Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in "The City."

Well, another year has come and gone and it's once again Father's Day, a day set aside by the greeting card purveyors and retailers to sell cards and the myriad variations of "World's Greatest Father/Dad" merchandise. Does that mean that I don't appreciate the sentiment of the day? No, it means that I recognize the opportunity afforded children to reach out and say "Thanks, Dad" just for being you.

At any rate, the best thing that can come of this day for many fathers is the chance to play golf, watch TV, or just get up late and do nothing. I guess it's the Yang to the Yin of Mother's Day.

I had a nice time at our Irish Jam session yesterday. However, our number of players has diminished over the months and years, so we need to find a way to get fresh blood so to speak. We had a good audience, but.....

The current temperature, according to the NWS, is 68° under rainy skies. Saturday/early morning today has been rainy, something that we have been needing for many weeks now. As of late yesterday, areas north and west of "The City" had over 2 1/2 inches of rain while we had a scant, by comparison, 2/3 of an inch. Here's hoping that the additional rains that have fallen since have brought us up to near the one-inch range. The current view out the WW indicates that the rain is over and the skies are drying out, in spite of the usual Significant Weather Advisory issued for our area by the NWS. The rainfall amounts are certainly no record nor nearly enough, but welcome nonetheless. Today, the high temperature is forecast by the NWS to be 73° with cloudy skies. The sun will rise @ 6:05 a.m. and set @ 9:27 p.m.

Sports news was not good yesterday. The Cubs, the Tigers, and my beloved Red Sox all lost and the Caps were rained out in Lansing. The Cubs have once again fallen below .500 in the NL Central @ 33 - 34, albeit still good for 2nd place. Jake Arrieta served up an early home run and in spite of tying the game later with his own home run, the Cubs fell to the Pirates, 3 - 4. The old saying was "What's the matter with Kansas?" Now it's"What's the matter with the Cubs?"

The answer isn't simple, but their once reliable pitching staff is now much like the fire department in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, where the fire department is charged with burning books in a dystopian future. While that story was set in the future, the Cubs are in my present and they are experiencing a "June Swoon" too much like the Cubs' teams of my youth and most of my adulthood. Weak pitching, weak hitting, and sloppy fielding are once again becoming the team's hallmark. Sigh. The Pirates and the Cubs meet again today @ 1:35 p.m.

The Tigers fell to the Rays 2 - 3 to fall to 32 - 35. They still find themselves in 3rd place in the AL Central, but they are going nowhere. The Tigers once again face the face the Rays @ 1:10 p.m. today.

My beloved Red Sox lost big time to the Astros, 1 - 7. The 38 - 30 Sox are one game behind the 1st place Yankees in the AL East. What will happen today? Find out @ 8:05 p.m. tonight when the Sox once again play the Astros.

The Caps were once again rained out. However, they are in 1st place in the MWL East with a record of 44 - 22. That mark gives the Caps a playoff position for the 4th year in a row. One more win and/or a loss by the Dayton Dragons, give the Caps the MWL East Divison title. A reminder that the MWL has two parts to their season.

Otherwise, today is a day of rest and relaxation. We'll take the morning safari with the fur-children after lazing in bed for the morning. That lazing and the safari will come after the fur-children have had their breakfast and their first out of the day.

Otherwise, I'd like to do some cooking, some reading, and some baseball watching. Mary will be knitting and cooking too. Ciao.