Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 1:00 a.m. EDT in "The City."

I used Eastern Daylight Time, because we have not yet "Fallen Back" to Eastern Standard Time, which is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. this morning when it will be, well, you get the idea.

We have a current temperature of 55° that feels like 49° with a 27 mph wind blowing outside the manse. 

In addition, the NWS in  GR has issued three warnings/advisories. 

We have a Gale Warning in effect until 1:00 a.m. Monday, from St. Joseph to Manistee. South gales will blow @ 40 knots, changing to northwest gales of 45 knots, but then diminishing to 40 knots. Waves will be from 6 to 10 feet, increasing 10 to 15 feet during the day today. Surf will definitely be up!

We also have a Wind Advisory in effect for the following counties in MI, Allegan, Mason, Oceana, Ottawa, Muskegon, and Van Buren. We can expect winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph until 7:00 p.m. tonight. 

There is also a Lakeshore Flood Advisory in effect for those same counties until 1:00 a.m. Monday. Significant erosion of beaches and dunes and flooding of low-lying areas is expected. 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back out into the world!

However, the long-range forecast from the NWS indicates that we will have high-temperatures in the mid 50s to the lower 60s from Wednesday through Sunday of the week ahead. Is my summer uniform returning? Maybe. Stay tuned. 

Yesterday was a great day in college football, that is if you are Michigan State Spartans fan, which I am. The 1 - 1 Spartans defeated the 1 - 1 Wolverines of Michigan, 27 - 24. to retain the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The Spartans play the Hawkeyes of Iowa next week.

If you are a fan of Northwestern University's 2 - 0 Wildcats, they defeated the aforementioned 0 - 2 Hawkeyes, 21 - 20, yesterday. Next week, the Wildcats play the 0 - 1 Cornhuskers of Nebraska. 

In more important baseball news, the Tigers have hired former Astros manager AJ Hinch as their new manager to replace retired manager Ron Gardenhire. Here's hoping that the Tigers will contend if there is a baseball season in 2021. 

I didn't venture out beyond the back forty yesterday, but I took my camera out to take some pix of what was available. 

The only barn available nearby.

A squirrel's nest in trees at the back of the vast gardens. 

One of Mary's many negotiated finds that now is near our garage.

The sun through the trees over that barn.

AJ and Steph will recognize this car. 

Sometimes, trees will drop something of interst. 

Another of Mary's negotiated treasures that is now on the back of the manse. 

The vines are growing just fine on our deck.

Today, the 3 - 3 Lions play the 4 - 2 Colts in an empty stadium @ 1:00 p.m. EST. Later, the 5 - 2 Bears, face the 4 - 2 Saints @ 4:25 p.m., also in an empty stadium. The Bears were mauled last week by the 5 - 2 Rams, 10 - 24. If the Bears can't find a way to protect QB Nick Foles, it will be a long walk on a short plank for the Bears. 

Otherwise, we have more TV to watch and more reading to do. I spent about two hours playing music yesterday morning, so I plan to take the day off today. It is time for the fur-children to receive their monthly preventative meds too. 

The sun will rise this morning @ 8:18 a.m. and set later @ 6:37 p.m.That's enough for one day. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 9:00 p.m. in "The City."

We took our fur-children to their veterinarian's appointment today. Everything went well and the girls are home and resting now. 

We didn't accomplish much else today except for solving a crossword puzzle and doing a lot of reading.

Tuesday, we took the fur-children to Grand Haven's City Beach and they had a good time romping in the sand and barking at the passage of strangers. Well actually, Ginger barked. STWD was her usual quiet self. I took along my camera and captured some great shots of the beach, the dog tracks, the outer lighthouse, the birds, and a gate at the nearby condo.

To avoid close contact with other people, we parked across the street from the beach. 

Mary and Ginger tracked through the drifting sand in the parking area for Noto's restaurant.

We have no clue why a locked gate is located next to a roped off patio area at the condos. 

