We use a lot of bubble wrap at the winery. Rolls and rolls of the stuff. Not only is it expensive, it's plastic. It never goes away. It lasts in the environment forever. We also hand out oodles of plastic bags every day. Plastic has become a menace the world over, but is especially troublesome here in Hawaii, where it kills all manner of animals, choking monk seals, strangling green sea turtles and poisoning endangered sea birds. It's unclear to me why the state hasn't simply banned all plastic grocery bags outright, not to mention those rings that hold six packs of soda cans together. Did they not see Dance of the Penguins? So I've taken it upon myself to convince the decision makers at the wine factory that it's time to get rid of both the bubble wrap and the plastic bags and replace them with something biodegradable and made of recycled material. My contention will be that, even if we have to pay a little more for such products, we will be able to tout our eco-friendliness in our marketing literature, making us more appealing to the ever growing legions of environmentally conscious consumers. I've just begun my research. Who knows. Maybe I'll find packaging and bags that are even cheaper. It seems nobody has checked into it one way or another. So, I will.
Poor little Crawford is beginning to drag her back leg a bit more now. On a short walk yesterday, he rubbed a spot raw on the top of her foot. So we're resting and healing while I figure out some way to protect that part of her paw. She can actually walk pretty well when we walk at a good pace. When we go too fast, she struggles. When we go too slow, she has trouble oriented her feet. She really needs the exercise so as to maintain good muscle tone in her legs. For now, we'll stick to romps in the grass. That's good too. The good news is that she's still relatively strong, feels no pain and is very happy, if a bit frustrated that her hind quarters don't quite cooperate as well as she'd like. I think the medication I'm giving her is slowing the pace of her disease.
Today was a pretty average day at the winery. We spent time re-arranging merchandise for better display and decorating modestly for the holidays. We put up these cool, small, fake Christmas trees that need no lights because they have fiber optic tips on the branches that light up. They're pretty cool. Of course, I'm easily amused.
Ron hung out with our neighbors Eddie and Sarah today; the neighbor for whom we were babysitting Snowflake. They knew the little guy was weak and struggling, so were not completely surprised that he didn't make it. Turns out Eddie knows just about everything about the flora and fauna around here. He took a tour of our property with Ron and told him what was native and what was not as well as the common names of several plants. Eddie was pretty impressed with how much we'd done to the property. He is also a retired police officer and gave Ron the scoop on the two major drug busts in the neighborhood over the the past couple of years. Eddie told us that our pond, which is very small and overgrown with tall grass, was once as large as an acre and fairly deep. The former owners raised tilapia there. Then, a few years ago, an earthquake created a crack in the bottom of the pond and drained it to it's current level. It's kept as full as it is now by a stream. When the rain stops and the stream dries up, so does the pond. Ron said he learned more from Eddie about this place in one hour than he's learned in nearly two years of living here. We do have really nice neighbors here.
A hui hou. Aloha!
Poor little Crawford is beginning to drag her back leg a bit more now. On a short walk yesterday, he rubbed a spot raw on the top of her foot. So we're resting and healing while I figure out some way to protect that part of her paw. She can actually walk pretty well when we walk at a good pace. When we go too fast, she struggles. When we go too slow, she has trouble oriented her feet. She really needs the exercise so as to maintain good muscle tone in her legs. For now, we'll stick to romps in the grass. That's good too. The good news is that she's still relatively strong, feels no pain and is very happy, if a bit frustrated that her hind quarters don't quite cooperate as well as she'd like. I think the medication I'm giving her is slowing the pace of her disease.
Today was a pretty average day at the winery. We spent time re-arranging merchandise for better display and decorating modestly for the holidays. We put up these cool, small, fake Christmas trees that need no lights because they have fiber optic tips on the branches that light up. They're pretty cool. Of course, I'm easily amused.
Ron hung out with our neighbors Eddie and Sarah today; the neighbor for whom we were babysitting Snowflake. They knew the little guy was weak and struggling, so were not completely surprised that he didn't make it. Turns out Eddie knows just about everything about the flora and fauna around here. He took a tour of our property with Ron and told him what was native and what was not as well as the common names of several plants. Eddie was pretty impressed with how much we'd done to the property. He is also a retired police officer and gave Ron the scoop on the two major drug busts in the neighborhood over the the past couple of years. Eddie told us that our pond, which is very small and overgrown with tall grass, was once as large as an acre and fairly deep. The former owners raised tilapia there. Then, a few years ago, an earthquake created a crack in the bottom of the pond and drained it to it's current level. It's kept as full as it is now by a stream. When the rain stops and the stream dries up, so does the pond. Ron said he learned more from Eddie about this place in one hour than he's learned in nearly two years of living here. We do have really nice neighbors here.
A hui hou. Aloha!
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