Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:45 a.m. in "The City", where the skies are not cloudy and the current temperature is a comfortable 63° that feels like 63°, with a wind out of the northeast @ seven mph. Today's high will be a very sultry 87° with an overnight low temperature of 64°. The sun will rise today @ 6:05 a.m. and set tonight @ 9:27 p.m.

Yesterday was mostly productive here at the manse and in the surrounding area. 

I had a plan to get to the man-cave to do some little nagging chores, but Mary had a bigger plan, as she wanted still more yard art to add to her growing collection. Truth be told, my Cubs whirligig had seen better days, having hung under the eaves of our garage and in the weather for several years, so a replacement of some type was appropriate.

We ended up our quest at a garden center in Fruitport, where we purchased a beautiful, both visually and sound wise, wind chime that plays bird calls. I suppose so, if you listen closely. In addition, Mary has been hankering for a wicker rocking chair for our deck, so a stop at Ace Hardware™ in Spring Lake yielded a resin version of her desire and it too came home with us. 

It took a call to John, our handyman, to get that windchime hung, while I was able to use my limited skills to assemble that rocking chair and get it on the deck. All in all, both items look great and satisfy our needs quite nicely.

Since it has been hot the last several days, I decided to water the vast gardens last evening before dinner. While my day had included other plans, I crossed several of those off of my personal to do list in spite of hitting the road early to gather those aforementioned items. 

I'll happily state, like the true baseball fan that I am, that the Cubs, the Tigers, and my beloved Red Sox all won their games last night. 

The Tigers came from behind on the strength of Kerry Carpenter's three-run home run late in the game to earn the win for relief pitcher Tyler Alexander. Spencer Torkelson also played well, hitting his own home run in the Tigers' 6 - 4 win over the hapless Kansas City Royals. The Tigers and the Royals tee it up ion Comerica Park again tonight, with Michael Lorenzen on the mound for a 6:40 p.m. start. 

The Cubs hammered the Pirates in Pittsburgh last night, 8 - 0, to close to 3 1/2 games behind the new NLC leaders, the Cincinnati Reds. Drew Smyly got his seventh win versus three losses, while the Cubs offense seemed to be on cruise control as they took the lead and never looked back. The Cubs and the Pirates take the field again tonight @ 7:05 EDT, with Marcus Stroman on the mound for the boys in blue.

My beloved Red Sox handily defeated the Twins last night, 9 - 3. Still the Sox languish in last place in the AL East as they head into tonight's game @ 7:40 p.m.

Today, we hope to be more retired, as the heat builds, and the sun continues to dominate the sky. We have no rain in the forecast for multiple days, so I'll be out there with my watering hose in the near future and for several more days. Ciao.