Day 773 of retirement

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Hi All

Saturday 13^thJuly 2019:
It has been a quiet week and it was great. Still the usual maid services, massages, manicure/pedicure, Mahjong, pottering round the castle and exploring on Ruby.

A tropical depression is forming way south of us. May just dissipate or could develop into the first typhoon of the season. We will know in a few days.

Tuesday 16^thJuly 2019:

Got a tropical depression (called Falcon) warning this morning. These can turn into Typhoons. Had a quick look on the web and it is still some ways off Marinduque. They are predicting that it will go north and we will only get the edge of it but you just never know. The ETA on Marinduque is Wednesday morning so we shall see.

We did our first Typhoon readiness check, which consisted of:

• Checking our rice and food supplies (tinned and packet food) – Check
• Filled up Ruby and Emma with gas – Check
• Have an extra full gas cylinder for cooking – Check
• Containers of drinking water (120L in total) – Check
• Batteries for our head torches & candles – Check
• Check hand pump on well – Check
• Filled outside water barrel & buckets (washing and flushing water) – Check
• Get extra cash to buy stuff if required (in case ATMs go down) – Check
• Will get some fresh fruit and bakery stuff – Check
• Charge up all our phones, power bank, camera and laptop batteries – Check
• Ruby tucked up in the pump shed – Check
• Veranda furniture moving inside the Castle – Check
• Quick check outside for loose objects – Check

Wednesday 17^thJuly 2019:
The tail end of tropical depression “Falcon” hit us last night. Windy, rough seas and rain. Nothing serious in our part of the woods.
A day home watching movies while Guy plays Mahjong is the go. Ooohh provided there are no brownouts.
PS: The castle is singing once again.

Brownout finally hit us. Looks like a dark night ahead. Not much rain but blowing a gale. High tide made it to our front fence but no damage. Tide going out now. Time to break out a good book.

Thursday 18^thJuly 2019:

Blowing a gale today as the storm (tropical depression Falcon) heads away from the Philippines. Little rain but very rough seas. All the Roros have been held in port since yesterday morning.

High tide again which made it to the front fence but no damage.

Rolling brownouts as well. Power on for a few hours then off for an hour. We can live with that.

Saturday 20^thJuly 2019:

Awoke this morning to blue skies, calm clear seas and a gentle sea breeze.Storm all gone.

First job was to get Emma to the carwash to clean off the salty residue collected over the last 3 days during the storm.

The boys took a good hour to give her a good rinse, wash, rinse, vacuum and detail. (P250 $7.00 AUS).

Guy off to Mahjong after lunch and I spent the afternoon cleaning all the glass doors and windows of the salty residue. Back to brand new once again.

Monday 22^ndJuly 2019:

Off on a round the island cruise in Emma today with Ron and Guy (130km round trip).

Picked up Ron (American) at 7:30am and off in an anti-clock wise direction. We made our way through Buenavista then Torrijos and White Beach for a walk up the beach

Next stop was Sta Cruz.

Here we caught up with Scott (American) and Janie (local wife). Had a great catch up with them then off to Mogpog where we caught up with Tim (American) and Lody (local wife). Left there with some very nice local honey.

Into Boac for lunch and dropped Ron back home at 3:30pm.

A great day was had by all.

Tuesday 23^rdto Wednesday 24^thJuly 2019:

Quiet couple of days which has been good. Guy at Mahjong and I have been weeding and pruning as the grass/jungle is going crazy with the rain and sunshine.

Thursday 25^thJuly 2019:

Gerald (Pom) dropped in to use my hotspot. He lives 2km from us but in a valley so no signal.

Went for a walk with him down to the local fishing village after WiFi usage.

Guy off to Mahjong after lunch and I pottered round the block. I enjoy my pottering.

Saturday 27^thJuly 2019:

Busy morning as we had the maid here for the morning. We each had our 2-hour massage which was heaven.

Also had the carpenter here to fix a few things on the cupboard doors on the back veranda. He needs some parts so will be back later in the week.

