Good early morning GH. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City," and the current temperature is 23° with a high of 27° in the forecast. Over the next few days, there is a 30% chance of scattered snow showers in the offing. Not much to worry about. We'll ave to wait until March 4, to get a high that is out of the twenties. That's far in the distance, and way short of the record high of 65°. That Punxsutawney Phil earned his stripes this year. As is often the case, I am up awaiting the effects of the OTC pain pill on my aching shoulder.

Saturday found Mary and I feeling a bit of cabin fever, so in the early afternoon we journeyed north to a new to us, kitchen store. Lots of nice things there and just down the street from the northern version of our local health and grocery food store. That store has some things that our local place doesn't, like the veggie hot dogs and chorizo sausages that we like. In addition, they also have a "meatloaf" by the same company. We haven't tried it yet, but if the other items are any indicator, it should be good. The kitchen store is much closer than the place in Holland, so it could become our new go to place.

Now if we can just find a conservatory like the ones in Lincoln Park or Garfield Park in Chicago, we will be all set to go. We'll have to check into Meijer Gardens in GR, although much of their activities and exhibits are outdoors like the Chicago Botanical Gardens or the Morton Arboretum  in the Chicago area.

Once we made out visit to the north country, we returned to GH and the Post. Sally was there and so were a lot of other people playing Euchre and enjoying the inexpensive libations to be found on a Saturday. I found some fellow Red Sox fans and that is always a treat.

Once home, it was time for Mary to reheat the bean burrito that came from our favorite watering hole as part of their twofer offering during "Restaurant Week." Bean burritos, especially those from our favorite watering hole, reheat well in a microwave oven. However for me, anything that I can put jalapeno peppers on is great. Mary eschews the jalapenos and goes strictly for the salsa. I should mention that she experimented with homemade vegetarian mayonnaise in the morning, but as she thought about it, it may not save any money when you make enough to match the commercially available stuff that she normally buys.

Speaking of her mayonnaise, last night she converted it into a dip for my afternoon activities, watching the only must see NASCAR race of the season, the Daytona 500. With any luck, the rain may hold off. Like Adam, I prefer open wheel racing to stock cars. I knew a man, many years ago, who called stock car racing Taxi Cab racing. Most Grand Prix races just go to "Rain Tires" in the wet weather and keep racing. Very few racers make the transition from open to closed wheel successfully, unless they are racing on a road course like those at Elkhart Lake in WI or Watkins Glen in New York. Maybe it is the weight of the cars or maybe the lack of "Rain Tires" for the big cars.

I sent ticket and venue information in re: the Tigers and Red Sox to Mary, so that we can get that process rolling. We plan to make a mini vacation out of the trip. Sugar the Weather Dog won't mind, because she will get to go to Doggy Camp while we are gone. The snow may even be gone by then too.

Sunrise is at 7:33 a.m today, just before...Tea time. Sunset will be at 6:21.

Not much else to report nor say. Ciao.