Guy F.

During lock-down public demand for exotic plants has fueled thefts of rare specimens from public land. Please be careful of what you purchase at the local plant place. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-12/plant-thieves-scour-forests-to-satisfy-foliage-starved-filipinos

The possibility of differing side effects has been brought up. Different levels of effectiveness among different vaccines is very likely. Resultant antibodies will remain in the vaccinated person's body for differing lengths of time.

That's not the whole story. Her Mama gave us a screwing on a small real estate deal. We once sent a very good sewing machine to a cousin for a business venture and it promptly was pawned. After several years she began to see how dysfunctional her family is. The first 20 years were the hardest.

I read somewhere that "debt is the glue that holds Filipino society together." I wonder if a more accurate statement might be "lending is the glue that holds Filipino society together." I married a Filipina from a family with in which several members have very good jobs. Since her Papa died she sends allowances to 2 siblings who are unemployable and the occasional contribution for an unusual situation. So we are more fortunate than most financially. But her family is quite dysfunctional. When we built our Winter Palace in the PI we followed the three island rule- her family is on one island, we are on another and there is a third island in between. Life is good.

Indeed it does look like a Huntsman Spider.. It has a thinner, pointier rear end than most of the spiders in pictures turned up by my Bing image search, but one of the images was a very close match. Sorry for the photo being a bit blurry. I believe it remembered me last visit from our encounters a year previously. One morning about 3AM it came out from under the kitchen cabinets and crossed the floor to hang out close where I was sitting. A few days later it came down the wall right next to me and again hung out near my feet for a while.

If you don't like noise, get a spider. Here's mine- her name is Zenobia Beaverbottom. She doesn't make webs. She hangs out on the floor or wall at night and waits for smaller critters to victimize.

OK, how about this: If you didn't vote on it when you had the opportunity, I am justified in considering your current opinion to be worthless.

If you don't vote you forfeit your right to complain about the results.

Smirnoff has long been known to keep the Smirns away.

Ever since I returned to the US from the PI in early March I've been coughing up a small amount of green stuff when I get up after sleeping or napping, and a few other times during the day. It hasn't developed into real congestion or limited my activity, but it's there. Don't think it could be the 'rona. My wife is a nurse who gets tested every week or 2 and she is clear so that counts for me too. It's definitely something. Never before had that go on for so long.

Next up: Diving masks and scuba tanks required for anyone venturing out in public.

I was told one can hire a kid to climb up and cut off the flowers when the trees are at the flowering stage. Then the nuts will not develop.

Take GeoffH's words to heart.

Went to the cupboard one night and grabbed a previously opened bag of chips. Was on my third mouthful when I noticed the ants. Soon my lips swelled to comic proportions and I was thinking about what to do if my throat swelled enough to constrict breathing. Fortunately that didn't happen and my lips were mostly back to normal in 24 hours. Lesson learned. Always get a good look at food before consuming.

An old friend was there. In past years it has proven to be an opportunity to catch up with old friends and gain new friends. The food is always guaranteed to be unbeatable, with sushi prepared by a master chef using seafood flown in from Hawaii the same day. There was no distancing and I only saw one mask other than mine. There was a hand washing station but in the half hour I was there I saw no one using it.