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

NOVEMBER 2013

Animal kingdom

The animal kingdom is more peaceful then the other kingdom, apart from the Brother ongoing cat fights with a neighboring cat.

New visitors 2 scorpions and 4 snakes it sounds macho to talk about them but in fact the is not. The scorpion sting is like a bee sting but the foot get a bit sore for 2-3 days the only odd thing is one arm and around the mouth get to be tingling for a few hours.

Now the thing at I did not think was going to happen one plant looks like it is dying grew very quickly from a normal potted plant to a bush 1m. high 2m. wide but now the leaves is going I do not know if it is a Perennial

Or an annual . Coleus 'Grape Expectations' (medium; upright)

Weather cooler from the sun goes down the temp. drops and it 20c or less in the morning and stay cool until 1000

If it was not for tv I would not really know what is happening in the country here time is standing still even when I go to town , not much

of traffic or anything else.

OCTOBER 2013

October 2013

Winter has arrived , lowest16c but between 19-22c is the normal temp now, it looks like  no more rain.

This is a good time for the orchid I have they are now flowering,

But one ting I still don’t understand such a beautiful flower and basically no smell  if something of the few that smell , more smell bad then good. Apart from the flower it self , they  look pretty crappy long grey air roots  and some of the flower stem are up to 1,5m  long.

Two good services we have are the garbage truck come 3 times in 2 weeks and that works OK , then we have the scrap man that collect plastic and class bottles cans and paper and then pay you for it. Another good guy is the mailman and he even bring parcels up to the size of a beer can case but not that heavy all that on a moped if you are not home he can give it to the neighbor or leave a ticket for post office collection. The only thing I have not worked out is he schedule time or days. Maybe the water man should be included I have 3x20 l bottles at around  30 cents (10 bath) when you buy a normal bottle of Perrier or some up market water for 2-3$ even gasoline is cheaper.

MY CATS

CAT

The first female that came here and inspected the house and decided this is mine. Had 3 kittens 1 died when I was out shopping. Cause unknown.

The Cat have moved away but come here for food every day and sometimes a nap or s few hours nighttime sleep. Thunder and fireworks are

also a reason to come back.

ONE

Male cat 2,5 years. Sleep out and inside nice but reserved.

TWO

Female sister to ONE more stay close to the house and early sleeper 21.30 comes in sleeps on top of a closet.

BLIND

He is not blind but sort of a bit albino, ghostly eyes in electric light.

Likes to be petted ,food and sleep. When sleeping you can do almost anything with him without wake him up. Love food eat the leftovers from the other cats. Weighs 5,5 kilo.

BROTHER

The tough guy that gets into fights with outside cats and is limping and scared everywhere. Nice and affectionate at home. Mainly sleeps at home.

MAMA

The newest and the smallest, with 3 kittens. The one that needs most attention is playful and plays with the kittens. Offers her food if the small ones wants more. Sleeps in the gazebo in a big cage with the kittens at night.

TUT, WHITE  and TIGER  are now 3 month old very lively and playful

with everybody, even though they the older cats get a bit enjoyed at times

with all the paying and give them a hiss or a paw jab.

HOW IT HAPPENED

What  the Blind, Brother and Mama had in common was they were very scare could not be touched or approached they only came here for food

And slowly got use to this house and me. They started to stay over a bit longer each time. Now it works as good as having 9 children they all have their small infights.   

SEPTEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013

ENOUGH

There are several places in Thailand that are flooded, but luckily not us. Just enough rain less then last year but sufficient for growth of everything. Weather is now very nice dusk to about 9,30 in the morning. So I call it perfect.

The neighbor has a small orchard with lime trees ,bananas and papaya . It like a small jungle specially with all the undergrowth.

Banana leaf when they are big and young they are cut down for wrapping of food stuff cooked or roasted.  When they get older they split in shreds after awhile they crash down with a bang.

That is the battlefield for the cats most of the fighting have stopped  they hurt to much so there are these meowing contests that can be quite loud. They are very close and it is like they try to be the loudest  and if they try to move an attack is bound to happen so they keep on till they get a sore throat and give up and leave.

Next to that is the cow (Bramahs) pasture now there are 6 of them. The cats and the cow get along good cats do not even move for the cows.

Now I have to go and feed the Koi.

AUGUST 2013

AUGUST 2013

INVASION

After coming back from a quick Bangkok trip there was a new cat family in the garden,

Mother and 3 kittens. She quite small and very afraid of the other cats so when they get to close to her she hisses she has not learned social skills ,when she run away one of the other cats thinks she is playing so he runs after her. Going to see what happens when the kittens mingle with the rest of the cats if that is easier.

