Election Day in the Philippines was May 9. About 5:30 a.m.
I took this photo, which is looking to the left (east) as exiting
our front gate, towards the elementary school, which was
the local polling place. The school year here ends in late
our front gate, towards the elementary school, which was
the local polling place. The school year here ends in late
March - early April, so the school building is mostly unused
until the new school year begins around the first week of June.
I liked the effect of the Acacia tree silhouette in the above
photo, so I moved closer to get it a bit larger. This tree was
probably damaged by the typhoon of November, 2013. But
the neighbors keep it pretty severely trimmed because of
the danger of heavy limbs being brought down by wind.
"Flash back" photo of November 9, 2013 shows what that end
of the street looked like the morning after typhoon Yolanda.
For several months before the election, every available space
seemed to be covered with campaign posters. This photo is
pretty tame - but I somehow "misplaced" the photos of walls
and utility poles heavily covered with seemingly hundreds of
such signs. The election was at ALL LEVELS from President
"down to" neighborhood council members.
seemed to be covered with campaign posters. This photo is
pretty tame - but I somehow "misplaced" the photos of walls
and utility poles heavily covered with seemingly hundreds of
such signs. The election was at ALL LEVELS from President
"down to" neighborhood council members.
Also seemingly numbering in the hundreds, mobile sound-
system vehicles prowled all of the roadways for a couple
months, intent upon destroying everything in sight with
sonic warfare. This truck was just being completed with
its complement of equipment, not yet festooned with all
the posters and banners.
There seem to be no restrictions on sound- volume levels here. The drivers and other crew members would ride with multiple layers of padding and ear protectors. These trucks, passing 50 yards away from our house along the main highway, could easily shake our reinforced- cement walls. They were an absolute menace whenever we were out doing any errands. We were relieved when the election rules required them to cease two days before the election. Ironically, the "thank you" from the winners to the population was all-day the following Saturday - trucks running to broadcast their gratitude.
You never know what you'll see being carried on a motorcycle.
We passed this guy one morning en route to San Jose, and then
we slowed down to let him pass us, so we could get along-side
him and get a couple photos. He started laughing when he saw
that we were making a special effort to get the pictures.
He will probably be OK as long as he avoids any low-clearance
obstacles.
The same day, I finally took time to stop and get this photo of
a barber shop sign I had been noticing for a couple months.
Would YOU be imagining an unusual experience, if you were
about to sit down in his chair for a haircut? (I wonder if he
signs his work? And, what does he use to cut with?)
Later in the afternoon, we overtook and passed this truck load
of iced- fish in styrofoam coolers - and it overtook and passed
us again, several times. (His acceleration and hill-climbing were
slower than mine so we played "tag" for a while.) The passenger
perched precariously on top must have been having quite
some thrills, as the road is pretty curvy, and the driver was
operating around 60 m.p.h. any time he could do so. Here, it
often happens that I will come around a curve and find the road
completely blocked by vehicles, pedestrians, caribao (oxen), etc.
- which fortunately didn't happen to this guy, at least while we
were nearby. Driver "not showing good judgment.".
I will probably do a short "gallery" of motorcycle photos on
this blog at some time. It surprises me how many types
and styles of "little bikes" I see here. In about the last year
there is a "fad" of making what I call "skeleton bikes," which
are stripped and creatively customized. This one still has a
factory-looking gas tank, but often the tank is replaced by
a minimal custom-shaped tank, which makes it seem to
disappear into the visual- lines of the bike frame. This one
caught my eye one afternoon, as being very "clean and neat."
Our poultry yard is a separated lot about 35 feet behind our
house- yard. (The land in-between is vacant but not available.)
We have several varieties of chickens, at least 2 types of
ducks, and 2 geese remaining from a family of 6.
We usually have a good supply of eggs, various types, unless
it is "setting season." Right now we seem to have several
sets of new chicks, so not too many chicken eggs. (I think
these were probably gathered and placed in the nest-basket,
to encourage one of our setting hens to hatch them.)
Six ducks hatched about a month ago, and we have 4 or 5 young-
mature ducks ("keepers"), plus about nine which are grown-
adolescent (they will not be with us much longer.). We have
problems with really LARGE rats killing the young poultry -
(I omit some "too gross-looking" photos; one of which shows
a rat alongside a 1.5 liter Coke bottle, nearly equal in size).
