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

This post will, of necessity, be a tad longer than that which I posted yesterday. That's because I have the time, the inclination, and lots of things I'd like to blog about.

Since my first recollection of yesterday is that of the southbound passage of EMD GP 38-2 locomotives 2019 and 2057, that seems like a good place to begin. At 11:00 a.m., the aforementioned locomotives passed by on the RSTL towing nine CHCs, six DBTCs, and four DWTCs that were bringing up the rear.

At the time of the afternoon passage, we were in Spring Lake, having just returned from a successful trip to Coopersville, when I once again heard that lonesome whistle blow @ 3:25 p.m. It is usually at this point where I note that I have no knowledge beyond that moaning whistle. However, after we had stopped @ Stan's for about one hour while Ginger was @ daycare, we were on our way home when what to my surprise should I see as we passed across the US 31 automobile drawbridge over the Grand River, but those same locomotives stopped @ the swinging train bridge that also spans the Grand River.

I did a little digging and came up with a picture of the actual bridge from the archives of the Historic Bridges.org website and their photographer, NathanHolth. What little I could glean about the bridge is that it is fully riveted in its construction, suggesting that is was built in the early part of the 20th century. The bridge is 150 feet in length and uses an electric motor to open it to allow boats to pass through on the river when there are no trains. The bridge is normally closed in the winter months when there are no boats passing and open in the summer months as boat passages are more frequent.

I don't know what the problem was, but the train must have been there for about one hour, idling and wasting fuel. At any rate, I observed the locomotives at the head of eight CHCs, seven DBTCs, and six DTWCs, one with a green stripe around its mid-section.

As a train buff, this bridge is quite the scene to see.

We had been to Coopersville while Ginger was @ daycare to pick up a few things @ Off theTracks, the small grocery store there. A trip to Coopersville and this store is always a nice ride in the country.

In Spring Lake, before our stop @ Stan's, we stopped @ Love Inc's resale store to see if we could repurpose some clothing for Mary and ultimately yours truly. We discovered that the store was having a sale that offered five articles of clothing for $5.00. I ended up with two shirts and Mary three tops. Any that we decide aren't suitable we will donate to Goodwill™ to continue the repurposing. We absolutely believe in repurposing clothing rather than buying new. 

As noted, Ginger was @ daycare and we picked her up on the way home. She is adapting nicely and we think that daycare is preferable to being in her crate for hours. Sugar was home on the couch, having walked to the veterinarian's office with us earlier in the day to pick up some medication and to get her and Ginger's weight checked. Ginger seems up about one-half pound and Sugar down about three pounds following her one week on her lo-calorie diet food. When a dog the size of a small pickup truck is in the veterinarian's office it is hard to get an accurate weight as the fur-children are seemingly bouncing all over the office. We think that Ginger needs to eat less and Sugar is doing great. Would that it were so easy to lose weight for her caretakers. 

Sports news yesterday was only slightly good. The Cubs had the day off following their victory over the Brewers on Wednesday. With a record of 8 - 7, the Cubs are in second place in the NL Central. The Cubs travel to meet the Reds in Cincinnati tonight @ 7:10 p.m.

The Tigers are hurting, having a record of 8 - 7 in the AL Central following an embarrassing loss to the Rays, 1 - 8. They are now in 2nd place and face the Twins tonight @ 8:10 p.m. 

My beloved Red Sox took 10 innings and a three-run double in the top of the 10th by Mookie Betts, but they defeated the Blue Jays by a final score of 4 - 1. The Sox are still in 3rd place behind the 2nd place Yankees and the 1st place Orioles, the Sox opponent tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

Sadly, the Caps didn't fare very well yesterday in their return home as they fell to the Lake, County, OH Captains 1 - 2. That loss ties the Caps with the Ft. Wayne, IN TinCaps with identical records of 6 - 8, good for 7th place in the MWL East, three games behind the front-running Dayton Dragons. The Caps and the Captains play again tonight @ the Fith/Third Ballpark @ 6:35 p.m.

We have a current temperature of 47° under cloudy skies. Later today, the high temperature is forecast by the NWS to reach 50° under partly cloudy skies. Saturday's high should reach 60°, also under partly cloudy skies. Sunday we'll also see 60°, albeit with sunny skies. 

Today, after we get back from the morning safari with the fur-children to the newspaper box and the library, I have a few things I'd like to do in the upstairs bathroom to finish off some small details that can wait if I don't get to them. I want to do some baking, jigsaw and crossword puzzle solving, and reading while Mary gets started on the index for the book that finally arrived. She believes that I won't have to read this one as it is a textbook that indexes more easily. Here's hoping. I also printed out a recipe for spaghetti with a mushroom bolognese sauce that I'd like Mary to try making for tonight's dinner. Much of the day's activities depend on when we decide to rise. Mary does have her regularly scheduled chat session, so that will factor in along with our visit to the chiropractor. 

The sun will rise @ 6:52 a.m.and set @ 8:34 p.m. Ciao.