Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 8:00 a.m. in "The City."

My DTWS shows a current temperature of 41° with partly cloudy skies as I look out the WW (Weather Window).  Later today, we are expecting a high temperature of only 39°, so that it appears that we are there. Yesterday, we traveled to Coopersville with temperatures ranging from 51° to 53°! What's not to like about a January 26 day in Michigan with high temperatures like that?

The sun rose today @ 8:05 a.m. and it will be setting later this evening @ 5:51 p.m. This is the weekend for the GH Winterfest and so that high temperature and the lack of snow cover will make the annual Cardboard Sled Race @ Mulligan's Hollow very interesting. Fortunately, they have snow-making machinery there.

Ginger and I did some trainspotting yesterday and between 9:28 a.m. and 9:31 a.m., we saw a very slow moving train heading south on the RSTL. MMRR EMD GP 38-2 locomotive #2019 was moving very slowly as it towed 14 DBTCs, nine CHCs and three DWTCs, Later in the afternoon, @ 2:32 p.m., we spotted that same locomotive heading north, towing four CHCs, 13 DBTCs and nothing else.

Yesterday, I spent some time in the kitchen making another batch of my soon to be famous vegan meatballs. I sometimes wonder if the term meat should only be applied to animal flesh, or if it is just as appropriate to apply that term to plant-based products. There is a similar question regarding plant-based products that are non-dairy based but still considered milk. I guess I'll have to ruminate on that for a while. At any rate, the vegan balls turned out great and some became part of our dinner.

Today, I plan to once again get into the kitchen and whip up a vegan hammish. I like it and it makes excellent sandwiches. In fact, one of the things we got in Coopersville yesterday was a loaf of rye bread that is perfect for those sandwiches. We also got a huge can of sauerkraut that we can use for sandwiches too. All in all, a very fruitful trip to Coopersville.

I didn't last long after dinner last night and came up here to the upper level of the manse to watch some TV. After a few failed attempts to stay awake, I was off to bed where I stayed until just a short time ago. I am liking just lying in bed versus having to get up and sleep in the La-Z-Boy.

Worthy of note, is that single-game tickets went on sale today for the Detroit Tigers. I won't be buying any, but it is a sure sign that spring is almost here. However, there is nothing new to share with regard to reporting dates for pitchers and catchers.

We will be going out with the fur-children after we watch Mary's favorite sport, TV news, until noon. Then we'll be off to the grocery store and that should be it other than reading.

I made an executive decision yesterday that we will be getting a service to handle our spring cleanup this year. Why not? I'm too old to waste energy on something that I can get done by a younger person. That's the same logic that I am applying to snow removal in future winters. Ciao.