Building a Home in Davao

[Queenie O.]

19 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Same with us, plus we keep the doors open to the sea breeze all day so the two dogs can come and go as they please.  Same with the three cats.  At night all the critters sleep out side.   Side note - all animals are spay/neutered so they tend to stay home and we don't have other dogs/cats trying to sneak in paw at the gates.

Yes Mike--are house is only enclosed on the road side one other side. The rest are higher sea walls. One of our dogs especially will bark if any fisherman decides to pause too close, or leave his slippers or dry clothes on top. Otherwise all day long they're exploring, except lately when it's hot they just sleep with one eye open.

[soupeod]

43 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Same with us, plus we keep the doors open to the sea breeze all day so the two dogs can come and go as they please.  Same with the three cats.  At night all the critters sleep out side.   Side note - all animals are spay/neutered so they tend to stay home and we don't have other dogs/cats trying to sneak in paw at the gates.

They can carry covid from what I read.

[Mike J]

21 minutes ago, soupeod said:

They can carry covid from what I read.

[GeoffH]

4 hours ago, soupeod said:

They can carry covid from what I read.

There have been rare cases of animals (mostly felines) catching Covid but there is no evidence of animal to human transmission happening (yet).

[Dave Hounddriver]

52 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

there is no evidence of animal to human transmission happening

So it did not come from bats? Direct spread from bats to humans (likely) (The underlined part IS the link).

[Clermont]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:30 PM, Tommy T. said:

They really do exist, but one must be patient to find them and also must supervise always - even the good guys need to be guided along the way...

I'll go along with that, at the moment we are doing up the Ancestral home and the builder the wife's sister in-law found has swung a hammer before. He had to install two rooms in the house, swing the doors, line the ceiling in the lounge room and build a new dirty kitchen and CR and shower room. In other words it was a shell with no roof on it when we started. I was asked if I could help repair it. Don't ever suggest pulling down an Ancestral home, cold shoulder and hot tongue is what's in store if you try explaining the economics of repair against building new. Well their dads (Lolo ) house is just about finished and it has been suggested I can pick the colour of the paint for the house. Yep their good, come in spinner, we'll get the price of the paint for you and how much it will cost to put it on then you can send the money over. I should have known, Peter I've had experience with before over money and have yet to break even, but at least when I visit, no more Hotel rooms. Sometimes you know your being taken for a ride but when it is very close relies and it's not going to break you, I tend to let them have their way a little, then at a latter date when walking past a shop I'll point out the same article and comment about the price. Yes, there are good builders over there, there are people who want to take you for a ride. You know what, when we finally get over there, I wont feel homesick, we've got rouges over here too. 

[GeoffH]

4 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

So it did not come from bats? Direct spread from bats to humans (likely) (The underlined part IS the link).

Sorry... I didn't make myself clear. 

I was specifically talking about felines; ie there is no evidence (yet) of (feline) animal to human transmission.  The feline immune system is seemingly more effective at suppressing the virus than ours.

[Tommy T.]

On 5/12/2021 at 8:49 AM, Queenie O. said:

Tommy--if your yard is completely enclosed, eventually you could let your dog run free.

Our two pets/watchdogs have free rein around, and because they are very territorial, they love to vigilantly police and alert us of anything that they don't like. Great "doorbells" too!

Everything looks great Tommy!

Thanks for your comments, Queenie!

Our yard is enclosed. However the dog is still a puppy (8 months) and only now have I been able to train him. He still likes to jump up on people (us included), bite clothing, his leash and can be a bit wild in his exuberance at times. He loves to run and, when we experimented letting him loose, he churned through the garden area, the squash plants, herb garden and generally wreaked havoc. We still have workers much of the time too.

At first we let him in the house and he chewed and bit and pulled at everything as he checked out his surroundings. So we decided to make him an outside dog. Combinations of scolding, praise, treats and repetition are bearing fruit and he is starting to settle down and respond to training. He stays tied outside and I take him out for walks several times a day.

We reckon he may be ready to have the run of the property in another several months. I need to train him to stay out of certain areas and that will take a while. Fortunately, he is very smart, so I really am sure this is possible.

