It's a post I can finally publish: " Our First Pool Party in the Philippines." It's been a massive project. The new swimming hole construction began right after Christmas. But we faced a couple of delays which set the undertaking back two months. (more…)
Our pool project progresses in the Philippines. It's been a month since I first gave an update on this major undertaking at our new home in the Philippines. Our five-man construction crew has been working hard under a torrid summer sun with temperatures now approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer has hit our mango island province of Guimaras but the humidity thus far only stands at 59%. The average humidity for the island province we call home is 86%. (more…)
My asawa has borne the brunt of the stress associated with the building of our new home in the Philippines. My spouse handles the ordering of materials and takes care of the payroll and makes sure all of our workers have an ample snack supply on hand for their daily merienda. Regular readers know that I don't do much of anything and excel in that function. But the other day, I had gotten fed up with the excuses of our roofers, and thus the "ugly american" found it necessary to make an appearance at our new construction site. (more…)
Here's the latest progress report on our new home in the Philippines, located on the island mango province of Guimaras, in whacky Western Visayas. This is Week 16 of construction. (more…)
Construction costs for our new home in the Philippines is the topic for today's post. I took new pictures of our job site a few days ago and a recent comment from Kevin prompted me to confer with my asawa, who is in charge of buying materials for our house and handling our construction crew's salaries, to check on our ongoing construction costs. My wife handles these chores in addition to taking care of her father, afflicted with dementia, and running a household of six people. Me? I stay out of the way and do as little as possible, something I'm exceptionally good at. (more…)
Progress Report: New Home Construction in the Philippines. It's been three weeks since my last report and I'm pleased with the progress our crew has made thus far. After a trip to the States, I visited our job site along with my asawa the other day and took the following pictures. Most of the exterior walls have been built and work on the interior walls has begun. (more…)
Lolo's nipa hut in the Philippines nears completion. Foreman Joery, our brother-in-law, along with three other employees are hard at work underneath the blistering tropical sun. The exterior walls of my father-in-law's new digs are almost done. The interior walls, consisting of plywood purchased from the New Guimaras Traders, will soon be installed.
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I was quite amazed during a recent sojourn to our new property site on the mango island province of Guimaras. My brother-in-law Joery, chief foreman for our new home construction, had built a Native American tipi in the Philippines. If Joery ever pisses off his asawa, Alida, something all of married men are prone to do occasionally, he now has some new digs he can hide out in.
Caretaker Gerry is our security at the new job site
Actually our caretaker at "The Farm," Gerry is in charge of security at the construction site and Joery built the Native American tipi for Gerry as a temporary shelter. Several tree branches serve as the tipi cover where our caretaker sleeps at night, along with his oldest son.
Cousin Emma's Jade Market and Hollow Block Factory delivered 500 hollo
The plans for our new house in the Philippines are forging ahead. Yesterday, my asawa and I met with Boy, a local contractor from Guimaras. Boy comes highly recommended and has built several residences for foreigners on our mango province. Our brother-in-law, Joery, along with a crew of three men, will begin work on our father-in-law's nipa hut first. The nipa hut will be the location where our initial electrical service will be provided. It's best to start applying for new service early. There are several utility poles already located near our property so hopefully our electrical service will be provided before our new house is built, which could take five to six months.
Rice field on our property (more…)
Guimaras. Sweet mangoes. Bewitching beaches. Pretty Pinays. Massive amounts of Red Horse. The perfect formula for a Sunday afternoon beer garden birthday bash in Guimaras. Retirement in paradise. It's a tough job. But somebody has to do it.
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