Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:00 a.m. in "The City."

Early this morning, I awoke around 1:30 in my media room chair and went to bed. I awoke for a second time just before 6:00 a.m. and now here I am. For me, that's a lot of sleep time. It's probably just as well, as it took a few minutes for my baking yak to realign itself after I got up.

We had a great day yesterday. We got up on the late side, had a light breakfast, bid farewall to John as he painted the living room, and took Ginger to doggie daycare. Then we were off to run some errands and take a road trip to Coopersville. We didn't really have a goal in mind, except to visit Off the Tracks in Coopersville and take some pictures of whatever caught our fancy along the way.

Mary and I took some shots of the local birds in Coopersville and also some places we saw as we meandered our way towards home on the return trip. I don't have a specific order for the photos, but there are some I really like, so I'll just include them here.
 

Yes Coopersville, MI, home to the annual Del Shannon Car Show and Off the Tracks.

 

While this many not seem to be an industrial pic, as Mary pointed out, this bird was near a birdhouse on a utility pole that had become overgrown.

A clearer pic.

We had planned a walkabout at Sheridan Park, near Coopersville's downtown, but we quickly realized that the majority of the park could only be reached by a "stroll" down an icy path. At our age, we used discretion and stayed in the parking area.

This amused me, as the only camera was in my hands.

Since we were on 64th street, we decided to turn right and head north, where I espied this farm. I took this while Mary drove.

Lo and behold, about three miles of travel, and there was another park near Coopersville. Although the road into the park had been plowed, it was still snow-covered. No problem, we have a Jeep™!

A warm, 45° day, and the stream was flowing.

Mary tends to like pix of flora, whereas I like the industrial scenes.

Something about any recreation equipment, unused in the cold of winter.

A snow covered slide says it all.

More of that mostly clear stream, hopefully a sign of more warm days to come.

We have a current temperature of 20° as we head towards today's high of either 36° or 40°, depending on the place you consult on the Weather.com™ website. At any rate, the forecast from the NWS is calling for warmer temperatures and a 100% chance for rain about 6:00 p.m. this evening. I'm good with that, as I'll be soloing to Hemlock Crossing for my acrylic painting session this morning. This will be my first long trip as the driver in our Jeep™. I'll take the highway down and the back roads on the way home. That forecast also calls for winds of about 23 mph too!

In Mesa, AZ, the Cubs have a current temperature of 48° under clear desert skies. Later today, the skies will be partly-cloudy as the high reaches 67°. Good news, although the Cubs are not really counting these early spring training games, pitcher Yu Darvish is feeling well this season, following his disastrous first season as a Cub. His fastball has pop, his breaking pitches are working, and the Cubs couldn't be happier. Plus, the Cubs have a high draft pick, Nico Hoerner, in camp and he is impressing with his bat skills.

In Ft. Myers, FL, spring home to my beloved Red Sox, the current temperature is 64° under clear skies. Later today, the skies will be mostly-clear and the high will reach 85°. 2nd baseman, Dustin Pedroia, will make his first start of spring. He had only three appearances in 2018 following major knees reconstruction in 2017. His knee has had another year to fully heal and he is looking good, according to manager Alex Cora. Here's hoping.

Over in Lakeland, FL, spring home to the  Detroit Tigers, the current temperature is 60°, also under clear skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 84° with a 40% chance for isolated T-storms. Pitcher Beau Burrows pleased the Tigers' brass with his lively fastball and good command of his breaking pitches. He has actually moved down on the prospect list as there are so many great "Young Arms" in camp.

I espied both ends of the train run on the RSTL yesterday. At 9:24 a.m. I saw locomotives 2025 and 2019 pass by towing eight CHCs and one DBTC. Later, @ 12:40 p.m., I saw that same tandem of locomotives towing 11 CHCs, one DBTC, three DWTCs, and one GTC.

Today, I have that painting session, Mary will be doing some indoor chores and entertaining Ginger while I am gone. John will be by to put the finishing touches on the living room and the bedroom ceiling and walls that succumbed to the regular cracking that comes with winter in an old house.

The sun just rose @ 7:07 a.m. and it will set later @ 6:44 p.m. Don't forget, that tonight/early tomorrow morning, it is time to began the annual observance of Daylight Savings Time. At this time of year, you have to "Spring Ahead" by one hour. I'm not looking forward to resetting my Citizens watch. Actually I don't look forward to resetting the stove nor microwave either. We have the clock off the wall in the living room for wall painting, so I plan to reset that before I rehang it. Ciao.