A quick look around the yard as the weather warms… Having taken an apple grafting class at the Seed Savers Exchange, there are now 9 apple trees to plant as well as an Iowa original to clone, the Hawkeye Delicious. Much more landscaping to go and a rebirth of Ugly Ursula, the hastily thrown together cinder block smoker used for the New Year’s party. Details on the heritage pig project to follow.

A snow day here in eastern Iowa… well, an ice day.

Smokin’ our way into the new decade… a few images from a very successful, fun and cold New Year’s party – thanks in large part to Pete Pawinski and his traveling pork show! Pete has much better images on his facebook page, but Ugly Ursula, the homemade cinder block smoker worked great on the meat and the Stumptown Shooters pulled off a great fireworks show. Here’s to the new decade… cheers!

Touted as Amtrak’s premier route, the Empire Builder offers service between Chicago and Seattle daily. Taking 46 hours to complete a one way leg, this form of travel may not be for all, but for those who have the time, the 2,205 mile journey is truly worth it.

to pick ourselves up. – batman begins

hola! am out in the yard for much of the day, but am making small adjustments to the site… keep an eye out for yourself…

(link removed – site is up at www.davidgreedy.com)

-d

This morning I received a text from the family of missing fisherman Beto. The Marc-Cris, his boat, was found 70 miles off-shore adrift. Beto, his son Joven and family friend Nonoy have disappeared at sea. Sadly, this is the fate of many a fisherman world-wide, and in fact, the weather and sea have taken other fishermen from nearby towns during the same storm. Nearly all these families are now without their main source of income, meager as it is. Their stories and their lives will be kept alive by the families… I am honored to have been with Beto on his last successful trip.

A small boat was found adrift today outside Olongapo, missing its crew. If it is Beto’s boat is still not known. A helicopter was supposed to be looking into the missing fisherman from Bolinao, far north of where the boat was found. The current possibly rules out the boat as his. Even so, many family and friends are still hoping for the best.View Larger Map
Photographs of my trip with Beto are now posted in the  gallery with more information to follow.

The fishing trip to the deep sea aboard captain Beto’s small banka happened; a much larger story is coming shortly. Today, however, I just learned that Beto and his two man crew, including one of Beto’s sons, is missing at sea.  The seas are again extremely wild, eliminating any possibility for a search by even the Philippines Coast Guard. At the same time, one boat that was out with Beto was destroyed when a large tanker rammed into it. Two fishermen jumped just before the collision while the two remaining survived by holding onto floating pieces of the boat until another boat was able to rescue them. The two who jumped are missing. A total of five missing at sea. We are all holding out hope that they will return.

While the fishing in the Philippines is still a top industry, life for fishermen and their catches is becoming harder. Large commercial vessels from China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines are competing for the decreasing number of fish in deeper and more dangerous waters off the northern coast of Luzon in the South China Sea. Throw into the mix the numerous smaller, traditional bankas that carry at most 8 fishermen using line and hooks and one can begin to appreciate the dangers involved with simply trying to eek out an existence for the small scale fishermen; many of whom never return home in the fast changing weather far from shore. 

High winds and wild waves have postponed my journey to the sea for the second day as our small crew decided to delay our 3-5 day trip to the deep sea. We’re all keeping an eye out on the weather and will try again tonight to head out from Bolinao, Pangasinan for what we hope will be a prosperous trip. And a necessary one; they just arrived in port four days ago and already much of the income earned has been spent. Time to turn the boat around see what fortune may bring… Stay tuned for more stories and image of this trip. 

‘November 16 represents tragedy for Bangladesh’ i was told by a well dressed man who claimed to have walked since dawn from Barisal; it was now around 3pm and we are stuck between a traffic jam of monumental proportions or heading back against the fallen trees and the thousands returning to their homes after evacuating less than 24 hours before. He was refering to both past and present.

Super Cyclone Sidr had come ashore. At current count, over 1,000 are dead without the worst areas being reached by rescue workers and NGOs. Tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed and much of the country is without power or communications for at least the next three days. The total toll to the economy cannot even be comprehended yet.

Much work will be done over the next few days and the full extent of the damage done by this awesome display of energy will be better known. What is known now however, is that, unlike many years ago in November, Bangladesh was better prepared. Over 130,000 died during the last such storm.

Stay tuned for more updates and slideshows.