WINTER IS COMING

NOVEMBER  2012

Winter has started at least night time. Day time is still summer warm mainly because of clear skies . Oddly enough the month is endin with three  four heavy rains which is unusual at this time of the year .

The weathermen are predict more to come, but the good thing it is very hard and quick.

One part of the garden  is staring to bloom and the other is going to sleep. My fish in the pond have not gotten used to colder water so they are not that eager eat but they are getting along OK.

Maybe not so much the two cat teams my cats and the new settlers mainly hisses and a few jabs more squabbles then anything else.

This has been animal month two snakes one mouse and several lizards.

Only two snakes have I found myself the others the cats  located ,I amazed that I  have only gotten two mice in two years time .

Mice and the lizards are always brought into the house as trophies and toys you be amazed how high they flick them up in the air and then dive at them when they land. I am going to BKK in two days time , it is almost a year since last time . It is confusing there they have to many things that you want specially food wise and you can not buy all of it , that is probably the draw back living in the forest.

Anyway I going to IKEA and buy some furniture , you have to have a hobby and IKEA furniture is that . It is going to take awhile to screw it together.

OCTOBER 2012

OCTOBER 2012

The climate is odd first the rainy period have stopped yet the very first day this month I got 82 in 3 hours the most for the whole year.

Secondly the weather have cooled down at night to 21-23c  but daytime is very hot more so then in the summer ,

No clouds and a very clear sky , at least in the summer you have rains and clouds. One thermometer could not take the heat and broke it was in the sun but could not take the heat.

On the animal side new species a rooster and his harem of one chicken

Comes in to the garden and start redecorating things, had to put up a wire mesh so I down get the whole place dug up.

The mother cat has sort of left the house and only comes for breakfast and dinner and then leaves. I think she is shacked up with the cows , a bit embarrassing being dumped like that. Still 4 cat that likes me and 2 that only uses me.

The fishpond is now cleaned and filtered it took a bit over a month clear.

If you see the normal tap water here you would understand ,it is muddy 30% of the time. I will have  my water well checked out to see how good the water is ,all I know is that it is very clear and a pleasant temperature ,use it for the garden when needed.

We have had boat races in the Mekong and Buddha holiday witch is quite noisy , worse in all the firecrackers that go off some of them sounds like loud explosions.

I have started eating breakfast not only coffee as before. Started with  oatmeal porridge and the have improve my stomach quite a bit, so healthy  

and very cheap and I even like it.

Still bicycling , now everyday since there are no more rains.

Getting up at 5.00 do my email read the news breakfast , biking, reading for about 5 hours a day, gardening and 4-5 hours tv in the evening.

So I am kept busy enough.  

SEPTEMBER 2012. I think the rainy period is over a few rains is still going to come but nothing much, and dropping night temp. Snake 15 was found but nothing about 1 meter thin harmless thing. I think I been adopted by 1,5 cats 1 almost blind male that is here most of the time belongs to the neighbor , but his father is pretty bad to him that’s probably why he comes here. Very nice and gentle but because he is not very active so his claws are very sharp he does not really claw or climb trees that’s why. He sleeps under something that is a big half moon shaped rattan thing so he father can get at him during the night. He does not seem to mind it. The half cat is his sister that has a bad history first got a plastic line around the body in a noose like grip. so she looked articulated (like a wasp) and on top of that pregnant with something hang out her bum. Toke is to the vet that first had to remove the string and then let her rest a few day before cutting her open and we are talking cut the belly and take out the dead kittens. Now she is quite OK but very shy And small 1 year old and is half size of a cat that age. Booth of them scare easy and the leave a small trail of diarrhea. My cats tolerates them but they are not playmates , yet anyway. Have been trimming tree and it does not matter if you make a mistake same as a bad barber after 3 weeks it is OK again, it grow so quickly the garden seems to change daily. I am going to write one more blog because I have written about everything there is to write about. How interesting can the cats , garden and shopping at the supermarket be.

August 2012

The prison

Now it is finished with the windows and doors having burglar bars.Which was something I did not want but felt I needed after the break in. So now I am looking for a magnetic window cleaner so I can cleans without the bars interfering .

It has been quite rainy this month which is sort lazy good I do not have to bike, but I am thinking of a exercise bike for rainy days, then I can look at beautiful roads on YouTube while I am biking and maybe spray some forest smell to make it more authentic.

Animal , the cat like the burglar bar because they can come and go as the please.

Snake 14 visited ,the first of these skinny one made me feel macho when I picked it with bare hands now it is nothing I need something bigger as a challenge.

