Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:30 a.m. in "The City", where my DTWS is displaying the current temperature as 37.6° which closely parallels that of the NWS which is showing the temperature reading as 38°. Both of those temperature readings will be the overnight/early-morning low. In addition, the current barometric pressures are 29.45" of Hg and falling per my DTWS and 30.09" of Hg and rising, courtesy of the NWS.

Of more import, is the Gale Warning that has been issued by the NWS that will go into effect @ 4:00 p.m. today and continue until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow from St. Joseph to Manistee. Gale force winds of 40 knots will propel waves up to 11 feet in height. Mariners are strongly urged to stay in port, or seek sheltered mooring. Mariners should assume that small craft may be be capsized if they are foolish enough to go out into the waters of Lake Michigan.  Naturally, no one should venture out on the piers. To paraphrase Gordon Lightfoot in The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Gales of November need to be remembered.

The sun will rise this morning @ 7:45 a.m. and set later @ 5:15 p.m.

In college football news, the 9 - 2 Spartans of MSU suffered a serious beat-down at the hands of the 10 - 1 Buckeyes of The Ohio State University, 7 - 56. The Spartans were never in the game and in fact they were down 0 - 49 @ halftime. The Spartans will still get a bowl bid, but they have no hope of winning the Big 10 crown. The Spartans host the 7 - 4 Nittany Lions of Penn State next Saturday @ 3:30 p.m.

The best chance for a Big 10 title for a Michigan-based university now rests with the overall 10 - 1 Wolverines of Michigan, who administered their own beat-down yesterday versus the 5 - 6 Terrapins of Maryland, 59 - 18. The 7 - 1 in the Big 10 Wolverines play host to the 8 - 0 in the Big 10 Buckeyes of OSU next weekend @ 12:00 p.m. in the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI for all the marbles.

We went walkabout with STWD and Ginger, yesterday afternoon and then returned the Weather Dog to the manse and went back downtown after sunset to see the lights of Christmas. We mistakenly thought that all the lights would be lit on the trees in Central Park and in front of the GH City Hall. But, we were wrong. Those Christmas trees won't be lit until after the Jingle Bell Parade on December 4, 2021. Oh well, we had a nice walkabout and I shot some interesting night pictures too. 

The fountain in Central Park with the Loutit Library and the community center in the background.

A long-range shot of Washington Ave. from near the Ottawa County Courthouse looking west.

We were crossing Washington Ave. when I stopped to shoot towards Dewey Hill. to the west.

The streets of GH were mostly devoid of pedestrians on a beautiful Saturday night in downtown.

Looking east in the downtown.

Adjacent to St. John's Episcopal Church @ 6th and Washington.

All in all, it was a great night to go walkabout and enjoy the crisp air and the scenery of our little city.  While we were out, I took this shot of one of the planets visible in the clear winter skies. There were others, but one bright planet looks like another.

Planets don't twinkle, as they reflect light, whereas stars do, as they are producing their own light.

We got all of our indoor chores done yesterday, I finished a book, Mary is still enjoying learning more about Lady Bird Johnson, First-Lady to our 36th POTUS, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Lady Bird was herself an avid outdoors-person and the first of the many First-Ladies to interact directly with Congress. She was a strong advocate for her husband, but also a very vocal advocate for the beautification of America. 

Today, I have another crossword to solve, some outdoor chores to do with Mary's help, I may bake some cookies and accomplish a few sundry other things. No Lions football for me today. Mary will continue her own craft experience and also continue her "Reading" of the Lady Bird Johnson Biography. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 10:30 p.m. in "The City", where my DTWS is displaying a current temperature of 36° with a barometric pressure of 29.74" of Hg and rising. The NWS agrees on the current temperature, but they show the barometric pressure as 30.37" of Hg and falling. I will hazard a guess and suggest that the NWS is using stats from GR.

The NWS has continued that Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until midnight tomorrow night, with an expectation of 10 to 20 knot winds and possible gusts up to 25 knots propelling waves up to seven feet in height. That Small Craft Advisory  will be superseded by a Gale Watch scheduled to go into effect Sunday afternoon into Monday afternoon. Windspeeds of 20 to 30 knots with possible gusts up to 40 knots are forecast to propel waves as high as 12 feet!! The surf will most definitely be up!!!

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:42 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 5:17 p.m.

