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.'

The NWS is reporting a current temperature of 46°, which will be the highest temperature that we reach today, with a Gale Warning in effect from South Haven to Manistee until 10:00 a.m. Wind speeds will be 20 to 30 knots, with gusts possible up to 40 knots propelling waves as high as nine feet on the "Big Lake." Will the surf be up? Surely, you jest! Of course! It is likely that the surfers will be out today if they can maneuver past the ice clogged shores. 

Strong winds out of the south at 28 mph make it feel more like 33°. The sunrise today will be @ 7:53 a.m. and sunset @ 6:05 p.m.

Yesterday was pretty mundane here at the manse. I started a new book recommended by Mary, Hokuloa Road, by Elizabeth Hand. Mary recommended this book on the strength of a recent ear-read, but I am having trouble liking it. I'll give it a few more pages and then, to paraphrase Chef Emeril Lagasse, Bam! More reading will not spare this books trip to the to be returned pile here at the manse.

Early yesterday morning, I finished my most recent print-read, The Lions Game, by Nelson Demille, and I liked it much more. The large-print edition I read came in at over 1,000 pages, and it was more my cup of tea. 

We also started another ear-read, entitled Little Souls, by Sandra Dallas. It is a fictionalized version of the Spanish Influenza epidemic of the early 1900s set in Colorado. 

I made it to my podiatrist's appointment yesterday afternoon, and as usual, they were behind schedule. It took nearly one hour to get in and out. I am not happy about that in light of the fact that we are in flu season and the Covid-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating and it is likely that it never will. I wore my mask, but it seems as though most people have taken a rather cavalier attitude about the latter.

Afterwards, we went downtown to take advantage of the ice-free walking conditions there. Mary and Ginger went further than I, but I walked farther than Sunday, so I see that as progress.

With some slight assistance from me, Mary did part of the indoor chores and then sat down to do some reading and cross-stitching. 

At any rate, here I am at 6:00 a.m., blogging, as the winds howl outside the manse and Mary and Ginger are snugly sleeping. Mary assures me that this was the norm in olden times, but it would be nice to sleep in like most folks do. 

Mary plans to sit down here today and contact the support people for this PC and hopefully resolve the recalcitrance of this computer to recognize input from any external memory device plugged into a USB port, such as a memory stick or my camera. If they can't help, I'll be in the market for a new computer that can.

That's enough for one day. Ciao.