Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 9:30 p.m. in "The City."

This is the perfect opportunity to place a picture of my latest kitchen creation, my annual vegan Halloween Pumpkin Pie. I haven't yet tasted it because it is our monthly contribution to the book club session. However, since everything went well during the cooking/baking process, I anticipate that it will be a success. More on that soon.

The crust is perfect, and the filling solidified as expected.

Mary made dinner tonight and it turned out to be a variation on her regular recipe for Spaghetti Roll Casserole. It seems that she forgot to add TVP, or the vegan sausage that I made yesterday, or the meatballs that I also made yesterday. However, the end result was great.

Speaking of the vegan meatballs that I made, since the portobello mushrooms that are normally part of the ingredients were spoiled, I substituted the left-over pinto beans that I used to make the sausages. Unfortunately, it seems that the portobello mushrooms add both some needed texture and some earthiness to the vegan meatballs. They still taste great, but their texture is not what I was hoping to achieve. Better luck next time/

Ginger and I spotted trains today, the southbound run of locomotive # 2019 @ 8:48 a.m. was towing three DBTCs, and one DWTC. Later, @ 1:05 p.m. we spotted that same locomotive heading north, towing 10 CHCs, two DBTCs, and one DWTC moving at a relatively high rate of speed.

We had only one set of visitors for Halloween tonight. That means that the Smarties™ that we bought for the occasion are all mine for the year. Oh well, their loss is my gain.

I just finished watching NCIS and the writers have redeemed themselves. I will be off shortly to watch NCIS New Orleans.

Tomorrow, our reupholstered chairs will be coming into the Flower Room. If they turned out as we hope, they will look great.

Later in the afternoon we will be going to the book club and sampling my pumpkin pie as we discuss the book we read.

We have a current temperature of 40° that feels like 37° under mostly cloudy skies. Any precipitation of significance will hold off until the early evening hours. The sun will rise @ 8:19 a.m. and set @ 6:36 p.m. Our high-temperature forecast from the NWS calls for 47° under partly cloudy skies. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 11:00 p.m. in "The City."

Well, I got out today in order to visit the big-box home center and also to put gas in the old buggy. That followed a good night's rest in my media room La-Z-Boy. I'd prefer the bed, but until I can sort out the issues with my baking yak, I can't lay down for more than a few brief moments.

Fortunately, I do have an appointment scheduled for a sedated MRI next Friday in Muskegon to see what's going on with my yak. Until then, I have to take my rest/sleep wherever and whenever I can get it. I'm not really complaining as there are people a lot worse off than me.

We have a current temperature of 42° that feels like 37° as we head for today's high of 45° while the rain/sleet of today abates tomorrow. The sun will rise tomorrow @ 8:15 a.m. and set @ 6:40 p.m.

Sports today was a great mix of good college football and World Series baseball. The Wolverines of Michigan defeated the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, 35 -14 as freshman QB Brandon Peters came into the game and took charge. I hope I saw the future of Wolverines football.

The Spartans of MSU didn't fare so well as they dropped a game to the Wildcats of Northwestern in the 3rd OT period, 31 -39. The usually stellar Spartan's defense was stymied by the offense of the Wildcats, dropping the Spartans to 3rd place in the Big 10, behind Penn State and Ohio State.

The Huskies of NIU eked out a win last Thursday over the Eastern Michigan Eagles, 30 - 27 in DeKalb. The Huskies take the field again next Thursday against the Toledo Rockets.

Otherwise, not much is happening. I have been in the kitchen doing some cooking and baking and tomorrow, I hope to do more. We have a book club meeting coming up next Wednesday for which I will be baking some sort of sweet treat. I don't yet know what that will be. I finished the book for our next meeting and now I am reading a book by John LeCarre entitled A Legacy of Spies. If you are into his works, you'll like this one which is taking us back and forth through time.

I did make vegan meatballs early last week and they turned out great. An entirely new recipe that will be memorialized in our own vegan recipe book.

Mary is still working on our Christmas tree skirt, but, she is heading into the home stretch so to speak. I anticipate being able to add her efforts to our decorations this year.

