owl sees all

I've got a great looking Mango tree grown from seed. Will I ever see any fruit?

Need to see some pics Ricko. If we had not put in the solar system at the farmhouse we would have lost 4 ponds. We are just keeping pace with evaporation at the mo. Anyone had rain? Big winds with Dunder n Blitzem; but precious little of the wet stuff.

Owl Log Sunday evening - 05 May. What a week!? Monday to Friday; start at 8. finish about 3-30. Bloody hot! But it's done. 58 trees now have decent water whenever I flick the controller switch on. That is the first section completed. Had this weekend off. Mostly to recover from working in 40C+ all week. Can overdo it. Was drinking at t least 6 x 750ml of water each session. Keep the water cold in a poly box. The tell-tale sign that I need a drink is a bit of heartburn. Just like Rick, my avocados have suffered. Lost 3 in one big pot. I was giving regular water, but i reckon it was just too hot for them. Gutted!! But one has survived. It's growing in a bit of shade. That's a lesson for me in the future. Ban Dung yesterday. The big new build is coming along. If I hadn't have had Mrs Owl with me, I'd have had a good look inside. And at the daily market. A few noble piggies on display. Ant eggs and kadek-kadeks on offer. Sweet delicacies. Didn't see any big terrapins to 'spend' me dosh on. But did buy a couple of big containers in Big C. They will be handy. 199 baht each. Got to pounce on the special offers when they come along. Some pretty strong winds last week. Wiped out 200 mangoes at the house tree About half were binned. At the farm we lost 8 big eucas. Have arranged for Soo to go get them. Probably worth a few hundred baht if selling, but I think he will keep the better ones for his buildings. What is that for? Bella due home from Singapore soon? A new house for the earner? Bit rough for a lady. Mildred reckons it's for the cows. Let them have a lend of our big ladder. Soo on a hot tin roof! Youngster helping with his machete. Watch yer don't cit the wrong thing mate. This extreme heat is bringing out the lizzies. Looking for water I guess. At the house. That's a regular. And the farm. I'll get a drop of water for you bro'. Look as though you could do with a drinkl Other jobs at the farm yo be done. Collect up the unused cow poopoo. There is a few thousand metres of old irrigation pipework that has to be disposed of. And old poopoo sacks. Chop them up and take them to the furnace. Today. took over some more PVCs to number 2; ready for tomorrow's work. Took down the old steel bearers at the top of the tower. The old water tower looks so sad. Once an integral part of the Squanderosa. Now a relic of the past. Will hopefully be able to use the big stew-pots. A nice shot of the palm farm. Sun shining through. Absolutely stunning!! +++++ The Owls did it. Two games with the Blades to look forward to next season. Only Millwall bettered them for points in their last 6 matches. Talk about leaving it late. Brum and Hudders join Rotherham in Div one next season. Pompy and Derby up for sure. Looks like the Hatters for the drop, after that stonking away win by Forest. Pool drop out of the EPL contest. If Gunners or City draw a match, it's all over. +++++ What has happened to the BBC www site? It's been revamped and it's an utter mess. Mildred has just finished a beautiful painting, that she has spent two weeks on. Too dark now for a pic. Post one in the week. The MinL has moved in with Mrs Owl's sister Nook. That is only 200 metres away. Her house is all locked up. Need to get in to get the fridge though. Well! The Mrs says we have to get it. Need help with that I reckon. Tomorrow is another day. Pook - Mrs Owl's sister - has gone off to work with her husband on a building site in Nong Khai. They owe the bank a good deal of dosh. Hope it works out for them. Or they will be sweet-talking me once again!!!! Mrs Owl is getting quite aggressive about buying a car. 'Now' is not the time. I'm telling her. However; she wants to get one before Mildred goes back to school on the 13th of this month. It's boiling up to be a right ding-dong. Can't get tea-bags anywhere locally. Not in Big C. Not in Lotus. Not in Station Mart. Have sent away for 100 bags of 'Liptons yellow' on Lazada in desperation. Out of Cheese also. Can't manage in the mornings without a cup of Rosy and me plate of vegiemited cheese. Only one thing left to say guys; drink lots of water when you are working at the farm in this outrageous heat.

