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 the current temperature under clear skies is a very seasonal 31°, although it feels more like 25°, with a slight wind out of the southwest @ six mph. 

In what is a first in many days, the NWS has issued no alerts, watches, advisories, or warnings for today. In fact, after the sun rises @ 7:46 a.m., the high temperature is forecast to reach 40° under sunny skies. After the sun sets @ 6:12 p.m., the forecast calls for an overnight low temperature of 35°.

Much of yesterday was consumed by collectively ear-reading a book written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, entitled Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? regarding the lack of civil rights in America. We have made progress, but many of the points Dr. King made in 1968, still have a lot of poignancy today. In fact, it is possible that we are in need of a new champion for the rights of all women and men, from all walks of life, racial backgrounds, and beliefs. 

Lest it be said that that was all we accomplished, Mary spent about one and one-half hours in the morning yesterday watching a podcast presented by Curt Dykstra of the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation system, regarding migratory birds and their habits. I like to watch birds, but Mary is totally into this subject. Maybe it is like her love for cross-stitching, which she was also doing for a goodly part of the day. When she gets into something, she wants and needs to know more.

The vegan kitchen finally reopened for the first time in many weeks, as I spent about one-hour preparing a batch of my famous vegan Italian sausages. Along with some fresh broccoli prepared by Mary, two of those sausages became part of our dinner. 

As an aside, I am hoping for cheezy grits for breakfast this morning. 

I also did some painting, calligraphy practice, coloring, and finally resting too, as I unintentionally got up way too early and needed an afternoon nap. Mary says I should ignore her rising early for events when I don't have to get up early, but I seem unable to do that. Sigh.

Today, I have plans to get back into my studio and with Mary's help, get my new computer set up and ready to go. Plus, there is more coloring and calligraphy to work on too. As of this juncture, I have no plans to watch Super Bowl 57 at this time. However, I do have plans to join my Sunday night Ukulele session tonight @ 9:00 p.m.

Mary has plans to stitch more, listen to podcasts, collectively ear-read, and we may collectively take a walk in the sunshine. We can't go downtown due to the large number of shoppers who are always attracted by a sunny day in downtown GH.

That looks like a good day's blogging. Ciao. 

 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:45 a.m. in "The City", where the wind-chilled temperature is a brisk 27° due to a strong wind out of the northwest @ 13 mph. The actual temperature under cloudy skies is 36°,

The NWS forecast for today calls for a high temperature of 37° and an overnight low temperature of 29°, accompanied by yet another Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 10:00 p.m. tonight. Wind speeds from 15 to 25 knots will produce waves from four to seven feet in height.

The sunrise today will be @ 7:49 a.m. and sunset @ 6:09 p.m.

Yesterday was rainy, so we didn't accomplish much outdoors. In fact, the only outdoor activity we had was watching the rain fall and letting Ginger out for her daily visits. 

While I was reading and Mary was stitching, she played a podcast regarding the future of battery/electric powered vehicles and the effects of mining for lithium needed to produce the necessary batteries. I had only half an ear at first, but I listened to the second half and found the podcast interesting.

Mostly, I came away with the thought that the answer to a reduction to the negatives associated with mining for lithium could be alleviated by more public transportation and less use of personal automobiles. Yeah, like that will happen in this car-crazy society in which we live.

As was pointed out, the larger the vehicles get, the larger the batteries become and so the benefits of electric vehicles are offset by the huge batteries they need, that old adage, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, was cited by the podcasters as the way to go. 

Oh yes, we can recover the lithium from old batteries and reuse that, but even a fossil-fueled bus with numerous passengers was better for the environment than one person in an electric SUV on the way to the grocery store.

I started that new book, Mary continued to ear-read and cross-stitch, and I finished two crossword puzzles. Collectively, we ear-read more of Little Souls, we are nearing the end, and we watched very little TV. As far as I'm concerned, that's just fine, as long as we have a local newspaper. 

It's not that we aren't concerned about the future, we are, but right now, it seems like too many people are too busy to care about what really matters.

Today, finish the old crossword puzzles and the daily crypto quote, more art, more music, more cross-stitching, more newspapers, more print-reading, more retirement, more ear-reading, etc. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:15 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is 39° under partly cloudy skies, while the wind chill makes it feel more like 35°, due to wind out of the south @ five mph.

The NWS has issued a Wind Advisory beginning tomorrow @ 10:00 a.m. and continuing until 11:00 p.m. tomorrow night, for Allegan, Ottawa, and Van Buren counties. Wind speeds are forecast to be between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts possibly up to 50 mph, resulting in windblown debris and possible damage to power lines. That's on land.

