Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, it is just past 7:30 a.m. in "The City."

Let me depart from the usual weather format for my blog by admitting that I have very little to be concerned about when it comes to the weather, especially when you compare our weather to that of the Southeastern U.S. and their recent experience with Hurricane Michael.

We have a current temperature of 52° which is both the high and low temperature for today. There is only a 20% chance for additional precipitation for the nest several days. What is different about today, according to the NWS, is that there is a Gale Warning in effect until 4:00 p.m. today from Holland to Grand Haven.

A Gale Warning is issued by the NWS anytime that wind gusts along the shores or on the waters of the "Big Lake", Lake Michigan, or any body of water, will be between 34 - 37 knots. A knot is the nautical way of defining speed. If you want the mathematical conversion, one knot is 1.152 mph. So, gale force winds of 35 knots would convert to approx. 40 mph! Today, we are expecting steady wind speeds of 22 mph or 34 knots, with gusts reaching 35 knots!

However, when you compare those wind speeds to the wind speeds for Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 hurricane, 22 mph along the shores of the "Big Lake" is a light breeze. A category 4 hurricane is defined using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale when sustained wind speeds are between 130 and 156 mph!

In Florida and Georgia, hundreds of thousands are without electrical power due to downed power lines caused by falling trees and also the high winds that felled them. Boats were washed ashore, trains were knocked off the tracks, roofs were ripped off and people's homes were badly damaged or destroyed. Electrical power could be off for weeks due to the extensive damage to the infrastructure.
We can all be thankful that so far, there have been few lives lost in spite of the damage.

We had a lot of rain yesterday that made getting the fur-children out a real challenge. STWD and I took our morning safari to The Bookman just before 11:00 a.m. and just before the skies opened up. Mary and Ginger walked downtown to the bank after 11:00 a.m. and they were out in heavy rain that soaked Ginger and made her hair curly, while STWD and I were safe and sound here at the manse.

Otherwise, not much was happening yesterday. I got the new shelf for the spice cabinet sealed and ready for installation and I started a new novel. Mary did some cooking and made a terrific lunch of spaghetti that incorporated the last of my vegan sausages in her sauce. I liked the sauce, as she didn't overuse the red-pepper flakes in her efforts. I use red-pepper flakes in my sausages, so the addition of additional flakes can make the sauce too spicy, even for me.

Today, I hope to make make more sausages and a variation on Mary's favorite, vegan meatballs, both using new recipes. I'm hoping that the results are good.

The sun will rise shortly @ 7:53 a.m. and set later @ 7:08 p.m. Ciao.