Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is nearly midnight as we approach the first day of 2015. The current temperature is 25° as we drop to the overnight low of 21°. The winds outside the weather window are blowing at a steady 25 mph with gusts up to 35 or 40 mph. That makes it feel like it is seven degrees outside. Later today, the winds will continue and the temperature is expected to peak at 29°. Sugar the Weather Dog and I will go for our morning walk, but since there isn't a newspaper published on New Year's Day, she and I can go east to avoid the windy conditions we encountered on Wednesday.

After the intrepid weather dog and I got back yesterday morning, I took the Christmas tree down. It's put away in the man cave for another year. I always feel a sense of loss when the tree is down. But, I also get to anticipate its return again next year.

I did get in some time with the girls and I finished my pulp reading. It was a bit over 300 pages that took me a little longer than I expected, more like five hours. But that's okay. Now I can get back to the other book I have been reading. Somewhere in there, I downloaded a couple of books onto Mary's Kindle™. Both were free, my favorite price.

Today, I don't have any specific plans. Mary got her next project sent to her earlier Wednesday. She also finished another project she has been working on. Plus, she has one that she needs to get done before too long, so that's her plan for today. It has been a busy couple of months.

Sugar and I spent some lap time in the La-Z-Boy earlier. She likes to just sit with me sometimes and I don't mind at all. She rests, I read, and the rest is all good. Sometime she stays for a long time, but sometimes only about one-half hour or less. I always leave it up to her discretion, like the direction of our morning walks on most days.

The sun will rise at 8:16 a.m. and set at 5:19 p.m. In between, there is football to watch, cereal and sandwiches to eat, along with a cold walk with Sugar. Yesterday, she and I walked on the sidewalk by the public safety building. The city had spread some salt to melt the snow that fell, but the salt has a negative effect on Sugar's pads. She started to limp, so I had to wipe her front pads off and then walk with her on the other side of the street.

So that looks like enough for today. It is now officially 2015 here in "The City." Ciao.