Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It i just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

What is it that the ephemeral or ubiquitous "They" say about the best laid plans? That was pretty much my day yesterday. I had plans to enjoy retirement, but John was here, Dawn was here, the fur-children were feeling discombobulated, and my plans for a relaxing day were upended, so to speak.

Some of my discombobulation had a happy ending, with more than a little assistance from John, and the shelves were installed as viewed in this picture.

While not the quality of the pic usually supplied by our Senior Staff Photographer, Mary, this pic taken with my tablet camera gives a sense of how the shelves look with Mary's decorations in place.

I think that the end result is hands down an improvement over the previous shelf configuration. However, the noise generated by John during installation drove STWD into paroxysms of fear and made her day less than enjoyable. When coupled with a visit by the cable installer to our neighbors, the intrepid weather dog spent much of her day in hiding. She was not happy when she went outside to do her duty in the morning, so she waited until her evening run to do her duty.

The kitchen is taking shape, the house is clean, and the clutter in the mud-room/pantry has been moved to another room, thus making Ginger happy to have her bench back for her regular landing spot when she goes out or comes in from doing her duty. Still, I as I told Mary, I am getting to an age where I dislike anything that upsets my equilibrium. So...

My beloved, 17 - 19, 3rd place in the AL East, Red Sox, they should have been 18 - 18, except that those plans were upset by the 13 - 22, 5th/last place in the AL East Orioles, 1 - 4. The Sox' bats couldn't get any hits and Sox' RHP Josh A. Smith, 1 - 4, took the loss for the Red Sox, while LHP John Means, 4 - 3, got the win for the Orioles. The Sox and the Orioles play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m., when RHP Hector Velasquez, 0 - 2, takes the ball for the Sox and pitches against the Orioles RHP David Ness, 1 - 4.

The 19 - 13, once again 2nd in the NL Central Cubs, 1st place lasted all of one day in their division. The Cubs were doing okay last night in spite of some early pitching woes. However, in the bottom of the 9th, the Cubs LHP Kyle Ryan, froze up and threw to 1st base versus the plate on an infield hit and the Marlins plated another run. It was the first loss for the Cubs, in eight tries.

Usually reliable reliever, RHP Pedro Strop, couldn't get anything over the plate and issued three consecutive walks that assisted the Marlins in their win. Oh well, tonight the Cubs and the Marlins go at it again @ 8:05 p.m. when LHP Jon Lester, 2 - 1, takes the ball for the Cubs while LHP Caleb Smith, 3 - 0, gets the ball for the Marlins.

The Tigers were off.

The 14 - 15, 5th place in the MWL East, were victorious over the 13 - 15, 5th place in the MWL West, Peoria Chiefs, 2 - 0. The Caps and the Chiefs play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m. as the Caps look to get even with the league.

We have a current temperature of 50° under mostly-cloudy skies. Today, no rain is in the forecast and the high has been forecast by the NWS to reach 57°. There is a 90% chance of rain late tonight into Wednesday. Friday's high temperature is forecast to only reach 48°! The sun will rise this morning @ 6:30 a.m. and set later @ 8:52 p.m.

In between, I have my monthly Coffee and Coloring session @ the library from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Then, I have no plans other than to read today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune and do more reading and some things in the kitchen. I also plan to play with the girls and hopefully select the new color for my office/music room/art loft. John has personal business today, so he won't be back until Wednesday to finish the mud room and start in my domain.  Ciao.