We didn't go to the annual Light Night tonight because we are not much into crowds these days and surprise, we aren't getting any younger. 

However, I did spend some time today working a crossword puzzle, making vegan Italian burgers and meatballs, and reading. Speaking of which, I had several more books on hold at the library, which Mary and Ginger picked up on their walkabout. Since I try to get my books in my preferred large-print format, three books proved to be quite a load, as one of the books is large and heavy. That cut down on the time that Mary and Ginger spent walking as Mary had to carry my books home in a sack.

Mary is still downstairs hard at work on her cross-stitch project. She loves it. 

The 8 - 3 NIU Huskies defeated the 4 - 7 Bulls of Buffalo U last Wednesday, 33 - 27, with former Spartans QB, Rocky Lombardi at the controls of the Huskies offense. The Huskies meet the 6 - 5 Broncos of W. MI next Tuesday night @ 7:00 p.m.

The 9 - 1 Spartans of MSU travel to Columbus, OH to meet the also 9 - 1 Buckeyes of OSU tomorrow @ 12:00 p.m. OSU's only loss was to the 9 - 1 Ducks of Oregon early in the 2021 season. The Spartans lone loss this season came at the hands of the 6 - 4 Boilermakers of Purdue. 

The 9 - 1 Wolverines of MI travel to Maryland to meet the 5 -5 Terrapins. The Wolverines only loss this season was to the Spartans.

Tomorrow I plan to watch as the Spartans try to upend the Buckeyes and also do some indoor chores. More reading, more puzzle solving are also on the itinerary. Mary will probably join me for part of the MSU game, but it is likely that she will repair to the upstairs where the sunlight should be conducive to cross-stitching. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 11:15 p.m. in "The City" which is windy and cold right now. That cold is being fostered by an 18 mph wind out of the west that makes it feel like 40° versus the actual temperature displayed on my DTWS of 47°.

The Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee remains in effect until 7:00 a.m. Friday. Windspeeds pf 30 knots will propel waves up to 10 feet in height! Our high-temperature tomorrow is forecast to only reach 38° with snow-showers in the forecast in the afternoon accompanied by winds of 22 mph! The overnight low is expected to drop to 33°. All of that happens after the sun rises @ 7:40 a.m., but before the sun sets @ 5:18 tomorrow evening. 

I stayed  home today while Mary went walkabout at Duncan Woods before she stopped at that big-box nearly everything store. She had to get a few grocery items, but mostly she was in search of a basket for our mud room to hold the sundry items  that are part and parcel to winter in Michigan.

While Mary was at Duncan Woods, she slipped into her role as our Senior Staff Photographer and took these pictures of her walkabout using only her Smart Phone camera. I think the pictures came out very nice in spite of the cloudy conditions and limited sunshine.

Earlier, I was again doing some work in my studio and watched the passage of MMRR locomotives 2170 and 2019 as they headed south. The passage of the train across our street and at every  grade-level crossing required that a flagger disembark the front of the lead locomotive and stop traffic. For whatever the reason, the railroad has et to reactivate the signal lights at the crossings here in GH. At 9:02 a.m., I saw those locomotives towing 11 DBTCs, two GTCs, and 15 CGCs. 

As I said, I stayed behind this afternoon and as I was once again working in my studio, I watched the northbound run of the MMRR locomotives as they towed nine DBTCs and one DWTC around 4:00 p.m. 

Tomorrow I have another P/T appointment after I let the fur-children out post-feeding. There is not much else on tap for me. Mary will be listening to her book and doing more cross-stitching. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 10:30 p.m. in "The City", where the display on my DTWS is showing a current temperature of 44° under skies described by the NWS as partly-cloudy. The overnight low will drop to a seasonal 46° before we rebound to tomorrow's high-temperature of 56°, which is forecast to be 11° warmer than today.

The NWS has continued that Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 7:00 a.m. Friday, with winds tomorrow expected to blow from the south @ 15 to 30 knots, changing to west winds of 15 - 30 knots later in the day.

Tonight, the waves will be four to seven feet, but they are going to subside tomorrow afternoon, before building once again to six to nine feet in height! The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:38 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 5:19 p.m.

Not much happened today. I had a great appointment at P/T today, while Mary stayed back and did most of the indoor chores while I was out. Lunch was some of my world-famous vegan Italian meatballs mixed with Mary's secret recipe pasta sauce over spaghetti noodles and a side salad.

