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Is it mine?

Buy/Rent Property / by

There I was watching grass being installed a few weeks ago, and my Barangay Kaptain drives up. We talk and admire my new lawn, then he smiles and informed me of the real reason for his visit. Avocado’s, my neighbor in the back of my land is working in the Middle East and has caretakers staying at his house. It seems they saw me pick a couple of those wonderful guacamole making fruit, Avocados. I freely admitted that I was guilty of this dastardly crime against humanity. In my defense the branch was hanging over my wall. I thought they were mine. After all, my Mango tree hangs over my other neighbor’s land, and he picks them off my tree and I don’t care.

The Kaptain and I walked to my backyard and he saw the tempting little devils dangling over my wall. He went to my friend’s caretakers and explained that if they trim the tree, the picking would stop, and if they did not, the fruits were mine. He further went on to explain that the owner of the house was a buddy of Paul’s and would frown upon their messing with him.

The caretaker is a seedy little dude to begin with; my neighbor sent him the money to paint the roof. I was telling Bob Martin that they treated the roof prior to painting with vinegar. Next they painted the roof. I had never heard of using vinegar before, and now I know why, it doesn’t work, it’s only been two weeks and the paint is flaking off in large amounts. Or he could have watered down the paint to save money and keep what was left over. Now this is only speculation on my part, but I know my buddy would expect the paint to last a tad longer than two weeks. I noticed that most of the roof’s painted here, the paint only lasts a year or two. While pondering this weighty question, my wife pop’s up and said, “You bought the good paint, Mahal!”

If I were the caretaker I’d start selling those avocados and re-paint the roof before his boss gets home. Hell, I’d even buy a few.

I’m fairly sure the next complaint will be about my fish pond, and bird droppings. I sit and watch the birds stop by all day to drink and cool off in the waterfall. Then they fly off over the neighbor’s roof, the birds thinking his place is a bank, they leave deposits. But isn’t that a birds job? I have a carport and they’ll still find it.

So with the Barangay Kaptain’s permission, I had my nephew bring me a large bag of corn chips, made up a large bowl of Guacamole, and had an early Cinco de Mayo party. Like I needed a reason?

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Comments

      • Hi Paul – Well, it’s true that good vinegar is “good wine gone bad”! It’s that next step in the natural process of “all things turn to dust” that escapes me.

        To tell you the truth, I’ve never allowed any basi enough time to turn to sukang iloco (Ilocano vinegar), and I never allow any sukang iloco to be used anywhere outside of cooking and food prep.

        Hey, wait a minute, vinegar is a great paint stripper. Judging by the pictures, that caretaker did use bad vinegar. Good vinegar would have that roof sparkling bright and reflecting the sunrays like a beacon! 😆

        • Paul;
          Is that anything like “From dust you art, to dust you will return?” If so, someone is under my bed and I don’t know if their coming or goings.
          It was llocano vinegar that the guy used.

  3. Hi Paul
    one thing I like about living in the province is my neirbours are spread out from me, there is older lady that lives in a Nipa on one side of me she is verry nice, her husband just recently passed away, so we wach over her and give her coffee and sugar, she has some Bannana the hangs over our fence, I know if I wanted some she would wilingly give some to me.

    • James;
      And a good neighbor you are, yet there is a vast difference between neighbor and caretaker. My neighbors are good people and they sing “Yes, we have no bananas today!” we share all the fruits; I let the purok kids pick my mango tree clean last week. 3 rice bags full.

  4. Paul,

    I find it very interesting that the word “Mahal” means expensive and love. There has to be a good reason behind this. Does anyone have an explanation?

      • Jack & Bob;
        Love can be expensive sometimes. The Temple of Love in India is called the Taj Mahal and it also was expensive. Have we achieved total confusion yet?

        • Bob and Paul,

          Thanks Bob. I always thought mahal in Tagalog had the same meaning. Paul, there is no confusion. I agree with you about love being expensive.

          • Jack;
            It was explained to me that the word “MAHAL” was brought to the Philippines by Indian Traders and adapted to the local language. Its Indian meaning is Love. I’m still confused!!!!

