Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[joannefiddler]

we will be battening down the hatches tomorrow.

I am going to town to get a generator and 20 gallons of gas.

the guys will move off fence duty and board up the windows.

we have 60 liters of drinking water and 200 liters of bathing water. we also have a well.

today we stocked up on canned goods and rice.

we should be OK. the current charts have the eye passing 60-90 miles north of us

Oz, I suspect that you're glad you are there personally rather than watching from afar. Praying all will be well.

 

[Tomtommom]

my mother raised five kids. the first three of us were back to back. there were no such thing as disposable diapers and she washed by hand until I was around four when she got her first wringer washing machine.

in the Philippines I change clothes twice a day. the humidity makes me swear so much that I shower three times - morning, 5 pm and before bed. our small washing machine runs a load or two every morning at 7 am to get clothes on the line as early a possible to dry.

we have three different ant species that will invade if anything is left out so dishes are done as soon as the last bite leaves the table.

same rules apply with our without help.

on weekend days it's hectic with no help and two kids but we like it when it's just us.

My husband's DIY is my problem

I haven't had a sink in my bathroom for two years. I have a dryer hooked up in the middle of my kitchen (I use it as an island now). I have toothbrushes and a mirror above my kitchen sink (I get to watch myself work, lovely). My dining room looks like a garage.

My coffee table is the dining room. My front porch has a saw table on it.

I've got ants alright.. nothing too bad, just a case of "my house is too old and needs fixing" Thank goodness for monthly pest control. The ants move in during the fall and winter. Same thing every year.

I think the house would be a lot more manageable if everything had a place. But you're moving stuff from room to room just to have the space to do something. Fair is fair, I'm procrastinator of the century... but when you don't know where to start it's so much easier to just go outside instead and work on your chicken coop

Sadly, my husband does the same thing... "Well, I don't know where to begin inside, so let me go build a garden bed/chicken coop/storm shelter/pergola/fence.

BUT he's finally working on my bathroom. I set him a limit. It has got to be done by end of January. Or else.... (I'll hire someone?)

 

[ozexpat]

the latest predictions have ruby turning further northward and bypassing us.


we are at 9.97 degrees north and the eye of the storm is already at 11.2 and traveling west north west. it is extremely rare for storm to them south

we still will be affected by the storm as it is 1000km across.

 

[ramirezframing]

it's not too bad.

 

[topdycke]

the latest predictions have ruby turning further northward and bypassing us.


we are at 9.97 degrees north and the eye of the storm is already at 11.2 and traveling west north west. it is extremely rare for storm to them south

we still will be affected by the storm as it is 1000km across.

Great news!

 

[ozexpat]

we awake in the Philippines to light rain. the storm is still a long way of but the PAGASA website went down so no updates on the storm's path until later..... I hope.

the construction guys are replacing the roof on the pump shed as it was beat up last week. after the typhoon passes we have to do the other out building roofs as well.

we shall have to do the garage with the good stuff on our roof.

school was canceled today. the kids will come home early. we will head off and get a few hundred dollars cash and the generator as well as some number eight wire to tie it into the power box.

we will have the guys board up most of the windows this afternoon if the storm does not turn north.

on the chicken front I have had three random enquires for jersey giant chicks. I turned one away as my rules for selling day olds are strict. I charge 20% deposit and then set eggs. its amazing how quick a deposit will turn off the dreamers.

Bernie is off Sunday and Monday. Two pigs are due next weekend.

 

[topdycke]

If you can get to this for info


http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2872

 

[topdycke]

By: Dr. Jeff Masters , 4:32 PM GMT on December 04, 2014
Forecast for Hagupit
Hagupit is over very warm ocean waters of 29 - 30°C (84 - 86°F) and is under moderate wind shear of 15 - 20 knots. Satellite loops show that Hagupit has a prominent 14-mile diameter eye, and a large area of very intense eyewall thunderstorms with cold cloud tops. The eyewall is lopsided, due to winds on the east side of the storm causing wind shear of 15 - 20 knots and and interfering with development of the thunderstorms on the east side of the storm. Thursday morning microwave images indicate that Hagupit is likely undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle, where the inner eyewall shrinks, collapses, and is replaced by an outer eyewall with larger diameter. This process will likely cause a modest weakening of Hagupit, to perhaps 150 mph winds, by Friday. But with warm waters and moderate wind shear expected until landfall, Hagupit should be able to make landfall as a very dangerous Category 4 typhoon in the Central Philippines. The ridge of high pressure steering Hagupit has weakened since Wednesday, forcing the storm to slow its forward speed from 21 mph to 14 mph. The trough of low pressure passing to the north that is weakening the ridge will move eastwards past the Philippines on Friday, which will potentially allow the ridge to build back in stronger than before, and force Hagupit on a more westerly path—or even west-southwesterly path—as it approaches landfall on Samar or Leyte Island near 12 UTC Saturday. Most of the models that had shown Hagupit recurving to the north and missing the Philippines have now followed the lead of the reliable European model, which has been consistently showing landfall in the Central Philippines. The latest 12Z Thursday runs of our two most reliable models, the GFS and European, are now very close, showing a landfall in southern Samar Island, just north of where Haiyan hit in November 2013. If this track hold true, it would avoid a major storm surge disaster in Tacolban like Haiyan brought. Extreme winds, a large and deadly storm surge, and torrential rains causing massive flooding and dangerous mudslides are all of great concern for where Hagupit makes landfall.

 

[topdycke]

Forecast track and timing from WeatherUnderground website http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2014/typhoon-Hagupit?map=5day

 

[ozexpat]

thanks for the update

I am in two minds about a generator. the problems are such:

a gas generator requires running under some load for thirty minutes a week to keep the engine in good reliable condition.
this entails having a fresh supply of gas that can be "borrowed" and both workers have motorbikes. it may seem trite but consumables disappear and the number one loss on a farm is usually fuel.

the wiring on the property has #2 wire underground from the street to the house. a main circuit breaker then feeds to the house box and the outbuilding's box in the garage. it then goes to the out buildings and a circuit breaker at each out building - egg house, piggery, pump shed and lillian's house.

our house and garage are locked up when we are not here.

to install a generator that covers the whole place would require building a structure for the generator and a transfer switch along the main line

this is a major investment. typically power is reliable here compared to even Bacolod that had brown outs routinely. our brown outs are normally less than an hour and only one or two a month.

I have a marine battery and inverter in the house which will run lights for two days. the battery pack in the egg house will keep the incubator going for 12 hours.

under normal circumstances a generator is a waste of money as the salt air will destroy it in a few years as it does any other electrical device.

if the storm continues on the above path then a thousand dollar investment in a generator, transfer switch, wire and a building will be a waste of time.