If you snap the shutter often enough you get some great pix of a gull or one of its relatives, a tern.

Or, a crow in flight.

The waves were rolling, as befits the Small Craft Advisory that was in effect 
Tuesday afternoon.

Another gull or tern in flight. 

A feather from one of the gulls.

Driftwood, not drifting. 

The weather today was windy, but comfortable. We have a current temperature of 42° under cloudy skies. The low tonight is expected to drop to 37° before we rebound to tomorrow's high temperature of 43° under mostly-cloudy skies. The low for tomorrow, Friday, will be 32°. All of the is sandwiched between the sunrise @ 8:16 a.m. and the sunset @ 6:39 p.m.

tomorrow, we anticipate doing some cleaning, some reading, playing some music, and whatever else comes to mind. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I'm going to begin with a partial trainspotting report, We still have trains passing by the manse at odd time. For instance, last night @ 11:10 p.m., MMRR locomotives 2019 and 2025 passed by heading south towing 12 CHCs, 10 DBTCs, and three DWTCs. Mary thinks they are hiding something and I tend to agree. Is that a conspiracy theory? Probably not, but it still is odd.

We have a current temperature of 41° that feels like 34° with a 14 mph wind blowing. That wind is part of the Small Craft Advisory that will be in effect until 8:00 p.m. tonight from St. Joseph to Whitehall. Wind speeds will reach as high as 10 - 25 knots today, diminishing to 10 - 20 knots and waves will be 4 - 7 feet until they diminish to 3 - 5 feet later today too.

Today's high will reach 50° under sunny skies after the sun rises @ 8:15 a.m., with 17 mph winds here in Southwest MI. Tonight's low will drop to 39° once we pass sunset @ 6:41 p.m.

Mary put her baking skills on display over the last two days and nights and produced another fine loaf of artisan bread. To paraphrase the movie Airplane! I had the green tomato pie. Well, that was my overnight snack. We tried the bread yesterday afternoon and it is terrific!

This was the best looking and best tasting bread since Mary's last loaf of bread!

I am finished with my knee injections until next spring/summer. 

Before dinner, we watched another episode of  Lark Rise to Candleford and we are still loving the program. 

Today, indoor chores, more music, more reading, and more raking. Like Marshall, our old neighbor, I do a little raking each week and sooner or later, all of the leaves will have fallen and been raked.

In baseball news, the LA Dodgers took last night's game from the Tampa Bay Rays, 3 - 1, to win the World Series, four games to two. One of my favorite players, former Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, was a huge part of the Dodgers success.

Otherwise, that's enough for one day. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 39° that feels like 39° with a one mile per hour wind blowing and all of that under cloudy skies.

The sun will rise this morning @ 8:13 a.m. and set later @ 6:42 p.m.

I watched the 5 - 2 Bears embarrass themselves last night, as they lost to the 5 - 2 LA Rams, 10 - 24. Too many penalties, some deserved, some not, too many turnovers, and too little imagination on offense. Nuff said. The Bears welcome the New Orleans Saints to Soldier Field next Sunday @ 4:25 p.m. EST.

The way the Bears played last night, may turn me into a Detroit Lions fan yet, as the Lions came back in their game Sunday afternoon to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 23 - 22. 

Yesterday afternoon, I went up to my studio to play some music, while Mary traveled to the local big-box nearly everything store to pick up some needed things. After her stop there, she took a ride by herself to the Lake Forest Cemetery to walk the trails of the adjacent Duncan Woods near the area we recently walked with the fur-children. She discovered some trails that would have been difficult for me to navigate with the leaves covering some roots that would likely have tripped me. 

She didn't take along her camera, but she did manage to use her Smart Phone to snap a couple of nifty pix of the trails she was traversing.

I don't think she was in Kansas.

But the ravines look very inviting, especially in warm and dry weather. 

