Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:45 a.m. in "The City.

This may sound/read like many of my previous blogs, but once again, I was sleeping blissfully when I was awakened by Ginger asking to go out. I went downstairs with her and she did her duty. I waited for STWD to arrive, but she was not coming down to join us. Ginger went unrequited in her desire for a midnight snack and so we came upstairs after I emptied the dishwasher and did the dinner dishes. Dinner was another of Mary's specialties, bean enchiladas. Is it possible to have more than one thing as a specialty? I dunno, but I liked the enchiladas all the asme.

I wanted to go on a road trip to take some pix of industrial sites, so we set out to go east towards Coopersville, MI, a small farming village originally incorporated in 1871. As the small village grew, the City Council decided to chang the village's designation from a village to a home rule city, approved by the electorate in 1966. Thus, the City of Coopersville, MI was born.

We traveled east and finally stopped in the parking lot of a local, yet nationally franchised store, across from a huge industrial plant that seems out of place in this rural setting.

These stores are located throughout Michigan and across the USA!

Returning to why we were on our road-trip, I got out the camera and utilized two lenses, my zoom and my telephoto, to take pix of things that I found interesting.

I took this photo of a garden-tractor in the parking lot that will be unwanted until next spring.

I thought that this tractor looked devilish from the angle I was shooting.

I think that I captured the industrial and the natural perefectly.

Here too.

This plant seems out of place in this rural setting.

Once I had sated my desires for industrial pix, we set out to continue our journey to Coopersville's "Downtown." We hadn't originally planned to stop at Across the Tracks, the store that specializes in foodstuffs that are going out of date or which are in an overstock level of supply. However, we did stop and we found another package of dehydrated inions that sell for upwards of $26.00 on that internet purveyor of almost everything. We got a same-size package for $7.00! Being dehydrated, the onions last virtually forever. We use the onions in many recipes, including my famous vegan Italian meatballs and Mary's also famous vegan pizza.

An amazing little store.

Since we were in Coopersville, famous for the Coopersville and Marne railroad and the annual Del Shannon Car Show, we had to take some pix of the rolling stock of what is now a railroad that caters primarily to tourists.

These two coaches hearken back to the days when this railroad served passengers daily in West, MI.

The rolling-stock is "maintained" by volunteers from the area.

Diesel and steam locomotives.

 As a memorial of our visit, I took this shot of the Coopersville Hardware and Feed store.

Along with this pic of the local Clock Tower.

Yes, it was just past 3:30 p.m. on a crisp fall day.

A final pic from Coopersville was taken by Mary to memorialize the first "Road Trip" taken by our new car, Renee, nee Rene, a perfect female name for a bright green car.

Mary framed this shot perfectly, capturing one of the rail-cars of the Coopersville and Marne Railroad.

Time to head towards home, including a stop in Spring Lake for adult libations at Stan's. Since the flowers that we grow in the vast gardens of the "Palatial Estate" are currently on hiatus, Mary had to go across the street and buy some flowers for our "Flower Room." A visit to the Spring Lake Florist and she was set to go. She arranged the flowers, twice, then placed them on the table in our flower room and then took this pic.

Hydrangeas surround the lone Gerbera daisy. in the arrangement.

We have a current temperature of 26° under clear-skies as we drop to the overnight low of 24°! Later today, the skies will remain clear as we top out @ 35° with a 60% chance for snow-showers in the late afternoon/evening. The sun will have risen by then @ 7:37 a.m. and it will set @ 5:20 p.m.

We should be able to get out for a walk with the fur-children today as we didn't go yesterday due to the ice-covered sidewalks. We have no specific plans today as we accomplished our indoor chores yesterday before setting out on our photo trip. We still need to get to the final organization of the spice cabinets, but if we don't, there is always another day. Ciao.