Mingus was scheduled for a dental procedure Friday of this week. However, we brought him into the vet last week because his eye looked bad and sore. She said it was ulcerated from some kind of injury – either something had gotten into his eye, his eye has been scratched during play with the other cats, or he had run into something. She gave us an antibiotic that we gave him four times a day. This Tuesday, she looked at his eye and said he needed an operation. The poor puss has his inner eyelid sewn open and has tubes in the sore and an Elizabethan collar on. I don’t know how this is going to work out. He may paw it off or Xena, who views him as her kitten even though he is three years older than she is, may remove any or all of it. Mingus is small and Xena is huge. Taking him to the vet is easy; taking her is a military operation. The worst thing is that we have to go to Boston today as we bought tickets to Shen Yun two months ago. They were quite expensive for us so we’re going. I’ll be worried about him. We’ll get back here as quickly as we can, although that means eating around 7:30 tonight.This week has been a weather rollercoaster. We had unseasonably warm weather all the early part of the week – actually breaking records. I was able to walk at the pier and we could get into the garden. I thinned some of the seedlings in the greenhouse, a warm and pleasant afternoon with the sun making it possible to work in a tee shirt. Yesterday very strong winds zoomed in with chilly temperatures. We lost a pine tree. Fortunately it just covered a bit of the turnaround and Woody was able to push it out of the way. But we’ll have to have Michael who does out tree work over to cut it up. it can’t stay where it is. Today it’s colder yet and tonight and tomorrow it’s supposed to be biting cold and down near the single digits at night. We may have to bring the seedlings back in the house for a day or two. Next week, it’s supposed to be milder, seasonable for March. In the meantime, the eggplants have sprouted and all the peppers. Of course, none of this batch will go out to the greenhouse until well into April. They’re in the sunny baywindow and the cats are annoyed. They view the bay window as theirs. I’m trying hard to declutter. It’s an ongoing project. Clothes I don’t wear, including socks, bras, underwea are going out. I did all that already except for the socks. Dresses, pants ongoing. Many, many books I will never read again and foreign translations of my work, especially foreign paperbacks. Art or folk objects of various sorts collected on my many trips that no longer get our attention. Jewelry I don’t wear. You get the idea. Kitchen gadgets that haven’t proved useful. Furniture not really needed any longer. I am in the process of trying to get medical marijuana for my glaucoma. It’s taking even longer than I anticipated. I know it helps because before 9/11 I used to bring it to my father when I flew to Florida and it helped his worsening glaucoma. The lavender crocuses are in full bloom. I’m afraid the arctic cold may damage the flowers. However, I’m sure the witch hazel can take it.