All the cats are coming from the neighbor and they don`t want them back. I can touch her after 4 days which the neighbor never managed. Saying they shit everywhere, I have 4 litter boxes 2 indoors with cat litter and  2 outdoors 1 with soil the other one with rice husks. Or they go to the cow field or orchard, so no shit on the lawn so to keep clean is quite easy. Funny enough they are fairly noiseless

and keeps the peace rather well. So now there are 4 more cats to get spayed, 9 is enough.

The rain have really started but still not as much or heavy as I expected which makes the weather perfect .

I am OK apart from a bit of old age complaints but that is normal.

Garden is growing as hell specially the grass even been thinking of  a couple of sheep

or geese but then I have shit and noise.

It is nice living in the countryside you do not really have to worry about to much.

Here you can read about it.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nong_Khai

JULY 2013

July 2013

Fright Night

Meowing hissing screaming cats plus  lot of thing being overturned.

The enemy had invaded, the neighbors cat  had come in at 0300 in the morning

and he is not a friendly cat ,but no casualties only noise.

Much more quite is my resident frog it has been here as long as me, as big as an open hand hides daytime and moves about at night. The only thing that upsets it is the cats and they take a  few small jabs at him every now and then but he is still staying on.

The real thunderous rains have started but still very short ones but still a lot of water

in that time. So now instead of adding water in the pond I must emptying it so the fish don`t escape.

Fruits Logan and Jack Fruit I have in the garden and for the fist time 5 Mangoes.

The neighbors said that the tree used to bare a lot of Mangoes before I came and the tree was bigger and had been cut down some. So I don`t know if that alters the fruit bearing cycle.

The garden and the house got fumigated this month for mosquitoes talk about thick cloud you could not see more then 3-4 meters ,had to flee. The guys that did this only had a towel over the nose and mouth , they might go before the mossies does.  

Mekong is rising quickly now and even my small river is up.  

JUNE 2013

The snake that did not count

The snake that did not count , because it was not in my garden. Heard a cat hissing quite loud and went to have a look.

Outside my wall was a black and white snake about 2 inch in diameter and 1,5 meter long. He was trying to attack just lay there.  Shoo the cat away and the snake quickly shot over a path and into a field.

Legs the dog is probably gone but Butts is still sliding on his ass.

Rain have started but nothing spectacular and warmer and more mosquitoes then I remember from the years before. I like the cloudy and rainy days cools it down and smells so good. Only thing is that most rains interfere with tv reception , 5 laps left and exciting off goes the tv , bummer. Internet no problem unless a tree or ligtning hit the cables.   

Garden is growing like hell maybe a bit to much ,cutting and trimming , my gate and fence will be over grown otherwise.

I do not know what is wrong with the VAT here we have now had 21 different monks,

since I moved in. Some of them are ok but most are very bland.

Nong Khai is getting a new big department store BIG C and now I think that is going to make it more difficult for the Laotians to get anything like it. Maybe the Chinese or Vietnamese would try but I don`t  think so..

Weekends and paydays NK is full of Lao people.

The people from Laos want to come here for shopping a look around and the ones who can afford it , spend the weekend and play golf.

At least you can drive around her and also find parking space that is more then you can do there. More and more cars are sold and mainly financed I don`t understand how they can do it with their salaries, more cars are shipped there the to NK.

MAY 2013

MAY 2013

Animals of the months. BUTT who is a dog that can`t use his hind legs so he moves in sitting position it actually looks like he is running quite fast specially for dragging his butt. I wonder if he has any skin left. He looks like a happy dog moving up and down the street.

Then there is LEGS who has a grey film over his eyes and sight is very bad if any bumps into things. He has come into to the garden 3 times and it is very hard to get him out again . He does not like to be touched plus he does not know where to go.

Then there is something wrong with his hind quarters it is narrower then the rest of the body plus very wobbly legs.

Scare of the month was a 13 cm scorpion just outside the bathroom one night, I only have a small night light so he was hard to see. They are not deadly but very painful to step on and it take a while before pain goes away.

A lot of gnats now and the are so small you can hardly see them ( 0.5 – 2 mm. )and the bite very quickly and itch, but only about 10-15 minutes but that is enough. I have an electronic mosquito lamp but they seems to fly through it because they are so tiny and there is only a faint glow if the hit the electric wire. Compared to the more scary bigger ones that make quite a bang when they hit, upsetting when you see a scary movie  you hop in your seat.

There have been 12 rains this month but not heavy and fairly short.

Rains means pothole season on all the secondary roads here , dry season they get a quick fix a thin layer of asphalt which breaks every wet season in the long run probably more costly then doing it right in the first place.

Hot and very humid is the weather this month more so then I can remember and only

A few hours early in the morning that is nice and a bit cool.

The small river close to me have now gown down the lowest I have seen in 3 years.It needs to rain more the normal to get it up again before the real rainy season starts.

The worse thunder I have experienced happened a few weeks ago the whole house shook and rattled that was a hell of a bang 2 of them.

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.