# Our Ranch in the Philippines



## Cordillera Cowboy

I started this over in the horse talk forum. http://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/were-headed-ranch-752178/ But it went 10 pages with only a little talk about horses, so I'll continue over here. 

I have retired to the Philippines. We currently live in town in the student boarding house owned by my Goodewyfe and her sister. Plans are to build a home on our ranch property within the next 2 years. Meanwhile, we're getting the place in order. 

Here's a shot of the little Native style house currently occupied by our caretakers. And of the outbuildings, a toilet, shower, tool shed, and chicken coop.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

News for today is that we picked up a weanling heifer. Lacking a squeeze chute, I took advantage of the tiny delivery truck to put in the ear tag. Nice, gentle disposition, she settled right in.


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## walkinthewalk

The view from your ranch is stunning!

The Heiffer looks bigger in the pasture but I know she isn't as big as she appears because she doesn't take up that big of a space in the truck.

BTW, that is quite a carrier rack on the truck


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## GMA100

Subbing because I love your ranch and stories! It also reminds me a lot of when I lived in Costa Rica. I miss that place!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks GMA100! Latitude wise, we're roughly in line with Yucatan. Tropical, but we chose the hill country for the cool breezes and the helpful effects of gravity during the rainy season.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> The view from your ranch is stunning!
> 
> The Heiffer looks bigger in the pasture but I know she isn't as big as she appears because she doesn't take up that big of a space in the truck.
> 
> BTW, that is quite a carrier rack on the truck


I never tire of that view. Sometimes I get frustrated with this or that, then I look up and realize how incredibly fortunate I am. 

Yes. Mr. Escobar, our caretaker, is standing a few yards down slope from the cow. And I'm taking the photo from uphill.

On the grillework, there is still a heavy Spanish colonial influence on the sense of aesthetics here. Couple that with the native love of decoration and even mundane things like stock hauling trucks have a flair to them.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

One of our side projects is helping with the reforestation here. Years of uncontrolled clear-cut logging of the tropical hardwoods in the mountainous areas resulted in ecological damage such as landslides and flooding. 

The yakal saplungan, or Philippine mahogany, produces a tall, dense, straight grained tree favored by the loggers. It only produces seeds about once every 5 or 6 years, and so has become rare and endangered. A friend of ours is on the faculty of a state university where they have cloned this tree. They produced seeds last month, and he gave me several. 

I planted some directly into the ground, but they didn't survive. I have about 20 or so in seedling bags that have sprouted. Hopefully, they will strengthen, and I'll plant them around in various spots on the ranch.

A few are in the flower bed at our house in town. Most are in the shady area by the well at the ranch.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I think I've mentioned that it's rainy season here. The old saying "I can't dance, and it's too wet to plow" I quite literal in my case. It slacked off a bit today. Enough that we could cross the river and check on things. The two cows are doing fine. They're still on picket ropes until we can trust them to come to a call. The cow shed is done, so that's the next project. We'll only feed them there, and use the same call each time. Should be OK, we'll see.


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## walkinthewalk

A much simpler life and the ability to enjoy all of that. Better than the Embassy Suites, as far as I'm concerned ! 

Nothing new on the horse hunting?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Yes Walk, I have no desire to bring the first world rat race to this retirement. Things will happen when they will. Sometimes the way I want, and sometimes ...... not. I've planted trees that won't mature until I'm 80. I'll wait. 

the horse search is ongoing. Most I've seen so far are much too small, in the 12 hand range. I'm holding out for 14 or so. Also, most are terribly undernourished. If I had a bunch of money, I could go to a touristy or wealthy area and buy from a stable. But such is not my lot. 

One of the small ones is definitely in our future though. Our son and daughter-in-law are expecting their child in just a few weeks. I'm thinking a POA size would be just the ticket. Family tradition. My first pony was a gift from my grandfather.


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## walkinthewalk

^^^Ah!!! That means there is a double horse search and I'm betting the grandchild's pony will be the first to be found!


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## horseluvr2524

So cool seeing things done the old way, like the cow shelter. Enjoy your retirement, definitely a beautiful place! I hope the world never loses these places that haven't been industrialized yet.


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## whisperbaby22

Good to see that natural plants and trees are appreciated. Here in California we are swamped with invasive species, but then we re engineered the entire interior valley wetlands that we had. Small efforts are being made, however. We just went through a massive removal of bamboo in our riverbed.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

whisperbaby22 said:


> Good to see that natural plants and trees are appreciated. Here in California we are swamped with invasive species, but then we re engineered the entire interior valley wetlands that we had. Small efforts are being made, however. We just went through a massive removal of bamboo in our riverbed.


I wouldn't go so far as to say the native flora are fully appreciated. Filipinos have undergone centuries of being indoctrinated to believe that all things Filipino are inferior to things from more developed countries. The joke goes that Filipinos have been subjected to over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, and over 100 years of Hollywood. 

A naturalist friend of mine explained it fairly well. Ecologically, mindset of the Philippines is where the US was in the early 20th century. The prevailing attitude is that anything not domestic (crops or livestock) is to be eradicated as a pest, or hunted down for food. There are efforts to educate folks and preserve native species, but it is an uphill struggle. 

In order to preserve the small amount of forest on our place, we had to micromanage the fencing and clearing crew. They had done this sort of work before. The usual method is to kill everything down to the dirt with aggressive slash and burn. This, to make way for "useful" plants, i.e. crops. But we wanted to do it differently from most land owners. We were communicating this across 2 languages, as well as 2, sometimes 3 different Filipino dialects.


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## whisperbaby22

Oh, I think that this is a world wide problem. The entire state of California, which is one of the wonders of the world thanks to techtonic activity is being used as a giant re engineering program. Dams, levees, concrete lined riverbeds, large populations living on top of a destructive fault. I could go on, but I do not want to hijack your thread. I'm just happy to see any appreciation for the natural world in any part of the world.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Added to the menagerie today. A couple of weed eaters, Thing One and Thing Two. My earlier prediction of attitude on a string came true. The larger one did not want to leave the bean vines to go down to the weed patch. Sat down like a dog. I ended up carrying her down the hill. The little billy is affable, and seems to like people. He fell to eating right away. The nanny stood there and stared at us. She finally started eating after we left them alone for a bit. 

I plan to make some portable fencing, so we can section off weedy portions without worrying about the picket strings.


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## walkinthewalk

Mehbee the nanny is preggars and weeds don't agree with her


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## waresbear

I love the palapas for the cowshed, lucky dang cow!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> Mehbee the nanny is preggars and weeds don't agree with her


That would be good, I think. But highly unlikely. She is supposed to be only a yearling. They are both also rather skinny. I'd like to fatten them up some before they get to burning energy procreating.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

waresbear said:


> I love the palapas for the cowshed, lucky dang cow!


I think the cows only care that they have a dry place when we feed them. I think lucky me instead. Except for the wire fence around it, the whole thing is from materials harvested from our property. Only cost to me was the labor. 

It's intended to be temporary. By the time it gets rickety, and needs replacing, I'll have a better idea of how I want things laid out.


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## Zexious

What cute little goats!


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## PoptartShop

What a beautiful ranch!!!  That looks lovely!


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## AtokaGhosthorse

Yeah. I gotta sub to this thread.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Zexious said:


> What cute little goats!


LOL. After they've lived here a while, I'll let you know whether or not I agree with you.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thank you PoptartShop!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Nearly all the earlier photos from the original thread disappeared, so I'm learning to use flickr. 

Here is a load of kitchen supplies coming across the river before we got our access road fixed.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Sorry. That didn't work. I'll start a practice thread somewhere else.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Nearly all the earlier photos from the original thread disappeared, so I'm learning to use flickr.
> 
> Here is a load of kitchen supplies coming across the river before we got our access road fixed.


Crossing the river with kitchen supplies by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Me down by the well. And yes, I'm dressed like Ranger Rick most days. 

image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our solar array recharging. 

Solar gadgets recharging by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I've mentioned that we are in the rainy season now. I've developed the farmers affinity for rain. Plus, we get views like this quite often. That's Mount Palali in the background. 

Cagayan Valley Rainbow by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

And the Goodewyfe, planting her calamansi trees.

18520005_10212407519804178_3693720046783125089_n by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The freshly planted calamansi orchard.

Newly planted calamansi orchard. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## trailhorserider

Wow, what an incredible place to retire. It's gorgeous! Congratulations on your ranch! :mrgreen:


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## trailhorserider

You know, I read your comments about the horses being so small. Do you think that's genetics or just that they don't get optimal nutrition as they grow? 

Maybe if you got a weanling from 12 hand parents, if it was well fed during the growing years, it might turn into a taller horse?

I actually have no idea, but I mention it because I raised my first foal some years back and he outgrew both his parents by at least 1 hand and 300 pounds. So I sometimes wonder if that was optimal nutrition (I fed him an actual foal feed) and maybe his parents just grew up on pasture without any supplemental feed or if he's just an anomaly of his genetics.

Maybe it's possible that the horses would grow bigger with optimal feeding and are just stunted? I have no idea what horses are fed there so I could be totally wrong.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

trailhorserider said:


> Wow, what an incredible place to retire. It's gorgeous! Congratulations on your ranch! :mrgreen:


Thanks! In answer to your question on horse size, I think it's both genetics and nutrition. The general attitude on large livestock here is that it should eat grass and reproduce. At the Ag stores here there is a wide variety of wonder feeds for chickens and hogs, animals with a high expected ROI. Sometimes there are feeds for cattle, but no feeds specifically for horses. And few to no people who would spend money on feeding a horse. I have found that many tropical grasses are difficult to digest. Ruminants can do well on them, if they get enough, but horses are another matter. 

Natural selection will favor the horse that can survive on coarse fodder. That tends to be smaller bodied animals. I've started one hillside in koronivia grass that I got from the Department of Agriculture research farm. More nutritious than the grasses already on the place. But that will take years to reach full potential. Fortunately for me, I'm a small framed, scrawny hillbilly. I'm shooting for 14 hands, but can get by with slightly smaller. The same can't be said if I want to take my full size American or European friends riding. 

But, I knew that going in. It's an adventure I signed up for.


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## whisperbaby22

Yes, this is really interesting. Keep us updated on this great ranch.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I had debated whether or not to build a gate at our entrance. Our livestock is behind an interior fence and gate. I wasn't sure of the message it might send to the neighbors. 

Today, I noticed hoof prints leading out of our place. All our stock was accounted for, but I closed the gate. Later, this guy shows up looking for a handout. 

Neighbors calf. Looking for a hand out. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Finally got a horse. On the hunt for more. 

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/horse-shopping-philippines-777290/page2/


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## PoptartShop

Beautiful place! And so glad you got a horse!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Lots of rain means our plants are happy. 

We made about 300 pesos from the sale of a bag full of bananas.
Bananas for sale. by Paul McKee, on Flickr

Lots of le ons on a little bush.
Lemons. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

And okra, with blossoms and fruit at the same time. 

Okra by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

And we've added to the menagerie. Dooks. We have dooks.

Dooks! by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Avoided some excitement today. Our caretaker had a death in the family, so I was up there alone today. I went down to check on the goats, and noticed cow prints and cowpies down there. We have a fence that separates the large stock from the crops. Goats and chickens are the only stock allowed in there because they have specific weed and pest control duties. 

I knew a neighbors calf had wandered onto our place before, but these were fresh, and I'd seen that calf when I drove in. I tended the goats, then followed the tracks around for a bit. They stayed in the tall grass by the creek bottom, away from the crops, but I didn't see a cow. Went back up to the house and gave a whoop. that was answered by a bellow from inside the livestock enclosure. I followed that, and gave another. That one was answered by our heifer, standing in the driveway. 
Earlier this month, I had given our caretaker a police whistle, and instructed him to blow it whenever he fed the cows. I have one of my own on my keychain. I gave it a toot, and the heifer came toward me. So I kept whistling and walked down to the gate. She followed. At the gate, the bull calf had also come to the whistle, and was standing on the other side. We had a little dance while I kept the bull from getting out, while enticing the heifer back in. But the tune was good, and everyone stepped well. 

First chore in the morning will be to find where she has been slipping through the fence.


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## whisperbaby22

Smart move. So many things like this are simple. People are amazed that my cats know their names. I just call that name whenever they are fed, and each cat will come when I call that name.


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## anndankev

I had a cat I called by opening the refrigerator door. LOL


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We think we found the escape route. Typical bovine hijinks. Found a place where they had stuck their heads through the fence to eat on the other side. Bottom wire got stretched and popped a couple staples. We stapled the wire back down, and added bamboo poles between the posts to tighten the wire along that stretch. Now we wait to see if that was just a decoy. 

We also have a cat at our place in town. At least I think we have a cat. I call it Suppertime, because that's the only time I see it. I suppose it's someone else's cat at breakfast time.


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## walkinthewalk

@CordilleraCowboy;. Mercy have you been busy, lollol

A few weeks back DH called me while on his way to work to say one of the neighbor's yearling Angus had his head stuck in the woven wire fence. Seems the lad was not happy with his 100 + acre pasture and decided to see if the grass really was greener on the other side of the fence ---- in the ditch running alonside the road:|

When I called the neighbor, he was inside that big John Deere tractor (that I want), several miles away on another farm ---- meaning it would be a an hour or more before he could rescue the steer.

I asked him if he wanted me to go down and cut the steer out of the fence ----that brought a good 30 second pause as he knows I am old to be somebody's grandmother and only 5'2", lollol

He hesitated but said yes, and I wondered what I had just gotten myself into ---- I didn't even have wire cutters strong enough to cut woven wire, they were wore out from previous episodes----------

It's a good thing I still have "strong upper body strength" (there's a family joke to that) and a lot of resolve.

Here's the Onery ******, lol. I think Black Angus are the worst fence testers of the bovine world, but to his youthful credit he seemed to understand I was helping and stayed quiet while I sawed away at three wires with my worn out cutters. FWIW, I now have two new pair of manly- man wire cutters that will let me cut a lot things I shouldn't 

Look at that nice pasture behind him, yet he had half his head stuck in the fence, lol


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Good job, Walk! When I was a kid, I had a poster on my wall. A cartoon drawing of 4 cow pastures all joined at one corner. There was a cow in each pasture. Each cow had its head through the fence eating from its neighbors grass.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I suppose I should update this thread to mention that we finally do have a horse. At least they all it a horse around here. A little roan 3 year old, about 12.3 hh. The goodewyfe named her Skippy. 

Skippy First day at Inner Earth. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I've put off posting this til after the American Thanksgiving holiday. It's been Christmas season here for 3 months already. Filipinos begin celebrating Christmas as soon as the BER months arrive. SepteMBER, OctoBER, ETC. Our caretakers, the Escobars, have put up some simple decorations on the little Native house on the ranch. 

This is a traditional Filipino style Christmas star of wire and paper. 
Christmas decorations at Inner Earth. by Paul McKee, on Flickr

This one was made of repurposed soft drink bottles by one of their children. 
image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## SilverMaple

Those are neat! I love Christmas in all its forms


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The big white hen has been sitting for only a couple of weeks. She, and maybe others have been laying for a bit longer. Yesterday, we had 8 baby chicks hatch out. Sooner than expected, but maybe the tropical heat helps incubate eggs even if the hen isn't sitting on them immediately. 

Chicks! by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

OMG!!!! If they aren't the most precious little cuties!!:loveshower::loveshower:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Some of our winter residents. 


Winter residents by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

You have such beautiful scenery!

I also see your picture posted. I tried to post a test picture in the Krones thread an hour or so after your post and I kept getting bumped to a white screen when I hit the paper lip icon


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Had a typhoon hit a few hundred miles south of us. We got some heavy rain from the edges of it, but little wind. Some of our neighbors in the valley had too much water in their rice fields. Laid down some of the growing rice in the low areas of their fields. I don't know whether or not it can be recovered.


More damaged rice fields by Paul McKee, on Flickr


Flood damage to local rice fields. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

All the rain and mud makes fiddling with the horse a hit or miss affair. But the vegetables seem to like it. We have good drainage. No problems with flooding. 




























More veggies, and a trellis for the bitter melon. by Paul McKee, on Flickr










































Beans by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

deleted test post.


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## walkinthewalk

Just saw on tonight's (12-23-17) AP News about flooding in the south Phillipines -- they showed videos of the flooding. Is this from the same Typhoon in your post #57? If it is, it took long enough to be put on the news service.

I hope it is the same one as I would hate to think the islands were hit twice

I hope the damaged portion of the ricefields can be salvaged. I'm sure the local farmers can't afford to lose much.

There's a lot to be said for good natural drainage and sitting high, such as you your farm is situated. 

We had about four inches of rain in a short amount of time. Creeks are over their banks, people were in vehicles that were swept into creeks and over flowing drainage ditches. Our farm has squishy ground and there was a 3/4 circle moat around the sink hole where the manure pile is. That's about as bad as it gets because this property has such great natural drainage.

Anyway, I hope you are still safe from the heavy rains and winds and the AP story I saw today is the one you posted about two days ago


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Sadly Walk, it's a new one. It was actually a tropical storm. The local folks call anything stronger than the usual tropical thunderstorm a "typhoon". That area, well south of us, used to be known as a place not usually affected by typhoons and tropical storms. But lately, they have been hammered. There are some places that still haven't recovered from the super typhoon Yolanda that hit the same area in 2013. 


Our area is known as the typhoon belt. But many of those storms are deflected from our ranch by the Sierra Madre Mountains to our east. Our 2 month long stretch of rains have been the edges of the train of storms that have passed to our north and south. 


The coast line, east of the Sierra Madre, is sparsely populated (by overpopulated 3rd world island standards) because of the pounding the area usually takes from typhoons.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Had one day without rain Thursday, then actual sunshine yesterday. Our caretaker was able to mow down some of the tall grass among the fruit trees. Our grass cutters (weed eater, Americans call it) have been out of commission for a while. The initial fencing and clearing crew were careless in their use of them. One of our uphill neighbors got one running, and instructed our caretaker in the use and care of it. He was valiantly hacking away with a bolo before. but now he can really make progress. 


Our fruit trees seem to be doing well. The pomellos are not growing tall, but the trunks are becoming thicker. Important for a heavy fruit. The calamansi are getting taller. Some are about hip high. Most of our fruit trees are a dwarf variety. They shouldn't get much more than 4 feet tall. It will be a few more years before they are mature enough for any commercial level output.


Calamansi
Calamansi trees are about hip high now. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

With all the rain, the price of rice has increased dramatically. But with the sunshine yesterday, folks were hustling to dry their newly harvested rice. The common practice hereabouts is to spread the rice on the concrete roadways to dry. But if you do that, you must pay the chicken tax.


If you dry your rice in the public roadway, you must pay the chicken tax. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## egrogan

Love that^^ I give my feathered friends some rice in a warm mash when the weather is as cold as it is here right now, and they think it’s wonderful. I think they would be willing volunteer tax collectors :wink:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

While we're on the topic of chickens, the little brown hen who has been sitting for a few weeks has hatched her brood. If all of these survive, our flock will number over a dozen. 


The little brown hen has hatched her brood. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## whisperbaby22

Here's hoping that they do. Me, I don't like chickens, and we have a neighbor who let loose a flock on us. I know they are great, but when they are unwanted they do a lot of damage.


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## walkinthewalk

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> While we're on the topic of chickens, the little brown hen who has been sitting for a few weeks has hatched her brood. If all of these survive, our flock will number over a dozen. Flickr


Look at those cute little peeps!!!! How are they by now?

My issue with chickens, is they used to peck the dickens out of my hands when I would gather eggs ---- I was five years old --- on my parents farm --- plus it was my job to clean, grade, candle, and pack the eggs for sale --- that meant do not break any------ mom was always excited for a double yoker as these could not be sold.

My last neighbor had exotic chickens. They were really pretty. He kept them in a rolling chicken coop which I loved because they did a whazoo job of keeping the tick population down. 

The new neighbor in that same house also has chickens but they keep theirs locked up in a stationary chicken house. We are still having below freezing weather and these latest neighbors just had a baby, so I hope they remember to keep a heat lamp in the chicken coop and keep their water unfrozen---


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## Cordillera Cowboy

whisperbaby22 said:


> Here's hoping that they do. Me, I don't like chickens, and we have a neighbor who let loose a flock on us. I know they are great, but when they are unwanted they do a lot of damage.


Yes. You do have to manage things. Around here, some folks will put up a temporary fence or something to keep the chickens off of young, newly sprouted vegetables. The chickens will scratch them up and eat them. After the plants are mature, they let the chickens at them to pick bugs off of them. 


*Walk*, so far they're doing well. This batch is about a week old now. The other batch is a month old. the survivors have started fledging, and are big enough now to be fairly safe.


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## whisperbaby22

I don't mean to denigrate chickens. I like chickens that are properly cared for by neighbors. But when these loose ones get in my yard, they scratch up my plants and eat all my earthworms. It's just something that I have to put up with.


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## QtrBel

How do they deal with the chicken leavings while they are collecting their due? I'm trying to decide if peeps are in our future this year. We lost several when someone forgot the pen open a couple of nights in a row. Nothing that screams Winner Winner chicken dinner like an open door. 

It's been so long since I have had a good pomelo. Can't get them to take here. Not without a greenhouse at any rate. I can get them and avocados up and growing then about every third year we get hit with an early or late hard freeze and they are gone. Same with limes. I have found a lemon that does ok with just some die back and the satsuma and grapefruit are in a really protected spot so just tip burn. Don't know how we'll fare this year. This is the worst it has been in 18/20 years... The calamondin did great for years then it was lost to a late freeze 3 years ago.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

whisperbaby22 said:


> I don't mean to denigrate chickens. I like chickens that are properly cared for by neighbors. But when these loose ones get in my yard, they scratch up my plants and eat all my earthworms. It's just something that I have to put up with.


You shouldn't have to put up with it. Livestock and other animals and their actions are the responsibility of the owners. Some years ago, before we moved here permanently, a cow I owned was part of a herd that got into a neighbors cornfield. I, and the other owner had to pay damages and split the cost of the labor to collect those cows and bring them home. Not sure what your options are where you live.


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## boots

I was thinking of you and your wife today when I heard of the likelihood of a volcanic eruption. 

Hoping all is well in your neighborhood.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

*Boots*, The Mayon volcano is a bit under 500 miles south of us. With the prevailing east to west winds, we likely won't even smell the smoke. It is, I think the most active of the volcanoes in the archipelago. Last eruption was about 5 years ago. That one killed 5 people hiking on the slopes. 


Officials are being proactive and evacuating local folks most likely to be in danger.


On a side note, I seem to be learning about Philippine geography by responding to friends and relatives concerned about various natural disasters.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

*Qtrbel,* I don't think they do anything special. At least at this level. I've no idea what, if anything, is done after it is sold and shipped in bulk to the large commercial mills for sale in the stores. There have been no scandals regarding food borne illnesses related to rice that I'm aware of either. 


Our own rice is directly from my mother-in-law's farm. It's dried in a similar fashion, though on a larger scale, and stored in 50 kilo sacks at her house. When we need rice, we take one of those sacks to a small local mill. 


Food safety is achieved by washing, then cooking at an appropriate temperature.


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## whisperbaby22

Due to the situation I have no recourse with the chickens. But I do have a word about the rice. As with hay, rice (and the barley, beans etc.) that I buy in small sacks here in the states clearly says that the product is "natural" and that you should give a close look at the food before cooking to sort out anything that should not be there. 

Same thing with hay, and hay cubes. It is a natural product and you have to check it out a bit yourself.


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## egrogan

Chickens do love to investigate appealing new territory. I was mortified a couple of years ago when mine became obsessed with a particular patch of my neighbors yard and tore it to shreds in a matter of hours. He was very gracious about it when he came over, but he was pretty direct that he was not happy that they had scratched a big patch of his front yard bare. Of course we paid to have it reseeded, and we installed those little wire edging fences along the driveway where they had crossed into his yard- and brought him over a ton of eggs! They still do occasionally decide that his bugs are better than ours, so in the summer I tend to only let them free range supervised so I can chase them back home if they wander too much. That has the added advantage of being a little safer in terms of predators, since we have them coming by land and by air.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say that there _are _responsible ways to free range your chickens, but it does take some intentionality.

Hope your little broods continue to thrive @CordilleraCowboy!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

QtrBel said:


> .....
> It's been so long since I have had a good pomelo. Can't get them to take here. Not without a greenhouse at any rate. I can get them and avocados up and growing then about every third year we get hit with an early or late hard freeze and they are gone. Same with limes. I have found a lemon that does ok with just some die back and the satsuma and grapefruit are in a really protected spot so just tip burn. Don't know how we'll fare this year. This is the worst it has been in 18/20 years... The calamondin did great for years then it was lost to a late freeze 3 years ago.



I'm still befuddled by the huge variety of tropical fruits, most of which I'd never heard of till I got here. I'd never seen or heard of a pomelo until I got to Europe. Those I think were imported from Israel. 


