Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City." That means that one of my anti-virus programs is churning away in the background and slowing down this computer.

We have a current temperature of 72° under what the NWS has called mostly clear skies. I was just outside with Ginger and STWD and I saw them as only partly clear. Perspective? In addition, the NWS is forecasting an 80% chance for T-storms this morning. Plus, Bill Steffen, Chief Meteorologist for WOOD TV/Radio, believes there is another chance of heavy storms on Wednesday. That may only be inland, nearer to GR. We'll see. At any rate, the sun will rise later this morning @ 6:15 a.m. and set tonight @ 9:25 p.m.

We took the morning safari yesterday after a breakfast of French toast a la Mary, and after I spread some gypsum on the recently resodded lawn in the rear of the PE. I watered for about 40 minutes to assist in mitigating the effects of Gingers unknowing attempts to kill the grass. Here's hoping.

Once we returned, I got to work re-tacking the various cords and cables that were displaced by the carpet installers. I also hooked up my new computer speakers with their subwoofer. They sound terrific.

I also took some time to set up and learn how to use our new Samsung UHD TV. Mary was more effective at that than me. I did the mechanical things and she handled the more cerebral. I felt more comfortable with my part of the installation. At any rate, as Adam told us. the installation was guided by the on-screen tutorial that we followed. It was actually very easy. I have one more of the same TVs to install on Thursday and now I know I can do it!

Sports news yesterday was 3/4 bad. The Cubs are still living on the laurels of last year's World Series Championship. They fell in their rubber game to the Pirates 3 - 14, to fall two full games under .500, while still remaining in 2nd place in the NL Central @ 43 - 45. Time is wasting as they lick their self-inflicted wounds and rest up during the All-Star break. Last year they had numerous representatives on the squad. This year, only their closer, Wade Davis, is on the NL Team. Cubs' manager Joe Maddon will manage the NL team since he and the Cubs won the World Series last year. Ironic?

The still bad Tigers managed to win one of three from the Indians, 5 - 3 to move up to 4th place in the AL Central one game ahead of that other team from Chicago, with a record of 39 - 48. Justin Upton is the lone Tiger on the AL squad. No amount of rest can help the Tigers this year. I listened to the broadcasters tell us that the Tigers should be doing well, but they are not. Duh!

My beloved Red Sox also limped into the All-Star break with a 3 - 5 loss to the Rays. The Sox have three players on the AL squad, pitchers Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel and outfielder Mookie Betts. In addition, there is an outside chance the X man, Xander Bogaerts, can make the team via the Esurance MLB All-Star game final vote, whatever that is. Sounds like a gimmick to me.

The Caps dropped one to the Lake County Captains yesterday, 4 - 5. The Caps still hold onto 1st place in the MWL East by two games over the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Caps overall record is 13 - 5. They play the Captains again tonight @ 7:00 p.m.

I am making progress in my highlighting and I hope to do some pleasure reading today after the morning safari. Mary has to get to work on chunking of the index along with a follow-up visit to the chiropractor to assess the efficacy of the treatments he gave to her insect bites. They are looking better.. Otherwise, we don't have any specific plans. Ciao.