Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

I was sleeping in the media room @ 3:15 a.m.when Ginger came in and did her cute whine versus the insistent shrill and extremely loud bark that she reserves for anyone who walks by or who dares to come on "her" front porch, like the UPS or USPS men and women. Fortunately for her, and I guess us too, I don't sleep as soundly as Mary and so I went downstairs and let her out. She was in a hurry so it must have been important. To borrow from the town criers of olde (sic), 'It's four a.m. and alls' well."

Yesterday, we got up late and I did some indoor chores. I baked a loaf of beer bread, that never rose, but which tastes just fine. I made some Coleslaw which is good, but not as good as it could be due to the mayo I used, and I did some laundry. In between, Adam called on the phone and I checked with the manufacturer of our smoke/CO detector about where the replacement was in the delivery queue. It turned out that their 7 - 10-day delivery schedule is based on "Business Days" not on any reality-based calendar. I got a tracking number and it should be arriving before the close of business on Monday.

Otherwise, I spent some time reading my latest issue of Rolling Stone from which I learned about the current medical condition of the artist currently known as Meat Loaf, and why he can no longer perform or tour. He is in serious pain due to a very bad yak and so he can't sing, he can't walk nor stand without a walker, and he needs assistance to do many of the activities of daily living that I can still do. So, in my case, I am relieved that I could have things much worse.

I also learned about a musical artist named Margo Price, who hails from Nashville, TN by way of her hometown of Aledo, Illinois. Her debut album, Midwest Farmer's Daughter, was recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN. For those of you in the know, Sun Studios was the studio that recorded Elvis, Johnny Cash, and many other artists. I was not familiar with her work, so I clicked on YouTube for a sample and I was pleasantly surprised. When Margo is touring, she is backed by her band, The Price Tags, and one of their members plays one of my favorite electric guitars, a Rickenbacher, made famous by bands like The Byrds and artists like George Harrison. Margo's influences include some of my favorite artists such as Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson, and Bonnie Raitt. Because I liked what I heard, I've included a YouTube link to a live performance of her song, All American Made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdEycv6A1FM. I hope you like it.

Mary made another attempt at her soon to be perfected vegan pasta/bean burgers, but she believes she got something wrong, because when she made them for dinner, she ended up with Sloppy Joes, not burgers. Her previous batch was terrific, so she'll figure out what went wrong.

We just "Had to get out", to borrow from Mary's mother, so we got in the car and traveled to The Bookman, where we got the Friday edition of the Grand Haven Tribune and then made a stop at JWs. In betwixt and between, Mary made a valiant effort at clearing the snow from our deck and the walking area nearby. As a snow removal specialist, she is a better knitter and cook.

Since I am on the topic of weather, we got about six to eight inches of snow Thursday into Friday. There is a Winter Weather Advisory issued by the NWS for this evening, with an 80% chance of one to three inches of further accumulation from late tonight into Sunday morning. Good news though, our trip to the yak doctor in Muskegon on Monday should be uneventful as the NWS is forecasting temperatures in the lower 20s with sunny skies. Later this week, their forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-30s Tuesday through Thursday. We have a current temperature of 21° as we rise towards today's high temperature of 25° after the sun rises @ 7:49 a.m. and well before it sets @ 6:09 p.m.

Yesterday, Ginger and I once again did some trainspotting too. At 10:51 a.m., MMRR EMD GP 38-2 locomotive #2019 was espied heading south towing eight CHCs, three DBTCs, one DWTC, and one tank car of an indeterminate color. White, gray, rust. all, or none of the above? Ginger and I can't say. At 2:05 p.m. that same locomotive passed by on the RSTL towing only two cars, one CHC, and one DBTC.

Today, we have nothing on the agenda other than Mary's favorite sport, TV news. I plan to read the newspaper and a novel and just laze about. Mary will attempt to resolve her cooking issues. Ciao.