Our cats, and occasionally the dogs, have been fairly successful
with hunting these, so the number of them is much less than
a few months ago.
Our only named-hen is "Peggy." A young-age injury caused her to lose
one foot; at nearly two years old, she hops around all over the place,
hardly any slower than the other hens.
We put some "worthless" thresher- reject rice in a worn- out
sack, intending to feed it to the chickens. They fed it to them-
selves, happily plucking out of a hole in the sack. Who needs
fancy self-feeder equipment?
We have some success with "test crops" of various veggies
here. This is a "Roma type" tomato plant about the 9th of
March. Various types of problems such as insects, soil (?)
type and condition, climate, and our own busyness with
other projects have kept us from serious food- production
here, so far.
The property where our church meets on Sundays is
a gradually- developing conference center, where day
meetings and camps happen pretty regularly.
A friend took this photo of me on the first day of a youth
camp, when I passed by for an hour or so to see how
things were going. It's amazing how much we take "for
granted" of facilities in the USA.
I had gone up to do some painting , about ONE WEEK before
a scheduled youth- camp. This re-bar frame outside the new
"kitchen" from sometime after the typhoon, was just
beginning to take shape that day.
A week later the cement has been formed and poured around
that re-bar, creating a nice counter- and- sink wash area. Before
this, the dish and kettle cleanup was done in large basins,
squatting on the ground, sometimes with water only available
by hand-carried bucketfuls.
I don't look outside the meeting-space from where I play
the Yamaha Keyboard very often. I was a little surprised
one morning to notice that some nondescript seeming plants
nearby are actually pineapple plants. The pink color on the
fruit and nearby leaves is natural to the plant. These seem
to be a month or so from being ready to harvest. I'm told
that the growth- to- fruit cycle for pineapple can be 18 months.
This plant is outside the right, of the meeting space below.
The camp was well-attended, with 80 expected but 105
actually attending, and about a dozen staff members.
Dorm- space was augmented by the tents, prompting me to
joke that they were following Abraham's example.
You might be in Antique Province, Philippines if you just can't find certain kinds of things for sale. I end up improvising stuff all the time, if I can only imagine my way to a solution.
I couldn't find a plastic file-folder box, having looked around for
a few months. They may be here, just NOT where I was looking.
I finally ended up cutting the top off a 5-gallon "jerry can," to
use the bottom of it for the file-folder box.
I tried to find some aimable single-bulb light fixtures for the patio
area, like ones used outside commercial buildings as night time
lighting. This pricey multi-light LED system was more expensive
and less adaptable than what I was looking for, but it was the only
thing even close to what I wanted.
I ended up buying some inexpensive stainless steel mixing
bowls, and using 1/2- inch plastic pipe fittings and standard
light bulb bases to make the lamps. They were lemon yellow
enameled, so we painted the fittings to match.
;
The completed light system can be switched to selectively light
areas of the patio, and with LED light bulbs the whole place
can be lit like a baseball stadium with a total of 33 watts.
Each fixture cost about $4; total system less than $40.
Our bamboo "multi purpose" room needed re-roofing at about
3.5 years old. Nipa palm leaves are long and narrow, and they
are ideal for roofing when doubled and tied around a slat.
Two bundles of replacements, (100 pieces), cost us about $20.
Traditional attachment would probably be to tie them with
vines, but flat plastic-twine is easy and durable. The slats
are tied close together with a "running-loop stitch," the
leaves overlapping just like shingles.
The finished roof is good for another few years, by which
time the entire building will probably need to be re-done.
It "feels like" I went a bit long with this posting, but I still left some things out. Guess I'll have to try to work them in next time.
I've been plagued with internet-service "OFF" plus some trouble with the computers for about 3 weeks now. Seems like we will be replacing one laptop next week. Hoping that it will all settle down and start working again, soon!
We hope that all of you are having a fine time, enjoying the beginning of your summer. Wishing you all the best as year 2016 continues!
Tim and Bernadette Larson
Antique Province, Philippines (Antique is Hispanic pronunciation, Ann-tee-kay.)
