Andrea in this Lifetime

My Interesting Find

Have you ever found bird's nest in the wild? This one is complete with residents. They are very hungry! Just a movement of the nest and they automatically open their mouths very wide. Their eyes are not yet open though. These are actually Allen's secret. He showed them to me because he knows i will not disturb them, just some few photos. The male owner of the nest was actually shouting badly in a nearby tree.
Dennis cannot look at them long enough, because they look like small rats without the feathers.

In my garden

Am trying hard to produce a nice macro shot. But will it be possible just using a point and shoot camera? I am sure you know what these plants are, so i did not put the labels.
(Hipeastrum puniceum) Lantana camara
Costus sp.
Hibiscus rosa sinensis
Duranta erecta/repens
lichens

Kids, dogs and kittens!

Allen's pet cat has 3 kittens. He called the 2 females as Muningning and Maripusa! Talk of creativity! We had a very good laugh with his choice of names. I think he was inspired by Wowowee's dancers Luningning and Mariposa. The male is called Shrek, you know from where that is. The kittens sleep with him often, and they are very comfortable with Allen's rough handling. Maripusa even stays on his head.
The kittens are very curious and probably think they are not cats. Look at how curious Muningning is when Eriel cuts the grass. Eriel was even alarmed when she almost cut its hand, because it touches the scissors while at work. They really made the kids' vacation more exciting.


Those are just some of their antics, aside from the constant chasing of its own tail. Allen was very worried because Maripusa eats toads and lizards, because its mother taught them that. However, Muningning and Shrek dont like it raw, instead they want the normal cooked fish leftover. The kittens and Jopet (Allen's pet dog) also play with each other. Because Jopet is like a father to the kittens, it teaches them to play and doesn't get impatient.
Dogs and cats even join Allen in flying his kite.

Inspired by Ging's Post today!

Hi Ging, instead of posting this as a comment in your blogspot today (www.doctorging.blogspot.com), i opted to put it here. The picture of the fruits you thought to be kaong really looks like the nipa palm fruits. I tried to put the mature nipa fruit bunch picture here. I got it near the tarsier sanctuary in Loboc, Bohol. Actually, they said that there are two kinds of nipa, the saltwater and the freshwater nipa. In Bohol, they call the freshwater nipa as 'saksak', while in Tagalog we call all the nipa as 'sasa'. Sorry Wico, i did not check the correct usage, as i was in a hurry to post this.

About the kaong (sugar palm) plant (Arenga pinnata), it is very common in colder mountainous areas like Batangas and Mt Banahao slopes in Quezon, and i suppose in Mindanao forests near streams. They are normally in dipterocarp forests. I am very familiar with kaong plants, which we call 'irok' in the Batangas-Cavite area. The kaong midrib makes very good quality broom or 'walis tingting', better than the coconut midrib or the 'dumayaka' palm. (Sorry again Wico, i dont know the scientific name nor the common name). Kaong bunches are unique because the younger ones commonly emerge from the older portion of the trunk below the older bunches. This is unlike other palms which produce new flower spikes above the old ones.

Kaong fruits are processed to be bottled kaong sweets in Quezon and Cavite. I think Leony is very familiar with this as she has a project on kaong processing. It is very difficult because of the itchy sap of the husk which is very bad for those who attempt to do it without knowing how.

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