Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation, and across the world. It is just after 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current outdoor temperature is 70° under hazy skies. I can confirm that part of the forecast by my personal and anecdotal look out the WW. My DTWS is reporting 72.7º on the front porch and 71.8º on the deck. According to the NWS, light winds of 8 mph make it feel like 72°. Today's high temperature is forecast to be 85º under sunny skies with a relative humidity index of 66% and still only a 5% chance for additional precipitation. 

I watered the vast gardens heavily yesterday, so I may be good until Monday. However, given the forecast from the NWS for the upper 80s and lower 90s for at least the next ten days, I'll be watering a lot for the foreseeable future!

According to my DTWS, the barometric pressure is 29.39" and rising, while the NWS is reporting 30.04", also rising. Rising barometric pressures indicate that the forecast for no significant precipitation for the foreseeable future is accurate. However, there is an Air Quality Alert in effect until 8:00 p.m. tonight for Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, Allegan, and Van Buren Counties. 

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has declared Sunday, July 5th...to be an Action Day for elevated levels of ozone. Pollutants are expected to be in the unhealthy for sensitive groups range. People and businesses are urged to avoid activities which lead to ozone formation. These activities include...refueling vehicles or topping off when refueling...using gasoline powered lawn equipment...and using charcoal lighter fluid. Positive activities include...car pooling...biking to work...delaying or combining errands...and using water based paints. It is recommended that active children and adults...and persons with respiratory diseases such as asthma...limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

The sun will rise this morning @ 6:11 a.m. and it will set later @ 9:27 p.m., the same as yesterday.

 

Along with the watering of the vast gardens, I got the upstairs dusted and vacuumed, albeit with a slight change to Mary's computer screen layout. I should have closed the lid, but I didn't, so she had to come behind and fix my faux pas. I started the laundry too, but Mary finished it while I was occupied elsewhere. She also finished baking a loaf of whole wheat bread that tastes great.

I still have to finish the downstairs dusting, wash the floors in two bathrooms, and the kitchen too, but that shouldn't be as difficult. A man's work is never done. Sigh.

It looks and sounds as though the amateur pyromaniacs are done for a while. STWD spent most of her night in her hidey-hole dressed in her Thundershirt™. That seems to help a lot. However, late last night we had to force her to go out for a final visit. Naturally, just as she arrived in the back-forty, a humongous blast occurred and she was sent scurrying back inside never to be seen again. I feel so sorry for her as she has never dealt well with loud noises and that has not improved with age.

Otherwise, I hope to do as little as possible today. The fur-children wanted to go walkabout yesterday, but the air quality was so bad, and the temperature and humidity so high, that we weren't so disposed. Maybe that will change as the days go by, but...

I spent some time earlier this morning playing with Lorelei, my baritone ukulele. She and I sounded good, but I still have to think about the fingerings for the chords, something that is now second-nature on the guitar for me. Ciao.