Our ranch is very much a his and hers operation. The goodewyfe is in charge of the horticulture, and I tend to the livestock. Our orchards are on separate hillsides. A small patch at the top is in pomelo. The largest area is in calamansi. The other hill is a mix match of fruits, mostly rambutan. Along with that are several different ones that I've never heard of. I call it fruit salad hill. When I ask, the description I get for these things is that "it's like an orange, but different."


I've spent my whole life in temperate climates. I had no idea that citrus trees had thorns. I recall a few years ago, reaching enthusiastically for a lemon. I thought I'd been snakebit!


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## whisperbaby22

I like fruit salad hill. And yes, where I live citrus does very well, and a lot of it has big thorns. I have to be very careful when I trim.


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## QtrBel

I love that...Fruit Salad Hill. My favorite Christmas dessert is a fruit salad made with mandarin oranges. Citrus used to be very big here until the late 70's when freezes took out the groves and no one went back. The root stock though remained and still pops up all over. Talk about thorns. It was used at A&M to hedge around their ( I want to say) central utility plant. Great for birds. Most of the homegrown satsuma and orange varieties here are thornless to make them more user friendly.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Critter update. The heifer that likes to test the fence has earned a new necklace. 


Anti escape necklace by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## PoptartShop

Awwww how cute.


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## whisperbaby22

Good idea.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had a small harvest of cardis. These are beans that grow on a tree. We will get about 120 Philippine pesos per kilo for them after they are shelled. 


image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our experiment with warm weather strawberries seems to be working. We put them on an east facing slope, so they get morning sun, but are protected from the harsh afternoon rays. We will eventually have to move them to protect the fruit from the chickens. 


image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The pepper patch.


image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our neighbors were in their mango trees wrapping the young fruits with paper to protect them, I think from birds and insects. 


Local folks call this a money tree.


Young mangoes protected with paper. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Knave

I love this round of pictures! I think the money tree is amazing! I didn’t know growing mangos was so much work.


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## QtrBel

Me either. I was raised in an area where rice is grown but what we were taught to check for was small rocks. Same for beans - rocks were what we looked for. Still do. Love the latest pics. Here the trees are kept small enough to net for protection. Couldn't do that if you were growing commercially so I wondered how they protected them.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Went up to the ranch yesterday. Had a thunderstorm the night before, and the river was up. To risky to try crossing with the truck, so we hiked up. Looking ahead at putting in fences for pasture division, I counted the posts on our one interior fence. In the process, I found a wooden post rotted out. Got to change that one with a concrete post here pretty quick. 


River is up. Too deep for the truck. We have to walk up. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


Two of our three hens are sitting on eggs. The other one still has youngsters following her around. The brown one in this photo had been laying in the flower garden, and not sitting on the eggs. Looks like she has decided to join the crowd. 


Two hens sitting now. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


And, now that the sun is out more, we get more stations on our wide screen TV. This is a show called cloud shadows. 


Cloud shadows by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

I LOVE your pictures! I know it's a pain to stop what you're doing and take them but please don't stop, lollol

Your road looks similar to the flooding in my area. Middle Tennessee's February rainfall was 10.31" and the third highest for February since *18*90.

The creek at the bottom of my road has at least 15 foot banks on the north side of the bridge (in the cattle pasture). It was well over the banks, into the pasture, into the lower part of their barn, and completely covered the hayfield on the other side of the bridge. We have been here 15 years and never saw the creek go over the banks at that spot.

I like your chicken baskets! Unless they were inside a coop they wouldn't be functional where I live, thanks to Hawks, Owls, fox, snakes and others but they are cute as the dickens

Are you saying the pretty cloud picture is from your TV!? Coulda fooled me, lollol

Stay safe in that water. My first thought is the snakes are busy in there----


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## egrogan

I agree, love those little broody baskets!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk We call the view from the shady area underneath our little house our wide screen TV. The cloud shadow photos are the view, more or less, to our east. Here is Mount Palawi, roughly to the southeast, viewed from the same vantage point. 


Mount Palali. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## QtrBel

I love coming here to see the photos! Something new every time. May have to see if we can make some broodie baskets.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I've mentioned the cardis beans lately. The trees are still producing. I'm not familiar with them, so I don't know how long it will last. We've been selling some, and using some to add to our larder. We're getting nothing near commercial quantities. The sales are basically keeping me in beer money. 


They look similar to peas, but taste more like a rich, earthy bean.


Shelled cardis. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


Here are the trees. 


Cardis by Paul McKee, on Flickr


Cardis by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

Ok, "Enquiring" minds want to know --- what kind of beer


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> Ok, "Enquiring" minds want to know --- what kind of beer


I prefer the local brew, San Miguel. There is another, called Red Horse. but it is bitter, and the selling point is the high alcohol content. Red Horse is rather popular with the drink till you drop crowd. I make it a point to avoid those situations.


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## walkinthewalk

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> I prefer the local brew, San Miguel. There is another, called Red Horse. but it is bitter, and the selling point is the high alcohol content. Red Horse is rather popular with the drink till you drop crowd. I make it a point to avoid those situations.


Whew! Handy as you are, I was waiting to hear you brewed your own beer, lollol

omce upon a time, when I was married to my son's father, it was tradition for several years that all the siblings (8) gathered for Sunday dinner at his parents home.

We were all enjoying a delicious roast beef dinner, when all of a sudden we started hearing "gun fire" in the basement --- it was a big batch of beer gone amuk and the caps were popping off, lollol. 

Pop was going to surprise all his sons with home made beer after dinner but the surprise was on him when most of the bottles exploded and the boys refused to drink the ones that didn't, lollol


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I ain't all that handy. Most of the real work up on the ranch is done by our caretaker and the occasional day laborer. 


I've never been a big beer drinker. I just try some til I find one that doesn't taste too bad, and stick with it. I prefer wine, and the occasional bit of whiskey. I did bring my wine making kit with me. It's still packed away. I plan to start with mango wine, then maybe branch out from that. 


Here's the last batch I made from our big strawberry patch back in the States. I did make one batch that popped a cork or two. One bottle of that batch, I had given to my parents as a Christmas gift. 


strawberry wine by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

No rain for a couple days, but cloudy and cool. took advantage of it and trimmed the rear hooves on the little horse. Forecast is for more of the same for the next few days. I'll get the fronts tomorrow. Wandered around checking on stuff afterwards. Here's some young papayas, and papaya blossoms. I'd never seen papaya blossoms before. 
young papayas by Paul McKee, on Flickr


papaya blossoms by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Trim day for the little horse.


Hoof trim day by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

Skippy sure is a sweet little thing. That's a long way to bend down --- seems like a couple of brewskis should be in order.

I am always so grateful when my farrier gets here, lol. She was here yesterday. Boy the stories she tells ---- she is disillusioned with some of her clients because their horses have thrush and they "just don't have the time" to fuss with the hooves. 

One person called her to re-set his horse's shoes ---- after *5-1/2 MONTHS!*. She thought he found another farrier and he thinks she is the greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly because her shoes stayed on for 5-1/2 months ---

***
Your papaya blossoms are pretty --- they sort of remind me of lilies


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> Skippy sure is a sweet little thing. That's a long way to bend down --- seems like a couple of brewskis should be in order.
> 
> I am always so grateful when my farrier gets here, lol. She was here yesterday. Boy the stories she tells ---- she is disillusioned with some of her clients because their horses have thrush and they "just don't have the time" to fuss with the hooves.
> 
> One person called her to re-set his horse's shoes ---- after *5-1/2 MONTHS!*. She thought he found another farrier and he thinks she is the greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly because her shoes stayed on for 5-1/2 months ---
> 
> ***
> Your papaya blossoms are pretty --- they sort of remind me of lilies


She's pretty good for trimming. No fight to it, just leaning and sinking down. I figure from never having had to stand on three legs, and being rather weak muscled all over. 


The ivermectin is due at the end of the month. I'll see if she picks up after that before I try to push her much physically. 


And yes. Tylenol and a couple brews for me afterwards.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I've mentioned our wide screen TV before. Here are some of the programs we like to watch.


This one is called Rain Column Marching up the Valley


Rain column by Paul McKee, on Flickr


There is also the exciting interactive show, Storm's a Comin'!
image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


That one is often followed by one called Rainbows Across the Valley


image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


image by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## walkinthewalk

Wowzer! I have never seen "the end of the rainbow"! 

The last picture is glorious and surely looks like that is where the Pot of Gold is to be found!

What beautiful scenery you are privileged to enjoy


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## whisperbaby22

Yes, it really is beautiful.


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## whisperbaby22

Yes, it really is beautiful.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Sometimes I get frustrated with this or that. Then, I look up, and breathe. I wouldn't have it any other way.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

*I'm as good once as I ever was.*

I haven't updated this thread for a while. 


The bull calf outgrew his halter. It was squeezing his head and face, and the only safe way to get it off was to snub him to a tree and cut it off. Our caretaker and farm manager got a rope onto the halter and picketed him to a post near the cow shed where he could get water and be easily fed. The next day, the caretaker and I snubbed him to a nearby tree. 


Since the rope holding him was attached to the halter I was cutting off, I also put a lariat on him and took a hitch around the tree. We couldn't snub him as close as I really wanted, so he had a bit of room to fight. With Mr. Escobar holding the ropes secure, I danced with the bull from one side of the tree to the other and got the halter off and some purple first aid spray on to where it had rubbed him. In the process, I managed to nick my lariat with the knife. 


Once the halter was off, the only thing holding him was the frayed lariat. I still needed to get the picket rope on his neck. I managed that with another dance around the tree. The lariat was ruined already, so I just cut it to speed things up. 


Mr. Escobar wisely asked me to go on about other business while he stayed and waited for the bull to calm down. I took the horse up to the corral, then sat in the shade of the house to cool down. I soaked my kerchief in the rain barrel and put it on my head, and drank about a gallon of water. 


Later, I fiddled with the horse a bit. Just grooming, and picking out her feet. The municipal veterinarian is coming out mid week for worming and vaccinating all around. He is worried that the horse will kick, so we've been working on tying up a hind foot. Skippy takes it all in stride. 


The bull calf a couple days before we did our dance.


The bull calf, May, 2018. by Paul McKee, on Flickr


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The municipal veterinarian came out last Tuesday. Got the heifer wormed and vaccinated in short order. The bull calf was more problematic. We had him picketed to a tree. I wanted to put a second rope on him for insurance. The helpers asked if they could try to get him closer to the tree by coaxing him more gently. I prefer working gently with animals so I held off with the lasso. The booger managed to get one horn out of his neck rope. He eventually slipped the whole thing off and bolted for the woods. 


The vet is scheduled to come back in a month to brand the heifer. I wasn't going to risk injury to my crew by chasing the bull through the bamboo thickets, so we will take care of him when the vet comes back at the end of June. 


In the meantime, the guys got the picket rope back on him when they called him up for feed time the next day. The knucklehead has earned himself a life on the end of a picket rope for at least the next month. The guys are handling him daily, and we will build an expedient chute in a shady area for the next round. 


Got the little horse wormed as well. She is doing well free ranging in the pasture. I'm already seeing a bit of definition in the hindquarter muscles from having to walk the hills to graze. We'll see how she picks up weight, now that she's been wormed.


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## Loner

Reminds me of West Va. where I grew up.Nice.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Loner said:


> Reminds me of West Va. where I grew up.Nice.


I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. When our son visited and saw the place for the first time, he asked "Did you choose this place 'cause it looks like Virginia?"


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We are at the height of the dry season. I went exploring in the forested area of the ranch to see how the creek was doing downstream from the main springs and pond. I followed the cow path through the forest. It led to a nice bamboo thicket and a dry creek bed. That eventually led to the main creek. Dry except for some springs. 


Jumped a bittern off her nest. She hopped away doing the broken wing act. Saw one of the owls, and found one of their roosts.


The water situation at this part of the pasture helped solidify my ideas for pasture division and management. Until I get more rainwater catchment systems in place, this area will become a rainy season only area. At present, the area where water is abundant is getting overgrazed. Next big project will be another cross fence to separate the two areas.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We used the Filipino V shaped cattle chute to vaccinate the bull calf and brand the heifer. 


The municipal veterinarian brought a crew from the department of agriculture with him to help out. 


It's only one cow, but I have a feeling of satisfaction knowing that livestock is once again carrying our family brand.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The brand is healing well.


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## walkinthewalk

The grand looks great!

The heifer looks a lot healthier than when you first brought her home!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> The grand looks great!
> 
> The heifer looks a lot healthier than when you first brought her home!


Thanks Walk,


Most of the large livestock I see are kept on a picket rope all day, and tied into a tiny stall at night. I think that many of them do not get adequate graze unless they are moved frequently during the day. I suspect that they don't get water until they are brought in at night. The other day, I was driving home in a tropical downpour. I saw a cow picketed in a vacant city lot that had moved to the limits of the picket rope to get a little water from a puddle on the sidewalk. 


We kept ours picketed at first to get them used to the surroundings and to us. But they are doing much better roaming the pasture at will.


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## trailhorserider

I love reading this thread! :smile:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

trailhorserider said:


> I love reading this thread! :smile:


Thanks @trailhorserider!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I was asked on another thread about snakes and such on our place. The last time I mentioned the snakes hereabouts, folks ran away screaming. So here is your fair warning:


This post is about snakes. There will probably be a photo near the bottom. 


A friend of mine from the States is biologist, specializing in herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). By chance, he is married to a lady from our local area. His circle of friends include Filipino naturalists and herpetologists. Naturally, his visits here are characterized by field trips into the forest looking for snakes and such. He and his buddies have been invaluable to me in sorting out fact from fiction regarding the few snakes I’ve encountered here.


When we first got our ranch property, I announced my intention of tracing our creek through the forest. The locals warned me, “Be careful. There’s snakes there. Green snakes.” The only green snake I was aware of was the harmless garden snake of North America. Turns out the Philippine viper is about the same size and shade of green. It packs a punch similar to the copperhead of the American Southeast. I haven’t seen any on our place, but I gather they are at least partly nocturnal.


Not long ago, a beautiful small snake of black and iridescent blue, with a bright red/orange belly, simply dropped out of a tree next to our caretaker. He calmly scooped it up in a bucket. I think he would have killed it, except that he knows that I and my friends are interested in wildlife. This one turned out to be a Philippine coral snake. Related to the poisonous coral snake of North America, but with no record of ever biting a human. Its preferred diet is baby cobras. I instructed our caretaker to release the snake in the bamboo grove on the back side of the property.


More recently, I was sorting through some balikbayan boxes full of horse and farm gear in the storage shed. I found the unmistakable signs of a mouse infestation. I continued pulling stuff out of the box and found a dead mouse.


Freshly dead.


Still limp.


I continued pulling stuff out of the box but jumped back when I saw coils of greenish brown snake. I had apparently interrupted its lunch. After I had recovered my breath, I drug the box outside and dumped it. The snake and I did a little dance while we were deciding who was going to run in which direction.
Thinking I may have encountered a cobra, I described it to my friends. They assured me that it was a Philippine rat snake. They can grow rather long, but are helpful, as evidenced by its menu choice in my shed.


In the course of identifying the rat snake, I learned that the Philippine cobra has a somewhat short, stocky body. I already knew they were spitting cobras, with accuracy out to about 3 meters. But I learned that before they will spit, they will stand up and spread their hood. Plenty of warning for me to get out of range.


The coral snake and the rat snake are the only two I’ve seen on my own. The green vipers and pythons I’ve seen were captured by local folks for the benefit of my herpetologist friends.


I try to live and let live. My goodewyfe, not so much. She will hack a rope to pieces if she thinks it’s a snake.


Sorry, I'll have to dig for the photo.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Addendum to the above post about snakes. The only other snakes I've seen have been the green viper, and a few pythons, courtesy of the neighbors showing them off to my herpetologist friends .


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## Rawhide

Again thanks for sharein info .
I know you know if you tangle with one up close wear goggles or good covered protective eyewear . They are known to spit venom up up to 9 feet like you mentioned .  , and supposeably make like a real loud almost like a bark when propped up and strikeing . Yes the Phillippine cobra can be one tough customer . I had read somewhere that their trying to protect it or have already put it on like an endangered list . Seems to me though there are still plenty of them . If you ever send me a saddle in a box from over there I will open it with one of my 12 gauge in my hands with a set of goggles on !!!! :smile: just in case one of those slips through customs ..............


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## PoptartShop

One of my favorite threads to follow.


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## walkinthewalk

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Addendum to the above post about snakes. The only other snakes I've seen have been the green viper, and a few pythons, courtesy of the neighbors showing them off to my herpetologist friends .


When my son's father was in Nam, a "Seven Stepper" dropped out of the trees onto his bayonet. They also called it a Bamboo Viper. Would your Green Viper be a relative?

Regarding the harmless little green snakes in the S.E. U.S.:

We were newly settled on this property and I was mowing under the trees up on the ridge. I was on our new garden tractor; the JD hadn't come to live with us yet. One of those little green snakes dropped out of a tree onto my garden tractor. 

This was in 2004. I was 57 and divorced from my son's father since the mid-80's. All I could think of was his story of that "Seven Stepper" dropping on his bayonet and I baled off that brand new garden tractor, so fast I surprised myself; even tucking and rolling a short way down the hill, lollol

I soon learned my little green snake was friendly but I never again, got way up under those tree branches to mow, lollol.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@ Walkinthewalk If the 7 stepper is a viper, it, and the Philippine viper are likely related. Ours is not so deadly, more akin to the copperhead of the southeastern US. 


the Philippine cobra is rated one of the 3 or 4 most deadly snakes in the world. I suspect due to the remote areas where bites or envenomation (since it spits at the eyes) occur. I understand the anti venom is in short supply, and it often takes some time to get the victim and the anti venom to the same place.


At the same time, it is said to be relatively docile (for a cobra). My biologist friend recently saw the tail of a snake disappearing into the weeds. He grabbed it and picked it up, only to realize it was a Philippine cobra. One of those tiger by the tail situations. He bagged it up and took it home. He studied and photographed it for a while before releasing it back into the wild. He tried to antagonize it some to get a photo with the hood spread, but he said the snake never did act aggressively. 


I'm not terribly worried about snakes. I grew up in the US southeast, and am accustomed to being careful where I put my hands, flipping things before I pick them up, and just giving the critters the space they need so they don't need to get aggressive. That said, when the rat snake and I were dancing, trying to decide who would run in which direction. I might have hollered. Just a little.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

PoptartShop said:


> One of my favorite threads to follow.


Thank you! I'll try to keep it updated more. 


Not a lot going on right now. We've had two successive tropical storms pass between us and Japan. Taiwan took the direct hit. We only got the heavy rains those things tend to drag along with them.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The current project is pasture maintenance. We've hired 3 young fellows to chop away the woody weeds that have grown up on the hillside across the creek from the main area of the ranch. Ideally, some young tender grass will grow there with the rains, and entice the stock to spend more time there. At present, they tend to graze down one specific area. I would like to build a dividing fence, so that I can better control where they graze. But budget wise, I'm concentrating on strengthening our perimeter fencing. 


The first day of clearing, and a shot of rain clouds moving in over the farmstead.


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## Kalraii

I need to retire... yesterday. I shouldn't read your amazing thread. I have to go and face the concrete tomorrow... :'< 

Those views and that wildlife. I cannot imagine you can _ever_ get tired of them o,O.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Finally found the photo of the Philippine viper. My naturalist friends had invited me to accompany them on an expedition into the Cordilleras, in Ifugau Province. Our Kalunguya hosts captured this snake one night. The next day, it was put onto a sapling tree to photograph in a natural setting. It was later released back into the wild.


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## Rawhide

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> The current project is pasture maintenance. .


 Question do you get in that region like wild bannana trees sprouting up here and there or those on your spread were planted for food years ago and place got overgrown till you have been clearing it ? Just wondered cause to me they look like banana /plantan trees .


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> Question do you get in that region like wild bannana trees sprouting up here and there or those on your spread were planted for food years ago and place got overgrown till you have been clearing it ? Just wondered cause to me they look like banana /plantan trees .


We get the wild ones, but these were planted some years ago. If you look on the left of that photo, you can sort of make out the fence line running up the hill. The goodwife was a bit miffed at me when I ran the fence straight up the hill like that. she wanted me to go around her bananas, but I was looking at my wallet and the price of wire and labor. 


To the left of the fence is our banana grove. Those trees have been planted longer than any of our others, and so are the only ones producing enough fruit to bring in any money. Even then, it's not really a profit. A few dollars a pop. I call it my beer and tricycle money.


Here is a shot of the main part of the banana grove. And a typical harvest.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The river was up again, so I couldn't drive across. I decided to head downstream a bit to the little hanging bridge and walk up that way. Going across, I met a neighbor carrying a load of produce to sell at market. 


It had been several years since I hiked up to our place by this route. I actually missed the trail fork in the forest leading to the farm adjacent to ours, and came out across from another neighboring farm, a bit to the northeast of us. 


The wonderful thing about being retired is that there was no pressure to get to our place. I simply enjoyed the hike and made a note of the correct fork in the trail for next time. Along the route, I flushed a quail and a Philippine grass owl.


Returning across the bridge, I saw the little dog again. I called it Cerberus, though I doubt it would live up to the name.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Well. The photos from the previous post didn't show. I'll try again.


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## phantomhorse13

So pretty and lush!

Are biting insects a problem with all that green?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

phantomhorse13 said:


> So pretty and lush!
> 
> Are biting insects a problem with all that green?


To my surprise, no. So far, any skin irritation I've gotten has come from plant sources. There are some with tiny thorns and sword grass. I didn't realize that bamboo has a fuzz on it that will make you itch. 


The only troublesome insects, outside of mosquitos, are a ferocious ant. These guys will chomp down hard on ya! If you get in amongst them, the only thing to do is shuck off your clothes and brush them off your skin. Then, beat your clothes really well to get them out of those. I hate 'em, but some of the local folks will hunt for them to eat the larvae.


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## PoptartShop

Wow that is just gorgeous!!


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## SilverMaple

So pretty! Well, except for the snake. Blech.


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## whisperbaby22

Yea, living here in So Cal that green looks real pretty.


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## Rawhide

Cordillera Cowboy , Another question when and if you have seen a horse rider on a saddle over there am I correct to assume of course because of region(s) economics etc . That the probably the few saddles you have seen have been the tereque , endurance hornless types or Aussies and very few westerns if any at all ?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> Cordillera Cowboy , Another question when and if you have seen a horse rider on a saddle over there am I correct to assume of course because of region(s) economics etc . That the probably the few saddles you have seen have been the tereque , endurance hornless types or Aussies and very few westerns if any at all ?


I have seen no saddles at all in the area where we live. The only ones I've seen in person were at the Masbate Rodeo. 
https://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/saddles-masbate-rodeo-philippines-789283/


The wealthy, touristy areas tend to cater to the hunter/jumper folks, and their tack reflects it. 


Years ago, I rode on a sturdy little pony to the lip of the Taal volcano. Those saddles were sorta kinda on a western tree, but with an elongated horn like on a carousel horse, meant for non-riding tourists to hang on to. 


If you google Wright Park Saddlery, you will see Philippine made saddles with a western influence. Most of the Americans who were in that area during the American era 1896 - 1946, were from the western states due to the mining industry concentrated in the Baguio area.


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## Rawhide

Cordillera Cowboy : Hey dont know if any of ya"s are vegetarians which if anybody is it needs to be respected . However if not do you all eat much adobo, lumpia, sinigang, bistek ?
My favorite hands down however would be the lechon (pig) cooked on a rod !!!!! 
I have eaten a lot of bistek and lechon in my 60 years on the planet ............. :wink: Just wondered ????


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@Rawhide yes to all of the above. Lechon baboy (pronounced babooi) is typically the guest of honor at our Christmas festivities. Local beef (bistek) is tough and stringy. I don't eat much of that. Back stateside, all of the sinigang I had was with fish. I'm not a big fan of fish. But here in the mountains, away from the coastal areas, I've found it is also made with pork. I like that one. Adobe is an old standby. When in doubt, have the adobo. For a snack today, I had Turon. like a giant lumpia made with plantain bananas. 


Sounds like you've been here. Did you say you were stationed at Clark Airbase at one time?


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## Rawhide

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Sounds like you've been here. Did you say you were stationed at Clark Airbase at one time?


 No Sir , never been there . I have a good freind who btw new Art Bell who is from the Republic of the Philippines , and would tell me about those dishes . The lechon roast (pig on a pole) etc eating I have done comes from the very heavy latin culture and influence of S Fla (both coasts) .
Also the somewhat tough ,stringy meat you describe (bistek) around here they call "tasajo" . Me myself also steer away from havein to eat it . In some places like Cuba I have been told its made usually from horsemeat because of lack of beef .


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Today I went up to the ranch. For the first time in a few weeks, the river was passable for the pickup truck. However, a neighbor who is building a house had several loads of sand and gravel dropped in the narrow roadway leading up to our place. Not really an unusual thing here. They'll turn that into cement and mortar pretty quick. But I turned around and parked in the barangay. Added another kilometer to the 2 click hike up from the river. 


