Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City."

Well, that didn't last long. My intent was to blog every other day, but here I am @ past 2:30 a.m. on the day following my last blog. Ahh, the best-laid plans and all that.

Yesterday was an interesting day. We took the morning safaris, solo, as previously described. STWD and yours truly strolled east towards the Book Man and Mary headed west towards the library to drop off some books and give Ginger a chance to take care of business. I did pass in front of a work truck on the tracks of the RSTL as the intrepid one and I headed home. Neither Mary nor I traveled far, as we had plans to do more walking later in the day. More on that in a bit.

I returned from my leg of the safari to finally harvest the kale crop. Is it the last harvest? That depends on the possibility of snow. If that snow holds off, then one more crop is possible, as kale is a cold weather crop. I followed the harvest with some washing and stem removal of the kale which I then stored in the refrigerator in order to make my world famous squash & kale soup later today.

Somewhere in there, well actually @ 10:12 a.m., I watched the southbound run of locomotives 2057 & 2019 as they headed down the RSTL tracks towing six CHCs, two DBTCs, and two DWTCs that were bringing up the rear. I only had to wait until 11:58 a.m. to witness the northbound passage of those same locomotives as they towed fully laden cars consisting of eight CHCs, five DWTCs, filled with hydrochloric acid, one GTC, and three DBTCs that were bringing up the rear.

It was soon time for the aforementioned afternoon walk. STWD was allowed to stay home while Mary and I headed out with Ginger. That little dog has more energy to burn than should be allowed by law. We had decided earlier in the day to walk to and through Duncan Woods. Along the way, I observed one of the rites of fall, the placement of lawn and leaf bags @ the curb for future pick-up. The picture below is representative of the many bags along the route to Duncan Woods.

We reached Duncan Woods, which was full of pure ecstasy for Ginger, with smells and leaves in abundance. 

Duncan Woods, or as some call it, Duncan Park, was bequeathed to the City of Grand Haven in 1913 to allow future generations to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It is located just north of  the hospital.

Even as the gifted photographer that I'm not, I still was able to take some terrific pictures of the woods in all their fall glory. 

Once past the only parking lot in the woods, the quiet and serenity are amazing, as is the foliage.

Though hard to see, this tree has the names and sentiments of many of the visitors over the years  carved into its bark.

As I said, Ginger loved exploring in the leaves.

Not a bad selfie of both Mary and me sitting with Ginger the Wonder Dog (GTWD) sitting on a bench along the path.

You'll have to take my word for it, but there was a deer in the woods that had been flushed out by some other dogs.

Unbeknownst to us, the trail does have an exit into GH's Lake Forest Cemetary. 

We made it out of the woods and walked back to town following a different route. As long as you contiue to head north, you ultimately get to where you are going, in our case, home.

It was about 4:00 p.m. when we arrived, so although it was early, we decided it was time to feed the fur-children and then walk to JWs for adult libations and something to put ketchup on. Both Mary and myself logged over five miles of walking during the day. It is amazing how long you have to walk to get to 10,000 plus steps. 2,000 steps are equal to approximately one mile on our pedometers. 

When combined with the earlier safaris and our regular activities of daily living, we got our recommended daily dose of exercise. 

Mary made a tasty late breakfast/early lunch of salad and vegan ham sandwiches on toasted rye bread. Since we had some French fries with ketchup @ JWs, dinner for me became snacks in the media room. I didn't share with Ginger, but as for STWD, I'm not saying. 

Earlier in the day, I sat down and played with the girls for nearly one-hour. I sounded good, at least to me.

Today, I am going to make that aforementioned squash and kale soup and do more reading. Mary has to sit down and work on one of the now accumulating indexing jobs that have recently come in. I am mostly done with the outdoor chores and activities in the lawns and gardens of the vast PE, so some indoor chores activities will be a nice change of pace.

We have a current temperature of 42° under partly cloudy skies. However, the moon is visible. Neither Mary nor I see anything special about the once every 70-year appearance. Later today, the high temperature is forecast to reach 55° under partly cloudy skies. As the week unfolds, temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-60° range before dropping into the 40s by Saturday, just in time for my Irish Jam session @ the library. 

The sun will rise @ 7:37 a.m. and set @ 5:20 p.m. Ciao.