Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. across the nation nd across the world. It is just past 12:30 a.m. in "The City."

The number of school closings for today and possibly Friday, is too long to list. Suffice it to say that the Winter Storm Warning and the snow that may accumulate another three inches continues until 7:00 p.m. tonight! According to the NWS, the current temperatures are the coldest ever recorded in all 50 states! In addition, the wind chills are still dangerously low and the driving conditions are hazardous. Fortunately, we have nowhere to go and lots of time to get there. The sun will rise this morning  @ 8:01 a.m. and set this eveninbg @ 5:55 p.m.

Worthy of note, is that Michigan was one of several states where delivery service by the USPS was suspended due to the weather conditions. As Adam said, getting junk mail one-day later is not a game-changer. Yesterday was supposed to be day one of our new subscription to the Grand Haven Tribune, but no mail = no newspaper.

I nearly forgot to mention that the other natural gas provider in West Michigan, Consumers Energy, had a fire in one of their compressor stations yesterday. That fire during the cold snap, caused Consumers Energy to ask that their customers turn their thermostats down to 65° to conserve natural gas. Will any one do it? I dunno, but we turned ours down even though we are not a Consumers customer. We use Michigan Gas as our supplier here in GH.

We stayed in yesterday and Mary busied herself in the kitchen making another vegan triumph, well actually two. She used some old dry bread and veganized a recipe for bread pudding. It tasted great with dinner. Dinner was that pudding accompanied by a cauliflower lentil loaf. She had to do considerable chopping and food-processing that caused the actual cooking/preparation time to swell from 45 minutes to more like 90 minutes. Fortunately, she is experienced enough with internet recipes that this didn't throw her off her game.

The aforementioned bread pudding.

The cauliflower lentil loaf fresh from the oven.

On the plate and ready to eat.

Early yesterday morning, I picked up Abigael and strummed a few chords. Am I rusty? You bet! But it felt good to have her in my hands and to make some music for the first time in nearly five weeks.

Since we didn't get up until after noon, our day was shorter. I did some reading and not much else. I did talk to Adam after Mary spoke with him while I slept.
 
Today, I plan to look out the Weather Window (WW) and see what I can see. If the snowfall continues as forecast, I don't anticipate that will be much. We are fortunate to have our neighbors assisting with the snow removal. Next winter, no matter what the state of my health, we are going to hire a service to do that. Blanche DuBois, one of the fictional characters in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, intoned in that play the following line, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." Our neighbors are far from strangers, but we can't always depend on their kindness, so it behooves us to make other arrangements.

Today, we have no specific plans. I hope that my Thursday edition of the Grand Haven Tribune comes in the mail today, assuming that the mail is delivered. Mary and I will collaborate on some indoor chores and perhaps some cooking. Otherwise, I'll read, Mary will knit and we'll stay retired. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 2° as we head for the overnight low of -6°! With the 24 mph winds, the current windchill is approximately -25°! The NWS is forecasting wind chills later today of anywhere from -24° to -45°. Those wind chills are accompanied by a Winter Storm Warning that will not expire until 1:00 p.m. Thursday. That warning from the NWS also promises to deliver an additional four to eight inches of additional snowfall!

Those winds along with the snowfall, produced whiteout conditions all around the West MI area with numerous accidents and the closing of all the schools and many business today. In fact, as of now, the mail delivery is not assured for today. Mary took out her cell phone and snapped this picture around 6:15 p.m. last evening that clearly, (is that an oxymoron?), shows the conditions on the street directly in front of the manse.

Looks like fog, but it is blowing snow!

Speaking of Thursday, the high temperature on that day will rise to only 7°. Fortunately, by Friday, the temperatures will rise to 19° and continue to rise to 40° by Sunday! Here's hoping.

Mary drove me to my haircut appointment yesterday and then we traveled to Spring Lake to get some water to fill our humidifier. The bridge across the Grand River that leads from Grand Haven was backed up due to the whiteout conditions on M104 in much of Spring Lake. We made it to the store and back home due to some skilled driving by Mary accompanied by some professional navigating by yours truly.

