Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. Another year has gone by in "The City." I've made it farther than I expected. I should have one of those T-shirts that says something like "I survived..." Be that as it may, it is just past 2:30 a.m. and the current temperature is 76° as we head for the overnight low of 71°. What was it the Beatles sang, "You say it's your birthday, well it's my birthday too yeah." 63 feels a lot like 62.

Today the forecast calls for an 80% chance of T-storms with a high of 76° here in the GH area. Tomorrow that chance of T-storms falls to 10% with a high of 72°. Then for Labor Day, the temperature rises to 74° and the chance of potentially severe T-storms rises to 80%. Sugar the Weather Dog will be difficult to get out the door once again.

In that context, Friday was a near impossibility. Mary got Sugar on her Thunder Leash™ and Sugar and I darted through the rain to get in our morning walk. Needless to say, Sugar was not happy about going out in the light rain that was falling. As the morning wore on. she was in her hide-e-hole to avoid the storms. Mary and I took advantage of the lull between the morning rains and the afternoon storms to walk to the butcher shop. We took our umbrellas, but it turned out that they weren't necessary. At one point in the early afternoon, the skies opened up and that large boat filled with animals was allegedly spotted once again. In fact, we did hear a ship's horn in the channel while we were walking, as it made its way to one of the local docks.

Later in the afternoon, the rains let up again. Sugar was out of her hide-e-hole, and so Mary and I set out for the Post. One of the "Young Men" there had also heard that horn and traveled to see that large ship negotiating the channel. We are always reminded that we know so little about our adopted home state. People at the Post speak of locations that might as well be on the moon. In some ways, that's nice. Afterwards, Mary decided that a dinner of perch and Cole Slaw would be nice, so we returned to our neighborhood and went to the best kept secret in GH. Then home to watch the Tigers and MSU.

A nice segue that allows me to report on sports. MSU easily defeated Jackson State, 45 - 7. The Tigers easily overcame that other team from Chicago, 7 - 1. The boys in blue were also victorious, as they easily defeated the Cardinals 7 - 2. I love it when the boys win, especially over the Cardinals. Their newest addition, Jorge Soler, had two home runs on the day. My beloved Red Sox also posted a win over the Rays,  easily defeating them 8 - 4. To make clean sweep of the day in sports, the Caps also beat the Fort Wayne Tin Caps by a score of 12 - 9.

Back to activities at the palatial estate. Since we had a lull in the storms between our morning walk and the downpours in the afternoon, Mary and I took time to plant our latest "flower children." Some day lilies, a hibiscus, appropriately of the pink elephant variety, and a few smaller plants. Some of our older children got new locations and I insisted on watering all of them to be sure they were well settled. I like to think that in spite of the rains that came later, a good soaking is always a good idea.

Today, is my day to do very little. Our cleaning assistant came yesterday and she will return to finish up today. She did all of the polishing that my creaky yak does not allow. That was downstairs. Today is the upstairs. I'll have my feet up. Sugar the Weather Dog will likely be in her hide-e-hole once again. There is a lull forecast at about 2:00 p.m., so maybe Sugar will be inclined to go out then.

Special thanks to Ellen for the birthday wishes. Like I said, every year is a gift to me. Ciao.