Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It ii just past 12:00 a.m. in "The City."

Well, we made it through our latest Winter Weather Advisory, which expires @ 4:00 a.m.today. Since early yesterday afternoon, we've gotten around six inches of heavy/wet snow. With luck and the increase in the high temperature today to 42° under sunny skies, the snow should be gone by the time Tuesday's morning rains begin to fall. One good thing, the high on Tuesday has been forecast by the NWS to reach 58°. In addition, the Small Craft Advisory for the shores of the "Big Lake" will expire by 2:00 p.m. today. We have a current temperature of 33° that feels like 24°.

The sun will rise today @ 7:03 a.m. and set later @ 8:27 p.m. If we were ready for spring before, we are really ready now!

We had plans to run some errands yesterday, but the snow covered streets kept us indoors. Even the fur-children were reluctant to go out for long. They too are so ready for spring.

By way of information, here is what the manse looked like yesterday,  courtesy of our Senior Staff Photographer, Mary.

Our front porch looking towards the street. Those bumps in the parkway are the rocks in our garden.

Our garage as seen from the back door across the snow covered deck and past the snow covered trees.

The tree branches in the foreground and the background were totally weaighed down by the heavy/wet snow.

No grocery store, no stop @ the craft store in Muskegon, no nothing. However, with a bit of assistance from Mary, I finished the crossword. I also made some vegan jerky, some spicy chickpeas, and some vegan sausages, two of which were part of our dinner along with couscous and a baked sweet potato ala Mary. Mary generally uses the microwave to prepare the sweet potatoes, but the oven produces a sweeter result. I like this way much better.

The 5 - 5, tied for 3rd place in the MWL East Caps, were postponed due to the snow, They are anticipating that their next opponents, the 4 - 6, 6th place in the MWL East Lansing Lugnuts will take the field with the Caps tonight @ 6:35 p.m.

Speaking of being postponed by the snow, the 5 - 9 in the NL Central Cubs were postponed in their series finale against the 8 - 7, 3rd place in the AL West Angels. No date is available for a makeup game as of this time. The Cubs travel to Miami to meet the 4 - 12 in the NL East Marlins tonight @ 6:05 p.m., when 0 - 2 RHP Yu Darvish once again tries to justify his 6 year, $126 million salary. At least right-fielder, Jason Hayward, has been hitting, a surprise to Cubs' manager, Joe Maddon.

The 8 - 7 in the AL Central Tigers would like to have been postponed, as RHP Jordan Zimmermann has fallen back to being his old self, walking people and being unable to get past the 3rd inning. The Tigers and Zimmermann fell to the Twins, 4 - 6. The Tigers are home on Tuesday to play the 8 - 6 in the NL Central Pirates @ 6:35 p.m. as LHP Matthew Boyd takes the mound.

My beloved, 6 - 10, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox rode a terrific performance by LHP David Price to a 4 -0 win. The Sox are showing signs that they have returned to the form that took them to the World Series in 2018! The Sox have a rare day game today @ 11:05 against the also 6 - 10 in the AL East Orioles, as RHP Hector Velazquez takes the ball.

By the by, Tiger Woods won his 5th green jacket @ the Masters Tournament yesterday.

Today may or may not see us going out. If the city gets the streets cleared, we'll get to those errands that we postponed. Plus, it is tax day, so those must get in the mail today too. Ciao.

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."

The big news for today seems to be the weather. We have both a Winter Weather Advisory and a Small Craft Advisory in effect. The former from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. The latter in effect from 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Monday.

In the case of the Winter Weather Advisory, the NWS has issued a forecast that calls for three to five inches of heavy, wet snow, with a high temperature of 38° that should preclude the snow from sticking for long. However, I have already put away our snow shovels, so....

In the case of the Small Craft Advisory, that's in effect for the shores of the "Big Lake" from Holland to GH. Winds of 20 - 25 knots will push waves of four to seven feet, making it unsafe for small craft and inexperienced sailors. The sun will rise today @ 7:05 a.m. and set later @ 8:25 p.m.

On to a better subject. We made it to Hemlock Crossing County Park and the Nature Education Center yesterday for that presentation on the Secret Lives of Salamanders, given by one of the naturalists for the Ottawa County Parks, George. The presentation was followed by a walk through the woods of Hemlock Crossing.

And you thought you knew it all.

George was knowledgeable and accommodating, especially with the many young people on our walk.

