina wanted us to go home.  I wanted to stay, but felt better that I went home.

No bike riding today, but will ride again on Monday.

This was the Cover Band

8/23/19

It has been 7 years (4/26/2012) since I have posted on the blog, WOW.  I have come along way from when I posted right after my stoke.  Don't laugh at the posts that I made, right after the stroke.  They are kind of funny.

I am now riding on the bike for the first time in a year.  Finished my 2nd week, and did 2 1/2 hours this week.  Rode 5 days, about 30 minutes each day.  The bike is on the trainer, but should be able to ride outside in the next couple of weeks.  Just waiting for it to get cooler outside.

I am trying to keep my heart rate below 130 BPM, but this week it went up to 139 BPM, on Tuesday.  I have try and keep it down.  I will ask the cardiologist about it next time I see him.  Today, I did 5 miles on the trainer, max heart rate was 129, and the average MPH was 12.4.  Below is the bike on the trainer.

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