John has been hard at work refinishing some of the doors both upstairs and down. I like his work as he is meticulous and takes his time.

The fur-children have been their usual selves. Ginger is being very sweet as she spends part of the night with me in the media room and part of the night with Mary in the boudoir. I guess you could call Ginger an equal opportunity snuggler.

I guess that wraps things up except for a short and heartfelt thanks to Mary for persisting over my objections and complaints. Like I've said before, right now, is is the worst part of the vows. I'm glad that she is able to force me to do what I should do when I should do it. I am lousy at feeling ill. Ciao.

P.S. Get well John P.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

Yes, I have been on radio silence for several days, due in part to my aching yak, more on that later, but also due in part to my funk over the fact that neither the Cubs nor my beloved Red Sox made it to the World Series.

A perfect segue to this year's participants in the World Series, the Houston Astros, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Astros shutout the Yankees last night to win the ALCS 4 - 3 and move on to the first game of the World Series in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening @ 8:10 p.m. I have to root for the Astros as they are a team that lost a lot of games as they rebuilt en route to this appearance.

Speaking of sports, the Northern Illinois Huskies clobbered the Cardinals of Bowling Green yesterday 48 - 17 to move to 3 - 0 in the Mac 10 conference and 5 - 2 overall. The Huskies face the Eastern Michigan Eagles next Saturday @ 6:00 p.m.

In other college football news, the Spartans of MSU took a while to get going, but they ended up defeating the Hoosiers of Indiana, 17 - 9 to move to 6 - 1 and 4 - 0 in the Big 10 and a share of 1st place. They face the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston next Saturday @ 3:30 p.m. 

Sadly, the Wolverines of Michigan were thoroughly outplayed on both sides of the ball by the Nittany Lions of Penn State, yesterday, 13 - 42. That drops the Wolverines to 5 - 2 overall, but also into 4th place in the Big 10. Next week the Wolverines face the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers @ 12:00 p.m.

I didn't make it to my Irish jam session yesterday as my yak was very achy. That goes hand in hand with the fact that I tried once again to complete an MRI on Friday, but I couldn't lie on my yak. I see the yak doctor on Monday morning. Right now, my yak is feeling OK, not great, but OK.

Mary is still doing double duty with the fur-children as well as most of the cooking and other household chores. I am assisting when and where I can, but not like I would like to do.

Mary got in some time indexing yesterday after walking the fur-children and I spent some time reading the newspaper. I finished the laundry while she worked. Later, we traveled to the local big-box office supply store and the big-box home center right next door. We finished our day @ JWs. 

Today, I hope to read more, do some cooking/baking and also stay out of the way. 

We have a current temperature of 68° under partly cloudy skies. Later today, the high is forecast by the NWS to reach 71° as the rains come in later in the afternoon with an 80% probability. It looks like the temperatures will fall into the 40s and 50s for the foreseeable future. The sun will rise later today @ 8:07 a.m. and set @ 6:56 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 58° under cloudy skies as we await the arrival of rain in these early morning hours. Once the sun has risen @ 7:57 a.m. the chance for showers becomes nearly 100%. In addition, the NWS has issued a flood watch for our county, Ottawa, through later tonight. Of course, during the daylight hours, the high temperature will only reach 64° before the sun sets tonight @ 7:03 p.m.

A nice segue into the game tonight in which the Cubs meet the Dodgers in game one of the NLCS @ 8:00 p.m. EDT in Los Angeles, en route to the World Series for one of those two teams.

Elsewhere in sports today, the Wolverines of Michigan travel to Bloomington, IN to meet the Hoosiers of Indiana @ noon today. The 4 - 1 Wolverines are coming off their loss to the also 4 - 1 Spartans of MSU last week. The Wolverines hope to rebound against the 3 - 2 Hoosiers.

The 4 - 1 MSU Spartans play tonight against the 3 - 2 Golden Gophers of Minnesota in Minnesota @ 8:00 p.m. tonight.

