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Diary of a farang in Isaan


owl sees all

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Looks like you need a “ no littering “ sign on farm number 2 !, put a gun on the sign for added effect !!

 

It is always a toss up whether to pay a daily rate or a set price for work done, a daily rate brings out the “ heel draggers “, a set price brings out the “ corner cutters “.

I’ve been lucky in that the guy who has done stuff for me is the supervisor for the building firm who built the Moobahn and knows where to buy stuff and who to bring with him, I’m probably paying more than the locals but he always does a decent job.

 

Have seen the strip down buddha shower a few times, my gf and family have a go to monk in Sa Keao that they have been to a few times even though it is a 3 hr drive from here and a 5 hour drive for the rest of the family !!
Gf’s brother was a monk for 10 years, finished last year, and occasionally he will do the cold water shower thingy for others also driving long distances, seems like it has to be a specific person who does it ?
 

Footy is gonna be good this season I think, eagerly awaiting Liverpool v Leeds on Saturday !!

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10 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Looks like you need a “ no littering “ sign on farm number 2 !, put a gun on the sign for added effect !!

 

It is always a toss up whether to pay a daily rate or a set price for work done, a daily rate brings out the “ heel draggers “, a set price brings out the “ corner cutters “.

I’ve been lucky in that the guy who has done stuff for me is the supervisor for the building firm who built the Moobahn and knows where to buy stuff and who to bring with him, I’m probably paying more than the locals but he always does a decent job.

 

Have seen the strip down buddha shower a few times, my gf and family have a go to monk in Sa Keao that they have been to a few times even though it is a 3 hr drive from here and a 5 hour drive for the rest of the family !!
Gf’s brother was a monk for 10 years, finished last year, and occasionally he will do the cold water shower thingy for others also driving long distances, seems like it has to be a specific person who does it ?
 

Footy is gonna be good this season I think, eagerly awaiting Liverpool v Leeds on Saturday !!

I think it's a good thing to pick litter up, and be seen to do so, especially if it catches on, and a Thai or two realises that having a clean farm is a good thing. Clean farm; no rats; no snakes.

 

I'm not complaining about the two farm ladies. The 300 baht a day is helpful to them. And the one in the pic is the 'big mango' lady; got to keep her on side.

 

I'm all for a good looking lady giving me a cold shower. Be thinking of something other than lottery numbers though; which by the way are are now a basic 100 baht, rising to 120 baht for the really lucky ones.

 

Liverpool 1 Leeds 3.

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8 hours ago, owl sees all said:

It's the ninth of September, and although we (for our area) are still statistically in the monsoon season, we have not had any rain yet this month. This is gonna be a very late year for rice. Wouldn't surprise me to see rice being harvested in December.

We've had a very good rainy season this year with an excellent spread of showers throughout the season unlike last when it all came down in about 4 weeks causing the worst flooding in at least fifty years.The cassava is looking the best I've seen in about 5 years as well as the rice and sugar.Haven't checked the actual figures.Mrs FFF harvested some cassava from the tree farm and I think she might have made a profit for the first time since the coup.

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3 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

We've had a very good rainy season this year with an excellent spread of showers throughout the season unlike last when it all came down in about 4 weeks causing the worst flooding in at least fifty years.The cassava is looking the best I've seen in about 5 years as well as the rice and sugar.Haven't checked the actual figures.Mrs FFF harvested some cassava from the tree farm and I think she might have made a profit for the first time since the coup.

Yasothon generally does well with rain. Far better than north of Udon.

 

We only really got proper rain in August, and even then it tailed off at the end of the month. Nothing since. Only ever seen flooding in our area in 12 years; and then very mild.

 

Went to Yasathon a couple of years back to visit a huge mango farm. Very interesting! They grew four varieties. Their main line went straight to China. Wonder how they did this year?

 

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1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

We've had a very good rainy season this year with an excellent spread of showers throughout the season unlike last when it all came down in about 4 weeks causing the worst flooding in at least fifty years.The cassava is looking the best I've seen in about 5 years as well as the rice and sugar.Haven't checked the actual figures.Mrs FFF harvested some cassava from the tree farm and I think she might have made a profit for the first time since the coup.

The dams are still way down and lower than the same time last year. Hopefully, the next couple of months will improve the situation.

https://www.thaiwater.net//DATA/REPORT/php/rid_bigcm.html 

 

 

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Just now, GarryP said:

The dams are still way down and lower than the same time last year. Hopefully, the next couple of months will improve the situation.

https://www.thaiwater.net//DATA/REPORT/php/rid_bigcm.html 

 

 

Yes our dam is only half full and typically the rains start to ease up from about now.

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1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

Yasothon generally does well with rain. Far better than north of Udon.

 

We only really got proper rain in August, and even then it tailed off at the end of the month. Nothing since. Only ever seen flooding in our area in 12 years; and then very mild.

 

Went to Yasathon a couple of years back to visit a huge mango farm. Very interesting! They grew four varieties. Their main line went straight to China. Wonder how they did this year?

