Independence Day

(Begun Mon., July 9, 2018) (Completed Tue. July 10.)

American Independence Day, July 4, this year marked 5 YEARS since the day we occupied our "new house" on  this property.  We had arrived in mid-November of 2012, and found ourselves a little "space cramped" as there were at times nine occupants of our original small cement-house, which at that time also was rather primitive in some of its facilities (it seemed like "camping out").   

We quickly organized the building of this bamboo "nipa house"

on this property. Some of our very early BLOG-posts, such as

Mostly Photos  and Five Weeks, give an idea of the methods

such a shelter can be put together.  While THIS shelter eased

our problems somewhat (especially sleeping space) we pretty

obviously needed some more permanent additions to our

bathroom, kitchen, etc.  I had said that I wouldn't try to build

anything in the Philippines until I was here for a year or so,

to look at local methods, be sure of drainage patterns, etc.

Fast-forward less than 8 months after our arrival, this "yellow house" was completed to the point of being livable.  We were pleased to have OUR "independence" from the rest of the family members who were staying with us.  Above shows the freshly completed  work-room doors on the front, with their "giant quilt pattern" paintwork.  Just around the front-right corner is the actual "FRONT entrance," which leads through a small parlor into the workroom and our "mini-master" bedroom/ bathroom. A few months of staring at a plain-flat door motivated me to paint optical-illusion raised-panels on it.  It was replaced with a finely-made solid mahogany door last year.

In the five years since THAT July 4th,  we have managed to complete quite a few other projects which have gradually improved on our situation. (See various postings from 2013 thru present; navigation links are above-right in this page).   We now have 3 bathrooms and a nice roofed patio/kitchen- and-carport area, plus a solid storage-building and saw-shed working area.  For all of which, we are grateful, as we feel like we are "home" now and not on a prolonged campout.   Each year we have been blessed to celebrate Independence Day (among other annual events) with some guests and "special cooking."

 

"OLD ways" always meet "NEW ways" when our cooking situation gets complicated. 

HEAVY - duty cooking of large batches like rice and "stew" items is done with wood or charcoal in the "dirty kitchen" (the name for "patio kitchen" here).  The 220v. local current rice cooker is used for re-warming precooked items.  The 110v. USA slow-cooker is connected to the voltage regulator, and used to slow-cook a large batch of BBQ ribs.  Mean-while the inside propane-gas range is busy with several shorter-term or "oven-needed" projects.   My boiled eggs for the potato salad didn't come out "pretty" so I layered the potato mixture into a flat 8 x 8 pyrex baking dish, with chopped up eggs in a middle- and a top- layer;  which ended up looking OK and I got no complaints ;-).

The final "spread" had several items each of "USA familiar" and

Filipino-local specialties, and this year we managed 3 pies+ 

cookies, brownies, and cupcakes from Bernadette, and four

flavors of ice-cream from me.  

This was our "second sitting" of guests, a few hours after the "first

sitting" which was more numerous.  Meantime quite a few other

"passing by" guests  got served in the carport/ patio area.

The "second sitting" above were all gazing and grinning at Joseph who was cell-photoing.  As always, everyone who stepped inside removed shoes;  first one to leave gets their choice of all - but somehow they always manage to figure out whose are whose.  I keep several "table puzzles" of various types for conversation pieces, and I hadn't assembled this one in a while - - it took a while to remember the solution, so I made a photo after I was done.   One of the guests was able to assemble it after quite a while of tinkering, and I think from HER 2 or 3 of the others figured it out.

July 4, Independence Day, provided a measure of relief to the month of June, which had been rough in patches.  It was June 7 when I "posted" last month, and part of the delay had been a few days of internet ("intermittent-net") off- on- off which coincided with some change-overs and mishaps with the electricity.  ON JUNE 7, the power was off and on several times; when it eventually went OFF AGAIN very late in the afternoon, and DUSK was deepening, I took a short walk to see if I could find out what was "zappening."

Sure enough, an Antico Cooperative truck was about 100 yards

away on the main highway, its crew and support people working

hurriedly to replace a line-transformer.

My little camera tends to lighten the sky in "near-dark" situations;

This photo logged after 6:25 p.m.,  after sunset, and it was dark

enough that in a few minutes he would have needed support-

lighting to finish his task.   THIS TRANSFORMER location

seems to need a replacement quite frequently - - so the we who

live with recurring outages caused by blown equipment HOPE

that the "cooperative" will SOON decide to divide the

load by hanging at least one more transformer.  

