Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation, and across the world. It is just after 6:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 73° under partly-cloudy skies. My DTWS is reporting  74.3º on the front porch and 74.3º on the deck. According to the NWS, light winds of 5 mph make it feel like 73°. Today's high temperature is forecast to be 84º under partly-cloudy skies with a relative humidity index of 68% and only a 20% chance for additional precipitation.

According to my DTWS, the barometric pressure is 29.33" and rising, while the NWS is reporting 29.94", and also rising. Generally, those readings indicate fair weather.

The sun rose this morning @ 6:09 a.m. and it will set later @ 9:28 p.m. That's a slight change here in the mid-summer.

At any rate, the local pyromaniacs are still tormenting STWD. Sigh.

Sadly, in GH and thus in our non-air conditioned manse, the outdoor temperature forecast for today of 84º, which is only the harbinger of things to come, as we'll see 88º on Wednesday. With a little luck, we'll have A/C by the and of Wednesday.

I spent a short amount of time in the kitchen preparing vegan Italian meatballs for the excellent dinner that we had last evening while watching another episode of Poldark. Dinner was pasta shells with Mary's secret sauce. The fur-children benefited twice yesterday, as they enjoyed the mushroom cuttings from my meatballs and then later, some of the pasta shells.

We can't decide if they would forgo red meat to have pasta. Nah, they are dogs, so they'd take both in no particular order. In fact, the day before when Mary made her soon to be famous fajitas, they were there for the green peppers too.

Today. I  have that appointment in GR @ noon and then I should be heading home no later than 3:00 p.m. I'd much prefer to have Mary chauffeur me, but since she would have to wait in the car for several hours due to the social distancing restrictions, that is not possible. This will be the longest solo drive I have taken for many years. The truth is that I am enjoying being a passenger in my later years.

I did end up watering the vast gardens yesterday evening so that they can survive the heat today. I might be able to hold off until Thursday for the next watering. Our tomatoes and cucumbers are thriving in the heat, but our sweet peppers don't seem to be liking it. Go figure.

I saw MMRR locomotives 2025 and 2019 pass by heading north yesterday @ 11:37 a.m. I guess they must have stayed south of GH over the weekend. In tow, there were 16 DBTCs and three DWTCs. The cargo labeled on the flanks of the DBTCs was sodium hydroxide, a chemical used in making drain and oven cleaners. It is also used in chemical manufacturing, oil refining, hydraulic fracturing, water treatment, and metal processing. It can also be used in the manufacture of fabric, plastic wrap, paper, and soap.

The DWTCs had as their cargo sulfuric acid which has as one of its main uses, the manufacture of fertilizers. A mix of sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid can produce a safer compound of sodium sulfate used in the manufacture of detergent and paper pulp. At least there is little chance of a dangerous spill, unlike when the DBTCs carry crude oil.

Otherwise, not much is on tap for today. We are still waiting for a call from the homeowner's insurance representative regarding our A/C replacement. We are not holding out much hope, but the system needed replacement anyway, so....

Ciao.