Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 62° as we fall all the way down to our overnight low of 61°, the nadir so so speak, of our temperature forecast for this early morning hours. Later today, we anticipate a high temperature of 77° as showers develop in the late afternoon and continue into tomorrow. This afternoon/evening, only showers are in the forecast @ 40% or more, but as the night wears on, that forecast changes to an 80% chance for T-storms. The sun will rise @ 6:06 a.m. and set later @ 9:28 p.m.

Yesterday was one of those days that keeps people who live in the Midwest in the Midwest. I know that there are a great number of snowbirds here in Michigan and elsewhere, people who escape the cold and snow from November to March by spending their winters in FL or AZ. But they also return to the Midwest every summer, like migrating birds generally do.

I brought up the weather here in the Midwest because we traveled to the Hemlock Crossing Nature Center on a beautiful day, for that talk and walk regarding Hognose snakes given by Jessi, one of the naturalists @ Hemlock. I took many pix, some during the presentation and many more during our walk. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we didn't see any Hognose snakes during our walk. However, the scenery in the woodlands surrounding the nature center's main building yielded some terrific photo ops.

I liked the way the bird of prey over the door to the presentation hall helped to frame this shot.

This was the subject of the presentation, the venomous, but not dangerous, Hognose Snake.

On the way to Hemlock, we were running ahead of schedule, so we stopped to take a few pix of this private sculpture near the Pine Bend County Park.

Near the entrance to the Hemlock building are these lovely flowers in the pollinator gardens.

When you are looking for snakes, sometimes you find other interesting items to photograph along/in your path.

The sunlight through the trees made this shot attractive to me.

We'd not been on this trail @ Hemlock before, but it was very inviting and will "force" us to return.

As we crossed the bridge at the start of our snake walk, I took this shot of the lilies and their flowers.

This tree called out to me and said, "Take my picture, please." So I did.

Renee quietly awaited our return from our walk.

I took many more pix, as you are wont to do when you have a digital camera around your neck, but in the interest of brevity, I chose the ones above.

The late and immortal comedian, Rodney Dangerfield, once said, "I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out." Well, I tuned in to the Cubs game yesterday afternoon, only to learn that the Tigers had somehow taken possession of the Cubs uniforms. The Cubs, behind starter and loser, Jose Quintana, misplayed many Mets' hits and their own throws, while Quintana was serving up home runs like they were burgers at a fast-food stand. Oh well, there is always today's game @ 2:20 p.m. EDT, when Cole Hamels gets the ball from Cubs' manager Joe Maddon.

The Cubs have lost 8 of their last 12 games, including yesterday's lopsided loss to the Mets, 2 - 10. The rest of their divisional rivals are narrowing the gap between first and last place. The Cubs' 1st place lead over the 2nd place Brewers is a scant 1/2 game, and the 2nd place Cardinals are only one-game back. The Cubs' lead over the last place Pirates is a mere 5 1/2 games.

Speaking of the Tigers, while yesterday's score of 0 - 2 to the victorious Indians was not lopsided, it was still a loss. Starter and loser, Spencer Turnbull, did not have his "best stuff", but without that, he used brains over brawn to cool the Indians bats. Sadly, the Indians pitching staff put the Tigers' bats into the freezer and Turnbull got no run support. I guess that it could have been worse. The Tigers and the Indians play again today @ 1:10 pm.

My beloved Red Sox also managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as they fell to the Blue Jays, 7 - 8. The Sox' bullpen imploded, once again, and thus the final score. Today's game pits Rick Porcello 5 - 6, for the Sox, against the Blue Jays 4 - 9,  Marcus Stroman @ 1:05 p.m.

The Caps, well, it happened again. They lost to the Lake County, OH Captains, 2 - 5 yesterday. What can I say, things are not going to end well. The Caps and the Captains take the field today @ 1:30 p.m. in OH.

Otherwise, I gave up an a novel I had started and began a new one from a series that I like. While not a challenging read, it is a known quantity.

Later this morning, we'll take the fur-children for a walk and then I may, or may not, get into the kitchen. I will get started on an acrylic painting I have planned before I sit down to watch baseball. Mary will continue to read and look at her rose garden. We also have to go to that nearby big-box home center to buy more fencing to discourage STWD from roving in the gardens by our deck and getting stuck. Ciao.