We watched another episode of Lark Rise to Candleford before dinner. We can't wait for the elections to be over so that we no longer have to see an endless stream of political ads on network TV, many of them filled with innuendos, half-truths, outright lies and very little that was true.

I was up early yesterday morning and earlier this morning to watch the southbound run of the trains on the RSTL that passes just to the east of the manse. 

Yesterday, I observed MMRR locomotives 2019 and 2025 passing by at a high rate of speed towing six CHCs, all loaded, @ 12:20 a.m.

This morning, I watched as those same locomotives reversed their order and passed by heading once again heading south, towing four CHCs, and 15 CGCs. The cars seemed partially loaded.

Once again, I was awake enough to not the passage of the train heading north @ 5:03 a.m., but I was too lazy to get up and look. I only know that it was much longer than the southbound run earlier this morning. 

Today, the only plans we have are for me to visit my orthopedist this afternoon for my final set of knee injections. Otherwise, I want to read more from a book I am thoroughly enjoying written by Lucian K. Truscott, IV written in 1998, entitled Full Dress Gray. I wanted to try this book before I checked out Mr. Truscott's newer works. Plus, more music beckons me.

We do have some indoor chores to accomplish, but they can wait for another day. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in :The City."

Next week, November 1, 2020, we return to Eastern Standard Time. Mary had a great suggestion when it comes to my Citizen's Eco Drive watch that is always a pain to reset. Her suggestion? DON'T! Since I have another watch that is easy to set, and since we won't be going anywhere for the foreseeable future., if I wait until next spring, it will be like that proverbial stopped clock, it will once again be accurate. 

We have a current temperature of 37° that feels like 33° with only a 4 mph wind. That's because the temperatures are now low enough overnight that the Wind Chill Factor is applicable. 

Today's high temperature will reach up to 50° before the overnight low of 38°. We have no alerts in effect at this time. The sun will rise later this morning @ 8:11 a.m. and set @ 6:45 p.m.

Good news, we didn't have to make a run to GR last night, as Ginger is much improved. We even canceled her appointment at her local doctor's off too. Whew!

College football yesterday was very interesting, to say the least. The Michigan State Spartans are now 0 - 1. They were so turnover prone in their game versus the 1 - 0 Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, that the final score could have been a lot worse than the final 27 - 38 would seem to indicate. 

However, the Little Brown Jug will remain in MI again this year, as the 1 - 0 Wolverines of MI, soundly defeated the 0 - 1 Golden Gophers of MN, 49 - 24. 

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday making another green tomato pie. Like my last, it turned out delicious.

Mmmm Good!

Afterwards, we took the fur-children for a walkabout in the Lake Forest Cemetery and although we were not in the most photogenic area of the cemetery grounds, I managed to snap some pix of the flora and the clouds.

Puffy clouds in an azure blue sky.

Some clouds hid the sun in this shot. 

Looking into one of the many ravines in the cemetery.

Just a nice panoramic shot.

When we got home, I took some pix of the remnants of our basil plants. They produced well this year, but they had overstayed their season, as had the Black Eyed Susans in the other pot nearby. .

The end of a successful growing season. 

Since I had my camera along for the ride, I took some pix of the last rose of the season too, both outside and on our end table. I also took a shot of the wax begonias that I have been watering all summer..

Close.

And closer.

The wax begonias.

The last rose on our end table.

Today, we have no specific plans. The indoor chores are done. Our reading is progressing nicely. The fur-children are doing well, but another walkabout is not out of the question after the Lions game. Ciao.

Good mornig or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:30 p.m in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 46°under rainy/hazy skies. The low for tonight will be in the upper 30s and tomorrow's high is forecast to reach 46° before the overnight low of 35° sets in. 

There is a Small Craft Advisory in effect until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow with north winds of 30 knots and waves reaching to nine feet from St. Joseph to Manistee.

The sun will rise tomorrow at 8:16 a.m. and set later @ 6:47 p.m.

