Good morning GH. It is just past 12:00 a.m. in "The City," and the current temperature is +5° as we head down to our low this morning of -5°. Our high later today will struggle to get to the forecast of 19°, due in large measure to the snow cover here in GH. Plus, the windchill will make it feel like it is below 0° most of the day. Most of the counties around us saw Thursday evening events canceled due to the icy temperatures. Fortunately here in the Weather Office, the temperature is 71°. I need to check to see if the thermostat got inadvertently turned to a higher setting. It feels good, but when I am in bed, I get warm when it is set too high.

I have a P/T appointment later today. I am hoping for good news from the therapist. I have to be sure to ask him about the numbness in my skin near the surgical incision. I think it is a result of that incision, but it never hurts to ask. Once I am done with my appointment, I can go to the store and get some salt to keep the deck clear of ice and snow. Salt doesn't work great with the low temperatures, but every little bit helps. Other than that, not much on tap for today.

I played the girls on Thursday afternoon. I liked my picking and strumming, and if I have to say so myself, my vocals were good too. I find that some days I am better than others.

As part of my usual daily routine, I enjoyed my meals on Thursday. Breakfast/lunch was Swiss cheese and fried onion sandwiches before Mary went to work. Later, when her sandwich had worn off, she came down and I offered up an idea for chili for dinner. She was willing to go with that, and crafted a very tasty down and dirty version. Then she went back to work for a while. Mostly, I didn't do much. I did get to the barber and to our local health food grocery. It felt good to walk even though the temperatures were cold.

I was unable to get the local newspaper while I was out. It is now being printed in Muskegon, and therefore it is often late in arriving here in GH, especially when the traffic is knotted up due to the weather. While we have a local office in town, where they used to print the paper, I suspect that like many newspapers in the U.S., that office may go the way of the dodo to save money. Oh well, nothing lasts forever.

Mary has more work to do today. I hate having that P/T appointment smack dab in the middle of the day. I feel like I get nothing done on either side. It is just too easy to get lazy.

I was wrong about the trains yesterday. At about 4:00 a.m., two locomotives and two cars headed north. That means that I missed the southbound train earlier. However, at about 8:50 p.m. Thursday, I did witness the southbound run of Thursdays train. The usual twin locomotives, followed by several box cars, a lengthy string of covered hopper cars, and a long line of those black tank cars. In the early morning hours today, the train returned north to await a new load. Shorter this time, but the same locomotives.

Sunrise today will be at 7:22 a.m., somewhere before...Tea time and breakfast. I have a small amount of Cheerios left in-the box in the cabinet. Then, I have the final box waiting in the pantry. After that, if I don't see Cheerios for a long time, I am okay with that. I have lost count. I either started with four or five boxes.

We are enjoying oranges instead of orange juice, which is fine with me. Sugar the Weather Dog likes orange pieces too. I always augment my tomato juice with hot sauce and horseradish. I wish I could supply my yearly horseradish needs from our garden, but we just don't have the space. I also enjoy the grape juice we have each morning. Topped off with my Irish breakfast tea and I am ready to face the day.

Mary came upstairs to watch TV. As usual, I had to help her turn it on and adjust the volume. She chose another of her apocalyptic movies, Red Dawn. Now I will have to get up again and turn it down so that I can sleep after she falls asleep in her chair in the Media Room.

A quick sports report. Boys in blue, loss. Tigers win. Beloved Red Sox, 0 - 0 in the Cactus league

Sunset will be at 6:30 p.m. this evening. I think that's enough for now. Ciao.