Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I hadn't planned to be up now, but since I am, I'll endeavor once again to follow the KISS principle. As you may recall from a past life, the KISS acronym stands for "Keep it simple, stupid." The principle purportedly originated with the U.S. Navy in 1960 when they decided that a system works best when a design is kept simple rather than more complicated. So, KISS it is.

At any rate, the current temperature is 30° but it feels like 17° due to the windy conditions that blew the snow shovel on the front porch over for the umpteenth time. The falling shovel scared STWD once again and impelled me to go downstairs and confirm what I knew to be true. The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory until 10:00 a.m. this morning with a forecast for lake-effect snow hitting our fair city. However, a furtive look out the WW tells me that that forecast is wrong in our little corner of the Tri-Cities area in spite of the weather radar which shows that snow band, it is not falling here, just the snow shovel. Go figure.

Saturday the windy conditions will continue to prevail as the temperature rises to a high of 39° with only a slight chance of precipitation, That's good for the 2nd annual Grand Haven New Year's Eve Ball Drop. Since GR has inexplicably canceled their ball drop this year, we should see an uptick in attendance. Mary and I will make a game-time decision whether to attend or to simply watch the accompanying fireworks from her office window.

Speaking of Mary, she and her brother Ed, had a nice conversation late yesterday. Ed is wintering in TX to be near some of his grandchildren and his daughter. While not the warmest place, TX is generally warmer than here at this time of year. Whenever I am outdoors with GTWD, I think warm thoughts.

I did get to do some trainspotting yesterday. At 10:37 a.m., the southbound run of locomotives 2019 and 2057 passed by. In tow were 10 CHCs, six DWTCs, and seven DBTCs, all empty. I did not witness the northbound passage of the train on the RSTL, as I was at the veterinarian's office with STWD for her annual checkup and vaccinations. Mary had headed home with GTWD by the time the train rolled through @ about 1:50 p.m., but further details were unavailable as she only heard its passage.

In a perfect segue, Adam is making progress on his own rail layout. He sent some pictures of the bridge that he hand crafted to complete his model of the Chicago "L" near their home. Stephany is like Mary in that she indulges his hobbies that include a portion of their home.

At any rate, Adam continues to demonstrate his prowess as a train/trestle builder, as he did a great rendition of the Wells St. bridge over the river that is used by the "L" to traverse the Chicago River. Here is a link to a picture of that bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Street_Bridge_(Chicago)#/media/File:Wells_Street_Bridge.jpg

I thought his bridge was store bought but he said no, it shows what a man can do with a jigsaw and some simple tools. He can both envision his ideas and then carry them through to fruition. To borrow from the British, "Well done you!"

Today I have a few things to do around the PE and then I can settle in until our appointment at the chiropractor later this afternoon. Mary has vowed to get to her indexing in earnest today, so I'll have to highlight more to stay ahead of her. I am trying to avoid extended stays in my office chair to save my baking yak. The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:16 a.m. and set @ 5:19 p.m., so we are gaining daylight hours every day. So much for the KISS principle. Ciao.