I decided to take the shortcut, which runs down through the banana grove to the creek, then up the hill on the steps cut into the hillside to the farmhouse. We call those our stair master exerciser. 


I gave the little horse a hoof trim. Skippy and the cows have formed a little herd. Skippy doesn't like being separated from the cows. I thought the cows didn't really give a hoot. But today, they waited patiently by the gate till I brought her back. Then, they all meandered happily away.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I haven't been able to get the pickup truck up to the ranch for a couple weeks or so. First, the river was up from the heavy rains. Now that the sun is out again, the Barangay (village) has started a road improvement project that blocks vehicle traffic going that way. no big problem. I just park down below and walk up. 


Yesterday, I needed to get some supplies up there. Rice bran for the hoofed stock, chicken feed, and some gas for the grass cutters. Dennis, our ranch manager, brought his carabao down. we met at the construction site and transferred the supplies to his Carabao sled. Mission accomplished!


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## Knave

That is the neatest thing!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

What do you do when your favorite horse takes a bite out of your favorite hat, then laughs about it behind your back?


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## Rawhide

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> What do you do when your favorite horse takes a bite out of your favorite hat, then laughs about it behind your back?


 Count your blessings , and guard your ears they could be next !!!! LOL


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> Count your blessings , and guard your ears they could be next !!!! LOL


Actually, the hat was hanging on the tree the horse is tied to. I was cleaning hooves, and had just set the last one down, when I heard the crunch.


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## whisperbaby22

Oh that's too funny.


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## PoptartShop

LOL @ the last picture. Too funny!! :rofl:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rainy season is drawing to a close. We have a small crew doing the annual erosion control work on the steep part of our access road. It was still passable, but some of the ruts had become deep enough to bottom out the truck if a tire slipped into them. 


Biggest concern is the river crossing. whenever there is a heavy rain in the mountains, the high water deposits a bank of sand onto our road where it exits the river on our side. 


The solution would be a bridge. So far, the barangay council is not in a hurry to fund such a project. There is some talk of it, but the timeline seems to be 10 years into the future. 


Here are the views of both sides yesterday. The high water mark from the rains earlier this week are just beyond the blue water can on the one side, and just past the motorcycle on the other.


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## trailhorserider

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> What do you do when your favorite horse takes a bite out of your favorite hat, then laughs about it behind your back?



That's the greatest photo ever!


I love hearing about your ranch. And it's so beautiful and green there.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks @trailhorserider!


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## whisperbaby22

Man, that is a problem. How deep is the water in these photos?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@whisperbaby22 The white rock in the top photo is my flood gauge. When the top is visible like that, the water is well over the running board, and there may have been a hole scoured out deeper than that. The day before this photo, the rock was completely covered. Probably halfway up the door of the truck.


At the end of the dry season, the riverbed is completely dry.


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## whisperbaby22

Well it is such a lovely place, maybe it's a good problem to have.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

whisperbaby22 said:


> Well it is such a lovely place, maybe it's a good problem to have.


It's just the rhythm of life in the rural tropics. 


You can click on the Inner Earth link in my signature to see more about it.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our ranch manager harvested his corn this weekend. This is his field, as seen from our front gate. The small dots of color in the cut part of the field are bags filled with harvested ears of corn. The dots of color in the standing corn, upper left of the brown field, are the workers.


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## SueC

Hello, @Cordillera Cowboy! :wave:

Your photos and stories are always so interesting, I thought I'd subscribe to your ranch journal.

Have a super day. :cowboy:


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## SueC

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> What do you do when your favorite horse takes a bite out of your favorite hat, then laughs about it behind your back?


Add some bling to the rim where the bite mark is. A nice rose perhaps. Or a sunflower. Or whatever you like. Value-adding your hat!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks @SueC!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Not really farm related but, I attended a wedding celebration at the home of one our uphill neighbors today. These folks are of the Ifugau ethnic group, and proudly continue their indigenous traditions. 


A great pavilion was erected adjacent to the house. A generator provided power for a DJ who played traditional Native music, interspersed only occasionally with a waltz, or a George Jones tearjerker. No matter the tune, the participants preferred dancing in the Native style, swaying with arms outstretched, hands and feet moving with the beat. 


We were fed mountains of rice and pork. All was served on sections of banana tree trunk, and washed down with newly made rice wine. 


Among the various indigenous people of the Cordillera, the quality of a wedding is measured by the number of pigs butchered to feed the guests. This was a seven pig wedding.


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## SueC

Seven pig wedding! :rofl:


Wonderful story and photos.  It's so nice to hear from places in the world which have special traditions not eroded by this sort of cultural homogenisation that's been going on...


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## Rawhide

SueC said:


> Seven pig wedding! :rofl:
> 
> Ms Sue dont laugh ! 7 pig wedding always better than "shotgun wedding " ........................ I know I have attended both !


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## SueC

Dear @Rawhide, I'm pretty much always laughing! :rofl: I was laughing in delight, rather than laughing _at_.  Was there an _actual_ shotgun present at your shindig? Was anyone looking thunderous?


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## Rawhide

SueC said:


> Dear @Rawhide, I'm pretty much always laughing! :rofl: I was laughing in delight, rather than laughing _at_.  Was there an _actual_ shotgun present at your shindig? Was anyone looking thunderous?


 I knew that Ms Sue .Still lol myself ! :lol: No shotgun but the brides father had some brassnucks on with his hand in the pocket of his tuxedo ! :biggrin:


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## SueC

mg: @Rawhide! :rofl:


Weddings sometimes bring out the worst in people. Don't get me started on certain mothers who like to opine that the bride is some scarlet woman who is corrupting her _angelically pure boy_... :rofl: I've seen that one at least twice! Psychology books have lots to say about it! :rofl:


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## QueenYaYa

That is too cool!!! Looking forward to updates!


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## Rawhide

Hey Cordillera Cowboy ! I was wondering if you have seen or is it a custom down there @ childrens parties to have a Piñata (if affordable by famalie) as is commonly seen in a spanish / south American childrens parties and cultures ? Just a wondering .............


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> Hey Cordillera Cowboy ! I was wondering if you have seen or is it a custom down there @ childrens parties to have a Piñata (if affordable by famalie) as is commonly seen in a spanish / south American childrens parties and cultures ? Just a wondering .............


I have seen that from time to time among some of the folks who retain a heavy Spanish influence. My experience is primarily on Luzon. Here, the Spanish influence is most obvious among the Tagalog and Ilocano speaking folks. In my one trip off Luzon, I went to the rodeo on the Island of Masbate. I was only there for a week, but I noticed a Spanish influence in the folk dances there. 


Pinatas I have seen here are not the heavily decorated paper mache shapes. Instead, a clay pot is suspended by a rope, and attacked by the children.


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## waresbear

Esa feista makes me jealous!!!


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## Rawhide

waresbear said:


> Esa feista makes me jealous!!!


Don"t be celosa "Princesa" your avatar pic is breathtaking !!! :wave:


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## waresbear

Who wouldn't be jealous of a wedding party up in the mountains of a tropical country?


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## Rawhide

Remember when in outdoorsy environments if you have any put rope "surrounding" on ground around your live in area/ trailer /sleeping tent /lawn chairs etc to discourage "SNAKES" from crawling near or on Ya"s !!! especially
when sleeping ! :lol: even bad a$$ " True Grit " did it ! A tip from our western heritage past many seem to forget ! Still lol ......
All kidding aside there was a minor personal study on this and it appears high dollar larger size mane hair mecates work best !!!
Who knows might save someone from an encounter with a rattler /Philippine Viper / or the infamous Aussie Eastern brown snake !!!
" I was doing the math on how many feet of high dollar mane hair mecate I might have an I"d say maybe 100 ' in total if I tie em end to end . One might say or ask "why you bring this up in this thread " ? AH great question ! Answer : Lets not never let our guard down and forget about the "Philippine Viper" !!! Can I get an Amen ? Any encounters lately Mr Cordillera Cowboy ?
Or are they or any experiences with piranhas ?


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## SueC

Are there piranhas in the Phillipines? If so, could you please send us some, @Cordillera Cowboy? Brett and I have a little fantasy about digging a moat around our place and stocking it with hungry piranhas! :rofl:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Snakes simply haven't been much of an issue. Here is a cut and paste from my last post on the topic. Nothing has really changed since then. My herpetologist friends are due back next summer. Word tends to get out that they are around and local folks start bringing snakes to them.

" A friend of mine from the States is biologist, specializing in herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). By chance, he is married to a lady from our local area. His circle of friends include Filipino naturalists and herpetologists. Naturally, his visits here are characterized by field trips into the forest looking for snakes and such. He and his buddies have been invaluable to me in sorting out fact from fiction regarding the few snakes I’ve encountered here.


When we first got our ranch property, I announced my intention of tracing our creek through the forest. The locals warned me, “Be careful. There’s snakes there. Green snakes.” The only green snake I was aware of was the harmless garden snake of North America. Turns out the Philippine viper is about the same size and shade of green. It packs a punch similar to the copperhead of the American Southeast. I haven’t seen any on our place, but I gather they are at least partly nocturnal.


Not long ago, a beautiful small snake of black and iridescent blue, with a bright red/orange belly, simply dropped out of a tree next to our caretaker. He calmly scooped it up in a bucket. I think he would have killed it, except that he knows that I and my friends are interested in wildlife. This one turned out to be a Philippine coral snake. Related to the poisonous coral snake of North America, but with no record of ever biting a human. Its preferred diet is baby cobras. I instructed our caretaker to release the snake in the bamboo grove on the back side of the property.


More recently, I was sorting through some balikbayan boxes full of horse and farm gear in the storage shed. I found the unmistakable signs of a mouse infestation. I continued pulling stuff out of the box and found a dead mouse.


Freshly dead.


Still limp.


I continued pulling stuff out of the box but jumped back when I saw coils of greenish brown snake. I had apparently interrupted its lunch. After I had recovered my breath, I drug the box outside and dumped it. The snake and I did a little dance while we were deciding who was going to run in which direction.
Thinking I may have encountered a cobra, I described it to my friends. They assured me that it was a Philippine rat snake. They can grow rather long, but are helpful, as evidenced by its menu choice in my shed.


In the course of identifying the rat snake, I learned that the Philippine cobra has a somewhat short, stocky body. I already knew they were spitting cobras, with accuracy out to about 3 meters. But I learned that before they will spit, they will stand up and spread their hood. Plenty of warning for me to get out of range.


The coral snake and the rat snake are the only two I’ve seen on my own. The green vipers and pythons I’ve seen were captured by local folks for the benefit of my herpetologist friends.


I try to live and let live. My goodewyfe, not so much. She will hack a rope to pieces if she thinks it’s a snake."


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Oh. And piranhas are a South American species I believe. It's pretty much unheard of to find any fish larger than a minnow in the fresh water hereabouts. Generations of unregulated hunting and fishing has wiped out most game. We don't hear of folks dynamite fishing around here anymore. It was common when the Goodewyfe was a child. 


Not long ago, I noticed some minnows, a bit smaller than my pinky finger in the pool below the dam at our river crossing. The next day, there was a family in the pool electro fishing. The gather had a battery pack on his back. Attached to that was a metal pole. He turned on the juice, and stuck the pole into the water, stunning the fish. The mother scooped them up with a dip net. The kids scrambled after anything downstream from the mother. 


If there were piranhas here, they wouldn't last long.


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## Rawhide

Yeah I just asked cause I came across this :


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## Rawhide

How about any sightings on the rare Endangered Philippine eagles ? Or I would imagine there in another region ?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> How about any sightings on the rare Endangered Philippine eagles ? Or I would imagine there in another region ?


We have at least one nesting pairs of Philippine grass owls on our place. From the owl pellets I've found, I'd say their favored prey are red toothed shrews. 


I've seen other raptors cruising the skies around us. My naturalist friends tell me not to be surprised if one of them turns out to be a Philippine eagle. We are in their home range. 


Some small, fast raptor made off with some of our first baby chicks. Then, the successful hens learned to keep to the bushes til the chicks got pullet size. 


I hadn't heard of the smuggled piranhas. Not surprised though. It's not uncommon for some folks to bring in some novelty creature, then they get loose in the local environment.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Spent a down day watching the boarding house while our house matron took the day off. Got a bit of writing done, and a (somewhat crude) modification done to the bareback pad we use on the little horse. I added a ring for attaching a crupper. The pad slides up over the withers and up the neck when we are going down a steep hill. 


Now to find or make a crupper.


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## Zexious

Looking forward to seeing more of your additions--and to seeing your little horse model it! c:


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## SueC

Pipe lagging might be helpful for DIY.










It's the same material used on commercial harness racing cruppers. Flexible wire to make the shape and some way to connect it to a strap...


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## whisperbaby22

To continue the conversation about the saddles, the good thing about the ones I use is that if they don't work out - they don't cost an arm and a leg, and you are not left with trying to sell a saddle you don't like to try to recoup some of your costs. 

The soft saddle will fit any horse, on yours it might look a bit big, but with a breast plate would be fairly secure. No way to put a crupper on it, but this saddle is like sitting on a cloud, and even though I don't use it much it's pretty old and still feels brand new.

The natural ride will fit any horse that's not to mutton withered, on your horse it would simply be a matter of putting enough pads under it until it fit. You could probably fit a crupper to it. This saddle is very secure, will last forever (unless your horse goes over backwards on it and cracks it) and can be adjusted to fit other horses. If you are interested I will put up some photos of the set up that I am currently using with some adjustments I didn't put into my review.


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## whisperbaby22

To continue the conversation about the saddles, the good thing about the ones I use is that if they don't work out - they don't cost an arm and a leg, and you are not left with trying to sell a saddle you don't like to try to recoup some of your costs. 

The soft saddle will fit any horse, on yours it might look a bit big, but with a breast plate would be fairly secure. No way to put a crupper on it, but this saddle is like sitting on a cloud, and even though I don't use it much it's pretty old and still feels brand new.

The natural ride will fit any horse that's not to mutton withered, on your horse it would simply be a matter of putting enough pads under it until it fit. You could probably fit a crupper to it. This saddle is very secure, will last forever (unless your horse goes over backwards on it and cracks it) and can be adjusted to fit other horses. If you are interested I will put up some photos of the set up that I am currently using with some adjustments I didn't put into my review.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe arrived last week. On the same day as typhoon Yutu. This one passed directly over our place, though we were well south of it in Manila. 


Lots of trees and branches were scattered about, and some power lines knocked down nearby. Up on the ranch, we lost most of the banana trees, and a shade tree near the house, as well as a big beautiful tree down by the creek. Our dirty kitchen (local slang for a simple outdoor cooking area) was blown down, as was a little thatch roofed cow shed. Our little Native house stood firm.


Bananas grow back fast. The other trees will be cut up for fire wood and fence posts. All told, we lost nothing that won't grow back or be rebuilt easily. 


Walking our ground yesterday, the goodewyfe found some wild mushrooms. We also salvaged some bananas and banana blossoms from the down trees. The unripe papayas from another down tree were cooked into a stew for our lunch. the ones too small for us were fed to the chickens.


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## SueC

That house interior is so lovely - great timber wall too! Sorry that you had some storm damage and have to clean up and rebuild some things. It's great that your house is still standing. We had a magnitude 5.4 earthquake here on Friday morning, but it wasn't much different from the horses gallopping around the house, which they often do! No damage (from horses or earthquake!).


And your wife has such excellent posture when working near the ground. I must keep that in mind for my gardening!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe bought some furniture. The little Native house is starting to feel like a home, rather than a camp.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We're spending most of our days up on the ranch, and our nights with the goodewyfe's elderly mother down on her farm. That means only spotty internet access. Each weekend, I relieve our house matron at the student boarding house so she can have a day off. That is when I can open my computer and make updates. 


The goodewyfe enrolled us in some sort of cell phone plan that has improved our internet access some, but that only works on our phones. I'm still figuring out how to do stuff on horse forum and other places on my phone. A steep learning curve foe a digital troglodyte like me. 


At any rate, we are running full steam on some projects. The blown down dirty kitchen is being replaced with a more sturdy structure that will eventually become the center of hospitality to our visitors. 


Our ranch manager allowed us to submerge a hose pipe in a creek that runs through his place uphill from us. About a kilometer of hose pipe later, we have running water gravity fed to our hilltop for irrigation, washing up ands such. 
A large cistern is under construction to hold the constantly flowing water. 


The goodewyfe marked her birthday not long ago. I asked her what she wanted. She said "A big rock.". I was feeling generous, so I got her a few truck loads. She made good use of them.


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## HombresArablegacy

FYI, if you have internet service on your phones, and a laptop, you can tether your laptop to your phone and use the phones internet service to go online with your laptop.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

HombresArablegacy said:


> FYI, if you have internet service on your phones, and a laptop, you can tether your laptop to your phone and use the phones internet service to go online with your laptop.


Lol. You greatly overestimate my digital prowess. When I have computer problems, my first instructions to whomever is helping me are to assume that paleontologists chipped me out of a glacier last week and taught me to do e-mail and Facebook, then proceed accordingly.


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## HombresArablegacy

It's really very simple and easy to do, even I was technically challenged at one time. You'll be pleasantly surprised when you try it. If you can upload pictures to the HF, you can do this.Instructions:
On your phone, go to Settings, then go to Connections. Scroll to Tethering and Mobile Hotspots
Turn on Tethering
Make sure your laptop is on and right click the network icon on your screen ( the one that shows your internet connections. You should see an option to search for WiFi connections
Click yes or search, and it will scan for your phone's signal. When you see It, click connect to it and you're good to go. Make sure your phone and laptop are charging while doing this, if you plan to be online for a while.

If you have ever taken your laptop to a Macdonalds, library etc to use their free WiFi, you're doing the exact same thing, only with your phone. Piece of cake. Trust me.
When you're all done using your laptop, remember to turn off tethering on your phone.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@HombresArablegacy, I just had a look at the settings thing on my phone, and didn't see anything like what you described. 


The goodwyfe is working on some kind of pocket WiFi gadget. We'll see what develops. 


Thanks.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We got to spend a couple of nights at the ranch last week. As usual, we saw some amazing sunsets and sunrises. I hope I never get to a point where I take those things for granted. 


I took a short morning ride on the little horse. On the way back, I saw Tata Lino cutting grass for thatching a roof. He had been the caretaker for the previous owner of the property. He came by for coffee after he had finished his chore. 


Breakfast was boiled camotes (yams) that the goodewyfe dug from the garden.


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## SueC

@Cordillera Cowboy, love these reports on your life in the Philippines. I'm getting this impression that the culture is very friendly and neighbourly, like in the Mediterranean - am I off the mark? I found alpine Italy growing up to be so warm and social compared to central Europe, and later on the Anglo mainstream culture in Australia, where people are often neighbours and don't even know each other - sometimes even in rural areas, although these are generally better; really good are, for example, suburbs and towns with high percentages of Mediterranean / Middle Eastern immigrants in Australia, where that warm, social culture is re-created. Like Newtown in Sydney, for instance...


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Yes, @SueC , the culture is very talkative and close knit. It can be warm and friendly, or gossipy and unfeeling. There are Asian cultural norms to be followed. These are enforced with Hiya, or shaming of the outlier. Conformity and consensus are valued, even above western ideas of right and wrong or of what may profit an individual. 


But food and hospitality reign supreme. Even the poorest will offer you their last morsel should you visit their house. I've visited with a friends mountain relatives. We made sure to bring groceries and canned goods to replace what they served us.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Just as our cistern is almost done, the flow of water from the mountain has stopped. The water upstream from our intake was diverted for irrigation. We figured the flow would resume again after a day or two. It hasn't. 


The word is, that the developing el Nino system in the Pacific will produce drought conditions at least until March of next year. Dry season normally lasts until May or so. The river that we cross to get to our place normally gets lower and lower through the dry season, usually going dry by April or May. It's been dry now for 2 weeks. Building is more or less on hold due to not enough water to make concrete.


Supply of water for the livestock is still in good shape. Our creek isn't flowing, but the several springs along its course still hold water. The cattle have bulled paths through the woods to them. 


We will add to our rain catchment system so that any rain we do get is not lost. Today we carried water up from a nearby irrigation canal to water some newly planted things. That may be our new daily chore.


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## Rawhide

I'am guessing water is too far down to install a off grid solar powered water well system , and no well drilling outfits in area ? And cost to bring in an accomplish would be very high ?

How about well at ranches lowest elevation point ? 

Also for a manual water pump I'am sure you know Bison , Simple and some others are pricey but money well spent .

I'am sure you have even laid back in bed at nite contemplating classic since the beginning of time water solutions . Power we can provide whether solar , fuel sourced etc , but good water thats another story .

Perhaps learning some willow witching skills with a good dowsing rod might be in order . The results might surprise you . :thumbsup:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@*Rawhide* we do have a well down by the creek. It's just downstream from the twin springs that form the headwaters of our creek. In the several years since we've owned the place, neither the well, nor the springs have gone dry. The well has a manual pump that can be modified to fit an electric pump. The well is at the bottom end of the footpath seen leading from the house in the photo. It's a good stiff hike that we only make once a day for drinking water. Actually easier to fill a bunch of containers from the canal a couple kilometers away, and haul 'em up with the pickup if we need a bunch of water. 


We also have a tiny "pond'' dug out that holds some water we can pump up with a small gas powered pump for irrigation. 

I've even seen a couple of the old west style windmill water pumps that I think are imported from Australia. 





Today, an old family friend brought some samples of solar equipment for us to consider. Cost wise, it's beginning to look like solar is going to be more practical and less expensive than bringing the grid to us.


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## SueC

@*Cordillera Cowboy* , we're on off-grid solar, and you might be interested in this article:

https://www.horseforum.com/member-j...s-other-people-479466/page133/#post1970635913

This is for a farmstay / farm household, under southern coastal Australian conditions - and ours is overkill for what we're actually using - except in the dead of winter, when it can get cloudy. You probably don't have that? The pricing on this article was for over half a decade ago, and the cost of solar is falling. I bet you'd DIY this - we had to have it installed by electrical contractors because of Australian regulations. I know that pretty decent kits are available from around $10K now to run reasonably power-savvy households.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@*SueC* and @*Rawhide* 
The price for solar kits has dropped to affordable levels. When we were preparing for our move, some 10 years ago, I priced kits suitable for small farmsteads. At that time, what we needed ran about $20,000, without the installation. We are looking at about $15,000 to install poles and wire from the barangay just to our gate. That doesn't include from the gate to our future house. Our friend has found a company that sells German made equipment with several options that look much more versatile than bringing the grid to us, then running wires all over the place. We plan to look more closely at what they have in a week or so, when we travel over the mountains to the city.


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## Rawhide

Sir Mr Cordillera Cowboy , you ever take a long ride to purchase goods at Pure Gold ? Perhaps you can come back with 2 for 1 Evan Williams and Tanduay rum for medicinal purposes ? :biggrin: Some of my associates tell me its cheap there ? Is Pure Gold stocked like a Sam's or Costco here , or is it hit n miss ?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@Rawhide , I'm not familiar with Pure Gold. There is a grocery chain here called Savemore, that is set up much like a grocery store in the West. Prices are marked, and there is no haggling like there can be in the open market. But you can get Tanduay, Ginabra, Emperador, and other cheap liquors almost anywhere. There is also a beer, called Red Horse. The selling point for that is the high alcohol content. I try my best to avoid the drink till you drop crowd hereabouts. 


For local stuff, I prefer San Miguel beer. I don't often drink hard liquor, so when I do, I try to have a reasonable quality drink. My sister has sent me a couple bottles of Kentucky and Tennessee bourbon that should last me through 2019. 


There is a membership store in the big cities that Costco is part owner in. Folks there say they stay reasonably well stocked. They say it's a good place to find familiar products, imported from the US and Europe. But we haven't really looked into it.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rain! The river is still dry. But, after nearly a month without, we've had about 3 days of off and on rain now. The clouds blocked our view of the Geminid meteor shower that we were looking forward to. But we'll take the water instead.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Back again after another trip to Japan helping the young 'uns move into their new apartment. 


I'd mentioned that I'd be a bot scarce in here. But we do have something to show for it. This picture was taken from atop our new water tank. First time I've ever been able to get our whole farmyard into one photo. 


In the foreground is the horse corral at the top of the world. The buildings, from left to right, are the poultry/storage shed, the Native house, and the big project we've been working on, the "dirty kitchen ". 


The dirty kitchen will be the center for entertaining guests. There is a food prep area and a dining area. Outside of that is a beehive bake oven with a grill. beyond that, a nice, firepit area.


Mount Palali looks on from across the Cagayan Valley.


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## whisperbaby22

That's all coming together nicely.


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## whisperbaby22

That's all coming together nicely.


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## SueC

Welcome back, @Cordillera Cowboy! Got any Japan stories / notable stuff from that excursion? Maybe some photos?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

SueC said:


> Welcome back, @*Cordillera Cowboy*! Got any Japan stories / notable stuff from that excursion? Maybe some photos?