Well, there were also several "goofy projects" to occupy odd moments during June.  This may became a fairly regular category in these postings for a while, as it seems I quite often  find myself making things which could be bought, or modifying things which might not needed, if it were happening in the USA.

"Hands-on usage" made it clear to us that there was nowhere to put

"things needed for operations" in the new bathroom.  Here, I have

made a slightly-undersized shelf from plywood and attached it

to the tiled wall.  The clamps are holding a matched piece of the

tile, which is being glued onto the sub-shelf., to make a matching

surface.  A little paint on the edges will make everything blend

in.  We won't have to  to set toothbrushes and other grooming

items on top of the toilet tank (behind-and-left from the sink).

I'm starting to look for a ready-made soap dish - SMALL - 

to stick on the wall just above the sink.

 Our microphone set is packed and moved after each use; its original box was getting pretty worn, so a few one-to-two hour sessions, scattered over a couple weeks, went  to making something like a wooden "silverware box" out of plywood scraps.  I couldn't find any type of latch for it, so I ended up adapting a nylon "bayonet latch" from an old luggage strap.

This plywood-box laminating method has proven handy for a number of small projects.  Here are a medicine-cabinet, and some magazine shelf-boxes which I made several years ago.  (Imagine - - "little stuff" that you could probably get at Wal-Mart, gets handmade here.)

                                                                       This item got a mirror hinged onto the front.

I ended up making 10 or 12 of these.

I really could use a couple other "plywood box" items: an attache-case for carrying books and sheet-music around (none here; in USA I see them for about $20 on Craig's List), and a "household files" box which could hold a couple-dozen hanging file-folders.  (Penda-flex type folders not here, either, NOR any small file boxes).  I got some folders from Wal Mart USA in our annual "care package box" last year, but I will have to either build one or get-again from Wal Mart some other year, if I want to have a small file box.   I'm considering if I want those items enough to invest effort and "hobby time" into making them, using the same general method I used for the Microphone box.

We're about to re-activate our rice-field, too. For several months none of the fields has been planted.  This was during the "dry season" and there was consensus among various parties to leave the fields fallow, as the irrigation channels and the terrace-dams were needing a lot of periodic maintenance.  These are usually three-crop-per-year fields, and any long period of inactivity is pretty uncommon.

 Part of the "deal" with most farm-labor days is that the workers

get feed lunch and break-times.  This particular day I hauled

the breakfast meal with the Suzuki, mostly to see what things

are looking like.  I always like the surroundings, there.

 

A few days earlier, this terrace was plowed by a Carabao
(water buffalo) dragging an old-fashioned single-blade plow

This leaves large clods and furrows, which must be broken up.

These workers are using walk-behind tractors (common here)

to break up soil 

A few 2-wheel tractors are used in the USA, but they are much

more common here.  I say it looks like "a roto-tiller on steroids"

just an oversized and awkward "handful" of a device.  Glad I

don't have to try wrestling with one of those in knee-deep mud.

I'm hearing (a day later) that the work-over with the tractors is not

enough yet, and a carabao pulling a "harrow" of heavy-sharp

metal teeth will finish breaking up the soil into silt.

A nearby field is a few weeks ahead of our progress.  Here,

the workers are pulling up and re-planting 1-month seedling

plants, which are sown too densely to reach full growth.  This

method gets the rice a "strong start" and then re- spaces

the plants for maximum yield.  We no longer do this; our

direct-seeding may be not quite as productive, but the little

(questionable) gain in final quantity was being "eaten up"

by the labor cost and headaches of re-planting.  THESE

WORKERS "got a break" as the overcast morning around

9 a.m. had held the temperature down for a while. Field

work in hot sunlight gets mighty uncomfortable.

In the last couple years, major electrical lines have been placed

through many of these fields, parallel to the "old" main-lines

along the National Highway a couple hundred yards west.  The

gradual re-stringing of all the electricity supply is one reason

we have had frequent "maintenance" shutdowns. 

I ALSO SUSPECT

that where the present main-highway CANNOT be widened

to 4-lane in its present route, it will be routed through these

fields - - -   nothing is being said about that yet, but it looks

to ME like it would be a choice between using land in open

fields (which a lot of people will not like) OR tearing out long-

established neighborhoods, (which will be "liked" even less).

