Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

Did you ever have one of those good news-bad news kind of days? I had one yesterday. I awoke with a major-league ache in my lower yak, indicating that the steroid injection I had less than two weeks ago was losing its effectiveness well before I'd hoped it would. I had been feeling good for about eight or nine days and then wham, the pain became difficult to bear. Not totally unbearable, not totally debilitating, but enough so that my activities of daily living stopped being enjoyable.

So, I did the only thing I could do, I called the yak doctor and made an appointment to see him yesterday afternoon. I'd already resigned myself to the fact that he would not be able to wave a magic wand over me and fix the problem and sadly, I was told the facts of life. He made a referral for me to a spinal surgeon as he had no more injections to offer that would make me feel better. I was no longer going to be able to be conservative. So, I have an appointment for next Monday to see that doctor for a consultation and to probably set a date for more surgery. I guess I'll know more then.

In other news, we made a stop at the grocery store and also at our favorite watering hole after the yak doctor's appointment, then home.

The NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for our own Ottawa, County, which also includes the majority of the counties, cities, and towns along the shores of the "Big Lake" as far inland as Grand Rapids and as far south as Kalamazoo. Additional accumulations of two to four inches of additional snow are expected between now and 5:00 a.m. today. I'm hoping that my neighbor to the east will get out and do the snow removal in the shared driveway, as I can't and Mary is also limited in her ability to do a complete job. Fortunately, we have nowhere to go in a car today or for the next several days.

The sun will rise today @ 7:54 a.m. and set later today @ 6:04 p.m. In between, I have plenty of things to do in the kitchen and elsewhere in the manse as I have cookies to bake for our book club and other activities to keep me busy. Likewise for Mary, with the exception of an appointment that she has at her barber. Ciao.