Mokihana's Garden

Well, I guess it was inevitable. Nolemana was so lonely without Hinahina, and today we drove up to Vancouver to donate Hina’s cat food there. And Nolemana said he’d like to look at kitties. First we checked out one sweet girl named Bristol… a lovely calico girl. Hers was a sad story: her former owners had to give her up because their new home required, gasp!, a $1300. pet deposit! The volunteer told us that the lady just cried and cried when she left her there….

Bristol was very shy, very stressed, and though Nolemana liked her, he wanted to see more kitties. We walked outside the get acquainted room (I LOVE how they clean the rooms after each kitty goes in) and another staff person pointed us to “Roxie”, who happened to be on Nolemana’s list.

We spent quite a bit of time in another room with her. The staff person said that Roxie had been abandoned at the vet’s where she’d been boarded. She was microchipped, but after weeks and weeks of trying to contact the owners (their phone was disconnected), they gave up and gave her to the shelter, who also tried to contact the owners, also with no luck.

The good thing about it all was that Roxie had been thoroughly vetted and pronounced to be in excellent health. She gained weight at the shelter so has to lose some, but other than that she’s doing great. She’s eight years old (I love giving a middle-aged kitty a new home) and is extremely plush. She’s very friendly and didn’t try to hide, and when she jumped down onto the floor and we tapped the bench, she hopped right up again, demanding to be petted. That just did it for Nolemana, and he said he wanted her.

I’d told Nolemana that he would just know if a kitty was right for him, that he kitty would choose him, but he didn’t understand how that worked and I couldn’t really explain it. Gotta experience it , ya know? Now he got it.

So just like that, he has a new downstairs kitty . We’re definitely going to change her name (suggestions welcome)… we’ve thought of “Honey”, or “Moonshine” so far. Since it’s his kitty , it won’t be Hawaiian…. haole boy dat guy!

I think she’s going to be the perfect kitty for him. She’s already crawled up next to him as he’s working, and is very affectionate. She looks very happy to be here. Her official coloring is called Patched Mackerel Tabby. Interesting, yeah?

Last night I was given her dream name, and Nolemana likes it!

Man, this bug really wiped me out! I took photos, but I was so tired and had to drag myself to places I absolutely had to go. So here’s the recap:

May 14th: Lambs growing fast… down the road from us.

May 15:

Frankie, the welcoming committee at my vet’s office.

May 16:

I did some spinning for awhile.

May 17:

And I took photos of some of my fiber stash so I could organize it:

Today I felt well enough to venture out for awhile; I stopped by our local pond/landscape store and stopped by the koi pond out front as I’ve done before. These guys are so amazingly beautiful, and I just watched them for awhile.

The bambucha orange one is the biggest of all. His name is Spartacus!

I’ve been sick for the past several days, but decided to see if I couldn’t get my spinning fiber stash photographed and organized. It’s a lot of work hardly any work at all since I really have any fiber stashed. Kalakoa decided that she would supervise me as I worked outside where the light is better. She looked so cute that she became my photo of the day.

Oh, by the way… I have a bridge in the Mojave Desert that I’d like to sell. Wanna buy it?

Wisteria along SE 182nd Drive in Boring.

I know that Spring is really here when the Black-Headed Grosbeaks show up at my feeders. This isn’t the best photo, but you get the idea. They’re here to raise their babies, so I’m sure I’ll be getting some better pictures of them.

This awesome Chevy was following us down Sunshine Valley Road; I pulled over so Nolemana could snap a photo of it. I’m pretty sure it’s a Chevy Deluxe 1952. It was really loud, and wish I’d felt good enough to follow him for awhile and get more photos. My brother Kaniela and I love love love old cars like this. Mahalo, Papa-san, for giving us that gift!

Ummm…. somebody named Kalakoa decided to get into my yarn. I followed it to the entryway all the way from the dining room. Can you see the ball underneath the typing table? So kolohe dis pōpoki!

I love how Noelani and Keola sleep together!

I went over to take some haupia to my daughter, Leilani, who’d just had her tonsils out. She can’t have anything dairy right now, and she loves haupia, and I was delighted to make it for her.

We sat out in the back yard, and I couldn’t resist taking this photo of one of their Springer Spaniels trying to decide if he wanted to come out or not through the doggie door. Ho da kewt, yeah?

Riding down the road behind me was this Patriot Guard Rider. Luckily he kept going straight while I had to stop for a left turn light and I was able to get his photo.

This is the conference that Linda and I went to. My head is still reeling from all that we learned. C. Baxter Kruger was also there, along with several other speakers. Paul Young is the author of “The Shack”, and I feel as though I’ve walked through C.S. Lewis’ tiny wardrobe into the amazing world beyond it.

