Zkribbler's Retirement House - Watch it being built!

[Lancer]

Burning the yard debris...

[Lancer]

Limestone has been spread and tamped. They have logs with two sticks attached which they use as handles and pound on the loose material. I did it for a while the other day and it was a heck of a workout.

[Lancer]

This is the post we're plotting against.

[Lancer]

Payday, job well done, now the fun starts!


Insik, Bia, Rigo, Elmer, Sho, Theresa, Pedro, Charlito, Tayo, Elvin, Pilimon

Check out the water bottle.


That's it!

[Zkribbler]

What we could do instead of removing Post #3 completely is to reduce it to normal size and move it one meter towards the ocean. That way, we would have crossing support beams in the ceiling: one running from Post #2 to Post #4, and the other running from the oceanside Post No. 3 via the newly place Post #3 and then to the post which is nearest to the street on the semicircle. The two support beams would cross where the old Post #3 used to be.

That's a great picutre of Dolores, by the way. It lets me see exactly how wide a 1-meter balcony is. Do I really want something that narrow for my bedroom balconies? I must ponder.

[Lancer]

That works.

I added the names to the above pic btw.

[Dinner]

Zibber, as people get older medical needs become more and more important. I'd be a little concerned that the quality of medical care in the Philippines isn't as good as in the US. Is there even a local hospital on that island and how well is it equipped and staffed?

[Aeson]

The great thing about the hospital in Jagna is it costs less than a dollar for a doctor visit. (I think it was 37 pesos when I went...)

[Zoid]

Zoid's jungle gym...

I wish I could use it, just once...

I think they're done moving sacks for a while. Oh yeah, and Zkrib's alarm clock, no extra charge. Only one problem, the clock decides when it wants to go off, not you.

OTOH, when you get tired of your alarm c(l)ock you can boil it it for a few hours with red wine and leeks

[Dinner]

But how modern, well equipped, and well staffed is it?

[Zkribbler]

But how modern, well equipped, and well staffed is it?

Staff is no problem. The Phils export doctors and nurses to the U.S. They're very bright and well trained.

Equipment and supplies are a problem.

In contrast, because I did a middle-age career change and because the court then kept me on as a "temporary" for over a decade, I do not have all that many years in towards retirement. As a result, my health benies are wretched. If I were to get a major illness in America, I doubt if I could afford it. In the Phils, affordablity is no problem.

[Zkribbler]

Lancer --

How much trouble would it be to punch out the laundryroom's decorative brick on the basketball side [only] and to replace it with the slotted brick like you have by the stairs in your Jagna house? I'd like to continue on with the slotted brick along the top of the storeroom to be, and I think it'd look better with slotted brick all the way.

My concern isn't that people can look through the decorative brick into my laundryroom but rather that they could look though any decorative brick we put in the storeroom and see what goodies we have stored in there.

[This is not a we-gotta-do-this thing; this is a it'd-be-nice-to-do-this-if-it-isn't-too-much-trouble thing.]

[Zkribbler]

I've redrawn the floorplans. On the first floor, I've moved Post #3 one meter to the ocean side and have eliminated the bookcases. I also moved the refrigerator 1 meter to the right, switched the pantries from an up-down axis to a left-right axis, and added somemore counter space in the kitchen.

I'll mail the revised plans off to you in a day (for US mail) or two (for LBS courier)

[Lancer]

Zkrib, anything can be done. When you get here check it out and see if you think its a problem.

When we built my seawall there was no structure on the property. The mixer just sat out at night but nobody ever bothered it. My wall is a privacy wall, not really for security. Good folks there.

I've found the medical to be good here. The facilities aren't modern but the staff is better than any experience I had in the US. If you need a tricky operation they have that stuff in Tagbilaran or Cebu, very modern there. Alot of americans do 'medical tourism' trips to Cebu. They can pay tens of thousands of $ out of pocket at home or a thousand or two here and get a tropical vacation to rest up thrown in and somebody else can buy the rich US doc and ambulance chasers new yachts, thank you.

What I like here for when I get old is I still haven't seen a nursing home here. No whacked in the head nurse midnight wheelchair races for veggie Lancer, no uhuh. I used to drive a private ambulance long ago, I know what goes on during the graveyard shift, heard the stories. Here you can pick and choose a nurse to come to your home for $2 a visit to check up on meds etc.

A friend of ours is a nurse and years ago she was getting into the local hospital by working for free so that if a real position came open she would get it. So, I'd imagine having round the clock care could be done for maybe $15-$20 a day.

Perish the thought, I'm going to live good forever, but its nice to know...

[Lancer]

Zkrib, send them or bring em, the house is on hold. There's other work afoot!