Me and Duncan were fishing at the lake. "Duncan mate, can I ask you a real serious question?" "Of course Owl fire away." "You have been with a woman!" "Sure have Owl" "What's it like Dunk? "What's it like? How best to explain. You know when we go fishing sometimes, and gather up a big jar of worms. Some lads put their dickz into the worms. It's like that; but not as good." "Give the ladies a miss then; stick with the fishing!"

Two genies were walking away from the tree. They chatted as they removed their white hoods and cloaks. "Sometimes I think humans are strange." "What you mean?" "Well, take today. That guy, who released us from the bottle, and got three wishes as a reward. I can understand his first wish; to have a large house in beautiful landscaped grounds. And the second; to be surrounded by lots of beautiful naked ladies serving him cold beers. But his last wish beats me. Why did he want to be hung like a black man?"

The lone Ranger was captured by the injuns. ''Mr Ranger. You will die soon. But we are a fair people, and I grant you 3 wishes. What would you wish for?'' ''I'd like to speak with my horse Silver.'' ''OK. Go ahead.'' The Lone Ranger whispered in the horses ear and he galloped off. A couple of hours later the horse returned with a mountain lion. The Lone Ranger was not amused and chased the lion out of the tent. The indians were falling about laughing. The following day the tribe was again assembled. ''Two wishes left Mr Ranger. What do you wish for?'' ''I'd like to speak with my horse Silver.'' ''Go ahead.'' Again, as before, The lone Ranger whispered in Silver's ear. The horse sped off. Later that day arriving back with a sexy lady on his back. Next morning the lady broke free from the tend and ran off. ''One wish left Mr Ranger. Tomorrow you will die. What do you wish for?'' ''I'd like to speak with my horse.'' ''Go ahead; if you want to waste your last wish.'' The Lone Ranger walked over to his horse and whispered in its ear. ''We have been through a lot together Silver. But you must do this for me. Listen and listen good. For the third and last time; go get posse.''

I'm not saying it's not warm; hot even. I've known hotter. Sitting in an air-con room all day is hardly getting the body acclimatized to anything. Or propping up a bar with so many fans yer can't move. Right at the moment (10-25) it's 37 outside. I have to go to the farm shortly to do a bit of work. I'll not have a shirt on for 20 minutes, then put on my favourite cotton one. White with a top pocket. In a three hour work session I would normally drink at least a three litres of cold water. I take a few cold bottles with me in a poly box. The other day I was out in the farm for 6 hours. TBH, that was a bit much for me. I'll do 3 hours max now. I'm not one of those that go into the sun for the sake of it. Like laying on the beach; or in the sugar field. But getting 20 minutes of sun, on as as much flesh as possible, is good for the body. Just do what needs to be done and appreciate at what nature is offering. Drink plenty of water. Some laced with limes. Not easy to get lemons here.

Isaan buffaloes have an IQ of 130.

Wouldn't be out of place up here in the boonies. People wouldn't even know what it said. Most popular 'T' shirt up here is 'Porn Hub' I wear a trilby when I go out. Baseball caps are no good. Great topic though.

The biggest problem with luggage is air. You could buy special bags that you could suck the air out of. Use a vacuum pump or suck it out manually. Could reduce the size of your luggage by half. Roughly the same weight though.

TBH, I'm saddened at the amount of wimps there are here. Air-con?! Fans!? Ever heard of trees? Get a decent book, a cool drink, and make yerself comfortable under it. Do what nature intended.

