First Day of Spring at Mayo Clinic

Yesterday, we flew from what seemed like spring at Columbus back to winter in Minneapolis. About one hundred miles out from Minnesota, we began seeing the blanket of snow that remained from the previous Wednesday when they got about seven inches. It gets down in the lower twenties at night and up to mid-thirties in the day time so the snow is hanging around. Fortunately, we don't have to go out. If we did and had to drive, it wouldn't be a big deal because the roads are clear. We rode the shuttle to Rochester from the airport in Minneapolis. Everything as far as you could see was under a pretty thick blanket of snow. We saw maybe a dozen or more snowmobiles, some being ridden and some parked beside the road, and snowmobile trails everywhere. Even the lakes which were frozen over were under the blanket of snow which, having seen the snowmobiles, reminded me of something I heard from one of the announcers during the winter Olympics.

They were recalling an incident a few years ago where a cross country skier skied onto an ice covered lake, broke through the ice, and drowned, or something like that. I can remember thinking, "How could anyone mistake a lake for land?" Well, now I know. Looking out of the shuttle buss window on the way to Rochester, it was somewhat difficult to distinguish the snow covered lakes from the flat land, and around here, the land is fairly flat. Even though a lake is considerably flat, I can see where it might be easy to mistake one of those for land if the lighting was fairly dim. You learn something new every day.

I am finished with all the tests they wanted to do on me for the checkup. The bone marrow biopsy is the crucial test. My doctor will reveal the results of the tests to me tomorrow so stay tuned.