D.A.C.A.P.S. (Division of Alaminos City Association of Private Schools) Day 2013

NOVEMBER 07, 2013 - D.A.C.A.P.S. (Division of Alaminos City Association of Private Schools) Day

It is a day of gathering of private schools in Alaminos City and our little girl will be one of the representative of their school. They sang a song entitled "I Am But a Small Voice" while dancing at the same time. We are so proud to see our girl going up there and performing in front of other people.



Very proud kami sa iyo ate!




I am But a Small Voice!



I wish to see her perform more in the future.

At the end of the day, the former school of our little girl which was UMC Alaminos was the champion while her present school clinched the 3rd spot. Congratulations to Teacher Jen and the UMC kids. Costume pa lang, panalo na!




UMC Alaminos City - Champion

And the day will not be complete without a Jollibee treat from mommy! Congratulations to our lady for the good performance! Thanks mommy for the great pictures!

 





Jollibee treat after the program

  

Watermelon (Pakwan) Farming Update - 1 Month and 2 Weeks Old

Hello! Here are some updates about our watermelon farming 1 month and 2 weeks after transplanting.



flowering stage already

 Several new stems grew after trimming the first stem and they started crawling already. From one of these stems will be chosen only 1 fruit to develop until harvesting. This is because 1 plant can not support more than one fruit until harvesting (as in the case of Kaneko and several varieties which bears big fruits). But in the case of Diana variety, there are those which will have 2 fruits that will be fully developed (although the weight of each fruit which might be around 1 kg to 2 kgs. only and will be less than if the plant will only have 1 developed fruit which might weigh 3 kgs. or more). 





models showing the watermelon

   As my 2 cute model(s) are showing in the pics, in just a matter of two weeks since I posted the latest pics of the watermelon the plant have shown big development already.














see the plants starting to cover the area

   Some are in flowering stage and the big space that were allocated for the crawling of the watermelons are starting to get covered now by the plants. One or two weeks more and the entire field will be covered with the green leaves and several fruits will start to come out under the shades of the leaves!


green fields!






worker fixing water pipe for pumping water

 


water storage using tarpaulin

 Several tarpaulin was fixed also for storing water for watering the plants daily. 3 units of these were strategically placed around the farm in order for the people who will water the watermelon to have easy access when irrigating the crops. The water will be pumped from a well into these 3 water storage ocassionally.

On the 2nd month, I wish to share once more new developments in the farm! By that time, fruits might be seen everywhere and will give more excitement to my 2 cute models and my L who always give her time taking photos for my posts!



my 2 cutie models!!!



Jollibee Kids Halloween Party 2013

Our baby girl's first Halloween Party was a blast! At first she wants to have a fairy costume but unfortunately the costume that they saw was too small for her so I suggested that she be a witch! Haha! I told her to wear the usual costume for a witch and bring a broom but she told her mom that she is afraid to be a witch. And so they tried to search around the city for a costume but still she ended up as a witch - a good witch though! The costume was nice actually, even her baby sister wants to have the witch hat.



face painting



She enjoyed the face painting, special numbers and games where her team won with tumblers as price. How I wish I was there also to cheer for my girl... There was a search for Mr and Ms Halloween 2013 and the special part - Jollibee's dance!


Jollibee dancing





preparing for the game



At the end of the day, our girl had 2 tumblers as she was also a member of top 18 Halloween costume aside from their team that won a game.



our girl was one of the best in costume





with friend, Pia



with friends Alveen (center witch) and Pia (batgirl?)


It was my promise for her to join the Jollibee Kids Club for her to meet new friends and enjoy the treats being given by Jollibee to all members. We'll have her sister join also the Club when she turns 3 or 4.  She also attended the Jollibee Kids Club Summer Party last April.

Watermelon (Pakwan) Farming Update - 1 month




1 month old watermelon

 

How time flies! One month has passed since we started planting the watermelons for the 2013 season. Look at those greens! How I wish I was there to go around the field and enjoy the view. I wonder how hard it is for my guys working everyday from very early in the morning (most probably they start watering at around 1-2 am just like last year) until lunch time (cleaning and cultivating).






with rice hay as mulching

 





It is so hot nowadays in the area so my guys are watering the plants twice a day. You can see in the picture that they have put rice hay around each plant to act as mulching. This will prevent the soil to dry faster.









