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 65° under partly-cloudy skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:34 a.m. and set later @ 7:39 p.m. The NWS is forecasting T-storms with a 70% chance for Wednesday morning.

As seems to have become the norm, there are several NWS advisories and watches in effect from 5:00 p.m. today until 8:00 p.m. Wednesday. You know, the familiar Small Craft  Advisory, the Beach Hazard Statement, and our old standby, the Lakeshore Flood Advisory. Our recent rains have once again flooded the low-lying areas near the Grand River.

I fell asleep during the Bears 31 - 15 win over the Redskins last night. A word of caution, the Redskins are not very good this year and so the jury must remain out on the Bears. Even with a 2 - 1 record, the Bears trail the 3 - 0 Packers who play Thursday night in Green Bay against the 1 - 2 Eagles. Are the Packers for real? Are the Redskins that bad? Are the Bears really a contending team? Who knows?

The 82 - 74 Cubs, had to sit idly by in 3rd place as they watched the 1st place Cardinals, 90 - 67. clinch the NL Central Division. The Cubs are four games behind in the Wild Card race and three losses seals the deal for the disappointing Cubs. Wait til next year is highly likely given the way the Cubs and the Cardinals have played this season.

Many trade/acquisition/signing questions remain this winter, but foremost among them are the retention of field manager Joe Maddon, the option of trying to sign Nick Castellanos, and the chance that Yu Darvish will opt out of his $126 million deal as he has the right to do. Wait and see, as the Cubs play in Pittsburgh tonight @ 7:05 p.m. EDT.

The already eliminated 81 - 75 Red Sox, return to the field tonight in TX to face the 75 - 81 Rangers @ 8:05 p.m.

The 46 - 109, 5th place Tigers, well you know about them. They are home tonight to face the 96 - 60, 1st place in the AL Central Twins @ 6:40 p.m. The Tigers have a lot of questions of their own to answer, especially with some huge guaranteed contracts for players like Miguel "Miggy" Cabrera to ponder. I don't think the pitchers were as bad as they looked and I doubt that the hitters were as inept as the appeared, but do the Tigers have enough pitching and position-player depth in their farm system to help @ the Major-League™ club next season?

Having watched the 49 - 90, "A" level White Caps, the 77 - 61 AA level Erie SeaWolves, and the 66 - 74 Toledo Mud Hens this past season, I honestly don't know. If there is any solace to be found, it is that the Tigers AA farm team, the SeaWolves had a winning record.

We have no specific plans for today. I have more painting to do, more reading to do, and possibly more kitchenwork to get ready for our trip to Harbor Springs.

I made vegan Italian meatballs yesterday along with some vegan soy-curl jerky. This batch is too spicy for Mary. I think we need to make some roast beest today, as vegan fare is not plantiful once you get past Taco Bell™. With enough cold-cuts, we can manage to put together some sandwiches on the Veggie Delight™ sandwiches, sans cheese, available @ Subway™. Ciao.