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

We have a current temperature of 61º under clear skies. Wind speeds of 7 mph (ca. 11 km/h) make it feel like 60º. Today's high temperature is forecast to reach 76º under mostly sunny skies. That's a few degrees cooler than yesterday's high temperature and when paired with our RHI for today of 56% it will be a very comfortable day outdoors. Tonight's low will go down to 54º

There is only a 5% chance of rain in today's forecast, so I'll be watering.

The sun will rise this morning @ 6:54 a.m. EDT and it will set later this evening @ 8:41 p.m. EDT.

The Weather Alerts are back.

There is a Beach Hazard Statement and a Small Craft Advisory in effect from 2:00 p.m. EDT today until 2:00 a.m. EDT tomorrow.

What do those statements and alerts mean?

That Beach Hazard Statement means that for the counties of Allegan, VanBuren, and Ottawa in MI, winds will increase this afternoon from15 to 25 knots, and they will produce waves from 3' to 5' feet in height on the "Big Lake." Swimming and walking on the north sides of piers will be dangerous for places such as Holland State Park and North Beach in South Haven, not to mention here in GH.

In addition, that Small Craft Advisory is due to those same conditions, and during that same time, from St. Joseph to Grand Haven, small craft operators are advised to stay in port.  

In baseball news, I could say that my teams went 0 - 3 again yesterday, but that would not be entirely accurate. The Cubs lost the first game of their doubleheader against the Cardinals but took the second game in dramatic fashion. Once again I'll reference the slate/schedule for today's games.

The 14 - 6 Cubs will play the 4 - 5 Cardinals again tonight when RHP Yu Darvish, 3 - 1, takes the mound for the Cubs @ 8:15 p.m. EDT.

However, my beloved 6 - 17 Boston Red Sox once again fell to the 16 - 6 Yankees. The Sox welcome the 8 - 9 Phillies to Fenway Park for a game tonight @ 7:30 p.m. as RHP Zack Godley, 0 - 2, takes the mound for the Red Sox.

The 9 - 11 Tigers once again lost last night to that 12 - 11 other team from Chicago. Tonight's game begins against that other team @ 8:10 p.m. when LHP Tarik Skubal, 0 - 0, takes the bump for the Tigers. Infielder Isaac Paredes was called up from the alternate training site and came out hitting. He is just 21 years old and has played for the Caps. He can hit, but it won't be long before Major League pitchers figure him out, and then he'll have to prove he is here to stay with the Tigers.

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday making a variation on my famous vegan Italian meatballs. I used the same recipe, but instead of meatballs, I made patties. I'd done that before, but this time I made them smaller and browned them up nicely. They should be good once again.

Dinner was Mary's variation on pasta Aglio e oglio. For those of you who don't recognize those words, they are Italian for pasta with garlic and olive oil. In this case, Mary substituted green olives with pimentos for the garlic mixed with linguine made from chickpea flour instead of wheat flour. Much healthier, especially for those who are gluten intolerant.

Tasted even better than it looked!

Otherwise, today is just another day of watering, puzzle-solving, reading, playing music, and other activities I haven't foreseen. Mary has plans to work indoors on what was supposed to be our outdoor grilled meal of corn on the cob, portabello mushrooms, green peppers, and those aforementioned Italian patties.

We started another book yesterday, Mary Trump's Too Much and Never Enough, her chronicle of growing up in a dysfunctional family. So far, it is very interesting. I'm still reading my own novel too, John Sandford's Masked Prey. Ciao.