Can't speak for that den if iniquity. Anyone in that horse-meat place is gonna pay extra; a big extra, Up here in my Isaan local village, an ex-army guy is doing dentures for 100 baht a tooth. So a full set is a tad more than 3k. Don't seen so bad that. Worth the trip up I reckon

I've been in the bitter cold whilst in Special Forces. So cold yer couldn't touch yer lips with a fork. If you did, someone would have to pour boiling water onto it to unfreeze it from yer lips. That's why we all had wooden spoons. This warm weather is not going to last forever. Take the opportunity to get a bit of sun on yer back. Kick yer feet in the surf, or roll in the rice stubble if not near the sea. Turn off the air-con. You know it's not good for you. If you must; get a fan. My advice; sit under a tree and do what nature intended.

Here in Udon Province it is now 42C. An hour ago it was 43C. Life goes on. People still in the fields. People still walking their buffaloes. People still building houses. Kids still playing kiss chase. Bangkok is a pussy cat. Tigers up here.

Always an odd number of geese too.

Right you are then guys. You spoke. I listened. I reacted. The chickens know the sound of the Mazza and come running.

Indeed. With the frond cover from the palms, the sun don't get through too much. So evaporation is minimal. I'll have a good look on Thursday. Ban Dung tomorrow. Weekly shop.

Owl Log - Tuesday afternoon - Part 3 It's all about water. First live run on the palm solar system yesterday. But first we had to bring over a couple of long PVCs from number one farm. Looked at the lay of the farm and put it where it will get to most trees. Turned the system on, and after 10 minutes the overflow kicked in. That meant that the two 1000L IBCs were full. Although they were half full to start with. So far so good. But as good as the overflow was working, could it handle the inflow. The outpipe was 2 inch; the pump pipe in 1 1/2. Both IBCs kept filling. We could hear the water shooting down into the rings below. Then they decided to overflow. But at least we knew something. The top overflow was not man enough for the job. Just couldn't release enough water fast enough. Let's see how the lower one would perform. Mildred went over to release the IBC water. We waited no longer than a couple of minutes for the lower overflow to kick in. Coming out at a good lick too. Must have been 2 litres a second. Stopped the water from the BCI tanks. But!!!??? Dear me. Waterfall!! Can only blame myself for underestimating the pump capacity. According to the pump data; at 32 metres down, the best it could give was 88 litres a minute. There was two litres a second out of the overflow. So a monumental miscalculation by me. But on the upside. The palms were getting a long awaited drink. As luck will have it; most of number two farm is in on a slight down slope. For now; let the water flow. Now some rough calculations. Start time 10am. Finish time 4pm. Average pump output; 1 litre a second. So 6 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds x 1 litre. On a bright day that's a whopping 20k+ litres feeding the palms. And no more than 30/35 at one time. If I put in some more long PVCs, to allow the switching of water direction, and make sure there are little channels to let water flow where the soil is slightly high, the palms should be very happy. Perhaps I'm being too sophisticated for me own good. It is Thailand after all; not Essex-on-sea. Only one thing left to say; bye ya'll.

Make you right there LL. I don't mind really. She can have anything I have to offer.

Soon HP.

Been in a few Quakee. Long time ago. Didn't like it. Women are over-rated. Preferred fishing.

Don't look like no 20 tonne of garbage to me. A couple of tonne; three at best.

Get the sun on yer back. Good for you. Ditch any air-con. If you must; then a small fan. Alcohol is not good. Iced lime tea the bizzo. YouPorn is addictive. Tom and Jerry better.

