Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

A current chilly temperature of 56° in GH makes it feel more like late fall or early spring. However, there are no showers in the forecast from the NWS, so that means that it is summer in MI. As our day unfolds, we'll see a very comfortable high temperature of 75° under sunny skies. Alright!

Our little Ginger is growing up. She knows when it is time for the final trip to the back-forty and then its bedtime. She has been with us for almost three years, I believe, and maybe we are better trained than she. Sugar, well, she is still being weird, but less so each day. She likes us, but other humans do better if they just leave her alone.

Speaking of the fur-children, we are in the process of trying to choose a new food for them, because what they have been eating, Natural Balance Reduced Calorie, has been discontinued. So, we have to gradually introduce a new food into their diet, as gradually is the right way to introduce new food. Ginger will eat most anything, anything that that she likes that is, while STWD can be more picky in her dotage and with her delicate Corgi-based system.

In baseball news, the MLB™ gets into full-swing today, pardon the unintentional baseball analogy. Oops, unintentional may also be an analogy, because in baseball, there are three or more walk scenarios. The unintentional walk that gets a pitcher yanked by his manager. The intentional walk that allows a team to pitch around a good/dangerous hitter and thus to a weaker hitter. And, the semi-intentional walk that comes from being extra-careful when pitching to dangerous hitters. There are probably more.

At any rate, the 47 - 43, barely in 1st place in the NL Central Cubs, are home today to face the 44 - 45, 4th place in the NL Central Pirates @ 2:20 p.m. EDT. Only 4.5 games separate the five teams in that division. The Cubs are approaching the post All-Star second-half in hopes of landing a left-handed reliever or a top starting pitcher from a team that has one to trade and is in seller's mode. But then, what team isn't in need of a quality left-handed pitcher?

Say, wasn't the Cubs $126 million man, Yu Darvish and his record of 2 - 4, with no wins in 12 starts @ Wrigley Field, supposed to be the answer for many years? Just asking.

My beloved, 49 - 41, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox, are home in Fenway Park tonight to face the 60 - 32, 1st place in the NL West Dodgers @ 7:10 p.m. The Sox too need a quality left-handed pitcher, as their own, Chris Sale, he of the $45 million contract extension, isn't living up to his previous standards. I think that the 30 year-old Sale has more upside than the 32 year old Darvish. Just saying.

The 28 - 57, 5th place in the AL Central Tigers, are in Kansas City tonight to face the equally lackluster, 30 - 61, 4th place in the AL Central Royals @ 8:15 p.m. The Tigers may be in sellers-mode, with the possibility of offering OF Nick Castellanos or RHP Matthew Boyd to teams that want hitting and pitching. With Miguel Cabrera now ensconced as the permanent DH for the Tigers, there is a chance for another hitter and first-baseman to move up in the Tigers organization, ala Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp for the Yankees, 90 years ago.

The 29 - 60, 7th place in the MWL East West Michigan WhiteCaps, are home tonight to play the 54 - 31, 5th place in the MWL West Quad Cities River Bandits @ 7:05 p.m., after losing last night's game to the River Bandits in IA, 0 - 1.

Now on to the rest of our day. I was going to paint more yesterday, but when the weather is as nice as it was in West MI yesterday, well those plans got shelved, so to speak. Instead, we traveled to the east and visited a part of Grand Haven, Township that we have not visited before. I took some pix of the area as we visited.

Maybe shallow, but you couldn't tell by the way the water has overtaken this boat launch.

The river has overtaken the shoreline.

As you can see.

Yep, shallow.

In  addition, we also traveled to our own GH State Park to see the waves and the wind-surfers. They always know when the waves and wind will be up for their enjoyment. In spite of the red-flag and warnings of rip-currents, there were people swimming.

I tried to capture this wind-surfer as he actually took flight several times, but alas, no such luck.

The beach was filled yesterday afternoon at both the State Park and @ the GH City Beach.

Some people heeded the warnings and stayed out of the water.

 

 

 

What would a day at the beach be without food trucks?

Today I hope to stay close to home and do that painting that I had planned for yesterday along with some indoor chores. I'd like to slip in some playtime with the girls and also do some sketching and reading. Retirement is such a busy time. Who knew? Oh yeah, Eleanore, my late mother-in-law. Ciao.