Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships @ sea. Breaking news, it snowed in "The City."

Well actually, it snowed throughout West Michigan and all over the Midwest too. In addition, the temperatures warmed just enough late last night to allow sleet to fall and make everything slippery, or is that slipperier?  At any rate, the current temperature here is either 29° or 31°, depending on the source. I'll go with my DTWS as it gets its input from the FPMS. Here in the Weather Center of the PE, the current temperature is a cool but comfortable 69°.

I moved a lot os snow over the last two days. With help from our neighbor, the driveway was cleared until the city plows came by and pushed the snow back into the driveway entrance. Since we share the driveway with that neighbor and since his significant other had to go to work this morning, he had to go out very early this morning and clear that area once again along with the entire length of the driveway. All I had to do was clear the area in front of our garage and the sidewalk in front of the manse.

Which leads me to the first of my many pictures. When I was out front clearing the sidewalks, I did a perfect gainer into the nearby snow pile. I just had to lay there and laugh for a minute or so before I arose and looked to see if anybody had seen my effort. I like to believe that the Russian judges would have given me good points for style, but I didn's stick the landing so I would have averaged a 7.2/10.

My landing spot.

The end of the driveway as cleared by our neighbor.

The city comes by with a small tractor mounted plow to clear the sidewalks, but they are unable to clear the ice.

Somewhere under this pile are the outer doors of the man-cave.

Freshly cleared for any future travel plans.

In the foreground is the cleared area for our small fur-child, GTWD, as well as her big sister, STWD.

Once I came in from snow removal, I started a loaf of English muffin bread. Here it is as it was rising.

About 35 minutes later, it was out of the pan and looking good.

We'll be having the bread for breakfast tomorrow. I am getting into this baking thing, so Mary has me reading a book about baking no-knead bread, entitled Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads, by Nancy Baggett. My next foray into bread making will likely come from that book. I already make killer banana nut bread and I have baked beer bread and various fruit pies, so I am no stranger to an oven. I have a lot to learn, but I am making progress.

Mostly today, I sat around and read the Grand Haven Tribune and did the Monday crossword, which is very easy. Like nearly all newspaper crossword puzzles, they get more difficult as the week progresses.

I did get out with STWD to walk to the Bookman for that newspaper and that was a challenge. The sidewalks were so slippery, that I came home via the streets with the intrepid one. The challenge for Sugar was finding a place where the snow was not too high so that she could do her business. That's why I cleared more snow to allow for more room in the yard and beside the deck so that she can go out on her tether and do her business close to home so to speak.

While Sugar and I were out, we saw tire impressions from a railroad work truck. I am guessing that the workers were checking the rails on the RSTL for any obstructions. That would explain why the first trainspotting didn't happen until 1:32 p.m. as locomotives 2019 and 2057 headed south at the head of three CHCs, four DWTCs, and four DBTCs.

At nearly 5:15 p.m. those same locomotives signaled their passage as the headed north. In tow were 17 CHCs, five DWTCs, and eight DBTCs. The snow had slowed automobile traffic in West Michigan and closed the schools, so it was no surprise that the trains were delayed. All of the cars were snow covered.

Today, I'll be in charge of walking the fur-children as Mary continues the indexing. I am relatively certain that the fur-children will make it no farther than the cleared space in the back yard. The sidewalks are just too slippery for me and my old bones. I have to put on my editor's hat tomorrow too, so that will largely fill my day.

There is still a 40% chance of additional snow in the forecast from the NWS, but right now the view out the WW is only cloudy with no snow falling. The sun will rise tomorrow morning @ 8:06 a.m. and set @ 5:09 p.m. In between, Mary will be finishing the index and I'll be editing. Ciao.