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

I thought we were done with the amateur pyromaniacs and STWD would be fine. But last night at about 9:00 p.m., she had to repair to her upstairs hide-e-hole to escape the last gasps of an overly patriotic populace. I hope now we really are done for another year. Later today, the intrepid weather dog has to endure the forecast for T-storms that are expected to begin about 9:00 p.m. this evening and continue into early Tuesday. However, that forecast was supplied by the NWS, so it is suspect here in GH. Once again, I'll rely on the forecast from STWD.

Yesterday, I eschewed all activities except for reading. I finished Crash and Burn, by Lisa Gardner. It was a recommendation from the N.Y. Times, book review. Twists, plot turns, and suspense abounded. I picked up some of the clues, but others were more elusive. I liked it and I'd give it four and one half out of five stars. I reserved the one-half star for the slightly pedestrian opening. In fact, I liked it enough to ask the library for additional tomes by this author.

I did get the gardens on the PE watered yesterday. Mary and I walked STWD, and then when we returned, I took time to water as Mary used some of the grilled veggies from the feast on Saturday to make a pasta dish. No tomato sauce, just some olive oil, a few herbs, and some whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

Dinner was more of a challenge. Mary's plans for soft shell tacos were thwarted by the mold on the remaining tortillas and my desire for spicy chickpeas. Not necessarily related activities, but they both required the kitchen. She persevered and everything came together in a plate of nachos, with tomatoes, black olives, leftover veggie burger "meat", and Mexican style cheese, all topped by salsa and sour soy cream for Mary with additional jalapeno peppers for me. I also helped with the spicy chickpeas by starting the soaking and helping get them into a jar for storage.

Today, we plan to walk with STWD and later, Mary and I have to go to the grocery store, you know, the mundane things of life. Now the city is ours until the 24th of the month, when the annual Coast Guard Festival™ begins for several days. A downtown carnival and more tourists. The festival culminates with the annual Coast Guard Festival™ Parade and the bane of Sugar's existence, another fireworks extravaganza. Entertainment will abound in tents around "The City" and down by the channel in the Waterfront Stadium. Prior to the festival, Mary has her oldest friend visiting for a few days.

In sports, the boys in blue defeated the Marlins 2 - 0. That runs their record to eight games over .500, but still third place in their division as they await a visit from the first place St. Louis Cardinals who swept them in St. Louis. The Tigers weren't so fortunate, as they fell to the Blue Jays, 5 - 10, to make their record in the A.L. Central, 41 - 40, also good for third place. Once again, Justin Verlander's lackluster pitching performance overshadowed his new Tiger's record for total career innings pitched. My beloved Red Sox fared better, as they met the challenge of the Astros, 5 - 4. However, they are still six games under .500. The Caps were trounced by the Great Lakes Loons, 1 - 9.

The women's soccer team playing in the World Cup Sunday night, handily defeated the team from Japan, 5 - 2. That victory included a hat-trick by Carli Lloyd. The Coke Zero 400 ended early this morning following a lengthy rain delay. The race was won by Junior as he avoided a late crash and took the checkered flag.

I'll try to get in some time with the girls today after things settle down. The sun will rise at 6:11 a.m. and set at 9:27 p.m. After that, the day will slowly fade to black. Ciao.