We learned that there are approximately 15 types of salamanders, but that MI is home to only seven, that range in size from one and one-half inches to about 12 inches. We actually know very little about the habits of these creatures due to their reclusive nature that keeps them under logs in our area and out of the way of predators. Yes, Virginia, they can indeed shed and later regrow their tails to evade predators such as wild turkeys, skunks, fish, or nearly any animal that is looking for food.

Ottawa County Park has many fallen trees and wet areas that provide a perfect habitat for salamanders. During our walk, with the eager assistance of the young folks, George overturned several fallen logs and uncovered some salamander eggs and some younger salamanders of the "Red Back" variety, as seen here in the palm of George's hand.

This young salamander was ready to be returned to his hidden home ASAP.

Since we were on a hike through the woods, I took a lot of pix of both the young folks and the scenery.

Perhaps future herpetologists?

This tree was home to a lot of buds, some of which had become home to insects who use the buds as a place for their larvae.

The Grand River watershed, is also home to beavers who are active in the early morning hours from about 1:00 to 4:00 a.m.

I tried, but failed, to get the perspective of this very tall tree that the beavers were attempting to fell.

This tree had been felled, but it had become stuck in the crook of a nearby tree. On the right, is another tree stump for a tree that the beavers had successfully felled earlier. George believes that these trees were chewed by one adult beaver and her young. The beavers remove the bark to get to the layer beneath that feeds the upper branches of the trees. Contrary to popular belief, beavers do not eat the wood, they are after the nutrition to be found in that layer and in the upper branches, that cannot be reached by beavers, who cannot climb, hence the necessity of felling the trees.  A tree of this diameter probably took about one-week to fell.

We learned a lot and enjoyed the many sights to be seen.

Part of the watershed of the Grand River.

I used my telephoto lens to take a macro-like picture of this fallen leaf.

Nature provided her own captions, so....

These are the wood chips left behind when the beavers "work."

Indeed!

I took a lot of pix, but I hope that you got the flavor of what we viewed on our "walk through the woods."

In sports news yesterday, there was no good news in baseball. All of my teams lost by varying margins. The Cubs, my beloved Red Sox, the Tigers and the Caps all went down to defeat, mostly due to the lack of effective pitching. Today will be better, I hope.

We plan to go to the grocery store,weather permitting, and then stay in to avoid the snow and ice. As of now, there is no precipitation seen outside of the WW. While we don't have any specific plans, we do have the weekend edition of Grand Haven Tribune to read and I have many things to be drawn, written, or played. Mary too has some kitchen and reading plans, some of those also dependent on the weather and the grocery store visit. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

We had a pedestrian kind of day yesterday, doing some indoor chores, reading, crossword solving, baking, more on that in a bit, and running some errands.

Let me start with something that I could have easily omitted in an effort to pretend that my epic bread failure the other day never happened. But, being a believer that unless you fail sometimes, you aren't trying, I've decided to include a picture of Mary's bread success in the kitchen. Let's just say that her efforts produced a great loaf of bread. Great texture, great taste, and most of all, great appearance, as seen below.

Best of all, no kneading required, just time. Sigh.

By the by, she didn't even need a thermometer to produce this superior loaf of bread. Oh well, next time for me will produce a better loaf that we enjoyed with dinner.

We have a current temperature of 38° under cloudy-skies. Today's high is forecast by the NWS to reach a not so springlike high of 45° under sunny-skies. The sun will rise @ 7:06 a.m. and set later tonight @ 8:24 p.m. Tuesday's forecast looks much better than today's, with a high of 60°, but also with an 80% chance for T-storms.

Ginger and I did some trainspotting yesterday as I observed both ends of the train run on the RSTL. At 9:01 a.m., I heard the approach of MMRR EMD GP-2 locomotives 2019 and 2025. I sprang from my bed and hied to my office just in time to observe the southbound passage of those locos towing nine CHCs, three DWTCs, one GTC, and five DBTCs, with two of those at the end of the train.

Later, I was downstairs working on a crossword with Mary's assistance, when I was alerted to the northbound passage of those same locomotives as they rolled past, towing what were four CHCs, three DBTCs, and four DWTCs, all loaded, judging by the shaking of the manse.

A side note, Adam texted us some pix of a Pullman™ car in a train yard near his home in Chicago. Neither of us knew how a car that hasn't been manufactured in many years has survived with its livery intact for so long. Perhaps it is a private coach that has been restored.

