Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 69° under cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast by the NWS to reach 71°, so not much change between then and now. We received a slight amount of rain overnight, but the dire predictions in yesterday's forecast for rain this morning accompanied by T'storms, never came to pass. No T'storms and therefore, no lightning and thunder. STWD slept soundly overnight. The sun will rise today @ 7:24 a.m. and set later @ 7:55 p.m.

That Small Craft  Advisory remains in effect until 5:00 p.m. this evening. Plus, the Beach Hazard Statement will be in effect from 8:00 a.m. this morning until 5:00 p.m. this evening. The usual Rip Currents, and waves will make swimming in the "Big Lake" hazardous. We will see wind speeds of from 15 to 20 mph.

John came by yesterday and finished that aforementioned painting. The walls and ceiling look great. John always does careful work and any issues are addressed immediately.

We never made it to that Monarch butterfly presentation at Hemlock Crossing. I spent the morning grilling and I didn't feel like going. Mary could have gone by herself, but she too just couldn't muster up the energy, so we sat and talked and did some reading while John worked.

We safaried to Spring Lake for some bread at the Village Baker later in the afternoon, before stopping in @ Stan's for some adult libations. Since I am always mentioning Stan's in my blogs, here is a pic of how the sign on Savidge St. looks as of yesterday.

As friendly a place as you'll ever find.

According to an article in the weekend edition of the Grand Haven Tribune, it was around 1948 or 1949 when Stan Kulik, great-uncle of current owner Joe Stalec (his mother’s side), took over the business. When Kulik died in 1958, his sister Ann took over until 1976. That’s when Joe’s parents, Joe and Sue Stalec, purchased the business.

Joe started working at Stan’s in 1991 while still in high school. He took over when his parents died less than a year apart in 2006 and 2007. Now 47, Stalec says he expects to stay with the business “until I turn 100 or the Lions win the Super Bowl.” Good luck with that Lions Super Bowl appearance.

Joe has had the Stan's sign refurbished along with the Budweiser Beer globe over the bar and the Budweiser sailing sign on the front wall. Otherwise, the interior of  Stan's remains much as it was from the earliest days. Another interesting tidbit is that hanging over the front door is a clock from a long-gone local jewelry store. The clock advertises Elgin Watches. The Elgin Watch Company ceased operation in 1968.

I gave my Elgin pocket-watch that dates to the time of the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893, to Adam a few years ago, a watch given to me by my father when I was in high-school. I remember traveling to Elgin, IL with my dad one winter while in my teens and having the watch serviced by an elderly watchmaker at the Elgin  National Watch Company factory, who knew the workings of that watch intimately. Purely mechanical, no quartz and no electronics.

When we left Stan's and headed for home, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an Amphicar. According to Wikipedia, the Amphicar Model 770 is an amphibious automobile, launched at the 1961 New York Auto Show and manufactured in West Germany and marketed from 1961 to 1968. Production stopped in 1965. The Amphicar name is a portmanteau of "amphibious" and "car".

Production of these cars ran from 1960 to 1965, with only 3,878 built. Typical of most products built with several purposes in mind, these cars did neither driving as a car nor sailing as a boat very well.

A beautifully restored example of this unique automobile/boat.

 But I am once again digressing, so lets get on with the blog. 

The Cubs crushed the Pirates yesterday, 14 - 1, as four Cubs, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant, Nico Hoerner, and Victor Caratini all hit home runs. The 3-run home run by Hoerner was the one that helped the Cubs set a franchise record of 237 home-runs in one season. Kyle Hendricks got the win and today's series finale will begin @ 2:20 p.m. when Jose Quintana takes the mound.

My beloved Red Sox are still in 3rd place in the AL East, but they got the win yesterday over the Phillies, 2 - 1. Eduardo Rodriguez recorded 12 Ks, but the win went to Matt Barnes. The Sox and the Phillies also close out their series today, beginning @ 1:05 P.M.

The woeful Tigers needed 12 innings and a walk-off grand slam home run from John Hicks to defeat the equally woeful Orioles, 8 - 4. Today's game begins @ 1:10 p.m.

We watched the game between the Spartans of MSU and the Sun Devils yesterday in which neither team could muster much of an offense. The Spartans lost the game 7 - 10. 

The Huskies of NIU ran into a buzz-saw in Nebraska last night, as they were totally dominated by the Cornhuskers, 44 - 8. 

Elsewhere, since I had my camera along for the ride, I took some random pix of clouds, industrial items, the high waters of the Tri-Cities area, and of the swinging railroad bridge that spans the Grand River alongside the drawbridge over the river for US 31. I forgot to mention that last Thursday, Wallace K. Ewing, PhD, our local historian of all things West Michigan and Tri-Cities, gave a talk about his latest book, Destination: The Haven. The title is derived from the travels of the local Native-American tribes that canoed from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven. They just didn't know that the cities would one day have English names when they used the Grand River and its tributries as a means of travel throughout West Michigan.

During his talk at The Bookman, Professor Ewing mentioned several sights that we hope to see as we travel about. One of those sights is that aforementioned swinging railroad bridge. Here is a pic of that bridge as we sped over the draw-bridge from Spring Lake to GH.

Not my best, but when you have to move with traffic, you can't always get the shot that you want.

As I mentioned, I took some shots of industrial things and clouds too.

Also taken as we moved with traffic. The swinging bridge is in the foreground and the unloading facilities of Verplanks Dock are in the background.

I just liked this shot.

Sandbags are necessary to allow access to the Hall's Sport Center.

The sandbags are working, just!

I almost forgot. Dinner last night was a superb blending of penne pasta, grilled portabello mushrooms, and vegan pepperoni ala Mary, with a side of garlic bread..

In Italian, delizioso! That means delectable, scrumptious, or delicious.

Today we plan to do as little as possible. More retirement, more reading, and more football and baseball viewing. Ciao.