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

I had a great day in the gardens of the PE yesterday. We arose late and Mary took the morning safari with STWD solo. I was supposed to ride my bike to avoid walking, but the gardening that I had planned to require about 20 minutes, took over two hours. By the time I was done, I was too pooped to pop. However, by using the conversion chart for Step It Up!, I converted 120 minutes of heavy gardening into 18,600 steps. That's nearly two days worth of steps. Maybe I can walk more today, or at least ride my bike. Somewhere in there I also did some laundry, but I'm not counting that in my steps.

Trainspotting yesterday was a complete success. By that, I mean that I actually observed both the north and southbound runs of EMD GP38-2 locomotives.

The southbound run occurred @ 10:48 a.m. In tow were two BCs, nine CHCs, and one DBTC that was bringing up the rear. The northbound run occurred @ 2:05 p.m. and in the queue were four CHCs, once DWTC and 10 DBTCs  with three of those bringing up the rear. The rumble that I felt in the earth convinced me that all the cars were fully laden.

Sports news yesterday was good for baseball fans, but not so good for football fans, at least fans of the Bears. They lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by a final score of 14 - 29. Also lost several times was the football, as the Bears seemed to have what was termed "security issues." They couldn't hold onto the ball. That gives the Bears a record of 0 - 2 in the NFC North.

Baseball news was much better. The Cubs rallied in the late innings with three home runs to win their NL Central game over the Cincinnati Reds by a final score of 5 - 2. That gives the Cubs back their 40 games over .500 lead in the division. The  Reds are @ the bottom of the division. Addison Russell, Wilson Contreras, and Jason Heyward all hit dingers. The Cubs face the Reds again tonight @ 8:05 p.m.

The Tigers had the day off, as did the AL Central-leading Indians. The Indians lead the Tigers by a full seven games. The Tigers are playing the Twins tonight in Minnesota @ 8:10 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox topped the 2nd place Orioles, 5 - 2 in a battle of AL East rivals. That gives that Sox a record of 86 - 64, four games ahead of the Orioles and the Blue Jays. Sadly, the stands @ The Ballpark at Camden Yards in Baltimore had a large number of fans disguised as empty seats. The Sox supported winning pitcher Rick Porcello, who has now won 21 games, with home runs by Mookie Betts and David "Big Papi" Ortiz. Mookie got his eighth home run in seven games @ Camden Yards and "Big Papi" hit his 35th.

As previously noted, Mary soloed with STWD and also walked all over town in her quest to hit 10,000 steps for the Step It Up!" challenge. She was quick to note that it is very difficult to get to 10,000 steps. She walked to the waterfront. She walked to the Sprint™ store to get assistance with our cell phone, and she and I walked to JWs for afternoon libations. I don't remember how many steps she recorded, but I don't think it was 10,000.

We did get our hotel reservations for our Amtrak™ to the East Coast in November. That is an accomplishment that feels good, as it needed to be done.

I spent some time revising and editing some music and playing with the girls for a few moments before I joined Mary @ JWs.

We have a current temperature of 67° under rainy skies. The rain will be ending before the sun rises @ 7:30 a.m. There is no additional precipitation in the forecast from the NWS until Saturday. We have plans to go to the apple festival in Sparta, MI that day, but the forecast for Sparta is a 60% chance of rain, the same as here in GH. Once again, a game day decision.

Today we have no specific plans. No gardening and certainly no long walks for yours truly and no plans outside of getting to the reading I had planned for yesterday. I'd like to get to playing with the girls more too. I have some indoor chores to work on, but I am observing Mary's admonition regarding doing too much in one day, so I'll finish upstairs and then do more in the downstairs tomorrow.

The sun will set @ 7:45 p.m. and then Mary and I have plans to watch the season openers of NCIS, Bull, starring NCIS long time former cast member, Michael Weatherly, and finally NCIS New Orleans. Ciao.