Charmion, given the alternative, that is a good plan. I've struggled today to get a scanning facility on the phone, but calls keep dropping. My doctor wants this test done even though it isn't covered so will cost me, the first time I've come across one of these in years. Working for the state meant lower income but great retirement benefits, including they pay for your insurance (combined with Medicare that I pay). I hope your back feels better soon.

Re: your snow, I shudder to think of the sledding we did on the hill where I grew up during middle and high school years. Two blocks long and while one street was a T into that slope, at the bottom you shot into the cross street. (The very long block above those two was so steep that no one would sled on it because of the speed and because there was a jog in the street at the bottom and chances were you'd hit a wall. So we lived dangerously but didn't have a death wish.)