Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City", where a current temperature shown on both the NWS/Weather Channel site and the DTWS of 69° prevails. Later today, the NWS high is forecast to be 76° under mostly cloudy skies.

In reference to the weather report, we have a book discussion session this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. We'll be walking downtown to the Tri-Cities Historical Society to discuss the book that Mary and I recently finished, Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt. This book is a chronicle of the trials, travails, and successes of women who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as "Computers", the unofficial name given to these remarkable women, as they used slide rules, pencils and paper, and later huge IBM™ computers to calculate the thrust of huge rockets, the trajectory to the moon and other planetary objects, both for manned space flight and satellite exploration. A terrific story that gives lie to the myth that women couldn't be engineers, scientists, wives, and mothers. Yes, they had warts, but they were also highly competent in a "Man's World."

Yesterday was not a good day for the Cubs, as they fell last night to the Dodgers, 0 - 5. While starting pitcher Jake Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings and hasn't suffered a loss in 23 games, the loss snapped the streak of an Arrieta/Cubs win over that same span. Arrieta's run support was 0, and the Dodgers pounded his relievers for five runs after he left. Good news though, the Pirates lost too, so the Cubs remain atop the N.L. Central, with a record of 35 - 15, 6.5 games ahead of the Pirates.

The Tigers who are still on their West Coast road trip, dropped another to the Angels. This time the Tigers scored nine runs, but the Angels out slugged the Tigers for 11 in the Tigers' 9 - 11 loss. The Tigers are still firmly holding onto 4th place in the A.L. Central with their record of 24 - 27.

My beloved Red Sox handily defeated the Orioles, 6 - 2, on the strength of OF Mookie Betts' three home run night. The Sox have an A.L. East best record of 32 - 20, three full games ahead of the Orioles.

That other team from Chicago righted the ship for one night, but they are not playing well after their torrid start this year.

The Caps, a Tigers' A level affiliate, topped the Great Lakes Loons of Midland, MI, The Loons are a Dodgers low A affiliate. The final score was 2 - 0. That gives the Caps a record of 29 - 19 in the M.W.L.East, one game behind the South Bend Cubs.

Trainspotting yesterday was short but sweet. I spotted Mid-Michigan RR locomotives 2057 and 2019 looking freshly washed heading south at 9:35 a.m. In tow, one empty BC. At 12:34 p.m., those same locomotives were heading north, at the head of one CHC, one DBTC, one DWTC, and one GTC.

We did make it to Holland yesterday via Lake Shore Dr., a very scenic route. We got every thing we went for, including some yarn for a planned scarf for me. With the road construction in downtown Holland, we had trouble finding the yarn store, but it was worth the effort according to Mary.

Today, we have no specific plans. The morning safari with STWD and that book discussion session are the extent of our planned activities. We may have to water whether that rain comes or not.

The sun will rise at 6:07 a.m. and set at 9:18 p.m. Ciao.