 

SN852118.thumb.JPG.fa03c66063a17c2ac5ace5b5293c3af2.JPG

 

SN852108.thumb.JPG.7b20a3e5432e11806daccf51a4f8801a.JPGSN852107.thumb.JPG.adf09f810a8f2ee476c68b9b00f4f765.JPGSN852090.thumb.JPG.10a57804a7fce0180ea314368bcc22d6.JPG

From what I tasted they did pretty good this year.

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5 hours ago, bannork said:

Didn't you have a storm the night before last Owl? We had thunder and lightning for hours plus a reasonable amount of rain. The usual power cut too.

My banana trees are coming on well, glad to see they're very expensive and hard to find in the market at present. Can't think why.

Grandchildren and neighbour's kids off to eat some noodles.

IMG_20200907_094040.jpg

There was a storm of sorts. No rain though. Hardly disturbed my sleep.

 

Went to the Ban Dung Thursday market yesterday evening. The ground was a little muddy, so there was rain there. We are about 15 klm south east of the town. Rain missed us again. Luck of the draw!

 

 

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Sorry to hear about missing out on the rain draw again,and as luck would have it we've had some nice little showers over the last couple of days.Some lightening around tonight so we might get some more,I'll ask Huey the weather god to send some your way as he used to send us some nice swells back in my surfing days.

Edited by FarFlungFalang
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1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Sorry to hear about missing out on the rain draw again,and as luck would have it we've had some nice little showers over the last couple of days.Some lightening around tonight so we might get some more,I'll ask Huey the weather god to send some your way as he used to send us some nice swells back in my surfing days.

So it's Huey then. Well I never. I thought it was TT's Tinky Winky.

 

No looking back now FFF. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

I have been informed that our area is one of the flattest in Thailand. That's why the VofA was located here. This is probably why we are so low on rain.

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43 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

So it's Huey then. Well I never. I thought it was TT's Tinky Winky.

 

No looking back now FFF. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

I have been informed that our area is one of the flattest in Thailand. That's why the VofA was located here. This is probably why we are so low on rain.

Being a busted ar$ed survey assistant I used to do a lot of rain dances that seemed to work well because you can't get the instrument wet.I told that to a young surveyor who ignored my advice and guess what?You guessed it I got the rest of the day and most of the next day off with pay because the instrument died.They were electronic by that time. 

Edited by FarFlungFalang
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37 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

So it's Huey then. Well I never. I thought it was TT's Tinky Winky.

 

No looking back now FFF. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

I have been informed that our area is one of the flattest in Thailand. That's why the VofA was located here. This is probably why we are so low on rain.

Our home is just 4 km from the VOA with its runway of 4 lanes. There are hills to our north-east and heading west from VOA towards Phen, if you turn left after approx 4 km, the road skirts a broad valley. We visited a farm there, the cowshed had views for miles, beautiful!

South of Ban Dung heading towards Thung Fon, the fields of rain, are you near there Owl?

Personally I go along with your theory of decreasing annual rain in Issan. Now the heavy rain is sporadic, it used to be guaranteed, at least around Ban Dung.

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20 minutes ago, samsensam said:

 

bit of pointing wouldn't do any harm, not quite so easy to fix the non alignment... your handy work or a 'tradesman'?!

That is the pointing samsensam. Alignment! That's for people with nothing better to do.

 

42 minutes ago, samsensam said:

 

They are that intelegent. brilliant! ????

We humans are lucky. We have no natural predators or rivals. And although an elephant could defeat a human in hand-to-hand combat, ore serious foes seem to be tiny; mosquitoes and viruses.

 

Could a chicken ride a motor cycle? Could a Kangaroo pilot an aircraft? Obviously not. But given that ants have attributes that we humans can only dream about; running at 5km per hour, and being able to carry 59 times their own body weight, we are just plain fortunate that they are so small.

 

There is also the cultural aspect to an ant's life. They are obedient and will willingly give up their life for a fellow ant

 

They are formidable and if they were 25000% bigger, we would be in big trouble.

 

 

Edited by owl sees all
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On 9/4/2020 at 2:36 PM, owl sees all said:

Owl Log 04-09-2020 Friday afternoon.

 

Expecting the DinL, and her hubby, to arrive today from Bangkok. They have four days off from their work. Drove overnight I'm told. Nothing yet.

 

Very quiet in the village, and although the kids are off; just no-one around.

 

Did the broken tiles in the sink. Decided to do the simple thing and fill the void up with tile cement.

 

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Seems to be OK. Early days yet, but if Mrs Owl has learnt her lesson, we should't have more broken ones.

 

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Passing through Ban Dung yesterday, I noticed that the Merc' had left the roadside.

 

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Probably getting a re-spray.

 

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Mildred and I have decided to change our methods of fishing. For years we used the 'lay flat' method, but went and bought a couple of expensive floats in the fishing shop, and our catches have definitely declined since.

 

I've been collecting some decent drinking straws to covert into floats.

 

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I'll report on catches.

 

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While not at the farm, or fixing tiles in the sink, I've been looking at many of the vid's on BrandNewTube. Some of the stuff, especially on the US, health agencies, have got me thinking.