However, the NWS has also issued a Gale Watch for the shores of Lake Michigan from St. Joseph to Manistee, from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night, with 20 to 30-knot winds, with gusts possibly up to 40 knots, propelling waves as high as 10 feet in height. If it wasn't for the rain in the forecast @ 100% tomorrow, I believe that the surfers would be out here on the "Third Coast." 

The overnight low tonight will drop to only 34° before we rebound to tomorrow's rainy high temperature of 44°, followed by another overnight low temperature of 34°.

Sunrise on Thursday will be @ 7:50 a.m., followed by sunset @ 6:07 p.m.

Well, the computer mystery was solved. Mary took time to think the problem through and determined that the problem was that the Thumb Drive we were trying to access was too old for Windows 11. So once we tried a more up-to-date Thumb Drive, voila, no more problem. 

However, Windows 11 needs a Memory Card Reader to access pictures from either of our cameras. We received one of those from that big-box e-tailer late Wednesday, plugged it into the computer, inserted the SD card from my camera, and once again, voila, the problem was resolved. 

Otherwise, things are quiet here at the manse of the palatial estate. I stopped reading that book I was uncertain about, Hokuloa Road, and Mary explained the ending, which I know I would have found unenjoyable. I am going to start another book soon.

Meanwhile, back at the manse, we are still ear-reading Little Souls, by Sandra Dallas and we are thoroughly enjoying it. 

Mary continues to ear-read her own book, cross-stitch, take Ginger to her grooming appointment, and try to stay ahead of the indoor chores. 

As previously referenced, we went downtown yesterday to utilize the heated sidewalks and I traveled further than the day before. Today, we didn't go because Ginger was freshly groomed, and my body begged me to rest for a day. Since tomorrow is a rainy day, it will be Friday before we try again.

I am still working on crossword puzzles, painting, playing music, and trying to stay active to regain the strength I lost due to my knee surgery. 

Speaking of which, my right knee is scheduled for March 20.

So, that looks like 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 6:00 a. m, in "The City.'

The NWS is reporting a current temperature of 46°, which will be the highest temperature that we reach today, with a Gale Warning in effect from South Haven to Manistee until 10:00 a.m. Wind speeds will be 20 to 30 knots, with gusts possible up to 40 knots propelling waves as high as nine feet on the "Big Lake." Will the surf be up? Surely, you jest! Of course! It is likely that the surfers will be out today if they can maneuver past the ice clogged shores. 

Strong winds out of the south at 28 mph make it feel more like 33°. The sunrise today will be @ 7:53 a.m. and sunset @ 6:05 p.m.

Yesterday was pretty mundane here at the manse. I started a new book recommended by Mary, Hokuloa Road, by Elizabeth Hand. Mary recommended this book on the strength of a recent ear-read, but I am having trouble liking it. I'll give it a few more pages and then, to paraphrase Chef Emeril Lagasse, Bam! More reading will not spare this books trip to the to be returned pile here at the manse.

Early yesterday morning, I finished my most recent print-read, The Lions Game, by Nelson Demille, and I liked it much more. The large-print edition I read came in at over 1,000 pages, and it was more my cup of tea. 

We also started another ear-read, entitled Little Souls, by Sandra Dallas. It is a fictionalized version of the Spanish Influenza epidemic of the early 1900s set in Colorado. 

I made it to my podiatrist's appointment yesterday afternoon, and as usual, they were behind schedule. It took nearly one hour to get in and out. I am not happy about that in light of the fact that we are in flu season and the Covid-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating and it is likely that it never will. I wore my mask, but it seems as though most people have taken a rather cavalier attitude about the latter.

Afterwards, we went downtown to take advantage of the ice-free walking conditions there. Mary and Ginger went further than I, but I walked farther than Sunday, so I see that as progress.

With some slight assistance from me, Mary did part of the indoor chores and then sat down to do some reading and cross-stitching. 

At any rate, here I am at 6:00 a.m., blogging, as the winds howl outside the manse and Mary and Ginger are snugly sleeping. Mary assures me that this was the norm in olden times, but it would be nice to sleep in like most folks do. 

Mary plans to sit down here today and contact the support people for this PC and hopefully resolve the recalcitrance of this computer to recognize input from any external memory device plugged into a USB port, such as a memory stick or my camera. If they can't help, I'll be in the market for a new computer that can.

That's enough for one day. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and around the world. It is just past 7:15 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature under cloudy skies is 18°, but with a 17-mph wind out of the southeast, it feels more like 3°. Brrrrr!

Still, after yesterday's high temperature of 14°, today's high temperature of 38° and an overnight low of 36°, will feel like a veritable heatwave, and tomorrow's high temperature of 39° will be downright balmy.

