Good morning or good evening, wherever yo may be. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City. "

Let's get the bad news out of the way first thing. There is no joy in Chicago nor in the Wrigleyville neighborhood specifically, as the Cubs fell to their arch-rivals, the St; Louis Cardinals, 3 - 4 on Opening Night. As a die-hard Cubs fan, I was ready for another in the new history of the Cubs. What I got was another lesson on what it means to be a long-suffering fan, a loss to the Cardinals.

As you can see in the pictures below, I was ready to root the Cubs on to victory, but as the immortal Steve Goodman intoned in his song, A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request, I got another in their inexplicable tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, no matter who takes the field in a Cubs' uniform.

Cubs' manager, Joe Maddon put all of the right players on the field, from ace pitcher Jon Lester, whose inexplicable inability to throw to any base other than home, allowed the Cardinals to run at will. Only retired catcher, David Ross, and former lead-off hitter, Dexter Fowler, who signed with Cardinals over the winter, took the field for the first game of the 2017 season. Two bright spots were last year;s World Series™ hero Kyle Schwarber, the new lead-off hitter, and Wilson Contreras, the newly named starting catcher who took over for Ross as Lester's battery mate. The Cubs' big-boppers, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, struck out more than they contributed to a win turned loss. Oh well, I chronicled my efforts to bring a victory in the first game. Here are some pictures of my efforts.

I was ready @ 8:27 p.m. to see the Cubs defeat the Cardinals starting @ 8:35 p.m.

Our "Ace" was on the bump and I just knew that the outcome would be great.

A rivalry like few others in baseball. 

The Cubs' lineup prepared and fielded by manager Joe Maddon featured all of the players from their magical 2016 Championship Team.

I had all of the ingredients I could muster, with the exception that I don't own a Cubs' Cap .

If there is anything positive to take from baseball yesterday, it is that the hated Yankees fell to the Tampa Bay Rays, by a score of 3 - 7. The Yankees, who are the arch rivals of my beloved Red Sox, have lost six straight opening day games, a franchise record. My beloved Red Sox open this afternoon @ Fenway against the Pittsburgh Pirates with the Sox' own "Ace", 2016 Cy Young winner, Rich Porcello scheduled to take the mound. Porcello was traded by the Tigers a few seasons back and was considered expendable at that time. Speaking of the Tigers, they open later today too, @ 4:10 p.m.

But enough about my woes. I decided that I'd assemble the cabinets in the bathroom rather than wait for this morning. I took this picture in close quarters to memorialize what I believe is my finest effort to date at finishing/refinishing wood.

The satin-finish is perfect to me. I hope that Mary likes it.

The current temperature is 50° according to my DTWS. I was outside just before 3:00 a.m. with Ginger and the rain that is forecast by the NWS to come today wasn't falling at that time. Later this morning, the rain is expected to fall with a 90% chance all day and a high temperature of 56°. Tomorrow doesn't look much better. The rains will continue, but the high temperature will only reach 50°. Much the same for Wednesday.

I did get about one-half way through our book club reading, so I feel good about that. I should get the book finished by Wednesday. I am still liking the book.

I did no work on my jigsaw puzzle yesterday, instead opting to read in my La-Z-Boy in between walks with fur-children and my efforts at survival in the kitchen where I made another in my long line of successful stir-fry lunches. I had leftover smashed potatoes and cauliflower for dinner topped with salsa and vegan sour cream. All in all, I survived quite well in Mary's absence. I'm not sure that Ginger would agree, as she was using me as her surrogate pawferred human, Mary will have a lot of making up to do later today.

I have nothing on the agenda for today other than an abbreviated walk with the fur-children, separately, and then more reading. Mary should be home by early afternoon.

The sun will rise @ 7:23 a.m. and set @ 8:13 p.m. Ciao.