Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation  and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City." 

The NWS is reporting a current temperature of 62° under fair-ckies. That 62° doubles as the overnight low and as the way the temperature feels with a slight wind out of the north @ three mph. In addition, the NWS is reporting a barometric pressure of 30.03" of HG and falling, while my own DTWS is showing 29.36" of Hg and rising.

Today's high temperature is expected to reach 80 or 81 degrees under mostly-sunny skies with an overnight low of 67°. That low-eighties temperature is about four degrees higher than Monday's high. The sun will rise in a few hours @ 6:53 a.m. and set later @ 8:43 p.m.

In between, the Cubs will likely find yet another way to lose a ballgame to the Reds, who beat the Cubs 5 - 14 last night. Of course, the "Ace" of the Cubs' pitching staff, RHP Kyle Hendricks, 13 - 6, may stem the tide of losses that has reached a season high of 12 as of last night's drubbing. At any rate, the Cubs and the Reds try again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. EDT when Hendricks toes the rubber.

Was there a bright spot in  last nights loss? According to Cubs' manager David Ross, LHP Justin Steele, 2 - 2 worked out of some jams and basically looked good until the game got out of hand. Ya think? Another bright spot may be that the Cubs are scheduled to reprise the Field of Dreams game to be played in Dyersville, IA on August, 12, 2022. What team will the Cubs put on the field for that game? A lot depends on the maturation of players in the Cubs' farm system, the emergence of players received in trades for their corps of traded players, and whether the Cubs can land a top-tier pitcher or a big-bat in the upcoming Free-Agent market. Stay tuned.

To recap, the Tigers play the Angels @ Comerica Park beginning @ 7:10 p.m. The Red Sox play two today, with game one versus the Yankees beginning @ 1:05 p.m. and game two, a weather postponed make-up game against those same Yankees, beginning @ 7:05 p.m.

The Caps are home tonight versus the Ft.Wayne Tin Caps beginning @ 7:05 p.m.

We bid adieu to our children yesterday morning with a promise to get together sooner than two years from now. But, the same Covid-19 virus that caused our last extended separation has morphed into a mutated variant, Delta, that is still making people very sick and which was the impetus for us to cancel our room reservation in Harbor Springs, MI for this year's Festival of the Book in early September. To quote the immortal Joe Jacobs, the manager for Heavyweight Boxer Max Schmeling, who is credited with the quote, "We wuz robbed!" Alas, it doesn't really matter, cuz "We wuz robbed."

Today, is another day of indoor chores, more reading, more retirement and perhaps, a trip over the bridge to Spring Lake. I have another idea for a painting to try too. Yes Virginia, not much changes when you are retired and we mostly like it that way. Ciao.