My friend Linda and I drove up to Richland today for a conference. As we drove up the Columbia River Gorge, I saw this sign on the back of a semi trailer… Linda and I wondered if it was brewed coffee or beans or what inside the trailer.

Personally, I thought it’d be helpful if there were spigots on the side so that we could fill up our coffee cups as we drove by!

And a gratuitous photo of da day: The lovely Cable Bridge between Kennewick and Pasco, which we drove over. It is an unbelievably lovely bridge!

I stopped by my friend’s house today; we’re leaving hubbies at home and taking off for a wonderful conference tomorrow. When I got there I spotted the clematis and wisteria crawling all the way up a Curly Willow tree in their back yard. More new growth in a time of sadness about Hinahina…it helps.

Here’s my photo of the day. The Gathering was pau and I got into my car. I had a lot of errands to run. Turned the key. Car started. Engine turned off. Hmmm… Strange. Turned the key again. Car started. Engine turned off. Acting like it thought I was kakaroaching my own car. Sheesh.

I took the key out of the ignition. Pressed the “open door” button which I usually do if this happens. Put the key back in. This time the car wouldn’t start at all.

Called AAA. The guy came right out… battery fine. Alternator fine. Tried a few key things. Nothing. He called the tow truck. I called Nolemana and asked him to come get me. Tow truck guy has to load my kawila onto the flatbed up a steep hill, after backing down my car from my friends’ very steep driveway.

Off they went. Off we went. We all met at Cleveland Auto Repair in Gresham. I told Arlen what was happening and he right away said he thought it was the anti-theft system.

Nolemana and I came home after doing a couple of my errands.

Kawila stayed at Cleveland Auto. Hopefully I will get her back tomorrow.

Here’s my kawila, almost ready to head off to the shop. Me, grateful for AAA.

I stay writing dis post wit plenny wai maka, cuz today we wen tell Hinahina, “Aloha ʻoe”. Was hard cuz she no like get sleepy foa long time, so we jass wen talk to her, tell her how spesho she stay, telling her mahalo foa being one shaka hoaloa foa Papa-san, foa coming to us so we could rescue her all dem years ago.

She wen have one good day today; kinda playful, eating good, purring, and feeling moa betta den yestaday. Dat wen make one good memory foa us. And foa her, I tink.

We going miss u like crazy, u sweet pōpoki… try tell ʻUkulele “aloha” from me, k? And Kukui, too.

Kʻden. Pau. Too much wai maka foa see da monitor anymoa. Here she is, looking playful today.

These lilacs were kakaroached as suckers from a place that shall not be named. Nolemana dug them up for me and they have thrived. Good to see beauty right now as they bloom on our deck.

Hinahina is still eating tuna, but that’s about it. And because of her renal failure, she can’t stay on it forever. But for now, she is still pretty alert, though she sleeps a lot. Well, who wouldn’t, at her age? She still wants cuddles and pets, and doesn’t look too bad for a sick kitty.

Tomorrow we should be getting the results of her urine culture back. Until then, we wait, and enjoy the time with our girl.

One of the ewes around the corner from us had twin lambs a couple of weeks ago, and I was lucky enough today to get a photo of them. They’re not always near the fence, but today they were.

It was good to see new life in the midst of my sadness about Hinahina.

In order to fully understand the photo of the day, and my sadness, please go here and read my 2008 post about our kitty, Hinahina.

Hinahina is now about fourteen years old, and has been Nolemana’s faithful companion in his office for all these years. About four months ago she developed the beginnings of renal failure, and she’s been doing really well on her special diet, so well in fact, that the vet said last month that she didn’t need to see Hinahina for another six months.

But last week Hinahina stopped eating, and for the past five days we have had more tests run, X-rays taken, and three more exams. Our vets, working together, think that she has developed several issues that are complicating the renal issues, including the possibility of diabetes or something worse. We’re now awaiting the results of Hina’s last culture, but things are not looking good. She’s eating a little bit of tuna, but she can’t stay on that very long, and given the circumstances, it looks like we’ve got a difficult decision to make. That will be on Monday, when the culture results come back.

Our poor girl isn’t feeling well, and one of our vets gently said, “Not all wars are meant to be fought.” He and our other vet are a wonderful team helping our pöpoki.

This is a photo of Hinahina at the vet’s. I hope that there is something that we can do medically when her test results come back… but right now… I just don’t know. The thought of going through this again so soon after losing ‘Ukulele and Kukui is really hard…..