In sports news yesterday, the 5 - 4 in the MWL East Caps, fell to the 4 - 5 in the MWL East Great Lakes Loons, 3 - 4. The Loons were assisted by the Gale Force winds of 25 mph at the Fifth/Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, MI, near GR. Later today, the Caps and the Loons go at it again @ 4:00 p.m.

My beloved, 5 - 9 in the AL East Red Sox, pulled out a win @ Fenway Park over the 5 - 9 in the AL East Orioles, 6 - 4. The Sox' bats came to life and LHP Eduardo Rodriguez looked sharp as he notched his first win against two losses. The Sox and the Orioles play again today @ 1:05 p.m.

The 8 - 5 in the AL Central Tigers, game against the 6 - 4 in the AL Central Twins was canceled due to inclement weather in MN. The game will be made up on Saturday, May 11, as part of a split doubleheader @ 7:05 p.m. following the day game scheduled to start @ 1:05 p.m.  

The 5 - 8 in the NL Central Cubs, enjoyed the rare spring wind blowing out @ Wrigley Field, as they too launched some home runs in their defeat ofthe the 7 - 7 in the AL West Angels, 5 - 1. LHP Cole Hamels notched his second win of the young season.The Angels were without their superstar outfielder, Mike Trout, who was back in LA having his injury checked and treated. The Cubs and the Angels play again today @ as RHP Kyle Hendricks attempts to get his first win @ 2:20 p.m. today.

Today, we have plans to go to Hemlock Crossing County Park for a preservation on salamanders. You know, those little amphibians that seemed to be in any wet areas when I was younger, but which I have not seen of late. I guess they have always been around, but I was too busy to notice. We were going to go to another county park tomorrow, Grand Ravines, for a wildflower walk, but the cool temperatures in the forecast say to us that we should keep our old bones in warmer places until at least next Tuesday.

Otherwise, not much is on tap for today. I'm good with that. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City." Yesterday and early this morning, the words usually applied to Chicago, "The Windy City" could be applied here. However, worthy of note is that the term "Windy City: is usually misused to describe atmospheric conditions, rather than the original derivation of the phrase, which came from the "Windy" politicians that were and are prevalent in that great city.

But I digress. We have a current temperature of 42° under partly-cloudy skies as we await the sunrise @ 7:08 a.m. and today's high temperature of 48° with a 100% chance of rain later this morning, accompanied by winds of 21 mph. That's before the sun sets @ 8:23 p.m.

Mary did a better job in the kitchen yesterday than I did on my epic failure the day before. She started a loaf of her soon to be famous Dutch oven baked no-knead bread in one of her antique bowls. This recipe requires no  kneading, but does require about 18 - 20 hours of rise time, after which it is flipped and then allowed a second rise of one to two hours before being popped into the Dutch oven, which had been preheated in a 450 ° oven for its final baking. Her past efforts have been highly successful, so I anticipate the same results again.

My epic fail from Wednesday necessitated a stop at the Cooks Store in downtown GH to pick up a replacement thermometer for the one that gave its life in pursuit of my failed loaf of French bread.

That stop followed a stop at the hospital for my semi-annual doctor's visit where all went well. We came home to be greeted by the fur-children as though we had been gone for days. The unconditional love of a dog is like no other love in the world. Mary made ouir lunch of vegan hot dogs with sauerkraut and a salad that also was a success.

I soloed to my P/T appointment where Ben, my therapist, told me that I have been making excellent progress. My range of motion is markedly improved and I am now down to three more, once per week visits, during which we'll work on strength-building both at the P/T facility and designating exercises for home continuation. Ah, light at the end of the tunnel.

After I returned from P/T, Mary soloed to the grocery store and I stayed home with the fur-children, lest they felt as though they had been once again abandoned. Fur-children can need extra attention in return for their unconditional love. A fair trade I believe.

Somewhere in there, Mary had prepared a new vegan extraordinary beest which became part of dinner along with her version of a green bean casserole that utilizes vegan ingredients in lieu of dairy, along with water chestnuts for crunch. I like this casserole and could eat it any time of the year.

I moved upstairs to the music/art room and did some some guitar playing along with some pencil drawings that I think turned out well. Not colored, but gray-pencil lines with shading. The light in the art room was perfect, which it has not been for several months.

After dinner, we settled in to watch some TV news and got ready for our trip to Seven Steps Up in Spring Lake for a concert by Peter Mulvey.

A terrific 135 seat acoustically perfect venue.

