Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

So much for the forecast from the NWS. I was outside with the fur-children @ 3:00 a.m. and it had rained. How much? I dunno, but there was enough to make the deck and the driveway wet, so. We have a current temperature of 66° under mostly cloudy skies. I guess that mostly cloudy means that it rained. Today's high will reach 77° under what has been forecast to be sunny skies. We shall see. The sun will rise @ 6:55 a.m. and set @ 8:40 p.m.

The day yesterday was filled with activity. I accomplished several things on my to-do list. I replaced/repaired the weather strip on the inner back door. I installed and tested the new doorbell. I tested and approved the new LED lights in the closets. And finally, I cleaned the fur-children's carpet damage with nothing more than warm water and my wet/dry vacuum. Phew, I was busy.

Mary kept busy most of the day too, working on the latest index. Part of that effort is on my desk right now and I have more to assist with today and Sunday. I may also get into the kitchen to do some quick cooking too.

The sports report is only one-half positive, and that's a maybe.

The Cubs dispatched the Bluejays in an interleague game yesterday afternoon, 7 - 4. Javier Baez sparkled on defense, with a grab at the shortstop position that became a much needed out, while on offense he nailed a two RBI home run. Baez joined Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Willson Contreras on the 20 home run list for the Cubs. Jake Arrieta was once again solid as he plays for the expected big payday in this his free-agent season. Unfortunately, the Cubs also had to place pitcher Jon Lester on the 10-day DL with "Shoulder Fatigue. The Cubs held tight onto 1st place in the NL Central with an overall record of 64 - 57 and a 1.5 game lead over the winning Cardinals and 2.0 games over the losing Brewers. The Cubs and the Bluejays play again this afternoon @ 1:20 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox have won 13 out of 15 tries in the last two weeks. The Sox' offense has returned to the dominant force that it was early in the season and Andrew Benintendi has once again found his hitting stroke. Perhaps the addition of Rafael Devers to the major league team has helped to spark the offense. At any rate, the 1st place Sox defeated the 2nd place Yankees in their AL East matchup last night, 9 - 6 to go to 70 - 51, 5.0 games ahead of the Yankees. Both teams play again tonight @  7:10 p.m.

The Tigers, well they are the Tigers. They lost again to the NL West-leading Dodgers, 5 - 8. The Tigers also placed pitcher Anibal Sanchez on the DL with a hamstring injury. At this point in the season, nothing will change for the Tigers anyway. They have a 4th place record of 53 - 68 in the AL Central and they are still going nowhere but home in the post-season. The Tigers and the Dodgers play again today @ 4:05 p.m.

The Caps are also showing fatigue, losing to the Bowling Green Hot Rods 0 - 4 as the Caps bats were once again silent in their MWL East game against the  Hot Rods. The Hot rods have now moved to 1.5 games behind the Caps, tied with the Fort Wayne TinCaps for 2nd place. The Caps and the Hot Rods play tonight @ 7:35 p.m.

As noted, I will be in the kitchen and I will also be assisting with the indexing today. We'll make the morning safari to The Bookman for the weekend edition of the Grand Haven Tribune and then return home to get to work. The fur-children will assist by being quiet and out of the way. Ciao.