Thanks @SueC 


In looking for Japan photos, I realized I didn't post my favorite pic from the kids visit to us over Christmas. Our grandson's ride on our little horse. 


Christmas is not a holiday in Japan, but New Years is a pretty big deal. I was overjoyed to find that unlike in the Philippines, the celebration is mostly quiet. If you want parties and fireworks, you can find them. But the residential areas are blissfully quiet. 


Nearly every house had a banner with symbols of the new year, along with the family name. There was also often a decorative arrangement of pine, bamboo, and round fruits placed by the door.


And we also enjoyed a traditional meal at a nearby hot spring.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Internet hassles seem mostly fixed. Here's what we've been up to lately.


The bake oven is up and operational. So far, the goodwwyfe has made baked ziti, chocolate cake, Belgian chocolate chip cookies, oven roasted chicken, and cornbread.


The last typhoon left us a big pile of wood at the bottom of the big hill. I've been using the little horse to pack it up to the kitchen a little at a time. Today, I'll try dragging a larger piece.


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## trailhorserider

I really enjoy your updates. Beautiful photos! It's always a treat to see what you've been up to. :smile:


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## Rawhide

What times supper ??? That food looks great , I'am surprised she does not have a dinner Triangle too call you . Or the smell alone keeps you near ? :chicken2::lol:


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## whisperbaby22

Useful little horse there.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> What times supper ??? That food looks great , I'am surprised she does not have a dinner Triangle too call you . Or the smell alone keeps you near ? :chicken2::lol:


Lunch is around noon each day. Come on over! 


She does have a dinner bell! A gift from my sister. I can hear it up in the horse corral. The younger guys, with better hearing than me, can hear it out in the pasture, or up on the access road.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The big communal dining tables were delivered. And the cabinets have been installed in the ''dirty kitchen ''.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had some neighbors over for spaghetti, and some time around the fire the other night. 


The goodewyfe decided to paint the inside of the half walls under the Native house white, with brick red trim, the same as the kitchen. I like it. And, I don't think I've posted a shot of the interior of the Native house.


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## trailhorserider

Beautiful!!! 

The weather must stay gorgeous there all year round, judging by the openness of the architecture?


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## whisperbaby22

Yes, the white works really well there.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

trailhorserider said:


> Beautiful!!!
> 
> The weather must stay gorgeous there all year round, judging by the openness of the architecture?


Weather is tropical. Hot and humid year round. There is a rainy season and a dry season, though in our area, it's not so extreme as some others. Here it usually rains some during the dry season, and will clear up some during the rainy season. 


The open construction allows air to flow, keeping the structure comfortable without air conditioning. Comfortable at least for me. I've spent most of my working and leisure life outdoors in various climates. 


There is a lot of overhang on the eaves and gables to help keep most of the rain out. A strong wind will push rain into the kitchen and the porch areas of the house. The house itself stays dry inside. During a typhoon, all bets are off. But our roofs have stayed on through a few of them now.


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## SueC

That's such a lovely interior, @Cordillera Cowboy! Love all the wood, and the ornate carving on the wardrobe. That woven hammock!!! This is a _home_ you've got, and not a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses-machine like many people have over here in Australia! 

It's so funny how everyone is eating spaghetti. In Italy, that's to be expected. But even when I first read a book by Haruki Murakami (_The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle_), what did the Japanese guy narrating the story do in the opening chapter? Well - he was preparing spaghetti. Not sushi, not sashimi, no no no - Spaghetti, and Bolognese, mind you! :rofl:


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## PoptartShop

I love the pictures. That looks so nice, and the food was probably delicious.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

SueC said:


> That's such a lovely interior, @*Cordillera Cowboy*! Love all the wood, and the ornate carving on the wardrobe. That woven hammock!!! This is a _home_ you've got, and not a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses-machine like many people have over here in Australia!
> 
> *It's so funny how everyone is eating spaghetti. In Italy, that's to be expected. But even when I first read a book by Haruki Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), what did the Japanese guy narrating the story do in the opening chapter? Well - he was preparing spaghetti. Not sushi, not sashimi, no no no - Spaghetti, and Bolognese, mind you!* :rofl:


Thanks! 


Spaghetti has been a fast food favorite here for quite a while. Filipino style spaghetti is extremely sweet. Lately, the savory style is starting to catch on a bit. The goodewyfe will only cook her version of the savory Italian style. 


A Filipino noodle dish called pancit is a traditional meal for birthdays. The long noodles representing long life. Among the younger generation, spaghetti is becoming more popular for that meal.


I recall years ago, back in the early 1970's, I, and some other young, single guys helped a Chinese lady (the American born daughter of first generation immigrants) move her furniture to a new house. Of course she fed us as a reward. Afterwards, we all went to her parent's house. There, the mother, who spoke no English, demanded to know what her daughter had fed her helpers. The answer was "a garden salad and spaghetti!"


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Horse hunting again. I have an appointment tomorrow to look at 3 horses, 2 mares and a stallion. I'm not interested in the male, but they are a package deal. I might be able to resell it after I've put some training on it, but it's unlikely anyone here would pay enough to make it worthwhile. May also be able to make some type of arrangements with the vet school nearby. Either to geld it, or pay some of the cost in return for the use of it in their program. 


Or, they may turn out to be 10 hands tall, and therefore unsuitable for my purpose. I'll know more tomorrow.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Had a look at the "horses" today. As I suspected, they were in the 10 hands tall range. 


the smallest was the little sorrel mare. She was the only one picketed securely. The others were dragging picket ropes, but not secured. The sorrel would not let me close. The other two came over to see the ruckus, and I wasn't going to struggle with the little one while the aggressive acting stallion was hanging around loose. 


The only one that I could get close to was the grey mare. She measured about hip high on me. She also had some sort of swelling in both jaws around the molars. She let me touch it, and it didn't seem painful. Still, nothing I'm bringing onto my own place. 


The stallion was the best looking of the lot, possibly from pushing the others off of the best graze. He was slightly taller than the grey mare, but I'd be amazed if he made 11 hands. 


The owner was not present. I was with an intermediary who admitted he knew nothing of horses. He did say he thought these horses were not rideable, as "they just came off the mountain". 


Since I'd handled the mare with the swollen jaws, I stopped at a public rest room when I left, wiped down my steering wheel with alcohol and washed my hands. Washed up again when I got home and scrubbed my shoes well. 


I showed the intermediary what 13 hands tall looked like. I asked that if he saw one that size, call me again.


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## carshon

Wow! I still find it amazing how tiny the horses are. Good idea to sanitize yourself before coming home. I am sure the hunt will bring something good eventually


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The first phase of construction for the goodewyfe's dream house is underway. A detached garage/storage building. This will allow us to get all of our boxes of household goods out of our boarding house in town, and on site at the ranch. 


That will also free up a room for rent in the boarding house.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I spent most of the afternoon last Friday mending fences. Here is the culprit. She makes a gap, and the heifer exploits it to go wandering. The horse and the bull stay put and act innocent.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodwyfe is traveling. I spent last night alone at the ranch, no agenda, just relaxing. Picked guitar by the fire for a while. Had an appreciative audience.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Pulled another log up the hill for firewood today. Took longer than it should have, but this one was the largest yet, and I haven't been working with the horse for the past couple of weeks. Partly a tactical blunder on my part as well. 


The log had a big, twisty fork in the light end of it. I tied the drag rope to the forks, intending to use the spread of them to prevent the rope from slipping off. 
What actually happened was that first one fork, then the other would dig in or catch on something, putting a lot of pressure on the rope collar I was using. The horse interpreted the backwards pressure to mean stop. In spite of the forward pressure I was putting on the halter.


I tried to re-rig my pull rope to prevent that, but to no avail. I finally reversed the log, pulling from the heavier but end. That didn't solve the problem. Now, the horse would stop as soon as any pressure was on the collar. After an inordinate amount of time spent trying to coax the horse into obeying my pull on the halter rather than the backwards pull on the collar, I did what I should have done at the very beginning. I went back to the log and replaced the lasso loop around the log with a proper timber hitch to keep the end from digging into the ground on the uphill slope. 


To overcome the reluctance to pull the log directly, we pulled at sharp angles to the slope of the hill. Similar to the gee - haw maneuver dog mushers use to break sled runners free of ice. The horse seemed to like that. We zigzagged up the hill, pulling hard in one direction, and when she slowed or stopped, went back the other way. 


The log is on top of the hill now, ready to be cut into smaller sections. I feel like I climbed that hill 5 times. Next time, we're doing smaller pieces in the pack bags.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

This is a different log. But here is a shot of the rig I used.


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## SueC

That's quite an adventure!  It's coming up to using firewood season here too. We've been stacking it in all summer, just from cleanups of dropped branches etc. We don't need a lot though to get through winter, so the wood shed is small.



Happy building!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

A note about the tree all this wood is coming from. Before it got blown down by the last typhoon, it was a big, beautiful tree down by our creek. It looked much larger than it really was. It was actually a medium size tree, with a couple smaller trees of different species growing so close they looked like the same tree. The whole thing was covered with parasitical plants of several types, giving it an otherworldly appearance. The spring that feeds the waterhole for our livestock flowed out through its' roots.


I called it the kapre tree. According to the folklore of the Philippines, the kapre is a cigar smoking, tree dwelling being who is fond of playing tricks on people traveling through the forest. If you see a group of fireflies in a treetop, the local folk will tell you that the tree is the home of a kapre. The fireflies being the sparks from his cigar.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Still packing firewood. I used the packages today. I thought I could put a big chunk on each side, then just add to it till it was full. The big chunks started ripping the canvas. I settled for a few smaller pieces. 


We stopped often for grazing breaks. It was around 40c, or 90f. The breaks were more for my benefit. During one break, I noticed the pack cinch was hanging loose. I took it off, and everything rode just fine anyway. 

The horse barely broke a sweat. I retired to the shade for some ice water.


The woodpile is getting noticeably smaller.


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## carshon

Your little mare is looking much better. And I love the pack idea


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks @carshon . A horse forum member suggested the bags. I reconfigured an old, much larger pack bag into this set to fit the little horse. 


She has gained some weight and is not so ribby now. She still needs some top line and to fill out in the hips and shoulder area.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our caretaker, Mr. Escobar has been busy reconfiguring and expanding the nursery in the poultry area. We were losing a fair number of chicks to predators, mostly feral cats. Mr. Escobar used scrap lumber from our construction projects to build the cages. 


The chicks are large enough now that he lets them roam the coop during the day, and puts them back in the cages at night.


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## whisperbaby22

That is a good little horse.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I'm puppy sitting tonight. We got a couple of unexpected additions to the menagerie this week. The goodewyfe was gifted a pit bull mix. I'm not enthusiastic about that, but she got attached to it. I suppose it is here to stay. She named it Julie Ann.


About the same time, our next door neighbors in town, gave us one from a new litter at their place. The critters favorite pastime is crawling under the fence to get back "home". The neighbors promptly return it. I guess it is also here to stay. It has to stay on a lead while at the boarding house. She is pretty good about staying around up on the ranch. She is a nondescript mongrel, and the goodewyfe is not enthusiastic about this one. We offered it to our house matron. But she says there are already too many dogs at her house. I named it Adobo. 


We've got them sleeping on old sweaty work shirts. Seems to keep them quiet at night. So far.


I'm not much of a dog trainer. I've never dealt with more than one dog at a time. Wish me luck.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Big strides toward modernization up on our hilltop ranch. We settled on a solar power system to run a refrigerator and put lights in the dirty kitchen, the Native house, and some outbuildings. The same contractor is running modern plumbing lines to replace the hodgepodge of plastic pipes and garden hoses we currently have. 


The water is still gravity fed from a spring on the mountain above us. But now we have modern faucets and a real shower head. AND that marvel of modern civilization, the flush toilet, actually flushes!


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## boots

Love the view from the sink! 

And hurray for modern conveniences! Refrigerators are my favorite, but I'd never scoff at showers and toilets. 

The whole place is looking great.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Taking delivery of the refrigerator, along with a free microwave!


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## SueC

Excellent! Just because one lives low-footprint doesn't mean one can't have any creature comforts, or even useful technological stuff! This is all very like Schumacher's "Small Is Beautiful" - it's just exactly right. And what a view!


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## Chevaux

How many solar panels will you use , CC? I take it there are a great number of sunny days per year at your location? How long can you store energy? (If you don’t mind answering)


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> How many solar panels will you use , CC? I take it there are a great number of sunny days per year at your location? How long can you store energy? (If you don’t mind answering)


We have 6 panels and 6 batteries. The panels feed into a hybrid controller/inverter that maintains an even flow from the panels to the batteries, then converts it from DC to AC. Our battery bank requires 7 sunlight hours to gain a full charge. No problem during the dry season (roughly 4 or 5 months). If I understand correctly, they still create electricity on cloudy days, but at a slower rate depending on how thick the cloud cover is. 




The only constant draw we have on it is the refrigerator. And each light bulb has its own switch so that we can only burn the ones we need. Rainy season is due next month (again, roughly 5 to 6 months). In years past, our area did not get constant rain during that time. Typically only a thunderstorm most every afternoon, with occasional all day all night monsoon rains. The patterns seem to be changing, and there is much uncertainty here about how the rains will be when they get here. 


We will see how it performs under cloudy skies when the time comes.


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## SueC

Modern solar panels are surprisingly good under cloud cover. You may be pleasantly surprised! We were.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had enough charge last night to use a couple of bulbs. Here is the dirty kitchen, with a light on to facilitate the preparation of our evening refreshment. 


And then, we turned it off to enjoy a fire at our feet and the stars overhead.


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## SueC

I'm really glad you're doing this thread and sharing what your life is like - it's quite an international education with various great threads like this available on HF! 

I think this sort of stuff is the real news, that I care about. Not the bus crashes and political rubbish. Actual human beings living real lives, all over the world.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

More big things happening. Today we broke ground for the goodewyfe's dream house. Construction won't begin for several more months, but the excavator was nearby doing some private roadwork. We decided to have him over while he was here. 


The machine entered our gate just as the livestock was finishing up breakfast. The cows gave it the evil eye, then sauntered off. The horse stood her ground, guarding her feed bucket, only breaking for the woods when the machine was abreast of her and only inches from her outstretched nose. 

later on, the cows were contentedly chewing their cud and the horse sunbathing about 50 meters from all the action. 


The house will be set into the hillside. Where the machine is working will be the bedrooms. The kitchen and dining/living room will be on the ground above it in a stairstep configuration. The roof of the bedrooms will be a terrace, overlooking our fields, and facing Mount Pilali. 


As a bonus, the machine cleaned and leveled the site where I will have the barn and feeding pens built. The barn will be finished before the house.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Here is the goodewyfe standing on her future front porch. Pilali is hiding behind clouds today.


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## Rawhide

Imo Hitachi makes good excavators , they have been in partnership with John Deere for 30 years !!!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Rawhide said:


> Imo Hitachi makes good excavators , they have been in partnership with John Deere for 30 years !!!


This one looked like it might be over 30 years old. Or maybe had 30 years worth of work in the space of 10. Still worked just fine though. Filipinos pride themselves on keeping their machines running, even if many of the repairs are field expedient.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We've been spending more of our time up on the ranch. Mother-in-law is doing well enough that we don't have to tend to her on a daily basis. She doesn't need a nurse, we've hired a relative to ensure she takes her medicines and to record her blood pressure. We're usually spending a week or so at a time on the ranch now. I spend weekends at the boarding house to give our house matron a day off, and the goodewyfe checks in on Mother at the rice farm. 


There are multiple small projects going on. A retaining wall behind the toilet and shower to prevent erosion, an expanded concrete apron in front of the same to help keep the mud out, a deep sink added to the outside of the dirty kitchen, and some more paving and landscaping between that and the fire pit. These are being done by a skilled and dependable crew comprised mostly of our uphill neighbors. 


The goodewyfe has reworked the interior of the Native house a bit. It had become something of a storage room with a nice bed in it. Suitable for spending a night or two, but not really a space to live in long term. She used what was at hand and put in some shelving so that we're not living out of our backpacks. It is an odd mix of new and antique, but we find it very livable now. Our days are not so rushed, and we don't worry about getting socked in for a day or so by rain and a swollen river.


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## Chevaux

I really like how you incorporated the trees as part of the walk way rather than getting rid of them (middle pic).

Also, the meal time pic gives such a nice feeling of strong community ties and support.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> I really like how you incorporated the trees as part of the walk way rather than getting rid of them (middle pic).
> 
> Also, the meal time pic gives such a nice feeling of strong community ties and support.


Thanks. We have had to remove a few trees. But we are committed to replacing as many as possible. I grew up in a furniture manufacturing area with the mantra "cut one, plant two". We've put in about 500 fruit trees of various sorts. I planted 100 mahogany trees, but only about 15 survived. I've learned that mahogany is not native to the area, and is also not so good for biodiversity, so I'm not too worried about that low success rate. 


We've had success with native neem trees, and I'm nursing a few seedlings of the endangered native Yakul saplungen. It's taken a bit of time to learn, but, I've found some tree species that are used here for live fencing and some forage trees that I plan to use.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe hired some ladies to pull grass and weeds in the flower and vegetable plots. They also pulled some in the fruit orchards, and will plant vegetables between the trees. I collected the pulled grass and weeds and started our composting operation. 


It's amazing that I get any work done. I'm always stopping to photograph things that strike my fancy. 


Here's one of our free range hens and her brood, taking a break from foraging in the sun. One of the goodewyfe putting in a fence trellis for her climbing beans. And some tree frog tadpoles that hatched in one of our rain barrels. I've managed to catch about 50 of them and relocate them to our little pond at the bottom of the hill.


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## Chevaux

Seeing the chickens makes me wonder what you have for predators? Also, the lushness is quite striking but are there times when the trees go bare as they look like they are deciduous?


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## whisperbaby22

Just beautiful, love all the green.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> Seeing the chickens makes me wonder what you have for predators? Also, the lushness is quite striking but are there times when the trees go bare as they look like they are deciduous?


We do have some predators. We have lost small chicks to crows, raptors, and feral cats. What I learned while raising chickens in a Virginia historical site that was surrounded by a few hundred acres of conservation area, is that volume is the best safeguard. Guaranteed to lose some, but most will survive. we have about 50 birds. We keep the chicks in a nursery until we feel they are safer ranging out. Seems to have increased our success rate. 


Yesterday a neighbor's dog treed a big feral cat on our property. They asked permission to kill it, and we agreed. One statement I've seen from conservation groups here is that feral cats are one of the primary drivers towards the extinction of many rare, small, native creatures hereabouts. There are some ground nesting birds that stay on our place. We really want to protect them. There are bitterns, the Philippine grass owl, and tiny button quail. 


I've only been here for 2 full years. I'm still learning the weather cycles, and folks here tell me they are off what has been normal. Last dry season, some of the trees lost most of their leaves. I think to protect themselves from lack of water. Young green leaves sprouted again well before the rains returned. I suspect the trees know more than we do about such things.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

It's Philippine Independence Day here. (June 12th). In preparation yesterday, we raised the flag of the Philippines over the ranch house on a long bamboo pole. The afternoon rainbow made an appearance. 


Today we will host some friends and neighbors for a lunch


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## tinyliny

All Hail the Philippine people, and their heroic road to independence!!!!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The barn is going up. This will solve some of the clutter in the tool shed when I can move my horse gear and livestock feeding into it. Turned out bigger than I drew it. (to scale. On graph paper.) But these folks are not accustomed to working from plans, only crude sketches and memorized numbers. Still, the footprint is the size I specified. And it will have the 3 securable rooms that I asked for, and a pen that can be divided into 3 open stalls. 


The most anxious part was making sure they got the ring bolts, for cross ties, set into the concrete post properly. They have no experience at all with horses, and the concept was completely foreign to them. I was certain that they would set them on the wrong side of the post, or too high, or too low. In the end, the only odd thing they did was to set them horizontally, rather than vertically. Not perfect, but I can live with it.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Lots going on this past week. The roof and outer walls on the barn are up. 


We have a pair of small guest houses, really just large enough for a bed and a chair, going up. I call them the twins. They will have a small patio between them. These are the first step toward our plan of a farm stay type agri/eco-tourism site. 


We went with our ranch manager and his family to Ifugau province to watch the traditional dancing at the Ifugau Days festival. 


The goodewyfe has been gathering mung beans from the various vegetable plots. She got tired of shelling them by hand, so she started breaking the dry shells in our traditional rice pounder, then winnowing them by the fire pit.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I haven't been ignoring y'all. We've had Stateside family and friends over to visit, and I haven't gotten to the internet, except sporadically. Mostly we've been traveling. Banaue rice terraces, Corregidor, Intramuros in Manila. Also went with some naturalist friends to a limestone cave above the ranch. 


We are leaving soon to take a vacation from our vacation (and everyone else's as well.) we'll be mostly in the big city with good internet, so I'll be able to do some catching up. 


Meanwhile, the barn is almost finished. The doors for the tack room, feed room, and "office" are yet to be hung. But the stalls have been completed since the photo. The gutters drain into a water tank with an attached water trough. The whole thing is as big as a church.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The big news is that we now have reliable internet at the ranch. I'm sitting in a one room, wooden, Ifugau style house, posting to horse forum! 


In other news, the barn, though not fully complete, is functional. The horse came in to investigate the other day. I used the occasion to see how she would handle being fed in a stall. She wasn't sure about being cooped up, but that didn't stop her from enjoying her breakfast. 


I have the tack room mostly set up. There's still more stuff in storage we have to find and get in there. 


And our long time family friend, George, has been staying with us for a couple of weeks. He has built feed bins, roosts, and nest boxes for our poultry, and is working on feed bins for the large stock now.


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## SueC

I'm very interested in what your walls are made of, and how they are constructed! Also, you have orange stormwater pipe! We have white here, and if you want it a different colour, you have to paint it!


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## boots

SueC said:


> I'm very interested in what your walls are made of, and how they are constructed! Also, you have orange stormwater pipe! We have white here, and if you want it a different colour, you have to paint it!


I have the same question about the walls.

I didn't really notice the storm pipe, but since @SueC mentioned it, I'm curious also.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

SueC said:


> I'm very interested in what your walls are made of, and how they are constructed! Also, you have orange stormwater pipe! We have white here, and if you want it a different colour, you have to paint it!


Wood is extremely expensive here. The walls are made of concrete blocks. We call 'em cinder blocks back in Virginia. Folks here call them hollow blocks. They're plastered over with a slurry of cement. Some folks don't bother with that, but I wanted a finished look and to paint them. Some of the blocks here are not well made, and will gradually melt like adobe if not protected with the outer coat of plastering. 


I'll post a photo of a neighbors wall without the plastering. 


All the PVC wastewater pipes here are orange. Clean water PVC is either blue or white. I think the white is supposed to be the higher quality stuff.


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## SueC

Ah! Thank you! The plaster finish looks very neat - is that done in one coat? The paint is a very cheerful shade.


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## boots

The finished look is great. Cinder block is more popular back east than in my part of the US. Seems lots of race tracks went to blocks for fire safety. But I'd never seen it finished like that.


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## ilovehorses411!

*Pretty Property*



Cordillera Cowboy said:


> I started this over in the horse talk forum. https://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/were-headed-ranch-752178/ But it went 10 pages with only a little talk about horses, so I'll continue over here.
> 
> I have retired to the Philippines. We currently live in town in the student boarding house owned by my Goodewyfe and her sister. Plans are to build a home on our ranch property within the next 2 years. Meanwhile, we're getting the place in order.
> 
> Here's a shot of the little Native style house currently occupied by our caretakers. And of the outbuildings, a toilet, shower, tool shed, and chicken coop.


Nice!:gallop:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> One of our side projects is helping with the reforestation here. Years of uncontrolled clear-cut logging of the tropical hardwoods in the mountainous areas resulted in ecological damage such as landslides and flooding.
> 
> The yakal saplungan, or Philippine mahogany, produces a tall, dense, straight grained tree favored by the loggers. It only produces seeds about once every 5 or 6 years, and so has become rare and endangered. A friend of ours is on the faculty of a state university where they have cloned this tree. They produced seeds last month, and he gave me several.
> 
> I planted some directly into the ground, but they didn't survive. I have about 20 or so in seedling bags that have sprouted. Hopefully, they will strengthen, and I'll plant them around in various spots on the ranch.
> 
> A few are in the flower bed at our house in town. Most are in the shady area by the well at the ranch.


The comment by @ilovehorses411! Sent me back to re read the first page of this thread. I thought an update on this project was in order. 


Of the 20 or so saplungan seedlings, only 2 have survived. While disappointing, it's not disheartening. The fellow who gave me the seeds had about the same low survival rate. We planted the survivors near the barn. 


On Arbor day of 2018, another friend gave me several seeds of the native neem tree. Those were planted as sun shade and windbreaks on the western side of our poultry enclosure. They have thrived.


----------



## AnnieWarren

It's amazing how fast neem grows!


