Solving the soil erosion problem - gardening

We used to have a soil erosion problem at a corner of our front garden. This part had some frog grass planted to protect the soil as well as other plants to surround the Narra tree that has grown much taller since we moved in more than 7 years ago. The frog grass was not able to to keep the soil in place and whenever it rained, there was mud collecting at the gutter that we had to replace. Heavier rains meant the mud traveled and spread in front of the house. The solution turned out to be quite easy as shown in the following photo.

Bermuda grass on terraces help keep the soil. We planted the peanut plant as covers. They're quite nice when flowering. That's the trunk of our narra tree visible at the upper right of the photo. The tree has grown to be taller than our neighbor's older fire tree.

Our handyman, Totot, proposed and constructed the terraces, and we got some stones from the rubble of a collapsed wall nearby to reinforce the terrace walls. The bermuda grass was free as these were taken from our garden where they removed (part of the regular weeding we did) and transferred here. The peanut plant ground covers are now thick enough to protect the upper part of this corner garden. Their constant flowering also contributes to the pleasant view.

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Vintage Emperor chronograph with a Valjoux 7733 movement

I chanced upon this chronograph from one of my "suki" and no seemed to be under the radar with few bidders and bids. I didn't think twice and got the watch easily and inexpensively. The brand is obscure but the craftsmanship, condition and the movement inside made this a great bargain. Read on!

The watch features two sub dials. The one on the left is for the second while the one on the right is for the chronograph. This first photo alone shows the great condition of the watch.

Side view showing the crown and chronograph buttons

The watch is gold plated

The other side view showing few if any scratches on the case and crystal

Pristine case back showing what looks like a serial number

Close-up of the pristine dial

Another close-up with an angle to reveal the bottom part of the dial that shows this watch to be 'Swiss Made'

Wrist shot taken the first time I wore the watch after unboxing it.

This watch is powered by a Valjoux Cal. 7733 movement that runs at 18,000 A/h with a potential reserve of 45h when fully wound. I have not had the chance to open the case to take a photo or video of the movement. I also hesitate as I could not see a clear part of the back where I can open it. I have times the watch several times and was surprised it averaged 47.5 hours. I suspect that the mainspring may have been replaced and allows for the longer operation of the watch.

[I have unloaded this watch last summer. It was a nice piece but I chose to let go rather than have it in storage and allow it to depreciate. It was easily taken the moment I posted it for the price that was favorable to me. 9/26/2023]

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Home improvement projects - garden works

We regularly and continually maintain our home. Before the rainy season, we made sure our roof was in great condition and that the drainage system is not clogged with leaves and other stuff from the trees surrounding our home (including those of our neighbors - e.g., fire tree and bamboo leaves are quite problematic).  A persistent issue is our garden, particularly where the grass don't seem to be thriving any time of the year. One reason mentioned by most people is the presence of our mango tree whose flowers and leaves generate acidic fluids that effectively kill the grass. The constant shade also somewhat affects grass growth. And so we decided to extend the brick paving to these areas where its always muddy especially during the long wet season.

Garden work area - the bricks can be expensive so a tip is to purchase them from the makers themselves. There's one located among the garden/plant shops along Commonwealth Avenue past the junction with Regalado. It's worth it because the price of a brick there is 1/4 of what we canvassed in stores around our area. It turns out that many of these purchase from those makers and put a hefty profit margin on the bricks.

The bricks are porous and so with typical rains, the waters just seep into the ground. Runoff will also mostly be absorbed but excess water will travel to our drainage system. The paved areas also provide opportunities to more seating areas where we can enjoy the outdoors (maybe with a drink and some snacks). Here is the area after it was paved:

Finished paving with new seating area (tambayan) - we also cleaned the small bamboo grove at the corner. It turned out that there were a lot we were able to harvest and use for fencing parts of the garden from our active dogs.

The new seating area in the evening. It could also be used as a work space or perhaps where you can take some personal calls.

Next on the list of 'to-dos' will be revitalizing the grass. Our garden has frog grass but weeds and the introduction of other grass types like carabao grass and bermuda grass (likely brought in by the numerous birds in our area) threatens the "integrity" of our garden. I don't mind the carabao grass but the bermuda grass can be quite aggressive in taking over wide areas (not just patches) of our garden. We actually used it to address soil erosion but that's for another article. :)

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Vintage Seiko 6139-6012 - champagne dial

Here's another vintage chronograph from Seiko. This is my second 6139-6012. The first one has a blue dial while this one has the champagne dial.