THE COST OF THIS PROPERTY, converted to acres/ dollars,

is actually QUITE HIGH compared to the cost of farmland in the

USA; ridiculously HIGH considering the Philippines economy. 

 I had parked the car to make a few photos on foot, and when

I got back I noticed the one scraggly little tree in a long

distance, had been used for a water-jug support.  I ALSO

noticed the "composition" of the scene  which turned out pretty
good I think (left-overs from 7th grade "art appreciation?").

  Even the right-side mirror cooperated.  Serendipity.  

(Other "dipities" preferred, here; like

chocolate, for example - - - )

With our rice fields ready to plant now, we still WILL NOT plant for several days as the Typhoon Maria, passing 1,000 miles north of us, is still intensifying our rainfall and causing the sea to be too rough for fishing.   IF WE PLANT RICE and it doesn't have some time to root and begin growing before a major deluge, all of the seed will be washed out of the fields - an expensive loss and a setback of a few weeks' time. THIS morning, we have had furious

downpours for 20 or 30 minutes, followed by periods of calm-clear-sunny for an hour or so.

 This substantial house has been built in the last 2- 3 years

near the west side of the rice-fields area; a much humbler

place stood here next to the wood-cutter's large work-shed

area (his house). Business has apparently been good.

 The downstairs has a hardware and supply store.

The saw-shed area has several pieces of equipment, which

are sophisticated enough to manufacture doors and cabinets,

and to do quite-large wood turnings.  Lately I have seen some 

work there which looks to me like hand-made "pulley blocks"

turned from hardwood, for rigging sails on a ship.   Or, maybe

for some other similar heavy-rope use.  This obsolete-looking

project is interesting to me, but I don't have enough of the

language to ask what it IS.  (AND, none-of-my-business ;-).)

LINK> A "doorable - - -"   from last September, features our errand

to this business to have Ricky rip a 2-inch slab into 1- inch

panels - - an AMAZING FEAT to look back at if you happened

to miss it before.  A couple of those photos show a stack

of "round-blanks," so he may have been "pulley-making" for

quite a while.  

Recently I see a large metal-working lathe and some other

machine-shop equipment added.  NOTED, as one or two of

my long-way-off projects may need some fabrication work.

The month of June held one particular disappointment for us, as I spent quite a lot of time and effort trying to apply for a USA tourist- visa for Bernadette.  Several weeks of various efforts, including a 3-day trip for Bernadette to the US Embassy in Manila, and we are at a standstill.  I can't figure out how to get the on-line application form to it's last section, "Sign and submit electronically."  It may take some time to find someone here who has experience, to help us jump thru all the hoops.  We had thought we might try to visit the USA in October, but the timing is getting too close - - we MUST have a visa-in-hand for her, before we can begin to plan and book flights, etc.  We may try to visit in late-April/ early-May 2019, if we can get things lined up in the meantime.  

And things just keep moving along, here - sometimes hectic, sometimes humdrum, sometimes a little boring.  ACTUAL PROGRESS on things-that-seem-to-matter is usually pretty SLOW.   IF the weather looks OK by tomorrow, I'll try to do the "monthly errands" in San Jose, about 1 hr. 40 min. from here.  Drive-time both ways plus a reasonable number of errands will pretty well burn up the day.  Getting "ahead a little" on the USA visa project, or on a couple other "stuck items," will make it seem worthwhile.

We hope you had a fine mid-week holiday,  and that your year-2018 is proving to be mostly agreeable!   Have a great day.

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines

Generic Title

(Begun Monday morning, June 4, 2018) (Finished Thursday afternoon)


Sometimes I get hung- up starting a blog-post and let something as simple as "not having a title" stop me from beginning.  This posting was kind of like that - - but at the same time this past month (May) which had a few "dull, nothing much happening" spaces suddenly got extra- busy right near the end.  And, nothing very photogenic seems to have happened this time.  And, I am still having computer battles,  so my files are scattered among two computers and three external drives, and THIS computer won't read the external drives.

Well, I will try to get focused and set up at least a few photos.  May has kept its reputation as being "the hottest month of the year" here.  I don't think it EVER got down to 80 F. overnight, and most days were low- to- mid- 90s F. which doesn't sound too awful until you factor in the HUMIDITY here - - so we used a lot more air-conditioning than usual.  My check of the electric meter at halfway- through a reading cycle shows that we are running fully 40% above our average usage.

