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

I never made it to my haircut appointment yesterday. Okay, let's get the jokes out the way about that maybe being the best thing that has happened to me lately etc. I would have gone, but when I stepped on the sidewalk in front of the manse, I couldn't walk due to the ice coating that had formed.

Mary had the fur-children out around 10:00 a.m. and there was nothing. However, when I was ready to go @ about 11:50 a.m., I had all I could do to just stay upright. Mary's plans to take GTWD for a walk were put on ice. Excuse the obvious pun that was too easy to ignore or skip. I did call the barber shop and reschedule for Thursday afternoon.

By around 2:00 p.m., the ice had abated enough to allow us to travel to the various stops we needed to make. I was going to order some traction cleats for Mary and me, but the ones that our chiropractor had shown us were not readily identifiable to me, so I am waiting until later this morning to ask Mary what she thinks.

We have a current temperature of 34° with a light rain falling. The rain is expected to continue until later this morning, finally ending around 10:00 a.m. The high temperature for today is forecast by the NWS to be 38° under cloudy skies. The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:12 a.m. and set later this evening @ 5:38 p.m.

I didn't accomplish much yesterday. I did some reading and that was about it. The book I am currently reading is by Adam Tooze entitled The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order 1916 - 1931. As the designated "Book Czar", for March, I plan to make this my recommendation to our Tri-Cities Historical Museum book club. So far the book is interesting and in many ways prophetic.

Mary submitted a draft of a short index she has accepted to a client and now that she has approval, she will get to that job today. She does not anticipate the index taking too long.

GTWD is experiencing separation anxiety. We left her alone with just STWD for company and Ginger managed to chew both of the sneakers that I had left in the dining room and also one of my slippers that she had snatched from my office upstairs. We knew it wasn't a good sign when Mary spied the shoes and my slipper on the couch where Ginger stands sentry duty. A closer examination revealed the damage.

As with all dogs, there was no point in reprimanding Ginger since dogs live in the moment and only react to the sound of displeasure in your voice and have no idea why you are unhappy. Unless you catch them in the act, so to speak, they have no idea why you are scolding them. I should have put the shoes in the mud room and I guess that I can't leave my slippers lying about.

However, Ginger has chewed the corner of two rugs in the foyer and has also chewed the padded cushion from her crate. So given our limited understanding of canine psychology, our best bet is to keep her in her crate when we go out for any extended period. Ginger tries to let us know that she wants to be part of our pack when we are going out by pinning herself to the door in the mud room when we are leaving. But when we have stops to make, we can't take her along. Sigh.

I may get to that baking later today and also read yesterday's and today's Grand Haven Tribune's and work the crossword puzzles. There are other things I can do, but they can wait. It has taken me a long time to get used to having lots of time that allows me to put things off for another day. I spent so many years with a packed schedule and bells to regulate my time, that retirement is a different way to live. Ciao.