The watch features a well-preserved champagne dial with day and date complications. There is also a sub-dial for the chronograph.

 

Side view showing the crown and the chronograph buttons. The quickset day and date are set by pushing the crown. Shallow or subtle pushes change the date. Deeper or harder pushes set the day.

The other side view

Case back showing the model and serial numbers. The serial number indicates this watch to have been made in May 1972. 1972 is my birth year so this was a good acquisition.

The watch came with a genuine Seiko bracelet that I was able to adjust to fit my wrist. Though this was from the time the watch was released, it is not for this model.

Close-up of the pristine dial. The dial number is consistent with the watch model. There is also the distinctive water70resist at 9 o'clock.

Wrist shot the first time I wore the watch

Another wrist shot while at my home workstation

This and others of the same model are often and fondly called the "Bruce Lee" because the legendary martial artist and actor wore a variant of the line. This one's a keeper along with the blue dial. I'm looking to acquire a couple more of these including a black dial model.

 

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Refrigerator maintenance

Our refrigerator was leaking and ice was forming in what was supposed to be its non-frost freezer. Fortunately, despite the quarantine the service center was open and fielded personnel for repair works. I didn't want to get just any one to service our refrigerator as the newer ones usually have some features that your neighborhood service center cannot address in the most satisfactory manner. Our Samsung inverter refrigerator is more than 7 years old and only recently had we had any problem with it. Appliances like this are usually the most sturdy ones or at least what you would expect to last a long time before they're replaced.

One serviceman opened the back to reveal what appeared like a filter that was full of filth. This was the evaporator assembly of the refrigerator.

Inside the freezer, another serviceman opened the compartment to reveal what looked like a radiator. This is the compressor and the dirt clogging the evaporator also affected operations. I wonder how much this issue cost me in terms of our electricity bill.

When in doubt, always contact the official service centers for your appliances. That may read like a downer for the independent, shops by the corners but for the newer models you probably will be better off with the official ones, which also have first dibs when in comes to parts (if there is a need to replace some). But that's my opinion and based on my experience so it's still one's decision who to engage for your appliance repair needs.

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On the supernatural - creatures of lower mythology in the Philippines

I have always been fascinated by the supernatural, more specifically the creatures of lower mythology that have been popular subjects or topics in Philippine folklore. These include the aswang, were creatures (weredog, werepig, etc.), ghouls, witches and others that have been the subject of news, TV shows, movies and magazine articles as well as formal researches and studies. I have books that I am fond of as alternate reading materials including the one pictured below authored by Maximo D. Ramos:

Cover of one of the books authored by Maximo D. Ramos

And so when I stumbled upon this article in the online magazine Medium, I became interested and read it with enthusiasm:

Weiland, J. [October 1, 2020] "The Philippine Can Make Even the Strongest Skeptic Shudder in Fear," Medium, https://medium.com/the-frightened-traveler/the-philippines-can-make-even-the-strongest-skeptic-shudder-in-fear-fb5bedfb9010

Sometime ago, my brother lent me a book that provided some sort of descriptions of the different types of aswang. The base material for the book (more a booklet actually) was the study by a Jesuit priest. There were really mainly descriptions with only a few example stories. I will write about this topic again including a compilation of stories that was sort of a favorite book during my younger days. I spotted and borrowed the book from the Municipal Library of Cabatuan, Iloilo (my father's hometown) whenever I was there on summer vacations. My aunts were school teachers and had an account at the library that allowed me to borrow books I could read while there.

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Truffle lasagna from House of Lasagna

Just when we thought we had tasted one if not the best lasagna, enjoyed an even better one for dinner recently. This was House of Lasagna's truffle lasagna.

A tray of truffle lasagna for last week's Saturday dinner - there was enough for 'leftover Sunday lunch'. The smell, the fragrance alone of truffle is very enticing.

Close-up of the corner piece showing it is not burnt. That means the lasagna was baked just right.

First cut - close-up of the creamy layers of pasta and sauce

The wife stumbled upon the limited offering for this lasagna variant and immediately ordered as our daughter also had been clamoring for some lasagna and pizza. We had not ordered pizza or lasagna for more than a month (yes, that's quite unusual for our household). It also helped that we were celebrating our daughter's arrival at the end of July. We hope this wouldn't be a one off for their truffle lasagna. Perhaps they got enough feedback to make this a regular in their menu? Five stars on my book!

