Balmy is the word that came to mind this morning as the meathead and I set out.

Maybe that is stretching the definition slightly, but I think balmy is a subjective descriptor more than an objective one.

I love the secondary definition at merriam-webster.com of ``crazy, foolish.'' Of course the 1a definition is ``having the qualities of balm: soothing'' before the 1b definition that most of us consider for balmy of ``mild.''

It was crazy mild today compared to yesterday.

Thank you very much.

I did not bother with long johns this morning. And I sure didn't need them with temperatures in the mid-teens, nearly 20 degrees warmer than yesterday.

I suspect the overcast had something to do with that dramatic warmup, or maybe the promise of snow later today.

Just a faint hint of yakking by the Canada geese drifting off the lake to the west.

The oddity this morning was the town's lead public works guy driving his truck out to check the town pond.

He rolled down his window, then said he wanted to check the ice after seeing the news about the dog rescued on the ice at Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side.

That just me laugh.

Storm and I checked the ice, which had been iffy under the bridge over the neckdown between the two old clay pits yesterday. It was OK this morning.

Much of the lake had 4 inches and more of ice. More ice fishermen had been out last night or yesterday.

Back in town, the women were working out again in the storefront gym. Once again I saw a gray squirrel run down the gutters of a downtown building and disappear into the building.

That was it for wildlife.