We got a very pleasant surprise, as Peter had brought along a duo called Sister Strings, two actual sisters who play violin and cello along with singing. They have an album coming out in a few months and they also play back-up musicians and singers for Mulvey. I perused YouTube for some of their efforts and this is one I found. This song was the closing of their set, and is entitled Goodbye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59io_DTmp7w

I've also included some pix of their performance.

They are well trained musicians and excellent performers.

The Sister Strings received roaring ovations for their solo efforts.

Peter Mulvey has been on the music scene for many years, and his guitar playing is terrific as are his vocal offerings. I chose his songs, Who's Gonna Love You Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Y2d04R2EA and The Fox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CwRazQkFfc off his new album There is Another World to represent his vast body of work. There are also many others that I think you would also like.

Here he is performing with Sister Strings during his set.

Words cannot describe this wonderful concert.

Naturally, I am listening to Coast to Coast AM  and its host, George Noory, so I had to include one of his segue songs too. This one is by the band Yes, entitled Owner of a Lonely Heart, from 1983.

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

I've been here so long, that I had to include another segue song from George, the Pointer Sisters singing I'm So Excited. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQqwG_rQx7A

Gosh, I got so excited by our concert attendance, that I nearly forgot the news from the baseball world.

When we got home, near 10:00 p.m., I tuned the TV to the MLBTV channel and watched my beloved 4 - 9 now 4th place in the AL East Red Sox roar back from an 0 - 5 deficit to win the game in a  bases-loaded walk off, 7 - 6, over the also 4 - 9 in the AL East Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox welcome the also 5 - 8 in the AL East Orioles for a 7:10 p.m. game @ Fenway Park.

I was able to do my own segue to the game between the 4 - 8, last place in the NL Central Cubs and the now 6 - 5 in the same division Pirates. The Cubs open a weekend series against the 7 - 6, 3rd place in the AL West Angels, @ 2:20 p.m. today as LHP Cole Hamels goes for his second win.

Sadly the 8 - 5, 2nd place in the AL Central Tigers, fell to the 8 - 4, 1st place in the AL Central Indians, 0 - 4. Today, the Tigers travel to Minnesota to play the 6 - 4 3rd place in the AL Central Twins @ 2:10 p.m.

The 5 - 3 in the MWL East Caps defeated the 3 - 5 in the MWL East, Lansing Lugnuts, 7 - 3 last night. The Caps welcome the 3 - 5 in the MWL East Great Lakes Loons for a game tonight @ 6:05 p.m.

That looks like about enough for one day. Today, we have nothing on our schedule and that's the way I like it. Mary will finish her bread baking and I'll continue solving crosswords and attempt more artsy type activities. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I wasn't going to get up, but once my yak reminded me that it was still there, the rest quickly became history. Is that a play on words, "The Rest", since I wasn't going to get any more this morning? A rhetorical question I guess.

At any rate, the current temperature is 33°, according to my DTWS here on the desk in my Blog Central/Weather Office/Music Room/Art Studio. The NWS is showing 32°, so not really much difference. The sun will rise today @ 7:10 a.m. and set later @ 8:22 p.m. In between, the NWS has added a Gale Warning for the "Big Lake", you know, that's when inexperienced sailors or boats and ships without instruments are advised to avoid leaving port as the winds will be a minimum of 34, and up to 47 knot!.

Plus, we are experiencing the fringes of Winter Storm Wesley, the storm that may drop as much as 30 inches of snow on the Western Plains States! The NWS is calling this another possible smaller "Bomb Cyclone", that are being caused by Climate Change. Here in GH, the NWS is telling us that the morning commute will be made more difficult by the icy road conditions driven by 27 mph winds and temperatures that will hover around freezing until later today. Ouch! However, once the sun has been up for a while, we are anticipating a high temperature of 50°. By the by, a long look out the WW shows snow on our roof and moisture on the pavement.

Speaking of the weather, the 3 - 8 in the NL Central Cubs looked like ice statues as they fell to the 6 - 4 in the NL Central Pirates, 2 - 5. Our $126 million RHP, Yu Darvish, looked very human last night, as he was unable to get out of the 6th inning and suffered his 2nd loss of the season to go to 0 - 2. Maybe RHP Jose Quintana can right the ship tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Cubs' pitching staff will be one man short as LHP Jon Lester has been placed on the 10 Day DL with a left-hamstring injury. Meanwhile, his roster spot will be taken by LHP Tim Collins, who was promoted from the Iowa Cubs for a hopefully short visit.

