Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City."

I was outside with Ginger around 2:00 a.m. and the winds were blowing strongly in the back-forty. In fact, the NWS has issued a severe weather warning for Ottawa, County effective until 4:15 a.m. The NWS is predicting an 80% chance of rain/t-storms with winds gusting as high as 50 mph during that period, with the greatest chance of T-Storms happening between 3 and 4 a.m. So far, nothing.

I was just glancing at my Twitter™ feed and Bill Steffen, Chief Meteorologist for WOOD TV/Radio, noted that there have already been winds clocked @ 70 mph in Shorewood, IL, and 59 mph in Bolingbrook, IL, both south of Chicago. The storms have produced strong winds in Chicago and are now over the "Big Lake" heading right towards "The City."

The line of storms is moving east from as far north as the U.P. of MI to as far south as TX. Radar shows the storms heading across the lake right now. I just heard the first rumblings of thunder @ 3:05 a.m. and so that will send STWD to her hide-e-hole. I guess that it was a good thing that Ginger asked to go out before I had to batten down the hatches.

Moving back in time, Mary was on her way to her weaving activity yesterday when the G-d of Road Hazards intervened. Mary came across an area of potholes and in one of them was a bungee cord that had fallen from a passing truck. Most of you know what it looked like, with an "S" hook at either end and of variable length.


Unfortunately, the hook that was left on one end found its way into her left-rear tire necessitating a call to the AAA and a tow to the nearest tire repair shop. The tire wasn't ruined and was repaired for $10.00. She continued on her way to another yarn store and finally ended @ her original destination to pick out the yarn for a second chance @ weaving next Monday.

I spent the time between phone calls from Mary doing some indoor and outdoor chores. I also made one of my favorites for lunch, the aforementioned vegan "No-Bull Beefaroni™." I had enough leftovers for our dinner. Today, I may get around to that stir-fry that I was going to make for dinner yesterday.

GTTSD and I spotted the southbound run of the train on the RSTL @ 11:02 a.m. Locomotives 2057 and 2019 were rapidly towing just seven CHCs. We must have been across the bridge in Spring Lake or at our favorite watering hole here in GH when the northbound run occurred. We had gone to Spring Lake to get the car washed so that we could assess the car for any body damage. There was none.

I finished my most recent pulp-fiction large-print novel that was due yesterday and returned it once Mary came home and we could walk with the fur-children. I liked this book written by Lisa Gardner, entitled Right Behind You.

Today, some time with the girls and some additional time with another novel as Mary works. She is making progress on her indexing project, but this one is extremely detailed and therefore is very slow going.

The sun will rise today afte the T-Storms @ 7:10 a.m. and set later @ 6:42 p/m/ Ciao.