http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/12/21_smashing_photos_of_lake_mic.html#0

This is a link to pictures of high waves on Lake Michigan, mostly near Muskegon.  Muskegon is north of Grand Haven, about 15-20 miles.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn.  Be nobody near the Lake today. Does look rough. Same over on The Deluth Bridge. Some snow but not much.

When growing up in UK and near Sea my Gran use to see those rough seas and light a candle in Church.  Always worried about "POOR SAILORS ON THE SEA"
also for "The Poor girls walking the streets".  Yes it was legal in Europe.

Maryann, I've seen footage of the ice balls before but you had several different links that I enjoyed seeing. Thank you and yes the Grand Rapids cam looks to be very cold!   

Jeanne, this weather is not such that people would walk the beach.  If you think it is cold where you live, try walking along the beach with the brisk wind blowing across Lake Michigan from the west. 

The same thing in Duluth.

Mary Ann

Maybe when we were young we would have been that crazy.  I remember we use to walk along the Prom over home when sea was coming way up the wall. I love to see the water though. Miss It.

MaryAnn, national weather news is saying that Lake Michigan by Grand Haven could see 27 feet tall waves and this isn't a new phenomenon. Have you heard about this?

Patricia, I think I heard something to that effect on the Weather Channel, so it might be worth the effort to monitor the Grand Haven site tomorrow.  It will be interesting to watch.  I think there are no homes close to the shore and those that are, are on hills, however, in time the surge of the waves could undermine the dunes.  I have heard about houses falling into the lake, but they would not be at Grand Haven where you could see anything.

Mary Ann

Larry, I can't see where I told you that I got a good report on the echocardiogram.  So I continue with the same meds and whatever else I am doing.  Seeing the test involved the heart, it's kind of scary because you don't know what the test will show.

Our high temperature today was 15 and it is around 11 now.  But this is Michigan, what can I expect?

Mary Ann

There was such a wave recorded by a buoy off Greenland that they had photos of from the air. I am not sure how a buoy could record information about a wave, but I am unsure about a lot of things. There is a video of monster waves off Cornwall that shows people standing and watching which I thought was crazy!

Here in the San Francisco area, cliffs overlooking the ocean are constantly disintegrating and falling into the surf below.  The cliffs are sandstone, and over the years, the waves battering against them from below, have undermined the soil and rock, and now they just collapse.  Apartment buildings and houses were built right up to the edge, but most of those have already fallen into the ocean, or have been "red tagged" as dangerous. 

The strange thing, is that when we have a storm like we're having right now, hundreds of people flock to these high cliffs to watch the action!  There are rope barriers, and warning signs indicating the danger of getting close . . . but people are shockingly unafraid, (stupid!), and will sneak right up to the edge to look down and take a picture, or worse yet, a selfie!   I'm sure we'll see some of these photos on the local news tonight.

Marilyne, people are nuts because as you know....nothing would ever happen to them...

MaryAnn. Congrats on getting that good test back. Don't we feel good when we do. I agree. Keep up with what you are doing. Must work good. Like me, I don't think you overdo on the pills etc.

6:00 a.m. -10^o F. actual temp.

I saw that thermometer reading and went back to my blanket cocoon.

Hi everyone on a cold, for us, morning.  It is now up to 32 degrees after getting into the high 20's last night.  Not much on the schedule for today.  The housekeeper will be here this morning.  I have no plans to go anywhere today.  I have things ready to fix Pat's breakfast and have already made my sandwich for lunch and also for tomorrow.  I also fixed some celery sticks.  I think we will likely fix a pot of chili for our dinner tonight.  The BBQ was tasty yesterday.

Mary Ann, your report on the echocardiogram is the type we like to hear. 

Marilyne, I sure wouldn't want my home on a cliff on the coast or any other cliff for that matter. 

Thank you all for your comments.  I couldn't think of anything not already said to respond to most of the posts this morning but make no promise about tomorrow's postings.  I hope all have a very nice day.