The surprising 8 - 4 in the AL Central, 1st place Detroit Tigers took another game from the 7 - 4  in the AL Central. 2nd place Cleveland Indians, 4 - 1, as Tigers' RHP Matthew Boyd struck out 6 and was solid through 6 innings. Today @ 1:10 p.m., RHP Spencer Turnbull will try to keep it going as he takes the hill.

My beloved, 3 - 9 in the AL East Red Sox are still struggling. They had an off day yesterday, but tonight's game @ 7:05 p.m. will be another chance for LHP Eduardo Rodriguez to help right the ship as the Sox meet the 5 - 7 in the AL East Baltimore Orioles.

Sports pundits are suggesting that there are several things the Sox can do to get back on track. Naturally, those involve the starting pitchers, the hitters, the fielders and the base runners. Gee, who could have guessed that? It was the immortal Casey Stengel who was quoted that basic baseball is all about pitching, hitting, catching, and throwing.

The 4 - 3 in the MWL East, 3rd place Caps, took a game from the 3 - 4 in the MWL East Lansing Lugnuts, 6 - 4. The Caps and the Lugnuts have another game today @ 1:05 p.m.

I had an epic fail in the kitchen yesterday. I attempted to make a loaf of French bread, but in the process, I made the loaf too large, i e too big around in the middle and not long and slender like French bread should be. So, when I stuck in the thermometer, the internal temperature never got over 140°. However, not unlike my long-ago experience with the pepper mill and my heat gun, the thermometer's plastic dial cover succumbed to the 400° oven heat when I didn't remove it from the bread and it melted down. Thus, I now have to get a new thermometer and we still have no bread. Here is a pic of the results of my "Efforts". chronicled by our Senior Staff Photographer, Mary, with her Smart Phone camera.

Oops?

So, while I went 0 - 1 in the kitchen, Mary went 2 - 0, as she made a terrific rice and bean soup for lunch and another of her enchilada casseroles for dinner. Both were keepers, while my French bread was sent to the ash heap of history. Sigh.

Today, another day of torture @ P/T and a concert in Spring Lake tonight @ Seven Steps Up as Peter Mulvey takes the stage @ 7:30 p.m. He is a singer/songwriter who plays guitar and so I'm sure we will enjoy his efforts.

That looks like enough for one day. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 12:30 a.m. in "The City."

Mary made pizza for our dinner last night. I had requested that my half be only cheese and sauce. She decided that her half would have portabello mushroom slices, without cheese. We both liked the final result, as this one was made with a new vegan mozzarella that melted well along with some oregano and nutritional yeast that gave this pizza a terrific flavor. Here is the pizza just before it was served.

Definitely a keeper!

Mary's brother, Ed called last night while she was making more vegetable broth, so we couldn't talk for long. My part in the preparation was finishing the onion peeling, as Mary was overwhelmed by the strength of this bag of onions.

Yesterday in baseball was a great day, if you are a Cubs fan. The now 3 - 7 in the NL Central Cubs, demolished the 5 - 4 in the NL Central Pirates, 10 - 0. Sadly, LHP Jon Lester started strong, but a left hamstring injury forced manager Joe Maddon to pull Lester from the game after three innings, and so RHO Brad Brach got the win. Since Lester didn't make it out of the 3rd inning, he didn't qualify for the win.

As of last night, the injury to Lester seemed minor, but the results of an MRI exam later today will give a clearer picture. The Cubs are off until Wednesday, when RHP Yu Darvish takes the mound against the Pirates @ 7:05 p.m.

Both the Tigers and my beloved Red Sox were off yesterday, but they return to the field today.

The 2 - 3 in the MWL East, Caps, fell to the Lansing Lugnuts, 0 - 1. That loss puts the Caps into 7th place. The Caps and the Lugnuts play again tonight @ 6:05 p.m.

P/T went well yesterday. Ben pushed my shoulder to the max and it feels like it now. However, in order to gain strength, I must do more exercises at home and continue P/T for a few more weeks.

After P/T, I drove to Spring Lake to drop off some grocery items at The People Center. We try to donate food items several times per year, as the need is always great. There is no season and we don't need a reason to donate.

We took a walk with the fur-children to the library and back before my P/T appointment yesterday. STWD is starting to struggle with any walk that would be of a longer distance. I guess like for all of us of a certain age, concessions must be made.

