Property Update

As mentioned in an earlier post, we'll be cleaning up the property in Magatas to make a place for a garden. We'll eventually put the house out there, but in the mean time setting aside a portion for a garden seems like a good idea.

Before we start on the house, we'll also need to redo the fence to adjust to the new area we recently purchased.

These photos were taken this morning - Apr.07, 2016. Tomorrow, we'll start working. It'll be after next payday - maybe the weekend of the 23rd - before we purchase the fencing materials. We'll hire someone to make the cement posts; Cathy's dad says that'll be cheaper than buying ready made posts. If he can get hold of a post hole digger, it should only a day or two to redo the fence.

Of course, I'll try to keep up with the before and after photos.

Seedlings Update.

These photos of my butternut squash plants were taken this morning. As one can see, the plants are nearly ready to be transplanted into the ground. We'll be going to our property today or tomorrow to clean out a place. One can compare these photos to photos taken 2 weeks ago.

I've given up on the tomato seeds. I started the tomatoes about 10 days before the butternut squash with nary a sprout. Just a few minutes ago, I put okra seeds into the containers that contained the tomato seeds. I'm hoping to have better luck with the okra.

That's too bad. I like okra ......I'm a typical Southerner, but, I prefer tomatoes. It's a shame that I've been unable to get any of those seeds to sprouts. I do have other tomato seed varieties; I'll try those after the squash is in the ground.

Cultural Appropriation?

After San Francisco State University environmental science student Cory Goldstein was attacked by a black student for sporting dreadlocks on campus, I began to worry that, with my shaved head, I might also be accused of cultural appropriation by some overly sensitive individual.

If one does a search of images of "black men" using Google, one is more likely to come across images of men with either shaved heads or very short hair. Sporting dreadlocks appears to be more common among, so called, "non conformist" whites than among black men.

I worry about the future of the United States.

A New Favorite

I'm making my way through Volume One of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's, The Gulag Archipelago. It'll take time to finish - I'm reading other, less intense books at the same time.

Since beginning Solzhenitsyn's work, I've read a few short stories by Anton Chekhov, The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and I've nearly finished reading The Lodger by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes.

The Beasts of Tarzan is the third in Burroughs' Tarzan series. Looking at two of my past reading lists, I'm reminded that I read the first two Tarzan books in 2011 and 2012. This third one shows that Burroughs improved with experience. I've already downloaded number four in the series, The Son of Tarzan. Not sure when I'll get around to it, but it's on the list.

The Lodger  has come as a pleasant surprise. I was looking into Hitchcock movies available on Youtube and discovered his movie based on Lowndes' novel. The novel itself was inspired by the story of Jack the Ripper.

Once I've finished reading The Lodger, I'll download another of Lowndes' novels from Project Gutenberg. She has the makings of becoming my new favorite.

Sure, I Can Adapt.

I prefer having a routine. I'd like to think that I'm not compulsive concerning any routine I follow, but I enjoy the feeling of having a certain amount of control in life. Spontaneity can be OK, but chaos can drive me up the wall.

Having made this my home for nearly two years, my circadian rhythm has been set to the pattern of the rising and setting of the sun in Philippines. I'm awake every morning about 5 o'clock. Depending on the month, the sun rises in Dumaguete between 5:30 and 6:00. By 6:00, I've had coffee and I'm ready to start my day.

There's only one gym where I can workout in Sibulan . It's a kilometer from our apartment; walking there before my workout with the free weights is a nice warm up. When I first started a membership at the gym, I was told that it opened every morning at 6 o'clock. It didn't take long to find out that that is not exactly true. The gym is on the 2nd floor of a store, and while it's not necessary for either of the gym's owners to be there, the store owner has to be there. I can't get inside the store building otherwise and he won't be there that early.

I don't go to the gym every day - usually just four days a week. I have the store owner's mobile number, and I used to send a text to him just before leaving the apartment so he could be there to open the door. When that plan didn't work, we settled on my leaving the apartment at seven, which would me put at the gym about 7:20. That seemed to work better for the store owner, although he still isn't able to be on time every day. This morning he was 20 minutes late.

I don't like getting up at 5:00 and then having to wait until 8:00 to get started, so I've decided to modify my routine - again.

Rather than do the "long" walk 2 days a week and doing the "short" walk on gym days, I'm going to try and do the "long" walk six days a week. On those days, I walk four or five kilometers. Starting Monday, I'll walk my four kilometers and wait until about 9 before going to the gym. I'll wait until Monday to decide whether I'll walk the additional kilometer to the gym or drive there. The decision will depend on how tired I am after the "long" walk, as well as the outside temperature. If it's too hot out by 9:00, I'll not feel up to the additional walk.

This new routine will serve two purposes. This new walking schedule should add an extra 10 kilometers a week. (more if I also walk to the gym later). I'll also be arriving at the gym at a time when I know the doors will be open. No more standing around outside the store waiting on the owner to let me in.