   



ready for trimming

 









It is very relaxing to see the plants growing faster because they are being taken care of by my guys. In the picture this plant is ready for trimming the bud to let 2-3 new buds grow for proper selection of 1 fruit to be taken care of until harvest time.

  







2 rows with water way at the middle







Several rows of watermelon also showing the water way in between rows. See the lead technician busy checking the plants in the field.  







without mulching yet

  More pictures showing 1 month old watermelon plants.









without mulching yet







See how dry the land is! Although this is better than it is flooded. The guys are watering twice a day because of the very hot weather.



The main problem only for watermelon is when there is a storm which could damage the entire farm. I have encountered that once during my first time to venture in watermelon farming. There was a storm and for several days it rained which flooded the farm and the strong wind damaged the plants which have started bearing flowers already.  I was so upset when the news was relayed to me by my father who at that time was the one managing the people. One big mistake of my people was that they did not make first water way or canal during the field preparation and only they started making when it was flooded already.

But my people did not gave up after that, they still continued and patiently sold whatever fruits were harvested in the field. I was able to get back the money that I used and the workers just managed to earn a little income. That is why we are praying that no storm comes until harvest time in December.

Sold Some MBT Shares

Good day everyone!

I sold some MBT (Metrobank) shares today because I need additional funds for our watermelon (pakwan) venture. It is just a little amount of shares as I buy and sell stocks in the PSE whenever I have extra money left in my salary.

I still have some MBT shares left in my stock trading account which I have earned as stock dividends last month. Aside from that I also earned cash dividends from them thus giving me three ways of earning when I bought MBT shares before and selling it at a higher price today. 

Maybe you are wondering how I was able to start trading/ investing in the stock market even if I am very busy working. It would be cool if you could visit my previous blog, http://everyonecaninvestinstocks.blogspot.com/ as I have shared there how I was able to start in the stock market. It was not updated anymore as I wasn't able to trade that much when I went home to the Philippines after I finish my contract abroad.

As of the moment I still have other stocks which I bought before but at a higher price compared to their current price. Although they are at a loss at the moment, they are just considered as paper loss. It will be true loss once I sell them at their current price. 

I will be updating my stock trading/ investing adventure also in this blog and I hope I could give you some idea about it and you'll be interested investing in the Philippine stock market.

Watermelon (Pakwan) Planted for 2013 Season

Today I just wanted to discuss about what watermelon varieties my people planted in the farm. There are so many watermelon (pakwan) varieties that are available in the market. And to be sure for a profitable venture, you need to know what wholesale buyers prefer. Last year we had 3 varieties planted; Kaneko, Sugar Ball and Diana. Kaneko is an old time favorite variety because of its sweetness and red flesh with green skin. Diana variety is a yellow skinned watermelon with red flesh and is a high priced variety in the market. While Sugar Ball is a new variety with green skin and stripes.

This year, my people will be planting 3 variety once again; Kaneko, Diana and Gold Lady according to them.

 

Diana Watermelon (www.seedquest.com)

The third variety, Gold Lady, will be planted only for the first time that's why I still have no idea about it. I will just post a photo of its fruit after some time.

What variety of watermelon do you prefer? Have you ever tasted other variety of watermelon? Please share your comments and who knows maybe we could try to plant that particular variety next season!

Watermelon (Pakwan) Planting Time

So here is my update about our watermelons.My people started transplanting watermelon seedlings already after cleaning the needed area. The lower parts of the rice which were left after harvesting rice were removed for digging soils. They had two rows of seedlings planted with a canal in the middle which will serve as a waterway in case there will be a strong rain fall which will flood the field.










It is a must to have this waterway this early even there is still no strong rain or storm in sight in order to avoid any problem in the future. There have been instances before that some planters forgot to prepare waterway in their watermelon farm which caused some of their seedlings to rot after being under water for some time.

Another picture to show how my people planted watermelon. Notice the waterway that they have dug in between 2 rows.