Otherwise, yesterday's high temperature reached 57°, which was shirt-sleeve weather for me. The current temperature is only 52° under partly-cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast by the NWS to reach 51°, also under partly-cloudy skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:15 a.m. and set later @ 8:18 p.m. There is a slight chance for snow on Wednesday in spite of the high temperature of 48°. It is more likely that we'll see rain and windy conditions both Wednesday and Thursday. We'll have to wait until next Monday, April 15, tax day, to once again see 50 degrees.

So that looks like a wrap for one day. Not much on tap for today. That's fine with me. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I think I'll start with some pictures from the vast gardens of the PE. Mary and I picked up her lens attachment at The Camera Store on Saturday, but that wasn't something she used in the taking of the pictures that follow. However, if she had, I believe that the pictures would have had even more clarity and definition. You be the judge. I find all of the pictures to be high-quality.

The first flowers of spring.

Focused on just one.

This was taken as the flowers were first emerging from their long winter's nap.

My water pump and its bucket await some flowers that will have to come later.

Why not?

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday making Mary's favorite, vegan Italian meatballs. Mary says they are great, I think I can do better. However, they were tasty as part of dinner last night. I also did some indoor chores while I waited for the meatballs to be done.

Mary went to the big-box almost everything store yesterday and could not believe how busy the place was on a Sunday afternoon. Go figure. She came back with most of what she went to purchase, something that can happen when a store is busy. I've had that experience.

We did take the fur-children for a walk yesterday, since the temperature was nothing short of spring-like. However by the time we took a second walk to the library, the temperature had dropped and the rain had begun to fall. According to the forecast from the NWS, we were supposed to get several hours of rain and perhaps some thunder, but what we got was about 20 minutes of heavy rain and no thunder.

We have a current temperature of 44° under partly-cloudy skies. The NWS has predicted that those partly-cloudy skies will continue through the morning hours, giving way to sunshine in the afternoon, as our high temperature reaches 52°, about 21° colder than yesterday's high of 73°!

The temperatures will  now hover in the low 50s and upper 40s fore several more days before we get permanently into the 50s by next Sunday. I cannot wait for spring to arrive and stay with us. Neither can our vegetable seedlings.

Speaking of surprises, as you may recall, I recently purchased MLBTV so that I could watch my favorite out of market games, i.e. my beloved Red Sox and the boys in blue, AKA the Cubs.

Sadly, the 3 - 8 Red Sox are struggling this season with a 4th place record in the AL East of 3 - 8. The Sox managed to eke out a win yesterday, 1 - 0 over the 5 - 5 in the AL West AZ D'Backs, on the strength of a home-run by Mitch Moreland. The Sox are off until Tuesday when they have their home opener at Fenway Park @ 2:05 p.m. LHP Chris Sale is scheduled to take the mound after the Sox receive their World Series™ championship rings before the game.

The boys in blue keep finding new ways to lose. The 2 - 7, 4th in the NL Central Cubs, lost to the 8 - 2, 1st place in the NL Central Brewers, 2 - 4 yesterday. The Cubs are enjoying the offense of backup catcher Victor Caratini, who may see more playing time. However, the big-boppers like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are struggling. Here's hoping that today's home opener in front of the home crowd will provide the spark that the team needs to reach the playoffs once again. Today's match-up against the 5 - 3, 2nd place in the NL Central Pirates begins @ 2:20 p.m. when LHP Jon Lester takes the ball.

Bright news, the 7 - 3 1st place in the AL Central Tigers, defeated the 2 - 6 in the AL Central Royals for the sweep yesterday, 3 - 1. The Royals are not very good again this year and the Tigers are hoping for a solid if not spectacular season this year as they rebuild, but who knows. The Tigers are off until Tuesday when the 2nd place in the AL Central Indians come to town for a 1:10 p.m. game, as RHP Jordan Zimmerman once again goes for the Tigers' win over the visiting Indians with RHP Corey Kluber on the hill.

The 2 - 2 in the MWL East Caps defeated the South Bend Cubs yesterday, 7 - 3 to tie for 2nd place with most of the teams in their division. The Caps travel to Lansing, MI for a 6:05 p.m. against the Lansing Lugnuts tonight.

Today, we don't have much on tap. The fur-children will want to take another walk, but that is weather dependent. I had hoped to put away our winter coats for the year, but so far that hasn't been possible. Otherwise, the sun will rise @ 7:15 a.m. and set later @ 8:18 p.m.

By the by, I am once again listening to Coast to Coast AM and George Noory as he is playing The Sounds of Silence, by the group Pentatonix, an a Capella group from TX. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVjVtpr55M