One of our fur-children, Ginger, has been feeling ill since last night and continuing into today. She is out of sorts, although she is eating and active. At any rate, we have her set to visit her doctor tomorrow morning. We are hoping that Ginger is feeling better overnight, or a run to GR will be required so that a veterinarian can see her there. Fingers crossed.

Last night, Thursday, the southbound run of the train went rolling past on the RSTL @ 10:56 p.m. Locomotives 2025 and 2019 were towing seven CHCs, five DBTCs, and one DWTC.

Since I was up, I observed the northbound run of those same locomotives @ 2:25 a.m. They were running without cars in tow. 

Today, not much was happening. I read a lot, and that's about it. Mary was making appointments and checking to see that our ballots had been received, which they had.

Tomorrow, is another day of indoor chores and the appointment for Ginger. 

Otherwise, not much is happening and we like it that way. In many ways, the Covid-19 isolation has been a blessing, as we can get things done around the manse. However, we can't travel any farther, or is it further, than the amount of time between home and our destination, for obvious reasons. 

That's all folks! Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

The NWS is reporting that our current temperature is 46° with rain falling. Surprisingly, they are right for a change. In addition, the temperature feels more like 43° due to a 5 mph wind. 

Today's high is forecast to reach 60° with a 100% chance for rain all day. Tonight's low will only drop two degrees to 58° before Friday's forecast high of 63°. Unfortunately, while that temperature looks like one more opportunity to don my summer uniform, that 63° is accompanied by a rain forecast of 90%. Sigh.

The sun will rise this morning 8:07 a.m. and set this evening @ 6:50 p.m., a scant 10 hours and 43 minutes later.

I was hard at work in the vast gardens of the PE yesterday afternoon while Mary traveled to pick up our groceries, with Ginger riding shotgun. 

As an aside, I wonder when that phrase, "Riding Shotgun" will no longer have any meaning? That phrase refers to the practice from the "Olden Days" that stage coach  lines had a driver with a person carrying a shotgun sitting beside him. That person's function was to carry a shotgun and thus guard the valuables often carried by a stagecoach, from thieves. Like today, the safety of the passengers was of secondary importance. 

At any rate, Mary and Ginger decided to detour to the mostly-deserted City Beach here in GH, so that Ginger could enjoy one of her favorite activities and Mary could have a reason to walk on the sandy shores of the "Big Lake.". Mary only had her Smartphone camera along, but she took some excellent pictures without being able to see the results until later. 

One direction, looking south towards Holland I believe.

The opposite direction, looking north.

Once again, the trains are still on a weird schedule. Early yesterday morning, the trains passed by at first heading southbound @ 12:26 a.m. with locomotives 2025 and 2019 towing seven CHCs, and 18 CGCs. About 3:45 a.m., I heard those same locomotives pass by heading north, by themselves. While I didn't actually observe their passage, I sensed no cars in tow. 

Last evening @ 10:43 p.m., my journeyman assistant trainspotter, Mary, and Ginger, our trainspotting dog, witnessed the passage of that same tandem heading south. While I have no car count to report, I was given to understand that the few cars in tow were heavily loaded. I anticipate that the train will pass by heading north about 2:00 a.m. this morning, when I hope to be in bed. 

Today. with all the rain in the forecast, we'll have time to do some additional reading and TV viewing. 

Last evening before dinner, we watched the first episode from season two of Lark Rise to Candleford and the episode was a real tear-jerker. Our dinner was an excellent homemade pizza.

Since today will be an indoor kind of day, we'll also do some of those things that we should get to on a regular basis. Or not. 

I may get into the kitchen to make more vegan Italian meatballs and Mary has plans to use up some of our leftovers as taco filling. When you make vegan dishes, you often need about one cup of beans from a can that contains more like one and one-half cups of beans. So, you end up with leftover beans of various types. Hence, the taco filling. 

Otherwise, nothing is planned. Ciao.