Life is good.

Trevor & Guy.

 

Day 752 of retirement

Click on a photo below for the slide show. The slide show has the descriptions of each pic below the photos. You can also leave comments in this area.

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Hi All

Monday 24^thJune 2019:
Leisurely morning. After dropping Guy off at Mahjong I caught up with Gerald (Pom) and later in the afternoon John (Pom).

Tuesday 25^thJune 2019:

Cherry the maid back again today and worked her magic.

Wednesday 26^thJune 2019:

Leisurely morning with Guy off to Mahjong after lunch. I spent the afternoon clearing away regrowth jungle from the back of our block.

At 4:45pm a monsoon storm hit and dumped a heap of rain. All good as we need it.

Marinduque roughly get 1.8m of rain over 12 months. According to records that Gerald keep we have only had 0.8m of rain in the last 18 months. So, it is badly needed.

Remembering that it is the tropics and you can have all that rain in one typhoon.

Thursday 27^thJune 2019:

Started the day with a 2-hour massage each. Cherry our maid was back as well.

Heavy rain monsoon shower hit and dumped 12mm of rain in one shower.

Friday 28^thJune 2019:

Off to the market first thing for some supplies for the next few days. After lunch I dropped Guy off at Mahjong in Gasan (11km away).

Emma (Toyota Rush) got her first carwash today. Went down to the local carwash and had one of the boys wash and vacuum clean Emma (all by hand).
Now I am a bit particular with the high standard of washing/cleaning of my motor vehicles. But I must say that my washer man did an excellent job. Nothing left for me to clean.
And all for P200 ($5.60 AUS). Will definitely be going back for all my washes and vacuum cleans.

Saturday 29^thJune 2019:

Leisurely morning. After lunch Guy off to Mahjong and I spent the afternoon doing a rubbish run on the beach, some weeding in the garden and hacking back the jungle in the back yard.

Sunday 30^thJune 1029:

Off to the Buenavista market as it is market day. Topped up on fresh supplies for the next few days.

After lunch into Gasan to Guy’s Mahjong house for my pedicure/manicure.

Monday 1^stJuly 2019:

Tropical Depression “Egay” has hit well and truly today. Strong winds, rain and high rough seas. The tide is coming in and being pushed up by a southerly wind.
Local fishing village came awful close to being flooded. But all good here.

PS: And the house is singing.

Tuesday 2^ndJuly 2019:

Tropical Depression “Egay” eased overnight. The tide is back to normal and the wind has dropped.

Another couple of days and should be back to normal.

Wednesday 3^rdJuly 2019:

Tropical Depression “Egay” has gone. Beautiful day today with bright blue skies and brilliant sunset.

One of the downfalls of having lots of glass doors/windows facing the beach is that after a storm they need cleaning from all the salt spray in the air. Ooohhh well that was my afternoon job sorted while Guy was at Mahjong.

Friday 5^thJuly 2019:

Busy day.

Up at 3:30am to meet Willie (our driver) at The Castle to pick up Emma and head for the Toyota service centre on the mainland (San Pablo) for her first service (1-hour drive, 3.0 hours Ro Ro, 2-hour drive and the same on the way back).

Back to bed then up at 7:30am for Ailyn and a 2-hour massage each.

During my massage some friends from Guy’s Mahjong group arrived to salvage some of our coco lumber. Great to see it being recycled.

Willie arrived back at 11:00pm so a long day for him (19 hours). Once again awesome service for P2,400 ($69.00 AUS).

Saturday 6^thJuly 2019:

Cherry the awesome maid waved her magic once again.

The coco lumber recyclers were back for load two today. Slowly getting the heap down.

After lunch dropped Guy off at Mahjong and got Emma washed at the local carwash.

Sunday 7^thJuly 2019:

Market day in Buenavista (5km away) so off to the market this morning for some fresh supplies.

Our usual market breakfast of deep-fried bananas. Very yummy.

Off to the Mahjong house at midday for our pedicure/manicure.

Life is good.

Trevor & Guy