It is late- 20 minutes until midnight, when this blog turns into a pumpkin. It’ll just be basics today.

Ben Lolli, my Chicago marathon rabbit, is coming through town this weekend and staying for a few days. As a result, I had to do some cleaning tonight. Cleaning is not my forté, but I did make some progress (for me) tonight. I sprinkled nice smelling baking soda on the carpets upstairs in the cat room and downstairs in the living room, and vacuumed them. I fired up the furnace to make sure it was operational. I washed all of my accrued dishes and then made sure the bulk of the kitchen counters were cleared off and clean. I cleared off the big table in the entry way so it would be available for us. I made sure the bathroom upstairs was presentable enough. I threw away all the junk I could from in the fridge. I tried to scrub the hard water scum off of the kitchen sink handle fixture, with moderate success. I Windexed around the doorknobs on all of the white doors in the house and on the light switches to get the dirt buildup on them off. They had been neglected for a while. I put out an air freshener to try and help the smell within the house as well.

It never feels like enough. The house feels like a big falling apart structure full of dust and ants and cat hair. A mountain unassailable.

We try.

Steve Spriggs kept me company off and on during most of the evening, as he let me know how the Cleveland-Yankees game was going. Steve and I text a fair amount, but mostly during baseball season. He loves the Dodgers like I love the Cubs, and he feels about baseball much the way I do. Baseball is a fine medium through which to look at the history of modern America. Full of interesting figures and sentimentally significant stadiums, baseball embodies aspects of American culture at its finest. The ballpark is a place where residents of a town go to together spur on their club. Baseball is, well, baseball- a sport with a fine history.

Cleveland shockingly lost to the Yankees. The AL favorites to win it all are done. Today, my Cubs lost a potential series-clinching game against the Washington Nationals, and the Chicago club now goes back to D.C. to try and win the series as visitors in the National’s park. My Cubs may be done tomorrow. Steve is happy they had to play another against Washington tomorrow so his Dodger pitchers could get another day of rest. Baseball fans- ruthless.

I am tired. Stuff is kinda clean. Oh well. It’s about midnight, so it’s time to hang it up.