Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

Of necessity, I am going to keep this blog short. That's because I don't want to aggravate my yak any more than I have to.

Speaking of my yak, we traveled to Muskegon to meet with the yak surgeon yesterday. The news was far better than I expected, albeit that assessment is based on a personal bias. The doctor confirmed what I already knew, that my yak pain is being caused by an impingement of the nerves in my spine. It seems that another of my disks has bulged or ruptured outside its normal domain and is pressing on the nerve. That is giving me pain in my lower yak and down my leg,

However, the fix is not as difficult as I would have expected. Not that any surgery on my yak is easy, especially since I have had previous surgery in that area, but the term the doctor used for the surgery is discectomy, a trimming of one of my lumbar discs and some of the bones of my spine. I would need about six to eight weeks of recovery time during which my activities would be restricted to very light lifting and lots of walking as the area heals. However, if all goes according to plan, I should be almost as good as new once those eight weeks have elapsed. I say almost as good as new because any surgical repair is a patch job. There is light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train.

As a reminder of what I am missing, ie, snow-removal, I took some pictures yesterday of the snow that is piled around the PE (Palatial Estate) and the neighborhood. In no particular order, here they are.

In spite of Mary's best efforts, the snow is starting to overwhelm the back forty.

A telephoto view of our neighbor to the south that shows his "Menagerie" of snow-covered characters.

A longer-range view of the same

Our driveway entrance.

The porch of the manse

I just liked the shadows on the house across the street

Same here

Just a reminder, that today is the day that the pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the 2018 MLB™ season.

We have a current temperature of between 11 and 15 degrees, depending on the source consulted. The NWS has forecast that our overnight low will drop to 9°. However, later today, the high is forecast to reach 31° with no snow in that forecast. Tomorrow, the forecast calls for 38° and Thursday, the high will be 37° with showers in the afternoon. Today, the sun will rise @ 7:44 a.m. and set @ 6:13 p.m. In between, the train should be passing by both north and southbound as I read and relax. Ciao.

A personal aside. Many years ago, I was fortunate to meet Mary and I was also fortunate enough that she pushed me to be all that I can be. I am certain that I would not be where I am today without her love and guidance. She has a lot more chutzpah than she admits to or recognizes. I am far more reticent than she when it comes to new experiences and meeting new people. I guess that you could say that I am very shy by nature. At any rate, Mary, I love you.