Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and around the world. It is just past 1:55 a.m. in "The City."

I made it! I'm now officially in my 70th year of life. Given all that has transpired over the years, I just have to insert a Beatles™ song here from YouTube™

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOHAzjxLhk

Oh, I don't plan to get up much before noon today. Just saying. 

We have a current temperature of 62º under fair skies. A wind speed of 6 mph makes it feel like 62º. Today's high-temperature forecast of 73º will be under sunny skies with a more comfortable RHI of 63%.

The sun will rise this morning @ 7:06 a.m. EDT and it will set later this evening @ 8:23 p.m. EDT.

Naturally, given the very limited amount of precipitation here in GH, I have to water again today. No rest for me, even on my birthday. On the plus side, our tomato plants are still producing copious amounts of tomatoes. More on that later.

We still have a Beach Hazard Statement in the forecast for Mason, Oceana, Muskegon, Ottawa, Allegan, and Van Buren counties in effect until 8:00 a.m. today. North winds from 15 to 25 mph will continue to make swimming extremely hazardous. In an all too typical occurrence, two people were swept off of the North Pier into Lake Michigan and so they had to be rescued by bystanders.

In addition, we still have a Small Craft Advisory in effect for the "Big Lake" from St Joseph to Manistee for that same time period.

We gave both of our fur-children a bath yesterday. They were alternately indignant, resigned, and grateful. In addition, we trimmed Ginger a bit too. They were both happy to accept their rewards for being "Good Girls."

As I mentioned earlier and in this blog many weeks ago, I have a volunteer cherry tomato plant in our vast gardens. Yesterday, I took a photo of that tomato plant before I plucked to the first very ripe tomato off the vine and ate it. Here is a pre-plucking photo taken with my Olympus DSLR camera and one of my telephoto lenses in close up mode.

Not only does it look good, but it was!

Mary made a great salad using homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers.

Our Senior Staff Photographer took this pic with her SmartPhone camera.

In baseball news, I could have saved some time by not watching the 19 - 14 Cubs split a doubleheader with the 15 - 18 Reds. RHP Yu Darvish put on quite a show during his six innings of work, to move his record to 6 - 1, as the Cubs won the game 3 - 0.

Sadly, the outcome of the second game of the doubleheader was not so good. RHP Alec Mills was less than impressive and the relief corps was no better. Just when Cubs' manager David Ross thought it was safe to give the ball to Craig Kimbrel, the end result was less than spectacular. A wild pitch in the final inning with the bases loaded allowed the Reds to score the winning run in the 5 - 6 Cu''s loss.

In addition, the Cubs and the Reds got into a serious dispute over a pitch that went over Anthony Rizzo's head. Managers were tossed, coaches were tossed, and the benches cleared. Today's game against the Red begins @ 1:10 p.m. EDT as RHP Tyler Chatwood tries to rebound from his last outing.

My beloved11 - 22 Red Sox took their game from the 12 - 18 Washington Nationals yesterday, 5 - 3, as the X-Man, Xavier Bogaerts nailed a three-run home run to assist winning RHP Ryan Brazier, a journeyman pitcher in relief of RHP Chris Mazza, who got the start due to Nathan Eovaldi being placed on the 10 day IL retroactive to August 26. For the beleaguered Sox, when it rains, it pours. Today's game @ 1:35 p.m. EDT features the stylings of RHP Zack Godley and his 0 - 3 record.

The 15 - 16 Tigers took two from the 20 - 14 Twins by the score of 8 - 2 in the opener with LHP Matthew Boyd, 1 - 4,  finally getting his first victory. In the nightcap, rookie LHP Tarik Skubal, 1 - 1,  baffled the Twins hitters and tossed a masterful game for the 4 - 2 victory. Today's game versus the Twins begins @ 1:10 p.m. EDT, as the Tigers' rookie phenom, RHP Casey Mize, 0 - 1 goes and tries for the series sweep and an even on the season for the Tigers.

I mentioned earlier that we bathed and groomed our fur-children. In order to keep them out of trouble until they dried, we "Jailed" them in the kitchen. We assume that they were not happy.

Since STWD likes to lie on the bed, and since we had just washed the bedding, she had to be held at bay.

We finished Dr. Thorne yesterday and we were totally satisfied with the outcome. We also watched another episode of The Man in the Hgh Castle too.

Today, I have requested that Mary make one of mine and Adam's favorites, Spaghettirole Casserole. I plan to read more, play with the girls and my harmonica in my studio more, and try to pretend that I am not as old as I am. I generally feel quite well, but sometimes, I feel my age.

Mary will be busy doing her own voodoo.

3:00 a.m. update!

My birthday gift from Mary is an apron for my kitchen activities that she has been diligently cross-stitching on for a while now. It is BEAUTIFUL! My new apron features a replica of my Kitchen Aid™ stand mixer, a box grater, some stirrers/spatulas, some measuring spoons, a teapot, a rolling pin, and a measuring cup! What more could a man ask?

Of course, it is a keeper!

Ciao.