Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:30 a.m. in "The City."

It's muggy out there. While the current temperature is only 68°, the humidity is high enough to make it uncomfortable. I was out with Ginger around 11:30 p.m. last night, and I didn't much like it. Plus, the partly cloudy skies made for a less than desirable outing. Later this morning, there is a 30% to 45% chance for T-storms and the day will remain cloudy with a brief patch of sunshine around 1:00 p.m. Without a threat of contradiction, the sun will rise this morning @ 6:26 a.m. and set later tonight @ 9:15 p.m.

Mary and I took separate safaris yesterday morning due in part to Ginger's ability to walk longer distances than STWD and also due to the fact that John came over to do some additional repairs/updates to the manse.

He sealed the ingress/egress to the basement that was one possible source of the yearly rodent infestation in the fall. In addition, he rerouted the AC/heating ductwork near the master bedroom from blowing into the adjacent closet to actually blowing into the bedroom where we can appreciate it more than our clothing.

Mary took time in her kitchen to make one of her vegan "hammish" roasts that we had for dinner. As usual, it tasted great and was very satisfying. In addition, she made a wonderful tasting vegan potato salad. There are people who may not agree, but I find that the longer we follow the vegan lifestyle, the more I like the foods that Mary is constantly tweaking and/or creating.

Sports news yesterday was half good.

The Cubs eked out a win over their NL Central rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals @ Wrigley Field. Cubs' starting pitcher, Jon Lester, outdueled Cardinals' ace, Adam Wainwright for most of the game before the Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the 8th inning, which the Cubs answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, thus sealing the win for Lester and the loss for Wainwright. The Cubs used solid hitting to score those three runs and remain in 2nd place with an NL Central record of 50 - 46. The Cubs and the Cardinals play again tonight @ 8:05 p.m.

The Tigers dropped another game, this one to the woeful to the Twins, 5 - 6. The Tigers still reside in 4th place in the AL Central with a record of 44 - 52. The Tigers are not a good baseball team and that is not the fault of manager Brad Ausmus, but their mediocre play may cost him his job.

My beloved Red Sox are not playing well these days as they fell to the Dodgers in LA, 3 - 7. The Dodgers are leading the NL West with a 67 - 31 record, 10.5 games ahead of the 56 - 41 AZ Diamondbacks and also the 57 - 42 Colorado Rockies.

When compared to the records of the Cubs and Tigers, and even the 55 - 44 Red Sox, you get an idea of how weak those respective teams and their respective divisions really are. The Sox and the Dodgers play again today @ 3:37 p.m.

The Caps were able to play yesterday in Beloit, WI and they defeated the Snappers 10 - 3 to stay in 1st place in the MWL East, 2.0 games ahead of the 2nd place Ft. Wayne TinCaps. The Caps and the Snappers play again this afternoon @ 2:05 p.m. By the by, Mary, your Dayton Dragons, a Cincinnati Reds farm team, are languishing in 7th place in the MWL East with a record of 10 - 19. Oops!

Yesterday and this morning, I spent time reading my last book for the Loutit Library's Beachcomber's Book Bingo. I am nearly done with the book for their Around the World category and it is a perfect choice for me as it is based on characters created by one of my favorites, pulp-fiction author Clive Cussler, who has also written several non-fiction tomes about deep sea treasure hunting.

Cussler's most famous creation is heroic marine engineer, government agent, and adventurer, Dirk Pitt, who works for the fictional government agency, NUMA, an acronym for the National Underwater and Marine Agency, which has  since morphed into a private organization which helps to fund expeditions that seek to locate and catalog underwater treasure/shipwreck sites.

Dirk Pitt, Cussler's main protagonist, is loosely based on Cussler himself following, a lifelong passion for all things sea related. Cussler, like his hero/protagonist, is an avid collector of classic cars. Cussler has written or lent his fame and name to many other books that have been co-authored by many different authors, like Thomas Perry, the author of the book I am reading, The Mayan Secrets. Like Tom Clancy, Cussler started writing in 1965, in his spare time, when he had nothing else to do after getting the children fed and in bed while his wife worked nights for the local police department in CA. The rest is history as they say.

I hope to stay indoors today and do as little as possible. I should not have to water if the forecast from the NWS is accurate regarding the chance of precipitation. Actually, we have likely had enough rain of late to forestall watering for a day or two. Here's hoping. I may try my hand in Mary's kitchen and make another version of vegan hot dogs. That depends on the availability of the Pinto beans that are called for in the recipe.

My yak is feeling better right now, but I will continue my exercise routine and also my twice weekly visits to the chiropractor. Those visits will continue for three weeks, the exercises, for life.

Mary will do some indexing and knitting. I'm hoping for another of her breakfast gems too. Ciao.