KANLAON
VOLCANO - SILENT ONCE
MORE?
It appears that the latest news from the Philippines
Volcano Center (PHIVOLCS) has announced that Kanlaon Volcano has
returned to a deep sleep. There is no
more steam
escaping as well as no more rumbling is being recorded by ground
sensors. I was only able to see the
steam escape once during its short activity as the rest of the time, the peak
was usually encased in clouds. In a way,
it was sad to see that magnificent mountain return to its inactive state. Yet, one never knows when it will re-awaken
or even blow its top as Mt. Pinatubo did over twenty years ago now. When I was stationed on the island of Adak,
located in the Aleutians Islands, 1,200 miles SW of Anchorage, Great Mt. Sitkin
Volcano was constantly emitting large plumes of steam during my twelve month
tour. Actually, Great Mt. Sitkin had an
explosive eruption in 1974 (while I was stationed in the Philippines) complete
with ash ejection, lava flows, and resulting dome. However since that time, it has been restlessly
napping. Both volcanoes continue to emit
steam every few years to let us know that they exist. Yet, it is Kanlaon, with its populated area
which reminds us that we can never rest easily as long as she infrequently snorts
out smoke while rumbling in her troubling slumber.
 | |
| Kanlaon Volcano - March 2014 |
FILL FOR
THE BACK YARD
Earlier this week, we received a dump truck loaded
with fifteen cubic meters (19.6
cubic yards) of fill for our lot. Now fill in the states is usually clean of
stones, but not in the Philippines. A
few of the accompanying stones were so heavy that Toy and I had to use a
makeshift wood constructed stretcher to move those to a depressed part of the yard. However, the point of the topic is, I thought
the ground was solid enough to handle the loaded transport, unfortunately that
was not the case. I had laid out large
rocks to handle the weight, but then one set of wheels veered off those stone
supports and at that very point, one side of the truck sank up to its axle, leaving
it in a very precarious angle. Thus, it
was the driver, his helper, and I (along with the two boys when home for lunch)
who had the unsavory
task of unloading that load by shovel. Did I ever tell you that a tropical sun can
be merciless, especially when you are rotund and getting older? I kept up with them for some time, but
started to slow as that fiery orb started to get the better of me. As we reached the halfway point of unloading
the truck, sunburned as well as sufficiently exhausted, I finally relegated myself
to a chair in the shade. Besides,
foreigners weren’t supposed to be doing manual labor such as that, right? Shortly after that, with the help of a large
tractor, they got the dump truck back onto the rocks and was able to lift the
back end and unload the remaining sand and rocks. I was pretty embarrassed over the whole
episode, but we got it out of the quagmire and on its way. As for me, it will involve a lot of shoveling
and moving of dirt over the next few days.
The large rocks which came with the load will be spread around the yard
in an effort to support the subsequent deposits of fill.
 |
| Toy Toy & Santiago with two workers unloading truck |
 |
| Daryl Cleveland at the top of the pile scooping |
MEASUREMENTS
AND TIME
Charissa Mae always has something to say which will,
more times than not, cause me to
turn or even tilt my head in either confusion
or amazement. Yesterday, she had put
water in her plastic drink container and said that she had filled it to the 724
line. I was a bit perplexed as to what
amount would total 724, so I asked her again and received the same reply. Now, I had to know where she was getting this
cryptic number and requested the bottle.
On the side of the container it said on the left side of a line - 700 (ml) and on the right side of the line it said - 24 oz.
I asked what the letters were on the side of the bottle (pointing to the
ml) and she said “meal”. I sat back and
asked Mae Mae to spell the letters on the side of the bottle and of course, she
spelled “m-e-a-l” and looked at me like I was a blithering idiot. What can you say with logic like that? Yes, I explained what ml (milliliters) and oz.
(ounces) meant. Yet, it was no worse than when asking Santiago
to tell me the time, he came up with 564.
With the boy being twelve years old, and upon realizing his error, he
was wise enough not to rationalize his reply and I guess it is something I will
never know, much less figure out.
 | |
| Mae Mae's Drink Bottle |
IDIOMS
AND
HOW THEY CONFUSE
Which brings us to idioms. I was asked this in an email the other day
and after giving it some thought, I have actually confused my children with
some of our common idioms. Once in a
blue moon caught their attention one day.
Not the statement, but they wanted to know what a blue moon was and if
it really existed, which led to a long discussion about how a blue moon occurs
and “no” it was not blue. Hit the hay
was something that they questioned as there was no hay in the house, or It Takes
Two to Tango of which they wondered what a dance had to do with the topic at
hand. I guess the one that also got
attention was the term, “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.” At first, they knew you left sleeping dogs
alone and when we would walk I would also make that comment, especially
considering the consequences if you disturbed them. Interestingly, during the daylight hours, you
are invisible to dogs, but during the hours of darkness you become public enemy
number one to them. There are other
idioms I have used at the dinner table (where many of our educational
discussions occur) and it is rather interesting to see how they interpret what
I say at times.
SLIVER
OF A MOON
The other evening, as the three oldest children were
shoveling sand or moving stone 
just after sunset. A slender moon was brightly
prominent in the western sky when I commented that we had a “Sliver of a Moon”
tonight. The statement puzzled them as they
looked up at the slim white line of a new moon, but couldn’t quite connect what
a sliver had to do with the moon. I want to stress, that my four adopted children
are far smarter now than when we first met five years ago, but they, as well as
me, still have a lot to learn and understand about the World around us.
just after sunset. A slender moon was brightly
prominent in the western sky when I commented that we had a “Sliver of a Moon”
tonight. The statement puzzled them as they
looked up at the slim white line of a new moon, but couldn’t quite connect what
a sliver had to do with the moon. I want to stress, that my four adopted children
are far smarter now than when we first met five years ago, but they, as well as
me, still have a lot to learn and understand about the World around us.
Daryl Cleveland a.k.a. Bounder
January 17, 2016
That was a fun read.
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