Good early morning GH. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City," and the current outdoor temperature is 12°. That's a lot better than the 1° that we had at about the same time yesterday. Indoors it is 70°. After the sun rises at 7:16 a.m today, the temperature is forecast to rise to 23°. During the ensuing week, temperatures will continue to rise, culminating in a high of 36° on Friday. We still show a 70% chance of less than one inch of snow today. I hope we are on the downside of winter, at last. Right now, I see that no new snow has fallen, and that's the view I like to see out the Weather Window.

Monday I did spend the majority of my day in my scrubs, but by day's end, Mary was so frustrated at/with her computer, that we ended up going out. That meant that I had to change into street clothes. Oh well, you don't always get what you wish for. I enjoyed being out too, but that's a story for another day.

Otherwise yesterday, I spent a bit too long working on our puzzle. I made solid progress, but by the time I got up from the chair, I was experiencing lower back spasms. They went away, but as Mary pointed out, there is a reason that she gets up from her office chair and walks about. I have to remember that and avoid future bouts of pain.

Speaking of pain, when I got up yesterday, my shoulder was aching more than usual. I took a stronger prescription pain pill and that seemed to help. I don't like to overdo those, because that leads to insomnia. I am up now because I needed to take an OTC pain pill and wait for that to kick in. I'll be able to go back to bed soon. Not exactly pain free, but with the pain at a level that I can tolerate. I have to be sure to query the doctor tomorrow, during my visit, regarding whether pain is normal at this stage of my recovery. I don't need bad news. I also plan to ask about my left shoulder because if I can ameliorate the slight pain that I feel in that joint with P/T, that would be a good thing.

Today, I plan to do some light dusting, with my left arm. I am still eating with my left hand, and I am getting pretty good at it. I don't have to do it, but I like to stay in practice. Plus, I think the added concentration on my left hand has improved my guitar technique. If that's the case, I should have done the eating with my left hand thing years ago. I will work on our puzzle some too, but I'll be sure to take some breaks in the action.

Last night, the train came by heading south at about 9:45 p.m. Twin EMD GP 38 locomotives towing a short contingent of covered hopper cars. I haven't heard a train going north, but I may have missed it. Not much else to be reported. Sunset will be at 6:36 p.m. this evening. Someone reminded us that Daylight Savings Time starts early Sunday morning. It is hard to get in the mood for that with six foot plus piles of snow outside. Spring ahead, fall back as they say.

A short sports report. The boys in blue are still thinking about next year, and this year has barely begun. The Tigers are reporting that they are in the hunt again this year, and my beloved Red Sox are also ready in the American League. Two out of three isn't bad. The Caps ballpark is coming along after the fire, and the contractors are doing fine in spite of the snow. The Caps season opens on April 8 against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.  That's six days after their parent club, the Tigers, begin their season against the Kansas City Royals.

Ciao.