"Rainy Season" Over! (?)

(Begun Oct. 5) (Finished Oct. 10)

We are relieved the last couple weeks, because it seems like we have finally run out of "rainy season." This year it seemed like we had at least "double" the rain of a typical rainy season;  several large-scale typhoons passed north of us, but their activity drew a high amount of moisture towards us from the annual "southwest monsoon" system.  This rain respite means that we can finally move forward again with our construction project - replacing a derelict bamboo building between our houses with concrete-and-steel construction.

This posting ended up pretty heavily angled towards the construction, although I tried to lessen the number of photos on that topic.

I have quite a few "random-selection" photos from recent months, not included here; possibly I'll end up doing a "special miscellaneous edition."

I'm still pleased to be able to get out for a while most afternoons and walk the beach.  I noticed that around sundown there are often several distinct layers of different clouds, hovering above late-afternoon-shadow light, creating a dramatic effect.

This photo is indeed only 3 minutes later than the above.

The clouds moved from in front of the sun, and I changed

the direction I was pointing, plus I think I was experimenting

some with the "light adjustment" settings on the camera.

I often wonder what combination of volcanic events would

produce stones with so many fracture cracks, all filled in with

contrasting (white) lava at a later date.  There are quite

a few of these lying around.  I found one a while back

which looked like the layout for a "miniature airport"

runway and taxiway system.  Ancient tiny Alien

visitors?  Who knows - - -

We spend more time with food preparation than we did in Kentucky, partly because it's a good hobby and partly because various "ready made" items are not in our immediate area.   We've been pleased to find a regular, reasonable source for some "luxuries" like American style bacon and California pepper-jack cheese.

I make batches of Hominy-corn as needed,  because this

process improves the corn's nutritional quality, to be used 

for tortilla-making and several types of casseroles.  I had

been using a pre-Columbus method of processing with

wood-ash lye, but I got some pickling lime this time, which

makes it easier and makes the finished product a brighter

yellow.  My "hands on" time for doing a large supply is

about an hour, now.  The hominy is boiled for 30 minutes

in the lye- solution, then sits and absorbs fluid "overnight."

  It just takes a few minutes to spoon it into plastic bags and

toss it in the freezer.

I was pleased with this finished product, a pork-with-veggies

pot- pie.  The local food here is all mostly OK, but nothing

beats "down home" USA  cooking once in a while.

I think I'd shown "rambutan" here before.  A little larger than a golf-ball,

the inside is a white gelatinous flesh containing one large seed - tasting

like seedless green-grapes common in USA.  I want to try making

jelly sometime, if I ever get that far.

The same day I was looking at the rambutan photos,  this photo

of newly-born porcupines came in e-mail as part of a longer article.

The construction project was approaching the stage shown below, when the most recent BLOG was posted.  The  "process" photos below that show about 2 weeks' work for a crew of 4 guys, as the walls reached their height and the "temporary floor" and re-bar steel and forms all got put in place for the cement 2nd- floor "deck" to be poured as a unit with the bond-beams which set on top of the walls.  All of the plywood and wooden and bamboo reinforcements and posts are temporary - - they will be removed when the cement is poured and set.    This link and this one will take you to early-stages of material gathering and construction in our 2013 project;  If you navigate through 2013 entries for a few months' worth,  every-other (alternating) entry in that year or so was angled towards projects and construction.  These can give you an overview of how cement building construction happens here - - a much different process than in the USA! The articles in- between were more about the sights, customs, and occasions of this area, from a "new comer foreigner" point of view.   NEARLY EVERYTHING FROM FIVE YEARS AGO got repeated as we pulled this project together.  EXCEPTION: this is the first time I tried to get a cement slab poured 8 or 9 feet above the ground.

The last photo above shows the building with all the form-work ready for concrete pour.  I was surprised as the costs of everything mounted up and up -  we used quite a bit more re-bar steel than I had thought, and I believe it is the most significant expense of the project.

On a fine Saturday morning, we were ready to do "the big cement pour."  We had arranged with 14 workers to come and handle various tasks.

Seven cubic meters of sand-and-gravel mix had been trucked

from the local river-bed and deposited along the road beside

our fence;  this, to be carried as-needed to the mixing area.

After the S n G mix is dumped in a long mound, the cement

is sprinkled over the top of the pile, and it is systematically 

double- shoveled to ensure a consistent mix. Water from

the well hand-pump is added to a "crater" formed at

the center of the mix and all is mixed to a quite-watery

 final consistency.  I think the "thin" mix is easier

to carry and will pour without forming air-voids.

Not shown is "making buckets" from 5-gal. plastic

cans, plus some other preparatory work which

all happened at once.

