Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 12:00 a.m. in "The City."

It doesn't get any better than "Leave the gun, take the cannoli", or "Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service,..." Well. I suppose it does for many people, but for me, three hours of The Godfather is the epitome of how to spend a retired afternoon.Our local theater, Goodrich Quality Theaters, Grand Haven 9, shows classic movies on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Last week we were going to see It Happened One Night, but that was when my yak went out. This week, as is sometimes the case, the movie was not a "Chick Flick." Next week we can see Singing in the Rain. That will be followed by Rear Window, Dirty Dancing and finally, Young Frankenstein, as the weeks unfold. What's not to like? Mary probably had a better time at home crafting than she would have had watching yesterday's movie. Me, I got into the movie for $6.50 and then used my accumulated points on my "Frequent Movie Watcher's" card to get a humongous cherry-cola and a ginormous bucket of popcorn @ no additional cost. Once again, "What's not to like?"

Our house painting is nearly done. John has been hard at work and should finish up today. Yes, I could have attempted this myself, but when you get to be a certain age, you defer and let someone do the work for you.

GTTSD and I spotted the southbound train @ 10:45 a.m. EMD GP 38-2 locomotives 2019 and 2057 were leading a pack of cars that included 18 CHCs, seven DBTCs, and four DWTCs, all moving slowly on the RSTL. I was The Godfather when the afternoon run of those same locomotives passed by the manse. However, my apprentice trainspotter recorded the passage. I heard the sound of the locomotives over the machine guns in the movie @ 3:00 p.m. and Mary tells me that the train passed by here @ 3:02 p.m. However, her recording was accurate enough to tell me that the northbound run consisted of seven DBTCs, 12 CHCs, nine DWTCs, and one GTC.

Today, we have to walk to the groomer to get a haircut for Ginger and a pawdicure for Sugar. Ginger is looking like a walking mop, so we need to get her tuned up. Sugar just needs some basic upkeep.

Otherwise, I have no plans and I'm not sure about Mary. We will pick up the newspaper on the way back from the groomer.

We have a current temperature of 50° under partly cloudy skies, as we head for today's high of 53° with cloudy conditions in the morning and sunny skies in the afternoon. The sun will rise today @ 7:29 a.m. and set later @ 6:27 p.m. For those of you with WGN-TV, the Cubs will be on @ 1:00 p.m. CST or 2:00 p.m. EST Saturday. Ciao.