Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is quickly passing 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

I am beginning to regain my personal equilibrium following the recent events in S.C., so I plan to return to a regularly scheduled blog format.

It seems logical to start with trainspotting, since I had the chance to watch two runs on Friday. Perhaps the greatest thing about daytime trains, is that the neighborhood children get to gather under the tree in the parkway and watch as each train slowly rumbles through. Friday was no exception. At 9:46 a.m., engine # 2019 rolled by heading south. In its wake, were four box cars, one CHC, and five of the DBTCs that were bringing up the rear. The kids were thrilled, just as I would have been when I was that age.

Let me digress, my mother had a fascination with train wrecks when I was a wee lad. We used to get to go to school late in order to allow her to enjoy her macabre fascination. In those days, the local train line was the Chicago and Northwestern that ran between downtown Chicago and Lake Geneva, WI. It seemed that there was always a train split open in one of the towns on the line that spewed its contents of corn or other items on the rails, tying up automobile traffic and providing entertainment for my mother, my brothers, and me. Today, the C N & W is employee owned and transports people, not freight, down that line.

In my early days, I actually saw steam locomotives pulling cars. Not a museum exhibit, Adam, but live steam trains that soon succumbed to the diesel locomotives of today. Even when the diesels no longer needed stokers, they still had firemen to act as backups to the engineer. Someone decided that the firemen were "featherbedding" and they all lost their jobs. Today, we rely on dead-man switches and electronics for safety. Just saying.

But enough digression. The same locomotive, #2019, returned at 1:07 p.m., towing only five of the DBTCs heading north. A short lived thrill for me and the kids, but that's okay, when the trains return on Monday, so will we.

In sports, the boys in blue fell to the Twins, 2 - 7. According to some in attendance, Starlin Castro had one of his now famous lapses that resulted in a two run error. Sigh. The Tigers fell to the Yankees by that same score. My beloved Red Sox won their second in a row, this one over the Royals 7 - 3. They are moving up in their division, where they are in fifth place with a record of 30 - 39. The Caps defeated the South Bend Cubs, 8 - 4.

Our new utility sink is now installed after some fits and starts. In addition, the tech was able to bring the bathroom vent and lighting fixture in the downstairs bathroom back to life, by plugging in a plug in the fixture. A simple fix as compared to the sink. Did I mention that I got the screens installed in the windows downstairs, including the one in the downstairs bedroom. Great cross ventilation now.

Today, not much is happening except the Irish Jam session at the library this afternoon. Mary has to work while I get to play. What's not to like?

The sun will rise at at 6:05 a.m. and set at 9:27 p.m. In between, we'll have sunny skies and no precipitation. I guess that means that I'll be out in the back forty of the PE watering the vast gardens. Ciao.