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

This should turn out to be a short blog as there was not much happening in Michigan sports news, at least from the perspective of college and pro sports. However, since I do have an interest in some sports teams from Illinois, I'll be reporting on those too.

Let's start with the weather. The current temperature is a brisk 41° under cloudy skies. Yesterday it was partly cloudy and some scant precipitation fell as we were sitting in JWs for the post-chiropractic visit. The high temperature never left the 50s, but that only required a fleece or vest to keep us warm. Today's high will reach 55° under partly cloudy skies. By Sunday, we should reach the mid-60s.

By the time we arose yesterday for the morning safari with the fur-children, it was almost 12:00 p.m. We walked downtown and worked our way home shortly after 1:00 p.m. We did see a freighter unloading coal at the Board of Light and Power plant. Mary took pictures with the smartphone. Here is one of those pictures of the self-unloading self-discharging bulk carrier, Manitowoc. She was built in Lorain, Ohio in 1973, and her home port is Cleveland, OH. The Manitowoc is capable of carrying nearly 20,000 tons of any bulk cargo, such as the coal for this delivery.

The coal must come to the Municipally Owned Board of Light and Power generating station by ship.

Sugar and Ginger were mostly ignoring each other and that made the walk go easier. However with the frequent stops for each fur-child to smell the scenery, the walk which was less than two miles in distance took more than one hour.

Lunch was the remainder of Mary's famous mushroom gravy, the balance of her roast beest, and some potatoes, all slathered with the gravy. Naturally, I loved lunch.

I did some work in the man-cave and completed two of three projects I had planned. I am now rethinking the third project design, so I may have to alter my original plan. No big deal, as that is how I often work, in an evolutionary style.

Mary didn't get much done on the index between chatting, the late wake-up time, the long morning safari, planning and creating lunch, and our weekly visit to the chiropractor, which went well for each of us, the day got away. I'd like to say that that's okay since I'm retired, but Mary isn't. so that means that she will have to get busy on Sunday since we'll be visiting with the kids for lunch in Saugatuck, MI. Between the morning safari, driving to and from Saugatuck, and lunch with the kids, much of our time today is already spoken for. Oh well, I'm retired. : - ).

Sports today will mean another chance for the Cubs to land a berth in this year's World Series™. The Cubs and the Dodgers play game six of the NLCS @ 8:00 p.m. I am feeling good about the Cubs' chances. Ron Santo said for the last several years of his life, that "This is the Year!" Here's hoping his statement is accurate this year.

In college football, the 6 - 0 Wolverines of Michigan play host to the  2 - 4 Fighting Illini of Illinois @ 3:30 p.m. The 2 - 4 Spartans of MSU, fresh from their loss to the Northwestern Wildcats, visit the 4 - 2 University of Maryland Terrapins @ 7:30 p.m. The 1 - 6 Huskies of NIU host the 1 - 5 Bulls of the University of Buffalo @ 3:30 p.m.

There were no trains to spot yesterday.

As previously noted, our time today is mostly spoken for. The sun will rise @ 8:07 a.m. and set @ 6:50 p.m. Ciao.