----------



## SilverMaple

I love Neem. I use it a lot in my soaps and as a salve for people and horses' skin problems.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

SilverMaple said:


> I love Neem. I use it a lot in my soaps and as a salve for people and horses' skin problems.


I've heard of some benefits from neem. But I don't really know what parts, or how to process any of it. 


I forgot to add that the same fellow who gave us the saplings seeds recently also gave us some molave seedlings.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Had a break in the monsoon rains for a few days. Took advantage of having a dry horse, and a dry place to work inside the new barn, to check the fit of my refurbished antique Hope saddle on our little horse. She has a narrow back and shark fin withers. The old A fork looks like it was made for her!

I have photos, but I’m having to use my phone to post and haven’t figured that part out yet.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

An attempt to send photos of the saddle fitting with my phone.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Horse shopping again. Went back to see the horse we saw from a distance last month. 

The fellow calls it a cream horse. I’m not sure what the proper term for the color is. I’d call it a buttermilk dun, but there’s some spots on her as well. 

Looks to be about 12 hands even. Wider in the chest than the 12.3 hand horse we already have, and more muscle in the hindquarters as well. 

Down side is that it may be pregnant. That could be a deal breaker. I’d be over 65 years old by the time the colt was ready to break. I could probably sell the colt, but I’d still lose the use of the mare for a year or so.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Photos of the buttermilk dun.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Suited Skippy up in full battle rattle and did some ranch work. 

We drug 4 of these logs off the mountain for firewood.


----------



## trailhorserider

Oh my gosh, I love your new barn! The Hope saddle looks like it was made for these types of horses. :Angel:

I am by no means an expert in anything, but I don't think you'd loose the use the mare for a year if she was pregnant. You could ride until she got somewhat big and if you don't mind the foal tagging along, you can ride her fairly soon afterwards as well. I think I rode my mare in early June and she foaled in mid-July. I probably should have quit riding her (much) sooner but I bought her pregnant and didn't know when she was due (because I also didn't know she was pregnant when I bought her). Then I actually started riding her probably about a month after the baby was born because the vet thought it would be good for the foal's legs to get some exercise (he was born with a weak leg). So anyway, I lost some riding time for sure, but it's not like she had the entire year off. Maybe a few months. 

As for breaking in the foal, I totally understand! I am in my early 40's and I am already not interested in hitting the ground. So from that perspective, I totally understand. It may be though that almost any mare you buy is at risk of being pregnant? (I sort of feel that way around here and I am in the States.) But a foal may not be the end of the world, I'm sure you could always give him away if not sell or trade him. 

Anyway, I love reading about your adventures.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

trailhorserider said:


> Oh my gosh, I love your new barn! The Hope saddle looks like it was made for these types of horses. <img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://www.tennisforum.com/images/smilies/angel.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Angel" class="inlineimg" />
> 
> I am by no means an expert in anything, but I don't think you'd loose the use the mare for a year if she was pregnant. You could ride until she got somewhat big and if you don't mind the foal tagging along, you can ride her fairly soon afterwards as well. I think I rode my mare in early June and she foaled in mid-July. I probably should have quit riding her (much) sooner but I bought her pregnant and didn't know when she was due (because I also didn't know she was pregnant when I bought her). Then I actually started riding her probably about a month after the baby was born because the vet thought it would be good for the foal's legs to get some exercise (he was born with a weak leg). So anyway, I lost some riding time for sure, but it's not like she had the entire year off. Maybe a few months.
> 
> As for breaking in the foal, I totally understand! I am in my early 40's and I am already not interested in hitting the ground. So from that perspective, I totally understand. It may be though that almost any mare you buy is at risk of being pregnant? (I sort of feel that way around here and I am in the States.) But a foal may not be the end of the world, I'm sure you could always give him away if not sell or trade him.
> 
> Anyway, I love reading about your adventures. <img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://www.horseforum.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Very Happy" class="inlineimg" />


Thanks! We decided against the little dun. Too many uncertainties. We will probably get alittle paint we also looked at. 

Better condition and demonstrably rideable. Drawbacks are an aggressive nature and overgrown feet.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Got our first substantial crop in today. Hired help harvested it and brought it up the hill to the road. The goodewyfe and I hauled it up to the corral where it was threshed. 

We got 14 bags of shelled corn out of it. After drying, it will be stored. As needed, we will take some to the mill to be processed into chicken feed.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We’ve been traveling for the last couple of weeks. Visited some places we’ve never been before. Thailand, and Singapore. Pretty nice. 

The ranch crew has been busy while we were gone. They put in 2 hectares of corn in the bottoms and on previously uncultivated ground below our kitchen. 

A few projects are underway. 

The new water tank is almost done. (The old one failed).

The ranch manager’s house is almost done. 

And walls are up for a 2 room bunkhouse for our caretakers.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Decided to get out of breeding cattle to sell off the calves. Our pair has not yet produced any offspring. 

We will sell them and switch to what is called here, cattle fattening. That is buying a weanling or two, feeding them well, and selling them off fairly quickly. 

First I need to get our two adults accustomed to being handled so we can get them on the truck. The bull has always been a knuckle head. We will likely have to work him old school by roping him and tying to a tree. 

The heifer is more easygoing. This morning, I put her in a stall with a feed bucket, and was able to put my hands on her without any drama. I’ll continue that routine with ropes. Won’t try to catch her. Just rub the rope around the neck and body.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

One of the construction guys working on our place has been bringing his 11 year old son with him when school is not in session. The kid pitches in by helping the goodewyfe in the garden. Unlike the other kids who come around, this one is not afraid of the horse. He has said he would like to learn how to ride. 

The other day I returned from a ride and he was working near our front gate. I dismounted and helped him into the saddle, then led him down to the barn. After I untacked the horse, I showed him how to groom the sweaty beast. His face lit up like a beacon. 

After lunch, he took a big sombrero that I had shaped the crown into a Mexican style. Placing it on his head, he stood tall, and said “Cowboy “.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We’re planning to sell our cows before Christmas. I’ve been trying to coax them into the stalls so we ca catch them more easily. Today was the first time they all went in quietly and hung around munching for a while.


----------



## Chevaux

Your cattle are in good shape, cc.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Finally getting a bit of topline on our little horse. 

Regular groceries, all the grass she can eat, and having to negotiate steep terrain every day to get that grass. Steep terrain for riding as well. It’s up or down hill to get anywhere from our place. 

A photo from the day I bought her, and one from a few days ago.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> Your cattle are in good shape, cc.


Thanks!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Update on the horse shopping. 

The owner of the last horse we looked at has gotten the proof of ownership papers together. We will purchase this one in early December. 

Said to be about 10 years old. Only 12 hh, but sturdy. A young fellow rode her when we looked at her, so she is at least green broke. Feet are overgrown and chipped, but I saw no sign of founder. She is mean and aggressive, so will need plenty of handling.


----------



## Chevaux

I like her.

What is your speculation on her meanness, cc? Is it possibly the result of the wrong type of handling as the pic gives no indication of a surly nature (I know the limitations of pictures as they catch basically a second in time and that may mean everything or it may mean nothing)?


----------



## PoptartShop

Her topline looks a lot better, definitely gaining weight!  Yay!

As for the new horse, those feet definitely need some work, but maybe she's aggressive because of how they have handled her (or her past)? Always a reason, maybe something else going on there. But, I am sure you will do just fine with her. Patience is key!  She is a pretty girl, she looks like she has a kind face.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> I like her.
> 
> What is your speculation on her meanness, cc? Is it possibly the result of the wrong type of handling as the pic gives no indication of a surly nature (I know the limitations of pictures as they catch basically a second in time and that may mean everything or it may mean nothing)?


My best guess is that she has learned that if she acts aggressively at first encounter, folks tend to leave her alone to continue grazing. 

When I went to her withers to check her height, she tried to stomp me. I got out of the way. The guy handling her gave a couple stout jerks on the picket rope and she straightened up for him. 

She bucked when he mounted. He swatted her with the reins and had no problems after that.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Buyer is picking up the cows tomorrow. I have the heifer in the stall overnight. Needed to do the same for the bull. But he got suspicious with strangers coming to look at him whenever I had him in there over the last few days. I’ll have to coax him in early in the morning. 

The plan is to get a couple ropes on him and drag him to the truck with a carabao (water buffalo). 

Wish us luck.


----------



## lb27312

Will you get more to resell? Or where these a try it and didn't work out kinda thing? You have other cows right? Love the pics and the experiences... 

How's the new horse doing?


----------



## Knave

This I would love to see!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

lb27312 said:


> Will you get more to resell? Or where these a try it and didn't work out kinda thing? You have other cows right? Love the pics and the experiences...
> 
> How's the new horse doing?


These are the only two. I got them as an experiment, thinking I could run a small cow/calf operation. They have failed to reproduce. 

Next year I’ll shift to what is called here, cattle fattening. Buy a weanling, feed it good for a while, then sell it off quickly. 

The little horse is doing fine. She’ll be lonely for a bit without her buddies. But she’ll settle down quickly. We will shortly have the other little horse. After a brief quarantine and introduction, they’ll run together in the big pasture. 

I did manage to get the bull into the stall this morning without any drama. The fun will commence when the buyer arrives.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

lb27312 said:


> Will you get more to resell? Or where these a try it and didn't work out kinda thing? You have other cows right? Love the pics and the experiences...
> 
> How's the new horse doing?


These were intended as a mating pair for a small cow/calf operation, but they have not reproduced. Next year I’ll switch to what is called here, cattle fattening. Buy a weanling, feed it good for a while and sell it off quickly. 

The horse is doing well. She will be upset for a while without her cow buddies, but she’ll settle down after a bit. Before Christmas, we will have another little horse. After a brief quarantine and introduction period, the two will run together in the big pasture.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Oops. Sorry for the double post.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Got the cattle loaded and on their way. No carabao was needed. We’ve had 2 consecutive dry days, so the truck was able to back right up to the barn door. Combination of ropes and experienced hands pulled them right from the stalls to the truck. 

I’m cleaning up the mess that stalled cattle make now. One cow overnight and another for several hours have taken the new concrete and paint smell out of the barn.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We are back home now from our holiday travels. The Taal volcano is quiet now, but still at a level 4 alert on a 5 point scale. 

Got home to find a puncture wound on the off side front leg of the little horse. Our manager had discovered it the day before and had sprayed Combinex, a purple multi purpose antibiotic on it. 

I’m washing it twice a day, putting wonder dust on it in the AM and combinex in the PM. 

It was a bit swollen and warm to the touch the first day I saw it. After the combinex, the swelling and heat were gone by that afternoon. 

There seems to be no pain or lameness. My concerns are first keeping infection at bay, and second, proud flesh. The wonder dust is supposed to be effective at combating the proud flesh. 

I contacted the municipal vet. He gave me some aptiofur antibiotic to inject once a day for 3 days against secondary infection. I have to go to town today to buy a 5 ml syringe.


----------



## Chevaux

Has horse no 2 arrived yet?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> Has horse no 2 arrived yet?


Got transport lined up for the 30th. We’ll picket the new one out of sight of Skippy for a couple days of quarantine and handling. Then, I’ll introduce them in the corral. Will likely keep the new one picketed for a while and lead it down to the barn to integrate it into our feeding routine.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The wound on Skippys leg seems to be doing ok. Been over 30 years since I’ve given any injections. I put it into her neck. She’s so narrow that I was a bit worried that the tip of the needle might stick out the other side. 

Didn’t happen though. She and I both did fine.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

New horse is here. Kept her quarantined for a couple days, out of sight of Skippy. 

Introduced them today. After the initial squealing and kicking, they settled in for some mutual grooming. 

Appears that Skippy will be the boss horse.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Let both horses spend the night together in the corral. No drama. 

Brought them down to the barn for breakfast. Biggest problem was that my helper has zero horse experience. Both horses were a bit rambunctious and the guy just couldn’t grasp using pressure and release plus a commanding presence to control a horse. 

Skippy basically drug him along with her as I led Pinatubo ahead of them. But we got them into their respective stalls and they chowed down heartily. We released them out into the big pasture and they seem to be doing ok there. 

I’m letting Pinatubo drag a shortened picket rope for a day or so. Till I’m confident that I can catch her easily from the pasture.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Harvested about 12 bags of corn last week. Had a corn shucking party with the neighbors.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Honeymoon is over for the new horse, Pinatubo. Time to start earning her keep. 

First on the list, hauling firewood. 

Here, she’s not quite sure what she has signed up for.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Skippy and Pinatubo hitched to trees, ready to load up.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

And the best shot I could get of Pinatubo working like a champ. 

I can’t twist around in the saddle like I used to.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I realize that I haven’t updated this thread for a while. I’ll put some more in here, probably tomorrow 

But for now, here’s a shot of the two horses this afternoon. We had a sudden dry season rain shower. Instead of going into the shelter of the bamboo grove, both just turned their buts to the wind like a couple of mustangs.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

As promised, here’s a quick update. 

The latest project ha been some “greenhouses”. Filipinos call them that because the netting over them is green. 

One is to chicken proof our strawberries. The other will be a kitchen garden. A third one, still under construction, will be the goodewyfe’s orchidarium.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Quarantine activities. The happy labandero.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Slow days. Our cat has found a new hammock on top of the goodewyfe’s “greenhouse “.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

And the goodewyfe is using the rainy days to get her kitchen garden established. 

She has salad greens, herbs and some vegetables already planted in the beds.


----------



## walkinthewalk

Great pictures as usual

I love the rooster on top of the greenhouse - and you even caught him crowing

Did the very regal/diva cat kick him off her hammock or do they share?

I tip my hat to your wife. That’s a LOT of hard work. I know she probably takes it for granted because that is the way of life she was raised in. But - it - is - still - hard - work


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk. Thanks! The rooster vacates the spot fairly early. Last night I saw him sleeping there with two hens.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We added a gaggle of geese to our menagerie.


----------



## walkinthewalk

Well they’re an invitation to get bit in the butt when pulling weeds, lollol

They don’t look too friendly, lol

The big one with its butt to the camera and it’s neck arched — is that the gander?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk 
I like’em. They are some domestic breed of gray goose. I don’t care for those plump white ones. 

I’ve never been attacked by geese. The ones who have postured at me have backed off when I approached them. 

I’ve seen them chase other folks. A tad amusing to me. But they were terrified. 

They’ve only been here a few days now. Still getting used to the place. The poultry pen is set up so that they have somewhere to go when a person goes in there. No need for them to feel cornered. 

I can’t tell from the photo. But the gander has a much more pronounced schnabble than the others. 

We’ve had too much success with chickens. Mixed results with ducks. And our poor Tom turkey has outlived 3 female companions.


----------



## walkinthewalk

Geese are great watch pets

Years ago, I was chased twice by the same goose, lollol. My friend kept it as a watch pet and that goose served her well, lollollol

Even though all of us let her know know when we would be coming down her road, I suspect she “forgot” to put the goose up, in order to watch us make the mad dash from her porch step back to the car — until her sister threatened to shoot it and put it in the stew pot:rofl::rofl:

Here’s hoping you have success raising geese. You should post pictures of your baby fowl when they hatch — all baby birds are so homely they are cute:loveshower:


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We have a couple of these chicks. I think they want to be bald eagles when they grow up. 

I suspect that they will simply be really ugly chickens.


----------



## egrogan

I love teenager chickens-I think that’s their cutest stage!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The geese have wasted no time. We have our first goose egg today.


----------



## walkinthewalk

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> The geese have wasted no time. We have our first goose egg today.
> View attachment 1009105


Holeee Moleee! Everyone should now know where the term ”goose egg” came from, when referring to a knot on the head, lollol

How are the “Eagle” chicks that are really chickens:smile:


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk. The eagle chicks have begun to grow feathers on their heads. From the looks of it the heads will resemble the body color. One has a row of dark feathers down the middle of its downy head like a mohawk. 

On the horse front, Skippy came in this morning with a cut on her off side foreleg, near the shoulder. The joys of keeping horses in a wooded pasture. This is the second time she’s had a cut in that area. First one healed up nearly without a scar. 

This one had a small triangular flap of skin hanging off it, and some sand stuck in the raw parts. I snipped the flap of skin off, washed the wound, and scrubbed the sand out. 

I hit it with some wonder dust and purple antiseptic.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Double post. I’ll just use this one to post the second photo the first wouldn’t allow. 

On the horse front, Skippy came in this morning with a cut on her off side foreleg, near the shoulder. The joys of keeping horses in a wooded pasture. This is the second time she’s had a cut in that area. First one healed up nearly without a scar. 

This one had a small triangular flap of skin hanging off it, and some sand stuck in the raw parts. I snipped the flap of skin off, washed the wound, and scrubbed the sand out. 

I hit it with some wonder dust and purple antiseptic. 

View attachment 1009233


----------



## walkinthewalk

Boy, she literally did just peel the skin off, didn’t she?

Good thing you know how to be a vet and you may even know more than some


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Don’t know about being a vet. But I can handle basic first aid like this. 

The last one was worse. It was a puncture as well as a cut. I consulted the municipal vet about that one. He sent me some antibiotics. 

It had been over 35 years since I had given an injection, but we did fine.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The “bald eagle “ chicks are finally getting feathers on their heads. This one is starting to look more like a buzzard.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

More on the poultry front. 

I think we got our time share contracts mixed up.


----------



## walkinthewalk

How funny, especially when there is an empty nest right next door, lollol

They both look like they are embarrassed they got caught together and are making up excuses as to how it happened.

Boy, that’s a story you could run with in a few different directions, lollollol

It’s also a great picture from a photography point of view. That would be a great post card


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> How funny, especially when there is an empty nest right next door, lollol
> 
> They both look like they are embarrassed they got caught together and are making up excuses as to how it happened.
> 
> Boy, that’s a story you could run with in a few different directions, lollollol
> 
> It’s also a great picture from a photography point of view. That would be a great post card


Lol. Kind of a long story on that particular nest box. 

Prior to the holidays, I had been gathering eggs from all the nest boxes and baskets daily. Then we went traveling for the holidays. When we got back, I found that the crew had not been gathering eggs. All the nests had clutches of eggs in them and the hens still laying daily. It was impossible to tell old, developed eggs from fresh. 

Since we were already overpopulated with chickens, I proposed destroying all the eggs and starting fresh with the gathering. You’d have thought I suggested burning down the farm. “The babies! The babies!”

Never mind that we already had so many chickens that some young roosters had stolen hens and started little half feral flocks here and there in the woods. 

I quietly began tossing out a few eggs each morning when I went to feed the horses. Took about a week, I guess. But I got it down to one egg in each nest. I marked those, and left them to keep the chickens coming back to the boxes. 

All except that one box. About the same time, the ducks started laying eggs. They left their eggs all over the place. I collected them and put them under one of our best sitting hens. That hen stayed on them until the marked egg hatched under her. But every day a different hen would sit on those duck eggs. 

In the meantime, I was able to start gathering eggs again. Two or three at first, but more and more over the past month. Today, I collected nine. I leave that one box alone, and still put every duck egg we find in there. 

The other day, a duck started sitting there. The hens still go in there, but the duck is now the primary resident. Maybe we will have ducklings soon.


----------



## walkinthewalk

What a great story - except - for - one - small - part ——

And you can guess which small part that is, even though I understand the reasoning, lollollol


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Still more action on the poultry front. One of the geese has started sitting on the eggs. There are at least 3 eggs under her.


----------



## walkinthewalk

Too bad you can’t put a bird cam in with the goose so we (WE, LoL) can all watch the hatching process. 

If you aren’t going to eat the geese, that is - I have turned into a real coward as I age, lollol. 

I knew the pigs I raised, in my forties, would eventually end up in the freezer but when the reality of that finally came to pass, I said never again. And I was raised in a small dairy farm with a smokehouse, lollol


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

And we have running water at the barn! Previously , we were completely dependent on rainwater. 

Yesterday and today, our longtime friend George, ran a gravity fed line from our main tank to the barn. 

We are gradually joining the modern world.


----------



## walkinthewalk

YAY:clap::cheers::clap::cheers:

A simple pleasure and necessity we always seem to take for granted but shouldn’t:cowboy:


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Folks seem to enjoy the updates on the poultry. 

Our chickens have divided themselves, more or less, into two flocks. All are free range, and most will come into the enclosure at feed time and to roost at night.

One flock stays Fairly close to the poultry enclosure , which is uphill from our house and the main portion of the farmyard. The other flock stays mostly in the farmyard. 

Each flock has a number one rooster. In keeping with our loosely Tolkienesque naming theme, I’ve taken to calling the head rooster at the enclosure, the King over the Hill. And the one in the farmyard, the King under the Hill. 

The King Over the Hill is a colorful fellow with a distinct white marking at the base of his tail. 









The King Under the Hill is white, with a rusty saddleback.


----------



## walkinthewalk

They are both quite handsome in their own ways

We had chickens on the farm but I have never lived with divided flocks - that - means - another - first - grade - question, lol.

Those two fellas won’t get to fighting because one of them might want to secure both flocks for himself?? That would be a fight I would probably need a lot of Kleenex for.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I’ve never seen the two kings fighting each other. There are enough chickens that the two flocks sort of came about naturally. 

What fighting there is occurs between the young roosters. There is enough room here that once the loser realizes he’s lost, He typically runs away. 

Occasionally a young roo will challenge one of the kings. I did see One persistently challenge the King Over the Hill. He got beat, but kept circling back for more. The king finally knocked him down and stood on him, crowing his victory before releasing him. 

Yesterday, a young roo chased a hen that he had a romantic interest in. The King Under the Hill took a few steps towards him. The amorous youngster made a full speed U turn, kicking up some gravel as he did. The king gave a lusty crow to remind him whose turf he was on.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Harvested a few bunches of bananas, and some cassava roots the other day. The goodewyfe sold most of it. We kept one stalk of bananas for ourselves, and had a relative make some cassava cake. 

We’ve also been eating our own salad greens for almost a month now.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

After years of saving, waiting, designing, and redesigning, the goodewyfe’s dream house is finally under construction. 

We built the garage first. All our household goods are in there. The beginning of the layout is to the right. 








The goodewyfe is rather happy. 








Upper level will be the kitchen and dining/living room. Lower level will be bedrooms.


----------



## RegalCharm

looks like you are going to have a spectacular view when it is done.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

RegalCharm said:


> looks like you are going to have a spectacular view when it is done.


Yes. That spot was originally intended for my horse corral/cattle sorting pen. As soon as the goodewyfe saw the place, she claimed it as her house site. 

That’s Mount Palali in the distance.


----------



## waresbear

Gorgeous! And beautiful weather. I am jealous, it's 5C here and rains everyday. And bananas!!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

June 12th was Philippine Independence Day. We raised the flag over the ranch. There was heavy rain all day and night of the 12th. We had a simple meal of noodles, called pancit ( a tradition on birthdays) with the crew an our closest neighbors. 

I did manage to get a few shots of the flag while the sun was shining.


----------



## boots

Lovely.

Happy Independence Day!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The work crew started pouring concrete for the support posts of the lower level. 

In keeping with local tradition, chicken blood was sprinkled into each post hole.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe took a break from her near nonstop gardening For a bit. She took a ride Skippy in the horse corral at the top of the world.


----------



## lb27312

@Cordillera Cowboy - Love all your pics! She really looks like she's enjoying the ride. 

Your house looks like it's going to be nice and what a gorgeous view.


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## walkinthewalk

Ok, you know I’m famous for “20 questions” —- although I think I can guess, what is the purpose of chicken blood in each post hole and do you know how that tradition started?

Your wife looks ecstatic on Skippy — I’m glad she took a break from her gardening. I know the success of your garden is critical but she still needs a break here and there


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk the chicken blood offering has origins in the anamist religion of the Ifugau and other Cordilleran people. There is no priest or ceremony involved. One thing I’ve noticed is that the owner of the structure provides the chickens. The folks doing the work get a chicken dinner. 

http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6d/entry-3880.html


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## Cordillera Cowboy

And we have goslings! At feeding time this morning, one fuzzy yellow gosling was out. By the time I went back for my phone to take a picture, another one was out. This one still wet from the egg. 

The newest one tumbled down the ramp and started cheeping. All the geese surrounded both of the little ones. There may be more as the day progresses.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk. And others who may be interested about the indigenous folkways hereabouts, I did a short write up on my own observations not long ago. 

It’s against policy to post a link here. But you can find my Cordillera Cowboy travel blog in my signature here. Just scroll down to the October entry and open the one called Folkways: Chicken Blood and Little People. 

Otherwise, I can send a PM with a link to anyone who asks.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

More bananas and a pineapple today.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe has gotten her orchidarium mostly set up. Yesterday, she bought a bunch of pots and set about decorating them, with some help from Imelda, a long time employee. 

The gnarly tree branches were gifts from various wind storms hereabouts.


