Spending the Summer

Spending the summer mostly driving and waiting, it feels like.  I can't wait for my son to get his license, although sending him off that first time alone is going to be scary.... I drive him to work in the morning, come home, do a few chores, and then drive out again to get him.  I drive this very old car that will be his to drive so he can practice, but the heat is permanently on in the car.  

We've had to fix various things on it - a brake light was out, the ignition was broken (you had to hot wire it to start it), today the fourth gear went out, but it was just a fuse, the side view mirror was stuck in a position where you'd have to be under five feet tall to use it, the muffler had a hole.  My husband taped up the hole with muffler tape and over the last couple of weeks, he and our son fixed the other little things so it could pass a safety check.  I was a bit embarrassed when the inspector said, "You really are supposed to FIX the muffler, not just tape it..." I told him we really do have an appointment for it, but my son is dying to take his driver's test, and this is the car he can drive best....and he passed us.  Phew. 

My niece called when we were waiting for the vehicle inspection, and she drove down and gave me some sweet potato slips - some native Hawaiian varieties - a couple of yellow ones and a the local purple one.  There aren't any Okinawan ones, though - I like those for the leaves, mostly.  I need to get those slips in the ground tomorrow. 

Today, I buried a chicken that, I presume, a dog got.  I made sure I got in the dogs' faces with the dead hen, seems to have worked because the rest of the hens made it through the day.  I couldn't find that hen last night - I think my dogs thought since it was night and all - it must be okay.... I planted some lilikoi I had started in a pot.  I put it up against the waiawi near the pasture.  I also planted some red ti leaf that I had rooting in a bucket of water.  It was a native plant kind of day, I suppose.  

Sally has come out of the bushes to re-join the flock, so she must be feeling better.  The incision site seems to be healing well.  Little Spot is still gritting his teeth, so his injury must be a bit sore - he might need a little banamine or aspirin.  The vet says sheep need banamine IV, which I am not comfortable doing - horses can take it IM, so I guess I really do need to try the baby aspirin instead.  Poor little guy.  

My daughter is doing fine; we stopped at the doctor this morning to check her pulse, and all is well - looks like no weird cardiac syndrome for, praise God.