I found a recipe on the internet for vegan pepperoni that Mary made over the course of about two hours last evening. That production preceded her making our dinner of a pineapple and pepperoni pizza. I think that both the pepperoni and the pizza were/are excellent. Here's a pic of that partially consumed pizza.

Great crust, vegan pepperoni and cheese, and tomato sauce made a great dinner.

Today. we are going to follow the advice of the officials in Ottawa County and stay indoors. We can do some kitchen activities and also some reading. The fur-children will have to be fed and go out to do their duty, but hopefully, they  won't stay out for long. We had made an appointment for later today to have Ginger groomed, but the grooming salon called us and asked to reschedule as they had had numerous cancellations for today. Somehow, I don't think Ginger will mind. However, she is in need of having the hair on her paws trimmed so that they don't get snow clogged which freezes her paws when she goes out.

The sun will rise today @ 8:02 a.m. and set later @ 5:54 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:00 a.m. in "The City."

I awoke this morning around 5:00 a.m. and tried to get back to sleep, but alas, my shoulder ache precluded that. Oh well, at least I can take some time to blog this early morning.

We have a current temperature of 16° under cloudy skies with a Winter Storm Warning in effect until 1:00 p.m. Thursday. That means that additional snowfall of from three to six inches may occur. In addition, the NWS has also issued a Wind Chill Advisory for early tomorrow morning thru the morning hours of Thursday, with wind chill temperatures of -25° thru -40° possible! While today's high is expected to reach 17°, Wednesday's high will be a measly 3° and Thursday's high a warmer 7°.

John came by later in the day yesterday to do the final clean-up after Mary had cleared enough space for the fur-children to go outside and do their duty and once our neighbor Ron had cleared the shared driveway. Ginger isn't getting stuck now, but once her paws get cold, she freezes in place and Mary has to go retrieve her. Otherwise, yesterday was mostly uneventful,

Speaking of snow removal, I had these grandiose plans to buy a nigh performance snow thrower/blower and get out there next winter and do battle. Mary convinced me, rightfully so, that the risk of falling and breaking myself was for too great to risk. So, we will buy the snow blower/thrower, but get John to come over and do the heavy-lifting, so to speak. I have to remember that I must pay attention to my recently coined saying, "This getting old, is getting old", and it sucks!

I watched both ends of the train run yesterday. At 10:44 thru 10:47 a.m., I watched as MMRR locomotives 2025 and 2019 towed a string of fully loaded DBTCs past the manse totaling 79 cars! Later, @ 2:30 p.m., I watched those same locomotives pass by towing four CHCs, and 12 DBTCs.

We were able to make it to my P/T appointment yesterday, which went well. I still have nearly two more weeks in this accursed sling. Have I mentioned that I'm not a patient patient? Lunch was a bagel with a schmear and a burrito from "The Bell" after P/T. Dinner was one each of our vegan sausages with a garlic and olive oil side-dish of spaghetti noodles.

Today, I have an appointment to gt my haircut at the barber one-block away. Mary will be driving me due to the less than safe sidewalk conditions. Speaking of those conditions, the city used their sidewalk snow plowing tractor and cleared some of the snow away, but the city plows have since come by and plowed the driveway full again. This is going to be a long winter season. I have to avoid getting my shoulders repaired, because the last time I did, it was following a mild, relatively light snow winter. I opted for the surgery and we got buried. Same thing this year. Hmmmm.

One piece of good news, my beloved Red Sox, the Cubs, and the Tigers all have reporting dates for their pitchers and catchers of February 12. That's a mere 14 days in the future. Their full squads begin workouts on February 18! Then, it will be spring!

That looks like enough for one day/morning. The sun will rise today @ 8:03 a.m. and set later @ 5:53 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in "The City."

Why is it that life can't be more like a Hallmark Channel movie? In the end, everyone, with the exception of the cad, comes away happy and in love. By now, you've probably surmised that I love movies on the Hallmark Channel. I finished up watching another one Saturday night and it came out as I hoped it would. The long ago lovers, she with the broken heart, he the big-time quarterback, were reunited in their hometown where they decided to stay and pursue new careers that are not in the "Big City."