The 3 - 2 Huskies of NIU will be in Buffalo to face the 3 - 3 University @ Buffalo Bulls @ 2:30 p.m.

I plan to stay inside and rest. I tried that MRI yesterday and could not complete the test. I need to have my yak imaged, however, I quickly realized that I could not lie on my back long enough to complete the test yesterday. Literally, an enigma wrapped in a conundrum. I reached out to my internist to get a prescription for some painkillers that may help my endurance when I try again next Friday. I don't know what else to do.

Mary plans to get started on the latest index today while I watch football. Later, she may or may not join me as I watch the Cubs game. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. We've just passed 9:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is a comfortable 61° under cloudy skies as we climb to today's high of 64°, also under cloudy skies. Those cloudy skies will lead to tomorrow's high of 66° with a 90% chance of rain. In addition, the sun also rose this morning @ 7:56 a.m. and will set in less than 11 hours @ 7:04 p.m.

But let's get to what is really important. Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! In fact, they won in a style that is not good for those with a faint heart as they surrendered a lead to the Nats early on. Nat's ace starting pitcher, Max Scherzer, was brought in to shore up a shaky bullpen. He ended up surrendering many runs, only two earned, in a wild 7th inning that allowed the Cubs to win the deciding game, 9 - 8 and to head west to face the NL West division winners, the LA Dodgers, in a game tomorrow night @ 8:00 p.m.

Otherwise, I have little to say. I made a great batch of vegan sausages yesterday. In this case, a lack of oregano led to a substitution of Italian seasoning that produced an out of this world taste. Who knew?

Today, we are off to the hospital for the MRI on my yak. Here's hoping that an answer will come from this test.

Otherwise, I plan to rest up after that late night game in D.C. Ciao.

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

A current temperature of 55° that feels like 51° under cloudy skies is the report from the NWS. Later today after the sun rises @ 7:55 a.m. and well before it sets @ 7:06 p.m. the NWS is also forecasting a high of 63° under partly cloudy skies. Saturday, the NWS is forecasting a 100% chance of T-storms. Time will tell.

I am still not accomplishing much these days. Once we got up and going, the rain kept Mary and the fur-children indoors until well after the lunch that Mary crafted that consisted of salad and hammish sandwiches.  Later, Mary made a nice dinner of faux cheese enchiladas for dinner. I liked them in spite of the fact that she used what she said was the wrong cheese on top, faux mozzarella instead of a Mexican-style faux cheese blend.

I spent some time reading and watching TV yesterday. I am reading the latest novel by Dan Brown, entitled Origins, along with sharing a nonfiction book with Mary entitled Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, by Kurt Anderson. Both stories are interesting.

John has been here of late repainting the media room and refinishing several of the doors to the upstairs rooms of the manse. I was going to get to the doors, but I am just not up to it lately.

Ginger and Sugar are being dogs and so that means the Ginger is relatively nonplussed by all of the happenings, while STWD is acting weird. Who knows what's up with her. I'm chalking it up to her age.

Sadly, the Cubs were embarrassed in game four of their NLDS series against the Nats last evening, 5 - 0. While Jake Arietta and Jon Lester proved effective overall, the game was actually decided by an error on shortstop Addison Russell that allowed the winning run to score. The Nats added four more runs off of Carl Edwards Jr., but they really weren't needed as the Cubs experienced slumber in their lumber as Stephen Strasburg, the starting pitcher for the Nats handcuffed the big bobbers, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant.

The Cubs must travel to Washington D.C. for tonight's fifth and deciding game against the Nats @ 7:00 p.m. Kyle Hendricks is scheduled to start for the Cubs versus a pitcher for the Nats to be decided later today.

Elsewhere, the Yankees defeated the Indians last night, 5 - 2  to move on to the ALCS series against the Houston Astros. The Dodgers are awaiting the winner of tonights Cubs/Nats game.

Today, I am planning to do very little once again. Mary will be walking the fur-children while I try to stay out of her way. She did get the latest indexing project yesterday and was able to print it. She is also working on the Christmas tree skirt and making steady progress on the cross stitching required.