He barks if he sees something new or different but otherwise is mostly quiet - which is very nice.

[Tommy T.]

Yesterday I had an interesting and promising experience...

I was walking the dog while some PLDT people were installing a new line next door. The dog is still a puppy but, currently at around 25 kg, still thinks he is maybe 1 kg... So he still is very playful and likes to lunge and constantly test my strength and that of the heavy chain leash I use.

So, I let him run and jump a little and then yanked him back while commanding him by voice to chill...which he did. But the PLDT people who were lounging outside their truck climbed back inside and closed their doors. One commented, "That's a BIG dog!" That made my day.

Others have walked by when I was with him - mostly a few teenagers - and so I know that everyone within 2 kms or more knows about this strange foreigner with the big, challenging guard dog...

Maybe it's hollow confidence? Don't know, but with the new house insurance (including theft and vandalism coverage), CCTV, tall fence, big dog and actually quiet neighbourhood - well, I am much relaxed about our situation here in our new home, security-wise.

[Tommy T.]

Well, it's been over two months since I updated this thread...

First, I will mention that the wood tile flooring issue is well and truly fixed...no more tenting. So the boys who were referred to us as "professional" installers, knew what they were doing and did it well. We are very pleased!

The air/con continues to work well and our electric bills continue to be surprisingly low. We can now access electric, water, PLDT bills online and pay them online.... So no more physical visits to payment centers.

We have one or two boys come here every week to weed the grass and garden areas, sweep up the piles of mango tree leaves and do lots of other odd jobs like moving or spreading landscaping earth, transplanting or planting various flowers and plants, and virtually all other projects that we either don't have the strength or inclination to tackle ourselves. We, on occasion, hire true professionals, we have found, to deal with a few electrical installations or issues or plumbing issues.

The CCTV system is working great and we can - and do - monitor it from time to time when away from home. I installed a burglar alarm system - which is actually quite sophisticated and cost less than US$100 - that covers perimeter, doors and windows and can also be monitored via cell phone when away. We can arm or disarm it or silence the alarm remotely too. We make sure to trigger it "accidentally" when we see any strangers walking by (so they will hear the very loud siren), but there are few strangers in this area, so we know the word is out that there is an alarm here. Three nights ago, the alarm went off and scared the s*** out of us. L said, "Stay here in the room!" I waited a while, then finally ventured out of our room to take a look around... I finally saw a cat slinking along and gave it a loud "Psssssst!" that scared him away... So I adjusted the motion detector and now it seems okay...

The guard dog training is proceeding, although slowly. L keeps nagging me to hire a professional trainer and I keep telling her I can do it and I don't have the money for a professional trainer now. The dog is learning and progressing, but is sooooo super playful so often. We set up a running area for him outside so he can run around but still be tethered to a 40 meter rope. My God, but he has energy to spare always!!! I also make it a point to let the dog lunge a bit at anyone walking by when he and I are walking. I have him on a stout, chain leash (one of which he actually broke last week) so he is controlled. Virtually everyone is afraid of him... Again, I know word of this big K-9 dog is common knowledge in the area... I forgot to add that a really cool thing about this dog is that he rarely barks. He whines when one of his toys gets lost or he hears one of us and we don't visit with him, but he does not respond to any of the local barking dogs...ever. Now... if I can only afford food for this - now - 30 kg dog!!!

The back yard is growing and some trees are already beginning to provide some privacy from neighbours. Our garden - as noted in another thread - provides so many wing and long beans that we are getting sick of them...so we give a lot of them away to our occasional workers, and they love them! We also have large, red tomatoes, super hot chilies, kangkong and kamote leaves. Some herbs are flourishing, some are languishing as we adjust locations, soils watering, etc.

We have caribou grass, frog grass and bermuda grass growing in three main areas. L has imported here many plants of many varieties to fill out the property and make it look nicer.

The place is so much cleaner, nicer and "green" than just a few months ago. If it rains, we don't always get muddy feet when venturing outside during or after. Every day it feels more like home than the day before.

Next report, I will include photos again...sorry for the purely textual content this time...

Edited July 26, 2021 by Tommy T.