Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City."

Did you know that you have Martians in your garden? Bet you didn't know, you have aliens on your roof. You probably didn't know you've got Shadow People, and their living in your basement. I've got a funny feeling Bigfoot's Gonna be here soon! I was so blind before, I was so unaware, but now I swear, I'm seeing Sasquatch over there! I turned on my radio, in the middle of the night, and I heard things I need to know, now I can see the light, hope I also don't see a ghost, 'cause I'm listening Coast to Coast, with host George Noory, heard on iHeart™ and Sirius/XM™, in the middle of the night. My thanks to UFO Phil for helping to enlighten me in his musical homage to Coast to Coast AM.

But I digress, tongue firmly planted in cheek! The current temperature is 57/59°, depending on whether you trust the NWS or my DTWS more. Both are predicting rain/T-storms this morning and early afternoon. However, my view out the WW shows no precipitation, zero, zip, zilch, nothing at this time. The DTWS has raindrops on it's screen, and the NWS is predicting showers beginning in earnest about 6:00 a.m. The T-storms may, or may not, begin in earnest about 11:00 a.m. This being "The City", we'll take a wait and see attitude.

I have an appointment for my semi-annual knee treatments this morning. Those take five consecutive weeks. At the same time, I'll be discussing the surgery that I need on my ailing thumb. Mary is going along to hear about the pre-surgery scheduling and regimen, as well as the post-surgical rehab and restrictions. Then we can stop in the hospital cafeteria for lunch at their salad bar.

Trainspotting yesterday required the able assistance of my apprentice trainspotter. She did a great job in my stead, as I was on my bicycle on the way to see Captain America: Civil War. I enjoyed this slam bang blow em up far more than Mary ever could have, as I am still a fan of superheroes and Marvel Comic™ in particular. How could anyone not like seeing Iron Man, Ant Man, Hawkeye, Vision, Black Panther, the Fantastic Spider Man, Falcon, Bucky Barnes, AKA Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and The Scarlet Witch, along with all of the Avengers. There I sat with my 44 oz Cherry Pepsi™, and a ginormous bucket of popcorn. What's not to like?

Mary would have been asking questions about characters and events that are second nature to me, as they were in my childhood. In addition, I saw previews of upcoming movies that featured Matt Damon as he reprises his Jason Bourne character, Matthew McConaughey in a movie titled The Free State of Jones, and Doctor Strange, another Marvel Comics Studios™ movie due for release in the fall of this year.

But I digress once again. I was talking about trains. At 11:25 a.m. as I was riding, my apprentice trainspotter reported seeing engines 2057 and 2019 at the head off a long, long line of cars as they passed through "The City" heading south. The cars were: two BCs directly behind the locomotives, 18 CHCs, seven DBTCs, five DWTCs, and two GTCs. She was unable to determine their load status. At 4:27 p.m., I personally witnessed the northbound passage of the same cast of locomotives, with many less cars that included: one DBTC, and 12 CHCs, with two of those bringing up the rear. My expertise in all things trainspotting, told me that they were fully loaded. At the time, I was on the deck playing with Abigael and STWD. So I rushed to the front porch to see two of the neighbor girls sitting and watching the passage, while Mary set a good example by waiting until the trains passed, rather than crossing in front of the slow moving train.

In sports, it had to happen, the boys in blue dropped two games to the Padres, by scores of 4 - 7 and 0 - 1. The Cubs still have a strong hold on 1st place in the NL Central with a record of 25 - 8. The Tigers lost a squeaker to the Nationals, 2 - 3, as former Tigers' hurler Max Scherzer threw a record tying 20 Ks at the Tigers, who now have a record of 15 - 18 in the AL Central. That's only good enough for 4th place. Scherzer's opponent was Tigers' pitcher Jordan Zimmerman. My beloved Red Sox stayed on the winning trail, with a 13 - 3 drubbing of the Oakland As. That means that the Red Sox are still in 2nd place in the AL East with a record of 21 - 13, just behind the Orioles, who have a record of 20 - 12. Who knew? I did! The Caps lost once again to the Midwest League East leading Lake County, OH Captains, 2 - 7.

I must return to my activities from yesterday. I returned from the movie to mow the vast back lawns of the PE and to do some weeding, before I sat down to play with Abigael. I also found time to get started on Mary's hobbit door and rehung our Wrigley Field replica scoreboard in center field. A note of optimism, the cucumbers are beginning to sprout, the spinach and kale are looking good, my potatoes are all sprouting and the herbs and onions in the deck planters are looking great. In spite of Mary's misgivings, my daily counseling of her tomato plants is producing positive results. I have faith.

While I was out, Mary organized her various projects that were scattered around the house. Now she knows what she has to do. But just like my regular day of retirement, she now has to find time to do them. Since she took herself out to lunch yesterday at our favorite watering hole, she made me a baked potato with broccoli and vegan cheese covered with her homemade salsa for dinner. Making the salsa was a labor of love for her, as she got to chop veggies and use spices in her kitchen. I just enjoyed the potato.

Our day today is pretty much set. Doctor's appointments and other activities will fill our time. On a trip downstairs, I discovered that we have a second large container of peppercorns for our pepper mill, but no sea salt for the other grinder. We have enough peppercorns for another millennium, but no salt. Go figure. That's what happens when you can't see on the top shelf of the storage cabinet in the kitchen.

The sun will rise at 6:23 a.m. and set at 8:58 p.m. Ciao.