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

It is not quite time to panic, but it may be time to worry about the Cubs, as they lost their 4th in a row to the Marlins. That comes on the heels of being swept by the Cardinals earlier this week. The final score of this game versus the Marlins was 2- 4. Jon Lester surrendered two home runs early in the game, as the announcers noted that he was pitching well. To me, pitching well means you aren't surrendering home runs. The Cubs loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't move the runners across.

Lester's battery mate and personal catcher, David Ross, did tie the game early with a home run of his own, but the results were still a loss. Javier Baez, made a spectacular play at 3rd base after throwing the ball wildly to first base on an earlier play. Rookie catcher Wilson Contreras, playing first base in place of Anthony Rizzo looked good, but the Cubs now have a record of 47 - 24 in the N. L. Central, nine games ahead of the 2nd place Cardinals. The Cubs face the Marlins again tonight.

The Tigers eked out a win over the Mariners in 10 innings 5 - 4, when a walk off wild pitch from the Marlins pitcher allowed the runner on the loaded bases to scamper home from third base. That gives the Tigers a record of 38 - 35 in the A. L. Central, four games behind the Orioles. The Tigers are in Cleveland tonight to face the A. L. East 1st place Indians.

My beloved Red Sox defeated that other team from Chicago, also in 10 innings, with a walk off single from Xander Bogaerts, that allowed the winning run in the person of Mookie Betts to score and avoid the sweep by that other team. The Sox have an A. L. East record of 40 - 32, good for 2nd place behind the Orioles, whom they face tonight. It should be a good game.

The Caps started off the 2nd half of their season in the Midwest League East, with a loss to the Lansing Lugnuts, 1 - 5. That means that the Caps have a record of 0 - 1, good for 8th place and the cellar in their division, Not to worry, they have a long time to make up ground. The Caps face the Lugnuts again tonight.

Yesterday, it looked like the rain would miss us and I'd have to water, but the rains came and soaked things in the lawns and gardens of the PE nicely, I did have to water the vegetables near the deck, because they are in the sun and dry out quickly. I'll be watering again today, as the next chance of rain is Sunday.

Worthy of note, is that the seedlings in the front lawn are beginning to sprout in response to the rains and watering. We are experiencing a current temperature of 61° under clear skies. Later today, the high is forecast to be 81° under sunny skies.

My visit to the hospital went smoothly yesterday.

Mary made a new recipe for potato salad for dinner to accompany the hot dogs with onions and mustard that we had obtained the day before. This particular mustard, is made in the UP of Michigan by the Backwoods Mustard Company™ and it tasted great.

With more than a little assistance from Mary, I made vegetable soup in the Crockpot™ too. My one-handed cooking skills still need polishing. I haven't tasted the soup yet, but it sure smells great and has provided a great fragrance for the main house of the PE. Fortunately, after I went to the media to watch the Cubs' loss, Mary placed "our" soup in the refrigerator.

Mary worked on her index and then we traveled to the UPS Store™, to send back the frame that we ordered for my new picture. That's the one that Adam and Steph gave me for Father's Day. We are going to have to take that picture to our regular framing place for a decent frame, since the one that was received from the big-box e-retailer was not to our liking.

Today, Mary goes back to indexing and I go back to watering after the morning safari with STWD. Mary has a chat at 2:00 p.m. today and I have a date with the La-Z-Boy for crossword solving and reading, while doing some household chores that will require extra time.

The sun will rise at 6:06 a.m. and set at 9:28 p,m. Ciao.