Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation, and across the world. It is just after 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 46° under clear skies. My DTWS shows 48º on both the front porch and on the deck. According to the NWS, light winds of 6 mph make it feel like 43°. Today's high temperature is forecast to be 641º under sunny skies with a relative humidity index of 47% and a 0% chance for precipitation.

According to my DTWS, the barometric pressure is 29.68" and rising, while the NWS is reporting 30.11", also rising. Generally, those readings indicate fair weather.

The sun will rise this morning @ 6:08 a.m. and it will set later @ 9:17 p.m

The River Flood Warning is still in effect until this afternoon.


We had quite the day yesterday. We collectively finished the crossword from the Thursday edition of the Grand Haven Tribune, which continues to grow thinner with each passing day. But, without local sports, not many people out and about, and much of the news the same old same old, that's to be expected.


Unfortunately, the number of people out and about is growing each day, many without face masks. Those of us who are trying to stay safe are doomed to staying indoors and away from stupid people.


Speaking of staying safe, although I don't have a huge following, Adam is a frequent reader. He read my description of our A/C woes and sent me an email that described a similar problem with an A/C unit in their last condo in Chicago. As it turned out, the refrigerant was low in their unit and needed to be recharged. So, I'll be calling a local A/C service contractor on Monday and asking if their service personnel wear masks. If they don't, I'll make calls until I find a contractor that does. Ar any rate, I'll be opening the outer doors to the man-cave, and the serviceman or woman can enter and exit that way.


I did make that stir-fry for dinner last evening with some assistance from Mary. We ate as we watched two episodes of Outlander. Both the show and the stir-fry were excellent.

We used some time to further groom young Ginger yesterday. She did well considering that we washed just her head and then proceeded to trim her thick coat. Today, more nail-grinding for Ginger. STWD has an appointment at the veterinarian on Monday to have her nails trimmed.


I spent a short time in the vast gardens yesterday watering and trimming the invasives. It was gratifying to see that the newest plantings are doing well. However, the ever-changing weather with the accompanying cool temperatures overnight is making that a daily concern.


We are starting to see the first sprouts of the flower plants that Mary seeded near the deck. I believe that the seeds took about eight or nine days to germinate.


I don't know about anyone else, but both Mary and I got a warm feeling watching the successful launch of the Space-X™ rocket Dragon, yesterday afternoon, the first such manned launch in nearly 10 years. I remember that the teachers at my junior-high-school, Miner Junior High School, used to push the black and white TV sets into the classroom in the days of the Mercury launches so that we could watch.


When I was teaching, I used to ask my students if given the call that a seat was available on the next launch of the Space Shuttle had become available, would they go? This came after the disastrous 1986 launch of the Challenger. I was surprised, or perhaps not, that around 50% said that they would not take the ride.


Long ago when I was in college working on my teaching certificate, one of my professors arranged to have an astronaut visit our honors astronomy class. The astronaut's name was Dr. Karl Gordon Henize, who had flown into space aboard the Challenger as a mission specialist in astronomy. He died in 1993 while on leave from NASA as he was climbing Mt. Everest testing equipment, with the results of his tests being shared with NASA. By profession, Dr. Henize was an astronomer who worked all over the world and as a mission specialist on a Challenger mission.


I clearly remember asking Dr. Henize this question. "If the chance comes up to fly again, will you go?" He replied, "In a heartbeat!" I had to agree. In spite of the danger, the opportunity to join a very small group of people who had been given the opportunity to see the earth from orbit would have been too great to pass up. Just one man's opinion, but I'd have answered that phone call, and I'd have been ready to go, "In a heartbeat!


Today, I hope to get some outdoor chores done and more reading. Mary is now reading two books. One is the size of an NYC telephone book, entitled The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon. The other is a small paperback, the first in the Anna Pigeon series of novels by Nevada Barr. Barr has written 18 books featuring Anna Pigeon, National Park Ranger. This book is entitled The Track of the Cat.

Today, a few outdoor chores and that's about it for me. Ciao.