So, all the cement was shoveled into buckets, and handed up

via a "bucket line" to the pour-area on the 2nd floor.  The

time-log on the above photo is correct: the "pour" which

began at 8 a.m. was actually completed a little before

12:00 noon - above being the last corner completed.

Just four hours, and a lot got done!  I estimated that

a little over four cubic meters of our S n G material

got used, and 20 sacks of cement, in about TEN

"mixings."   This would equal a smallest-size "mini

batch" delivery truck in the USA.  Cement drum-

trucks are only seen here on government and VERY

large contract projects; a portable cement mixer

might be used for a long term project, but for a one-

day job,  "ready?  mix!" with shovels is the norm.

 "The Larson Foundation" should display

from this link, and it will give another quick-view of

what cement work is like around here.

This photo, from 8 or 9 days later, shows the completed

2nd floor cement deck.  This will be allowed to continue

"curing" for another several days, sprayed with water

morning and evening, before the forms and temporary

support posts are all removed, sometime next week.

Our plan is to build low walls around the edge of the

2nd floor, and then roof a modified "A-frame" with

pop-out dormers for additional head-space at the 

height where the "A" gets too narrow, around 8- feet.

Most likely, we will try to get the cement floor into the

downstairs and do some finishing there, to make it

a usable structure.  But "other priorities" are starting

to clamor for attention, so it seems we will delay the

2nd- floor project for at least a few months.  This

sort of "building in spurts" is pretty usual here -

we've watched our neighbors do it, often.

We had several nice rainbows in late afternoons recently. This one was quite

bright so it shows pretty well in the photo.  I missed catching a complete double-arch

about a week before I made this photo.

There are several travels planned for the next few weeks: San Jose at least TWICE, and Iloilo with overnight-stays possibly 3 times before December.  Conferences, and one wedding.  "Errands" attempted around the meeting schedules.  So I don't know exactly when I'll get another posting together ;-).  

We hope that you all are doing fine, as the end of 2018 approaches, and that the several approaching festivities hold a special joy for you and your loved ones.

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines

Auspicious August

(Begun Sep. 7) (Completed Sep. 11)  (Remember our heroes!) 

I'm suspicious that "auspicious" isn't quite the right word to describe this last month or so.  But it has been a pretty fair month, and the dictionary and thesaurus seem to indicate that my usage is permissible and within range if not "deadly accurate."  

This "post card view" of rice fields, mountains, and coconut trees was outside the back door

of one of the meeting-places I attended recently.    I provided transportation for some of

the group at a day-long seminar.  Some day soon I will correct the date and time on the "new" camera, which seems to be about 12 hours behind; actually I'd prefer to turn off that

function if I can find the "menu" to do it.  This camera was "battery-dead in a drawer" for about three years, and I got to looking at it one day, and it re-charged just fine - - and has worked OK for several weeks now.

For nearly a year, we've been intending to get started on the "Bamboo Hut Replacement" project.  High-quality bamboo (not available here since the typhoon in 2013) will last for about 5 years, mostly because of insects munching, and the little structure shown below was beginning to fall apart, almost exactly "on schedule."

Above, shortly after completion in January 2013.    Right, looking up through the remnants of roof, before beginning demolition.  The posts all remain but they are paper-thin from being eaten from inside.

Just a couple hours took the little building from "looking intact" (only the roof was obviously rotten) - - - 






- - - through being stripped - - - 

- - - to nothing left but a bare spot.

Material was removed by tricycle, for "recycling;"   low-grade

construction projects and cooking fuel.

As the digging began for the replacement construction,

workers excavated this termite colony, also made with

material recycled from the bamboo hut, processed by

the ever-diligent insects into a form of papier-mache

for their condominium development.

We will use few, if any, "organic materials" in any

construction from now on.  Lumber and bamboo 

have increased in price and decreased in quality

and availability, to the point of abstraction. So

these days, we think in concrete terms - - -layered

around cement blocks and reinforcing steelwork.

"Day four" of construction saw all the foundation

of the new building in place and block-walls laid

up to waist-line.  Today, 10 days later, is "day five"

since I've absent several days and the weather

has been rainy on other days. 

As I write, the walls are nearing the ceiling level

and tomorrow seems likely to be the pouring of

the first posts and possibly part of the top-beam.

Dropping the Hammer?

(goofy projects division entry)

Our nice little hammer showed up in the workroom with its handle broken off at the neck, and quite a coating of cement-slag on it.  I don't know exactly how it happened to break, but obviously one of my workers had unrealistic expectations of it.  This is not an unusual sort of hammer, though I suspect it is quite a few decades OLD, and bears the mark of "SM    Germany" forged into one cheek.  I like it because of its balance and because it is the "just right size" for small- to- medium jobs.  It seems a little lighter than a standard 16- oz. carpenter's hammer, but I've never weighed it.  So I never thought twice about getting a handle on it, especially when the available hammers here are not "quality."