Jeanne Lee, I wished I could stay in my blanket cocoon too, but today is Trash and Recycle Day and the Recycle truck comes about 9:30 am.  Tom usually takes care of that and he had not.  I got some of it together, then called to him and he came up in a few minutes.  In the meantime I got the regular trash together and that was ready for Tom to take to the front of the garage.  I think I hear the recycle truck, maybe an hour late, but with our weather of late, at least they are here in the morning.  Trash usually is picked up about noon but sometimes is much later.  At least everything gets picked up.

It was 14 degrees at 8:30 am and at 10:25 is now 16 degrees.  I think I'll stay in.

I like to think I have fixed some of my computer problems by disabling the touch pad.  I had had computers where they warned against doing that, but not this one.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Grand Haven is choppy this morning and the water temp is 40 degrees.  I notice the outer lighthouse is now white and the bottom of the round lighthouse is starting to get white.  I've seen pictures (not recently) of both lighthouses encased in ice.

Mary Ann

Predicted temp for tonight is 0 degrees.   UGH

Good morning from the Interior!

We are warming up this week, and I am busy trying to do all the little things before the house cleaner arrives on the twenty-second. I am trying to give away or throw out as much as possible, but it is hard. I have so many good office outfits, many in black, navy or gray that I haven't worn since retirement in 2014.

However, with no one locally accepting clothes donations, I cannot bring myself to throw them out. I have wool pants, nice blazers, and sweaters in excellent condition, so back in the closet they go.

I am not having such a hard time with 21 vials of hand lotion, facial moisturizers, and scented shampoos, (I'm sensing a magpie attitude here). I'm too susceptible to "on the shelf, in my basket" wants. I don't wear makeup, but I have always loved scents.  The trick is to use them sparingly, and not so it is overt.

Farrah has been amusingly cute today. She has been running, hither, and yon, growling in a brass Profundo voice and chasing ghosts and her common unseen enemies. In between, she will come up for a back scratch and then she is off again.

I am also enjoying one of the benefits of being a senior. Almost every couple of days, you find left in front of your door or attached to your knob, small sacks of chocolate, candy canes, hot chocolate packets and tea, along with Christmasy pencils, mini notebooks, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Along with more mini hand cremes and mini magnets. Never anything sharp or pointy, however, and scissors given have been in a child's style.    Most of these sacks end up redistributed before the doors of male tenants, always with the chocolate removed. 

The lake does look bad today. I wonder if they have heat in the little building.
Glad mine working here. No higher than 12 deg here today but then warms up for Saturday to 39 they say. But on Late Saturday night goes to 11 below zero and only up to 7 deg the whole day Sunday. 
I want to get a visit into my Primary Dr. before end of December so that it get into 2016 Insurance.  I called again and changed my day to Dec. 20th. This is the second change.  She is clear over on the other side of the City.

Finally got my Comcast to fix the problem and the Increase in the monthly cost. Took over 2 hours on the phone.  They are sending a service man out at the time Monday that I had the Dr. Appt. If it is really cold Monday I may just Cancel it all together. It is nothing that can't be put off. Not driving on Ice.

Jeanne, there is no shipping on the Great Lakes in the winter and I doubt any of the lighthouses are used during that time.  I don't know the uses of any of the lighthouses because the lights are automatic now. 

My temperature here is 18 degrees but the thermometer is in a sheltered area so the temp may be a degree or so less.  Tom is gone for the rest of the day so I don't have any way of getting anywhere anyway.

I'm golfing by TV in a sunny place, but I don't know where.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone.  We are looking forward to it getting up to the mid-60's today and staying in the 60's through the night and then into the 70's tomorrow.  It didn't get out of the low 40's yesterday.  When I read the temperatures many of you are enduring I am certainly not complaining.  I think the main activities today will be to get Christmas mailing done, including taking a small package to the Post Office.  I also plan on making some more sausage muffins for Pat and probably a few more kitchen duties. 

Mary Ann, disabling the touch pad should prevent you accidentally sending the cursor to another location.  That is the first thing I do on a new laptop if it doesns't have a function key or a setting to turn it off.

Joan, your temps keep getting colder and colder. 

