Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 35° under cloudy and wintry skies. Today's high is forecast to reach a sultry 42°! The sun will rise today @ 7:29 a.m. and set later @ 7:27 p.m.

There is a Small Craft Advisory in effect for the "Big Lake." That Advisory will be in effect until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. You know what that means. If you don't have a very large ship or if you don't know what you are doing, stay off the water.

Of course, that Small Craft Advisory is due to the 20 mph winds along the lake-shore in today's forecast that will also  trigger yet another Lakeshore Flood Warning, in effect until 7:00 p.m. this evening. That advisory is because those winds will cause further erosion along the lake-shore. 

The current forecast from the NWS calls for snow this morning with a 70% probability that should taper off around noon and we may, in fact, see clear skies.

I didn't do any picture taking yesterday, however, I did make it into the kitchen to cook up another vegan pepperoni and some of Mary's favorite, vegan Italian meatballs. Once again, I think this batch of meatballs is my best yet. At any rate, some of them became part of our dinner.

Lest I forget, the trains on the RSTL were odd yesterday. At 11:22 a.m., MMRR locomotive #2019 was seen heading southbound at a very slow rate of speed, and in fact, it came to a stop for a short period. In tow were 11 CHCs, five DBTCs, and three DWTCs. That stop extended the passage past the manse to over five minutes, tying up traffic for what must have seemed like forever in our small city.

Later in the afternoon, I watched as that same locomotive passed by @ 3:14 heading north at its regular speed, towing four CHCs, and one DBTC,

The Michigan Wolverines are off today, as they cling to a 7 - 2 overall record in the Big 10 and a 4 - 2 conference record, trailing the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University and the Nittany Lions of Penn State, both with identical 5 - 0 conference records and 8 - 0 records overall.

The Nittany Lions are @ Minnesota today to face the also 8 - 0 Golden Gophers of Minnesota @ 12:00 p.m. The Buckeyes welcome the 3 - 6 Terrapins of Maryland, also @ 12:00 p.m.

The Spartans of MSU welcome the Fighting Illini of Illinois to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, MI today @ 3:30 p.m. Sadly, the Spartans are just 4 - 4 this season, while the surging Illini are 5 - 4. It should be a good match-up.

The "Big Game" for football fans in Michigan takes place next Saturday @ 12:00 p.m., when the Spartans travel to The Bog House in Ann Arbor, MI for a game against the well-rested Wolverines. Here in GH, that game is a "Big Deal!"

I wish I had good news about the Huskies of NIU, but they are 3 - 6 overall and just 2 - 3 in the MAC 10 conference. The Huskies are now in their off-weekend schedule, playing next Wednesday @ 8:00 p.m. @ Toledo tversus the Rockets.

I'd be remiss if I didn't throw in some baseball news in the off-season.

The Cubs are reportedly adding former Phillies pitching coach, Chris Young, to their staff to be the club's bullpen coach replacing long-time coach, Lester Strode, who has been with the Cubs since 1989. The Cubs also declined to tender an offer to 36 year old starting-pitcher Cole Hamels, following an injury-plagued 2019 season. Hamels says he feels great, but the Cubs declined to risk over $17 million on him. The Cubs' coaching staff is in flux as of now, with several decisions to make.

In any event, the Cubs are hunting for some pitching help this winter, such as the Washington Nationals free-agent pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, who will be a high-dollar free-agent this off-season. I am betting that the Cubs are still smarting from their  big-money acquisitions of starter Yu Darvish and reliever Craig Kimbrel. Time will tell.

My beloved Red Sox are hoping that starting pitcher, Chris Sale, comes back next season and that their own crop of free-agents opt to stay with the organization.

Oh, the Tigers had an off-off year in 2019. They hope to rebound next season with the addition of some key young pitchers/players and some veteran free-agents. Time will also tell there too.

Today. feels like a good day to stay inside and do some of that painting and music playing that I never got to yesterday. You know what the ubiquitous "they" say about the best laid plans and all that, "Man plans, and goddess laughs."

That's all folks!