The other thing that I do not need are all the ants and bugs whom seem to like the house during the rains, specially the ant the tiny buggers that you can not slap kill you have to drill them into the skin before the die and the are mean they bit but the good thing is the sting does not last long.

Cleaning the pond from 2 years of debris and I can not empty I because I can not get all the fishes out and they are my buddies so I do not want to loose them. I never had a filter , now I have a simple but effective 20 liter filter, but it is a lot of silt in there .   

I also have to cleans some of the walking areas of slimy slipper fungus or whatever it is called it is dangerous stuff it is like ice when damp.

Neighbors give me mango and avocado , the corn is like a full meal , dinner and desert all in one nice and sweet.

JULY 2012 NOT MUCH

JULY  2O12

 

About the break in , what me a bit upset was that the thieves used one of my bags , what if I had not had a bag what then.

Amazing thing I am please with the insurance company , my new locks cost $250. and I was paid $225 quite amazing.

10 days in the bush without a car is very frustrating , difficult to do your shopping ,but now I am hooked up with the world again.

The cat got snipped finally but it has cause a problem in the cat family first with the other two cats after 2 weeks only the mother that is a bit cautious and does not want to be around him. But from the man of the house to Katoey is going to upset any mother I guess. I think the Cat like any parent have decided that the kittens are now grown up and should leave the house , so she treats both of them a bit harshly.

Why I am writing so much about the cats ,you have to understand where I live. So reading , biking cats a, garden and going to the supermarket is my lives excitements. OK now we have the Olympics that spoils my sleeping habits because of the time difference.

I have this weird thing with my sheet metal roof over the kitchen, when the sun is shining hard , it sounds like a drizzle of rain because of expansion and contraction no problem but it sounds odd when you are standing close to it.

This have been a hot , overcast and rainy month so the garden is thriving it grows quicker then I can cut it. Now I am starting to know where and how to cut I am even going to try to do grafting later on this year.

I got this search engine from a friend   http://duckduckgo.com/

Very nice and clean.

JUNE 2012

JUNE 2012

Excitement.

The cat did not get snipped , no balls said the Vet. Actually not big enough so I asked if a black eye and a couple of cat-fights might make him qualify for a trim, wait for a few more months was the answer.

A good month not to much rain but quite a bit of half day overcast which nice specially if it is in the afternoon.

Sun is one thing we have enough of.

The Excitement part was I was robbed, happened at 23.45

Had just sort of fallen asleep when a cat feed bowl tumbled over

I got up surprised the intruder who ran away to a waiting moped rider. I lost a Tablet ,Laptop and a Mobile phone .

My neighbor called the village chief he was here in 10 min.

After another 10 min. the cops came which is amazing since it is about 6km to nearest station.

They looked around and found two pairs of shoes so one must have taken of to the moped. The cops looked all over in the garden and cane back with a bag with everything apart from the mobile and my car keys. Next day some new cops came and asked questions and that is about it all, nobody caught .

I was told there have been quite a few of this type of break ins

Even the temple have robbed the monk told me.

I must admit they were good and so noiseless even some of the nick nacks  they took make noise when I touch it. I have to tell the shameful truth I had not locked the kitchen window it is a sliding window you have to press a lock which I had not done.

The good thing about the phone. talked to the company and the locked my number but I was still able to keep the number in the new phone, even more amazing all the numbers and addresses was also transferred , but not any data and I hardly had any.

The bad ting is my car keys, so I went to Ford and they have

Screwed it up so I am without a car for a week, remember I live in the bush.

MAY 2012

FALSETTO

End of the month one of the pussies is going to be more so, and a falsetto.

It has started to rain a bit and thunder which sometimes is quite loud and even shakes the house a bit. The farmers are now beginning to empty their pond they are about 400-800 sq.m.

Even the small river is  being emptied, now before the Mekong river rises, there is a small dam lock , otherwise Mekong back flows. The worse thing with the rains are blackouts and loss of TV reception . At one time there was 6 blackouts in a day.   Now with the rain started so have the growing of everything it is amazing how much and fast it is.

Still reading a lot and I remembered to read two authors everybody must have read Mikey Spillane who is the only book you don not have to make doggy ears in because there is nothing to lose if you jump pages the more difficult one is Louis L'Amour

Because you get lost in the gulley’s and valleys and the gunfights because you get lost in directions. Both guys are fun to read sometimes in between serious books to clear your mind.

Two purchases have to be made one is a new tv , what to choose

Led, lcd or plasma and I read tests and get more confused. They give us too many choices.

I also would like to change my car tires they are low profile and that make them bumpier so I am trying to get a higher profile.

