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

A current temperature reading from the NWS belies the "Real Feel" that I am getting through the WW. There is a steady rain falling and the wind is blowing @ 11 mph! So, it feels like what it is out there, cold and damp.

The fact of the matter is, gee, I like using an older phrase like that one. The fact of the matter is that the hourly forecast calls for the rain(s) to continue until about 1:00 p.m.today and then clear-up as we reach today's high of 70° following our overnight low of 54°! I know this is Michigan, but enough already. The sun will rise today @ 6:05 a.m. and set later @ 9:27 p.m.

We are scheduled to have the official first use/show tonight @ 10:00 p.m., featuring the new sound system to accompany Grand Haven's world famous Musical Fountain. Old music and new offerings are to be part of this unveiling. Is that the right word to use for audio things. unveiling? I dunno. It's not like you are pulling a cover off of a statue or a painting. Those are easily identified as an unveiling. Oh well, I guess it will be another of those mysteries for the ages. 

However, Andy Cawthon, who chairs the Musical Fountain committee, would not give details on Thursday’s performance at 10 p.m., but said it would feature “something old and something new.” The performance will begin with something familiar to the fountain audience, and will end with a new song. Hmmm, when a bride wears something for her wedding, she is supposed to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Maybe they will close out tonight's Musical Fountain show with something blue, since technically speaking, all of the music is borrowed.

In 2015, the lights for the fountain were upgraded and the high-pressure water pumping system was recently upgraded too, so it should be quite the show for those in attendance @ the Lynn Sherwood Stadium across the river. I think in our eight years of living in GH, Mary and I have seen the old show only once, so perhaps it is time to see the show again, as it is now all new. However, we'll wait for more comfortable waterfront weather conditions. Below is a link to a previous show, courtesy of YouTube™. I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmIqVXyXeXQ

Baseball was very, very good to me last night. The 40 - 33 Cubs, took a game from that other team from Chicago, 7 - 3, to move to a 1/2 game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central. Cubs' catcher, Willson Contreras, got his third Grand Slam and a solo home-run in last night's game. I think it is safe to say that Contreras has arrived. The Cubs welcome the hated, 35 - 39, 4th place in the NL East NY Mets to Wrigley Field tonight @ 8:05 p.m. EDT.

My beloved, 41 - 35, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox, soundly defeated the 1st place in the AL Central Twins last night, 9 - 4. Maybe, just maybe, the Sox are back to stay. At any rate, the Sox are off today before welcoming the 26 - 48, 4th place in the AL East Blue Jays to Fenway @ 7:10 p.m. Friday night.

I wish I could find a ray of hope for the 26 - 44, 4th place in the AL Central Tigers, but this is a "Rebuilding Year", so there is little to offer as proof that the Tigers are going anywhere this season. They were tripped up, 7 - 8, by the 5th  place, 33 - 40 in the NL Central Pirates last night. At least the Tigers have today off to lick their wounds before they head into Cleveland to face the 39 - 34, 2nd place in the AL Central Indians @ 7:10 p.m. Friday night.

The 21 - 48, West Michigan WhiteCaps resume regular-season play tonight in OH, when they take the field against the 40 - 29 Lake County, OH Captains @ 7:00 p.m.

Otherwise, we got the furniture back in place and Ginger is once again happy on the back of the newly-cleaned living-room couch. She was only "Homeless" for one day, but for a dog, that is a lifetime. STWD never felt displaced from her floor space.

We made a batch of vegan lasagna soup for lunch yesterday. I love soup, so I am not a good judge of what is good soup-wise, but even Mary likes this recipe. Later, we took a long walk to our favorite watering hole for dinner. We got in before the crowds that come with "The Season" descended.

Elsewhere, the day was relatively uneventful, unless you count the need to have our IT guru come into my computer and sort out why it was running so slow. It turns out that the temporary files were way too full and needed to be emptied. The people at our ISP wanted me to unplug everything for the umpteenth time or replace the Wi Fi router. Wisely, Mary knew that since the other devices in the manse that are served by that router were working fine, that the problem was localized to my computer. So, chagrined but now happily, I can report that all is well.

We did go to the car dealer for that oil change, but it turns out that our car uses synthetic motor-oil and with only 3,100 miles on the odometer, so no oil change and it should be fine until November. So that stop only took a few minutes.

I got an email from Dennis yesterday that he has officially retired after an adult lifetime of working for the same company. He says he doesn't miss the job, and I believe him. As someone who has been retired for many years, I can testify that you shouldn't let your life be defined by what you work/worked at, but by what you do now that you aren't working. He has plans to do volunteer work. Good advice for anyone.

So, today we'll continue our retirement activities, go to the chiropractor and do what makes us happy. For me that is more art, more music, more reading, more of whatever comes to mind. For Mary, more crafty things, more kitchen time, and more of whatever comes to her mind. We are both eschewing watching TV news, as the images and stories are just too depressing. Or, is that infuriating? Ciao.