Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 40° per the NWS, while the DTWS is showing 41° with somewhat foggy conditions and a 20% chance for additional precipitation of the liquid variety. Close enough for government work as they used to say. There are probably as many explanations of that phrase as there are hairs on my head, but the Urban Dictionary's version is as good as any. That definition states "Stopping work on a task without performing the extra steps necessary to complete it to a high standard of quality." I guess that I could say that that definition is close enough for government work. : - )

At any rate, the high for today is forecast to reach 45° with cloudy conditions and that same 20% chance of rain still in the mix. The sun will rise into that cloudy sky @ 7:48 a.m. and set later @ 5:13 p.m. Friday looks similar, while the chance for showers increases to 50%.

I baked the traditional pumpkin pie yesterday. Mary remembers that we did it before, but I have no recollection in my memory. Another sign of my advancing age perhaps. Here is a picture of my efforts on this entirely scratch-made pie. I cleaned and baked the pumpkins. I whipped up the puree for the filling. I made the pie crust. I even cleaned up after myself, with a little help from Mary. Well perhaps more than a little help. She came down from working on the catalog index to put some vegetables into the Crockpot™ for the broth that she'll be using later today. I believe that the veggies are still in the Crockpot™ in an attempt to extract every drop of goodness from them. Plus, the house smells like holidays as a side benefit. Oops, I almost forgot the picture.

Looking good, but the taste is still a mystery. Mary did get some filling on her fingers and says it will be great. STSD agrees.

I mentioned the other day that we took some pictures of the fur-children after GTWD's recent grooming. Mary sent them to me via email, so I'll place a few here. We never knew how great both of the fur-children could look in repose. GTWD has a face.

The only trainspotting yesterday was a lone work truck that was heading north while I was out with STWD. Will there be more on Friday? Stay tuned.

We did visit the chiropractor yesterday afternoon for our weekly tune-up. We'll see him again on Friday, 12/02/2016. That date sounds vaguely familiar. : - )

Today is a good day for me to watch the Lions on TV and then do some reading. I have two crosswords to work from the Grand Haven Tribune one from Tuesday and one from yesterday's paper, which was chock full of ads for the "Black Friday" sales tomorrow. You pay extra for the holiday paper and all you get are ads.

I don't have any chores to do today. I'll take the morning safari with STWD and then settle in for some TV with the Lions. I will have to wait until Saturday @ 12:00 p.m. for the matchup of the #3 Michigan Wolverines and the #2 Buckeyes of "The Ohio State University." I will have to assist in the kitchen. However, Mary has done some of her prep work already and she generally wants me out of the way when she is working in "Her Domain." That's OK with me, my work is done. Ciao.