Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City", where I have finally succeeded in resetting my watch for standard time. I'm glad I don't have to do that more than twice per year. But I digress. Our current temperature is 24°, which is as low as it will get this early morning. Today the sun will rise at 7:20 a.m. and set at 5:34 p.m., due to the changing of the clocks. Tomorrow, Monday, the temperature will rise to a high of 53° and Mary and I will be on our way to GR for that MRI scan. Since I have a 1:30 p.m. appointment, we have to leave no later than 12:00 p.m. to be there by 1:00 p.m., to allow for processing time.

Sometimes Mary is way ahead of schedule. and sometimes she is rather lackadaisical about getting out the door. Yesterday was an example. She wanted to go to the cook's store in Muskegon, so she waited until 2:30 p.m. to get out the door. We arrived at the store with five minutes to spare before their closing time of 3:00 p.m. Somehow she thought that they closed at 4:00 p.m. While I am not a real stickler for time in general, my years of following a schedule in a school setting made me punctual when it comes to being someplace on time. I also had to follow a schedule when I had a business to run. So for me, there are times when I press the throttle of life to get somewhere. Monday will be one of those occasions. I like that phrase, "Press the throttle of life."

At the kitchen store, we got the spatula that Mary wanted, but they didn't have the glass covered cook pot that she desired. All they had were expensive sets. On the way back, we attempted to get the salt for the driveway, but the store didn't have it in yet. I bet that they didn't have it in in North Carolina yesterday either, but wished they had. We did get a laundry basket that is probably going back. We also got two small grocery items that were less than the dollar amount of the cans we returned, so we got money back there.

Lunch had been a delicious stir-fry that Mary assembled from vegetables, tofu, and spices she had on hand. It was wonderful. I may even start to like mushrooms as long as they are prepared the way the ones in that stir-fry were done. Kudos to Mary for that. It was the overflowing rice pot that prompted her desire for that glass-covered pot when it boiled over. Electric stoves can be very tough to tame. Stephany seems to have them mastered, but we still struggle. Too many years of gas stoves I guess.

Today is yard work in the back forty of the palatial estate. Mary reminded me that with my MRI appointment on Monday, we won't be able to use the sunny skies and warmer temperatures then. Oh well, the weather today looks like it should be fine. So many leaves, so many bags, so little time, now that the days are shorter. But the skies will be mostly sunny, or is it partly cloudy?  We also have plans to cut in that new vegetable garden and cover the outdoor furniture. Other than that, we have no plans, except to continue to share an interesting book that Mary picked up at the library yesterday, and of course, to play the girls. Ciao.