SEVERE WEATHER BULLETIN :#11
ISSUED AT:5:00 AM, 17 July 2018
TROPICAL DEPRESSION “HENRY” HAS MADE LANDFALL OVER DALUPIRI ISLAND, CAGAYAN AND IS NOW HEADING TOWARDS THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA.
Daily Weather Forecast
Issued at: 4:00 AM today, 17 July 2018
SYNOPSIS: At 3:00 AM today, the center of Tropical Depression “HENRY” was estimated based on all available data at 75 km West Southwest of Calayan, Cagayan (19.1 N, 120.8 E) with maximum sustained winds of 60 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 75 km/h. Moving West Northwest at 20 km/h. Meanwhile, the Low Pressure Area (LPA) was estimated based on all available data at 825 km East of Infanta, Quezon (15.4 N, 129.3 E). Southwest Monsoon affecting the country.
Another day, another tropical storm. Been pouring down rain like crazy overnight. Heh, what else is new? Well, I’m not one to complain about the weather. Much. Someone told me yesterday that this rainy season has been the rainiest in several years. Welcome to the Philippines, thank you very much!
Things aren’t all bad of course. There are those indoor activities that help pass the time in a pleasant and satisfying way. Except I don’t currently have a girlfriend. Oh well, I do have this:
I picked up my crockpot from the repair shop. 860 pesos ($16) and it’s good as new. Well, it was new and now it works, so it is BETTER than new!
Wanted to try it out and I had most of the needed ingredients for chili. Except for the seasoning. So I used some burrito spice I had brought with me from the commissary. Oh, and I forgot to add onions I made it Kevin Kim style.
Also baked up a pan of cornbread. And when I say “baked up” I mean I opened a package of mix (Marie Callander’s), stirred it up in a bowl, and popped it in the oven. I did have to go to the internet for the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion.
And it turned out to be quite tasty if I do say so myself. Even had a bowl for breakfast this morning…
Yesterday was the Hash. It stopped raining for the most part during the event, but the trail was very muddy and potentially treacherous. I’m not sure which is more slippery, mud or wet leaves. But nothing tops wet leaves on top of mud. Trust me on that.
The worst part of every Hash for me is being jammed “on-in” that damn truck for the ride to the trail head.
But I survived and it was “on-on”… I did the short trail (5 kms) because I didn’t see any other walkers doing the runners trail. I’m not that confident (competent) at following the trail markings yet. I absolutely do not want to be alone on a slippery mountaintop…
The short trail had some nice features, like rickety stream crossings….
And as always there were peaceful and serene moments counterbalancing the terrifying ones…
And at the end of the day all I had to show for it was some mud on my shoes. Which in my experience is much better than blood!
I did have to spend some time with my ass on the ice though. The Grand Master of Ceremonies caught me leaning against a pillar instead of standing upright in the circle. So I had to be punished for being lazy. Yeah, I won’t make that mistake again. That fucking ice is as cold as a Korean woman’s heart!
And life goes on…
For what it’s worth, I do put onions in my chili: either I use dried-onion flakes, or I grind up fresh onions (I’ve also used onion powder, but that feels like a cop-out). The thing I don’t want is large* chunks of onion floating around in my chili; there’s something about the texture that’s very off-putting to me, and this undoubtedly harks back to some issue from my childhood. I actually don’t mind the taste of onions, and I’ve been known to grab a handful of deep-fried onions and crunch on them.
Sorry to hear you got the ice-block treatment.
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*Any piece of onion larger than what you see on a Big Mac is “large” to me. Strict standards.
Oh, yeah: meant to say your chili looks damn good. Corn bread, too.