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

Right now, STWD is sleeping next to the bed, possibly due to the rumblings of thunder I am hearing. However, nary a drop of rain has fallen from the sky. Go figure. As of now, the expectation for precipitation is late tonight into Wednesday. Good thing, as I have my third orthopedist appointment later this morning.

I used my adopted leaf blower to assist me in bagging up four bags of leaves yesterday. A nice start, but there are plenty more where those came from. Our neighbor, Mike, suggested that I should just blow them out to the street with the high winds that we had yesterday and they would blow into the east side of town. But that was later at our favorite watering hole, so it was too late.

Yesterday morning, when Mary and I took the morning walk with the intrepid weather dog, the winds blew Sugar's ears back and took our collective breath(s) away. It was brisk, but very pleasant. In fact, I broke out my summer uniform of shorts for the walk. I changed to long jeans later when we traveled to the downtown for a visit to the bank and that aforementioned visit to the favorite watering hole.

I didn't accomplish much else. Mary did get in some work.

I spotted the train heading at a fast clip heading south at 10:36 a.m. yesterday. Locomotives 2019 and 2057 were towing what must have been empty cars, two BCs and seven CHCs. Later when we were on walkabout, we heard that lonesome whistle blow at 4:30 p.m., but that's all I know about the northbound run.

As of now, the thunder seems to have abated and the temperature is 59° as we drop towards our expected overnight low of 52°.Later today, we should see 63° without all that wind. The sun will rise at 8:04 a.m. and set at 6:54 p.m.

After that, I'll watch some TV. NCIS and then the Cubs victory over the Mets. I have my fingers crossed, as this is supposed to be the year for the Cubs. However, the many rookies on the roster are struggling with the pressure of playing on a national stage. The Cubs usual ace pitcher who shutout the Pirates in the wildcard game couldn't get it done on Sunday night. To borrow a famous phrase, "Say it ain't so, Joe, say it ain't so." In this case that would be Cubs' manager Joe Maddon, not "Shoeless Joe" Jackson of the 1909 White Sox scandal fame. Enjoy yourselves my friends, as that is the only time I'll mention that other team from Chicago by name in my blog. Ciao.