Projects Previously Projected + One That Sneaked Up

It seems to take all kinds of little projects to get a house from being just a "shell" to being somewhat "civilized" and convenient.  It's been a couple months since I wrote about making drawers and shelves in various places here, and sure enough I'm still making small-scale items out of 1/4- inch plywood.  Also, there were some refinements needed in our water-storage system; and, we had quite a few various containers of paint left- over from the initial inside paint-job and various other things we have completed.  As we have continued unpacking our shipped- boxes, there has been a con-stant need for getting the "new" items organized and available to integrate into our life here.

Several postings ago I wrote about building a water reservoir system

using food-products plastic drums atop a 16- foot high structure. The

limited services of the local water-system made this necessary.  But in
actual use, we soon found that it would be handy to know the water-

level remaining, without having to climb up the tower and look each 

time.  After running out of water a couple times, I got around to

doing something about the situation.

 I spent several sessions tinkering with a styrofoam-block for a float,

various rocks (cleaned first) for weights, pulleys, and thin rope,   The

plan was for a weighted float to operate an indicator which could be

seen easily from ground- level. After adjusting tracking, weights, and

rope- lengths several times, suddenly everything started working.  

 A string passes downward from pulley #5, 15 feet, through a hole

drilled in the "mezzanine" concrete deck, to operate this thermometer-

style gauge.  The gauge itself is a piece of blue plastic pipe which

telescopes into the next-larger size pipe (painted brown).  It has only

gotten "stuck" one time in over a month.  I have a young "artist"

planning to come and paint lettering on the gauge-board and on

the "moon-house" door. The water level is easy to "read" now.

For those interested in "how things work," this rough sketch
shows the layout of components in the water- level- gauge.

One day we re-mixed a number of small paint leftovers to get a
few pastel shades for the outside of the house.  Color-matched
paint is not available here yet, and most paint stores have limited
selection; "stock" colors often don't match the color chips.  So
we have learned to use darker stock-colors mixed with white, to
arrive at (or, close to) colors we want.  The saw-horse table out
in front took a long time to get rid of as it was the base for my
table-saw and I used it for as many debris-producing operations
as possible, to keep dust and other mess outside.

Several weeks of tinkering, and I had made an overhead-arm "arbor,"
with a box which allows the big Skil-saw to hang with its blade just-
touching a table below.  I adapted construction-scaffold into the table
which is portable enough - - -

so I only have it outside when I'm actually using it.  The acacia-tree
stump which I'm using for chain saw testing will soon go away, too.

Here's how the "front door" area on the right side of the house is
looking now.  The concrete-block pile has nowhere to go until we
do the "outside kitchen project" in a few months.  The wall of
the bamboo house, featured in early blogs, is to the right.

Just inside the door, our small sitting room has shaped up nicely.
We will be building more bookshelves soon.  The fabric curtain
opposite the shelves covers a clear-plastic-strips curtain we made,
which helps isolate this part of the house from the workshop area,
and makes keeping out dust a lot easier.

Bernadette found this table, left side of previous photo, which
sets off the area very nicely.  It is locally made.

Meantime a small-scale project takes shape on the work-table.  Flat
pieces of 1/4- inch plywood are glued like the one standing up - it
has "tabs" sticking out on both sides from smaller pieces glued on
 its back side.  This creates slots or joints (like dadoes or rabbets,
which wood-workers cut with routers or table-saws).  In a couple
minutes, three pieces similar to the "tabbed" piece will have been
glued and fastened around the edges of the side-piece with the
shoe tacks, which are already in place. This creates the basic box,
which gets flipped over immediately for the other side to be put on.

 This project was magazine boxes like libraries use to shelve collected
periodicals.  These can be bought at WalMart in the USA; I haven't
found any for sale, here.  (My awl, on the table, is made from a 5- inch
nail with a handle carved from scrap wood.  Couldn't find one, here).

Some paint improves their appearance.  The shoe-tacks used for
gluing were removed and their holes filled.We have quite a few "how-to"
 magazines, and these (total 7) will make it possible to organize them.

I've made several  "feed- trough" lights.  They use a small florescent
fixture like the ones used for counter-top lighting in kitchens.  An

inexpensive 10-watt tube will light a 4 x 6 foot area quite nicely.

Brief "side trip:" I didn't mention motorcycles in the previous "Vehicles" blog, but they are everywhere here.  I have ONLY seen one-cylinder bikes here; the largest I have seen is 155cc.  I suspect that there is an import tariff or some other law involved in this artificial-seeming limit, but I haven't found anyone to ask about it yet. 

I hadn't gotten any photo of "five-on-a-bike" previously, but it's
not unusual here. Usually they're moving and I can't get the
camera up in time.  This time I was walking, and they only
moved a few seconds later.

The project that "sneaked up:"  A rice-harvest cycle began last week, and Bernadette has had several requests for "collateral loans" on rice-fields.  It is common immediately after harvest for owners with "other fish to fry" to take loans on the fields, and use the cash elsewhere. The best of these we managed to "cover" and this gives us the use of that field until the loan is paid, and we have "first option" if the field is sold. The man who has managed this field (and others around it) has continued his agreement with us, and so we are suddenly farming on quite a larger scale than before.

It's up to us to provide seed, fertilizer, and sprays, and the harvest will be divided in shares.  This is 3- crop per-year rice land.

 Just a few days after harvest, the field is flooded and a contract-crew
begins  turning-under the stubble.  This part is about 1/4 of our field-
length, and we have three terraces, the other two a bit wider.

First section done, the machines are jumped over the terrace-dam - -

and they take off on the next section.  These terraces are 12" - 14" high.

 He leans really HARD to keep from tearing out the dam to his right.

Close up of the paddle- plus- triangular- claws which turns the

stubble under.  It looked like they were doing two "passes" over

each section of field.

 Break time and lunch meals were prepared at the house and taken

1/4 mile to the workers in a WalMart bag and a Lowe's bag.

Cold water and juice in 1.5 liter soda pop bottles, coffee water in

a Thermos . . .

Fish with vegetable stew in a plastic ice cream container, rice in

a former lard bucket.  A few things are NOT so different, here;

In KY our containers would have been margarine and probably

a 5- quart ice cream bucket.

We're real interested to see how the rice land will work out for us.

Ideally, it will become a local income stream that will  help us to accomplish some other projects.  Only time will tell if we've made a good choice.  

I keep meaning to do a posting about boats and fishing.  Fishing is a major occupation here, and many workers go back and forth between farming and fishing.  I can't say for sure what will be my next topic - we're getting closer to rice-harvest on our OWN farm now, so that's another possibility.

We will keep you posted!

Have a great weekend!

Tim and Bernadette Larson,  Philippines