Good morning GH.  It has just crossed the 8:00 AM hour here in our fair city, and the snow has not yet arrived.  Wait, an update on the facts.  It has begun to snow.  On the other hand, the refuse people have arrived, and part of the trash I put out did not get picked up.  Hopefully they will be returning for it later, but somehow I feel as though I will have to place a call.  I hate when that happens.  Speaking of placing a call, I have to try again to contact the car dealer.  Seems like no one is desirous of taking my money.  It also doesn't bode well for finding a local place to service the car, nor finding a place to buy another car.  I won't deal with a place that is that slipshod, but do I have a choice?  Speaking further of placing calls, I have to call the place that sent me the wrong parts for my snowblower.  I got parts which I can use, but not the parts that I really need.  Is there no one out there who can get things right?

Our current forecast calls for 1 - 3 inches of new snow by tomorrow.  Update on that forecast.  Now there is an alert predicting 6 - 12 inches by noon tomorrow. Once again, time will tell. Our current temperature is 30 degrees according to all of the sources available to me here in the Weather Center, where the temperature is a very comfortable 68 degrees.  Sugar the Weather Dog is sleeping soundly next to the bed.  Mary is sleeping soundly in the bed.  The two most important girls in my life are doing a great impression of Sleeping Beauty.

I heard on the radio yesterday and again today, that the level of two of the great lakes, one of them our own "Big Lake," are at historically low levels.  In spite of the precipitation that we have been receiving, the levels are obviously low.  In addition, the Grand River is clogged by ice at the drawbridge.  The water is backing up and that has reduced the flow through the channel    Of course, that is allowing ice to form in the channel, and although that might be good for some, it is predicted that flooding might occur upstream. The people who are climate change deniers are in for a rude awakening.  That of course assumes that they can be awoken.

Isn't it amazing that for some people it doesn't matter what evidence you offer, they can still shape the facts to suit themselves.  Like someone once said, "It doesn't matter what the facts are, what matters is what people believe the facts are."  Mary likes to say that, "People are entitled to their own opinion, just not their own facts."  I am not so sure anymore.  I think that her other quote,"We're Doomed!" is more on target.  No wonder people keep voting for fools.  Those people want to have the facts meet their own point of view, not let their view be shaped by those facts. So, what you get is a small subset of people controlling the lives of a large percentage of the citizens, mostly for the sake of their personal profit.  Somehow, I doubt that we are going to avoid Mary's scenario.

But, too much gloom and doom.  I have to keep an open mind myself.  Maybe the people at the car dealer got busy. Maybe the trash hauler will be back because it was too much for one stop. Maybe the people at the snowblower parts department sent the wrong parts because I didn't explain my needs clearly enough.  Wouldn't it be nice if all of that were actually true?  Well wouldn't it?

So, until I have to go out with Sugar this morning, I'll maintain a positive outlook.  I'll wait until 9:00 AM to call the snowblower parts people and try to sort that out.  Still, if they haven't shipped the other parts I need under separate cover, I'll have to try again. That may delay the final repairs for another 10 days unless I can convince them that they need to improve their idea of timely. Sheesh. So, before I wax anymore, it is nearly...Tea time.  Ciao.