Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across that nation and across the world. It is just past 8:00 a.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 26° as we head for a late-week high of 40°! That won't last beyond today, as we drop back into the mid twenties for the next several days. Still, we'll take the warm up when we can. A little melting goes a long way, especially for the fur-children.

Speaking of the fur-children, they were up late last night to find that their sleep had been interrupted by Mary's call for them to go outside for a final time. As is always, and I stress always the case, they had to have their treats when they came in from the great outdoors. Here they are @ around 2:00 a.m., impatiently awaiting their reward for doing what comes naturally, so to speak.

The "Cutest Dog on the Planet", Sugar, is stage right, while Ginger is stage left in this pic taken by our staff photographer.

Mary had been up knitting and watching another in her pantheon of apocalyptic movies, while I had actually gone to bed. Now that my sling is history, I find that I can lie in bed for more extended hours. I just got up around 7:30 a.m. today.

Yesterday, I only saw one end of the train run on the RSTL, as MMRR EMD-2 locomotives 2025 and 2019 passed by heading north, towing three DBTCs, one DWTC, and three CHCs. If there was a southbound run, I didn't see or hear it.

We got some of those indoor chores done yesterday, but there are more to be done. We just had to go to the Love in Action Upscale Resale Store in Spring Lake to pick up another in the long line of needle sizes that Mary never seems to have in just the right size. I believe that her collection would rival that of many professional-grade knitters, but she never seems to have the size she needs for that next project. While the pair of needles that she purchased at the Love in Action Upscale Resale Store are not of the quality that she often buys, they are apparently satisfactory for this project.  Plus, we gave the change back as a donation to the store and its mission, which is to help peple in the Tri-Cities area.

Later today, I have another in the now increasing number of P/T appointments. I will probably have two per week for the next several weeks as my therapist and I strive to make my recovery move along. I am allowed to lift between one and two pounds and extend, with assistance, my range of motion. That amount will be determined by Ben, my therapist.

After we make that appointment, we will be off to the grocery store for a few items and a stop at the Goodwill Resale Store in GH to drop off our old mailbox. John came by yesterday to do more of those things that I can't or don't want to do, and he installed our new one in minutes.

Otherwise, we have those aforementioned indoor chores to complete and we hope to receive and assemble a replacement end-table for my art corner. I am chomping at the bit to get to work, but before I do, I wanted a table for my chalks and things along with a plastic mat to catch any dust and debris from my efforts before they got permanently into our carpet. That idea was a suggestion from Dawn, our cleaning person, and I think a good one.

So that looks like a full day in retirement for us. Indoor chores, guitar practice, P/T, grocery shopping, donations, and reading. Phew, we will be "So Busy" as my later mother-in-law, Eleanore, used to say. The sun has already risen today @ 7:44 a.m. and it will set tonight @ 6:14 p.m. under the same cloudy-skies that prevailed all day. Ciao.