Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City." Mary reminded me yesterday that I need to list some of the acronyms that I often use, in order to re-familiarize my vast audience with their meanings. So here goes.

CHCs = covered hopper cars
DBTCs = dreaded black tank cars
EMD - Electro-Motive Division or Electro-Motive Diesel, once a division of General Motors Corp., now a stand alone company.
GP = general purpose
NWS = National Weather Service
PE = Palatial Estate
STSD = Sugar the Sous dog
STWD = Sugar the weather dog
38 = near as I can tell, it has to do with the number of wheels or trucks on the locomotives. Maybe Adam knows.

WW = weather window. 

A nice job of slotting the numerical 38 into the list where it fits based on its Arabic spelling, don't you think?

There are probably others that I have used, but this was a good beginning.

Since I am talking acronyms, I'll start with the trainspotting. Today, none. No EMD GP 38 locomotives, no CHCs, no DBTCs, nothing

In sports, the boys in blue took nine innings to defeat the Mets, 1 - 0. Thus ends their five game losing streak. Best of all, the dreaded June Swoon didn't happen this year. The boys are still five games over .500. One of the broadcasters covering last night's game says pundits have the boys getting 85 wins this year. While not enough to get them to the World Series™, that is quite a turn around from last year.The Tigers didn't fare so well. They lost to the Pirates, 4 - 5. My beloved Red Sox nipped the Blue Jays, 4 - 3. Alas, they aren't in the race anymore. The Caps were crushed by the Lake County Captains, 1 - 12.

For soccer fans, the U.S. women's team defeated Germany in a semi-final game, 2 - 0. On to the World Cup.

Elsewhere yesterday, we needed our kitchen faucet replaced. Like all things plumbing, it took more time than anticipated. But I didn't have to do the time. I even got to watch. The new faucet looks great and the result makes the non-dishwasher emptying chief cook very pleased. We also had the carpets and couch cleaned too. That was after I washed the rug in the mud room and steam cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors. Mary had carried the loose furniture out of the cleaning areas, so my baking yak was spared.

So much for my relaxing day. I did get in some time with the girls and a bit of reading after the morning walk with STWD. However, since the carpets had been cleaned, lunch was eaten standing in the kitchen.

Today, I will get to the man-cave and I may have to mow the lawns on the PE.

That is enough for my day.

The weather forecast from the NWS, is calling for cloudy skies and a high temperature of 69 ° after our overnight low of 52° The sun will rise at 6:09 a.m. and set at 9:28 p.m. Ciao.