Partridgeberry of Sleet

Yesterday I took the Sparrowhawk back to the eye doctor, who had a look at him and said everything looked just as it should be. He only has to wear the protective eye cover at night, and he is doing a pretty good job of getting the eyedrops applied. I unscrewed his glasses frame a little bit--because he can't get his eyes coordinated quite well enough to actually see the teeny tiny screwdriver--and removed the lens from one side. He's seeing quite well this way. He made a cautious trip to the grocery store to get some milk, and was successful at driving with his new eye. In two weeks they'll fix the other one. He was still a little off his game yesterday, but by evening he was doing much better.

Last night we had a mini-round of snow and freezing rain. I went out in the morning and cleaned off the car. I wouldn't say I shoveled exactly, but I scraped away the white stuff to the best of my ability. I went out in back and tried to shovel the giant mound of snow away from the back door, but I could not. It was so hard packed that a mere snow shovel made no impression. I will have to get the iron spade and use that. But at this point I was tired and decided to take a break and work on it tomorrow. In the afternoon, the sun came out, and the wind rose. But with the sun shining, the wind somehow had a hint of spring in it along with the ice. I can't wait--I am so done with this winter.

The Sparrowhawk has gone off to a men's retreat. He got a ride with Nebraska, with whom he will be rooming, and he has other friends there. He has been pretty nervous about being in unknown territory, especially after the hit that all his processes took after the surgery, but I think he'll be okay. Nebraska is a very kind friend and will keep an eye on him, and so will the other guys. I think everybody is getting cabin fever, and it will probably be fun for them to get away for a couple of days.