Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 36° with snow-showers possible @ 60% with windy conditions. Today's high is forecast to reach our current 36° with that 60% chance for snow-showers in the forecast. The sun will rise today @ 8:00 a.m. and set later @ 5:56 p.m.

A Small Craft Advisory goes into effect @ 7:00 a.m. this morning and lasts until 4:00 a.m. Monday. Southwest winds becoming west 15 to 25 knots and waves of 3 to 7 feet are  expected from St Joseph to Manistee. Conditions will be hazardous to small craft. Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions.

Lake Michigan's water level has reached a record high for January. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lake rose 17 inches in 2019 and three more inches this past month. This is the highest Lake Michigan has been since 1986! While I am no scientist, I recognize high waters when I see them. When we are driving over the bridge between here and Ferrysburg or other points north or east, we can see the water lapping at the edge of the roadways. Docks and piers are being submerged and lakeside homeowners are fighting what is likely a losing battle to save their homes. Several roads are currently closed.

I saw an article recently that 778.4 billion gallons of water have been added to Lake Michigan in the last week alone. That's enough to raise the level of the "Big Lake" by two full inches! The surf is definitely up!

But, that means that the chances for people to enjoy boating on Lake Michigan and all of the Great Lakes are going to be better than ever when summer arrives in June. So, sales of water-related clothing and other items should be brisk this year and that's good news for local merchants.

Mary and I worked hard in the kitchen yesterday making what turned out to be a large batch of vegan Hungarian goulash. We had some for dinner over mashed potatoes last night and it tasted great. Here is a pic of that goulash on the plate as taken by our Senior Staff Photographer. 

Yesterday, we ran some of those errands that we had planned and that takes those off our plate for today. This afternoon, we plan to go to Hemlock Crossing County Park for a presentation entitled Earth Encounters: Michigan Minerals. Afterwards, we can both take our cameras and take some pix as we walk the trials of this terrific park. I never fail to find something to photograph as we walk. Perhaps before we go there, we can stop and see some waves on the "Big Lake" and take some pix of those too.

Mary did part of the iudoor chores last night while I slept in the media room, so there is less of those to be done. Looks like it should be a good day to be retired. Ciao.