Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just after 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 37° under mostly-cloudy skies with winds of 4  mph that make it feel more like 34°. Today's high is forecast to be 50° under cloudy-skies with 14 mph winds. Part of the forecast from the NWS also calls for showers this evening @ 90%. Unfortunately, the forecast  also calls for temperatures in the 30s through mid to upper 40s for several more days after today's warm spell.

A Gale Watch that had been issued by the NWS for Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. has been up[graded to a Gale Warning. Northwest winds of 35 knot and waves 7 to 10 feet are possible from St Joseph to Manistee. Strong winds can cause hazardous waves which could capsize or damage vessels. Mariners should consider altering plans to avoid possible hazardous conditions. They should consider remaining in port, seeking safe harbor, altering course, and/or securing the vessels for severe wind and waves.

An additional advisory has been issued by the NWS. A  Lakeshore Flood Advisory in effect for the same time as that Gale Warning, may cause minor beach erosion and lakeshore flooding for Mason, Oceana, Muskegon, Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren counties. Parking lots and roads along the immediate lakeshore will experience minor flooding. Minor erosion of beaches and sand dunes is expected. 

The sun will rise today @ 7:49 a.m. and set later @ 7:56 p.m.

Yesterday was a busy day here at the manse. I made those aforementioned vegan Italian meatballs, which became part of our dinner. In addition, I made a batch of vegan butter and garlic pull-apart rolls. I've made them once before, but it has been a while. The rolls are baked in a Bundt cake pan to give them shape and texture.

To memorialize my efforts, our Senior Staff Photographer used her Smartphone camera to record the various stages of my efforts.

The dough was made and I had to separate it into 16 smaller pieces to be hand rolled, coated with herb and garlic butter and then placed in the greased pan in two layers with more butter and parsley flakes on top.

Once baked, the rolls separated easily and they were so good, that we had to put them away.

Fortunately, Mary is good @ shape-sorting and they fit nicely in a gallon-sized food storage bag.

I love to bake. A lot of work, but well worth the effort. Mary was hard at work on some indoor chores as I baked along with reading the Tuesday edition of the Grand Haven Tribune. Since it was
Tuesday's newspaper, I was able to complete the crossword puzzle with no assistance after baking. I'll be working Wednesday's puzzle today and that may require assistance.

Traffic is very light around GH lately, owing to the Coronavirus shutdown of the schools, the restaurants, and the watering holes. A story in the Grand Haven Tribune described the problems that some of the restaurants are encountering due to the shutdown by the state. Plus, our favorite music venue in Spring Lake, Seven Steps Up, has had to cancel or hopefully reschedule several concerts. Some of the newer and smaller restaurants along with Seven Steps Up, may go out of business. Sigh.

A side and sort of sad note too. An artist that we have seen before, Scott Mulvahill, has canceled his April tour, on which one of his stops was supposed to be, Seven Steps Up. Instead of touring and exposing himself and others to the Covid-19 virus, he has opted to give a free concert on either Instagram™ or Facebook™ at the following sites today. Scott is a tremendous performer on both the upright bass and the guitar and his music is worth the time to hear. This concert will be from a studio with all the best electronics.

Instagram Live 7:30 pm CST (@scottmulvahill in the Instagram app)

Facebook Live 8:45 pm CST (https://www.facebook.com/ScottMulvahill/

If you'd like to sample his talents, follow this link to YouTube™ on which Scott covers James Taylor's How Sweet it Is. You may want to dodge the ads, but it will be worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCbP3Cj0dgc

We are fine here at the manse, and the fur-children are glad to have us around, but we are retired with no place to go and all day to get there. I'd like to take some pix of the wave action, but given the Coronavirus Pandemic, I may just opt to view the waves on the local TV stations. 

Don't forget, that if the skies are clear, and as of now that seems unlikely in GH, and if you are up during the early morning hours, you can look look to the east just before dawn and see what NASA has dubbed a Planet Palooza.

Yesterday, I heard the train pass by heading south @ about 9:30 a.m. I was too lazy to get up and look. Later, after I was done in the kitchen and as Mary handled the cleanup, I watched MMRR locomotive #2019 heading north towing 11 CHCs, one DWTC, and 15 open hopper cars, similar to the one pictured below, which I copied from Google Images™. All seemed to be brand new cars with no graffiti.

Today, I hope to kick back a bit and do some reading, play some music, and just relax. Mary wants to do the same. Ciao.