Sooo -  Monday morning, June 4 - - -

 At 6:30 a.m. we begin to have fairly steady foot- traffic on the street;

it is the First Day of School.  School- year here generally runs from 

first week of June until end-of March.  Our ferocious guard- canine (ha!)

Russell is pleased to see our gate open for a few minutes and joins

the meandering throng.

 Malabor Elementary School is at the east end of our roadway,

about 50 yards beyond our gate.  This view through the school 

gate shows quite a large gathering already - - shadows reveal

that it is less than 1 hour after sunrise.

 Neighbors immediately outside the school gate have made a

segment of their wall into a small vending operation, and 

several others along the street also provide goods to the

pedestrians.  We often vend "Ice Candy", but Bernadette

has often noted that the income is hardly worth the hassle of

constantly having to run to the gate for 4-cent (USA equiv.)

 sales, so maybe NOT, this year.

Even with the school yard already looking pretty full,  they kept

on coming for about another half- hour.  The flag ceremony

actually started a little ahead of usual time,  around 7:20 a.m.

UPDATES 

Bernadette turned 58 a couple weeks ago, and Thea turned 29

a few days later, and Timmie turned 4 on June 2.

This is Thea, Timmie, and Joseph at one of the birthday parties.

Those who remember Thea from about 15 years ago probably

wouldn't recognize her now without an introduction.

We're pleased that Thea passed the National Education Dept.
teachers examination, so she is now qualified to teach High
School and College levels.  This examination had about 76,000
"takers" but only about 23,000 passed, some of them on second
and third attempts.  She has some fairly good prospects
at schools where her classmates and some former teachers
are currently teaching, so if not later this school year, maybe
NEXT school year she will change careers.

Commercially baked cakes are readily available here, now, but without exception they all come from "sponge-cake-mix" which produces a dry, flavorless cake. Timmie can hardly be separated from his dad's cell-phone games, even during his birthday party :-(

 The National Highway 4-lane program is moving along much

more quickly than I would usually expect here.  This nearly

2-mile section is through relatively "easy" territory.  Shown a

couple times before, the utility poles were not moved before

the new lane was finished; but someone found some yellow

and black paint to make them more visible.  As we travel

we see many extensive sections being finished.   HOWEVER,

UNfinished sections often consist of 2-lane bridges; this section
of the new road is followed by a 2-lane 500-yard-long bridge, 
which won't be doubled to 4-lane for many years, I think.  Other

areas, where private properties (in towns, etc.) are already at
the edge of the existing 2-lane highway. may require by-pass

sections,  as going through open fields seems  more likely than

taking out neighborhoods.

 I don't understand why they are replacing the Kilometer-posts.

I observe this happening here in Antique Province where the

posts are generally in fine condition;  other places in nearby

provinces, the posts are deteriorated to the point of being

useless/ unreadable.  

The amount spent (guesstimated) on this optional project could

maybe be enough, for example, to FINALLY pave the approaches

to the Tibiao River Bridge. This huge project has been "finished

for two years" after four-years-building, but is not in traffic-use

for lack of  50-yards of cement roadway at each end.

(Locals use it to spread and sun-dry rice after harvest.)

(I can't access my older photo files, or I'd give you a picture;

however, I DID post this  about a year ago.) 

The completed water-storage at our conference center got

into service for the last encampment of the season.  Enough

community-piped water was available in 5 overnights to get

it about 2/3 filled, 1,200 gallons, only enough to "cushion"

the usage rate of 80 people for 5 days.  The local fire dept.

brought out an additional 8 drums of water on day 4.  The

small pipes at height-intervals are to be capped and used

as indicators (remove each cap to determine if the water

inside is at that level).  If I can find some clear tubing or

pipe, I will make a vertical "sight glass" indicator.

"Goofy

Projects

contest

entry"

Meanwhile, "water" we doing with our home projects?  The shower hasn't been finished in the renovated blue-bathroom yet.  The "good water" which comes in our community water pipes doesn't have enough pressure to reach a showerhead, so we added an extra faucet to our "good water" storage system, so that we can fill a 30-gallon plastic tank via 35- feet of pipe.  The tank is about 1- foot higher than the shower-head inside, so it can gravity-feed. "Things taken for granted in the USA Department:"  the shiny bezel-plate which surrounds the shower-hose at the wall seems NOT to be available anywhere here.  I happened to have this one in some "stuff" from Kentucky.

