Good morning, good evening, wherever you may be in "The City" or its environs. It is just after 4:30 a.m. and the current temperature is 67° as we drop to our overnight low of 59° The chance for scattered T-storms today increases to 40% by 8:00 a.m. and then continues to rise until 3:00 p.m., when it once again recedes to about 20% for the balance of the day/evening. In other words, although the view out the Weather Window is dark with a side of dark, Sugar the Weather Dog should have only the middle of the day as her problem. That is if, and I do mean if, the weather forecast is any where near accurate. You know how I feel about that. It is a good thing that I watered the gardens on the palatial estate yesterday.

Speaking of that forecast for T-storms, I have a P/T appointment today scheduled for 11:30 a.m. My plans call for  me to ride my bicycle, so if the forecast is accurate, I'll make it without a problem. But since the forecast is iffy, I'll check with Sugar and then make my plans. I tell anyone that my appointments are not firm until I check with the Weather Dog. She is generally accurate to within  about one-half an hour.

Sugar is also a good judge of people. If she doesn't like someone, there is probably a good reason. It has taken her nearly three years, but she is now desirous of seeing our local letter carrier, not any of his substitutes mind you. Then only until she gets close, at which time she doesn't bark, wants to be petted, but them turns shy and moves away. We figure that by the time we've been her another two years or so, she will be his.

In sports today, the boys in blue had the day off and play the Rockies tonight. My beloved Red Sox also had the day off on Monday and they too play this evening against the Cardinals. The Tigers fell to the Yankees 1 - 2. They still lead their division by 4.5 games over the Royals. The Caps are coming off a win on Monday over the Lake County Captains, 5 - 4.

I did get in some playing time with the girls yesterday. Abaigeal continues to delight. Her tone or timbre is wonderful and she is easy to play. She is the perfect addition to the family. I also read the Grand Haven Tribune and completed the weekend crossword, in addition to the crossword from Monday's paper. Naturally the paper was chock full of stories regarding the just concluded Coast Guard Festival™. I think that Mary's pictures, which can be found at her blog marygoeswalking.blogspot.com, are on a par with the professional pictures from the newspaper. But like Adam says, I am biased.

Mary did some laundry and used her drying rack to dry everything, using only the sun and the wind. An excellent use of natural resources. I think she was trying to get her head around the way to proceed on her current project. She says I should have that project for editing by Friday or Saturday at the latest.

In train news, I missed the southbound run, but I was here to witness the northbound run as it passed by the Train Spotting Window. The regular cadre of locomotives followed by 15 covered covered hopper cars, a black tank car, 23 more covered hopper cars, another black tank car, and then nine open and very rusty regular hopper cars brought up the rear. Various livery was seen on the covered hopper cars of differing dimensions. Some of the covered hopper cars are leased from a famous rail services co. Others belong to a large firm out of Florida that operates in the eastern U.S. The rusty cars were too rusty to I.D. The black tank cars went by before I could I.D. them. Maybe next time.

Today I have that P/T appointment and I have a call into Sugars doctor for a follow-up blood test. I'd like that to take place on Wednesday, but anything that doesn't conflict with my P/T is fine, since Sugar and I will be walking to her doctor. She has been fine, but I like to play it safe when it comes to our fur child.

That looks like enough for today. A bit more time with the girls, a little more reading of the newspaper and books, and the day will be done. I had to return some books because Mary and I will be too busy to read then right now. The sun will rise at 6:37 a.m. and set at 8:59 p.m. The days are indeed getting shorter. Ciao.