 

Milly and Mrs Owl are not best friends; for two days now. The wife wanted M to wash her hair on Wednesday evening and M didn't want to. The Mrs won, of course, but I thought that these times will get more frequent. As M gets older, she will be able to make her own decisions about mundane things like hair washing. Interesting years ahead. Mrs Owl's abrasive manner might upset two of us on a regular basis.

 

Can't wait for the footy to start. Some interesting signings; rather than headline makers. Best deal so far; Doherty to Spurs for a give away price.

 

Does anyone even care about F1? What a boring load of nonsense.

 

I notice that happenings in LOS are making the front page on the BBC website. Wonder why?

 

Visited a friend in Udon recently, and the Mrs has decided that the way to a fortune is to do the same as my mate's wife. Sell fish at the market. We have gone from selling fish, to selling dragon fruit, to selling perfume, to selling rosella, to selling oil palm nuts, to,,,,, and now to fish; again. "Just take it easy teerak." "There is enough dosh coming in for an easy life. Stop being greedy." "I not greedy. Just want more."

 

Gonna relax and enjoy the next couple of days. Have plenty of reishi wine stocked, and there is lots of research to be getting on with on BNT.

 

Enjoy the hol's people.

 

Bye y'all.

 

Merc probably repossessed. Was on a 95 year finance.

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21 minutes ago, bannork said:

Our home is just 4 km from the VOA with its runway of 4 lanes. There are hills to our north-east and heading west from VOA towards Phen, if you turn left after approx 4 km, the road skirts a broad valley. We visited a farm there, the cowshed had views for miles, beautiful!

South of Ban Dung heading towards Thung Fon, the fields of rain, are you near there Owl?

Personally I go along with your theory of decreasing annual rain in Issan. Now the heavy rain is sporadic, it used to be guaranteed, at least around Ban Dung.

Yes! We are in that area.

 

At the farm we are close enough to see the choppers coming in at night. Some, more than curious individuals, think that the VoA is a giant listening station for SE Asia.

 

We have a deep well at the farm. It would probably see us through an attack, if the foe's struck at the giant transmission towers.

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6 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Doesn't Oz have a flying Kangaroo?It's called QUAINTAR$E or something.

Bang on the money FFF. Of course, I could have said camels piloting and aircraft. I was pointing out that certain species cannot do certain things.

 

Studying ants is fascinating, and a worthwhile pursuit.

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1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Hey Mr Owl are you getting this rain?

 

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There's a knife thread running so I though I'd post some "A sharp" photos.

 

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When they borrow your stuff if it comes back it usually like this below.

 

 

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 So now time to break in a new stone.

The Thais use the stone as a water stone. The west know it as an oil stone.

 

I had one on the go for at least five years. All of a sudden it lost its regular shape and was wet. No one came forward to explain.

 

Great pics FFF. And Yes! A little rain.

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35 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

The Thais use the stone as a water stone. The west know it as an oil stone.

 

I had one on the go for at least five years. All of a sudden it lost its regular shape and was wet. No one came forward to explain.

 

Great pics FFF. And Yes! A little rain.

Good to hear you at least some rain I'll try and send some more.I use detergent on these stones as I learnt that detergent holds the (I know there's a word for it) stuff,sludge,slurry in suspension.I use the  Japanese wet stones for woodworking tools and Razor.Funnily enough the one I use the most is the cheap ones I get at hardware shop in Yaso the others I imported.The Yaso stone is by far the quickest at removing material fast. 

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Ants deserve a thread of their own.

For me, the most annoying ants are the tiny black ones that hurt for a second or two and then itch for what seems like an eternity. Does anyone know the ants I mean? They get into our sacks of lam or ram, rice bran, if you're not careful they're all over your hands and arms in seconds. 

Cutting Napier grass today, I was stung a few times by red ants, annoying but I think more bearable as often you can feel them crawling up your skin without stinging so removal is painless. 

I remember reading that the Japanese sometimes tortured POWs by tieing them to the ground, covering them in sugar and letting red ants do the rest.

Jesus 

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18 minutes ago, bannork said:

Ants deserve a thread of their own.

For me, the most annoying ants are the tiny black ones that hurt for a second or two and then itch for what seems like an eternity. Does anyone know the ants I mean? They get into our sacks of lam or ram, rice bran, if you're not careful they're all over your hands and arms in seconds. 

Cutting Napier grass today, I was stung a few times by red ants, annoying but I think more bearable as often you can feel them crawling up your skin without stinging so removal is painless. 

I remember reading that the Japanese sometimes tortured POWs by tieing them to the ground, covering them in sugar and letting red ants do the rest.

Jesus 

There are a few nasties among the ant world. Mrs Owl will eat the big red ones. Calls them lemon ants.

 

There is a little black one that is so, so fast. The speed scaled up would be the equivalent of a human running 400 metres in less than two seconds.

 

Using rats and insects has indeed been a torture for 1000s of years in some cultures.

 

There is an ant in South America whose biting equipment is so big and strong, they have been used to clamp up cuts on the human body.

 

Fascinating.

 

 

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