The Empty Pen

I mentioned in an earlier post that there would be a change in our plans regarding the piglets and one of the adult pigs. The sow we called Olivia had had some sort of miscarriage. She would not be delivering piglets after all.

We don't really understand exactly what happened, but it's likely that the sow had miscarried and her body absorbed the embryos. This was also the sow that did not get pregnant on the first attempt at breeding. We've decided to cut our loses and sell her for slaughter.

Not knowing just how many she might have had if she had carried to term,it's difficult to say exactly how much money the miscarriage has cost us, but at approximately 7,000 pesos per saleable pig, it's quite a bit. (that number comes from the selling of a 70 kilo pig @ 100 per kilo).

The top photo shows Olivia's empty pen. She was sold a few days ago, and unfortunately we were unable to get more than 95 peso per kilo. Normally, the buyers want a 70 kilo pig and this one weighed more than 100 kilos. None of the buyers could budget for such a large sow.

The second photo is of Olivia's sister, Peppa - the mother of the piglets. The plan now is to sell two of the piglets when they've reached about 70 kilos. One of the remaining piglets will be raised for breeding, while the fourth piglet will be fed until November, when it will be slaughtered for my wife's birthday.

Bringing in the Water

It has become increasingly difficult toting water from the spring to the piggery. In addition to providing water for the pigs, we'll need water for cement once we start back working on the house. We've decided to make the situation easier by bringing water to the property.

We actually had two options. There is an underground stream running beneath our property. We also had the option of running the municipal water to our property from the main road in Magatas. My wife's papa has a pump which was retrieved from a previous dwelling. With the pump, we'd only have to drill down and run pipe to the water. My wife was against the idea of the pump. I think she was afraid we'd still be pumping water by hand when we finally move into the house.

I felt that we should do which ever option was the least expensive. After getting estimates on the drilling, as well as the cost of having a line run from the road, it turned out that drilling, and then connecting the pump was far and away more costly than installing the water line from the road.

We bought the materials needed for that project this morning. The line will be about 25 meters (82 feet) in length. The two photos show a portion of the line dug along side our property.

Fallen Tree Across the Highway in Sibulan

Taking my son to school this morning, we were met by a large number of tractor trailer trucks coming down St. Anthony Street. We immediately wondered what was going on. There are never those types of vehicles coming down our road. As we got closer to the highway, we saw Ceres buses and automobiles following behind the trucks. We had our answer when we reached the highway.

During last night's heavy rain, a tree had fallen across the highway at the intersection of the highway and San Jose street across from the Gasmate LPC company building.

Being a local, I was able to get where I needed to go via a few side streets.

After dropping off my son at his school, I took a different route home. Upon arriving at the apartment, I donned my walking shoes and headed back to the Poblacion area for a few photos.

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today, August 15, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a holy day of obligation for Catholics.

In celebration of Mary's Assumption, the students of St. Paul's University of Dumaguete, held a procession from the school to the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Dumaguete city - a distance of about 1 3/4 miles.

The students gathered at the school at 4:30 this morning. The plan was for the students to attend Mass at the cathedral after the procession. Classes would not commence until after 8:30 (normally starting at 7:00 AM) and I was to pick up my son after Mass and bring him home for breakfast before taking him back to the school. I had not idea when Mass was scheduled to begin or end, so rather than return home after dropping him at the school at 4:30, I drove to the cathedral, parked the car and waited for the students. I needed to fulfill the obligation as well, so I'd attend the Mass with the students.

I arrived at the Cathedral around 4:40 AM, thinking I'd sit quietly in the church. I was not aware that there would be a 5:00 AM Mass before the procession arrived. This Mass was given by the Bishop, said in Bisaya, and attended by approximately 60 people (more or less).

The 5:00 AM Mass ended just before 6:00 - a few minutes before the students began to arrive. I was able to get a few photographs.

Fortunately for me, this 6:00 AM Mass for St. Paul students was said in English.

 

More on the State of the Climate Report

I'm finding the 2nd book in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy as boring as the first, but I determined to complete the entire trilogy.

I'm about 45% through it and I was going to read the State of the Climate in 2016 Report at the same time, but I've hit a snag. I had downloaded the report and converted the document from pdf to mobi in order to be able to read the report on my Kindle. Unfortunately, that conversion didn't work out so well. Many of the pages in the pdf contain 2 pages, side by side. When converted to mobi, this makes reading the document next to impossible. I'll have to read the report in the pdf format on my PC - which I don't enjoy doing.

Never the less. I believe the report needs to be read and I'll do just that.