Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

Once again, there are no active advisories, alerts, and/or statements in effect for today. However, we do have high pollen and mold counts.

My weather forecasting site shows a current temperature of 59°, however, the hourly forecast on that same site shows we'll drop to an overnight low of 55°. The sun will shine today after it rises @ 6:35 a.m. and well before it sets tonight @ 9:06 p.m.

Yesterday we walked to the farmer's market in the early afternoon, and then ran some later day errands, after Mary did the indoor chores and after I had another epic failure in the kitchen. I tried to bake a chocolate layer cake, but it never rose in my new cake pans so, it was consigned to the ash heap of kitchen history. I "forgot" to take any pix of my failure.

Fortunately, I was successful in making more spicy soy curls, which were too hot for Mary's tastes, but which for the fur-children and I, were like the porridge of the baby bear in Goldilocks, "Just Right!"

While we were running our errands, I traded in my tired, no longer running mechanical cuckoo clock, for a new to us mechanical regulator clock that chimes on the hour and half-hour. It only needs to be wound every three to four weeks, but like the cuckoo clock, it does require cleaning and oiling every two to three years. Here is a pic of that clock hanging on the wall where the cuckoo used to reside.

I like that it chimes, the way it looks,  and that it needs to be wound less often.

Also while we were out, we picked up a new watering wand at the Ace™ hardware in Spring Lake after we purchased the clock. The wand has a longer reach that should make watering the vast gardens much easier.

In addition, our last stop in Spring Lake was for flowers @ the Spring Lake Florist that are now making Mary's "Flower Room" much brighter under our new light fixture that was installed by John on Tuesday. I'll leave it to my loyal readers to decide which flower pic is the best.

One angle

Another closer angle.

A but farther away.

In this edition of my blog, I'm going to try to be more succinct about baseball. However, given that it was the MLB™ trade deadline, I may not be successful.

The 57 - 50, tied for 1st place with the Cardinals in the NL Central Cubs, had to scratch their way to that tie, with a 2 - 0 win over those same Cardinals, with the win going to Kyle Hendricks, 7 - 11, and the save going to Craig Kimbrel. At what was near to the trade deadline, the Cubs acquired OF Nick Castellanos from the Tigers and plan to use him in the corners of the outfield. The Cubs sent newly acquired catcher, Martin Maldonado to the Astros for infielder Tony Kemp. The Cubs have not surrendered the season as have many teams.

Tonight's game in St; Louis @ 7:15 p.m., will feature Jon Lester, 9 - 6, possibly along with Castellanos.

My beloved, 59 - 50, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox, lost to the 2nd place Tampa Bay Rays, 5 - 8, as Rick Porcello, 9 - 8, trashed the clubhouse TVs in a fit of anger. The Sox are home again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. as Andrew Cashner, 10 - 5 overall, gets the nod from manager Alex Cora. The Sox believe that they have a solid team and thus, they did not make any trades. If you believe that the Sox are solid, I've got a bridge in... Well, you get the idea.

The 32 - 72, last place in the AL Central Tigers, soundly defeated the 56 - 54, 3rd place in the AL West Angels, 9 - 1, with Dan Norris, 3 - 8 getting the rare win. The game featured the debut of cather Jake Rogers, who was acquired from the Astros in the trade that sent Justin Verlander to the Astros. Rogers got a home run and could be the Tigers catcher of the now and future. Only time will tell. The Tigers remain in Anaheim for tonight's game @ 8:05 p.m. when Tyler Alexander, 0 - 1, takes the mound.

The West Michigan WhiteCaps lost yet again to the 3rd place in the MWL East South Bend Cubs, 1 - 5. The Caps and the SB Cubs play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

Today's happenings include more kitchen work and more reading. In addition, our human-children, Adam and Stephany, will be coming in for a few days today. John will be by to finish installing the new light fixtures in Mary's craft room and the hallway just outside her room.

That's all folks, except for a couple of tunes by the Sir Douglas Quintet. I was waiting in the car as Mary bought her flowers, and I heard one of their tunes on the radio.

This is a tune by the Sir Douglas Quintet courtesy of YouTube™ This was the second hit by the Quintet, recorded in 1968 as they sing and play, Mendocino. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbI8uVUFP4

I have also included another song from the Sir Douglas Quintet entitled She's About a Mover. I mistakenly thought that the Sir Douglas Quintet was a one-hit wonder, but they had at least one more as evidenced by this clip, also from YouTube™, of their 1965 recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt6w--5dToI&list=RDwt6w--5dToI&start_radio=1&t=0

The Sir Douglas Quintet was active from 1964 to 1973. Sadly, lead guitarist and singer, Doug Sahms, died tragically of a heart attack in 1999 at the age of 58.

Ciao.