Patricia, it would be a shame to have to throw away fine clothing.  Perhaps one of these days you will be able to donate them. I just hate to be around someone who has doused themselves with perfume.  Nice little gifts left on your door knob.  Do I read right that you ladies are taking out the chocolate from the men's bags or is it the other way round?

JeanneP, glad you got the Comcast problem fixed.  I sure hope you don't have ice on Monday.

Mary Ann, they must be golfing in the Southern Hemisphere somewhere.

Larry, it's odd but I had no computer problems until I let Microsoft download Windows 10 last summer.  Then I could do no right.  I don't know why it took me so long to disable the touch pad but I finally did it.  I haven't written enough to see if that has solved my problem, but so far all is well.  I don't know why it didn't do the same thing each time I inadvertently touched the touch pad, because the cursor could go anywhere, I'd put it where I wanted it and when I typed a letter, it was back where it had gone in the first place.  Or I'd type a letter and my whole screen would be blank.  Or maybe just a paragraph would be gone.  I hope for "peace" on my computer now.

The golfers are mainly in the south and foreign countries. 

I'm late in getting started this morning.  Being Saturday, I usually have had my shower by now and it's nearly 9:30 am so I'd better get going.  I hear Tom washing so I'll have to compete for hot water.

Mary Ann

Good Morning Everyone,  from the  cold and snowy, rocky coast of Maine.

It always looks so pretty outside when the snow is falling.

This old building that I live in has 155
apartments.   Since I am on the South East part  (in a corner apartment),  when the temps drop real low  (down in the teens with wind chill factor below zero),  my apartment is harder to heat.   This only happens a few days a Winter.  Normally,  I am have more then enough heat.

I keep the temp around 72 deg, normally.  These spells of freezing below normal temps are so few that I  have found ways to keep myself safe and toasty.   

My sleeping habits have changed in the last few months.  I used to go to bed at 9 pm and wake up at 6 pm.    Now I stay up much later and go to bed between 11 pm and 12 AM  and sleep in until 9AM,  most days.       

I don't know why the change in my sleeping schedule..  but I like it,  so I am not complaining...    Just wondering why,  after  a whole life time going to bed early and waking up early,   I now don't.   

Have a nice weekend,  everyone. 
Sandy

Even out here in California, we are freezing.  My outdoor thermometer read 32 this morning at 7:00, with frost covering everything.  That is extremely cold for this area.  I didn't cover my "tropical" plants last night, and also forgot to pick all the lemons off the tree.   So now the juice will be frozen solid inside each lemon, and will turn brown and mushy.  Happens every couple of years, and I never seem to learn!

Good morning from the Interior. Nothing really new here as yesterday was a day spent cleaning the kitchen, washing out cupboards, refrigerator, and oven. And today will be expended in the bathroom and then vacuum. The bedroom is next, laundry and then a final check for baseboards, walls or anything else. The guy coming on Thursday is highly recommended, reputable, but he does charge by the hour, so a penny saved and all that.

Larry, I feel the same about perfume and aftershave. My belief is that it is more for me and that you would really have to be close to smell it. Anything else and I wonder what they're trying to cover up.

The thing about the gift bags is they are admirable in sentiment but not in fact. How much mini toothpaste, pencils or candy does one want or need? No, we are not a group of chocolate kleptomaniacs. We take the chocolate out of our own bags and then leave the rest of the bags on one of the guys' door knobs as we've found they don't have that stuff normally. You may also find several bags or portions on the giveaway table in the downstairs common room.

The clothes were never super expensive, what I would term professional or office clothing as I dressed to represent the company I worked for. I also kept them in good condition. I tried last year to donate, and since the bug problem was in town, no one was accepting then. Now they are not accepted at our giveaway table either. I sincerely felt that someone somewhere could have used them in interviewing or work.

MaryAnn, I had an issue with my first laptop in that the typing went all over until I disabled the touchpad. Then the newer ones came out with a function to do that for you. I hope this works for you.

