Good late night GH. It is just past 10:30 PM in "The City" and the current temperature is 38 degrees as we head down to our expected high of 37. According to the sophisticated instruments here in the Weather Center, the chance of showers increases to 40% and 50% respectively on Tuesday and Wednesday. That's just in time for my surgery on Wednesday.

Sugar the Weather Dog has been weird tonight. Like most dogs, she is very empathetic, so I think she suspects that something is up. In the long run, the surgery will make me better, so she will just have to work with me.

Today, I made the mistake of watching the end of the Bears game. As often is the case, they managed to snatch defeat from the the jaws of victory, as they lost to the Vikings. The score is not important, just the end result. You could feel it coming when they let the Vikings come back from ten points down in the closing minutes of the game. You had to know that when the announcers were discussing the division tie breaker scenario with the Lions, that disaster was on the horizon. Oh well, there is always next year. : - )

For dinner, we ate the leftovers from Thanksgiving that Stephany sent home with us. Mary made her usual fine gravy from vegetable broth and it complemented Steph's "Stuffin Muffins," greens, smoked turkey, and of course my personal side dish favorite, jellied cranberry sauce. It truly doesn't get better than that. However, in the process, Mary scratched her favorite saute pan, so a replacement is in order. I have sent her a few suggestions. However, she may want to buy one that she can check out in person.

Today, Mary plans to go to the grocery store for some additional needs for her pantry. After that, she wants to go to the big box store for some additional distilled water for our humidifier. There are a few other things that she needs to get, so her travels may be dictated more by her needs than her desires. We did get some things at the local health food store that she wanted, so those things are no longer necessary purchases. She used her time efficiently this afternoon, making more vegetable broth and doing some batch cooking of beans and rice. When she does that, it is because it makes life easier in the future. I just enjoy the results.

Not much else on tap for the day. Mary has some work to do. I have some reading to do and that's about it for me. We picked up some new books at the library today while we were out to go to the health food store. I just had to get a book by a new author who is writing in place of the recently deceased Robert Parker. I hope he doesn't disappoint. I also got a book that I had asked for several months ago. We'll see how that turns out right after I finish my current book. I know that I'll have plenty of reading time for a few weeks.

I also got my new monitor to work. The problem is that my laptop has a connection for an external monitor, but there is no facility for a solid attachment using the usual screws. So, you have to position the cord just right. I hope that they saved a lot of money by using this connector. Mary suggested that I use duct tape to keep it in place. I like her thinking.  That's all for now. Ciao.