I am now fortunate to live in a small town after the hustle and bustle of living and working in the suburbs of the city of Chicago. I am also fortunate to live with my best friend, Mary. I know that she is always there for me and I also know that I don't appreciate her often nor well enough. She loves me, I love her, but I am not a patient man when it comes to caring for my injured/repaired self, so I resist her efforts to keep me on the straight and narrow. So, as my way of telling her that I really do appreciate her, I've included a link to this Brooks and Dunn version of My Maria. For those of you who have ever visited our southern neighbor, Mexico, you know that the citizens there almost always automatically translate Mary to their Spanish language version, Maria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPoICeX33vY

So yes Mary/Maria, I am still in love with you almost 46 years since we first met.

Hey, as long as I'm in a YouTube frame of mind, I am going to include a version of When You Say Nothing At All, a song featured in the movie Notting Hill, as performed by Allison Krause at the White House.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyEyDiEBgv8

A look out the WW (Weather Window) confirms what the NWS (National Weather Service) has been warning/advising about all day and evening. We have a Winter Weather Advisory/Winter Storm Watch in effect. The Winter Weather Advisory ends @ 11:00 a.m. today, but the Winter Storm Watch will be in effect from late this evening until Monday evening. By the time all is said and done, we may see seven to eleven inches of new snow. I think it may be time to call/text John as we can't expect our neighbors to do what I can't do every time it snows.

About the only thing I managed to do in the kitchen yesterday afternoon was to make vegan Italian sausages. I mixed and stirred and cut, but Mary had to do the final formatting/wrapping and placement into the steamer. Mary turned one of them into a topping for the pizza we had for dinner.

Today promises to be a day that we stay indoors. I can't imagine a need to go out anywhere like we did yesterday afternoon, when we ran to the grocery store in Spring Lake. We'll do some tandem cooking, I may solo too, and then I'll read and work a crossword puzzle while Mary knits. With a little luck, we won't have to do real work, just have some fun.

The sun will rise this morning @ 8:05 a.m. and set later @ 5:50 p.m In between, the NWS is forecasting a high temperature of 14°. However, if their forecast proves to be accurate, the high on Wednesday will be only -3° with an overnight low of -5°!

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 11° as drop to the overnight low of 8° before the sun rises @ 8:09 a.m. and the temperature climbs to today's high of 18°. That high won't last long once the sun sets @ 5:49 p.m.

As of now, the NWS has issued or extended several Weather Warnings. We still have a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning for the lake shore between Holland and GH until 4:00 a.m. Plus, there is that pesky Small Craft Advisory still in effect until 6:00 a.m. Finally, the Winter Weather Advisory for Ottawa, County remains in effect until 4:00 a.m. this morning. Fortunately, the forecast calls for only an additional one-inch of snow. That means that the necessity for added effort with regard to snow removal is no longer applicable. Our thanks to our neighbors on either side of the manse for their efforts in that regard.

Here's an odd occurrence from late last night. MMRR EMD GP-38-2 locomotives 2019 and 2025 were seen heading south @ 10:02 p.m. last night, towing nine CHCs. I cannot recall a recent late-night passage in either direction. Go figure. 2:00 a.m. update. I just watched those same locomotives pass by the manse towing 13 DBTCs and four CHCs heading north. Once again, go figure, I mean 2:00 a.m.!

By the by, I had to get up quickly and so I left my two-sided Red Sox and Cubs blanket on the floor. Ginger just had to jump on and roll around after watching the train go by from her regular perch on the back of the couch. Here she is in both activities, courtesy of Mary's Smart Phone camera.

Curiosity and Ginger are synonymous.

Ginger just loves my blanket

I only managed make my vegan soy curl jerky yesterday. A late launch and other "newsworthy" things happened and kept us distracted. Perhaps today I can get more done.

