Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

I coaxed Ginger outside around 12:30 and it was muggy out there. The skies are cloudy and the current temperature is 71° very humid degrees. That high humidity will continue today as the temperature is forecast by the NWS to reach 84°. Sadly, the chance for additional precipitation is now down to 20%, so that means I'll be watering as I continue on the great spider hunt after the morning safari.

I wasn't having much success with the mild, general purpose insecticide, that I was using, so I've stepped it up to a spider specific insecticide. This time for sure. This year has produced bumper crops of vegetables but also an equally bumper crop of spiders. Spiders can be okay in small. non-threatening numbers, but the ones in the back-forty are huge in number and are the attack dogs of the arachnid family. Mary serves as proof that they are vicious and ready to attack at a moments notice.

Ginger went to daycare yesterday and came back in need of a nap. She and STWD ate their dinners and then they napped.

Trainspotting yesterday was a long drawn out affair. At 10:07 a.m., locomotives #2019, looking dull and drab in its MMRR livery and locomotive @ 2057 looking bright, shiny and new in its livery, rolled past on the RSTL heading south, towing a long line of cars that included: eight CHCs, 20 DBTCs, five DWTCs, and two GTCs.

At 4:27 p.m., those same locomotives headed north towing a very long line of empty cars that included 43 DBTCs, one marked do not fill, six CHCs, and four GTCS. I used the hollow sound of the cars as my barometer of their emptiness.

Sports news yesterday was half and half.

The Cubs handled that other team from Chicago, 8 - 3 with a strong pitching performance by Jake Arrieta and a highlight reel catch by left-fielder Jon Jay. He was able to be inserted into the lineup by Cubs' manager Joe Maddon due to the game being in an American League stadium and caught a fly ball with a terrific catch that robbed one of that other team's players of a potential run scoring double. That same player returned the favor with his own catch in left field later in the game. The Cubs have now seized first-place in the NL Central, one-half game ahead of the losing Brewers. The Cubs and that other team play again tonight @ 8:10 p.m.

The Tigers have been a bad team this year, but they outdid themselves yesterday with a 2 - 16 loss to the Royals, to stay firmly mired in 4th place in the AL Central, five games ahead of that other team from Chicago. The Tigers have the day off today before welcoming the Astros to Comerica Park on Friday night @ 7:10 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox righted the ship in Seattle yesterday afternoon with a 4 - 0 win over the Mariners. The Yankees also won, so the Sox are just one slim game ahead of the Yankees in the AL East. The Sox have the day off today before the Royals come to Fenway Park on Friday night @ 7:10 p.m.

The still in 1st place Caps fell to the 2nd place Ft. Wayne TinCaps yesterday in a battle between the 1st place Caps and the 2nd place TinCaps, who are now just one game behind the Caps. The Caps now have an MWL East record of 21 - 9. The Caps and the TinCaps play again tonight @ 7:00 p.m.

We got a number of errands accomplished yesterday while Ginger was at daycare. Groceries, spider spray, and a few other stops. Sugar was happy to stay home and sleep.

Today, I'll be watering as Mary attempts to use some of the humongous crop of green peppers that are coming in at a ferocious rate. The zucchini is also being very productive. Soon, there will be so many Roma tomatoes that Mary will be awash in those too. We picked up an acorn squash while we were out yesterday so that I can use the overflowing amount of kale that needs to be harvested, to make my world famous squash-kale soup.

The sun will rise today @ 6:30 a.m. and set @ 9:11 p.m. Ciao