Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 12:30 a.m. in "The City." According to the digital weather station in the Weather Office, the current temperature on the front porch is 43°. In addition, the sky is partly cloudy and the relative humidity is 88%. That seems high, but as of now, I'll go with that. Indoors, the temperature in the Weather Office is 68° and the relative humidity is 53%. Like I remarked yesterday, the digital weather station needs a few weeks to learn about the barometric pressure trend to give more accurate readings. Stay tuned.

I got almost all of my indoor chores done yesterday. I only have to do the floors. That should be easy enough. It is also time to set up our Christmas tree. That can take a few hours, but I enjoy the activity as it reminds me of Christmases long, long ago, when I was younger and when Adam was younger. We add new ornaments each year, following the example of Steph and Adam when they gather ornaments that memorialize places they have visited. In our case, the new ornaments are more of the activity type than the places type.

Our outdoor decorations consist of a green bulb in our porch light, but that is just fine with me.

I did some trainspotting yesterday. At 9:42 a.m., the southbound run rumbled through. EMD GP 38 locomotives 2019 and 2057 were pulling one BC, 14 CHCs, six DBTCs, one GTC, and six total DWTCs, one with a big primer colored strip around it's mid-section. I have no idea what that stripe means. In any event, the cars were heavily laden, judging by the way the ground shook as they passed.

At 1:03 p.m., the same locomotive tandem reversed order and headed north. The mix of cars was much smaller, with one CHC, one BC, three DBTCs, and one GTC.

I did get in some time with the girls yesterday. Not much, but that's okay, because any time is good time. I also added some additional pieces to my jigsaw puzzle. In addition, Mary and I read the newspaper and I finished two crossword puzzles. Plus, I also finished my latest novel from the library. That means that when we take the morning safari with STWD, I can return it so that the next person in the queue can pick it up.

We walked to Washington Square with the intrepid weather dog about lunch time yesterday, so that we could get some furniture polish at Frank's Market. We made a short stop at the accountants to drop off a payment for his professional services. Mary made lunch of vegan Gouda Cheese atop veggie patties before we left. I liked them. Dinner was my all time favorite pasta, small shells, to which Mary added a version of her down and dirty pasta sauce with more of those patties chopped up in the sauce.

Today, I don't have any specific plans, just the aforementioned floors, a start on setting up the Christmas tree, and some time with the newspaper and the girls after the morning safari. I do have an appointment at the doctor later in the afternoon for an annual routine checkup that men of a certain age must get. The sun will rise today at 8:05 a.m.,and set at 5:09 p.m. Ciao.