Good early morning GH. 4:00 A.M. has come and gone and the indoor temperature is 70 digitally reported degrees, while outdoors the temperature is 50 analog reported degrees. The view out the Weather Window is, get ready for it, dark. By the warm glow of the streetlights, I can tell that no precipitation of any type is falling. Our high today will reach all the way up to 54° and tonight's low will go down to 43°. Thursdays high is expected to be no higher than 47°, with a low of 39°.

It is likely that frost is possible in parts of Michigan on Thursday night. Mary is afraid for the health of her vegetables, especially the peppers and tomatoes, so she may feel the need to cover them. As the master gardener that I am, I have to concur. I've had such good luck in the past with those vegetables, that I think that they need additional assistance in their survival.

I heard the southbound train go by at 12:00 a.m. I was all snug in my bed, so I didn't' see it. I anticipate that the northbound run will be by soon. The round trip schedule usually takes about three to four hours. Hark, I feel the wheels rumbling neath the floor right now. The regular pair of EMD GP 38 locomotives followed by 42 covered hopper cars. Some of those cars were newer and sported the regular CSX livery, while some didn't. Some were older and had the appearance of being well used. One of those covered hopper cars even was old enough to have Seaboard System livery. Mixed in was one lone box car, while a single white tank car separated two of those dreaded black tank cars, that brought up the rear. My thanks to the late Steve Goodman for the paraphrase of the lyrics from his song, The City of New Orleans.

Monday was a drizzly kind of day here in W. Michigan. Sugar the Weather Dog and I got out for our "morning" safari while Mary "chatted" with her far-flung colleagues. Mary tells me that she learned something new about her software during the chat session. She seemed excited, so I guess it's good. I understand part of what she was saying, but like most people in any specialized line of work, the jargon can be overwhelming to non-regulars.

I should mention that her project is on hold as she awaits further directions. My part in this project is still nebulous and promises to be minimal until editing time. Thus we set out to get some stones for the garden, but came back with a sweet-smelling white rose instead. The entire trip was made possible by the aforementioned delay in Mary's project. The rose will take the place of one that died during our recent harsh winter under the pile on the right.

I may go to the movies this afternoon. Popcorn and cherry cola are a strong attraction. Oh yeah, there is a movie that I want to see too. Mary is welcome to come, but she tends to eschew the types of movies that I like. I guess that I am the same with many of her movies, at least the apocalyptic type. I do like the period pieces and some of the romances that she enjoys. She does like the idea that the popcorn will serve as my dinner. I can see me now, a giant bucket of popcorn, a large cherry cola, a good movie, and I"ll be in heaven. Dare I say it? Yes, "What's not to like?"

In sports, the boys in blue overcame their one game momentum and lost to the Cardinals 3 - 4. The Tigers were once again victorious as they defeated the Orioles 4 - 1. My beloved Red Sox weren't so lucky as they fell to the Twins, 6 - 8, to fall back even with the league. The Caps did right their ship and defeated the Great Lakes Loons, 4 - 2. For those of you who are hockey fans, the Blackhawks moved on to the Western Conference Finals with a 2 - 1 defeat of the Minnesota Wild.

Today will be a limited day of activity for me and likely Mary. Planting that rose, possibly that movie and the N.Y. Time, which still awaits further examination. When the weather gets cold here I am like the proverbial bear that hibernates someplace warm.

As is always the case, the sun will rise in the east at this morning at 6:20 a.m. Also as usual, the sun will set in the west tonight, this evening at 8:55 p.m. Ciao.