Good afternoon or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:00 p.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 47° under leaden skies with rain off and on. By 5:00 p.m., the NWS has forecast that the rains will begin again in earnest and continue off and on until about 3:00 a.m. tomorrow. That's okay because we've already done the daily safaris and the fur-children are all safe and out of harm's way. Both will be demanding their dinner soon, but that only requires that STWD goes out on her tether and GTWD be taken for a short sojourn by either yours truly or Mary.

Today has been slow since the morning safaris. I've been reading and napping. I picked up a bug of some sort early yesterday, so I've mostly been sleeping. I am on the mend and feeling better this afternoon. The sun rose this morning @ 7:53 a.m. and will set this evening @ 5:11 p.m.

The NWS has forecast tomorrow's high to be a balmy 54° under sunny skies. A good day for going walkabout. It has been warm enough that the grass seeds that I sowed about two weeks ago have begun to germinate. They will continue next spring along with the crocus bulbs that I scattered in the lawns of the vast PE to go with the ones we planted last year. They make a nice color splash in the spring after the snows melt.

Speaking of the snow, we had a slight flurry the other day, but nothing stuck and so here we are on November 28, with no snow on the ground. That's fine by me, Mary, and the fur-children because it makes walking much safer. For those of you who live in warmer climes, you don't know what you're missing.

I was awake this morning for the first trainspotting. At 10:28 a.m., as locomotives 2057 and 2019 passed by the manse as they headed south on the RSTL. In tow were two CHCs, three DWTCs, and three DBTCs with two of those at the end.

At 2:41 p.m. I was napping in the La-Z-Boy when I heard the sound of the same locomotives heading north. They were moving @ a relatively high rate of speed towing 27 CHCs, 18 DBTCs, five DWTCs, one GTC, and one BC. All of the cars were loaded, as the earth was shaking beneath the palatial estate.

I have applied the last coat of chalkboard paint to the newly created chalkboard for the mudroom. It used to be a laundry washboard, but when it fell the other day, I learned that the scrubber was made out of non-tempered glass. Fortunately, that happened before the trash pickup and so I consigned the broken glass to the landfill. Now it will be a reminder board and a key holder.

Since our new car doesn't actually use keys in the ignition and we get a discount on the auto insurance for the anti-theft systems, we all too often forget to take the keys out of the drawer where we've been keeping them. With the keys hanging in the mudroom, we should have a better chance @ remembering.

We will soon be off to the big-box everything store for some groceries and other sundries. I get to go along to return the cans for deposit.

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:54 a.m. and set @ 5:11 p.m. Ciao.