Good early morning GH. It is time for a down and dirty blog, to borrow from Mary. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."  Our current temperature is 36° as we head for a high of 41°. This may be the way it is, to also borrow from another famous person, Walter Cronkite, but I don't have to like it. We are still on a track that shows next Thursday as being the only day on the positive side of 50°. On either side, we will experience temperatures in the 40s. Good thing that the climate controlled temperature in the Weather Center is still at 70°. West Michigan is under threat of a wind advisory from 3:00 P.M. today until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow. Gusts to 50 mph are possible. While we will have partly cloudy skies, the chance of precipitation is almost nil.

Thursday was a tough one for both Mary and me. Mary was chained to her desk in the early and mid part of the day, while I joined her about 5:00 and then we both worked until after 10:30 p.m.. We did stop for a quick down and dirty dinner, which was good. Even Mary would have to admit, that like the majority of people who have played corner back for several of my favorite football teams, we were toast by the end.

I did get in two walks with our intrepid Weather Dog, but by the time 10:30 p.m. had passed, even she sprang from her couch to come upstairs to see what was the matter. I remembered as we finished why I used to need wind down time after a play at school; you can't just fall into bed right after a mind numbing activity, you have to wind down.

I did get in some time with the girls too, and that made the day go better. I also found time to polish some of our shelves and part of the upstairs bathroom. However, after I succeeded in getting orange oil on the floor in there, I had to get out the steamer to clean the floor. I did get in some reading time too. My newest book is the inaugural effort by a promising writer, Eric C. Leuthardt,  RedDevil 4. Leuthardt also happens to be a practicing neurosurgeon and engineer. I was the one who requested that our local library purchase this book and I am glad that I did.

Mary had to remind me that I am still working for beans. I guess that's the price that I pay for being retired.

Today, Mary and I are off to Holland for the annual checkup on our car. Like most cars nowadays, the maintenance schedule calls for things to be checked or changed every 7,500 miles or one year, whichever comes first. That's a far cry from the old three months, three thousand miles for the old cars. Better for the environment, and for people like us, a lot less taxing. Now if I can get the national car company to stop calling when the car is at six month intervals or one year, we will have it made.

In sports, the boys in blue are now at 1 - 2, having beaten the Pirates 3 - 2 yesterday. They travel to Philadelphia today for an afternoon game. The Tigers were rained out in Detroit, so they remain at 2 - 0. My beloved Red Sox scored a 4 - 3 victory over the Orioles to go 2 - 1 on the young season.

That looks like about enough for today and yesterday. Sunrise today will happen at 7:20 a.m., and sunset at 8:12 p.m. Breakfast will be crisped rice and a cut up apple for me and Sugar the Weather Dog. She will also get some yogurt with her breakfast. That delicate Corgi digestive system you know. Ciao