Cold Start

St. Patrick's Day is now behind us, that means my regular time of hibernation has ended. While the calendar says spring is one day away, it doesn't feel like it.

This weekend, a model train show is being held in downtown Des Moines. Advertising said it had 150 tables for vendors along with several train displays. Dad and I considered going yesterday to give support for such events and see if we could find anything to purchase. However, it was the second night in a row of no nurse and wind chills were around -4°F. We would have enjoyed going, but decided circumstances weren't favorable and decided to stay home.

Most years, late March is starting to get warmer and it is more favorable to get outside. Today was forecast to start out around 12° with highs eventually getting into the low 40's. According to dad, the pants I normally wear when preaching are thin and not very warm. As the barefoot preacher, breeze also has easy access to go up my pant legs.

Despite getting new shirts for preaching last year, I have never warn them in public and they still don't fit correctly. Therefore, I continue to only have one shirt/tie combination that I use when preaching and it isn't very warm either. Figuring out how to stay warm, and awake, while in church is a challenge I try to avoid.

Looking at the remainder of the week, I have outings scheduled for three different days. Thankfully, the weather forecast sounds better than today, but still colder than I prefer for going outside. I have wondered if I should delay my end of hibernation longer, but don't want to miss on activities while I can. Two churches contacted me to preach today and it sounded like I was the last person contacted and they were getting desperate. Each one said they knew I tried not to go out in winter and that was why the delay. I'm hoping I'm not the last contacted due to preaching ability.

The quad life is interesting with trying to manage activities and weather. I'm thankful that this week should return to full nursing schedule and will help with having more energy to get things accomplished.