Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

A current temperature of 74° under mostly-cloudy skies feels like 74° with a wind out of the south @ 16 mph. There are no watches, advisories, alerts, nor warnings in the forecast from the NWS. 

Today's high-temperature will reach a much less comfortable 79° under partly-cloudy skies with a 24% - 35% chance for showers in the evening. However, this being GH, I expect that those showers will miss us. The temperature of the water in the "Big Lake" is a bracing 62°. 

The sun will rise later this morning@ 6:12 a.m. and set later @ 9:26 p.m. In between, we will likely have to water the gardens.

STWD survived another onslaught from the local pyromaniacs. It was necessary to put her in her Thundershirt™, but that calmed her enough to get her through another 4th of July holiday.

The 42 - 43 Cubs dropped their 10th in a row to the 40 - 42 Phillies last night, 3 - 13. The Cubs have two players going to the All-Star game, Craig Kimbrel and Kris Bryant, but the way things are looking right now, it will be hard to keep that old gang of mine together past the trading deadline. The Cubs and the Phillies do it again tonight @ 8:05 p.m. EDT when RHP Jake Arrieta, 5 - 8 tries to stem the tide. 

The 39 - 46 Tigers took one from the 33 - 52 Texas Rangers last night, 7 - 3. The Tigers got great pitching from starter RHP Wily Peralta. The Tigers have one player going to the All-Star game, LHP reliever, Gregory Soto. The Tigers and the Rangers battle again tonight @ 8 :05 p.m. when RHP Jose Urena, 2 - 8, toes the rubber for the Tigers.

My beloved 54 - 32, 1st place in the AL East Red Sox, squeaked past the 42 - 42 LA  Angels, 5 - 4. The Sox have five players going to the All-Star game, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J. D, Martinez, Matt Barnes, and Nathan Eovaldi. The Sox are the only team with five players on the squad. The Sox and the Angels play again tonight @ 9:38 p.m. EDT, when RHP Nathan Eovaldi, 9 - 4, throws the first pitch.

The Caps play again tonight in Dayton, OH  @  7:05 p.m. versus the Dragons.

Otherwise, not much is new around the manse. We tried a variation on my vegan meatball and burger recipe, a vegan meatloaf, that turned out great. We had to learn a bit abut cooking time, but we got it down. I also made some soy-curl jerky using a new recipe that I like the best of all that I have tried. This one is a keeper.

I finished another book recommended by Mary, Migrations, a first time novel by Charlotte McConaghy. It was okay, but more in line with Mary's taste in novels than mine. 

So, more indoor chores today, more music, more painting for me, and more reading and crafting for Mary. Ciao.