Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

Yesterday's weather was hot and humid. Nuff said! We have a current temperature of 69°. Today's high will be 86° with high humidity. Also, Nuff said! The 50 % chance for T-storms originally predicted by the NWS is now down to a low of 20%. The next best chance is 50% on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Bill Steffens, Chief Meteorologist for WOOD TV/Radio in GR, says that there is a 20% chance of isolated showers today. One can only hope. Sigh.

I guess that means more watering, but it also means that the annual Coast Guard Festival Car Show should also attract more entrants on Sunday this year than it did a few years ago. That was when the rains kept many "Nice" cars away and a young woman won the "Best of Show" trophy for a "Plain Jane" Camaro.

Sports news from yesterday was mixed. The Cubs must be thinking the following link is true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooM-RGUTe2E

They won their game against that other team from Chicago at the "Beautiful Confines" by a lopsided final score of 8 - 1. Great pitching by Jason Hammel was accompanied by a Grand Slam off the bat of shortstop Addison Russell. Hammell's only mistake was allowing that other team's pitcher to hit a dinger. Kris Bryant tied the game with a home run shortly thereafter. In the bottom of the 7th, Javier Baez got the Cubs back into the game with a two-run go-ahead homer. Russell's Grand Slam came in the bottom of the 8th. Newly acquired Cubs' closer, Aroldis Chapman, was impressive in his Cubs' debut, with one pitch being clocked at 103 mph! Wow!

The Cubs are still firmly in 1st place in the N. L. Central with a record of 60 - 40, 6.5 games ahead of the Cardinals who also won. The Cubs and that other team play again tonight in the "Friendly Confines" @ 8:05 p.m. EDT.

The Tigers won over my beloved Red Sox 4 - 3, to move to 54 - 48 in the A. L. Central. Conversely, the beloved fell to 55 - 44 and 3rd place in the A. L. East, following their loss to the Tigers, 3 - 4. The Red Sox travel to Anaheim to face the Angels tonight @ 10:05 p.m. EDT. The Tigers have the day off before welcoming the Astros on Friday @ 7:10 p.m. EDT.

I was a busy beaver while Mary was knitting in Holland. Outdoors, I used the Weed Whacker™, mowed the lawns of the vast PE, and watered everything before harvesting some tomatoes. Then I moved indoors to do more chores. I was just finishing when Mary returned. Somewhere in there, I recorded the southbound passage of locomotives 2057 & 2019. In tow, were empty cars consisting of 23 CHCs, three DWTCs, one very rusty, a single GTC, and three DBTCs, with one of those at the end. I never witnessed the northbound run on the RSTL.

The I moved to my indoor chores, I was equally busy, but indoors with the A/C, the working conditions were far more pleasant. I like being outdoors, but it was hot and humid.

Mary made lunch upon her return, and then she did some indexing activity. I was lounging in the La-Z-Boy when she showed me a text message from Steph desperately seeking some spinach dip from Lucy's Deli here in GH. We walked there in the heat and humidity, only to find that Lucy's had none and no ingredients to make more. : - (.

We did make a short trip to the big-box drug and sundry store to pick up some things that Mary wanted and then stopped @ Sporty's for a quick refreshment. Home for a dinner of Mary's vegan Mongolian stir fry and then I moved up to the media room for the Cubs' game, some car based TV shows before I was off to bed to finish my day. I didn't last long due to being exhausted from my earlier activities.

STWD will be accompanying us on the morning safari and then she too can settle in for the day. Mary ordered a new brush called The Furminator™ that will be delivered later today, and which is supposed to bring an end to the intrepid one's shedding issues. We'll see.

I'll finish my indoor chores and then get back to reading and highlighting. As long as I'm indoors, all will be well.

Mary wants to do a bit of cleaning in the mud room, but that means more outdoor chores for me. A man's work is never done. Sigh.

The sun will rise @ 6:31 a.m. and set @ 9:10 p.m. Ciao.