Good morning GH. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City." Our current indoor temperature is 75° as displayed on the digital readout of the Weather Center's instruments. Outdoors, I have to rely on the older analog instruments located in the Weather Window. Those less sophisticated devices have become harder to read over the years, but they are showing 62°. That temperature differential would have been nice last winter when I never could get warm.

Alas, that's one of the downsides of a 100 plus year old home. However, the charm that comes with an older home has its merits, so you have to take some slightly higher energy bills and slightly lower indoor temperatures in the winter to live here.

One of the charms that goes with living here is the pleasure of working in the gardens on the palatial estate. Mary and I used up some of our sweat equity yesterday as we planted Mary's indoor vegetable garden in their new outdoor home. The plants seemed relieved to have a home in which to let their roots roam. If all goes well, in about 60 - 70 days, we should have fresh peppers, tomatoes, beans, chard, and cucumbers.

I think that the cucumber seeds got planted too deep, so if I don't see any sprouts in the next few days, I'll have to replant. I haven't seen any signs of bean sprouts either, so it may be a function of the cold we've been experiencing or it may be the planting depth for those too. I'll have to ask Mary where the seed packets are for the beans and cucumbers to check their germination time and planting depth. I know that the soil is good, so other factors will have to be examined.

We also got the new hanging planters placed between the garages and in the eaves. They look great. However, that rain that was supposed to fall has yet to arrive. If it doesn't, I'll have to go back to my old watering ways.

All of the above gardening took place after we returned from our morning walk with Sugar the Weather Dog. I think Sugar is reaching middle age, as she is slowing down on the return leg of our morning walks. The outbound leg of the walks is still a tug of war between Sugar and whoever has the other end of the leash. The return route is a tug of war too, only Sugar is the one needing to be urged to make it home. One thing that hasn't changed is Sugar's willingness to run across a busy street to get to any dog that she notices in the Tri-cities area. Then as before, all bets are off. I'd say she is like a dog chasing a car; she wouldn't know what to do with it if she caught it. But she is a dog, and she would know what to do with another dog if she caught it. I've seen the evidence when she chases down bigger and faster dogs at the dog park. Like all parents of small dependents, whether they be human or four legged ones, you have to control their activities to keep them safe.

Before we returned home from our trip to the resale store, where we got a new to us radio, and the medium box grocery store, we stopped in at our favorite watering hole and had lunch. We got to watch the Tigers play just hard enough behind the newest member of their pitching staff to lose to the Twins 3 - 4. The Tigers still have a 21 - 12 record, but they need to get back on their regular roll. For the boys in blue at 12 - 24, nothing has changed. They were swept by the Braves in Atlanta, with the score of their last game 2 - 5. Now it's on to St. Louis tonight and we know what may happen there. My beloved Red Sox, at 19 - 18, finally topped the .500 mark with a 5 - 2 win over the Rangers. As mentioned before, the Caps had the day off.

Today, Mary has to get back to work, this time on her next project. She got two days off, so now she has to get busy again. I don't know how I fit into this project, but I'm sure my role will be spelled out soon enough. However, I still have my regular duties to perform. The laundry piles up, the dust settles, and Sugar still needs to be walked, as always. Plus there are a few things on the estate itself that need my attention. Mary may work from sun to sun and beyond, but my work seems to never be done. Like I've said before, retirement is a busy time of life.

I have a couple of books to pick up at the library, so I may stop in this morning if Mary goes with Sugar and me on our morning walk. Otherwise I'll return to the library later today. Plus I still have that N.Y. Times we picked up yesterday to read. Anyone who claims to read that paper in one day either has no life, or they don't read thoroughly. Just the magazine section can take a couple of hours.

The sun will still predictably rise today, this time at 6:22 a.m. It will also set at 8:55 p.m. The rain/T-storms, I'm not so sure. Just like the snow that fell last winter usually being more than predicted, this spring the rain has fallen in fits and starts. Ciao.

Addendum: The northbound train run just went by at 3:30 a.m. The timing was right, but the configuration was all wrong. The older red liveried EMD GP 38 locomotive was alone, towing 24 covered hopper cars and three of those dreaded black tank cars. Either the other locomotive is down for maintenance, they never really needed it, or it is being used on another run. Too many possibilities. Ciao again.