  5. Paul, Sounds like the care taker is worried about the money he might lose in selling his crop. On a different note but the topic of mango and avacodo trees. How long does it take on average for one of those trees to grow fruit once planted? Are they the type of fruit tree that grows fast or would you be better off transplanting already mature or almost mature trees to your yard? Thanks Paul and enjoy the guacamole. Ron

    • Hello Ron;
      Here is what I know about fruit bearing trees, pretty much nothing except they were there before I got here. I did plant a lime tree 6 years ago and it just flowered for the first time this year. I will stay here, until I can make a Key Lime Pie.

  6. Hi Paul,
    the reason he used vinegar is because it’s an acid. I assume the roof is galvanized steel, which means it has a zinc coating on it. Paint will never stick to galvanized steel without etching it first, but you need a stronger acid like sulfuric acid. I suggest you trade this knowledge for some ripe avocado’s 😀

    • Hi…Yes, and here in the USA they used to make [maybe still do] a special primer for galvanized steel.The rocker panels on some of the cars and pickup 20-30 plus years ago had zink galvanized steel and after you treated with acid you need to use the special primer or the reg primer would fall off!

      • Hi Dan;
        My Man Cave roof was primed and painted with Boysen Roof- Guard paint 10 years ago, and looks as good now as it did then. I don’t know what the primer was, but it worked.

        • Ok..Paul..great…I remembered what kind of primer we used to use years ago when I worked on cars,truck,etc..It was called zink chromate primer..was green and had acid in it…and you for sure did not breath much of that and got it off your skin also in a hurry..but it sure did the job..it would etch right into the stell or galvanized material. So..great the paint that was used on your rood was good stuff…kinda sad your friend got the shaft on that roof….

  7. I wouldn’t recommend using sulfuric acid. It is very dangerous if not used correctly. There are chemicals sold at the hardware store for that, which are much safer, but all chemicals should be used with care. I was leader of the HazMat team back at my old job. I know of 5 injuries at that factory due to Sulfuric Acid. We stopped using it and opted for a less dangerous acid. There’s nothing funny about a chemical burn. How did the caretaker intend to get the Avocados on your side of the fence?

    • As with any chemical, care and proper personal protection equipment(PPE) must always be used goggles, boots, gloves etc.
      Or you can use a non-chemical solution and sand blast.

      • I think if you only sand blast…not work….unless you sand blasted all the galvanized off down to the steel.If any galvanizing left on the steel..still have to treat..or paint fall of…but might last longer than 2 weeks with the sand blast pits in the tin..but that would take one hell of a lot of sand and make one hell of a mess and if the wind was blowing..Paul could not sit in the back yard and drink a tall one!! Lol…

        • Dan;
          Sandblasting would be like sitting on the beach on a windy day. I’m not worried as the cost of hiring the equipment would stop the caretaker from going that route.

    • Hudson/Richard;
      I don’t know the name of the stuff they treated my (yes galvanized) roof with, but the roof shield paint on mine has lasted over ten years. The one piece of information I have gleaned is “Don’t paint on the cheap!”
      And with the dog army I have no one would knowingly climb my fence.

  9. Vinegar is used to treat mold here in the USA. Better than bleach I’ve been told. Bird droppings on metal will cause it to rust there eventually ( residual acid ). Good neighbors are a priceless gift. Bad neighbors can make a good neighborhood hell. Case of Corona’s enroute….no cico de mayo with them !!

    • Hi Brian;
      This was a brand new galvanized roof; they told me vinegar was used to treat it to prepare for painting. Since the paint didn’t adhere and flaked off and blew away within 2 weeks, I’ll assume that vinegar might not be the way to go. I have a nice English Malt Vinegar I use with Fish and Chips, it might work? Also the person is a caretaker/house sitter, my neighbor will be home in 5-6 months and he’s a great guy.

      • The care taker could have watered the vinigar down so it was useless!There might be a special primer out now..not sure..that has etching all ready in it..to make it stick to the galvanized steel…but like a lot of things..something like that probably not available there.

  11. That cannot be, Its probably just some early mourning fog clouding your vision.