 Bernadette's brother Alex has worked many or OUR projects,

and is quite in demand for other projects as he is handy in all

building trades and cabinet-making.  In-between other peoples'

jobs, he was able to squeeze in building a fishing boat for himself

in the late part of April.  Seems like it was first week of May that

we went to San Jose and found a first-quality 12hp diesel motor

at a good price, plus other marine-specific hardware which

several places there have in stock.  The boat has been finished

for several weeks now, but I haven't got a good photo of it since

this.   This link  goes to a 2013 posting which gives some details

about boat-building methods, here, beginning photo 5 or so.

Third week of May, we found a "good time" in the rice-cycle

(harvest time vs. higher-demand time between harvests), so 

we sold 10 sacks of rice which we had been holding in

our store-room.   The tricycle is stuffed full of these sacks,

a total of about 800 pounds.  Our income was more than

30%  above the price offered around harvest time.  This

made the difference between taking a loss (production

costs higher than sale) and having a modest gain. It

 hit just when a little extra cash was pretty handy, too. The

"cousin" who owns the tricycle gets a little commission

from the co-op for "brokering" the transaction, without

affecting our price, and THAT's why I don't haul it myself

with the Suzuki multicab!  

Diverse Diversions

The youth-camp group of of May 21-25 was the first group served by the new water reservoir tank at Batonan.  Mark Moses is quite animated and amusing in many of his presentations; he had the third of three one-hour-long program spaces, all 3 before lunch the same morning - and did a fine job of holding audience attention while getting his points across.  Always cheerful, the kitchen crew volunteers work with wood-fire and make-do facilities to prepare 3 meals and 2 "break-times" each day.  All part of normal, for them.

 

At home, one of my gradually-developing skills is working with "immature coconut" which is much softer when grated than "mature coconut" seen in the USA, and requires drying and/or  toasting in order to provide flavor and texture.  I'm learning how to pan-toast without it burning or sticking.   THIS batch went into some coconut-flavor home-made ice cream, part of a recipe I'm working on which can be frozen without "mixing" in an ice-cream maker.  It came out pretty good - - -    ;-)  Its chocolate counterpart worked out OK, too.

 This sign was prominently displayed in a nearby hospital where we

had gone for an examination.  One mother sat about 5 feet away,

bottle-feeding an 18-month-old child.

I admire fine workmanship, and these benches of hand-crafted

solid mahogany were lined along most of the corridors.  Many

places have benches made from cheap plywood and 2 x 2s.

For recent readers:  I haven't put up a photo of a "sari-sari"

store lately.  Sari-sari seems to mean "this and that," and within

3 minutes walk from me there are at least a couple-dozen

small stores, mixed between houses and larger businesses.

Often their stock consists of only 20 or 30 most-often-needed

household items and groceries, and maybe a few school

supplies and candy.  Sometimes there is only a bamboo 

 4 x 8 foot booth.   This long-established store is cement-

structure and has a refrigerator with chilled beverages.

Purchases are handed through a grill- window.

My "love of signs" strikes again!  "Solid" motorcycles - - -

 (what other kinds are there?) "Ultimate" financing - - - sounds

really FINAL to me,  wonder what that means?  ("Lay-

away plan" for your memorial service?)  

A DIFFERENT SIGN:

I really like my general category "Things You Would Never See in the USA," as it represents one of the main reasons for the BLOG - a look at life in the Philippines through the eyes of a foreigner.  Right now I'm still trying to decide about one of my photos, which is of a LARGE, PROMINENT "Services Offered" business sign I saw on the front of a store.  I previewed it to a few people and got about the same number of "OK" and "NO, a little too explicit" votes.  Hmmmm - - - 

(My limited sense of "seemliness" and "decorum"

won the day, this time.  The sign in my photo was

4 x 6 feet, advertising "PIG BREEDING SERVICE"

(artificial and natural) and "PIGLETS FOR SALE."

Large photos illustrated all of the offered services(!).

 I DON'T THINK you would see such a sign in the

USA, even in "Hooterville," although much less

"seemly" signs are oft-seen in the USA now - - -)

You'll have to envision that sign for yourself!  But I can end with this photo which I took a few evenings ago - our sunsets being around 6:20 p.m. recently:

Sunset - with a few fishermen getting ready to go out.  

We hope things are going well for all or you.   I'm hoping to get the last of the computer problems solved this next month - - time will tell!  Thanks for "tuning in" and be sure to drop by if you're ever in the neighborhood - -

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines