Sunny goes for a road trip ....... new girl quits ...... buy me a soda ........ what's the LD50 of tylenol for a chicken?

In exchange for the use of Sunny during my time here I purchase two new front tires and with great confidence set off on an adventure.  Now, Sunny is naive and never much been out of the hills and farm.  When I mention to the people here we are going past Embu town there is a look of disbelief as if I was sailing to the edge of the known world.  They were partly right.  The roads around Mt. Kenya are dangerously curvy on the downhills with long, steep inclines each followed by yet another set.  Sunny uses her transmission for 90% braking and forward motion to make the hills.  Each time half way up another hill I'd promise Sunny a rest should we just make this one as her transmission is now hotter than the mid-day African sun.  Of course it was all a lie and I'd coax yet another hill out of her before arriving at the lodge.

I get back home to find the new girl has quit.  I don't quite follow the reasons for this but do notice I am short two rolls of toilet paper, 1 new bar of soap, and 2" from the bottle of juice concentrate I flavor the rain/parasite water with.  Yep, she's gone as I hear the sound of chopping wood and find Mama, who is in her 80's, out getting wood for the evening cooking and heating.  Mama works 16 hours a day except Sunday when it is only 12 hours.  Kenyans don't use their knees when lifting but rather bend at the waist when lifting heavy objects and as a result, their gluts are harder than tempered steel.  You need a running start to give injections to these people.

There is a phrase in Kenya - "buy me a soda".  This fits a rather large and growing class of people who are expecting something for nothing.  The guy who installed my new tires (which were very expensive) wanted a soda, the 12 guys looking under the hood of my car all wanted a soda, there is a guy who stands next to a hole in the road and when a car passes he tosses in a handful of dirt (with wind erosion, the hole should be filled in 2025) and asks for a soda, yesterday I was relaxing and eating when a guy comes up and says he has seen me in Meru town and will I buy him a soda.  Enough of the &$(#(%$$ soda requests.  No problem with giving the guy who washes the car, serves food, keeps an eye on the car while I'm in the store, changes a flat tire, tips but these freeloaders wanting something for nothing are annoying.  It's a younger person attitude and I don't see it in the older generations.  Maybe foreign aid has a role in creating this mentality where people get something for nothing - I'm an advocate of more foreign aid but maybe more accountability is needed.

Two choices for the chicken:  1)  Give it Ambien.  2) Give it Tylenol.  The problem is I don't know the therapeutic dose of Ambien or the LD50 dose of tylenol for a 10kg chicken.