Good early afternoon GH. It is just past 12:30 PM on Saturday, and our current temperature in "The City" is 18° as we approach today's high of 19°. Partly cloudy skies are the expectation for today and the temperatures will remain in the teens for the next few days. Tuesday looks like the next chance for significant precipitation, and since the temperatures will remain below the freezing point, that means snow. However, Thursday's precipitation will fall as rain with a predicted high of 42°.

I am feeling better, though not 100% yet. What did Mary say? "Three days coming, three days with you, and three days going." That corresponds with the seven to ten days that doctors tell you a cold lasts. My shoulder is mostly feeling better too. I did skip my P/T appointment yesterday, as the more I thought about it, I didn't want to go out into the cold nor did I want to contaminate the P/T facility. I'll have to do my stretches on my own until next Wednesday. I didn't really feel like doing them recently anyway. I just have to be patient and time will help to heal me.

Today, I am doing some laundry after cleaning the upstairs bathroom, which I've already done. That alone tells you that I am feeling better. I also want to read more in my latest book, John Grisham's Sycamore Row. Compared to the non-fiction tomes that I also read, this is a breeze.

Sugar the Weather Dog continues to shed. In the last few days, I feel as though I have brushed off a complete other dog. She tolerates the brushing as long as you give her some "Good Girls" and a biscuit at the end of the process. I might like having my hair brushed, that is if I had any. Sigh. Currently, Sugar is awaiting the arrival of her walker. Once the sidewalks clear here in GH, I can take that duty on again. Like cleaning, I just have to be patient. However, it would be nice if the sidewalks clear before May.

Last night, I watched the southbound train go by around 10:00 PM. Then around 4:00 AM, another train went by. This one seemed to be also southbound, but I could be wrong, as I only  heard it. Watching the earlier train go by with the rocking of the covered hopper cars, it is a good thing that the trains don't go very fast. I read that the most recent derailment in Pennsylvania didn't spill any crude oil on the ground, but that there was a leak from some of the tank cars.

By the by, a tank car holds 30,000 gallons of oil. It is anticipated that in 2014, 400,000 tank cars of oil will be shipped on American railroads. If you do the math, that's 12000,000,000 million gallons of oil! What's the answer? Safer railroad tracks, reduced speeds, better tank car design? All of the above? Or, we could just use less oil and also make the people who are shipping the oil pay for the "real" costs of those shipments, which include the necessary improvements. Several of the options fall into the category of "Infrastructure improvements," and would create American jobs. Once again, I am on my soapbox.

Today I got up after the sun rose at 7:41 AM. That was followed by...Tea time, one-half of a large navel orange, and the pick me up afforded by my laced tomato juice. A little hot sauce and a little horseradish added to the tomato juice, and I'm set to go. This particular jar of horseradish is/was particularly hot, so I added some additional vinegar to the mix to cool it down. I learned that trick watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel.

Sunset will be at 6:15 this evening. Ciao.