We did get out for a couple of errands yesterday. All this snow makes walking with a cane very difficult. In addition, I have been able to do some art activities in the "Art Corner" of the Weather Center/Music Room/Office that I like to call my upstairs man-cave. I was seated at my new easel yesterday adding some chalk colors when Mary took this pic of a pic I began about one and one-half years ago at the now closed art store around the corner. I've included it just because.

I chose this location for my easel due to the natural daylight that streams through the adjacent window.

Otherwise, we had scheduled a trip to the camera store in Muskegon today to get more info on our camera. However, the class is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and with the blowing snow and the bitter cold, well, discretion being the better part of valor, I don't think we'll be going. More kitchen time.

We do have some indoor chores to do too, but I like to do those when I am working in the kitchen. Mary has a project on the needles, as she likes to say, so that will be her focus I believe. No need to go out for us. Just some TV viewing to go with the previously mentioned activities. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in "The City." I thought it was time to try a new opening that mirrors the opening now being used by George Noory as the opening for his nightly broadcast of Coast to Coast AM.

Here in GH, we have four warnings in effect for varying periods of time. First on the list is a Gale Force Wind Warning for the communities of Holland and Grand Haven. 35 knot winds are expected with commensurate or corresponding wind chills. That warning is in effect until 4:00 am. this morning.

Second, there is a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning in effect which means that the rigging on big ships plying Lake Michigan may become quickly laden with ice.

Third, there is the usual Small Craft Warning in effect for the "Big Lake" from 4:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Saturday. The NWS cautions small craft and inexperienced sailors to stay off the water. It would not be necessary to warn me.

Finally, there is a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 7:00 p.m. this evening. The NWS is forecasting a possibility of either 2" to 5"  additional snow or, 1" to 3 inches. A coin flip I guess.

I didn't go out yesterday. Mary went to the grocery store while the fur-children and I kept the home fires burning. I do know that I was sleeping in the media room @ 6:00 a.m. when I heard the passage of MMRR locomotives 2019 and 2025 heading north. I didn't get up to look, but the train was long and loaded. Later, @2:30 p.m., Ginger and I saw those same locomotives dead-heading going south. About one-hour later, the locomotives passed by towing 34 DBTCs and one RTC (Red Tank Car).

We are getting all the snow that missed us in 2018. We had John come by and clear some of the snow for the benefit of both the fur-children's and us. He'll be back later today to remove the balance that accumulates overnight.

With a little help from Mary, I made another batch of vegan Italian meatballs. I needed assistance to tie on my apron, mince the garlic, and roll the meatballs into the desired shape. They turned out great and we had some for dinner.

Today, I have plans to do more kitchen activities. I need more vegan jerky and I'd like to try making either some schawarma or gyro meat and some pepperoni. I have probably over-planned, but that's how I am. Otherwise, more reading is on tap.

We have a current temperature of 16° as we drop to the overnight low of 10° before making it all the way up to today's high of 13°! The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:07 a.m. and set later @ 5:47 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

We started out the day here in GH with snow falling and about four inches on the ground. There is still a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 7:00 p.m. Friday night. The NWS is forecasting a possibility for three to six inches of additional snow, depending on where you live. In addition, that forecast also calls for wind-chill readings of 0° to -15°!

The NWS is also forecasting blowing snow and hazardous driving conditions for the afternoon commute today and into the morning and afternoon commutes on Friday. White-outs and drifting snow are likely. Of course, this being Michigan, people will still take to the snow-covered streets, roads and highways and slide all over the place as they travel to and from work. Fortunately, we are retired and have nowhere to go and all day to get there, so...

Mary does have an appointment at the chiropractor later today to receive treatment on the aches and pains caused by doing much of the work that I normally do around the manse and the PE. She had to move the garbage can to the parkway area. But since she met with little success at that endeavor, she enlisted one of the workmen from a nearby worksite to give her an assist. He was very kind to help.

Speaking of assistance, we have been working in the kitchen together over the last few weeks, me with one arm and Mary with the knowledge, but collectively we are successfully creating some great vegan meals. In fact, yesterday's dinner was a slow-cooker white-bean soup that turned out great and is a keeper. However, since I like soup in almost any form, I may be slightly biased. Even after our dinner meal, we had nearly two quarts of leftovers, as seen here.

