Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation an across the world. It is just past 3:30 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a sultry 80° under mostly cloudy skies, with a Real Feel temperature of 82° with winds out of the northwest @ 10 mph. I don't know how the wind-driven temperature can be higher than the actual temperature. But, that's how it is, per the NWS. Go figure,

The NWS has downgraded our precipitation forecast to 39% sometime after 4:00 p.m. today, so I'm not counting on any rain for the foreseeable future. The sun will set today @ 9:19 p.m.

In sports news, the 25 - 31, 4th in the NL Central Cubs, saw RHP Jameson Taillon right the ship for a 2 - 1 win over the 26 - 31 San Diego Padres last night in San Diego. Sadly, the Cubs are nearing the time to make some decisions with regard to being sellers rather than buyers in a season that is fast getting away. Where once there was great hope that this might be the year, right now, I'm not so sure. At any rate, the Cubs send LHP Drew Smyly, 5 - 2, to the mound for tonight's game beginning @ 10:10 p.m. EDT. 

The 26 - 29 in the AL Central Tigers, are playing that 24 - 35 other team from Chicago, right now, but the score is knotted @ 1 - 1 in the top of the 6th inning with RHP Michael Lorenzen, 2 - 2, on the hill for the Tigers.

Yesterday the Tigers sent rookie RHP Reese Olson. 0 - 1 to the mound in a 0 - 3 loss. Olson took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but then the wheels came off as his pitch count grew and he was sent to the showers before absorbing his first MLB loss in a debut that showed great promise. 

My beloved, 29 - 27, 5th in the AL East Red Sox, were postponed yesterday, so they are playing two today versus the 1st place in the AL East, 40 - 18 Tampa Bay Rays. Sadly, RHP Garrett Whitlock is down 1 - 4 in the 5th inning. Things do not look good for the Red Sox, so far, with game two to be played later today.

However, on the home front, it was a good day here yesterday. The A/C repair technicians came to the manse and got our three-year-old A/C system up and running. The contractor that installed our system has gone out of business, so we are hoping that if there is a problem with the equipment, that the manufacturer will honor the ten-year warranty. At any rate, we are happy to report that the A/C is working fine now.

Yesterday saw Mary and Ginger make it back to Central Park from their morning walk, only to have Ginger lay down in the grass there, in need of a long drink of cool water before finishing their safari. 

Which leads me to say that while it was warm out this morning, Mary and Ginger took a walk to the waterfront that was a bit longer than yesterday's sojourn. While they were out, Mary took this pic of the scoreboard for the annual offshore fishing tournament.

No scores this morning, but soon the weights will be on the board.

But I digress. While it was warm this morning too, we opted to go the Grand Haven Memorial Airport for their open house and the requisite photo-op. I got some great shots of planes on the tarmac, taking off and landing, and of the skydivers descending under the auspices of Skydive Grand Haven.

The spacious terminal building.

A pusher plane courtesy of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. 

A similar plane, taxiing to a parking space after landing. 

A four-seat Piper Cherokee, readying for takeoff. I checked, and a 1974 version of this aircraft, is available for as low as $44,000, while a similar 1978 version can be had for $325,000.

A smooth landing?

Much smoother, just before touchdown.

Two skydivers preparing to land after a tandem jump.

Same here.

And here.

Overall, it was a great opportunity to see the aircraft and the skydivers. That's all folks. Ciao.