It was a dark and stormy night

No wait, that's Snoopy's line, it was a dark and cold morning. It was very difficult to get up this morning because of the daylight savings/standard time change (I can never remember which we are on.) All I know is it was difficult to get up because it was dark out. I hate it when the alarm goes off and its dark out. Then it was cold because I forgot to change the clock in the programmable thermostat. Normally it goes off before the alarm clock and it is nice and comfy when we get up. But not today. It was cold. Its 21 degrees outside and the heat was turned way down overnight as it always is.

Talk about cold, yesterday on the beach was cold. Unfortunately, Walter heard the weather report on the way there. "It will feel more like January today with strong gusty winds and a high in the mid-30's. Wind chills are currently down around zero." Oh, yeah, it was NOT warm at the beach. However there was ample parking. There were six other cars there when we left. There was no line for the portapotties either. The wind was actually blowing the sand down the beach and you could see it. There was also lots of spray from the waves breaking.

We also walked down wind first, as going up wind, there really wasn't any beach to walk on. Then we had to walk back up wind - that's when it was really cold. After freezing on the beach, we decided we definitely needed hot food to recover and had a giant plate of fried seafood preceded by clam chowder and clam cakes. We aren't sure if it was worse for us or worse for the environment as the restaurant uses single use styrofoam dishes. I think in the summer they use paper products instead of styrofoam. For dinner we had salads with grilled chicken in washable ceramic dishes to compensate for the grease and the styrofoam.

Today's plan is go for a walk, once it warms up a teeny bit. This hour earlier thing means my morning walks will be colder again. I think I will walk to the bank to test the powers of my washed debit card. Then I am off to work (with a very large lunch to eat late) and then to Lahey for my MRI this evening. How inconveniently scheduled - right when I would prefer to be home watching Jeopardy.

I was thinking about it. Of all the medical tests and procedures, MRIs are probably the most boring. They take a long time, there is no sedation so you are aware, and you can't move at all. At least for other things either they are short, you can move around, there is someone there with you, you get drugs, and/or at least can talk to someone. During an MRI, you have to lie perfectly still for 45 minutes or so and listen to a really loud machine. If you don't position yourself perfectly correctly, you can start to get somewhat uncomfortable as you are not allowed to reposition yourself at all. Remember - no fidgeting! Grrr!!!

Also, that would mean, no itching healing places for the duration either. My steristrips and my crisping areas are both pretty itchy today. Grr, grr, grr.