Otherwise, I am readying myself for Friday's MRI at the hospital. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is nearly 3:00 a.m. in"The City", but there is no joy in "Beantown" as my beloved Red Sox lost their game to the Houston Astros, 4 - 5, losing the series 1 - 3, to end their short run into the post-season in their best of five AL League Divisional Series. The future of  Sox manager, John Farrell, is up in the air too.

However, the Cubs took a 2 - 1 lead in their NL League Divisional Series, against the Washington Nationals, by a final score of 2 - 1. Their next, and hopefully last, game against the Nats is tonight @ 8:08 p.m. @ the "Friendly Confines."

The Dodgers swept the D'backs in their NL League Division Series last night by a score of 3 - 1 to win their series. They now await the winner of the Cubs/Nats series for the NL crown.

The Yankees and the Indians tied their best of five AL Division Series with the Yankees defeating the Indians last night by a final score of 7 - 3. One of those teams will play the Astros for the AL League championship.

The current temperature is 56° under mostly clear skies. I was out with both Ginger and STWD @ 1:30 a.m. and they should be good for the night. Later today after the sun rises @ 7:53 a.m. and long before it sets @ 7:10 p.m. the high is forecast by the NWS to reach 69° under cloudy skies with a 50% chance of rain in the forecast for this evening. Wednesday, the chance of showers in the morning increases to 80%. We shall see.

I am still not doing well with my aching yak. Sometimes, I can grin and bear it, while at other times, the pain is debilitating. I am still on track for that MRI on Friday morning. I'm hoping that the results will offer a firm reason for my discomfort. However, my appointment with the yak doctor is not until Tuesday, October 23 @ 10:50 a.m.

Mary is nearly finished with the cross-stitching of our Christmas tree skirt. She also made a great brunch of hammish and pineapple pizzas on tortillas yesterday. Definitely, a keeper.

Me, I finished another novel and a crossword puzzle yesterday.

John is nearly done with the repainting of the media room too. He also did a great job on the door to the master suite. I was going to get to that, but well, the best-laid plans and all that.

Today, more reading, more sitting, and more TV for me. Mary will be chatting, or not. John will be back to finish the closet in the media room too. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

What is there to say about a day in the Tri-Cities? A lot if you like the feel of a fall day in a city that is not a suburb. Contrary to popular sentiment, GH is not a suburb of Grand Rapids and certainly not of Detroit. We are too far north to be a part of the Kalamazoo or Battle Creek metro areas, so we are just a small city on the shores of the "Big Lake." What's not to like?

At any rate, we are currently in the "Off-Season" and so the tourists are less ubiquitous. We still have a great library, a terrific school system, and a healthcare system that is the envy of many in the world. Once again, I ask, 'What's not to like?"

We have a current temperature of 57° as we drop towards the overnight low of 53° before we return to a high-temperature today of 66° under partly sunny skies. That rain/t-storms that were in the forecast from the NWS for yesterday turned into a few sprinkles. Later today, there is still a 20% chance of showers, but I'm not counting on that. The sun will rise @ 7:47 a.m. and set tonight @ 7:18 p.m.

We did make it to our book club meeting yesterday and my apple pie was well received. I finally tasted it and it was quite good if I do say so myself. We also discussed the graphic novels that we read for this meeting and also received copies of the 2017-18 Great Michigan Read book entitled X, a novel by Ilyasah Shabazz, a daughter of Malcolm X, and Kekla Magoon. Ms. Magoon is the author of many young adult books and she lives in Vermont where she writes, teaches, and does public speaking.

Best of all, these books were made available to our book club through a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, a grant that was made possible through the efforts of Cate, the coordinator of our book club and an educational assistant at the Tri-Cities Historical Museum. Again, what's not to like?

Ginger was sleeping in my lap for awhile, but she had to go out and so Mary stopped her knitting and saved me a trip.

Mary and Ginger went walkabout yesterday and took some pictures on their journey of more exhibits from the Art Prize.

Today, Mary will be taking the fur-children to their grooming appointments. Then she'll be getting her annual flu vaccination. Me, I'll be staying inside and out of trouble. Ciao.

