Being Mature

Being Mature was Originally Posted on July 9, 2009 by lavarock

A neighbors Labrador was having puppies, however it was a bitter-sweet event.

In total there were 6 puppies but two didn’t make it. One was still-born and the mother dog did all she could to get it active, and we tried in vein, but it was not breathing. The second puppy was severly underweight and could not nurse. It was kept warm and tube fed, but we believe it had an internal blockage as it was not digesting the milk.

It is events like this that remind us just how fragile life is. Perhaps the teens of today should be required to help with these deliveries because some kids tend to believe that they are indestructable. Expressions like “Hey, watch this” usually don’t end up well. I leave to others the discussions of when life begins. I just know that once delivered, it can be a real struggle.

I once was given the suggestion that I needed to learn to defend myself. When asked why, the answer was “Well, if you get into a bar fight…”. I laughed. and told the person, I don’t go to bars, thus won’t need to defend myself there. The explanation was lost on him. By choosing to not frequent bars, and certainly not bars where fights tend to break out, I have spared myself of the whole path of weapons, hospitals, fights and the time wasted learning to fight. I believe I am a bit too mature to follow his path.

To go to a bar and get into a fight is a choice. To be brought into the world is not a choice (at least not for a child or as above, a puppy). We as adults must help all we can. Sometimes it just isn’t enough.

Still, there remain 4 very cute puppies, 2 chocolate and 2 black Labs. They are now nursing and soon will start on raw meat. We expect them to be very healty from here on.

Speaking of Labs, Koa still wants to get up in the middle of the night. He wimpers as if he needs to go out. I put him on the lanai where he appears to sit or lie for hours. I need to get the kennel set up for him outside. I think he may be getting bored staying inside at night when there are all those farm noises going on outside. I don’t really want Koa running loose all night, as we have wild pigs browsing the neighborhood and a pig/dog fight is not a pretty sight.

I don’t know who started the idea that roosters crow at daybreak, because here they make noise all night long.

As for a farm update, many of the trees I planted have green cherry on them and in a short while I’ll be picking the first fruit from the coffee trees! I wait with great expectation to taste that first cup of coffee from the new trees. It will be a very expensive cup based upon what I have spent to get to this point, so I will savor each drop. I’ll also need to submit a sample to be cupped, but probably not for a year or so until the trees mature. My previous cupping was quite interesting and the results are posted somewhere on my website. The irrigation and care of the new trees will definately change the taste of the coffee. It also is a new direction for me and the farm as it too matures from mostly a macadamia nut farm to a big and productive coffee farm.