However, speaking of tomorrow, the NWS has extended that Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 12:00 a.m. too, with wind speeds of 15 to 30 knots producing waves as high as eight feet.

The sunrise today will occur @ 7:56 a.m., with sunset happening @ 6:01 p.m.

Not much is planned for the palatial estate today. More ear-reading, more print-reading, more music, more crossword puzzles, more cross-stitching, more bread baking, more art, and more retirement. What's not to like?

I am still having the ups and downs that go with knee replacement. Sometimes I feel like I am on top of the world, while at other times, I get those random pains that remind me that I am only a wee bit more than six weeks out from that surgery. 

Overall, I can't complain, as I have good range of motion, I can get around without a walker or cane, and I can navigate stairs without pain in my new knee. But I want it all! That will have to wait until late April after I have had my right knee replaced. 

Mary has been a rock around the manse. She has picked up the majority of the meal prep, the care of her curmudgeonly husband, Ginger's care and feeding, and the organization of things in general etc. I love her more than ever. Now, I need to get back to a more normal level of activity. I am not good at being dependent on the kindness of others, to paraphrase Blanche DuBois.

So, that looks like enough for one blog. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:05 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a balmy 32° with a strong wind out of the southwest @ 18 mph, making it feel more like 20°.

That 18-mph wind is part and parcel to the continuing Small Craft Advisory that the NWS has continued until 7:00 p.m. tonight, from St. Joseph to Manistee, with 15 to 25 knot sustained winds, and gusts possible up to 30 knots producing waves as high as eight feet.

Sunrise today will be @ 7:59 a.m. this morning, with sunset @ 5:58 p.m. tonight.

I was able to return to my sporadic kitchen activities yesterday. I am admittedly "Rusty", so the chocolate chip cookies I baked, while tasty, are not of the same size, but hey, just being back in the kitchen felt good. Once again, no pix, as we still cannot get this computer to recognize my camera nor any external storage device. Hopefully, Mary can figure something out.

Mostly, we ear-read, played guitar, worked crossword puzzles, cross-stitched, and watched a limited amount of TV news. I tried watching a movie with Ginger last night, but I quickly fell asleep due to my lack of a nap earlier in the day.

I did sit with Mary in her office upstairs and she showed me a cross-stitch magazine that depicted a stylized Stonehenge, a picture that I plan to try painting at some point.

Today, we have no plans other than to read, work crossword puzzles, attempt crypto quote solving, cross-stitch, and enjoy retirement. Not bad for an average day in GH. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:25 a.m. in "The City", where the current Wind Chill temperature is a brisk seven degrees with a strong wind out of the west @ 15 mph. The actual temperature under cloudy skies is better at 20°, and that will be our overnight low temperature. 

The NWS has once again issued a Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee, in effect until 7:00 a.m. Thursday, with wind speeds of 15 to 25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots, producing waves up to eight feet in height.

Today, the high temperature will be 29°, with an overnight low of 28°. Oddly, while temperatures will continue to rise as the days progress, the NWS is forecasting that Friday's high temperature will only reach 15 chilly degrees. No complaints from me, as I don't have to go anywhere until a podiatric appointment next week.

The sunrise today will be at 8:00 a.m. with sunset @ 5:57 p.m. 

I had my latest orthopedist appointment with Dr. Baszler yesterday. I love his bedside manner, and he pronounced my progress super and told me that my professional rehab was now complete and that I just had to work on my own to improve the strength of my left knee. 👍😀

In addition, we scheduled my right knee replacement for late March. I could have waited for summer or next fall, but I want this to be over. If there were an alternative to another knee replacement, I'd do it, but my right knee is not much better than my left was, so...  

We also stopped by the Hulst-Jensen rehab facility to schedule the appointments for that knee. 

As is all too often the case, I went to bed early to watch a Hallmark Channel movie with Ginger and promptly fell asleep. Mary arrived later, turned on The DaVinci Code, starring Tom Hanks, and soon fell asleep herself. I was awake, then I wasn't, and then I was, viewing the ending before getting up to blog etc.

I finished my novel yesterday and worked some crossword puzzles. We continued to ear-read our shared book, while Mary continued her personal ear-read. 

Late yesterday evening, Mary went upstairs to view a ZOOM presentation. I failed to ask the subject, which I had forgotten, and how the program turned out. Today, for sure, if I remember. 

Before I sat down to blog, I took time to order more books for curbside pickup at the library. 

Today, Mary plans to do as little as possible. I concur with her thinking about that. 

More of both types of reading, more puzzle solving, more cross-stitching, more retirement. What's not to like? Ciao.