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## egrogan

Wow, that's stunning! I generally can't seem to keep anything alive in a pot- if it is solely dependent on me for sustenance (unlike a plant in the ground) it's unlikely to make it. Probably one of many good reasons I didn't have kids :wink:


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## Cordillera Cowboy

egrogan said:


> Wow, that's stunning! I generally can't seem to keep anything alive in a pot- if it is solely dependent on me for sustenance (unlike a plant in the ground) it's unlikely to make it. Probably one of many good reasons I didn't have kids <img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://www.horseforum.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" class="inlineimg" />


LOL. Yes, kids tend to be high maintenance stock. The goodewyfe seems to prefer plants that require a lot of care. If she travels, and I’m left in charge of the plants for any length of time, one or more plants will not survive the ordeal.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goslings are doing well. They like to spend a lot of time in the water tank.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe ordered an American style lawn mower a couple months ago. It arrived this week. I broke it in on the patchy grass of the farmyard. Then today, I attacked the overgrown grass and weeds in the horse corral at the top of the world. Got about one third of it knocked out


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Mostly routine stuff going on these days. I’m spending more time pushing the lawn mower than I expected. The goodewyfe keeps adding to the spaces that she wants mowed. No problems. I’ll take’em on little by little. My own priorities for that are the farmyard, the horse corral, and our looong driveway. 

Anyway, here’s a photo of the horses grazing in the barnyard, accompanied by Adobo the ranch dog.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Been absent for a while. Things are mostly routine and mundane these days. I’m not going to complain about that. I came here to retire. 

Recently our water supply kept shutting off. Part of it was our hose clogging up with debris. Our water originates in limestone cliffs about 2 kilometers above us. We have permission to put one end of our line in an open pool and it is gravity fed down to our storage tanks. Sometimes flakes of lime build up in our hose line and clog it. Other times, mud or storm debris does the same. 



More often, however, neighbors along the line will tap our line to irrigate their own crops. We don’t really mind if they do that. We’re not paying for the water, only the hose line. But, often they don’t bother to ask or tell us that they are doing it. So we have to trudge up the mountain looking for leaks. Worse, they often don’t bother to reconnect our line when they are done. 

For some time now, we’ve known of an old man who owns a spring that we may be able to sink an intake line into. This would at least solve the problem of our intake being washed out of the pool during a tropical deluge, and prevent storm debris from entering our line. But the old guy is reputedly mean and ill tempered. None of our intermediaries want to approach him. Last week, after the latest water stoppage, the goodewyfe grew tired of waiting.

We hiked up the mountain, following our water line and repaired leaks as we went. We visited with the folks who allow us to have our intake in the open pool on their property. (It’s an old prospect hole from them looking for gold, but that’s another story. ). They told us where the old man lived, but again declined to act as intermediaries for us. They apologized profusely, but said we were on our own. 

We found the old guy under his house (houses in the Cordilleras are still often built on posts, with the under part left open. ). He was sitting on his haunches cooking a pot of something over a fire. His demeanor was gruff, but not unfriendly. The goodewyfe introduced us and began some polite chitchat. Our ranch dogs had followed us up, and he admired them, noticing that the male was castrated. He apparently was interested in puppies from our dogs, but found it incredible that we had neutered the females also. I made a joke about too many boyfriends visiting our place, and he laughed. 

The goodewyfe explained that we were interested in putting our intake hose into his spring, and hinted at our making a contribution to him for the privilege. He seemed amenable to the proposition, and told us he would think about it. We should find out in a week or so what his answer is. 

If we are paying for the use of the water, our complaints to the folks tapping our line will have a bit more weight. It’s also possible that the reputation of the old man may impart some protection to our line. 

We will see.


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## walkinthewalk

I don’t know how I missed your lawnmower but I did. You have an awful lot of rough territory to mow with such a small mower.

I think I’d invest in one of those rice paddy tractors with a belly mower. Those things are supposed to be tough as nails. I’m sure there’s more than one brand but the one I’m thinking about is Yanmar.

Quite a water story. The gentleman probably acts a lot more gruff than he really is to scare people and keep them away. He probably figured if you and your wife were brave enough to set foot on his property, he at least owed you a listening ear

Hopefully the compensation you folks offered him will tip things in your favor


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## Cordillera Cowboy

@walkinthewalk. I’d like to get a heavier duty walk behind. With our terrain, and the bahala na (come what may) mindset of most Filipinos, it would only be a matter of time before someone rolled a riding mower over top of themselves. 

They were already baffled by the quick shut off safety feature. “Why??”


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Again we have multiple construction projects going on simultaneously. This time, they are inside the livestock areas. The goodewyfe’s dream house is nearing completion. Got a month or two left to go on that. She decided that she wanted chain link fencing on both sides of the drive leading from the pasture gate to the house. That will also protect vegetable and a flower gardens on either side of the drive from the livestock. 

The house has been under construction for a while now. But it has progressed to the point that curious horses wandering around inside can cause damage. The fence builders are building a hollow block wall under the fence and setting concrete posts at intervals. 

The horses are curious and can knock down the walls and put the posts awry before the concrete sets. On top of that, these guys seem to be afraid of the horses. 

So the horses are relocated to the horse corral at the top of the world for the next month or so. There was no shelter for them there, so we put up a little roof for them to escape the noonday sun. The poor critters had to live in the stalls of the barn for a day and a night while that was built. 

Now I have daily corral clean up added to my chores. I don’t mind. I have plenty of help. Or rather supervision. Each morning, I ride one and lead the other down to the barn for their breakfast, then back up to the corral.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Experimenting with the new HF set up.
I looked in here and realized it’s been 2 months since I updated anything.

we are in the depths of the rainy season here. Typhoon season as well. This season actually seems wetter than other rainy seasons I’ve experienced. Typically here we get a heavy afternoon shower and the occasional all day, all night monsoon type rains. This year, the rains came late but have stayed with us. We’re getting quite a bit of the heavy monsoon type rains. The ground is fully saturated and the reservoirs are full.

That is coupled with a rather active typhoon season. We’ve had a series of typhoons and tropical storms in our area. Fortunately for us at least, the only direct hit has been from a weak tropical storm. We are in the hill country, so gravity is our friend when it comes to water. Folks in the lowlands have not been so lucky. All of this water has to go somewhere and there has been lots of flooding.

min addition to our ranch, the goodewyfe and her family own a student boarding house in town. The few students who remain there collected clothing for the flood victims. The donation was picked up by the emergency response folks from one of the hard hit areas.

we are rather proud of these kids.


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## walkinthewalk

Great to hear from you as I was wondering if any of the tropic storms were affecting you

Sitting high is a good thing. We are allegedly at the second highest spot in the county — 1,000 feet. If we ever see our road covered over, there’s no point trying to leave.

Sounds like your students are a great bunch.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Well. Skippy came up lame a couple days ago. A limp on the off side front. Not every step, sometimes just slightly, sometimes a good little hop.

No puncture in the bottom of the hoof, no foreign object. No heat. No obvious bruise or injury to the leg or shoulder. She can stand on it with no problem when I pick up the opposite front. 

It’s been raining steadily since September. The only odd thing I see is that the bulbs of her heel look a bit wrinkly. Like your toes when you’ve been in the water too long.

I sprayed that purple antiseptic on her heels. I don’t think they are infected, but the stuff seems to have a drying effect. Moved both horses to the corral to limit the movement a bit. The corral also drains well.

we’ll see what develops.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

View attachment 1105298


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## 289250

Wow, what an amazing story- just found your thread. Has COVID-19 hit your area very much?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Hello @JR Desire . Welcome and thanks for reading.

Hard to tell about COVID out here. Test kits have limited availability, so they seem mostly reserved for folks with obvious symptoms and people traveling by air. A negative test is required in order to enter or leave the country.

Our province publishes the numbers and location of known cases. Most seem concentrated in cities and towns rather than the rural area we live in. When a hot spot is identified, local lockdowns and travel restrictions are imposed. The most recent outbreak seems related to crowded conditions due to flooding in a neighboring province.

we’ve been able to go about our business without much trouble, taking reasonable precautions.


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## 289250

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Hello @JR Desire . Welcome and thanks for reading.
> 
> Hard to tell about COVID out here. Test kits have limited availability, so they seem mostly reserved for folks with obvious symptoms and people traveling by air. A negative test is required in order to enter or leave the country.
> 
> Our province publishes the numbers and location of known cases. Most seem concentrated in cities and towns rather than the rural area we live in. When a hot spot is identified, local lockdowns and travel restrictions are imposed. The most recent outbreak seems related to crowded conditions due to flooding in a neighboring province.
> 
> we’ve been able to go about our business without much trouble, taking reasonable precautions.


That's good to hear. The rural areas are being hit super hard here in the U.S. They thought it was just a "big city" problem until it wasn't. There are limited healthcare facilities in the rural communities which means they are having to send people to the city hospitals, which are running out of bed/ staff. Some hospitals have stopped accepting new patients because they don't have the staff. It's going to be a rough 2 or 3 months since so many are still going about their business like everything is normal. 

Hope you continue to stay safe.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Interesting morning the other day. 

We noticed the horses were in the banana grove instead of the pasture. They hadn’t escaped. They just were not where they were supposed to be. 

There was no rush, as they were grazing happily there. I went to to the barn and put their feed out. Then I grabbed a bridle and a lariat. 

The banana grove is on the far side of our property, on the hillside by our access road. I walked around by way of the road until I came to the place I had last seen them. I blew the whistle I use to call them up for feeding and Pinatubo answered. I found her near the small access gate we have in the perimeter fence there and put the bridle on her. Skippy was nowhere to be seen, but she can be hardheaded. 

I took Pinatubo out to the road and mounted up bareback. I continued to blow the whistle, and Pinatubo, upset at being separated from her pasture mate, also began to call. Before long, Skippy answered and I got her out onto the road as well. I didn’t need to rope her. Just slipped the loop over her head, and we all went back to the barn. 

Later, I found where the fence between the pasture and the banana grove was down. I did a temporary repair job, and Marlyn contacted a young fellow to help carry new posts down for a more sturdy fix.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Big change in egg production since the solstice. Being close to the equator, I didn’t think there would be much of a shift in things. There is only about an hour difference both ways between summer and winter.

But our chickens seem to be affected by it anyway. As the daylight lessened after the fall equinox, the chickens laid fewer and fewer eggs. It dropped off to nothing late in the season. I had stopped gathering daily and shifted to once a week. Sometimes coming empty handed to the kitchen.

With the return of even a little daylight, production has increased dramatically. It does seem to depend a bit on cloud cover. The rainy season is dragging on, seemingly interminably. But, it is not unusual now for my weekly haul to number a couple dozen or so.

Soon, I’ll go back to a daily gathering.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I’ve been away from this thread for a while. Lots of activity here. The goodewyfe’s dream house is not fully complete. But we’ve moved in anyway. The house is not fully functional, as the water is not yet connected, and we don’t have a cooking stove installed yet. We have some temporary workarounds for those, so it’s only a bit of an inconvenience.

We moved in our furniture, and all the household stuff that has been in storage for several years now. It’s a bit cluttered while we figure out where to put what, and what we don’t really need anymore.

We put in a temporary wire fence to keep the horses from trying to get in. Eventually that will be replaced with a pipe gate and some landscaping walls.

Going through a bit of adjustment in our routine now as we are a couple hundred or more meters away from the main farmstead. But I’m that much closer to the barn.

Anyway, here’s the goodewyfe making and hanging curtains.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Trying to mooch morning coffee before we got the yard fenced off


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## walkinthewalk

Holy Smoke your new home looks beautiful!!

It has been a very long process for you. Somehow, along the way and even though you always show fotos of the build in process, I still forgot you have never been completely settled.

It has to be a huge relief to be so close to completion. What are you going to do with all your “spare” time?


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## lb27312

Your home looks beautiful!! Congrats on moving in!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Long time, no write.

Rainy season is over. We are out and about a bit more now. Our neighbors have a bumper crop of tomatoes. But the bottom fell out of the price. Costs them more to harvest and transport them than they make at the market. They are leaving them in the field.
The goodewyfe has been going up and harvesting quite a few and paying a bit for them. She’s made juice, sauce, and dried a bunch of them. She showed some neighbors how to make the sauce and gave them some.

today, she went up the mountain with some of our ranch help and gathered several bags and baskets full. As well as some giant papayas.


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## Cordillera Cowboy




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## Cordillera Cowboy

I think the first image didn’t post.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Making tomato sauce.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

This is not good news. We had hoped to buy a horse from this area because they have some taller ones available.

Can’t happen now.









Deadly disease hits horses in Baguio’s Wright Park


BAGUIO CITY — For decades, the city’s “pony boys” (horse trainers or handlers) thrived literally on the backs of their horses, which they rented out to tourists and residents at Wright




www.google.com


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## walkinthewalk

Holeee Moleee! Devastating news about the EIA if all of the horses end up having to be destroyed - I don't even know what to say😰😰

Great pictures! Was that a celebration?


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## boots

How devastating (the EIA outbreak).


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> Holeee Moleee! Devastating news about the EIA if all of the horses end up having to be destroyed - I don't even know what to say😰😰
> 
> Great pictures! Was that a celebration?


the last batch of photos are from the tomato harvest on our neighbor’s farm. The bottom dropped out of the price, so they left them in the field. The goodewyfe and some of our ranch help have been going up there and gathering as much as possible. She has made sauce, juice, and also sun dried a lot of them.


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## PoptartShop

Oh my, that's devastating.


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## knightrider

What terrible news! So sorry to read that.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I don’t think I’ve posted a photo of Pinatubo and me together. So here ya go.


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## walkinthewalk

You are both looking terrific!

Pinatubo sure has filled out and come along way in the manners/riding department since you brought her home.

She looks like a seasoned trail horse, ready to hit the woods and swim a river

Be careful — some of the locals may start asking you to break their ponies for them—- if they haven’t a,ready


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks for the comp


walkinthewalk said:


> You are both looking terrific!
> 
> Pinatubo sure has filled out and come along way in the manners/riding department since you brought her home.
> 
> She looks like a seasoned trail horse, ready to hit the woods and swim a river
> 
> Be careful — some of the locals may start asking you to break their ponies for them—- if they haven’t a,ready


Thanks for the compliment. She’s lost fat and gained muscle tone. Her weight has remained consistent.

I really like these “native horses “ as they’re called here. Both of ours have good minds as far as trails and traffic.

Pinatubo still lives up to her name. I don’t get near her without something in my hand. What you can’t see in the photo is the quirt hanging from my right wrist. Usually, so long as she sees that, she won’t get aggressive. Reminds me a bit of the BLM mustang I used to own. I had to wear my spurs with that horse. I rarely had to use them, but she knew if I didn’t have them , and would take advantage.

If Pinatubo is successful at buffaloing someone else, she will attempt it even harder with me. I have to stand my ground and have something to defend myself with.

it’s doubtful I’ll get drafted for someone else’s horse. The few people in the area who actually use their horses are pretty well set in their ways regarding training. Folks who have spoken with me about it seem to think my methods take too long. I got that as a teenager also. Old timers would laugh and say Oh, you do it “Indian style “. I don’t have time for that.”


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## knightrider

Very impressive picture! I'd be quite proud of that.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks @knightrider!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Dry season here is also fire season. Local mountain farmers practice slash and burn agriculture. Each dry season they burn off the grass and weeds from ground they intend to plant. Last week, I counted 10 different fires burning on the surrounding hillsides.

it’s a bit scary when they are close. Also last week, someone set a fire that got away from them. It threatened a couple of nice houses, and worse in my book, the simple wooden house of the caretaker on the property adjacent to ours.

the local fire department showed up, and whoever set the fire disappeared. Local news said it burned 3 hectares, but it looked much larger to us. Fortunately, no houses were damaged. But it destroyed some of our neighbors rubber trees and some coconut trees.

it was close enough that I was making mental plans of what equipment I was going to pull out of the barn if it came on to our property.

for the past several days, the owners of the fields just across our access road on our southern property line have been aggressively burning. These guys are careful. I’ve seen them out there in groups, neighbor helping neighbor. They have backpack sprayers filled with water, rakes, and green tree branches for controlling things. After one burn, I noticed that the burn line was almost perfectly straight along the property line. These fires have not jumped the road and endangered our property.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The line of fire seemed almost a kilometer long.


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## waresbear

That would make me very nervous! We take fire very seriously here, 4 years ago, this whole area was ablaze with forest fires. Everyone was evacuated within a 1000 mile radius, thousands of hectares of different fires burning. Many houses lost and Livestock burned. I was in the lower mainland when this happened, my adult children evacuated our horses, I am forever grateful to them. We are only allowed slash burning during early spring with a permit. Whenever I burn a smaller slash pile, hand pulled from the large ones, which is allowed at anytime, I always see a forestry helicopter fly over, happened 3 times now. Of course I have a hose and heavy machinery right there in case. We live in the middle of dense forest.
I love your journal by the way.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

waresbear said:


> That would make me very nervous! We take fire very seriously here, 4 years ago, this whole area was ablaze with forest fires. Everyone was evacuated within a 1000 mile radius, thousands of hectares of different fires burning. Many houses lost and Livestock burned. I was in the lower mainland when this happened, my adult children evacuated our horses, I am forever grateful to them. We are only allowed slash burning during early spring with a permit. Whenever I burn a smaller slash pile, hand pulled from the large ones, which is allowed at anytime, I always see a forestry helicopter fly over, happened 3 times now. Of course I have a hose and heavy machinery right there in case. We live in the middle of dense forest.
> I love your journal by the way.


Thanks. I’m glad folks are enjoying it.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had a hen sitting on a clutch of duck eggs. She hatched out two of them. She is caring for them as if they were chicks, and they stick with her.

can’t get a good photo of them. The hen has always been skittish.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe went shopping, and I visited a friend yesterday. We saw a male atlas moth in his garden.


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## walkinthewalk

The Atlas moth is beautiful!

How are the baby ducks managing underneath the chicken


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## Cordillera Cowboy

walkinthewalk said:


> The Atlas moth is beautiful!
> 
> How are the baby ducks managing underneath the chicken


 We haven’t seen the ducklings for several days. But that hen is about half feral. Last time I saw them they were headed for the wood line.

they may show up again all fledged out, but who knows. There are 4 more duck eggs in the chicken basket, and a duck sitting on eggs in a lean-to behind the showers. I’m leaving them alone. We will see what happens.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Today, June 12th, is Independence Day in the Philippines. We usually host a barbecue for our friends and neighbors. But today we have only some friends overnighting on their way from Tuguegarao to Manila.
First overnight visitors in our new house.

the photo is the Philippine flag over our old farmhouse last year.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our friends who are staying overnight with us took this drone shot of our ranch compound.


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## ACinATX

Wow, I love the drone shot!


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## walkinthewalk

The drone shot is pretty impressive


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## Chevaux

The drone shot is great. If it’s not too much of a nuisance, would you identify the buildings, please, cc?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> The drone shot is great. If it’s not too much of a nuisance, would you identify the buildings, please, cc?


At the far left, you can see just the corner of what we call the guardhouse. It’s a structure meant for a permanent employee and family to live in right beside our entrance gate. Following the driveway from there, the white square structure is our concrete water tank. It is the reservoir for the water that is gravity fed from a mountain spring above us.
The irregular oblong next to that is the horse corral at the top of the world. 

Following the right fork in the drive, takes you to the main farmstead. Next to the parked cars is the poultry coop, a tool shed, toilets and showers. The line of buildings beside that are staff and guest quarters. Going clockwise down, there is a covered swing and the round fire pit. The largest building is our big communal kitchen.

Taking the left fork at the corral takes you to our house and garage. The blue roof visible in the trees beyond that is my barn.


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## knightrider

Did you look at the new horse yet?


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## Chevaux

Excellent. Thank you, cc. It is impressive.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

knightrider said:


> Did you look at the new horse yet?


Got photos and a description over on the horse talk section.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Got photos and a description over on the horse talk section.











Possible new horse purchase.


We have had it out on the grapevine that we are looking for another horse. But it must be a tall horse. We’ve been through the now familiar routine of going to see a “big” horse, only to find a 10 hh pony. But today, the livestock dealer we sold our cattle to showed up at the ranch...




www.horseforum.com


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We live on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the circle of volcanoes that are part of the Pacific Rim. Last January, the Taal Volcano erupted, destroying the communities built on the slopes. We were stranded in Japan where we had been visiting family.

Since then, Taal has remained unstable. Lately it has been emitting clouds of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. We are some 400 kilometers north of Taal, and so are in no great danger from an eruption. But the southerly winds that bring the rainy season to us also pushed some haze up to us. I experienced some mild irritation in my eyes and sinuses. No one else seemed to be bothered.

The main thing we noticed was the haze. Mount Palali, is the dominant feature on our southeastern horizon. The view of it across the valley was completely blocked by the haze for a week or so.

The wind has shifted a bit, and the haze is being pushed in a different direction.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Our usual view of Palali.


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## tinyliny

You probably already mentioed this , but what do you 'ranch' there?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

tinyliny said:


> You probably already mentioed this , but what do you 'ranch' there?


I suppose it would be more accurately called a mixed use farm. But here in the Philippines, any large acreage, especially in the mountains, that is not under heavy crop cultivation, is called a ranch. Among the lowlanders, the term is somewhat derogatory.

I had a breeding pair of cattle. But they didn’t reproduce, so I sold them. I have the horses , and may buy and sell young cattle later. We have a huge flock of free range chickens, some ducks and geese.

We have a few hundred young fruit trees. They should start bearing in a year or so. We recently cut down our banana grove and replaced it with a few thousand pineapples. We should see how that works by the end of the year or so. We’ve just started some ginger and calabaza, a type of pumpkin.

In the pasture area, I have left the forested areas as wild as possible. We have forbidden hunting on our property and tend to call it a wildlife refuge.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The past two months were mostly uneventful. We did a bit of essential traveling. One, to the immigration office in a nearby municipality to update my visa. The other to the US Veterans Administration clinic in Manila to be vaccinated against the current pestilence. 

This past Friday, we overnighted at the home of a fellow expat. He is a Brit. Retired marine biologist and environmental scientist. Conversation is always interesting at their house. Plus his hobby is making beer. He’s somewhat of a renaissance man, in that he keeps busy with a range of useful hobbies. We have an appointment for another overnight later this week to participate in a sausage making session.

And a side benefit of travel to the city is stopping by the big grocery store that stocks imported foodstuffs. The goodewyfe made a wonderful Father’s Day steak supper for me from imported Australian beef.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The past two months were mostly uneventful. We did a bit of essential traveling. One, to the immigration office in a nearby municipality to update my visa. The other to the US Veterans Administration clinic in Manila to be vaccinated against the current pestilence. 

This past Friday, we overnighted at the home of a fellow expat. He is a Brit. Retired marine biologist and environmental scientist. Conversation is always interesting at their house. Plus his hobby is making beer. He’s somewhat of a renaissance man, in that he keeps busy with a range of useful hobbies. We have an appointment for another overnight later this week to participate in a sausage making session.

And a side benefit of travel to the city is stopping by the big grocery store that stocks imported foodstuffs. The goodewyfe made a wonderful Father’s Day steak supper for me from imported Australian beef.


View attachment 1116296


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## Cordillera Cowboy

A permanent resident of my barn is this green skink. When I first saw it the tail was missing, probably from a close encounter with a chicken.

It has grown accustomed to my coming and going. I go about my barn chores rather quietly and gently. It doesn’t scamper off when I enter a room where it’s hanging around. It will come out into the aisle and go room to room hunting for insects to eat. It will often come out into the aisle to bask in the sun while I’m piddling around there.

During the dry season, I noticed it drinking water left on the dipper I use to mix feed. I’ve since taken to leaving a bit in the bottom and resting the dipper on its side.


----------



## knightrider

Awww, that is so kind. I've heard of snakes that come out and bask with folks who work in their gardens. Don't tell me animals don't have sentient feelings, even reptiles!


----------



## tinyliny

You are building up some sweet karma there.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Doing some weed control out in the pasture. And grass control in the horse corral at the top of the world.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Mulberries. We didn’t know whether or not they would grow here. The goodewyfe planted this tree less than a year ago as an experiment. Maybe in another year or so, there will be enough to make some jam.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Our ranch helper harvested littuko, the fruits of the rattan tree. This is about one third of it, gathered yesterday. He gathered the rest this morning. 

The tree is in the forest, down by our creek. 

The ladies are busy now pickling the fruit.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

And our grape vine is producing fruit.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We had a heavy rain last night. That usually means that the tree frogs have a grand time in the horse trough. By daylight, the frogs are somewhere else, sleeping it off. Left behind as evidence are the foamy nests full of fertilized frog eggs.


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## waresbear

With those grapes, wine?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

waresbear said:


> With those grapes, wine?


Sorry. I thought I had responded to this.
We won’t get enough grapes for wine from the few vines that we have.

We are thinking of making wine with mangoes or pineapple. But I still have to work out some form of temperature control. It’s too hot here to just set it in the corner and wait. Unless you like jet fuel.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

There’s some unexpected movement on our stalled effort to plant native trees. We’ve just received 200 seedlings from the Dept of Environment and Natural Resources. Fifty each of narra, kupang, ado, and kalumpit.

