Good early morning GH. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City," and the current temperature is 31°. We are heading for a high of 37° today, as we continue trying to get spring to spring. Even here in Michigan, we are so over the cold and snow. Our local letter carrier says that all it takes is a short string of days in the 50s and everyone will proclaim winter officially over. These one day, 60 plus events, are just teasing us. In order to enjoy days in the 50 plus range, we'll have to wait for next Wednesday. However, that brief respite will end by a week from tomorrow, when we drop back into the 40s. Here's hoping that the National Weather Service is wrong. They have been known to be.

Saturday, Sugar the Weather Dog took her humans for a nice walk downtown. It was still cold, but the sunshine made it seem better. That's when we chatted up the letter carrier as he walked his appointed rounds. Sunshine is an important component for getting rid of those winter blahs. We also stopped at the Post Office with Sugar, but that's a story best left unspoken. Sugar was fine, but that's to her credit.

Later, Mary made her sauerkraut with Swiss cheeses sandwiches for our brunch meal. When we were downtown, she stopped in at the bread store for a loaf of sourdough bread that makes these sandwiches taste even better. Along with fresh Swiss cheese, they were one of her best efforts. I confess that there is little that corned beef could add to make these sandwiches any better.

Later in the day, we did get to the Post to see Sally. She was busy, so collectively we didn't get to chat much. However, Mary spent some time with Sally during Sally's break while I chatted up a couple of guys at the other end of the bar. The Tiger's game was on the TV and it made for a good afternoon. I should note that the Tigers nearly pulled a Cubs game out of their hats. They almost blew a great pitching effort by the Tiger's starting pitcher in the bottom of the ninth. Bloopers, bad throws, and outfield gaffes almost combined to undo that great pitching. As long as I'm speaking of sports, the boys in blue were blanked by the Phillies 0 - 2. My beloved Red Sox fell to 2 - 3 after losing to the Brewers 6 - 7 in 11 innings.

Seems as though last year's World Series champs are off to an auspicious start this year, while the Tigers are playing mostly well, with the exception of yesterday's game. The boys in blue are up to their usual low standards. Looks like that "Wait til next year" refrain is more and more prophetic each day. The Bulls did end their season long streak against the Wizards with a solid win as they move towards the playoffs. For those who are still following the NCAA March Madness, the championship game is now set to be between Kentucky and Connecticut on Monday night. So much for those bracket predictions.

Today I hope to get some additional housework done. Plus a few general chores. I don't think that I mentioned that the puzzle people were true to their word. Our replacement puzzle arrived on Thursday. Now with a little help from Mary, I am going to try to find that missing piece for the original. That means sorting through 1,000 pieces to find the right one, we hope. However, given the admonition from the puzzle maker that no two puzzles are alike, that may be one of those tasks they call fool's errands.

So, with those thoughts in mind, I'll close by saying that sunrise will be at 7:16 a.m., and sunset will occur about 13 hours later at 8:14 p.m. Ciao.