Collectively, we accomplished more indoor chores and also ran some errands once the snow let up.

I have two more weeks in this sling and I am getting antsy. As I've noted before, I don't do sick or injured well and I am not very patient when it comes to my own recovery. Mary has been more than patient, so that's a good thing for me.

Today, more tandem cooking and more drawing/coloring for yours truly. Mary has another project on the needles and so after we get up and get the fur-children fed and out, we can get on with our day. My new easel makes working on art projects much easier. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is nearing 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 10° under partly-cloudy skies. The temperature will continue to rise this morning into Wednesday. We won't see the teens again until Friday. However, that mid-week warming trend will also bring with it an 80% chance for snow showers from the late afternoon Today until 1:00 a.m. Wednesday. A possibility exists for additional snow accumulations.

In addition, there is a Heavy Freeze Warning for ships on the "Big Lake." That means that ships will likely see ice accumulate on their rigging. Couple that with the 30 knot winds and it will not be pleasant on Lake Michigan.

The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:09 a.m. and set later @ 5:43 p.m. If the forecast from the NWS is accurate, the evening rush-hour will be a mess. Fortunately, we have no plans to go out today. Instead, we plan to do some kitchen activities.

Speaking of kitchen activities, Mary redeemed herself in the kitchen last evening. Her efforts on Sunday night produced a melange of leftovers that she had scrounged from the refrigerator. Here is a pic of that "meal."

Good food, but not visually appealing.

As I noted, she redeemed herself last night with a dinner of Barbecue Hasselback tofu and oven-baked homemade French fries, as seen below. However, although we had gone to the grocery store, she didn't have all of the ingredients for her regular barbecue sauce, so she subbed the spicy barbecue sauce that she generally reserves for other dishes. I like it either way.

All good!

We went to my P/T appointment yesterday, but I am still restricted in my activities for several more weeks. Oh well, I have to be patient, which I am not, when it comes to my own recovery. Mary is constantly reminding me that I am overdoing. She is right.

Before the P/T appointment, we had lunch at "The Bell" and that made the day. Afterwards, I pumped gas into the car and then we went grocery shopping. This time I did a better job with one arm without the help that Mary provided last time.

As I  noted, no outdoor activities today. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

Well I tried, but as they say, you know, the they that everyone likes to cite as an authority often says, "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley", which roughly translates to mean that plans all too often go awry.

That reminds me of that old TV show starring Marlo Thomas, That Girl, in which her TV father uses the word awry, but mispronounces it orry. Sad to say, I can't find a YouTube™ cut that shows that scene.

But as is all too often the case, once again, the best laid plans..., so I digress.

Once again, the snows have come to West Michigan. A quick glance out the Weather Window (WW), shows that we have indeed picked up an additional two or three inches of new snow. In fact, I just saw the city plow go by and dump some of that snow into the end of our shared driveway. That same plow just went by in front of the manse heading west on our east-bound one-way section of the street. Fortunately, I don't have to shovel the snow and our newly repaired Jeep Renegade™ and its All Wheel Drive should make the Winter Weather Advisory and its warning regarding hazardous driving a non-issue. More on those repairs later.

We have a current temperature of 19° that feels like 8° due to the 10 mph winds. That NWS issued Winter Weather Advisory also forecasts that the snow will taper off late this morning after leaving an additional total of two to four inches of new snow. Since my shoulder surgery precludes me from attending today's Irish Jam Session at the library, I have no need to go out. Mary on the other hand, had talked of going to the grocery store. Her plans are also subject to change. The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:11 a.m. and set @ 5:38 p.m.

I heard the train go by yesterday morning @ 9:00 a.m., but I was snuggled in my chair where I felt safe and secure so I didn't get up to watch its southbound passage. However, Ginger and I did see the northbound run @ 2:15 p.m. as we espied MMRR. GP 38-2 locomotives 2025 and 2019 go by towing eight DBTCs and five CHCs. Judging by the way the house vibrated yesterday morning, the southbound run was fully laden.

