Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

There is no joy in Wrigleyville nor in GH tonight, the Cubs lost to the hated Mets, 1 - 2. Jake Arrieta pitched a great game, but the Cubs were unable to score beyond a freak play that allowed a runner to score from 2nd base on a throwing error. That loss finds the Cubs still in 1st place in the N. L. Central, with a record of 58 - 37, 7.5 games ahead of the Cardinals They beat the Padres 10 - 2. The Cubs and the Mets play again this afternoon @ 2:20 p.m.

The Tigers also dropped a game that they should have won, in a 2 - 6 loss to the Twins. That still finds the Tigers in 2nd place in the A. L. Central with a record of 49 - 45. They are 6.5 games behind the Indians, who defeated the Royals, 7 - 3. There is some good news to report, the Tigers are a full 3.0 games ahead of that other team from Chicago, as that team lost to the Mariners, 3 - 4. Same teams this afternoon @ 1:10 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox are on a tear, with a 4 - 0 win over the Giants in an interleague matchup. Big Papi contributed a three-run home run to that victory. The Sox are still in 2nd place in the A. L. East but they are just .5 games behind the Orioles, as the Orioles lost to the Yankees, 1 - 7. The Sox and the Giants play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m.

As previously noted, the Caps had the day off to lick their wounds from their recent trip to Clinton IA. The Caps still languish in 4th place in the Midwest League East, with a record of 10 - 13. They return home tonight to face the Peoria Chiefs @ 1:00 p.m.

Now for the unpredictable weather here in the Tri-Cities area. We have a current temperature of 64° under mostly clear skies. It was hot and humid earlier yesterday, with a high in the mid-80s, but by early evening, the temperature had fallen to a comfortable 78° with lower relative humidity. Today's high is expected to be 86° with mostly sunny skies and 0% precipitation in the forecast from the NWS.

Oddly, the DTWS is showing raindrops on the display due to its ability to sense the barometric pressure with its front porch mounted weather sensor. STWD was reacting to something yesterday afternoon/evening, as she took up residence in her upstairs hide-e-hole. However, no rain drops fell nor thunder crashed.

All of that is my way of saying that I watered yesterday and I'll have to water again today while Mary is in Holland. Oh well, that's what is great about living in the upper midwest. No rain today nor T-storms are in the forecast until late Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest.

While I was out watering, I harvested a cucumber from the garden and that led to another harvest later in the day of fresh basil. Mary and I combined that basil with the zucchini that I had harvested over the previous weekend and spiralized, along with some carrots that I had julienned earlier yesterday afternoon, to make a very tasty salad that we enjoyed for dinner. With some creativity from Mary, the ingredients morphed into the salad pictured below.

We also collaborated on a recipe for chickpea burgers that was too thin to form into patties, so with some additional creativity, that recipe also morphed into something new, a sandwich spread that we ate with the salad. It took some additional spices and green Tobasco™ sauce to make that burger recipe, which became a dip, and then finally became a delicious sandwich spread, but it turned out great on toasted rye bread. Sometimes it is a matter of finding a solution to a problem to come up with a new taste treat sensation, 

Today with Mary in Holland, I'll be making my famous kale and squash soup with onions. I 'll be using fresh kale from the gardens of the PE, along with squash and onions from the grocery store. I have plans to save the skin from the squash for possible inclusion in Sugar's breakfasts. I'll also save the kale stems for another recipe that Mary has in mind. Normally, we'd throw those two things into the disposal or trash, but we are trying out some recipes from a cookbook in which the author claims a use for everything. We shall see about that claim.  

Other than cooking, I'll be reading and relaxing after the morning walk with the intrepid one and watering, again. I'm hoping that the calcium spray that we got the other day to prevent blossom rot on the tomatoes will prove effective.  

The sun will rise this morning @ 6:23 a.m. and set @ 98:18 p.m. Ciao.