Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City."

A current temperature, per the NWS of 60°, or 64° per the DTWS prevails. The NWS is forecasting a chance of showers of anywhere from 15% to 50% throughout these early and later a.m. hours. However, the DTWS has nothing on its display, so... my DTWS forecast is as good as theirs. By early Wednesday, the NWS forecasts an increase to 60% that morphs into an 80% chance of T-storms as the day progresses. I think I'll rely on the DTWS and STWD for additional forecasts.

Update, 4:54 a.m. STWD is in her upstairs hide-e-hole as the T-storms move in. Nothing on the DTWS.

Bill Steffens, Chief Meteorologist for WOOD TV/Radio, says the showers will be sporadic throughout the day. However, he relies on input from the NWS for his forecast too, and he is in GR, so I can't always count on him either.

I have one-half of a train spot for this blog. At 10:22 a.m., locomotive #2019 was soloing as it headed south. In tow were two BCs, eight CHCs, one DWTC, and at the end, a lone DBTC. What happened to locomotive #2057 and also the northbound run will forever be a mystery to me. I don't know about the northbound run, because we were out, and I have no way to check on the missing locomotive.

Sadly, sports news was not good yesterday for the Cubs They were outclassed by the Nats, 1 - 4, when former Tiger Max Scherzer fanned 11 Cubs in a 1 - 4 victory by the Nats. That leaves the Cubs a scant 8.5 games ahead of the 2nd place Cardinals, with a record of 43 - 19 in the N. L. Central. I erred yesterday, when I placed the Pirates in 2nd place. They are actually 11.5 games behind the Cubs. Still, an 8.5 game lead over the Cardinals feels good to this long suffering fan halfway through June.

Also sadly, the Tigers fell to that other team from Chicago last night, 9 - 10. Neither team's pitcher was dominating. The Tigers now have a scant .5 game lead over that team with a 32 - 31 in the A. L. Central. The Tigers face that same team tonight.

Fortunately, my beloved Red Sox were off and are still tied with their opponent for the next several games, the Orioles, with an A. L. East record of 36 - 26.

Also fortunately, the Caps were victorious over the Ft. Wayne TinCaps, 8 - 3. The Caps are still stuck in 3rd place with a record of 36 - 25 in the M.W.L. East.

We traveled to the great north of our little environs, first to Muskegon to visit a closed yarn shop. Neither of us remembered that many shops are closed on Mondays, this one included. Our next stop was at the tool outlet where we only got 2/3 of my desired items. But, after a few stops on the way home, that elusive third item, a tool called a file card made of wood and steel bristles, not paper, and which is  used for cleaning metallic files in the workshop, was ordered from an on-line retailer.

We also stopped at the mall to have a new pin placed in my recently purchased watch band. That stop went smoothly.

We traveled to the hospital for my P/T appointment, which was actually an O/T (occupational therapy) appointment, Once again, we ate a salad for lunch in the hospital cafeteria prior to that appointment. The appointment was enlightening and I have a long way to go towards recovery and full use of my thumb, according to the therapist. It means a lot of work for me, but in order to play with the girls once again, I will do my part.

Our final stop was at the chiropractor. That went well, and I was fitted for my new Orthotic inserts. The doctor wants to wait until they come in to decide if they are the answer to my issues.

Finally a stop at JWs and then home for additional reading and crossword solving.

My new Irish bodhran arrived yesterday, I'll try it out today to see if I can play with my removable cast. If not, it will have to wait for a few weeks. It's OK if I can't, because I have nothing but time in my retired state.

Today, I want to stay in and enjoy the life giving rains that are in the forecast from the NWS. That's after the morning safari with the intrepid one. If it is raining, I won't have to water the lawns and gardens of the vast PE. However, that will also mean that Sugar won't be happy about having to go out. That's where her forecasting skills come in. If she repairs to her hide-e-hole, I'll know that storms are coming or in progress.

More highlighting is in store for me along with reading and lazing about. Mary baked her bread loaf last night, but I don't know what the result is yet. I'll await her critique this morning. I did get an email from her that did not include an Aaugh ala Peanuts©, or other negative critical comment about the bread, so perhaps the news will be good. She was watching another in her favorite movie genre, apocalyptic disasters, aptly named Contagion, when she sent that email from downstairs.

That's enough for today. The weather will determine much of my activities for later this morning, and throughout the day. The sun will rise at 6:04 a.m. and set at 9:26 p.m. Ciao.