june 2014

JUNE 2014

RAINS.

Finally the rains have started but very  rainfall except for the last day of the month then we had the first real rain 70mm.But the region still needs a lot of water.

Animals 2 snakes and a few insect swarm first a couple of termites they com after dark and goes for electric light where the can find it so you have to close doors and windows, the there was a couple of bigger fly doubled winged looks like a small dragon fly and that behave the same way as the termites .The odd thing is they shed their wings and also they want to land in water so you have to fish the out of the pond  and it only goes on for about half an hour. I got caught one time with the house full of them turn the lights off and make sure you have a strong light source outside then they fly out without having to do anything.

The mango tree that got pruned and looked a bit awkward is now looking much better with at least more leaves .

Biggest excitement since I moved here a policeman was apprehended from his home by the military, he has the biggest house in the village , so it might be too much money.

MAY 2014

MANGO

I trimmed pruned cut away about 50% of the mango tree . It looked pretty good at the time , but now sitting in my reading chair have a different view of it , crappy would the look be called. It is no like the difference between a good and a bad barber ,   three weeks.

For the tree it is probably 2-3 years. But it had to be done because of electric and internet cable was running through the middle of the tree. It was also the first mango out of the tree 20 to be exact but not the ones I like these are white and a bit chewy , to be dipped in sauce or spicey salt  I do not like them to much but the neighbor loves them. So in exchange  I get their yellow mangoes, and Kumquats sort of a plum.

Weather is hotter then normal for this month and the 2 last month have been much dryer then usually, only 5 days of rain in 60 days.

I am racking up coups, since 1932 there is supposed to have been 12 of them ,I have been here on 8 of the 9 I was working in Laos but I was here they day after the event. Here in the bush if it wasn’t for TV or internet

You would not know anything everything function as normal.

APRIL 2014

WEATHER

Very dry  regardless of 10 rains of which only one counted , that managed to make the lawn spongy the others light showers. Probably the cooler Aprils in my time in this region because haze clouds

The frog liked it though , did you know that a frog can run with all its legs , look quite funny and when attack by the cats they squeak.

Two snakes one was a bit over one meter , longest so far.

I am going to lose one of my neighbors, the cows they are being move to greener pastures. It is going to be an extension of the lime orchard ,that means  the longest side of my plot is going to be fairly noiseless and green my cats are going to like that and another good thing is that very few dogs go there. They have the street as their domain.

Had  motherboard go down maybe because of lightning but luckily that was the only thing happening with an eleven hour black out. What is most worrisome is how long is it going to be because of food in the fridges.

If it is 38-40c and you open the door a whole heap of cool air is escaping.

I have a 60 light led lamp that works up to 24 hours and my ASUS tablet if I use low light it can work 12 hours and a glass of red wine and you are OK at least 24 hours.

   

MARCH 2014

SHOPPING OR WALKABOUT

A new MEGA HOME shop have opened the whole area is 21500 sqm in total.

It is far to big to go shopping at, and far to many employees and on top of that they all WAI and SWAVADEE I do not. want to be rude but you might give them a nod,

They should have a greeting doorman that greets for the whole store. Luckily they do not have security guards at the exit as some store has , you have a full shopping cart with stuff how can he see anything without taking everything out , he only look at your receipt .

Maybe with a lot of help if you have a shopping list and you get help with  starting

Point and the next item and so on but it still going to be quite a walk .

At IKEA the have several short cut so if you get hold of a helpful assistant you can shop fairly fast, I got 3 items in under 15 min. that was basically as fast I could write the item number. Then comes the pit that’s where you collect your items to many things and to many close number so you better be observant otherwise you might end up with a surprise.

On the food  side it is still lacking a bit specially imported stuff have a good deli in UDON 50 km away so about once a month I go there.

ELECTION is over the Village Chief is the same he was also the District Chief before

But now we have a new one. So I wonder why they kept the village guy  if they were not happy with him.

Now the heat have arrived about 39C+ for a few hours shortly after lunch. It is also very dry , my small river have stopped flowing it is puddles here and there, very small rains not even good enough for the lawn.

