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."

The current temperature is 31° but it feels like 22° under partly-cloudy skies with winds blowing @ 11 mph. There is currently only a 20% chance for additional precipitation. Today's high is forecast to reach 32°, also under cloudy skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:48 a.m. and set later @ 6:10 p.m.

There is one slight advisory that will be in effect beginning @ 10:00 a.m. this morning and continuing until midnight tonight. That's another Small Craft Advisory. West winds from15 to 25 knots will result in waves of 3 to 5 feet from St Joseph to Manistee. Conditions will be hazardous to small craft. The strongest winds and largest waves will occur this afternoon and evening between 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m..

It's official! I'm born again! There is new grass on the field, at least in AZ and FL. MLB™ spring-training begins later today when the pitchers and catchers report to either the Cactus League in AZ, or the Grapefruit League in FL. Position players are expected to report by February 16. In honor of that event, I have included my official spring training YouTube™ song cut once again, John Fogerty's Centerfield..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq3hEMUeBGQ

However, this year I am adding a new wrinkle to my YouTube™ finds. This one is from country music artist, Lyle Cartwright entitled I Watched It All On My Radio. The radio was my first means of following the games and it is still the best way to "Watch" baseball. I hope you like both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE5HaQlwRUI

But enough about the most important day of spring. It is time to talk about yesterday's events.

We began our day with a trip to Muskegon and the box-office @ the Frauenthal Theater.
We picked up our free tickets for the March 26 concert @ the Frauenthal Theater featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. However, since the box-office opened @ 11:00 a.m. and since we arrived @ the "late" hour of 1:00 p.m., the ticket pickings were slim. We scored two tickets on the main floor and on an aisle, so it is all good. Who knew that that many tickets would go "Like Hotcakes" as the man at the box-office told us?

A great venue.

A great band.

Since we were out and since Mary reminded me that a photo-op requires a camera, I had taken along my trusty Olympus DSLR for the above pix as well as some additional pix in Muskegon's downtown area.

A tribute to Muskegon's industrial heritage.

Just outside the Frauenthal Theater.

Muskegon's version of Amazon, once a hosiery mill, but now apartments.

But, Muskegon reminds us that we should all "Watch Muskegon Grow" too. So, here is a pic of the new construction in the downtown that is helping to revitalize what was a dying town.

Snow is just one of the the banes of a construction worker's day.

But, since I like to take pix, and since Mary was driving, we set out along the highways and byways to see what else we might find. We found one great spot in the nearby Village of Fruitport, MI at a park called Pamona Park, located just behind the city's library.

Snow, cold? When you are a kid with a sled, what's not to like?

Like always, I find a certain attraction in an unused playground and its equipment. But, the kids had a better way to spend their time in the snow on this day.
 

Why slide, when you can sled?

That is unless your sled leaves without you.

But, when you are in a picture taking mood, there are so many things to photograph. Before we parked near Pomona Park we found another lakeside park with a great view of the lake and so I took some pix there too.

Not yesterday, but soon, spring will bring this tree to life once again.

A cloudy sky shot between the leafless trees.

Time to move along. We stopped along the shores of Spring Lake itself, and I finally got some pix of the Bald Eagles that nest along the shores.

Only two birds were present yesterday.

One flew off, but I got this great shot of the one who stayed behind.

Finally, it was time to head home, but not without a stop at our favorite watering hole.

Some beer, some steak fries with malt vinegar, and some bean dip deluxe, sans cheese, and we were good to go.

The fur-children were glad to see us, as usual, but they really wanted their dinner which they actually received early.

Today is a busy day. Two haircuts, one for me and one for Mary and a visit to the orthopedist for the first of my every six-months knee shots. I can always tell when I am at the end of the cycle as my knees are creaking and aching a bit more everyday. But, five weeks from today and I'll be ready to go. No replacements necessary, yet. Ciao.