Got a fellow started today on planting them around our perimeter.


----------



## knightrider

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Unless you like jet fuel.


That made me laugh out loud


----------



## egrogan

What a busy season at your place! Loving all the harvest pics. Mulberries are wonderful-I bet you’d have enough to make a few small tarts or hand pies? Just a tiny treat.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

egrogan said:


> What a busy season at your place! Loving all the harvest pics. Mulberries are wonderful-I bet you’d have enough to make a few small tarts or hand pies? Just a tiny treat.


The mulberries are coming ripe a handful at a time. The goodewyfe is collecting them and freezing them until she has enough to make some jam.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe is happy with her composting efforts.


----------



## carshon

I love the pictures of your home and your explanations.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

carshon said:


> I love the pictures of your home and your explanations.


Thanks !


----------



## Chevaux

I’m liking that little flower garden.

What’s the weed situation like? Everything green wise looks so good in your photos it’s hard to think there would be unwanted plants.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Chevaux said:


> I’m liking that little flower garden.
> 
> What’s the weed situation like? Everything green wise looks so good in your photos it’s hard to think there would be unwanted plants.


The little flower garden is about 100 meters long and 10 or more wide.

This is the tropics. If you clear a patch of ground down to the dirt, then go to lunch, something will be growing in it when you get back.

This compost pile is mostly weeds from the flower garden, a little kitchen waste, and a heavy contribution of horse manure from my team.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

A small patch of black sesame.










And the seed pods.


----------



## MeditativeRider

Wow, that is so interesting to see. I have a jar of black sesame seeds in the pantry and would have never imagined the plant looked like that. But then again, I don't know what I would have imagined it looked like either. Anyway, so cool. I love seeing new-to-me plants that grow edibles. Thanks for posting.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

MeditativeRider said:


> Wow, that is so interesting to see. I have a jar of black sesame seeds in the pantry and would have never imagined the plant looked like that. But then again, I don't know what I would have imagined it looked like either. Anyway, so cool. I love seeing new-to-me plants that grow edibles. Thanks for posting.


The seeds came from Pacita, our closest uphill neighbor. She cultivates her own patch of sesame. From time to time, she will bring a bunch of seeds to our place. She borrows our wooden mortar and pestle to grind the seeds before taking them to market. She always leaves us some of the ground seeds afterwards. We sprinkle it on our rice.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The goodewyfe and a friend using our mortar and pestle to make ube flour.

Ube is a purple yam.


----------



## Woodhaven

CC thank you for sharing all your pictures of your new life way across the world from us. It is so interesting to see how things are done on your lovely ranch. I really enjoy seeing them and look forward to more


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I guess the photo didn’t post.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We had our first successful harvest of calabaza today. That’s Dennis, our ranch manager on the left. Totoy, our hired helper on the right.


----------



## whisperbaby22

Wow those look great.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We loaded up the calabaza and took it to our vendor in the ag terminal. He called up a “cargador” (one who loads and unloads) to sack up and weigh our produce. The guy was pretty good at selecting the squash to make each bag fairly close to 70 kilos each.

I was helping to push the squash from the headboard. I noticed the cargador had a bag nearly full, and was looking for more to put in it. He said something in Ilokano, and I made out the word “basit” (small). I handed him some small squash, and felt a bit more connected to the process than before.

our total was 352 kilograms of calabaza. We will have to wait for the sale, as travel restrictions are limiting the movement of many of the buyers.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Our calabaza yielded 5,000 pesos. That’s about $100, US. 

A second load from the same field produced a bit over 500 kilograms. There is still a bit left in the field, but that will be for our own consumption.


----------



## MeditativeRider

Well done on the calabaza. The ube looks interesting. What do you make from the flour?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

MeditativeRider said:


> Well done on the calabaza. The ube looks interesting. What do you make from the flour?


Thanks. The batch in the photo was spread out to dry in the sun, then made into toasted chips for snacks.

You can do anything with ube that you can with any other starchy yam. The goodewyfe has made pies with it, and casserole type dishes. Often, it’s roasted or boiled and served as a snack or a side dish.

Commercially, it is used as a coloring or a filler in ice cream, cakes, veggie chips and such.

Here’s some pies the goodewyfe made for a big meal about ten years ago.


----------



## whisperbaby22

Those look yummy!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The crew harvested peanuts today.









And with the peanut patch pulled up, you can see our plot of ginger.


----------



## MeditativeRider

That's a lot of ginger. Will you sell it? I have tried to grow it indoors here but not had any luck so far.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

MeditativeRider said:


> That's a lot of ginger. Will you sell it? I have tried to grow it indoors here but not had any luck so far.


Yes. When the ginger is ready, we intend to sell it. Our neighbors have told us that ginger is “green gold”. Best I can tell, that means the price is consistently high, and doesn’t fluctuate as much as other produce.

We have a few things planted in commercial quantities. The calabaza that was just harvested, the ginger,, and pineapple. We also have calamansi trees, a small, popular citrus. Those are still a year or two away from producing enough for sale.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The black sesame pods are coming ready for harvest. When the pods turn brown, it’s time to pick them. As they dry, they open and the seeds fall out. You have to get them before they drop all the seeds on the ground.

Once harvested, you can open the pods by hand, or put them in a basket to let them dry and open under the sun.


----------



## MeditativeRider

Do people in the Philippines use any plants for traditional medicinal value? I was just editing a paper about traditional Chinese medicines and how particular plants they use are becoming rare in the wild because of increased popularity/use, so cultivation of them commercially is becoming profitable. I guess it would depend on the plant, but maybe that could be a future income stream in addition to edibles if you could identify something suitable.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

MeditativeRider said:


> Do people in the Philippines use any plants for traditional medicinal value? I was just editing a paper about traditional Chinese medicines and how particular plants they use are becoming rare in the wild because of increased popularity/use, so cultivation of them commercially is becoming profitable. I guess it would depend on the plant, but maybe that could be a future income stream in addition to edibles if you could identify something suitable.


Not so much that I have heard about. Many folks will use a poultice of wild guava leaves as an antiseptic. I’m not sure how effective it is. We had a worker a few years ago who sustained a puncture wound in his foot. He refused medical attention, and dressed it himself with guava. Eventually, he couldn’t walk on it, and we noticed red streaks running up his leg. We made him go to the hospital. The doctor administered intravenous antibiotics to save his leg.

Wild guava is so plentiful here as to be something of a nuisance in my pasture.

Most folk healing here is done through people called abeleros. I suppose they may use some herbal remedies. But usually I hear that they prescribe an atang, an appeasement offering to whatever forest entity the sufferer is thought to have offended.

Among the goodewyfe’s ethnic group are women, usually elderly, who are thought to be able to heal by a laying on of hands.

The mother-in-law of our ranch manager has been ill for about a month now. We think it is Covid, but she won’t see a doctor so we can’t be sure. She won’t eat, and is getting weak. The goodewyfe took her some instant noodles, a canned protein drink called Ensure, multivitamins and a few other things to hopefully induce her to eat. 

They are of an ethnic group indigenous to the Cordillera Mountains, and although devoutly Christian, still adhere to many of the old ways. The weakened lady has begun to see visions of her ancestors, an ominous sign. We are told that when that happens, the family must butcher 3 hogs to feed a gathering of the community. Then, the coffins of ancestors are to be opened and the bones cleaned.

We have offered to buy one of the hogs.


----------



## MeditativeRider

Most of the traditional medical plants do contain compounds that have important bioactivity related to their original uses. Often in the plant, they are not present at a high enough concentration to be effective in all cases (like your worker that ended up with cellulitis). But the natural products (chemicals) are there and do work, it is just a matter of identifying them, isolating and purifying them, and either using them as is or making a synthetic version, modifying them slightly, or using them as lead compounds in drug development. Ultimately, they are the way forward to find any new antibiotics and treatments for things like cancer.

I have not edited any papers specifically about guava, but I did a Google Scholar search for the last four years, and there is research being conducted on it: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2017&q=guava+traditional+medicine&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

Not be much use to you commercially if it is wild and plentiful though.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

@MeditativeRider I did a bit of google on the abularyos. It seems they do sometimes use herbal remedies.

Some years ago, I worked at a living history museum in the US. I think they are called open air museums in the UK. We had a heavy agricultural component, including medicinal herbs. Our main reference was Gerard’s Herbal, a 17th century work on all the plants and their uses known to western scholars at the time. Looking at the plants and their uses and comparing them to modern drugs used for the same purposes, bears out what you said about concentrated or synthesized ingredients.


----------



## TrainedByMares

I like your ginger plants! My understanding is ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. I shred ginger root and boil it to make a tea. It seems to work.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

TrainedByMares said:


> I like your ginger plants! My understanding is ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. I shred ginger root and boil it to make a tea. It seems to work.


We’ve made ginger tea to soothe a sore throat. The goodewyfe also showed me how to slice ginger,boil it, mash it, and wrap a sprained joint with it. Works sort of like the old Ben-gay cream.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We had overnight house guests a couple weeks ago. The kids got up early enough to help with the barn chores.

The mother gave permission to post the pics.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Here’s the pics.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Local mountain bike clubs have found our place to be a nice place to stop for a rest and some snacks while riding the mountain trails.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Our kitchen stove cabinet arrived the other day. Our house is now completely modern. The compartment beneath the range top holds the gas canister.


----------



## TrainedByMares

Is that Carlini olive oil? You have an Aldi store nearby?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

TrainedByMares said:


> Is that Carlini olive oil? You have an Aldi store nearby?


I had to look at the bottle because I didn’t know. Yes, it is Carlini. No, we don’t have a Aldi store around here. We got this olive oil either in the western foods section of the big grocery store in the city (a couple hours away), or in a care package sent by the goodewyfe’s sister in the US.

Also on the shelf is a jar of hot sauce the goodewyfe made from a recent crop of habenero peppers, some ground black pepper from a friend’s trees, and some rice vinegar we brought home from our last trip to Japan.


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## TrainedByMares

We have one too!!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We rescued this young monitor lizard from one of our dogs this morning. I’ve got it in a 5 gallon bucket for now. I’m hoping to convince it to take up residence in and around the barn. 

It seems unhurt, and has eaten a tadpole I dropped in with it. I’ve got to figure out how to build a suitable enclosure now to protect it from the chickens. 

After a while, I may need to protect the chickens from the monitor.


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## whisperbaby22

My neighbors have chickens, and while I don't like them myself, they do eat a lot of critters.


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## lb27312

I love my chickens....

I'm not sure but aren't monitors aggressive? Can't they grow pretty big? Just curious.... wasn't sure if there were different kinds than the one I know about. 

Love your pics and stories about your place!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

lb27312 said:


> I love my chickens....
> 
> I'm not sure but aren't monitors aggressive? Can't they grow pretty big? Just curious.... wasn't sure if there were different kinds than the one I know about.
> 
> Love your pics and stories about your place!


Yes. Yes. And Yes.

I never intended to be caretaker for a reptile. But here we are.

The Komodo dragon is the most well known of the monitors. They are limited to their own island. Large enough to eat goats, and slow people. Fortunately, there are none that size here.

If I can keep it alive, the one I have should grow large enough to eat chickens. Not sure how long that will take. Maybe a couple years. I’m not worried about that. We have an abundance of poultry. And if they are similar to other reptiles, they won’t eat a large meal often.

What I have learned since yesterday, is that they are opportunistic carnivores. I can feed it bits of meat, fish, egg, insects, etc, etc. 

One herpetologist told me, that if I take my time, it will eventually follow me around like a puppy. He suggested putting one of my old sweaty shirts in the enclosure to get it accustomed to my scent. Similar to comforting a fretful puppy.


----------



## Woodhaven

An unusual pet I must say but you do have a way with animals and I can see a well mannered lizzard following your outings along with the dogs.


----------



## ACinATX

Woodhaven said:


> An unusual pet I must say but you do have a way with animals and I can see a well mannered lizzard following your outings along with the dogs.


You could take him on your rides! He could sit on Pinatuba's butt! I'm sure she'd love that LOL.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Late yesterday, I set up a larger temporary enclosure for the monitor. The bottom half of a blue plastic barrel. I put a broken section of hollow building block in the center, so it has a little “cave” to hide in. I put some water in the bottom, and tilted the barrel so the water pools on one side. I dropped some tadpoles into the water hoping the lizard would eat. 

The lizard was lively when I transferred it out of the little bucket. It immediately went into the puddle of water. After a while, it went to the dry part. This morning, it was inside the little hiding place. I saw no evidence that it had eaten any tadpoles. I dropped a few live ones in this morning. Hopefully the wiggling will entice the lizard to eat.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I checked on the monitor lizard again this morning when I fed the horses. It was still hiding in the “cave”, with no sign that it had eaten. 
It has been in the feed room for a couple days now. The room is cool, with no sunlight. 

I moved the enclosure outside knowing reptiles need sunlight. I tipped the hollow block to check if the thing was still alive. It plopped out, belly up and didn’t move. It was alive, the tongue flicked out a bit, and it lifted it’s head some. It was barely breathing.

I figured it was dying. Then my high school biology lessons started coming back. It is a cold blooded animal, and it had gone torpid. After several minutes in the weak morning sun, it suddenly started breathing and scrambled into the puddle of water. I’ve been told that they like to submerge themselves.

More remembered biology lessons reminded me that it will not eat unless it has sufficient body temperature for digestion.

So I’m out here in the barnyard, babysitting a sunbathing lizard. I will probably move it into the room I call my office. It has a west facing window and some curtains. Hopefully I can keep the thing warm enough to have an appetite without baking it.

We have feelers out for a large aquarium or terrarium for a better enclosure.


----------



## Woodhaven

If I had a book A hundred and one tricks you can teach a monitor lizard I would send it to you. I see a great future for you and your new addition to the family.


----------



## Txshecat0423

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> So I’m out here in the barnyard, babysitting a sunbathing lizard.


The statement quoted made me giggle a little [emoji1787][emoji1787]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Txshecat0423 said:


> The statement quoted made me giggle a little [emoji1787][emoji1787]
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


LOL. It’s still small enough that I have to protect it from the chickens.


----------



## Txshecat0423

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> LOL. It’s still small enough that I have to protect it from the chickens.


Now that we’ve moved to a larger property, my husband and mom really want chickens. When I was young, it was my job to collect the eggs. We had a big mean rooster named Rojo who made it HIS job to terrorize me every single time. He would attack me and peck me, and I would end up crying every time. I said then when I grew up,
I would never ever have chickens, and so far I’ve held to it! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

This morning I cleaned out the tub the lizard is in. It was inside the “cave”, so I just picked up the block and set it in a big feed tub. I peeked in to see the lizard was alert. So it seems the sunbathing yesterday did some good. 

I put it back in the original tub with a clean bottom and fresh water in the puddle. I dropped a few new tadpoles into the puddle.

It rained all afternoon, so no opportunity for another sun bath. But when I checked on it later, one of the tadpoles was missing. Hopefully the lizard is eating now.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Txshecat0423 said:


> Now that we’ve moved to a larger property, my husband and mom really want chickens. When I was young, it was my job to collect the eggs. We had a big mean rooster named Rojo who made it HIS job to terrorize me every single time. He would attack me and peck me, and I would end up crying every time. I said then when I grew up,
> I would never ever have chickens, and so far I’ve held to it!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Years ago I worked with a lady who had grown up on a farm in the Midwest. One of her chores as a kid was also to gather eggs. She told me that every morning she would go into the chicken coop with a basket and a broom. 

If a rooster flew up at her, she would swat it with the broom. Told me she always tried to bounce them off the wall. Any rooster she had to swat twice ended up in the stew pot.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

@Txshecat0423 If you only want eggs, and the occasional broiler, there is no need to keep a rooster.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Lizard update:

The monitor lizard is still alive, though I can’t really tell whether or not it has eaten anything. in my google research of trying to figure what type of monitor it is, I’ve narrowed it down to two. It could be either the Philippine monitor, a carnivorous local. Or it could be a North Luzon monitor which eats fruit, and is rare I understand.

A few days ago, it had a bit of a rough day. I set the whole container that it stays in outside for some sun. In addition to the tadpoles, I had a guava in there in case it’s a fructivore. There were no chickens around, so I was in the barn doing some small chores. Next thing I know one of the horses stuck it’s nose into the container, shoved the hollow block aside, lizard and all, and ate the guava. I chased the horse off and replaced the guava with a banana. I went back to work. Then, the other horse did the same.

I brought the poor critter back inside and left it alone to settle down. Since then, I make it a point to transfer the lizard into an empty feed pan for the sun bath. 

The green skink that used to hang around the barn hasn’t been seen for two or three months. But yesterday, I saw a smaller one going in and out of the tack room.


----------



## ACinATX

I thought of you today! We were driving through Temple, and I saw two big horse trailers getting on the highway -- six horse slant-loads it looked like. They were empty. I was like, why are they towing two big trailers empty like that, and who? And then I saw on the side it said "US Army." Those trailers were spotless and shining and looked so nice! One of these days I will make it to that cavalry show you mentioned once...


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> I thought of you today! We were driving through Temple, and I saw two big horse trailers getting on the highway -- six horse slant-loads it looked like. They were empty. I was like, why are they towing two big trailers empty like that, and who? And then I saw on the side it said "US Army." Those trailers were spotless and shining and looked so nice! One of these days I will make it to that cavalry show you mentioned once...


If you are in that area, you should go see their demonstration!









'We are the cavalry!' Mounted demonstrations resume at Fort Hood


FORT HOOD, Texas - The 1st Cavalry Division’s Horse Cav. Detachment is riding once again, after resuming its weekly mounted demonstrations, which halted...




www.army.mil


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

They have gotten more sophisticated in the 40 years since I was there.


























Our trailers were modified military cargo trailers. They had a door in the middle with a big ramp like a ship’s gangway that we raised and lowered with ropes and pulleys.


----------



## ACinATX

I wish I had been able to take a picture of the trailers. They were just gorgeous.

I checked out the show, and it's only on Thursdays. Maybe one Thursday we'll be driving up there and can stop. It looks really cool.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> I wish I had been able to take a picture of the trailers. They were just gorgeous.
> 
> I checked out the show, and it's only on Thursdays. Maybe one Thursday we'll be driving up there and can stop. It looks really cool.


Or you could contact the Fort Hood public affairs office and find out if they are performing at any local fairs or rodeos. That will likely be thin during the winter.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Another lizard update. 
Had a major success with the monitor lizard today. I’ve been keeping tadpoles in the water in the tub the lizard is staying in. Hoping it would eat some of them. So far, I’ve seen little sign that the lizard is eating any tadpoles. 

Today, I put I small piece of raw chicken into the tub. When I checked back later, the chicken meat was gone. Now to figure out how much and how often to feed it.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

In other news, the goodewyfe harvested a quantity of turmeric. Our helpers washed it yesterday evening. The goodewyfe took it to our vendor at the ag terminal today. We have to wait for a buyer before we learn how much it will bring.


----------



## Woodhaven

Have you named your lizzard yet? I really think T Rex suits him


----------



## lb27312

I’m glad you updated about the lizard! I hope he continues to do good…

That’s a good amount of tumeric!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Woodhaven said:


> Have you named your lizzard yet? I really think T Rex suits him


I’m thinking something like Fido.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Katuday, an edible blossom from a tree in our vegetable garden. I don’t know if there is any English word for it.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I haven’t put up photos of the horses lately. 
Here they are in the horse corral at the top of the world with a mother hen.


----------



## whisperbaby22

They look great!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

A photo taken by one of our visitors. 
Still life of our garden swing.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

A white throated kingfisher has been hanging around our house for a couple of weeks now. We hear it calling in the mornings and, from time to time, through the day. If we are watchful, we see it a few times in the day. 

It is wary, and if it sees you first, it will fly off into the tree line in a flash of blue and white. I’ve not been able to get a photo.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

White-throated Kingfisher | Bird Gallery | Birdwatch.ph


----------



## ACinATX

How is your lizard doing?


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> How is your lizard doing?


The monitor lizard seems to be doing ok. It eats bits of raw chicken from time to time. Divides its time between hiding in the “cave” and soaking in the water. The weather is cool this time of year, so it is not very active.

We are looking for a large aquarium so I can move it out of the plastic tub it’s in now.


----------



## knightrider

I hope that @bsms sees this. I know he likes historical horse things. I wish I lived close enough to see it.


Cordillera Cowboy said:


> 'We are the cavalry!' Mounted demonstrations resume at Fort Hood
> 
> 
> FORT HOOD, Texas - The 1st Cavalry Division’s Horse Cav. Detachment is riding once again, after resuming its weekly mounted demonstrations, which halted...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.army.mil


I also enjoy reading about your lizard. Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Bath day today. Yesterday they were so muddy you couldn’t tell them apart. Tomorrow we are hosting some friends with horse crazy little girls. Pony rides are on the schedule.

The horses are basking in the sun now in the horse corral at the top of the world. They can roll in the grass there, instead of the mud.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

The pony rides went well yesterday. Skippy was her usual friendly self. 

The 4 year old horse crazy girl who is the instigator always plays in the flower garden after her ride. Then she presents me with a flower and a thank you.


----------



## knightrider

There is a lot of unrest currently in the Philippines. Do we need to be concerned for your safety?

Philippines: Congressman, Security Escort Killed at Gift-Giving Program — BenarNews


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

knightrider said:


> There is a lot of unrest currently in the Philippines. Do we need to be concerned for your safety?
> 
> Philippines: Congressman, Security Escort Killed at Gift-Giving Program — BenarNews


I wouldn’t say there is a lot of unrest. There always seems to be an uptick in political violence during an election year. Say what you might, the Philippines is still a 3rd world country.

It is dangerous to get involved in politics in the Philippines. It is also illegal for a foreigner to get involved in Filipino politics, so I don’t.

Emotions and egos run hot here. It is illegal to sell alcohol on Election Day. Foreigners are advised to stay home on Election Day. For all of that, the governor of our province is one of the few who travel without a bodyguard and security detail. Many of our neighbors are surrendered and repatriated communist rebels. They work their farms now, same as everyone else. None that I’m aware of have violated the terms of their amnesty. They are better neighbors than the guy who claims to be the government appointed watchdog over them.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We held our Christmas gathering for our workers and their families, as well as some neighbors and friends yesterday, Christmas Eve. There was lots of food, some music and dancing, and everyone received gifts in a raffle/door prize system. 

The local priest also came for the pandemic delayed blessing of our newly built house and the rest of the ranch, including the barn and horses. I was happy to see that Pinatubo did not sizzle when she was splashed with holy water.


----------



## Woodhaven

Thank you for those lovely pictures. I sit here about 24 hrs later, it's Christmas Eve and enjoying your Christmas Eve pictures.
I'm also glad that Pinatubo did not sizzle maybe this will change her into a reformed and lovely willing horse for you. A Christmas miracle Maybe???
Merry Christmas, it will be a green Christmas here as rain is coming tonight


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## TrainedByMares

Merry Christmas and be safe Cordillera Man!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

One of the best parts of our Christmas gathering were the gifts brought to us by our mountain farmer neighbors. 

Coconut tree seedlings, and several different types of vegetables and fruits.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Lizard update:

I think I’m beginning to see a pattern in the monitor’s eating habits. I’m feeding it bits of raw chicken. It seems to eat every 10 days or so. That may vary with the temperature as time passes.

It is often in the water or on top of its “cave” when I check on it in the mornings.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Relaxing on a sunny morning in the horse corral at the top of the world.

We’ve had off and on rain and cool weather. It’s currently 23c with a low of 18c predicted for tonight.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Not long ago, the goodewyfe decided our flock of chickens was getting too small. I was instructed to stop gathering eggs from the chicken coop and let the eggs hatch out. Now we have several hens caring for broods ranging from one to thirteen chicks.

This redheaded roan hen has thirteen. Usually, we lose a few chicks from the large broods. But this hen has managed to keep all thirteen of them.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

More poultry stuff. This is Captain Crook. He is the only chicken I have ever named. I started calling him that when he was a young fledgling. His tail is crooked. It cants off to his right side, and the tail feathers are a bit scraggly. Not sure why. He could have been hatched like that, or survived a predator attack. I was a bit surprised that, in spite of the deformity, he became a dominant rooster when he matured. 

I’ve seen him fight off challengers larger, and apparently stronger than himself. He sends them running to the other side of the farmyard, then crows his victory. His unlikely rise and scrappiness has caused me to specifically spare him from our periodic rooster culling.

They say don’t name an animal you intend to eat. I suppose that’s true.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Another photo of Captain Crook. This shows his scraggly tail feathers, but not the crooked tail.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Odd vegetables.

Here’s a couple of vegetables that might be new to North Americans and Europeans.

Gabi. If I’m not mistaken, this is the same as taro in Hawaii. Both the stalks and the roots are edible. This particular plant is blossoming. The goodewyfe says she has never seen that before. It could be that normally, the plants are harvested before the blossoms appear.