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Vintage Vulcain Cricket from the 1950s

I now have two Vulcain Crickets after being a bit lucky finding an auction on eBay that was about to finish. Apparently, there were few (a couple actually) bidders for this rare and much sought after alarm watch. And so I was decisive in putting in the winning bid. It was more exciting than suspenseful as the previous bidders had not bid in 3 days. They, especially the last one, probably thought that this would go under the radar. It took some time for me to receive the watch as despite the more expensive courier service being used for shipping, it got delayed in custom's processing and the local leg of delivery due to the pandemic situation.

The watch has a black dial and combination of Hindu-Arabic numerals and bullets for hour markers. There are no day or date complications but obvious is the alarm feature. The alarm hand is at 6 o'clock. The alarm button is at 2 o-clock. The watch is manually wound by turning the crown counter-clockwise. The clockwise turning of the crown is for winding the alarm.

Side view showing the crown at 3 o'clock and the alarm button at 2 o'clock.

The other side view showing the overall good condition of the gold plated watch.

The back showing the Cricket's signature design for what is considered the loudest alarms for these kinds of watches. There is also the serial number on the stainless steel cover.

Close-up of the dial showing ageing for the lumes but otherwise the dial is in great condition for a 60+ year old watch.

This is a gold plated watch (20 microns)

Wrist shot the first time I wore the watch. I immediately changed the straps to an Hirsch pair I transferred from another vintage watch in my collection.

Side-by-side: my two Vulcain Crickets

Stock photo (from the seller) of the case back composed of 2 covers. What appears as a hub cap outer cover is shown at the top left with the Vulcain company etched on the inside. There is another (inner) cover protecting the movement.

The watch is powered by a Vulcain 120 Cricket caliber that runs at 18,000 A/h with a potential power reserve of 42h. The alarm has a potential of 20seconds on a full wind. This movement was manufactured between 1947-1963, which places this watch to be manufactured during that period and on average during the 1950s.

This one's definitely a keeper and I think will not be the last Vulcain Cricket that I will acquire. I should mention that I am looking for the variant produced with Revue, which is also called a Cricket.

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First Philippine Olympic gold

The Philippines had not won an Olympic gold medal for a regular sports competition before last week. I say 'regular' here because technically, the Philippines got one thanks to Arianne Cerdena back in 1988. That was in what was then the demonstration sport of bowling. Bowling, unfortunately, never became a regular event in the Olympics so that somewhat diminished the achievement. The good news is that the Philippines finally won a gold this time thanks to weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. Here's a screencap of the moment from the television broadcast:

The moment the athlete knew she won the gold (I claim no copyright of this as its clear this is from the Olympics and a screencap by phone camera.)

It took a while for the country to finally have its first gold medal and the effort by Ms. Diaz is most appreciated because of her commitment and struggle that led to this achievement. I was very happy, too, as I watched history unfold and be replayed on TV. But there's more! I am posting this now as there are prospects for more gold medals care of a couple of boxers and perhaps a pole vaulter. Their events will be from August 3 and though assured of medals, golds are not far-fetched. Here's hoping for the best results in the next few days!

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Vintage Seiko 7015-7010 Chronograph

My Seiko chronograph collection includes this rare 7015-7010. It is very difficult to find this watch in pristine condition and the really nice ones from Japan that I've seen online goes for about 1,000 USD. I am not particular about the aesthetics of many of the watches that are now in my collection so I am fine with watches that look beat up or have gone through a lot with their past owners. The most important thing perhaps is that their movements still work fine and they give accurate enough time.

The watch has inner and outer bezels. The inner one rotates but the outer bezel is fixed. The watch also has both day and date features. Days are in English and Kanji (Japanese).

Side view showing the chronograph buttons and crown. Both day and date quick sets are functional.

The other side view showing also the overall condition of the case and dial.

Case back showing the model number and serial number. The serial number indicates the watch to have been manufactured in January 1973, making this my wife's BMBY.

A closer look at the dial and bezels - note the deteriorated 2nd quadrant of the inner bezel

Close-up showing the correct model number at the bottom of the dial

Inside the watch is a Caliber 7015A, which runs at 21,600 A/h with a potential power reserve of 43h.

Wrist shot the first time I wore the watch. I had to change the strap first because I thought the color didn't match the watch.

The watch suddenly became part of my regular rotation. It keeps time and so far has shown a decent power reserve.  This one's a keeper.

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