Cantaloupe Update: Number One

This past Tuesday, after having little success getting tomato seeds to sprout in their tray, I decided to plant cantaloupe seeds directly into the soil. I built up two little mounds in my garden plot and planted seven or eight seeds in each one.

We've had fairly good rains the last two nights and my cantaloupe seeds have already sprouted. There are five or six seedlings in each of the two mounds. I'll wait before thinning them out.

As I mentioned, I'll be doing a few "before and after" photos. I suppose the photos should be more properly called "before, during and after" photos.

I've taken a snap shot of both mounds, but I see no point in posting both online. If you've seen one mound of sprouting cantaloupe seeds, you've seen them all.

For those of you who find this exciting, I'll put up another BDA photo next Saturday. I know you can hardly wait.

Bananas and Dreams of Cantaloupes

Back in the United States, during a limited time frame, I was able to go outside beside the house and pick from plums off one of the two plum trees I had planted there. One of the trees produced fruit in June; both trees blossomed every spring, but one had not produced any plums before we sold the house.

The trees are different varieties and are barely years old, so I suppose it's possible that the tree that hadn't produced fruit will one day.




Here in Sibulan, I can still go out into the back yard and fetch fresh fruit; only, here, instead of picking plums, we can pick bananas.

The particular bunch pictured here was harvested a few days ago. I wasn't the one who picked them - I'm not exactly sure which family member did. That doesn't stop me, however, from eating what I can.

This bunch is out back, on a table in an area referred to as the "dirty kitchen". The dirty kitchen is what the Filipinos call an area behind the house where foods can be cooked with firewood or charcoal. A sort of BBQ area, if you will.

These particular bananas aren't vey large; they're only slightly longer than my longest finger. They're still very sweet and I'm quite fond of them. My sister in-law pan fries them for breakfast (then sprinkled with sugar) I like the bananas cooked that way, but eating the fruit raw is good enough for me.

I have one or two relatives back home who will not be jealous of me because of this. There are actually folks out there who don't like bananas. I know, strange huh, but true.

In an earlier post , I mentioned that I've planted cantaloupe seeds. With luck, I should have cantaloupes in about 90 days or so. I can hear some of my friends from Georgia now, "Big deal. We grow cantaloupes here." Maybe so, but here, there will be cantaloupes pretty much year around. I won't ever have to worry about frost killing the plants. The only problem might be too much rain at certain times of the year. Not having lived here for a year yet, I'm not too sure about that.

I promised "before and after" photos. Still no seedlings to photograph. The cantaloupe seed packet says to expect 5 to 10 days for the seeds to sprout. It's only been two. Next week, when I have cantaloupe seedlings, I'll take my camera outside for the first shots.

Until then,I see little reason to photograph dirt.

Life on Mars.

Finally, I have cable TV and high speed Internet. I'm not nearly as excited about the cable as I am the Internet connection. For the most part, I can let everyone else in the household watch whatever they choose on the TV. For myself, I'm glad that I'm finally able to watch my favorites on Netflix once again.

Thanks to Avast and the company's SecureLineVPN, I can disguise my IP address thru a virtual private network and get around companies which might otherwise "geo-block" me from their websites.

Now, not only am I am to connect to a server in the U.S. and watch Netflix, but I can also switch to a server in London and watch Geo-blocked BBC programs and British Netflix. When I'm connected to London, Netflix recognizes my account, but mistakenly assumes that I've traveled to England with my personal laptop. I'm able to watch certain programs on the British Netflix which aren't available in the U.S. yet; like my new, favorite TV show, Life on Mars starring John Simm. Simm is probably more well known to Americans as the Master in Dr Who .

The program is actually several years old, but it's new to me. There were only 16 episodes and I've just finished watching #2.

And, did I mention that I'm looking forward to watching SEC football on the CBS Sports website when the time comes.

Pat Archbold Would be Proud.

Pat Archbold, one half of the duo who blog at and is none too happy with the "sign of peace" as it's done in much of the United States. In a recent post he wrote:

"I will admit that most times, the ridiculousness that ensues during the sign of peace has me cringing." and "In my mind, there is only one reasonable suggestion. Exercise the option for the faithful NOT to exchange the sign of peace. All joking aside, it is almost always a terrible interruption to the mass and a distraction from where our collective focus should be at that moment."

Pat would probably be pleased with the way it's done here in Philippines - at least in the Catholic churches where I've gone to Mass. The "sign of peace" as it's done here, is not the wild display of hugging and kissing and hand shaking that Pat dislikes so much. For the most part. the "sign of peace" consists of little more than a "look" and a nodding of the head. In the U.S. one would be considered laid back if one merely shook the hands of the folks nearest you. Here, to shake hands the way Americans do it would be considered a flamboyant public display.

I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the difference. I don't have a problem with head nodding in the direction of strangers in the church, but, I'll continue to give my wife and son a small little kiss as I've always done.

In Archbold's post he mentioned "the Congregation for Divine Worship's recent circular letter announcing that the placement of the sign of peace within Mass will not change, though it could be performed with greater dignity". I don't believe you could ask for a more dignified sign of peace than the way the Filipinos do it. I'm sure Pat Archbold would be happy.

A Tuesday Update.

It appears that the few tomato and bell pepper seeds I planted aren't going to make it. Perhaps the soil I used was not a proper medium for getting seeds to sprout. Having the tray dumped upon by sand didn't help.

Don't ask.

I'll be looking for a better tray and try to find potting soil. I can just about say with confidence that I won't find any Hyponex potting soil here.

In the mean time, I'm going to put out a few cantaloupe seeds directly into mounds of earth in my little garden plot. If the cantaloupe does well and sprouts properly, I won't have room for too many cantaloupe plants.

We did a bit of pushing and squeezing on our budget and bought a TV yesterday. We're expecting Larry ang Cable Tao to come by this morning to install the cable for the TV and high speed Internet. In the mean time, my wife and two of her sisters are Zumba dancing to a dvd brought from the States. I guess they were only waiting for the new TV.

This blog post is a direct result of the exercise dvd. The three were eager to jump around to the music but were naturally shy about such a display in front of me. So, to save the trio from embarrassment, I retired to the bedroom with the laptop. I'm not quite sure how long they'll last before they're overcome by exhaustion.

I promised....no photos or video of their Zumba, even though I'm sure the few readers of this humble blog would be entertained.