Good morning GH. It is just past 3:00 AM in "The City" and the current temperature is 66 degrees. Looks like showers are on the way, but not until later. Seeing is believing. Actually, as I sit here, the thunder is rumbling in the distance. Sugar the Weather Dog was sound asleep earlier, but I am betting her forecast for the near future will be changing soon. If the Weather Channel app is to be believed, the chance of T-storms is 80% later this morning and as the day unfolds, and 70% on Sunday. I wonder how the T-storms will affect our plans to go on that tour of our local power plant. I also wonder whether Sugar the Weather Dog will be wanting to go out. If I were a betting man, I'd say that Sugar will not go.

Friday was an interesting day. I did a little yard work on the palatial estate and the leaves are winning. Fall is definitely here. I let Mary walk with Sugar while I did that yard work. They probably moved more quickly without me in tow. I used to watch older people moving slowly and always wanted to believe that I wouldn't become one of those people. Well, here I am. In my defense, Mary has always accused me of walking slowly, and I have always thought that she and Sugar walk too quickly. I guess that it is all about perspective.

Mary informed me yesterday that I had to give up my favorite small kitchen knife. I love that little thing, but I have to admit that it is getting dull. You would think that a knife that you bought at the local hardware store two years ago for less than $10.00, would stay sharp for a longer time. I suppose that cutting myself the other day trying to cut an apple should have been a clue. So, off we went to Holland and got a really nice eight inch chef's knife, a sharpener to keep that knife sharp, and a zester at the kitchen supply store. Now I can be afraid of the new big knife, the very sharp zester, and miss my little knife all at the same time.

After our stop in Holland,we stopped in a small restaurant/bar on the way back that is the partner to the one we visited in Nunica. Same food and same kind of ambiance, only writ large in a strip mall. It was then off to the post. I feel like I am no longer "the public" that is welcome, but a real member now. A few drinks, a little conversation, and off to home. It seemed like a busy day, but when you don't get up until nearly 11:00 AM, the day is much shorter.

Now along with the thunder, I hear a train a' comin. I think that horn happy engineer is at the controls again. However, one locomotive and one lone box car does not a train make. Somehow, I doubt that a train with one car is very fuel efficient. So much for that carbon footprint thing.

In sports, the Tigers and Max Scherzer beat the Oakland As 3 - 2. My beloved Red Sox trounced the Rays, 12 - 2, the Pirates hammered the Cardinals 7 - 1 to even their series at one game apiece, as the Braves held off the Dodgers 4 - 3 to tie their series at one game apiece too.

In a small connection to the boys in blue, the Reds fired their manager, who was previously the Cubs manager and a manager of the World Series champion Giants of a few years ago. Is he always destined to be fired when his teams don't win? Looks like it. Three 90 plus win seasons in a row following the futile efforts by the Reds before his arrival weren't enough. When you go several years without a visit to the World Series, 90 plus wins per season are not enough. In his defense, I am not certain that any manager could make the boys in blue a winner. I am equally certain that he will get an offer to manage again now that the off-season is here.

Otherwise, not much on tap for today. That previously mentioned tour of the power plant and a visit to the local bakery for a loaf of bread. They wouldn't sell us one last night when we came in the back door three minutes after closing time. Somehow I doubt that the owner of the store would have approved of their response to our arrival. That's the difference between the owner being there all the time and having clerks work for you. She has two stores now and the span of control is therefore doubled. Today we can buy that same loaf of bread from their day-old table for less. Ain't that America!

Now I am done for the day. Bed time and...Tea time await. Ciao.