Good early morning GH. It is just past 1:00 AM in "The City," and our current temperature is 32° under cloudy skies. We had a relatively calm day on Monday as the ice and snow continued to melt. Sugar the Weather Dog went for her morning walk and then she proceeded to the couch for some rest. Today, we anticipate a high temperature of 33° with a 90% chance of 2 - 4 inches of snow. As I sit here now, the snow has not begun to fall. According to the Weather Channel™ app. the snow will begin about 9:00 AM today and continue off and on, at times getting heavy, through Wednesday morning.

Monday, the washer repairman came exactly at 12:00 PM. He got down on his knees, removed some screws, tested some electrical connections and explained patiently what he found. The room where the washer is located got too cold during our recent cold snap, and so the drain was frozen, since it is near the floor. Now that the temperatures have risen and the drain has thawed, the machine works fine. He did say that we were lucky that the pump housing didn't crack. His recommendation? Get a space heater to keep the room warm in the really cold weather. All that for $58.50 and a 30 day guarantee on the service call.

After he left, Mary reheated a burrito and that made for a great lunch. Mary moved the box of pictures off of the card table where we do our puzzles. I sorted the pieces of our new 1,000 piece puzzle, and found some edge pieces. Then, Mary suggested that I should sort the pieces one by one from one box half to another and I found a few more. Later in the evening, Mary found additional edge pieces and our efforts are bringing the edge into focus. We start at the edge, but I know some people don't. Personal preference I guess. Mary shape sorts, I work by using the words printed on the puzzle to help me focus. I think others use colors as a cue. I can't, because the colors look too muck alike to me.

First train this morning just passed through. Twin locomotives, followed by one lone box car. Then, a long string of covered hopper cars, emblazoned with the slogan, "How Tomorrow Moves." Next, came several black tank cars surrounding a single gray tank car of unknown contents. Finally, a few white tank cars, a couple more black ones, and then a lonely covered hopper car bringing up the rear. All of the locomotives and cars were heading south.

Like yesterday, Mary will be working in her office today while I am downstairs. I'll finish the laundry and then do a bit more on the puzzle. I have to be careful, because I can get absorbed in the effort and exclude other pursuits, like reading.

Monday, we got the new ramp to help Sugar get into both the car and her traveling crate. That came in the same box as the seat support to make my chair easier to exit. We have to try the ramp out with Sugar to see how it works. I've already tried the chair support and it is fine. Our new base cover for our Christmas tree also came.

As an aside, when I awoke this morning, I caught the last one-half hour of Guys and Dolls on cable. I always like this film, because it brings back fond memories of the drama productions at my old school. I am fairly certain that Ellen would get the same feelings.

So that looks like about it for yesterday and today. Sunrise is at 8:14 AM and sunset at 5:35 PM. Tea time will begin the day, as always. Ciao.