Dinner was pan-fried tofu with Coleslaw that Mary made last night using the food processor. I usually do the grating, but since I was reading upstairs, she peeled and cored the apples, fed them and the cabbage into the food-processor, and mixed up the dressing. I liked it better than my efforts to date, so I think she should be in charge of the Coleslaw from this point forward. 

Late last night, I got my email program reinstalled and also got the fine folks at Yahoo to retrieve and send to my inbox the emails that were deleted in the process of uninstalling and reinstalling the software. I was then able to get the necessary links for two photography on-line sessions that I am scheduled to view tomorrow and Thursday.

Tomorrow, looks like a day of staying indoors and out of the rainy/windy weather. It will be warmer, but it will also be raining. A good day for music, reading, and crossword-puzzle solving. 

Speaking of those crossword puzzles, Tuesday is the day when the Grand Haven Tribune includes two puzzles in the comics section. Unfortunately, both puzzles were misprinted and could not  be worked. Sigh.

Mary continues to work on her cross-stitching and she is making excellent progress. That's enough for now. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:45 a.m. in "The City", where the display on my DTWS shows 37°, which matches the forecast from the NWS under rainy-skies which the NWS has forecast to continue throughout the day. Our current temperature is also our overnight low, with today's high predicted to reach 42° with an overnight low-temperature of 35°.

Well, it is that time of year when the forecasts begin to predict wintry weather for our little corner of the word. The NWS has added a Winter Weather Advisory to the forecast for Southwest and South Central Michigan until 4:00 p.m. today. Areas north of GR may see from one to three inches of heavy-wet snow.

In addition, the NWS has continued the Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, with winds from 15 to 25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots. Those winds starting in the Southwest this morning and changing to Northwest winds this afternoon pushing waves up to eight feet in height! The sun rose into leaden skies this morning @ 7:36 a.m. and it will set tonight @ 5:21 p.m.

College football yesterday was boring in the early afternoon, as the 9 - 1 Wolverines of MI visited the 6 - 4 Nittany Lions of Penn State in Happy Valley, PA, where the Wolverines eked out a slim victory over the Nittany Lions, 21 - 17. Michigan did not look strong offensively and it was their defense that kept them in the game. I expect their national ranking to drop once again. 

On the other hand, the also 9 - 1 Spartans of MSU hosted the 5 - 5 Terrapins of Maryland and soundly defeated the Terrapins, 40 - 21. I expect that their national ranking will improve.

We took some abbreviated individual walks with the fur-children yesterday afternoon. Whereas STWD and I never stray far from the manse, Mary and Ginger like to go for longer sojourns. That was their plan, but the raindrops that were falling on our heads forced the return of Mary and Ginger about the same time that STWD and I were getting back to the manse. After that, we stayed indoors and out of the weather.

Mary made two of my favorite things for meals yesterday. Brunch was grilled tofu with tartar sauce and a salad, while tempeh bacon and lettuce sandwiches with a side of cheesy grits for dinner was dinner. In both cases, iceberg lettuce was one of the featured ingredients. What's not to like?

We completed the indoor chores too. 

Mary is making solid progress on her cross-stitching and I am being retired. We collectively watched another episode of Chuck and then I watched what seems to be another in an endless stream of Christmas Hallmark movies after dinner last night. I'm a sucker for a Christmas romance.

Today, we are scheduled to visit that aforementioned cell-phone provider in Holland to get a new SIM card and also get help with setting up my new phone. I admit to needing help, because the phone won't accept my email password. Maybe I don't need it anyway. We'll see.

Is that enough for one day? Yes! Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:45 a.m. in "The City", where my DTWS is displaying a current temperature of 43° with rain inthe vicinity. The NWS seems unable to take into account the effect that Lake Michigan has on the communities near her shoreline. 

What that means is that the NWS issued a Special Weather Statement for Ottawa, County until 9:00 a.m. today. They stated that one to four inches of heavy, wet snow fell on West Michigan overnight. I'll give them their due and mention their forecast for Ottawa, County centers on the areas immediately west of Kalamazoo, MI. What a perfect place to insert a YouTube clip from the Swing Era Big Band of Glenn Miller with Tex Benteke and Marion Hutton and the Modern Aires singing I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo. If you look closely, you'll see Glenn Miller playing trombone in the scenes where the band is on camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVUI-0iqb5Q

Here in GH, we do have a little bit of ice clinging to many areas, but mostly water. The sun rose @ 7:35 this morning and it will set later @ 5:22 p.m.