This one is called palling in the local dialect of Ilocano. The English name is winged beans. This grows on a vine, but ours has jumped the trellis and is climbing a tree.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had a bit of a milestone today. Our ranch manager and his family moved into the house at our front gate. Quite some time ago, we had contracted our manager and a small crew to build the house. But he had vacillated about moving in until now. The tipping point, I think was the birth of their 4th child. They had been living in a 2 room home with his mother and father in law.

In keeping with Ifugau tradition, blood from a freshly butchered chicken was sprinkled at the 4 corners of the house before their possessions were moved in. The chicken then served as the first meal for the family in their new abode.


































Dennis, hanging a shelf in the kitchen. The chicken is stewing in the pot.









First meal.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

I’ve been absent from this thread for a bit. Mostly the mundane routine things going on these days.
The dry season is approaching, some of the trees are dropping leaves in preparation. But the rain hasn’t given up completely.

Things are ready for harvest. Our ginger did well. We harvested 15 sacks. 6 were set aside for replanting. The rest went to the ag center for sale. It brought a bit over 6,000 pesos. We had spent about 3,000 on labor and fertilizer. So we will plant more when the rains come again.


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## knightrider

Can we have an update on your monitor lizard?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

knightrider said:


> Can we have an update on your monitor lizard?


Fido has settled into a routine. I still don’t have a suitable aquarium/terrarium for it. It’s in the big blue tub with the hollow block “cave”. On cooler days it stays in the cave. The weather is becoming warmer, so it is resting on top of the block or in the puddle of water on the side. With the warmer weather, it eats more frequently.

I am leaning towards releasing it in the tack room when it is large enough to be safe from the chickens. Hopefully it will stay and help keep the rodent population down.

I feed it bits of raw chicken. I haven’t yet asked a pet shop for “pinkies”, baby mice for feeding pet reptiles and such. If I ever find another rats nest, I will feed those to it.

I recently heard a rustling in our garage. I looked just in time to see another monitor, about the same size as Fido, scrambling behind some storage boxes.

One of our helpers reported seeing “a lizard with a head as big as your hand” in our chicken coop. It was in the feed storage area. I told folks to leave it alone, and it will eat rats. They complain that it will also eat chickens. But we have an abundance of chickens. I don’t mind losing one of those once in a while in exchange for rodent control.

It’s possible that they think I’m crazy, and will just kill it without telling me. 

Who knows.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

And, I found out at lunch today that our ranch manager saw the big lizard eating a chicken yesterday. If we can catch the thing, I will try to relocate it down to the barn. It should be safer from well meaning helpers there.


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## ACinATX

I wonder, though... if it will eat rats, will it eat eggs? Or do you have more than enough of those, also?

For some reason it makes me think of a big rat snake that lived in or near our back yard for a while. I was really happy when I first saw it, because I thought it would eat the rats (I mean, it's called a rat snake LOL). But apparently eggs are much easier prey. And then one day it ate our fake egg. But it managed to regurgitate it or pass it, because I found it several days later, much discolored. After that, I caught the snake and rehomed it with someone who didn't have chickens.

But I'm really happy to hear that your lizard is doing well! I wouldn't say no to more pictures...


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Ughh. Shoes and socks in the Philippines. It must be hoof trim day.


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## walkinthewalk

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> Ughh. Shoes and socks in the Philippines. It must be hoof trim day.


Look out Pinatubo, you’re getting your “wiggies “ manicured😘😘


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## Cordillera Cowboy

More on the monitor situation. 

Our ranch manager managed to catch the monitor that was living under the floor of the chicken feed room. It had been described as having a head “as big as your hand”, and to have eaten an adult chicken. While it’s large enough to make an impression, it’s not the monster it was described to be.

we returned from an overnight trip to find the lizard tied to a post by the big outdoor kitchen. I put it in a feed sack and took it to the barn. There, I set it up in a big tub like the smaller one. It went into the water, but the tub was too small to hold it, and it escaped into the tack room.

it found a hiding place at the bottom of the pegboard. It seems to be comfortable there for today. I dangled a bit of chicken in front of it, then left it to settle in.

It climbed a bit, so I put a concrete block at the base of the pegboard for it to hide in if it chooses. Hopefully it will decide to stay around and keep the mice at bay.


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## walkinthewalk

Welllll - he (or she) is -certainly - a big size😳. I would not want to get whapped by that tail👽

What’s to guarantee your new mouse hunter won’t fancy another chicken dinner🥴🥴

Edited to add:

Ok, I apologize for sticking my two cents in but I had to know about these Monitor Lizards😇

@Cordillera Cowboy I know you already know this but this link is for those who don’t: These Monitors are very intelligent. Tell him or her to “keep - away - from - the - chickens😘









The 6 Most Intelligent Reptiles (Incredibly Smart)


The most intelligent reptiles are actually quite different from one another! Click here to learn all about them.




www.reptiledirect.com


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## Cordillera Cowboy

I checked on the monitors at feeding time this morning. No sign of the big one. It did not eat the bit of chicken I set out for it. It either found a really good hiding place, or it managed to climb out the window and head out to the forest. In either case, it is safer there than at the chicken coop, where our workers are likely to act on their instinctive fear of reptiles.


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## whisperbaby22

My cats get an bird once in a while, but as rat control you need something like your lizard, looks cool!


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## carshon

I'm with the workers. I don't think I could go into my tack room knowing Godzilla was in there.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We had a bit of excitement Wednesday of last week. A nearby lightning strike fried a few wires and exploded some light bulbs. All the breakers flipped, which protected our off grid solar inverter and batteries. Flipping the breakers back on restored power to our occupied dwellings. We were able to isolate the buildings with the burned wires. Mainly, our big outdoor kitchen. But that required moving our deep freezer and contents to another building.

Today and tomorrow, electricians are on site to do repairs and some improvements. We added light fixtures to the outdoor shower and toilet by our house. The ranch manager’s house is not getting sufficient electricity from the rudimentary wiring job done earlier. The lights are dim, and there is not enough juice to run a refrigerator.

That refrigerator was one thing that the manager’s wife was looking forward to. Turned out that she has never had one. We are setting some poles, and connecting a proper line to a junction box to replace the spliced line run through the trees as is the normal method around here.


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## ACinATX

What do people do in such a warm climate with no refrigerator? Just not pick food until they eat it, and then eat everything they make? Or buy ice? Or put the food in a watertight container and then leave it in water?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> What do people do in such a warm climate with no refrigerator? Just not pick food until they eat it, and then eat everything they make? Or buy ice? Or put the food in a watertight container and then leave it in water?


While preparing to move here, I studied up on various food preservation methods. When we arrived, I learned that few people bother with preserving food. If the rains cooperate, there are multiple harvests of various foodstuffs.

It is common for people to leave leftovers from one meal on the table, covered only with a basket to keep the flies off until the next meal. Sometimes it is reheated, sometimes not. Foods are cooked with an incredible amount of salt, and sometimes vinegar, which retards some of the spoilage.

Folks also seem to have a resistance to the bacteria in old foods that westerners lack. Among the highlanders, there is a delicacy of meat that is intentionally hung out over a smokey fire, and not considered ready until it is somewhat rancid.

Many people subsist on tinned sardines and rice. The sardines are incredibly inexpensive by our standards, still some cannot afford them regularly.

edit: I neglected to add that dried fish is also a staple that will keep without refrigeration.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

The electricians have taken a break for the weekend. They have repaired all of the lightning damage and set the poles for running the line to the manager’s house. 

















We are twixt and tween the rainy and dry seasons. We’ve had off and on rain and sunshine for a couple of days. That makes it rainbow season.


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## walkinthewalk

what a beautiful view under that rainbow😍😍


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## whisperbaby22

Yea that is really cool.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Things are rather slow on the ranch lately. We had a successful harvest of ginger earlier. We spent most of last week on holiday. We were the guests of the company that installed our off grid electrical system as they treated their employees to a few days at a simple beach resort. The place was remote enough that there was no internet connection, but with electricity and good lodgings. The company reserved the entire resort, so we had the place to ourselves.

One reason it is inexpensive is that you have to provide and prepare your own food. The goodewyfe took charge of the kitchen and supervised the wives in the preparation of wonderful meals from the fresh from the boat seafood available in the local market.

Our last big meal before departing for home was a traditional feast, called kamayan in Tagalog. This is a meal laid out on banana leaves spread on a long table. The diners sit or stand along the table and partake of the food using no utensils, only the hands in a traditional manner. 

The photos loaded out of order. But there’s some beach scenes, our bungalow, as well as before, during, and after the feast.


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## Woodhaven

Love that gorgeous table full of food.


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## whisperbaby22

Looks like paradise, lovely.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We hosted about 30 high school students Saturday for a tree planting event. The daughter of a friend has become concerned about the environment and organized the event. We requested trees from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. The DA gave us so many fruit trees that we had no room for the forest trees from DENR. 

We hired a crew to dig holes ahead of time. All the kids had to do was plug in the saplings and cover the roots. They made short work of nearly 500 trees.

The goodewyfe and Imelda, our primary household helper, made sandwiches for them.

The kids are anxious to do it again. We will attempt to get a quantity of native forest trees for the next round.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We’re starting to get some cool color patterns in our chickens. Some speckled hens hatched out some time ago. They resemble dominickers.

Now we have this cool looking rooster strutting around


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Took a Mother’s Day ride with the goodewyfe today. We rode around the mountain for a couple hours, then stopped at a neat little outdoor restaurant near the ranch.

We tied the horses to trees in the shady parking lot. Our dog Snoopy tagged along too. We bought an extra order of food for him.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

And the owner of the restaurant got a shot of both of us mounted together.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

LIZARD UPDATE
Apparently, Fido the monitor lizard has grown long enough to reach the top of the container I had it in. I went to feed it the other morning, and it was gone. The only logical explanation is that it was able to get a front foot over the edge of the container and haul itself out. I was actually intending to release it soon anyway. We have upcoming travel plans and I doubt that any of our helpers would be diligent in keeping it fed and the container clean. So now, hopefully, I have two monitors living in or around the barn.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

ANOTHER LIZARD UPDATE, MAYBE

I have not seen either of the monitors since Fido climbed out of the container. However, I've noticed a few subtle changes in things at the barn. First, I have not seen any of the small skinks that used to hang around. They would be a food source for monitors. Also, while the chickens still hang around outside, they rarely seem to go into the barn anymore. I do still see mouse droppings from time to time, but it has become a rare thing.

This morning, I found my small child’s saddle knocked over onto the floor. It had been sitting on a rolled saddle pad on an apple crate . Nothing else was disturbed. The door is locked. My first thought was that the larger monitor may have chased a mouse there and knocked it over.

It could also have been a chicken. They are rather clumsy creatures. But I saw no chicken droppings.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Long time since I updated here. 

We’ve been on the move a lot, making multiple 6+ hour trips across the mountains to Manila. International travel restrictions have eased a bit, and we intend to visit our son and his family in Japan. We haven’t seen them for over 2 years, and haven’t seen the youngest grandkid at all. We used to be able to simply get a “tourist visa on arrival”. Now we have to apply at the embassy for a “first tier relative’s visa. Asia thrives on bureaucracy, but at last all our paperwork is satisfactory, and we have only to wait for the Japanese embassy to return our passports.

In other news, a youth nature organization spent yesterday at our place planting close to 100 Nara trees. Nara is a Philippine native hardwood tree that has been logged extensively due to its resistance to insects and decay.
Im not sure our reforestation efforts will ever replace the trees we’ve cut to clear areas for vegetables, or for fence posts and such. But we will continue to plant trees as long as we can.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We got word yesterday that our visa to visit Japan has been approved. The goodewyfe is traveling tonight to pick up our passports tomorrow. 

We have grown weary of driving the 6+ hour hump over the Carabalo Sur mountains to get to Manila. We’ve started using what is called a “point to point” van service. They pick us up at a place of our choosing, and deliver us directly to the destination.
It can take a bit longer, as they are picking up and dropping off other people, but you ride instead of drive.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Monitor lizard update:

I found a few things scattered on the floor in the barn “office “ today. While cleaning up around the barnyard, I found some droppings that I haven’t seen before.

A bit of scatological research on google, and a conversation with a herpetologist friend confirmed that it’s likely from a lizard of some sort. The only lizard around that can leave that big of a mess is the monitor.

So I think at least one of the monitors have decided to hang around. If true, that’s a successful experiment.


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## ACinATX

Cordillera Cowboy said:


> So I think at least one of the monitors have decided to hang around. If true, that’s a successful experiment.


Yay!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We are awaiting the van ride that will begin the first leg of our two month visit to Japan. Our son and daughter-in-law have purchased a new house. Our joyful task will be to keep the kids out of their hair while they accomplish the move.
The gardens and house are under the watchful eye and capable hands of the wonderful lady who has helped our family for close to 20 years now. The horses are under the care of our ranch manager, who has done the feeding whenever we are away overnight. I’ve shown him the first aid supplies and put him in contact with the municipal veterinarian and the rodeo kid turned vet tech who has helped us in the past.

We haven’t seen the family since 2019. This will be our first visit with the youngest grandkid. While we’re there, we will attend the shichi-go-san ceremony for the elder grandkid, and birthdays for both.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichi-Go-San


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## lb27312

Wow @Cordillera Cowboy I hope you have an uneventful trip there and a wonderful time visiting your newest grandkid and the rest of the family! Sounds like you got your house and animals taken care of. Enjoy the time with your family!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Fishing expedition in a local park pond with the elder grandkid.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We are still in Japan. Last night, a typhoon swept over Luzon. It hit the eastern coastline as a cat 5 super typhoon. As it moved inland, the Sierra Madre mountains worked their magic and combed much of the fury out of it. It had reduced to a cat 3 as it passed over the rest of the island. 

Our province was just outside the periphery of it. We got heavy rains and some wind. The ranch crew has not reported any damage. This was the first real test of our off grid solar electric system. The big thing for us now is to see how it fares with multiple days of heavy cloud cover. This morning, after the typhoon had passed, our manager reported our batteries were at 51% of capacity. That’s about normal for a morning reading. We will see how much it generates over the next day or so, as the clouds pass by.


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## knightrider

I was wondering how your place fared after reading about the typhoon. I am glad you posted something. I probably would have asked.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

knightrider said:


> I was wondering how your place fared after reading about the typhoon. I am glad you posted something. I probably would have asked.


We thought it would be a direct hit, but it shifted southward before it made landfall. We’ve been incredibly fortunate as far as typhoons go.

And we just got word from our manager that the evening battery reading was near 100%. So the system is working well.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Close to two months now in the concrete canyons with the accompanying light pollution. The latest message from our manager got me a bit homesick.

“It shine a little this afternun hoping for the shine again tomorrow its so many stars tonight “


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Home again. Just in time for the calabaza harvest.


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## whisperbaby22

Wow, those look great.


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## ACinATX

I'm glad you got home OK.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Thanks @ACinATX . It’s good to be home. A 4 hour flight, and a longer bus ride got us here safely. After 2 months of living by the schedule of an urban working family with jobs, appointments, kids to be dropped off and picked up for school, it’s nice to be back at our retirement farm. 

The dogs were ecstatic, the horses seem happy, as long as I bring food. Dog baths, hoof trims, and a few rides around the neighborhood will put things back to a routine.

The goodewyfe is out with her girlfriends (the ladies call themselves the expat wives club) today for lunch and a spa, plus a restocking of some groceries.

Friday, I will haul the calabaza down to the ag terminal for sale.

Saturday, the goodewyfe and friends are going to the mall in the big town. I will likely spend the day with our closest expat neighbor. He’s a retired scientist, and always good for enlightening conversation.

I suppose we do have a schedule. But it is dictated more by the weather, the crops and animals, the size of our larder, and other such less frenetic things.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

Late this afternoon, a bit before sundown, the goodewyfe and I went over to the big outdoor kitchen to have coffee with the live in helpers. There was a big discussion about something or other in Ilokano, and everyone went over to the orchard. I couldn’t tell what was going on, so I went to the kitchen and set some water on to boil. 

Pretty soon, the goodewyfe came back to fetch a basket. Turned out that the conversation was about a calamansi tree that was over burdened with ripe fruit. They had filled one basket, and needed more. My simple chore was done, so I joined them. There were several trees full of fruit.

We spent roughly an hour in the soft afternoon sun gathering calamansi. We got about 7 kilos of fruit. We took some to the house to be squeezed into juice. The rest will be offered for sale.


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## ACinATX

What does that fruit taste like @Cordillera Cowboy ?


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## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> What does that fruit taste like @Cordillera Cowboy ?


it’s rather difficult to describe. It’s not sour, like a lemon, or sweet, like an orange, and nothing like a lime.

Perhaps similar to a wild orange that is not really sweet.

It is popular here as a juice, and as a condiment. It is squeezed over fish, and over pancit, a traditional noodle dish, among other things.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We underestimated just how much Calamansi we gathered. After juicing some for ourselves, we took what was left to the ag terminal with our calabaza. It weighed out at about 12 kilograms. Got a pretty good price for it. 

It will be good when all the trees are fruiting regularly.


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## tinyliny

looks like a key lime. Definitely in the citrus family. 

I can imagine your happiness to be HOME!


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## Cordillera Cowboy

tinyliny said:


> looks like a key lime. Definitely in the citrus family.
> 
> I can imagine your happiness to be HOME!


I had to google key lime, since I am only familiar with key lime pie. The description seems the same. I have no idea what the taste is like.

And yes, it’s good to be home. Living in small quarters with two young children can be rather hectic. And it’s Japan, so much of the stuff is at floor level. My old joints took a beating.

Took us a week to sort of unwind.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Epic battle against ants in the barn yesterday morning. Nearly everything I picked up had a nest under it. All the rest of the day I would jump if I felt the slightest tickle on my skin.

Still a few hanging around this morning, but not so many.

I spray them, and the surfaces they are on with this stuff. Seems to take care of the ants without too much disruption to the other little critters.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Ughh. Sick dog and a lame horse today. It’s Sunday now, so the dog gets a trip to the vet tomorrow. Skippy is limping on the off side front. I can’t find any foreign object in the hoof. No heat, swelling, or pain in the shoulder, leg, or any of the joints. She had her trim two days ago, but I didn’t get any closer than I usually do. No apparent pain in the sole, or walls. She seemed a little touchy when I pressed on the frog. Maybe a bruise there? 

I’m tempted to put her in the stall overnight, but worried that being unable to move around might make it worse.

I’ll check later to see if there’s any swelling anywhere. Maybe a cold soak.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Back from the vet. Snoopy, the dog, has an infection, possibly tick borne. He got antibiotic and analgesic injections today. Tomorrow, he starts oral antibiotics, and ascorbic acid, which, best I can tell, is a vitamin supplement. I had good luck yesterday getting him to eat by mixing his food with lots of water and mashing it up well. Today, the goodewyfe bought a bunch of ground liver, we will cook that up into a soup for him. 

Skippy, the horse, seems a little better today. Still limping, but doesn’t seem to be every step like yesterday. We’ve had plenty of rain, so the ground is fairly soft. Still no sign of swelling or pain in the leg.

We had clear skies last night. So, we stayed up late, turned out all the lights, and tried to see some of the Orionid meteor shower. We are past the peak, but the skies have not cooperated. We only saw one meteor last night, but it was nice to just sit, gaze at the sky, and chat.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Both horse and dog are getting better. The dog likes the ground liver soup we’re making for him. He’s regaining his strength, but still a little wobbly. 

The horse is walking almost normally, with a little hop every now and then.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Oh, and last night, I slept through the tremor from a 6 point something earthquake about 300 kilometers north of us. 









At least 26 injured in magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Philippines


Tremor was felt as far away as the capital Manila, more than 330km (205 miles) to the south of the epicentre.




www.aljazeera.com


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Dog and horse continue to improve. The dog is more active, even playful today. The horse is walking normally, with only the occasional hop on the affected leg.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

We are also expecting another tropical storm to walk its way up the island tomorrow. The center seems aimed well south of us, so we’re not expecting much up here. 

The bulk of the storm looks like it will walk up the island of Samar, in the Visayas. The Visayas are the group of islands that make up the midsection of the Philippines. There are areas there that are still submerged from the last tropical storm to hit the place.






Tropical Storm Nalgae Tracker | Weather Underground


Weather Underground provides tracking maps, 5-day forecasts, computer models, satellite imagery and detailed storm statistics for tracking and forecasting Tropical Storm Nalgae Tracker.



www.wunderground.com


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Tropical storm Nalgae is passing through. The center is far to the south of us, about 400 kilometers. But this storm is throwing wide bands of rain all around. Over 40 people have died in Mindanao and the Visayas as the storm passed by there. Most from landslides. 

For us, it’s just a rainy, blustery day. But in the valley below us, the water is rising.

The river behind Mother-in-law’s house. Fortunately, we harvested the rice there last week. Otherwise the crop would have been lost.









And emergency response crews anxiously watching the river in the barangay that we are a part of.


----------



## ACinATX

@Cordillera Cowboy what elevation do you live at? I always thought it seemed like you must be pretty high, but now I'm wondering...


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

ACinATX said:


> @Cordillera Cowboy what elevation do you live at? I always thought it seemed like you must be pretty high, but now I'm wondering...


Wiki says our municipality is at 287 meters. We are in the hills above that, so roughly 300 or a bit more meters.

Mother’s farm is actually higher than us at 413 meters. But they are in a level valley with a river directly behind the house. The ground there gradually rises southward into the Carabalo Sur mountain range. We are a bit north of them in the foothills overlooking the Cagayan Valley. The Cordillera Mountains rise to our west and a bit north.

It’s the topography rather than the elevation that works in our favor during heavy rains. Neighbors a kilometer away can flood, while we are safe from that.

For contrast, Manila sits at 16 meters. Baguio City, a mountain resort town is roughly 1500 meters.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Our ducks have not been successful in raising their ducklings to adulthood. The last brood that hatched all disappeared except for one duckling who took up with a hen. 

I didn’t expect it to survive, and didn’t see or hear of it since we spent the last couple of months in Japan. Today, I noticed an adult duck tagging along with a hen and her brood of chicks.

I learned that while we were gone, a duck had begun roosting on the roof of one of our outbuildings. All the other ducks sleep on the ground. I counted ducks, and sure enough, we have one more than before. 
My best guess is that when the duckling fledged, it learned to roost up high from the mother hen.


----------



## Knave

I have a friend who is an older gal. She explained to me that you can swap out chicks for eggs under a broody hen. So, her family would put the ducklings under a good hen. She said it would be the funniest thing when that hen would walk the ducklings by the pond and sometimes they would take off swimming. She would be so upset and run back and forth squawking and flapping her wings.


----------



## Cordillera Cowboy

Update on the sick dog and horse.

The horse recovered perfectly. No idea what caused the limp. I took her out for a short ride this morning. She’s a bit rusty, but pretty much her old self.

The dog recovered. He has a few more days to go on his antibiotics. But he is active, and enthusiastic about mealtimes again.

The odd thing is that he seems to have gone deaf. He no longer responds to noise if the source is not in his line of sight. He no longer wakes up from a nap if you call him. You have to touch him. Sometimes that startles him.

He would “sit” on a verbal command. I’ve successfully changed that to a hand sign. The sad thing is, that I can no longer take him with me on long horseback rides. I’m afraid he won’t hear traffic, and will get run over.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We are traveling again. This time in the US for the holidays. We spent Thanksgiving at my folks place, and will be there again at Christmas.

In the interim, we are staying at the home of the goodewyfe’s sister. The goodewyfe is taking her turn caring for her elderly mother. Her family will be in and out to visit.

just to keep the journal going, here is a sunset over the farmstead portion of our place, Inner Earth, as viewed from our veranda.


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## knightrider

How beautiful! I'll bet you miss it.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

knightrider said:


> How beautiful! I'll bet you miss it.


I do. I love the people here. I haven’t seen them for over 2 years. But the goodewyfe’s sister lives in the plain vanilla suburbs. I try to stay busy writing. We do have some appointments to update IDs and such, and getting some medical stuff taken care of since I can’t use my Medicare in the Philippines.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

It’s Christmas Eve in the US, Christmas Day will dawn in a few hours over the Philippines. We are visiting our US family for the holidays.

Here is my mother-in-law by the Christmas tree in the home of my sister-in-law in Virginia. The tree is a potted calamansi tree brought indoors to protect it from the winter freeze.


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## whisperbaby22

Merry Christmas to you all.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

we are still in Virginia for the holidays. Spent Christmas in the southwestern part of the state with my side of the family. We had our family Christmas party on the 27th. That was the best day to get everyone together. All of my several siblings were there, with their kids, and their kid’s kids. It was funny to watch so many heads turn when some little one yelled “Grandpa!” 

Aunts, uncles, and cousins were there as well.


























There were 3 bonfires going. One, off away from everything so the kids could roast marshmallows.


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## Cordillera Cowboy

We rang in the new year in Virginia with the goodewyfe’s family. House full of people and mountains of food.

Sitting in Detroit now, waiting for the 2nd leg of our flight back home to the Philippines. We have over 20 hours in the air, plus layovers, then a roughly 6 hour hump over the mountains to home.


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