This week I had my semiannual checkup with my regular doctor, Barbara Prazak.  I told her about Dr. O’Rourke telling me last week I need a left knee replacement. I had tried the doctors he recommended in Boston and was only able to get a preliminary appointment in February.  Dr. Prazak said she thought she could do better and indeed she go me an appointment at Beth Israel this coming Thursday.I will not pretend I am not nervous about this.  I am frightened, wary.  But I am having a lot of pain and trouble walking any distance and even more pain when I have to walk on a slope up or down or climb stairs.So everything is up in the air until Thursday.This Thursday we drove to Hartford.  We didn’t know the Sagamore Bridge was being worked on by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Traffic was backed up for two miles, a long skinny parking lot.  Fortunately I had allowed extra time, so we were only about twenty minutes late.  The reading was at the Charter Oaks Jewish Cultural Center, a place that does an enormous amount of outreach and education in its inner-city neighborhood.  The audience was very warm and we sold a lot of books.Got back very late at night.  We were both groggy all day, but we were invited out to a friend’s house to play poker. We didn’t realize what a huge spread she was putting out and made the mistake of eating supper first.  I was the winner last night.  I rarely win at poker, but I like to play.  Last night we had a sumptuous feast at other friends’ house and had a wonderful raunchy good time.  We always have fun with Dan and Paul.  Dan is an wonderful cook. The cats are all mad at us for being gone so much, but today, Sunday, we’re around all day.We finally got around to taking the screens off and putting the stormdoors up. Today Woody is replacing the screens with glass windows on the sunporch. It hasn’t been usable lately, but when the sun shines and the glass is in, it can warm up to quite a pleasant temperature.  There’s no heat there but what nature provides.Last Monday night I was meditating when a little after nine, I heard a great crash downstairs and then cats yowling in anger.  I was afraid the cats were fighting, which would be terrible. They never fight with each other.  I ran downstairs and saw that a trough of parsley I have growing on the south side of the diningroom, on the wide sill of a bank of windows, was all over the floor. The plants had fallen out and dirt was everywhere.  The big screen [the windows are very tall] was way across the room.  Mingus, the little Burmese, his huge girlfriend the rescued tabby Xena, and Abby Puck were all spread-eagled again the windows making a hideous noise.  I turned on the outside floor in time to see a large brown behind and a ringed tail disappearing under the burning bush.  A raccoon had come to steal the birdfeeder, and the three cats had actually driven him off.I’ve been working on poems, but not as well as usual. I am nervous about the impending knee appointment.