It's Tuesday the 22nd of April and this is the Owl Log. Part 2 of 3. The family all went off to Nong Khai and left me alone. Perhaps they didn't think I would like what they had in store. Anyway I took advantage. I'm not so sure what the main reason for the trip was all about. They said to visit this special temple. But there was more to the day's activities that that. Much more. Mrs Owl posing in front of the temple. Up the stairs and in. Very nice it was too. That done it was off to a water park. Sour puss Mildred thoroughly enjoying herself Hire a table and it's soon time to eat. From the left: Nok with the glasses. Jane in the white shirt. Chelsea in the pink hat. Chelsea's dad. They all got back to the village at nine in the evening. I asked Mildred if she had enjoyed herself. Her reply; 'Sort of'. 'Why is that dear?' 'Wet for hours.' Glad I never went. +++++ What to make of that Palace. Sorted out the Liverpool lot, then smashed in five against the Irons. Owls did themselves good by winning at Blackburn. Aveley make the play-offs. Be good to see them make the National League. Only Villa did well in Europe last week. +++++ My pineapple is looking the biz. It was about this time when the last one disappeared. Have to keep me eye on it. The Big Mango lady is gonna make a mint with the hoppers. I counted 1,347 just in this cage alone. And there were many more, but they were spooked and jumped all over the place. Messed up my counting. Haven't seen the pet piggie for a few days. Hope it's OK. MOVIE soi pig.mp4 +++++ Sunday was a scorcher. Fortunately a rest day for me. If i work for too long in the hot sun, I get leg-cramps in the evening.No'. +++++ Still not made it up with the Mrs. Last evening she kicked me on my dodgy left leg. As luck would have it; hit my knee and not further up. +++++ The deal we had when we sold the farm, is still ongoing. There was 200k spare after all her debts were paid off. Shared 50-50. But I wanted the assurance that I could spend my bit on the farm. She bought gold. And the gold price is gradually creeping up. So she should be happy?! But now she wants me to spend what I have left on things she wants. I said 'No!'. +++++ I've changed my morning tipple a bit. A cold soda, with honey and chlorophyll and a peeled lime. Very refreshing. In the leaflet that comes with the chlorophyll, it says that a tablespoon is equal to eating 69 fresh grapes. I squirt much more than that in the mix. Equal to three bunches I reckon. Loaded with vitamin C. Not made any reishi wine for yonks. Don't seen to have the time. +++++ That's it folks. Only one thing left to say; look out for an explosive part three.

Owl Log part one of three. Monday afternoon. 22nd April 2024. Pleased we missed out on WW3. Would have made me regret starting the Solar System venture. Soo and Kun were with me on Thursday. Bit of heavy lifting to do. Everything arrived on time. And it was off to work we go. First thing was to get the base sorted. 10cm thick. The rings were well concreted in. Concreting in 40C is an art. Make the mix on the wet side, cause by the time it's in place it's half off. Put another 50cms into the bottom rings. Finished that about 11ish. Got to work on the underground pipework. Not that deep. There was gonna be a soil/mud/clay covering. About 13 metres altogether below ground. Off to lunch to let the concrete set hard, and started again at 2. Gradually built up the rings. Grouting them in as we went. Was gonna go to 2 metres before capping, but decided - mostly for safety reasons - to only go 4 rings high. Then on with the caps. And finally the IBCs. Just about 5 when we finished the first day. Second day on Friday, it was pipework, and then more pipework. Only had one helper; Kun. Soo went off to cut trees somewhere. Not too much lifting to do fortunately. Did the lower pipes first. Gradually worked up. Connected the pump and filled it all up. Roughly 4000 litres in all. Expected a few leaks. Filled the rings to see any leaks. Not wrong there. Drained the system and it was home for tea. Started on the grouting first thing on Saturday. Also removed some pipes and replaced them. The overflow pipes into and out of the system couldn't keep pace with the water coming from the pump. All the 1 1/2 pipes taken out and 2 inchers put in. Also put in an air valve. Looks a bit confusing. Hope it all works! Last job was to level out the soil. Kun on the wheelbarrow and me on the chog-chog. Will need another load of soil later. But all in all quite pleased with the finished job. Next task is to give it a live run tomorrow. See if all my planning was OK. Sunday morning. Let the water flow. Sun came up at 9-30 precisely. Controller read 119 volts. Pump started. it was action stations. Oops!!!!! Dear me. I need a stiff drink. Didn't reckon on that! Owl Log parts 2 and 3 later today.