As I previously noted, our Renegade went to the dealer to have its rotors and brake pads replaced to fix the squeal in the brakes. Will the repairs last? Stay tuned. Mary took the car over in the morning and got a loaner for the three hour duration of the repairs. It was a very comfortable Jeep Cherokee™. They tried to get her to take a full-size Dodge Ram™ pick-up truck, but they relented when she said that it was too big for our driveway and too tall for me to get into and out of when we returned later in the afternoon to pick up our car. They did show us the parts that had been replaced. They looked brand-new, which they were. As I also previously noted, a $6.00 can of anti-squeal would have fixed the problem.

We finished our errands and then headed home to finish the previous day's meatloaf along with a salad. A little TV news and it was time for me to head up to the media room. I am still spending more time there than in bed for comfort. I hope that that changes in the near future. I also helped with the indoor chores using one hand along with doing my daily rehab exercises.

It looks like it is time to go back to my La Z Boy and watch some inane TV. Later this afternoon, the POTUS is scheduled to deliver a speech on TV. His message is as yet unknown. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

Well, I'd like to say that I had a good night's sleep last night. Yes, I'd like to say that, but I can't. My shoulder still won't let me lie in a bed for an extended period of time and La Z Boy chairs are not conducive to sleeping in comfort. So, I am running on about five hours of sleep. I suppose that's not all that different than my regular sleeping pattern, but it would be great to have that be a choice, not a happenstance. Oh well, I'll grin and bear it.

We have a current temperature of 31° under partly-cloudy skies as we drop towards our overnight low of 27°. Today's high is forecast to reach 30° with only a 10% chance for precipitation. However, there is another Small Craft Advisory in effect for Lake Michigan. The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:12 a.m. and set laer @ 5:38 p.m.

Many people are gearing up for the NFL playoffs this coming Sunday that will determine which teams play in the Super Bowl. I'm counting the days until the pitchers and catchers report to spring training. My beloved Red Sox and our own Detroit Tigers report to training camp on Feb 12, a mere 25 days from today. That's enough to get any baseball fan's heart beating faster.

We had a good day yesterday. We all stayed in resting mode, bith us humans and the fur-children, until after 12:00 p.m. We humans ran a couple of errands and then Mary put her considerable kitchen skills to work and made a modified version of a meatloaf recipe that I had found on the internet. This vegan version of meatloaf probably wouldn't fool a carnivore, but for me, it is a keeper. I've included a few pix that Mary took both before and during our repast.

Ready for the oven.

Me impatiently awaiting dinner, with my horseradish at the ready.

Mary's plat with the meatlo0af and the mix of sweet potato and russet potato fries.

Worthy of note, is that Mary employed her new French fry cutter, but she quickly discovered that sweet potatoes are much harder to cut than russet potatoes and she ended up with a bruised hand. I could only provide minimal assistance due to my one-armed status.

Today, Mary will be dropping the car off to have those brakes repaired/replaced. I am doubtful as to the efficacy of the fix, but that is their plan. Otherwise, Mary has some indoor chores to do and we also want to do some trip planning. That's enough for a one-handed blogger. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 8:30 a.m. in "The City."

Here I am again, at my regular keyboard, typing mostly one-handed with the exception of an occasional assist on the space bar from my left-hand. It is now three weeks since my shoulder was operated upon, but I still have three more weeks of wearing this sling to allow for healing. Sigh. A t least now I can get up and down the stairs to the media room and the bedroom.

John, our local handyman, was able to move a railing to the front stairs from the back and fashion a new one for the rear stairs, so I can now get up and down and I can also get in and out of the Lay Z Boy, which allows me to spend time in the one upstairs. I am still spending more time there than in our bed. My shoulder still aches too much when I try to lay for an extended period. Once again, sigh.

