APRIL 2013

APRIL 2013

WEIRD MONTH

Very hot and dry one rain for the whole month , but at least the haze stopped after more then 50 days. So now the blue sky can be seen again.

Harmony in the cat kingdom but now a new thing have emerged there are now 4 houses involved . So the cat goes between the houses to sleep and play but comes home for feeding . 3 out of 5 sleeps at home all the time the others on or off.

Went to BKK for a couple of days mainly IKEA shopping. Traffic in BKK is scary

for a country boy no leeway is given , I remember BKK of 19 years ago 2 elevated expressways . now it is like expressway spaghetti ,so of course I got lost a couple of times . Speed is quite fast and cramp between the trucks and you are trying to look where to go. Made it back without any trouble ,traffic on the highway must have

at least tripled in the last few years .

There is a deli shop in Udon that have started selling some Swedish foods some that are really needed but still no herring .

Now it time for therapeutic work assemble the IKEA stuff 1 chair and a bathroom mirrored cabinet that should take a few days

MARCH 2013

MARCH  2013

The month started with a heavy 24 hour rain and a 9 hour power cut.Tree branches that fell on the power lines , during heavy rains something always happens.

There was a smaller rain also this month otherwise it is all about temperature up to 40c some days but luckily we have the whole month hazy ( like smog) I don`t know if that makes it worse temp wise . Evening have and nights have been OK , but even there the temp is going up.

The Honeysuckle is already in for it`s third cutting otherwise  the car get scratched.

The garden is growing and nothing really to tell about the cats.

The Is a big dam project going on , they have widen and cleaned up our little river , and there is a holding area plus a 3 gate dam , for the village it is big.

Nong Khai land price is going up so people are coming out this way and you can see that it is town folk because what the build is bigger and fancier then village stuff.

FEBRUARY 2013

TRAGEDY IN PARADISE

The cat called small died of some internal disease this was the third bout with the vet  first she had some plastic line curl around the body and became ingrown then still born kittens that had to be taken out by cesarean procedure and then this last thing so that was 3 cat lives.

The really scary thing was before a call from the vet where she had been except for one night when he said it was OK to take her home. The next morning back to the vet. Next day none of the other cats would eat or play around only laying around ,

Then a call that she had died. It was like she told the other cats that she would not make it so they knew before me. It took about 14 days for them to get up to normal speed  eating and playing around.

It looks like summer is on the way night time temperatures are going up I guess a few more days then A/C at sleeping time.

I had a weird car accident the only thing that happened was that my side mirror ripped off so it must have been very close , the other car was swerving for a moped with a small trailer. So it could have gone quite worse .

The Honeysuckle bush have already gotten a first trim for the year it speed grows 6 trims is the usual for the year , it is mainly on a trellis over the gate and might scratch the car and the antenna goes boing…..  

Quite a few house are going up in the village ,prices on land here are a bit lower then the metropolis of Nong Khai and one very big thing that they say has to do with a water dam foundation in at least 7 meters down more as I know of it.

I bough a IKEA 5 wheel coffee table took 4,5 hours to puzzle together good therapeutic work easy but you still have to be observant  it easy to make small silly mistakes.

I am eating my horse meat infested IKEA meatballs. In Sweden a long time ago it was difficult to find horse meat at the market most of it went to the restaurant.

I though it taste very good and tender a bit fibrous though. 

JANUARY 2013

JANUARY

Not much is happening except being quit cold and a couple of small rains.

On the plus side are these flowers they have grown about 10 meter in two directions

In two years and they are very colorful.

https://www.google.com/search?q=PYROSTEGIA+IGNEA&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=fQB&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=rcs&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=EpYMUajID8LorAfA-ICQBw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1247&bih=537

I am amazed with the cheap prices on fruit and vegetables here about half price of what I pay in town even eggs and fish are very reasonable price wise.

Price are going up in Thailand but still quite low compared to Europe.

Days are slowly getting longer which is good since I am a very early riser 04-05 in the morning.

Still reading a lot of ebooks , about 5 hours a day, also magazines  electronically

that cuts price in at least half.

My bicycle is on the blink so I have to look for a new one soon.

DECEMBER WINTER 2012

DECEMBER  WINTER  2012

Month began with me going to IKEA in Bangkok for 3 items .I got help from a sales girl who took me from item to item through shortcuts otherwise it is quite a walk around the whole thing I was done in 15 minutes. But picking the stuff up (3 Carts) and cashier took an hour. When it came home it was a bit of tinkering the easiest piece was the one I dreaded the most was the  sofa .Only 6 bolts and the legs to tighten the cushions was more work to put in their covers.  So now I have a place to be a couch potato. All instructions they give are very clear but you still have to a bit of attention to what are doing .

600 kilometers in a day in Thailand is a bit much for me  and living in the jungle and coming to Bangkok is a bit overwhelming

In the garden the stuff that actually likes cool weather stars sprouting and flowering. Daytime about 4 days  in the 20c but almost every night below 

20c or even down to 14c which is not pleasant for me but I sleep good when it is cold. It looks like January is not going to be as cold as last year.

Did Santa come of course he did even if I had to buy most of it myself

Have to play it safe.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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.