It took me a few months to find the right sort of wood, which

must be tough but not brittle.  Mahogany, for example, would 

tend to gradually splinter and crack with the repeated impact of

hammering. The piece of jackfruit wood (usually a good choice)

immediately above the original handle, turned out to have an

unseen cross-grain which fortunately BROKE just as I was

beginning to shape it. Not too much time and effort wasted.

The branch-wood near the saw blade (species "banate" or 

"bulog") was gotten by "a cousin" specifically for me, for this

project. It is very straight- and fine-grained, and tough to

work, like it had  thousands of tiny  fibers interwoven. 

The first "freehand" flat cut (previous photo) created a starting

point for me to saw other parallel sides and make a flat "blank"

slightly over- sized of the original handle's shape. 

I traced the needed outline on the quite-rough blank and

cut away excess material on all 4 sides with the saber-

saw, moving the piece in the vise and cushioning it with

an old glove as needed.

I thought that I would have a lot of work with a spoke-shaver
and hand-rasp, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the

flappy-disc in my little angle grinder, plus the 1/4 sheet palm

sander combined to do a nice job, fairly quickly. I actually had

to be quite cautious with the disc, not to cut away too much.

Still, it took several 20- and 30- minute sessions at various
times for the blank seen in the vise above to take the shape

of the original handle.

Fitting the handle into the head turned out to be quite a

struggle, trying NOT to remove too much wood and cause

too loose a fit.  I think I test-fitted it more than a dozen

times, before I got it all the way into place - - just a tiny

bit crooked but jammed too tightly to risk trying to re-set it.

Having the nailing-face slightly angled towards the user

may turn out to be an ergonomic "plus," anyway.

This "hobby project" was worthwhile since it restored

a high-quality tool which has just the right "feel" in use.

I noticed how bright and multi-hued greenery was highlighted

by being framed in the minimal-structure of our kitchen-service

area at Batonan - - so I grabbed the camera and caught  it.

Many of our meetings here are in open sided structures.

  

Our tropical, high-precipitation area surprises me

sometimes;  quite a few varieties of cactus show

up in all sorts of odd places.  

SIGNS and Labels

 Numerous handbills posted "everywhere" are quite the norm

for advertising in our area of the Philippines.  There are very

few local TV and radio stations, with quite limited range and

audience.  I like the handbills much better than I like the mobile

PA- sound system vehicles which also rove the area (more

in large congested places than in our little Tibiao, thankfully).

This finance company advert seems "too good to

be true" for limited-income pensioners.  I think, no "knight

in armor with a Millennium Falcon" is here, but more likely a

millennium shark.

 I don't find it reassuring that the margarine company and the

floor-wax company have the same name.  I THINK they are

different manufacturers - - but I'm not absolutely certain.

"Yardage" is the raw material for a tailor, so this one kind of

makes sense to me.

(RANT WARNING)
I was in fact sitting when I saw this sign.  I was waiting in a

"blessedly SHORT"  traffic delay near a bridge construction

site in Miagao, ILOILO Province. Nearly everything in signs

and in print these days seems headed towards unexplained

initializing and acronyms. As I read news and other articles  I

quite frequently have to do "google searches" etc. to define

all the alphabetic GARBAGE being spewed. Sad that

sources and writers can't simply print "the President" instead

of POTUS; the Supreme Court instead of SCOTUS; to

mention only TWO of too many  "PRINT Ciphers" I'm

constantly bombed with.
(W-T-H-? has INK gotten to be so terribly expensive?)

Too many businesses and organizations are  rabidly picking

up this crazy trend of always "speaking in code."  The above

institution, which apparently can't afford a proper and fully

comprehensible sign, is ILOILO Science and Technology 

University.  Maybe they believe that  passers-by simply can't

handle reading such BIG words. Beats me.  The purpose of
such a sign seemingly would be to IDENTIFY the place, and if

you already KNOW the acronym, then you don't need the sign. 

("off the cuff" RANTS division entry!)

 Motorcyclist cautiously setting a good egg sample.

SOMEHOW I missed posting this photo a few months ago.  Not a wildly vivid sunset

like some that I have posted, just quietly elegant.

I'm going to end up leaving out quite a lot of things this time.  I had several days of travel plus meetings in the last week of August and first week of September, and just now getting settled down to take care of things at home.  This morning (Sep. 11) the work continues on the new building, but later in the week a major storm will be passing about 300 miles  north of us, close enough that there will likely be several days of heavy rain here. 

We hope that all goes well for each of you!

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines

teejay@reagan.com