Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City."

Dare I say it? Cubs Win!  Cubs Win!  Cubs Win! There, I've said it, Is there a better way to say it? Yes, and here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XtDyDUjIU

Perhaps, I can allow the late Steve Goodman, who penned the previous song, to add this little missive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xBxZGQ1dJk  No Steve, they're not playing the blues in Chicago again this year! The Cubs are not the "Doormats of the National League. I've waited about 57 years for the Cubs to win it all, and so I am also going to say that the Cubs are only 19 more games away from clinching the NL Central. I had to wait until about 1:20 a.m. EDT to hear Ron Coomer and Mark Grote announce the final score of  8 - 7 in a 13 inning win over the Pirates. It was worth the wait. "How sweet it is!", to borrow from the late John Herbert, "Jackie" Gleason.

What can I say, a man can't get a better 65th birthday gift than another win by the Cubs! That gives them a 14 game lead over the 2nd place Cardinals, and 15.5 games over the 3rd place Pirates, last night's nemesis. The Cubs and the Pirates play again tonight @ 8:05 p.m. EDT.

In addition, the Tigers took one from that other team from Chicago in an AL Central games, 4 - 3. That keeps the Tigers in 2nd place with a 4.5 game deficit behind the Indians, who won 1 - 0. The Tigers and that other team play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox defeated the Rays by a solid 9 - 4 score in an AL East matchup last night. That win keeps the Sox in 2nd place 2.0 games in back of the winning  Blue Jays. Former Tiger Rick Porcello notched his 18th win and Mookie Betts hit his 30th home run. The Sox and the Rays play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m.

For the Coup de Grace, the Caps routed the MWL East last place Ft. Wayne TinCaps by a final score of 10 - 2. That moves the Caps up to 5th place with a record of 29 - 33. They Caps are off today. In short, my teams went 4 - 0.

In honor of my 65th birthday,  I had Mary take some pictures of yours truly in both my Tigers regalia and in my incognito garb. For your approval, I hope. I think that I look good for a man of a certain age who has survived all those seasons of Cubs futility. Both pictures were taken in front of the map that adorns the wall in Mary's office. We place pins in the map to mark all of the places we have stayed in nearly 43 years.

Mary and I took the morning safari with STWD before I got around to the watering and some other outdoor chore> That was after I returned from the barber and the Restore Store™ yesterday. I finished the last three editions of the Grand Haven Tribune, but I have yet to work the crosswords. However, I also finished reading Burn What Will Burn, by CB McKenzie. So many books, so little time.

I only observed the southbound run of locomotives 2019 and 2057 on the RSTL yesterday. In tow were one BC, two DBTCs, and eight CHCs.

Today, as I promised Adam, I'll be doing some things that I want to do, once the new bed is in place. Mary has promised to make my birthday devil's food cake with white icing, and also to make spaghetti roll casserole for by birthday dinner in between her regularly scheduled chat session @ 12:00 p.m. EDT. I believe that the best icing on my sports cake would be another set of wins by all of my MLB™ teams.

I also helped Mary get the vegan ham roast into the oven which became out dinner with a side of sweet potatoes. Since the oven was on, we also made more of my favorite snack food, spicy chickpeas. Lunch was tacos made with black beans and garden fresh tomatoes. Naturally, I had to have jalapeno peppers on my tacos too.

Some people have asked why I decided to go vegan, but I can best answer that with this picture. I think this little piggy looks a lot like STWD, so if you wouldn't eat her, why this little piggy?

Once we have taken the morning safari, I'll settle in and complete those aforementioned crossword puzzles.

We have a current temperature of 69° under clear skies. Today's birthday high is forecast by the NWS to be 80° with 82% humidity. There is only a 20% or less chance of rain for the next several days. The sun will rise today @ 7:07 a.m. and set @ 8:21 p.m. Ciao.