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

Ginger and I were outside around 2:00 a.m. and the skies are indeed partly cloudy and the current temperature is 68°. Per the NWS, today's high temperature will also be 68° with an 80% chance of T-storms the a.m. The sun will rise @ 7:46 a.m. and set tonight @ 7:20 p.m.

Ginger and I also spotted trains yesterday. At 8:13 .m., it didn't take long to spot the EMD GP 38-2 locomotive that is part of the rolling stock that belongs to the MMRR as it headed southbound on the RSTL towing only two DBTCs.

Later, @ 12:33 p.m., that same locomotive passed by heading north towing five CHCs, three DBTCs, and four DWTCs. To once again borrow from Porky Pig, "That's all folks."

I/we finally heard from the doctor's office and I now have a visit to the MRI lab on October 13 scheduled @ 10:30 a.m. That's a full 10 days before my appointment @ the yak doctor.

I watched the Yankees defeat the Twins in the AL Wildcard game last night by a score of 8 - 4. There were so many pitching changes that you really did need a scorecard to keep track. The Yankees next opponent will be the Cleveland Indians, the AL Central Division champs. The Wildcard game is a one and done game, so that explains the large number of pitching changes. Tonight, the Rockies and the D'Backs play the NL Wildcard game.

As you may recall, the NL Central-winning Cubs play the NL East-winning Nationals on Friday night @ 7:30 p.m. while my beloved Red Sox travel to Houston to face the Astros earlier in the day @ 4:00 p.m.

Yesterday I baked that aforementioned apple pie for our book club meeting and it turned out great from all appearances. The taste-test comes later today.

Otherwise, I plan to continue reading today and Mary plans to continue crafting after walking the fur-children. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

Well, I'm getting closer to a possible answer to my baking yak. I spoke with the doctor's representative yesterday regarding the setting of an appointment for an MRI examination of my spine and hip. Now I have to await an actual date and time for that examination. The pundits tell you that it is hard to get an appointment with a doctor in the US, and I have been waiting for my October 23 appointment that I scheduled in August. Now I am waiting for an appointment to get the aforementioned MRI examination. I sure am glad we live in a country with the best healthcare system in the world.

But I digress. Mary walked Ginger over to keep her doctor's appointment for her necessary examination and shots. That examination reportedly went well, but Ginger has to return to get the balance of the vaccines that she needs. Mary wisely decided that too many vaccines in one visit are hard on a dog, so they will be returning another day.

In other news, the Cubs return to the field in Washington, D.C. on Friday @ 7:31 p.m. to face the Nationals in the first game of their five-game divisional playoff series.

My beloved Red Sox travel to Houston to face the Astros on Thursday @ 4L08 p.m. Naturally, I am hoping for a World Series between my two favorite teams.

Elsewhere, Mary whipped up a brunch yesterday that she labeled slumgullion, which is often defined as a stew consisting of vegetables and some sort of meat. In order to bring it all together, she incorporated my colcannon soup, some macaroni, and one of her vegan sausages to create a taste treat sensation. I mostly sat around and read or did the crossword puzzle. However, I did take some time to make a new batch of spicy chickpeas and some baked tofu.

Today, I have to peel some apples to make an apple pie for our book club meeting on Wednesday. I also have to make the pastry, but that is an easy task for me. However, I will have to peel the apples sitting at the dining room table since I will have to stand to make the pastry.

The other day, Mary and Ginger toured the waterfront and stopped to photograph some of the Art Prize exhibits that are scattered around town. One of the exhibits is the Willys Jeepster shown in the accompanying photos. She also took a picture of the beginning work on the remodeling to our waterfront stadium that I have also included here. One of the pictures shows the alternate path that Mary and Ginger had to take to get to the waterfront to avoid the construction site.

Blocked

The workaround

The current temperature is 68° under clear skies. Later today after the sun rises @ 7:44 a.m. and well before it sets @ 7:22 p.m. the NWS has forecast the high to reach 75° under partly cloudy skies. They have also forecast T-storms for Wednesday morning.

Ciao.