Hi All
Saturday 8th October:
The rain eased over night and we awoke to a cloudy day. Things have cooled down a bit and the humidity has dissipated a little, so very pleasant. Although it was 11:30am when we did get up…….
After brunch we headed for Boac to the Goodchow restaurant for some Wi-Fi and a real home cooked burger. The steady rain started just as we arrived and drizzled for the rest of the day. On the way home we dodged most of the showers and picked up some fresh Rambutan’s and Pandecoco’s.
The tropical rainstorms play havoc with our satellite TV signal so we started watching “Underbelly – Season 1 – Melbourne 1999-2004”. Great series.
Power went off at 10:30pm so off to bed.
Sunday 9th October:
Power back on at 3:00am. Had some heavy rain during the night as well.
Guy off to manicure / pedicure at 9:45am with Mahjong to follow.
As the rain held off I washed the Thunder Monster and got her tucked away under her cover before the rain returned. I caught a Jeepney to the midday expat gathering as it was raining once again.
With a break in the weather at 3:00pm ish I walked back home (5km walk). And a very pleasant walk it was.
Power off at 7:00pm and back on at 8:45pm.
Monday 10th October:
Up and off to Gerald’s for our morning walk. Very wet after the weekend rain so, a walk up the road to Kalong and back was in order. Even the road was slippery in places.
Guy walked into the market in Gasan (6km) for some supplies and caught the Jeepney back home.
Beautiful sunny day, so time for some de-molding of my backpack and camera bag. Also had my Leica 90mm and 15mm lens out in the direct sun to help with the fungi that have been growing on the lens. The fungi are not affecting the quality of the pics taken with them…. Yet…. Hopefully I now have it under control as I keep the lens in an airtight container with a large amount of Silica Gel.
Early siesta mid morning was the order of the day. After lunch, time for the weekly rubbish burn up and beach cleanup. The rubbish took a bit of messing round with to burn and it was still a little damp from the weekend rain but got it all burnt up. The beach was pretty clean so nice and easy to keep it that way.
Looks like we have another Typhoon arriving at the end of the week so shall stock up on water and supplies tomorrow.
Tuesday 11th October:
Checked the weather this morning and Typhoon “Ramon” is now forecast to pass over us some time on Friday. Beautiful morning (calm before the storm) but expect that that will start to change by tomorrow night. So time for our Typhoon check plan to be put into action.
Our Typhoon readiness check, consists of:
- Checking our rice and food supplies (tinned and packet) – Hit the market this morning and top up all our supplies.
- Filled up the Thunder Monster with gas – Check
- Have an extra full gas cylinder for cooking – Done last week so all good.
- Ordered container/s of drinking water to ensure we have 80L in total – Check
- Checked batteries for our head torches – Check
- Filled outside water barrels (washing and flushing water) – Check
- Have extra cash to buy stuff if required (ATM’s could be off line for a while) – Check
- Get some fresh fruit and bakery stuff – Check
- Charge up all our phones (both batteries and credit) camera and laptop batteries – Check
- Backup the Laptop to an external USB 1TB drive – Check
- Break out the “Dry Bags” ready to protect all electronic gadgets – Check
- Thunder Monster inside – Check
- Quick check for loose objects outside – Check
Guy off to Mahjong at midday. I had a little siesta and then back into Gasan to fuel up the Thunder Monster, hit the ATM for some cash, get some spare mobile phone recharge cards and of course some fresh Pandecoco buns.
Dropped into the store that is selling a 5KVA Diesel generator and measured it up for size to see where it will fit at the cottage. The pump-shed door is narrow but the generator will fit in, just. Might just have to buy one and stop procrastinating.
It drizzled on and off all afternoon so not sure if this is the beginning of “Ramon”. Just watched the evening Filipino news and looks like “Ramon” will arrive here tomorrow and they are forecasting lots of rain.
I had the nose pad drop off my good reading glasses this morning. The tiny screw fell out and luckily I found it. Broke out the good old Victorinox Swiss army knife and used the tweezers and magnifying glass to place the tiny screw back in the housing and the miniature screwdriver to do it up. Great tool, don’t leave home without one….
Wednesday 12th October:
We awoke to a glorious morning. The sky is very stormy looking (I can look at stormy sky’s all day), there is a gentle cooler breeze blowing and the humidity is down. So we set about our chores knowing that it wasn’t going to last.
I scrubbed the veranda as it has become all moldy and slippery once again with all the rain and sunshine. Once we get some fine weather again, I’ll hit it with some bleach and that will sort out the mold for a month or so.
Guy cooked up a big pot of adobo that will last for the next few days. The water boys turned up and we now have our full 80L of drinking water, which will last for a few weeks.
We both had our showers late morning and settled in for the wait knowing that the power could go off at any time and be off for some time.
Checking the weather this morning and Marinduque is now a Signal 1 (45-60kph winds) for Typhoon “Ramon”.
At 10:00am the rain started, just a gentle drizzle and still very calm. This is part of the weather forecast:
Estimated rainfall amount is from 10 – 30 mm per hour (heavy) within the 400 km diameter of the Tropical Storm.
Further update this afternoon:
“RAMON” has weakened into a Tropical Depression after interacting with the landmass of Eastern Visayas and Northeastern Mindanao.
So looks like it will be tomorrow before the main weakened body of “Ramon” arrives now. Steady rain and calm all day. The temperature and humidity were very pleasant as well.
The afternoon was spent reading, snoozing and a DVD (We watched the last 3 episodes of “Underbelly – Season 1 – Melbourne 1999-2004”.
Very relaxing.
Thursday 13th October:
It rained steadily for most of the night and the sea has come up with the wind from the south now. Checked the weather forecast and we are still at a Signal 1 (45-60kph winds – we have had nothing like that so far) so no Ro-Ro’s will be operating to and from the island.
From the weather forecast this morning:
Estimated rainfall amount is from 5 – 25 mm per hour (moderate – heavy) within the 300 km diameter of the Tropical Depression.
So looks like all is good as the tropical depression now moves off to the west of us. We can expect some more rain over the next few days with only a slight wind blowing and moderate seas.
Guy off to Mahjong at midday and as the rain had eased I walked into Gasan to stretch my legs after being cooped up for a couple of days. I meet up with Geoff and John (Poms) for an Iced Tea at Barbarossa.
As the rain was still holding off I walked back home as well (12km round trip). A nice cup of tea with some fresh Pandecoco’s was my reward for the walk.
Checked the weather forecast tonight and the Signal 1 has now been removed from Marinduque. Back to normal again.
Friday 14th October:
Up early for morning walk with Gerald. Very wet so a walk up to Kalong and back on the fire trail was in order. Nice brisk walk in the humidity to work up a sweat.
Guy walked into the market for our supplies and caught the Jeepney back home just in time to meet Zieyrish for the washing and cleaning.
Leisurely afternoon pottering round the house with a little siesta. As it was a nice sunny day I “Bleached” the veranda to help hold the slippery mold at bay, for a while anyway.
Life is good.
Trevor & Guy
Trevor & Guy Life Journal 