Mountains and Islands

All of the Hawaii babies want to wish you a cuddly kitty Christmas and a furry, purry new year!

We had a scare with our Hoppsy last night.  She was in obvious pain, so sore she could not lie down.  She would try, move her feet an inch in that direction, then stand back up.  She even yelped when I lightly rubbed her tummy.  Not good.  This seemed to be something more than just arthritis flaring up, so I called the emergency number for the vet.  He listened to my description of her symptoms.  I had already given her some doggy pain medicine, which he said was good.  He advised adding a sedative to relax her muscles even more.  I didn't have any prescription stuff left, so I gave her the herbal ones.  It's a product called Mellow-Out by Oxyfresh and is the only herbal calmer I've used that works.  It's not as effective as Valium of course, but combined with the Metacam it did the trick for the night and got her to stop shaking and lie down.  I was worried that it was something internal.  I think the vet was confident that she was not suffering from abdominal torsi...

Today was slow at the winery.  Really slow.  Monday was slower.  In fact, while Monday was not the slowest day ever, it was the slowest recently.  So we find ourselves comparing all others to it.   "Pretty slow today," I say as we closed up shop this afternoon. "Not as slow as Monday," says Kathie.   "True dat ," I say. Yesterday, we had a couple in from Oklahoma who had no idea where they were. "Where are you two staying here on the island?" I ask. " Hokowaila ? Wokahola ?..." husband tries.  "It's way at the south end of the island." I pause to think. " Waikaloa ?" I ask. "That's it!" he says. "Um, that's the north end of the island." "OK," he says. Later, wife is ready to check out.  She has purchased a few souvenirs .   "Would you like a map?" I ask. "I'm not so good at reading maps," she says. What I surprise, I think. "It's free, "...

My neighbor John delivers my paper almost every morning.  He usually walks, but occasionally he drives his riding lawnmower.  Now that gas prices have gone down, he's driving more.  John's been known to drive the little Deere all over the neighborhood.  He suffered a stroke many years ago and walks with a metal brace on his right leg.  His right arm is out of commission and there's a decided droop to his smile.  Still, he gets around pretty well. It's nice that he brings the paper and we usually chat for a moment or two about the rain or his new fan belt or whatever.  Two days ago, he puttered up the driveway and presented me with both the Tribune-Herald and one of those enormous cans of Almond Roca .  Now, for most people, this would be a month's supply.  Maybe several months.  My grandmother could make such a large quantity last an entire year.  She savored one piece in several days, saving them to share with company.  I'm thinking this one will be empty by we...

Bye bye sweet Crawford, so loyal and brave, always keeping a watchful eye on mommy.  Bossy, cheerful, following along, no need for a leash, bringing us all home.  May heaven be filled with all the treats you could want, prairie dogs to chase, cows to round up and petties from grandpa.  He'll take you for rides in his truck.  Here on earth, my heart is broken.  I love and miss you.  You'll always be my girl.