Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 63° under clear skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 66°, a full five degrees colder than yesterday. The sun will rise today @ 7:36 a.m. and set later @ 7:35 p.m.

A Small Craft Advisory remains in effect until 4:00 p.m. this evening, along with a Beach Hazard Statement. The usual rip currents, and waves will make swimming and boating in the "Big Lake" hazardous.

I'll be taking a few days off from blogging, as I have other, more urgent things to do in my life. But not to worry my loyal readers, I should be back at the keyboard early Monday or Tuesday.

I took yesterday off because I am in mourning. I have spent nearly every night at my blog since spring, trying, apparently in vain, to see the Cubs make it to another World Series. Sad to say, the proverbial Fat Lady has sung and the Cubs are officially eliminated from post-season play this again this year. They can take their collective places on the couch this fall alongside the Red Sox and the Tigers as the brass for each of them ponders what to do this winter.

I have to wonder about my own future too, as I truly believe that Baseball is Life!" I've managed to live long enough to see the Cubs win one World Series in my lifetime, but what coulda, woulda, shoulda been has not happened since 2016. Not to despair, I have plans to be around for many more years, so if the Cubs', the Red Sox, and the Tigers can stop reliving past-glories and make some solid trades, signings, and promotions from their farm systems...

Will Joe Maddon be back to manage the Cubs? Right now, I am giving that a 50/50 chance, at best. I have never seen a team collapse so quickly as the Cubs sine 1969, when they needed to step up and win the games they should have won. Sure the team brass deserves some of the credit/blame for boneheaded trades and less than fruitful big-contract signings, but Maddon is the guy who will take the fall, as field-managers often do.

To demonstrate what I believe is a "Loser's Mentality", the Cubs have issued a commemorative video of the infamous 1969 season entitled Timeless: 1969 Cubs, the story of that fateful year when they faded away in September and watched the"Miracle Mets go to the World Series. 1969? What's to celebrate about 1969 other than my long-gone 1969 Camaro Super Sport, my high-school graduation, and... It would be several years before I met and married Mary and we had our only child, a young man who has become a terrific adult, Adam.

Oh well, stay posted as I'll try to keep everyone updated until I am born again and there is  "New grass on the field." For now, I'll have to drown my sorrows with memories of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. I'll mark those memories with two songs, John Fogerty's Centerfield, and Steve Goodman's A Dying Cub Fan's Last Reauest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnWQd70br9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK5m_fETGuQ

But, I'd be kidding myself if I didn't also pay homage to the 2016 season when the Cubs "Won it All!", epitomized by Steve Goodman's Go Cubs Go! Too bad that it had to end. "Wait til Next Year!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtyOq-SU0Ec

As I've mentioned, the Red Sox and the Tigers are heading home for the winter too. But not to fear, it will be February 2020 before you know it and I'll be following every stat and every at-bat for all of my teams. Plus, it will soon be time for the annual Baseball winter meetings and the Cubs Convention, when fans get to commiserate about what coulda. woulda, shoulda been as they listen to Theo Epstein, the rest of the Cubs brass, and the team ownership along whomsoever the Cubs have as manager try to explain away what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. Til then, I'll have to make do. Sigh.

I watched as the MMRR sent locomotives # 2019 and #2025 south, towing one CHC @ 12:00 p.m. yesterday. Later, I heard that lonesome whistle blow again @ 3:50 p.m., as those same locomotives passed by heading north, towing 12 CHCs, five DBTCs, two DWTCs, and four GTCs.

I was in the kitchen yesterday making more vegan treats. Mary was hard at work around the manse too, along with a visit to the chiropractor and her beautician. Oh, we also watched the craziness in New York and D.C. Ciao.