I have just received a fresh batch of different dessert cheeses. Brie Meaux for one with mango is something indescribable.

  

MY CATS ARE PUSSIES

30 APRIL 2012

MY CATS ARE PUSSIES

I have found out what is wrong with my cats and why they are pussies  They do not like loud noises thunder is one and noisy mopeds they are very alert to dogs even though they are outside the fence and definitely not other cats that comes into the garden for all these things they run in to the house they also seems to lose all their cat fights.

Middle of the month was hot 37-40c now at the end it has gone down a bit but nights are still nice and cool, very little rain apart from one night about 2 hours and atleast 60mm that is as much as meter can hold. They noise was something else, tin roof even though it is insulated it was a roar.

 Muban (Thai: หมู่บ้าน) is the lowest administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as village and sometimes as hamlet, they are the subdivision of tambon. As of 2008, there are 74944 administrative villages in Thailand^[1]. As of the 1990 census, the average village consisted of 144 households or 746 persons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooban

They had a census on foreigners and we are three I have not seen the other two.

We have more house coming up and it not the village people but white collars that are moving in and bigger fancier houses, land is  quite a bit cheaper then in town even if it is only 6km away. Extra plus no traffic.

Only disadvantage is electrical cuts quite frequently but luckily I have a good UPS that is capable of thirty minutes with PC, TV, CABLEBOX and MODEM.

I have to get a stand for the water tank so I can raise it three meters up for gravity feed.

Mangos and corn are now plentiful and the neighbors give it to me, I am still a curiosity white foreigner.   

One big problem is finding shoes that fits my size 13 have been everywhere and still nothing.

MARCH

MARCH   

Began with warmer weather plus a 61mm downpour, and the cats are afraid of thunder, pussies.

The ninth snake was on a visit but I wrangled like they do on TV took it in the tail sounds very brave but he thing was about 70 cm long but only a pencil thick I do not know what it was but to me the fiercest  thing was the tongue red orange .

Last week the 10^th snake made a visit as an uninvited guest in the house about 1 meter in length.

I guess we can call this spring days are warmer about 30-35c but the evening and morning are just around 20-23c until 9.00 o’clock.

Birds and butterflies are plentiful.

Cat 1 is really good at catching them up to a meters height between the paws looks quite spectacular.

Everything is growing rapidly in the garden most of all is the Honeysuckle (Kaprifol) above the gate have to trim it almost on a weekly basis .

The mosquitoes are coming and the odd thing is that they are worse between noon for the hours they are tiny ones you can hardly see them but itching more then the bigger ones, maybe it is gnats.

I have been to IKEA to have a look, but too much work with their stuff specially to pick the stuff up in the storage area.

I am getting lazy I guess.

Two fruits that I really like are Passion fruit because it is nice and sour and juicy and pulpy now the season is over, but one that is coming into season now is Mango tender and sweet, but here are so many other good fruits. 

JANUARY and FEBRUARY

JANUARY and FEBRUARY
Still quite cool. Funny is that the Orchid likes it and are flowering and they last for a long time.
Last month I wrote this “The car is my neighbors favorite they bought lottery ticket using my registration number , so either they want me to keep the car or get a new one.” This draw the my number was the winning lottery tickets last 3 digits , it must be a good car. In three months have won three times small sums yet winning.
Is been cold for me I don’t like it this cold then in the end of march it’s going to be to warm . So I am hard to please or I am grumpy because Santa did not come I hope he just forgot .I took matters in my own hands and bought an

http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/features/

Which I am very pleased with and it mainly for reading books because they are hard to get hold of around here and it economical. If I would buy 38 hard cover books that would be the same price. It’s plenty a free book and also you can borrow from friends.
Can do what a computer can do for me ,Email reading papers , magazine and a lot
Of Apps are available to many actually.

The cat are growing up and are really good went to BKK in February for 5 days and the cats took care of themselves . They got a big bowl of cat food and that was it.
They don’t eat so they explode they only eat what they need.
I used to like BKK a lot but now it’s to big and fast for me , the only thing is that they have everything much more so then here
.
In the garden everything is sprouting and growing now I am beginning to know what to do specially when it comes to trimming bushes and trees and I have learned that it can take a few years before you get a big bush to look the way you want it to.

I am still biking about 4-9 kilometer a day depending on weather and mood.
Otherwise it’s not much I do, retired you see. We have had to small rains so far.

We had our first morning over 20C on the 29 of February I check every morning between 5-6. that’s what you to when you get old and nothing else to do.
I forgot I also sit and watch people at the supermarket because here where I live there are not to many.