Sandy, I stay warm as I am surrounded by apartments on the fourth floor. The first month I was here, we had cold air seeping under the balcony doors. Since then I have had my heat turned off. Sometimes I will turn my mini space heater on for a few moments and then turn it off but otherwise its fine. My worst experience was when I was married to this guy who always had a window opened while he was bundled down in the sheets and blankets. He had to have "fresh air,"  while I was freezing to death.

Marilyne that is a lot to lose. I guess you could not use the lemons in baked goods?

Hopefully the cold you are experiencing from Canada will dissipate soon and you will be back to normal. Winter is not my favorite season! A little known and surprising fact is we get our warm air from the west and our colder air from Canada to the east.

Farrah is sitting in front of the closet where her treats are stored, and every time I look her way, she tells me she is wasting away. She is entirely too spoilt, and that is just right!

We have been having very strange weather.  Today supposed to get up to 75 and stay warm a couple of days and then back into the 50s.  We've only lived here in northwest Florida since March, but the locals say it is unusual weather, but I'm not complaining.

Living in an inside unit, it is easier to keep this place warm - unless - the wind comes from the north.  When it comes from the north, I stay away from the sliders.  The first builder of these units did not do a good job of insulating.  The developer did remove the paneling in the lower level and add insulation, but upstairs was/is drywall and I can believe they did not want to remove the walls on the inside to correct the situation.  I could have suggested they bore holes in the siding and blow in additional insulation, but the builder was one who did not take too kindly to suggestions.  The first winter we were here, there was frost in the corners of the paneling in Tom's room.  My neighbor put a lot of money into the same areas in her condo so she could work down there and eventually she moved her office to the upper level second bedroom.  That neighbor now lives in Tennesee.  My thermostat is set at 72 or 73 degrees in the winter and I know Tom gets chilly however, he has enough insulation on his body to overcome most of it.

Patricia, when I lived in the house I grew up in, I had the window in my bedroom open a crack to get fresh air, but since I moved, I have not done that.  Since I disabled my touchpad, I have not noticed any movement of the cursor.  It upsets me that I didn't do that earlier because I knew it could help.  I just didn't think!

I wondered, too, if Marilyne would be able to use some of the lemons, maybe squeeze then freeze them.  Apparently not.  It's 24 here now at 1:15 pm.

Mary Ann

Well, more snow, two power outages, and we are at 4 degrees with a high of 9 today.  Never thought I would see those here.   We did get in the minus a few years back but no snow and it was just for one day.

On the happy side they finally got my shower fixed and thank goodness for that.  I was washing my hair in the kitchen sink most of the week and taking sponge bathes with rose water.  WHEW,  glad that is over.  LOL  Not something I cared to do for any extended period of time.

You all have a good day  and HUGS all around,

I am really enveying all of you that are having 60 an 70 deg. weather. Not us.

I called off the dinner for Sunday afternoon. Will only be 7 deg and they would be coming from out of town.  To icy for me to go out to store today and some things I needed. Just awful here. Drizzling, freezing. They say has been 40 accident around the area since yesterday.  First time I have seen them having to come and put salt and looks like sand at the corner to be able to turn onto my street. Glad as my house sits on the corner and would be hit if car didn't make the turn.

Cancelled Dr. appt again now until next Tuesday. Just a final on my year checkup. Not that important.  I will try and just go across to Ardi's which is across the street and get some bread and milk. Have lots of things in the Freezer. Filled car up with gas on Thursday.

Good afternoon everyone. It has been a relatively quiet day here, except for the gas leak. The leak was tiny. The gas guy was surprised I could smell it. Hopefully that is fixed now.

The temp is right at freezing but is rising, and will continue to do so over the night. That should take care of the bit of ice rain we got this morning.

Good late afternoon, we had 3inchs of snow this morning, but now turning to rain. My neighbor is driving into the city to see a play, but they are going to spend the night there, was the roads might freeze again. 

WJoan, I would not like your temps. Its cold enough here, and its in the low 20's

Larry, I got my Cablevision bill to day and it went up $9. and nothing I can do about it, as I want my Hallmark, Golf and HG channels. I do not go to the movies, or pay for other entertainment so guess I am even. Do go out to lunch a few times a month