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 38° under cloudy-skies with light rain in the vicinity and with winds of 16 mph that make it feel more like 30°. Today's high is forecast to be 40°. It looks like we'll be stuck in the 40s for many days.

A Small Craft Advisory is in effect from now until 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, from Pentwater to Manistee MI, with North winds to 30 knots producing waves of 5 to 8 feet.on the "Big Lake." As always, inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions. 

The sun will rise today @ 7:29 a.m. and set later @ 8:09 p.m.


Otherwise, not much is happening on the mean streets of Grand Haven. We have seen very few cars passing by the manse and the downtown is still very ghost-like in appearance, with few if any, pedestrians plying the sidewalks and visiting the mostly now-closed shops there. We have had several local eateries close for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, as they simply don't have enough business to warrant staying open. It is likely that that number will increase as the days turn into weeks and perhaps into months.

Locally, the price of gasoline continues to fall. It was down to $1.41/gallon at the station associated with our grocery store, D & W. With so many people either out of a job or working from home, that should come as no surprise. One local source has gone so far as to predict that prices for a gallon of regular unleaded may fall below $1.00/gallon! So what? The basic laws of economics are being applied here as supply is high while demand is low.

Speaking of that Covid-19 pandemic, the US is reporting 142,735 active cases and 4.562 deaths, so far. Remember when our illustrious POTUS assured us that the pandemic was under control and we'd be back in business very soon. Now, he is taking credit for keeping the death toll somewhere between 100,00 and 200,000 versus one to two million! I guess that would be fine, just as long as you or your loved ones are not part of that 200,000!

In happier news, we started a jigsaw puzzle yesterday for the first time in over two years. Here is a picture of someone getting the pieces sorted to begin the edges of that puzzle.

Somehow, our Senior Staff  Photographer mistakenly took a picture of some old guy doing the same thing I was doing.

The jury is still out on the puzzle mat that we've had in the closet for the last two years. It is supposed to make assembly go better and improve interim storage of the puzzle. But, I dunno.

Later, Mary used her kitchen magic and various leftovers, spices, and a tin of diced tomatoes to make a great tasting pasta meal. Now though, we now have used up my vegan pepperoni, as she ground that up to make her secret sauce. We are as we watched some old episodes of The Bob Newhart Show, the one where he plays a psychologist who lives and practices in Chicago.

It tasted even better than it looks!

I started to read 11/22/63 last night. This over 800 page tome by Stephen King that Mary recently finished, has me intrigued, so far. I guess that any book she is willing to devote many hours to and also give herself early-onset arthritis to read, must be good. Once again, the jury is still out.

I got a Facebook message from Kerry Fitzgerald last night regarding her completion of another page in the Grand Haven Coloring Book created by local artist, Barbara Carlson. Kerry is a talented artist and colorist in her own right, along with being the Assistant Head Librarian and the coordinator of my monthly Coffee and Coloring sessions at the Loutit District Library. She sadly noted that those sessions are on hold for the foreseeable future due to the pandemic. However, here is another example of her talents.

I think that Kerry's use of color and shading brought this mallard to life!

Today, we have to tackle some of that housework that we have been putting off. Long ago, Bob Apa, the proprietor of Triangle Mobil Service in Arlington Heights, IL, and a man whom I worked for in my formative automotive years, had a saying that went something like this. "Put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until tomorrow." He was a master procrastinator. I liked his style and also the ready access to the Pepsi machine in the garage of the station.

In a sad side-note, yesterday it was reported that country music performer, Joe Diffie, passed away due to the Covid-19 virus. He had many hit songs, including this one entitled Pickup Man.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I51JXpcLwk

Otherwise, we have no plans to break our isolation. We may walk the fur-children if the rains stop and take a crack at the crossword puzzle from the weekend edition of the Grand Haven Tribune. That's along with more playing of music, more reading, and whatever else time permits in our busy schedules. Ciao.