In the animal kingdom the 3 mouse was caught by a cat indoors , in three years that is amazing considering where I live. Now I have been accepted as food provider to the fighting cat and he spend quite a bit of time here but nothing in the house he is very nice to the other cats . I am still a bit careful with him because of his fangs they are bigger then any of my cats

FEBRUARY 2014

NOISEY

Noisy and a lot of people the whole month election time first a smaller election for village chief ,now at the end of the month there is the bigger district chief, same guys in both of them. It is 4 groups, pickups and loudspeaker full blast even the cats hide when the pass. The biggest group took 15 minutes to pass. Everybody promises something more then they can keep.

Now the winter have slowly turned into summer evenings and early mornings  are perfect . So far now rain it should at least been a few by now, and my little river is almost dry lowest in my 3+ years here. They predict drought in Thailand this year.

My well seems to be doing OK so far.

It was the shortest orchid season so far mine are all finished, but a friend of mine in town has his orchids started . Maybe the cold weather is to blame.

Have lost another cat believe he died after the oil bath he took, he was licking a lot of oil even though he was washed there were still oil on him. But instead of him his arch rival have slowly moved in and get along very well with the other cats. Cts are not cheap to keep and they are probably  spoiled, the are so cute and cuddly when small so you give them good food and then later try to change to more mature food which they do not want to eat the best is  what they want.

I have now found a shop where I can find some Swedish food pickled herring, lingon berries, knackebrod ,kaviar and some soft cheeses.

Now since summer have started so has everything motor racing also begun we have quite a good selection of motor sports , I am not into tennis, golf or soccer.

NFL, NHL and motor are my things.

JANUARY 2014

BAD BEGINNING

The year got off to a bad start 366 road death for a 7 days New Years celebration.

The demonstrations mainly in Bangkok though.

The cat named 1 died.

About 69 people have died because of the cold weather this month , it has been

Minus degrees in the mountains. Here a couple of days when it was below 10c.

I am really freezing in the mornings about 0500 I sit outside reading eBooks and wearing 2 pairs of pants 2 jackets and a flannel shirt a cap and a hood plus gloves

I am fortunate to have a mouse that I can use with the gloves on to turn the eBook pages. Sun appears about 0800 at 1100 weather is back to normal.

When the sun comes up I chase the rays as the sun is raising.

Even the hot water heater  (silly name) have a hard time coping .

I know this sounds crazy but around 90% humidity , fog and wind it is raw cold.

But some flowers and the cats don’t seem to mind.

The polling for the new election have started and that is noisy , pick ups are driving around the village blaring out slogans for the different candidates day after day we are so small so once or twice would be enough, it is quite a nuisance.

I think I already know who the winner is came with a parade of 24 pickups loaded with people and most of them also with loudspeakers the second candidate only had 7 pickups and the lone wolf 1 pickup no people 1 sign and the car radio blaring probably on a budget this is going on for about 5 more days.

The most likable guys are the garbage men they just wave but that is because  I bride them with a Christmas present, you have to be in there good books.  

Now it`s the last day of the month weather is now much better , but it ended bad any way this morning a cat came home 50% drenched in used engine oil. Tried to wash but not very good called 2 vets and they were not interested, and also told me that the washing must be done over several days. So I put flour over all the oil patches the get less oil stain then I already got. The bed , sofa bathroom even on the newly laid driveway. 

DECEMBER 2013

COLD

I hope you had a very good holiday.

 I had, Christmas ham and pickled herring , glogg and

expensive overly strong Belgium beer. Santa

came in the form of my son with gifts.

A surprise the village authorities gave me and everybody a blanket

per family.

This is the second coldest winter in20 years for me in

this region , long cold and humid which makes it worse.

Had a visit from four big bikers so now the neighbors think

I am a Hell Angels guy.

There was also a 3 week visit of a neighboring cat who did not get along with their cats but preferred mine and after about a week everything went smoothly. The cat was in indoor cat and did not have the social skills of the law of the jungle is the beginning and was afraid hissed and growled

But as they got acquainted it worked out very well.

Even the cats are effected of the cold weather so they want to snuggle under blankets and pillows. The last family of cats sleep outdoor and snuggle together to keep warm , the wild bunch.

I am freezing my butt of and you think delicate flowers like orchids would do the same but no they start flowering instead like a few other things  https://www.google.com/search?q=orange+trumpet+bush&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=1yK-UoD9IYbriAep-IC4DA&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1352&bih=602

Now New Years traffic have started so the best is to go nowhere they have fatal accidents everywhere 161 dead in the first 3 days.

HAPPY NEW YEAR