Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is shortly past 3:30 am. in "The City."

Brrrrrrr! "Baby it's cold out side!" That's a line from an old song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and recorded by many artists over the years, most notably Dean Martin. At any rate, the current temperature is 51° as we near the overnight low of 45°. Our rebound today will only reach 59° with partly cloudy skies and windy conditions. No  precipitation is in the forecast and temperatures are expected to rebound to the upper 60s as the days unfold.

In sports, the men in blue easily dispatched the Brewers 6 - 1. The Cubs now have a record of 95 - 65. Those same two teams meet again @ 7:05 tonight. The Tigers, no surprise here, lost to that other team from Chicago, 1 - 2. Their record of 73 - 86 isn't up to the standard they set for themselves in recent seasons. They too play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. My beloved Red Sox will not have a winning season this year. Their current record of 78 - 82 with two games left to play, precludes that. They needed to win out and the loss to the Indians yesterday 2 - 8, made that impossible.

In college football, the Michigan Wolverines have traveled east to visit the Terrapins of Maryland. The game was moved from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. in hopes of avoiding the heavy rains that are pelting the Eastern Seaboard. The 4 - 0 MSU Spartans face the Boilermakers of Purdue, also at 12:00 p.m. The NIU Huskies clash with the Central Michigan Chippewas at 3:00 p.m.

Trainspotting yesterday happened early. @ 9:09 a.m., EMD GP 38 locomotives 2019 and 2057 headed south towing seven CHCs, 11 DBTCs, and five DWTCs. The ground shook enough to tell me that the cars were loaded. The return northbound run happened @ 12:11 p.m. The same locomotives reversed order and towed two BCs, and 5 CHCs,

Elsewhere in the news, STWD and I took the morning walk while Mary went to the bakery downtown to pick up a baguette. Sounds French, doesn't it? When she returned, she made a great faux tuna salad with a side of sweet potatoes. All good. She reserved the balance of the baguette for her excellent dinner, which was eggplant with homemade marinara sauce. Instead of pasta, she served up the bread lightly toasted. Both items were excellent and are a keeper.

In between lunch and dinner, we journeyed downtown. Mary wanted to buy a long sleeved T-shirt at one of the stores, but the color looked better in the window display and the sleeves were long enough to fit both arms in the same sleeve. Well not quite, but they were way too long. Then off to the Post to see Sally and get a few acorn squash from the ample supply Sally's brother Jack, brought in from his hobby farm.

Mostly I fiddled around in the man-cave tinkering with a project I am working on. I also sealed the concrete down there to prevent seepage, only to discover that the seepage was coming from the dishwasher leak in the kitchen. I may have fixed it, but if not, then a call to the serviceman is in order. Mary was doing some cooking after her afternoon chat.

Today I have no plans. A walk with the intrepid weather dog, a crossword or two, and more work on my project. Mary has an index to revise, maybe. I think she will help me make the chickpeas that I started last night and bake some bread. It doesn't get more domestic than that.

The sun will rise at 7:44 a.m. and set at 7:23 p.m. Ciao.