Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

We had a relatively quiet day yesterday. We started out by watching CBS Sunday Morning as planned, accompanied by the previously mentioned bagel with a schmear. Those threatened rains came as just a few drops around 12:00 p.m. and that meant that the plantings we did in the gardens of the vast PE after lunch had to receive water from the hose instead of the heavens. We also did some other work that was not strictly gardening. The plantings and other activities occurred after the morning safari with STWD down to the waterfront. We picked up the Grand Haven Tribune on the return leg of our trip.

In the foreground are the remaining bags of  Dairy Doo™ that Mary and I picked up last Thursday. They are earmarked for the pots pictured below. Next to them is the cucumber pot, freshly planted and sprouting in about two weeks. In the background. surrounding the cold frame, are the soon to bloom tulips and the lavender that we planted yesterday. 

Soon to be green, after the addition of  Dairy Doo™, Mary's tomatoes, some peppers and ????

Part of our gardens near the deck. The Red Rooster in the middle came home last year from GR. It now is home to a pant that Mary chose the other day., called Dragon's Wings, I think. 

Another picture, showing some of the flat gardens, pots and mounds that will be growing potatoes, beans, kale, spinach, and horseradish.

I think we are done in the gardens, except for the watering every other day, the addition of the Dairy Doo™ to the pots and the planting of the as yet procured other vegetables. All photos courtesy of Mary.

Along with our morning safari with the intrepid one, the gardening, and another walk for Mary and yours truly to the downtown in the afternoon, we reached the 10,000 step mark on our pedometers. That gave us a prelude to the Step It Up! Walking Challenge being sponsored by the Ottawa County, MI Parks system that officially starts today. We signed up for that a couple of weeks ago. We will be walking in some of the county parks along with daily walking and other activities everyday as we attempt to recreate a "virtual walk" from St. Ignace, MI in the north to Connor Bayou County Park in GH, a distance of 288 "virtual" miles over the next eight weeks. Three years ago, Mary and I actually travelled that route as we did our around Lake Michigan tour in the car.

At any rate, we are off and "running" as of today. Tomorrow, we are participating in one sponsored leg of the challenge at Kirk County Park, a few miles south of here along the shores of the "Big Lake." We have a form to record our progress and a conversion chart to add in steps that come from our other non-walking activities such as gardening, housework, etc. Mary's activities in her kitchen and my housecleaning will aid us in our quest. For example, yesterday we did the planting of the new flowers and I mowed the lawn, so that counted as 93 steps. Phew, I feel healthier already.

Speaking of the weather, we have a current temperature of 58° that feels like 54° as we head towards today's forecast high of 71°. That high may or maynot be accompanied by isolated T-storms. Tomorrow for the official launch of our Step It Up! Walking Challenge at Kirk County Park, the high temperature is forecast to be 56° under cloudy skies. No actual nor virtual rain is in the forecast. But, this being GH and that forecast coming from the NWS, who knows what will happen. Outside the WW, nothing is happening in the precipitation department.

In sports news, Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!, by a score of 9 - 0 over the Reds of Cincinnati, OH. That leaves the boys with a record of 14 - 5 and a firm hold on first place in the NL Central. The Tigers once again imploded. They lost to the Indians, 3 - 6, to fall to 8 - 9 in the AL Central and 4th place. Ouch!. My beloved Red Sox just finished last night's game in 12 innings, with a 7 - 5 victory over the Astraos of Houston. The Sox are now at 8 - 9 in the AL East and in 3rd place. They are playing as predicted by the baseball experts, the Tigers not so much, and of course the Cubs are playing as predicted, consistently winning with strong pitching and hitting. The Caps also did not fare so well, as they were slain by the Dayton Dragons, 3 - 4. The are not moving up or down in the Midwest League Eastern division, with a record of 9 - 8, good enough for 4th place.

Today, the morning safari, more watering if it isn't raining or storming, and some indoor chores. I'd also like to get to some of the backlog of things that Adam and I texted about yesterday too. He and Steph get a few days off starting next weekend, while Mary and I have to get on with being retired. I'll take our schedule over that of Steph and Adam.

I will also try to read some additional pages in The Wolves, a novel by Alex Berenson, that I am reading along with playing with the girls and some of those aforementioned indoor chores. Once again, the internet blipped at 1:30 a.m. Mary is going to try to make her beest or ham too. She has been fixing to get to that the last few days, but this may be the day.

The sun will rise at 6:47 a.m. and set at 8:40 p.m. Ciao.