Luke
Animals and Pets
My wife and I live in Northern Mindanao since I retired back in 2013. A big change for me, not so for Katleen, Pets and animals have been a part of most of my life. Living in California as a child and adult I had dogs, cats, fish for pets and even tried a hamster in the house but did not care for him, too loud at night. And after my time in the Navy,…
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Homesick
Last night while I was looking at Facebook and reading updates from some of my friends that still keep in touch, I noticed that I was feeling a bit sad. With my mind drifting to things in the past. This does not happen often, but I do get homesick from time to time, missing the sights of where I grew up as a kid, missing my kids and my friends from school and work, even…
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Vacationing around the Philippines
Since we were first engaged and then later married, my wife and I have visited many places here in the Philippines with many more that I want to see and in a few that I would like to return and see more. I think that this is driven by my desire for adventure and to see new places and experience new thing. And this desire to travel with my wife at my side has given…
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Today is a good day
What to do to combat Boredom as a retired guy in Mindanao It is the first Monday of August and I feel good after being ill for many weeks and the morning I received my new ACR card. So I can breathe easy and have a lot less stress in my life. I now understand what Katleen went through during the time of her getting her green card in the US after we were married.…
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Shopping in the Big City here in Mindanao
For us, the big city is Cagayan de Oro 2.5 to 3.5 hrs. in one direction or Butuan 1.5 hrs. in the other and both have Malls which means grocery stores, movie theaters and clothes stores that can fit me, with maybe a stop at a coffee shop as a treat. Also in Cagayan de Oro, there is an S&R store (a store patterned on Costco and Sam’s Club back in the USA). We try…
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Driving in the Philippines
When we visit the USA, I normally drive. Katleen learned to drive in California and she is a safe, good driver. But for some reason, it is me doing the driving most of the time. But here thankfully Kat takes the wheel. Driving here is not like anything in any state I have driven in the US and that includes downtown LA and San Francisco. In fact, me driving here scares Kat’s parents, they would…
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