Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in "The City."

 Right now, the weather is calm with a side of calm. A current temperature of 65° under partly cloudy skies will lead to today's steamy high of 84°, also under partly cloudy skies. The NWS is forecasting T-storms from Wednesday evening through Friday, anywhere from 40% to 60%. This being GH, I'll wait until STWD tenders her forecast tomorrow.

Speaking of the intrepid one, I didn't go on the morning safari, choosing instead to do some indoor chores as Sugar walked with Mary. Their walk didn't last long. Mary said that because Sugar heard a loud noise that sounded like thunder to Sugar, they were off to the races. That means that Mary was an impediment to Sugar as she desperately wanted to get home to her hide-e-hole. Unfortunately, one of those indoor chores was vacuuming, so Sugar couldn't immediately repair to her upstairs hide-e-hole.

Mary was hard at work, trying to pare the index down to a shorter size, a Sisyphusian task that has not yielded the desired outcome. I get to assist in that endeavor later today.

Somewhere in there, I rode my bicycle to the hospital for my O/T appointment and lunch. After that, I spent some time resealing the tub in the upstairs hide-e-hole, so that was upsetting to Sugar too. I was successful, but it took over one hour of Sugar's precious time.

During that process, Mary heard the sound of the southbound train run on the RSTL, so I had to ask her to use her skills as the apprentice trainspotter to record its passage @ 1:59 p.m. The regular cast of locomotives was ins the lead of nine CHCs, six DBTCs, and three GTCs, all empty Mary believes.

Later in the afternoon @ 5:35 p.m., the northbound run of locomotives 2019 and 2057 passed through towing four CHCs, and a single BC that was bringing up the rear. Their load status was indeterminate.

Somewhere in between, we made a run to the newly remodeled D & W Fresh Market grocery store that Mary has proclaimed as vastly improved and her new favorite.

On the way home, we stopped at our favorite watering hole for dinner and then made it back in time to record the passage of that northbound train.

I was able to enjoy another Cubs' victory over the hated NY Mets last night, as the Cubs were victorious, 5 - 1. That gives the Cubs a 1st place record of 56 - 36 in the N; L. Central, a full 8.0 games ahead of the 2nd place Cardinals. The Cubs and the Mets play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

The Tigers needed a great pitching performance in yesterday's game, as their bats were experiencing a bout of baseball phobia. The only run tallied by the Tigers in their 1 - 0 win over the Twins, was a solo home run off the bat of Justin Upton. Starting pitcher Matt Boyd tossed his best effort for the Tigers so far this year. However, since he has only pitched 19 games in the majors, that is not a meaningful statistic or fact.

The Tigers are still in 2nd place in the A. L. Central with a record of 49 - 44, but they have moved to within 5.5 games of the Indians, who lost to the Royals. The Tigers are now 3.5 games ahead of that other team from Chicago. The Tigers and the Twins play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox had the day off, so their A.L. East record of 51 - 39 didn't change. But good news, the division-leading Orioles lost to the Yankees, allowing the Sox to move up 1/2 game to 1.5 games behind the Orioles.

Sadly, the Caps did not have the day off, as they will today. They fell to the Clinton, IA Lumberkings 2 - 3. They still have a firm hold on 4th place in the Midwest League East, with a record of 10 - 13. They play @ home tomorrow night versus the Peoria Chiefs @ 7:00 p.m.

Today I plan to do more reading after Mary's work assignment. We'll take a joint morning safari and then I can get down to work. Retirement can be so exhausting, even if your computer is working just fine.

That looks like enough activity for one hot and humid day. The sun will rise @ 6:22 a.m. and set @ 9:15 p.m. as the days get continuously shorter. Ciao.