Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 60° under clear-skies, as we drop to our overnight low of 57°. Later today, the NWS has forecast a high of 78° under mostly-sunny skies, with just a a few wispy clouds passing overhead.

As you may recall, we had made plans, since canceled, to travel to the Kalamazoo Irish Festival yesterday and today. However, the reticence that led us to stay home turned out to be very prescient, as the streets of K'Zoo were flooded as recently as Thursday. "'You ask, so what?" Well, the K'Zoo Dept. of Public Safety had to rescue some fish from one of the streets as the floodwaters receded. Left behind is a huge mold generator, something that our allergies are sneezing about all the way from home. So....

We had both ends of the train run yesterday. At 8:20 a.m., MMRR locomotive #2019 rolled rapidly past, towing 8 CHCs, 3 DBTCs, and 2 DWTCs. Later, @ 12:15 p.m., that same locomotive rolled by heading north, towing heavily laden cars that included: 8 CHCs, 4 DBTCs, and 5 DWTCs.

Baseball was not berry, berry good to me last night, with a lone exception, the win that my beloved Red Sox pulled out of the proverbial hat, over the Blue Jays, 7 - 5. Down by scores of 4 - 1, then 5 - 1, then tied @ 5 - 5, the Sox fought back each time to go into extra innings and win the game in 10 innings, as Christian Vasquez nailed a two-run walk-off home-run in the bottom of the 10th. Starting pitcher Chris Sale has still not turned that proverbial corner, as he dug the Sox a big hole early on. But, I'll take a win anyway the Sox can get one. The Sox and the Blue Jays play again this afternoon @ 4:05 p.m.

The Cubs had very little luck against the hated NY Mets, as they fell 4 - 5. Yu Darvish got two hits to support his own efforts, but the balance of the squad just couldn't overcome the Mets as Darvish was once again hoisted on his own petard, and surrendered the tying run which led to the Cubs' ultimate loss. Sigh. The Cubs sent reliever Brad Brach to the hill in relief of Darvish, but he got the loss as he gave up the winning run. The Cubs send Jose Quintana to the mound later today @ 2:20 p.m.. By the by, the Brewers lost their game to the Reds and so the Cubs maintained their 1.5 game lead in the NL Central.

The Tigers, lost to the Indians, 6 - 7, as Matthew Boyd made some "mistakes" on the mound and the Indians capitalized for the win. The rebuilding Tigers play the Indians again today @ 4:10 p.m.

The West Michigan White Caps lost to the Lake County, OH Captains last night, 4 - 9. The 2nd half of the MWL East season seems like the immortal Yogi Berra might have said, "Déjà vu all over again." The Caps and the Captains play again today @ 1:30 p.m.

Otherwise, I made funfetti cookies yesterday and did some indoor chores before we set out to go to that big-box nearly everything store. Friday afternoon is apparently the time for all the "store zombies" to come out and jam up the aisles. We got most everything we planned to get, with the exception of jellied cranberry sauce. Apparently, the grocery buyer for this particular store still cannot figure out how to keep the shelves stocked with what are staple type goods, as the store was totally devoid of that and many other items. 

Today, we will be going to the Hemlock Crossing Education Center to listen to "Wildlife Encounter: Serpents of the Sand: Hognose Snake. Hognose Snakes, a.k.a. "spreading cobra", or "puff-adder", are nature's little actors. We'll find out how they got these misleading names and discover to what lengths this incredibly talented creature goes to in order to dissuade would-be predators. It should be good.

I should note, that when I was downstairs earlier to empty the dishwasher and refill the granulated garlic jar from the spice cabinet, I managed to crack the cap on our bottle of liquid smoke when it fell from the storage cabinet and spilled some on the counter. Now the kitchen smells like a hickory smoked meal. Oh well, I sealed the crack, wiped up the spill and once the open window helps to clear the air, the kitchen should begin to return to normal. Still, it is better than those ersatz floral or fruit scented air fresheners that drive us crazy.

Otherwise, I want to stay close to  home and do what I want when I want. So, that looks like enough for today. Ciao.