Good morning GH. It is just past 7:30 a.m. in "The City." Our current temperature is 44°, which is our high for today. In addition, we will be having cloudy skies with a 70% chance of rain around 12:00 p.m. EST. In other words, yesterday was a better day for outdoor activities.

Mary and I used our yesterday for outdoor activities as we planted our new rose bush and transplanted some other things to new homes in the gardens of the palatial estate. Every time I hear or see the words rose bush, I am reminded of a customer I had when I was in the service station business. Rose had married a man named Bush and thus she became Rose Bush, That was also true of a lady named Pearl who married a man named White. Well, you get the idea.

But I am wandering off the reservation as Mary often says. Our morning walk with Sugar the Weather Dog was uneventful. We wore our sweatshirts as outer garments, which will not be enough today, and picked up the news paper. Before we left, Mary spun the blades on her trusty blender and created some smoothies. She has promised that today I can have cold cereal, but given that 44° temperature, I may want something warm. When we got back, we had veggie hot dogs with sauerkraut, mustard, and onions,

Now I know what you are thinking, Sounds like the beginnings of a pretty boring day. But wait, there's more! I had planned to go to the cinema and I did. I wanted to see Spiderman, since I have always been a fan of the "Wall Crawler." Stan Lee of Marvel Comics™, one of the original creators of Spiderman, was an executive producer and had a cameo in the movie itself. I enjoyed the movie, I enjoyed the oversize bucket of popcorn, and I had that aforementioned large cherry cola to wash it down. What's not to like?

Before you think that Mary sat back and relaxed, I"ll tell you that she took herself out to dinner and then to the Post to see Sally. Sugar the Hungry Dog was inside the house when I got here, acting as though she had missed dozens of meals and didn't know when the next one would be coming. Like all parents, I tried to tell her about the dogs that really are suffering on the streets with no parents, or at the shelters trying to recover from neglect and abuse. Those stories fell on deaf, pointy ears. I let her out, she raced  out and back in, and wolfed down her evening meal like it was her last. That girl can tell that she was overdue for her dinner time by forty-five minutes.

I never heard the trains last night or earlier this morning. Given that during a normal week they run on a regular schedule, I just wasn't tuned in. However, I do have a train story that I watched on one of the cable channels last night.

Since 1978, there been many derailments and subsequent explosions caused by those dreaded black tank cars which do not meet any sort of safety standards. The NHTSB has been pushing for upgrades to minimal standards since the 70s, but the railroad industry says it would cost too much to meet those minimal standards. So even the addition of safety caps or other minimal changes hasn't happened. What little change has come, was done to cars manufactured since 2011 under an agreement with the railroads. So, tens of thousands of sub-standard black tank cars, which were not designed to haul hazardous loads, continue to ply the rails carrying highly flammable loads. I'll refer you to some of the pictures I have posted in the past.

In sports, the boys in blue were rained out in St. Louis and will play this afternoon. The rain out will be made up as part of ta double header on August 30, to celebrate my birthday. The Tigers topped the Orioles by a score of 7 - 5 to bring their winning total to two times that of their losses, at 24 - 12. My Beloved Red Sox play this afternoon in their quest for a winning streak greater than one, after defeating the Twins Wednesday night on the strength of Big Poppy's two home runs. The Caps fell to the Loons, 2 - 6, but they are tied for the league lead with the Dayton Dragons.

Today, Mary may or may not work on her project, depending on receipt of additional input from her contacts. She got started on some of the necessary organization that we had to neglect ruing the winter. I will walk with Sugar the Weather Dog and finish the N. Y. Times and get started on one of my new books. I also have to try to remember to go to the man cave to get the tape she needs for some lamp cords. That was prompted by her reorganizing frenzy. The girls await my caresses too. The sun already rose at 6:20 a.m. and will set at 8:59 p.m. Ciao.