Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I've just finished reading an article by Bill McKibbon, an American environmentalist, in the New Yorker. His words are frightening and their meaning is clear. Even if human beings make a drastic change in our lifestyles, we are in deep doo-doo! Global Warming is not a hoax, it is a reality! But, we have a president and a party bought and paid for by the Fossil Fuel Industry and their paid lobbyists, that will give new meaning to the phrase "Do Nothing Congress."

What disturbs me the most it that these people believe that the problem can be solved by more spending or simply moving people from the coasts further inland or building houses up on stilts. Do they also plan to build roads on stilts too?

What that idea fails to take into account is that the cost of moving millions of people and the logistics involved, mitigate against that ever happening. Plus, the areas that we will have to abandon are located in some of the most fertile areas for food-production on this planet, for example, California, Florida, and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. These people have children, grandchildren, and other loved ones. Yet, they will allow $$ to overrule common sense. I have a phrase that Mary and I use to encompass this phenomenon. It is "Rule #1", which translates to mean, "We are doomed." Sigh.

Am I getting too maudlin? I plan to live many more years, but the latest projections estimate that we have a scant 12 years to entirely stop the use of fossil-fuels in order to have any impact on our long-term future. What are the odds of that happening? Record breaking heat, record breaking wildfires, record breaking hurricanes, etc .are the harbingers of things to come and the people with the power to do anything are in pre-paid denial. Sigh.

We have a current temperature of 30° that feels like 18° due to the 17 mph winds that are part of Winter Storm Bruce that is pounding the middle of the US. Locally, we are under a Winter Weather Advisory that will dump 3' to 6' of heavy wet snow on our area that will cause hazardous driving conditions, and pose health risks to people shoveling snow. In addition, there is a Gale Warning in effect until 1:00 p.m. this afternoon from Holland to GH, that will produce 8' to 12 ' waves on the "Big Lake" this morning. Of course, that means that a Small Craft Advisory is also in effect and warranted.

I've been watching out the WW. (Weather Window) and I espied two of our city plow/salt trucks go by heading west on the one-way street on which we live. At our address, the street is one-way heading east. I've also seen several trucks heading east plowing the snow. The city will do their best, but as people take to the roads later this morning, well.

As of this writing, the Grand Haven Area Public Schools and Spring Lake Public Schools have announced the closing of all schools, as have districts north and west of GH, i.e., Muskegon, Mona Shores, Fruitport, Coopersville, and Grand Rapids. Lots of accidents are being reported on area roads and expressways. It looks like most of the schools in West Michigan will be closed today.

Worthy of note, is that the end of our shared driveway has now been plowed in. If we do nothing and the temperatures drop from today's high of 35° to below freezing, which they will, that heavy wet snow will freeze on sidewalks, at the end of the driveway, and on the roads making walking impossible and driving hazardous. Yes, we now have an AWD vehicle, but that is no guarantee. The sun will rise today @ 7:50 a.m. and set later @ 5:13 p.m.

Otherwise, not much is happening. Thankfully, we have no plans to go out today. We do plan to get to those indoor Christmas decorations and that's about it. The fur-children will have to make do on their tether in the back-forty. Ciao.