What was your day like?

[Edwin]

Yes, Smiley, we live at 2800 feet elevation with no trees to block the wind, only haystack rocks! I am purchasing contractor garbage bags that I plan to put between the house and the blocks, and I am thinking that should make a difference. We have never had running water in this house in previous winters, so no freezing problems with that. We have had some of the traps freeze where they hold water to make it so gases doing come into the house. Especially the drain under the shower was bad to freeze because I think it was too close to the wall with blowing cold wind. I can't wait to get the blocks around the house with the plastic on the inside of the block, and I am sure we will be happy with that. Yes, I think straw does work well. They bale straw with huge balers, and they have to be move with a tractor, so it is too complicated to get bales of straw for that purpose, although if it were easy to get straw that would be a great plan. I am just expecting to be happy about the effects of the blocks, and I will let you know during the winter if that was a good solution. We could always go into the cellar, and it would be relatively warm down there. It is 7 feet wide and 12 feet long, so not a lot of space, but enough.

I will bet that did make a difference for you, Smiley!

[mystic]

I thought it was my first day of vacation... and instead I found myself with flue

[Edwin]

Wow, mystic, flu is not vacation! I hate to be sick; it's not fun! Well, I woke up during the night again, got up, and stayed up a while, so I slept later than I should have, but I got out and got a quite a bit accomplished. I competely filled in the resevoir for run off excess water with dirt. I first filled with rocks, then three 55 gallon plastic barrels to catch extra water, then 2 inch black plastic pipes, two of them with elbows on the end pointing downward, then cardboard over the rocks, now the ditch/hole competely covered with dirt. I moved the the tarp over the blocks so I wouldn't spill dirt in the blocks where I am going to pour concrete. I have one side competely backfilled with dirt. I then started on the back wall. It will be harder because there is not room for a bucket of dirt, so that I can dump it, but I have to carry the dirt, one flat alluminum square shovel at a time. The shovel is like a small scoup shovel. There is only 8 inches between the top of the wall and the concrete pad above, so I can only put the shovel of dirt up there and push the dirt out with my hands! I finished my work day doing that, and it seems like it will take forever, but I know it will get done if I keep carrying shovels of dirt down there! When I get finished with that back wall then I can either throw dirt with the shovel, or carry 2 buckets of dirt, then dump them in, which will be faster than what I am doing now, but it will get finished! I can pour concrete after dark with a light I have down there, but I can't carry dirt in the dark as I have to dig it out, then sort rocks and I can't see to do that after dark. I worked hard enough long enough today anyway!

[mystic]

Flue seems getting better. Hey, headache and pain in the bones, go away!!!
Next week I will have to run a lot at work. We have around 30 schools bringing the students to visit our company... and I have a lot of tasks (bring them around, interview them, sync with the newspapers and tvs, etc.). So, I need to be weeeeeeell!!!

[lyrehc]

I have a very tiring Day yesterday and today i'm feeling blue, I think i lost all my strength .....Today i most rest and thank God its Sunday and tomorrow will be another busy day for work....

[Edwin]

mystic, you don't need the flu, but the flu doesn't know that! I am sorry lyrehc that you had a tiring day yesterday, and that you lost all your strength. It is nice to have Sunday come to rest, rejuvenate, and go to church, huh?

Yesterday I got started working early moving dirt, shoveling, filling buckets, backfilling, and then after I ate my lunch, I went to pouring concrete. I worked until a long time after dark with all the lights I could turn on! I was really tired, and I woke up a little while ago with my legs beginning to cramp; they didn't get as bad as they could have. Well, today is Sunday, an I will be resting today and enjoying it!

[Edwin]

By the old time it would be about 9:30 p.m. on a Monday evening, but we have moved away from daylight savings time to standard time, and it is only 8:30 p.m. on a Monday evening. I think our internal clocks have not changed yet, so I feel like it is 9:30 p.m., and our granddaughter talked about how the time change affected her that way too. Now instead of going 12 hours around the clock ahead and the next day for time in the Philippines in this area we have to go 12 hours ahead, then add 4 more hours instead of 3! Gets confusing and complicated!

Yesterday we were not able to attend church because of complications in our family, so we had to hang out with our youngest daughter and granddaughter. The devil is at the root of this problem, but more specifically a relative who attends our church reports on our granddaughters, and it makes them angry, so they won't go, and when we have to be with them because of custody problems, then we can't go either! I think next Sunday our kids from out of town will be back to help us with the cellar construction and plumbing our entire house for running water which mostly is done now, but there are dozens of things that still need to be done.

Yesterday I brought 10 railroad ties home for the support of the concrete pads above that our house sits on, support them so they won't colaplse! Today I had everything, mostly, that I could do to help accomplish our goals, so I took advantage of my free time to start building my short block wall around our house to keep out the cold, freezing wind this winter. I got almost 40 feet, and that was a long hard day's work! I ran out of blocks completely. I have been hauling them up here 30 at a trip every chance I get. The remainder of the blocks down in the cellar have to be used to complete the cellar wall, which is almost finished, lacking about 34 blocks that still have to be laid. I have all the dirt backfill completed, and I have poured all the concrete that I can in every 3rd hole in the blocks, including rebar inserted. I have to wait to finished until the front wall is finished with the block laying then I can finish that! I will be very happy when all of it is completely finished, and that should be sometime this month I hope!

Putting those blocks around the bottom of our house is harder work than what I thought it would be, but it is not unreasonably hard. I am putting construction garbage bags bestween the block and the house to keep out the wind, and I know that will pay this coming winter! It feels really good to think that we will probably not be as freezing cold this winter as winters in the past when the cold wind is blowing and drifting snow! I thank the Lord that He is giving me strength to do this work to help us later.

[mystic]

Today almost 20 schools came to visit our company, to see the technological heart of the region. So, it was a hasty press day (even the national TV came), but everything run out smoothly. Finally home, doing some more paperwork

[red]

Daylight savings time is confusing indeed but i like it coz it is not too dark to go outside to take my eldest at bus stop for school. We are 13 hours ahead from Phils.,,,,i miss it there alot ...... thinking of vacation already and eat sinigang, kinilaw and sinugba and law oy, biko suman bingka og uban pa.

[Edwin]

Actually, Red, I think you mean the Philippines is 13 hours ahead of you. It is terrible to be behind, huh? Well, someone has to be behind, and when we are talking about time zones it is okay. Before Standard time came into effect day before yesterday the Philippines was 15 hours ahead of us, and now since we went from daylight savings time to standard time the Philippines is 16 hours ahead of us! As you observed, Red, now suddenly it is light in the morning when we get up, but it gets dark earlier in the late afternoon/evening! My parents did not like the changing of the time when it first started happening, but the time has changed in the fall and spring since I was a kid, and now we are used to it and accept it.