Yesterday, John came by and assembled my new artist's easel using only the pictures, as the assembly instructions were written in Chinese. I don't know how someone with little or no mechanical knowledge and an artistic bent would assemble this easel. It looks great, but still needs a board to allow for smaller items to be placed on the easel using the binder clips Mary and I picked up yesterday. I hope to be able to use the easel to facilitate my coloring and drawing.

Mary has been doing double, or is quadruple duty, dressing me, doing the cooking and dishes, washing and folding the laundry, and helping me with my activities of daily living. I don't know how she does it. I am going to owe her big-time when this is all over. I honestly don't know how someone without a spouse or live-in caretaker could have any debilitating surgery.

I attended my first P/T session last Monday and I have another next Monday and for the next several Mondays. At this point. I am receiving range of motion therapy and also doing exercises at home.

We also went to the car dealer for the brake squeal and they had to call the zone office to get an authorization for brake pads and rotors. I know that that won't be likely to fix the problem, but that's their solution versus a $6.00 can of anti-squeal compound applied to the back of the pads. I guess the bean-counters know more than someone who has been repairing cars for more than 50 years.

We have a current temperature of 23° under cloudy-skies. Today's high is forecast by the NWS to reach 34°! The sun rose this morning @ 8:12 a.m. and it will set later @ 5:37 p.m. The forecast for snow is now only 40% on Saturday with no Winter Weather Advisory having been issued. I'm okay with that.

Today is more of doing nothing and I am chomping at the bit to do more. However, I have to think long-term. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 11:00 p.m. in "The City."

I'm lying in bed and watching the Rams take it to the Cowboys. My only interest in the game is to see the Cowboys and their owner, Jerry Jones, he of the $250 million yacht, and the inability to see that he isn't the game, his players are. I hate the term "his players", because it sounds like he can own people. So, I want the Cowboys to lose the game.

But once again, I digress. I had forwarded a recipe for vegan stew using soy curls to Mary that I found on the internet. It took some skill to make, as the author left out some steps/ingredients. Fortunately, Mary has those kitchen skills. She says she absolutely loved the process and the final outcome was fabulous. This one is another keeper.

She did the preparation in stages, with some before we went out and some later after we returned. Lacking some fresh potatoes, Mary used mushrooms and they added, not subtracted. I almost forgot to mention that lunch was some mushroom/lentil soup that I'd made a few weeks ago and froze, another keeper. The truth is that with great tasting dishes like these, being vegan is easy.

This being January 12, we are exactly one month away from the pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training for my beloved Red Sox. Plus, on January 17, it will be time for the Daytona 500. Not exactly the "Greatest spectacle in auto racing", the Indy 500, but mid-winter you have to take taxicab racing in lieu of open wheel.

Otherwise, not much is happening. I continue to mend after my rotator-cuff surgery and I have my first P/T appointment on Monday. The first weeks are just to keep the joint loose as it heals.

Tuesday is another attempt to get the car dealer to fix the brake squeal in our Jeep Renegade. We tried about six days ago but as usual, the service writer wouldn't listen to me. They scuffed the pads and knocked off the rust on the rotors and of course, the squeal quickly returned. Did they take 10 extra minutes to add anti-squeal compound to the back, of the pads? Of course not. So, back we go after 750 miles.

That's enough for my one finger blogging. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 6:00 a.m. in "The City."

Of necessity, this will be a short blog due to my having to enter the text on my tablet with one hand.

Worthy of note is that this is January 11, 2019 and that means that there are only 32 more days until the pitchers and catchers report to training camp in FL for my beloved Red Sox, yes, those Red Sox, the 2018 World Champion Red Sox.

I got my sutures out on Wednesday along with an admonition to be cautious for at least four more weeks in order to allow my old shoulder to heal. Plus, I am to get P/T once per week to keep my shoulder limber. Just movement forward and back, no movement in an outward direction. I am now spending a few hours each night in a bed, but I still spend more time in a chair for comfort. Sigh.

We have a current temp of 23 degrees under partly cloudy skies.

Mary made a terrific tuno casserole the other night that is a for sure keeper. My help extended to offering a suggestion to add water chestnuts for crunch.

That's enough for now. Ciao.