The Highs and Lows Of Life

So it has been quite a year so far.

My tractor had some real problems requiring thousands of dollars worth of repairs. When it is out of service grass and weeds grow at such a fast rate that I get overwhelmed with the effect that I usually have to pay hundreds in weed whacking costs to get the weeds removed. I have tried to keep from using Roundup but will have to on occasion now.

Over the past year or so I have been managing a neighbors farm while he and his wife transition to the island. That is overwhelming me too. There have been a few people there who have paid rent and or offset rent with work around the farm. If they pay rather than work, I have to find someone to work and pay them, thus doubling my work. What would work better is someone who does the work and stays for free. The owners are due back before the end of the year to live here permanently.

I am continuing to work on websites for neighbors and friends. I hardly charge them anything and may have to modify that in the future. In some cases I do a trade out for something, but it is not on a direct basis. In one case I run a domain for a volunteer organization which a friend is a member of. He lent me a mini refrigerator that one of the renters of the farm I am managing for that friend above is using. It all works out in a loose web of neighborly help.

I promised the lessor that I would repair the roof or take down the garage. It seems to want to come down itself. I and scheduling a time to have a couple of neighbors here to help. One neighbor suggested that I burn all the wood, but I don’t know that I want to do that. I’ll have to fix the garage canopy that got destroyed in the last storm so my tractor will be out of the weather. Maybe I’ll move it under the house instead. I don’t know. That may be a decision for another day.

I ordered a file cabinet online and was going to pick it up at the OfficeMax store in Kona. The order was cancelled the next day as they were out of stock. The manager ordered one from the Hilo store (across the island) but it missed a couple of the trucks that traverse the island. I went to the Kona store on Thursday and it was there. They also had a wooded lateral file cabinet at greatly reduced price which I also bought. I have lots of filing to do and am in the process of changing how I have filed everything. These cabinet should help me separate personal from farm from website paperwork.

I bought a couple bluetooth speakers from Amazon one each for myself and a neighbor. We are both happy with them. Then the other day I bought a bluetooth USB dongle for my computers. This will allow me to stream music to the bluetooth speak which I can carry about the house. Sometimes I want to lie in the bathtub and listen to music and my wifi for the tablet doesn’t work well in there.

I have been tired of late; I had thought mostly from life itself. It also seems that my blood pressure was somewhat low. After my heart surgery they changed my medicine and I guess for the better. I had been taking a ‘water pill’ which helps you eliminate from the kidneys. It seemed to lower my blood pressure too, however at the initial dose, I was in the restroom more than necessary. We halved that dosage over the years. My new blood pressure medicine is based upon the same chemical in pit viper venom. After the surgery I was taking 20 mg and if I bent over felt like I was going to pass out. That was changed almost instantly to 10 mg (half a pill). That was working fine but my pressure was still low. The other morning when it was time to take my daily dosage, my pressure was already low (like 100/70). The doctor suggested that I stop the water pill and see how it goes, I will admit that when my pressure is up higher, like 120 or 130, I am not as tired.

My Brother In Law passed away suddenly less than a year ago. My nieces partner died in a traffic accident in July. July was also a bad month as my Mom passed away at aged 96.

My dog Koa had a couple of lumps which are usually fatty growths common inb Labradors. I had taken him to a neighborhood Vet (a mobile Vet) and she operated to remove them. The first was easy but the second was larger and under the muscle. She had to close without removing that one because she was not prepared to go that deeply and get under he muscle without an ultrasound. I took him up to the Vet in Waimea who had seen him before and they did an ultrasound there and are pretty sure the lump is in the cavity and not attached to any organ. Because there may be mesh needed to place in there if the mass is large and attached in certain ways, I have to schedule a biopsy and operation with a Vet able to do that. The Vet in Waimea didn’t have mesh on hand and the local neighbor Vet has never used mesh. So it will be a 4rd Vet that will have to do the operation. Still, it is my buddy Koadog (as I call him) and it needs to be done. O’lena the yellow female keeps looking at me wondering why Koa gets to keep going on trips in the truck. She just has no clue!

So it is after 2am now and I will head BACK to bed. The dogs decided to go out and woke me up to let them. Just after they came in it started to pour for a few minutes.