Holidays

On a farm, one day blends into another. There are some weekly events I am involved with,, but I can miss some of them when I get involved in other things.

For example, the mobile Vet is available Friday and Sunday mornings.

Our local trash transfer station is open Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

I participate in Internet radio shows Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings at 6am to 8am each day.

Friday nights there is a pot luck at 5pm or so until after sunset. Sometimes I have nothing to take so on Thursday I head into town to get something. The easiest thing is for me to get a couple cans of chili and take that with or without rice. Sometimes, if I got into town on Friday afternoon I’ll get a Costco rotisserie chicken and take that. If I have time I’ll make spaghetti or macaroni and cheese.

The dogs seem to want to go out at 5:30am before it is really light out. At about 6am and maybe 6pm or so each day there *may* be a wild pig on the property. If I have the dogs out in the morning I have to have buzz collars on them and I walk with a piece of conduit. They dogs ran towards the pig one morning and I was able to scare it off and keep them with me, but they are not on leashes.

It seems as if when I order things by Amazon, they are set to arrive on Saturday. The PO promises to have items up and ready for pickup by 2:30pm but on Saturday they close at noon. That is not as bad as the other PO that doesn’t open on Saturday at all. So if an item comes in on Saturday, the clerk may put it in a lock box outside and put a key in my box. That’s great. However, they may also put a yellow card in the box, requiring me to go inside, which on Saturdays means the item has arrived but I have to wait until Monday to get it.

So I am constantly juggling things because of days.

This week I had to stay out of Kona because of the Ironman race. There were many thousands of extra people there and roads were blocked (and I hear not in the most efficient way for locals to get around). Still I understand the race may have brought in $30 million in revenue. That includes every hotel and resort room filled, all rental cars taken, all B&B’s taken, food, souvenirs and so on. It really is a big deal here which keeps many locals far from town on this past weekend. There were over 2,000 racers, then there are their family, friends, support people, race officials, race volunteers along the route, police and rescue people, support like bicycle repair people, vendors, people selling t-shirts and race items, the press, helicopters and boats. It really is packed with people. This year they forecast heavy rain up mountain and the possibility of flooding the day before the race. Anyway, it is grueling for the participants and the residents alike.

So in the morning I have to stop by the PO and get my lost keys, take the dog up-county to the Vet and am unsure if she will be coming back with me or staying there a while. I need to pick up fan belts for the tractor mower and get dog food and that will be based upon whether they keep O’Lena or not. I do have to drive home to take care of Koa the other Labrador staying home.

I only have frozen pizza and a few things to eat here at home, and can’t do much shopping if O’Lena is in the truck. So I’ll juggle things. I guess I could just go out food shopping afterwards. I only have a couple days of dog food left, so I do have to go soon.

So as you can see, holidays and Birthdays are not a big deal for me anymore. I spend my time doing other things.

On the 4th of July and News Years Eve I stay home. The dogs dislike the noise, so I get them in the bed room, turn on the air conditioner (it helps with their panting), put on some music and comfort them.

I am in a rural location and do not have Trick or Treaters. It is common here for kids to have places where family and kids can get-together for a Halloween costume event and party.

The dogs seem to want to go out and come in multiple timed over the evening, sometimes just to lie on the lanai/porch. That would be fine if they didn’t bark to come back in a half hour later. They bark to go out and bark to come in. Oftentimes one wants out when the other wants in. It is not unusual for me to take a nap at 8:30pm and be woken up to let a dog out only to find that it is only 10:30pm.

O’lena just barked to go out. She got fed 1/2 hour ago and had been out for hours. Koa decide he also wanted to go out so bath are out there. It is too early for their 6pm pig alert so maybe I can take a nap before cleaning out the truck. Cross your fingers.