However, the NWS has continued their Small Craft Advisory until 10:00 a.m. Monday from St. Joseph to Manistee. Wind-speeds of 10 - 20 knots with gusts possible up to 30 knots, may produce waves as high as nine feet in height!

I don't know about you, but it would seem to me that if my automobile needed to be updated several time in one week or its performance would noticeably slow, which mine did, is one of the least desirable aspects of life with computers. Just saying. 

Yesterday, part of the indoor chores were completed and I took time after we got back from an aborted run to get my cell-phone a new SIM card along with a stop at that big-box nearly everything store and a short walk with Ginger at Lake Forest Cemetery. I had walked STWD before we set out. I also took time to make more vegan Italian burgers and meatballs.

It seems that with the heavy traffic caused by that bridge reconstruction, which is stopped by the inclement weather, that we can go to an alternative location north of Holland more quickly. So, we set an appointment to do that tomorrow.

Otherwise, not much is happening here in GH. except for the continuation of our indoor chore day, more reading, and more cross-stitching. Mary is making excellent progress on her latest effort. She says she is a slow cross-stitcher, but so what, it's not like we have any pressing plans.

Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature displayed on my DTWS is the same as that in the report from the NWS, 48°, under mostly-cloudy/windy skies. The "Real Feel" is 41° with that strong wind blowing out of the southwest @ 21 mph! That 48° will be our overnight/early-morning low temperature as we rise only a single degree to 49° for our daytime high-temperature today. The overnight low-temperature forecast by the NWS calls for the low-temperature tonight to drop to a very late fall-like 38°.

The sun will rise this morning @ 7:33 a.m. and set tonight @ 5:23 p.m.. In between the NWS forecast calls for showers this morning to change to steady rain later this afternoon and into the evening. 

The NWS has rescinded that Gale Warning, but they have reinstated that Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 7:00 p.m. Sunday night. Wind-speeds of 20 to 30 knots and wave-heights from six to nine feet can be expected. Yes? Surf's Up!

Speaking of those high waves, they peaked last night when that Gale Warning was still in effect just before sunset, although I was too comfortable reading in my La-Z-Boy around that time to risk life, limb and camera, so no pix. I can say that on Facebook, some of the more intrepid photographers in one of my photo groups got some great shots of the waves crashing over the south pier and the outer lighthouse. 

Last Wednesday, the 5 - 1 in the MAC 10 West Huskies of NIU defeated the 3 - 3 in the MAC 10 West Cardinals of Ball State, 30 - 29. Their next game will be Wednesday, November 17, @ 7:00 p.m. versus the 2 - 4 Buffalo Bills of the University of Buffalo, NY, in a match-up between a MAC 10 West and a MAC 10 East team. 

The 8 - 1 Spartans of MSU have their next game tomorrow @ 4:00 p.m. when they play host to the 5 - 4 Terrapins of Maryland. 

The also 8 - 1 Wolverines of Michigan travel to Pennsylvania for a game tomorrow @ 12:00 p.m. versus the 6 - 3 Nittany Lions of Pen State University.

Recently, I received a notification from the large mobile-phone provider of my cellular service that my current cell-phone would stop working very soon due to it not being a 5G compatible phone. They sent me a "Free" replacement, which is great. Unfortunately, that "New" phone is not compatible with my current SIM card. So, I have to go to the nearby AT&T store for a new one. That would be fine, if that store wasn't hemmed in by the bridge reconstruction that is going on in front of that store's location. So, when we are out later today for a stop at that big-box nearly everything store, I'll have to prevail upon Mary to detour to the AT&T store first. Sigh.

No mail yesterday, so no newspaper and thus no crossword puzzle. although I did get more reading done after my podiatrist appointment. 

Mary made some great tacos for dinner last night. They were very similar those made by that large West-Coast chain, Jack in the... I liked them a lot.

Today. mostly time spent indoors reading, working a puzzle, making vegan Italian burgers and meatballs, and whatever comes our way, be that cross-stitching or playing music before we brave the elements and make those aforementioned stops. Ciao.