Good morning GH. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City." We have a current temperature of 31° as we drop to the overnight low of 27°, before we rebound to today's high of 44° under sunny skies. Tomorrow, will be a tad warmer at 49°. Monday promises to be warmer still, at 56° under partly cloudy skies. Those partly cloudy skies will lead to full cloud cover on Tuesday as the temperature falls to 51° with an 80% chance of rain. Mary and I had planned to rake and bag more leaves on the palatial estate tomorrow, but Monday looks even better weather wise. Plus, more leaves will accumulate by then.

Speaking of the weather, Sugar the Weather Dog and I went for our regular constitutional yesterday morning. Mary had some work to finish, so Sugar and I set out on our own. We were fine for about the first block, even with a steady head wind, when a gust strong enough to move the usually sure footed Weather Dog, blew her sideways. With her ears laid back and a determined stride on both our parts, we pressed on to the newspaper box. Once there we reversed our course, and with the wind at our back, we made it home in record time. After that, Sugar and I stayed in, while Mary went out for her influenza inoculation. At that time, the snow was blowing sideways in the strong winds.

When Mary came home, she suggested that we take a jar of potato leek soup to Sally at the Post. I said the if she planned to walk, I wasn't going. One walk in that wind for the day was enough for me. She said no, we could drive, so I agreed. Since it was getting late, we encountered the trick or treating children downtown. Then we needed to get home for the total of two visits by neighborhood children. I guess that the snowy, windy, wet, and cold weather deterred more visitors. More leftover candy for me. I feel like a kid myself with all of this Halloween candy that I can stash, dole out to myself over a period of weeks, and which I know that Mary won't bother, because she doesn't really like candy. Whats not to like?

Today, we are going to brave a trip across the bridge to take advantage of some 20% off coupons from the hardware store in Spring Lake. We'll also stop at the grocery store on that side of bridge to return the cans that Mary has "avoided" taking in two previous trips to the store. If I don't go, she doesn't take the cans. I'll get the newspaper while we are there and then we can head home for more down time. Mary has promised to weave in the ends of my afghan and then I'll be warm all winter in the media room. I'll read the paper, do the crossword, and then continue my next book. I think I like this author too.

The sun will be rising in a bit over three and one-half hours at 8:18 a.m. We have plans to listen to the Saturday morning radio show that we like until 10:00 a.m. before we rise. The sun will be setting at 6:36 p.m. and so will I. Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour before going to bed. Ciao.