| | Hello to all;
I have been very busy doing nothing! We had a week of walks in the cemetery, and never
got one 'trick or treater' at our home on Halloween. We had candy ready, but never saw a
single adult or child. But the next day the cemetery was full of folks just cleaning graves and
paying honor to the dead. We attended mass at the cemetery. Several years ago the Knights
of Columbus constructed a large cross and alter on a small spot at the cemetery. This year I
had hoped that the Knights would also construct a small trench lined with hollow block around
the perimeter of the spot used for the mass. Inside this spot was to be put a large amount of
sand. The sand would support candles that the natives lit after the mass in honor of the dead.
Perhaps next year. Perhaps? Maybe in 2008, or 2009. But, I do hope to see that lot filled
with sand before the end of my lifetime. The current method is to put the candle against something,
anything really, and to let it burn. Soon there are so many candles that the grass is on fire and most
of the grass also burns. Putting the candles in sand, as is common in many Armenian Chruchs, the
oldest established Catholic Churches in the world, is just second nature. I would like to do the
project myself, and I think that I have the parish's blessing to do it... maybe next year, maybe by
2009.
Our birds are doing well. Daughter duck has a nest somewhere, but we can not find it.
I am sure she will just show up one day with a brood of newly hatched ducklings.
Mama duck has her same nest she used to hatch out 9 ducklings out of nine eggs in
August. I remember the date as I had been in Davao and Cebu and returned to the
island on my brother's birthdayt, August 16, just to see the first of the ducklings hatch
out. As time would tell, all 9 eggs hatched. I would have had more eggs and ducks
but several locals like duck eggs and the eggs seemed to leave ever third day or so
Now the old nest is full of eggs. I just counted and she has 17. I
have heard of muscovy ducks hatching 20, but that is about the best I have heard.
She moves the eggs around as if she knew what she were doing. She seems to lay
one egg a day. Then she heads off to lead her brood about their daily activities.
We hope to get some pictures of mama duck and her current brood of nine. I managed
to get one of the males in my hands yesterday. That male did well until let him go and
he gave me a deep scratch on my small finger. I did not think much of the scratch
at the time, but now that finger is letting me know that it is there. I was offered 100
pesos a kilo for the ducks this morning. At two kilos each, I may just break even with
my food bill. The males seem to be pecking at each other, establishing a pecking order.
The females are much small but also much prettier, and with fewer peck marks. The
back yard sure looks a site when we look out and see those white ducks. The seem to
graze, and I guess in reality the ducks are just looking for a few bugs to round out there
diet. These are definitely Filipino ducks, they all seem to prefer white rice to cracked
corn or to corn grits.
There are three mama hens in the field too. One has five chicks, one is brooding 8 and
the other is brooding 9. Our chicken project has been a real success. We have a
sack of rice bran that was given back to us after we harvested out second few bags
of rice from fields we have here on the island. We have a cousin that dries the rice
for us, then mills it. He gives us back the rice, and also the bran. The turkeys and
ducks will eat the bran if mixed with enough feed. The chicken will not. Anyway,
one chicken perched on the top of that bag of brand. We discovered a few eggs
on the top of a cage. I set them on that bag of bran hoping the boys (gardeners) would
get the chicken into a laying basket. Mama added two eggs while we were trying to coax
her into the basket. We left the five eggs, she added three more and is now setting. She
should have hatched the cluch before we head off to America. We also have another
two hens sharing one basket and setting on 19 or 20 eggs, depending on which gardener
is telling the story.
The gardeners are loving the weed eater. The now go out to the field and wear sunglasses
as eye protection, and mow with the greatest of ease. We are hoping to fill in that rice field
in a year and make it into orchards and gardens, with raised beds. We now know that the
concept works. We can garden with raised beds. We will need to be more selective of
our papaya seeds in the future. The seeds from Belize and Thailand did not do so well. The
seeds of the local papaya seem to do well and bear fruit. I will be getting just local seeds from
now on. Most imported seed does not work well. I may try to find a supply house in Hawaii,
but will avoid most seeds from the USA. My advice is that the stateside seed just does not
work. Also, ants carry off the seeds before you have them well watered. The local ants come
in twelve different kinds, each competing for the treats you put out in the garden.
The peso will take a nose dive soon. We understand it will be going down to 44 to the dollar.
I guess that is up if you are a local. Sad, but it went from 56 to 49 in just a short time. We used
to figure 50 for a dollar. I, and many other expats need to rethink our spending and savings.
We have more building projects in mind and we will be needing to spend to get them done. We
will be spending about 20% more, give or take, to get the projects done in the future. I never
remember the dollar going down or the peso going up that much in value... I am sure the value
of the US $ is based on our weakened status because of the war in Iraq. I hope that war will
be over soon. I am watching the dollar against the yen and the won. Both of the Japanese and
Korean currencies seem to be stable against our money, but we will look forward to the end
of the month.
Well we are letting our garden go. We have lots of egg plant that will be bearing after we
leave the island. We have oregano that is about gone, we have basil that is about done.
We have just set out about two dozen tomatoes and they seem to be doing well. We don't
seem to be doing too well with our peppers. The birds seem to love them. The birds, as
in birds like sparrows and such, love the tender shoots of the new peppers... We are also
having a land office business as far as sweet potato tops too. We have ginger and garlic that
are doing well. We are picking more than enough beans for our table, and we are still picking
patella. I am hoping to put in some more upo before I head out to the USA. We have squash
that is in, but I will not be here to care for it, so well will start again new when I return to the
islands next year after spending the holidays in Houston.
Well, I shall leave now. I do hope to write more and look forward to comments from the
visitors.
Regards to all,
JJ
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| | Posted 11/5/2006 9:29 AM - 3 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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