Yesterday I painted a house pretty much all day.  I took a short hiatus to attend a memorial bike ride for Glenda, but then went back and painted until dark.

I have to today to paint a house I owe in Central Topeka.  I got a code services notice about it needing to be painted and today is the court date at 1:30.  I’m pretty much done.

I had already scraped, sanded and cleaned it, so all that was left to do was paint.  I had a bunch of Home Depot gift cards, so just bought the paint there.  I don’t know shit about paint and when the guy told me there was a paint and primer, all-in-one, I just went with it.   It seemed to work okay, but now I’m second guessing my decision.

I’ve painted a few places and the key is preparation and the 2nd is a good primer.  I feel like I was skipping a step, but this place is in a bad area of town and I was in a rush.

I used a commercial paint sprayer and back brushed afterward.  It seemed to cover pretty good and looks alright.  I’m just worried about longevity.

There’s nothing like climbing up and down a ladder all day after racing the day before.  Ultimately, it will probably be good for my legs, but this morning I’m a little hurt.

Okay, this is short, because I have a couple more hours of work to do before I go “before the judge”.  This whole thing stinks.  I’m not much into the government telling me when to do something to a property I owe.  And in this area, a little paint isn’t going to solve a thing.

After scrapping and sanding.

Last night.

Riding from the art museum at Washburn to the Art’s District in Topeka.

Group shot at the University.

I know I am probably repeating myself, but I truly don’t understand allergies.  I really don’t get how a human’s body somehow miss identifies pollen and such, as something harmful and then goes into a process that ultimately makes itself work worse and feel badly.

I can pretty much state for sure that I have a problem with most tree pollens.  Up in Northern Wisconsin, there is green pollen everywhere, covering the hoods of automobiles, on the sidewalks, etc.  I think it is pine pollen, but I’m not positive about that.  Whatever it is, I’m allergic to it.

I started feeling the effects of allergies last Sunday in Stillwater.  My nose was dripping down the back of my throat making it hard to breathe during the race.  I still felt pretty okay racing, just getting air was difficult.

The last few days up in Cable, it has only gotten worse.  Same drippy throat, but I’m started to feel rundown and the other symptoms I can usually associate with allergies.  I hate it.  It seems like as I move the country, from Texas, to Kansas, now up to Wisconsin, I just follow the tree pollen as I go.  It’s probably not the best thing for an athlete that has allergies.

When I was out in Colorado, I didn’t feel the effects of allergies.  I never check to see if the pollen count is high until I start feeling bad.

I checked a couple days ago and it was extreme. Today, after it rained last night, it says moderate.  Seems like I should feel better when it is moderate.  It never seems to work out that way.   Hopefully it gets better before racing up in Lutsen on Saturday.   Seems like racing a 100 mile MTB race, would be a good place to feel okay.  But also a place to run into a ton of pollen.