owl sees all

Did you get any rain yesterday Bannork? The bit we got here was pitiful. Promised so much, with the breeze getting up, and the sky darkening. I'd complain if there was anyone to complain to. The Mrs told me that last week there was a shower of hail - ice as big as golf balls - in Khon Kaen. Anyone!

It all goes in cycles. There is plenty of fear-mongering around. We can't do anything about climate change. Cause we have no control over the sun for one thing. But we can do other stuff; like not poisoning the soils with chemicals, and dumping trash into the the oceans, which is IMO is far more important than the CC fears currently on offer. As for England ''constitutes most of the world.'' Well I don't think that, but that it is the centre of the world, Universe even. Is beyond question. I'll be even more precise. It's Hainault Forest in Essex. Where spirits and energy collect.

I can remember the men, with lanterns walking in front of buses down Wood Lane in Dagenham, due to the heavy fogs. Also Andy Pandy, The Woodentops and Bill and Ben.

The climate is changing. IMO, it's quite natural. Back in Adam and Eve's day, there was a temperate climate in England; much like the South of England now. After that England saw a 1000 years of warming. so much so, that the south and west of England had thriving wine industries. Then it started to coo,l and we are still in that period. Seems to go in cycles of about 1000 years, and I read recently that the North Sea was once a solid block of Ice. As for Isaan, that is now my home, much of it was underwater for thousands of years. A long time ago, I grants you.

Thanks for that Sterling. Take about 200 snaps every week. Some are just plain rubbish. Some are OK, but not good enough to publish, and there are just a few that are publishable. Now and again, there is a real gem. But to get that extra special pic, you have firstly to have a snapper that can do the biz. Then it's sometimes waiting around, for that window of opportunity that you can see coming. I had a pic published in the Evening Standard Magazine (or Evening News - can't quite remember). a few years back. There was a tiny cloud, on what was otherwise a cloudless day. I was in South London, and the sun was just about to go behind it. Or, perhaps the cloud was slowly moving in front of it. Anyway I stopped the van and withing a few seconds had it perfect. Seconds either way and it wouldn't have been possible. Unfortunately the original, along with thousands of others were lost when the wife died. Had some beauties of Africa and the Caribbean. That's life! But I'm waiting for the BBC to come up with an 'unusual Pet' theme on their photography section. I've got a couple of crackers that I'll enter. And my favourite pic of Thailand. The quality is just not there for publication. But a real quirky pic. all the same.

And who might that be; doing the 'cracking down'? It's in no-one's interest to 'crack down'.. Every now and again a little kerfuffle. Still paying 100 baht for me lottery tickets. Not gonna change in my lifetime I suspect.

As Tony Gosling says; "turn of the psycho in the corner, to remain sane." Referring to English people and their obsession with the TV. Here in Thailand we are 'sane' enough. Or we wouldn't be here. Last week was March as we know it. Hot sticky and dry.

Would that because of the banning of the 'Winnie the Poo' film? Isaan is one of the best places to live in the whole world. If I could get to trust the wife a bit more, get the ponds to stay full and stop plastic blowing about everywhere, it could be even better. I miss the football a lot though.

Good idea Sterling. I'll do as you suggest. Trial and error. All the pics in the post above were top quality; 800px on png. Can only really better that by putting up the original. I think some regulars use a phone. Don't know how they will look if the quality is dropped.

Owl Log - 26-03-2023 - Sunday afternoon Everything sorted with the up-loads. So let's roar on. MinL has moved back to her own house. Just 30 metres away but it took a bit of doing as she is unable to walk, or even sit up on her own. We looked after her good for a few days. Now sister Pook is in charge. Saw d a dead snake at number 6 pond. This is the pond that had the fish deaths last year. Was it poisoned? Left it there and the following day it was gone. No idea what happened to it; a dog, a bird. Who knows? Picked up the pick-up tax on Thursday. This is a cracking place for seeing fish, lizards and chickens. Like a little zoo. Mildred looking for the lizards. Next year - if you remember Mildred - bring your net, and we'll have some of those kois away. Some lovely ones in there. Other fish too. This one just wanted a big kiss. One of Pook's dogs has had puppies. Six black and one white. Don't know how that worked. It's a doggie mystery. No!! We don't want it. Is cute though. Washed the chicken, and it sits proudly outside the home. That handsome tree at the top of number 7 pond has been chopped. Bit of a surprise to see it in the week. Mrs Owl denied knowing anything about it. But when I got up, to go across the road to see Soo, her memory returned. Mildred was quite upset. ""Full of ants Mildred; can bite you."" As good a reason as any I guess. Those dates were a disappointment. Back in the day, I remember them in a 'pencil case' size box. A treat at Christmas. Figs too. And lots of nuts. I've been eating the dates as a snack, and the blueberries are gone. Won't be buying them again. Too expensive. The cherries are kept in the fridge. I eat about a dozen every afternoon I'll not be getting any more of them either. I'm trying to eat what our ancestors would have; after they discovered fire and cooking that is. I'm feeling so good, I think I'll run to the farm later. In a couple of days it will be time for my 72 hour fast. Really looking forward to it. Two euca trees have broken through the 50cm barrier. We measure their circumference a metre up from the ground. There's quite a few others nearly there. If we could get some rain we would have dozens by June. In June the trees will be in the ground for 3 years. Have to start thinking about cutting them later in the year. Mildred's school has still not completed the big building. Don't look a great difference from when I first snapped it 10 months ago. To be fair, it is a huge building. Will it be finished before Mildred leaves to pursue her adult career? In contrast, the village house is best part finished in just 3 weeks (and counting). Good week all round. Rescued a lot of fish from number 7 pond. Looked after the MinL for a few days. Got the pick-up tax sorted. One down thing though was the Kasikorn internet banking. Turning into a saga. Sent all the log-in details to me in the form of of a PDF, but for some reason (was it part of a plan?) never gave me a code to unlock it. Phoned Kaz's help-line and they casually informed me it was the last 5 numbers of my passport number. Why didn't they say that in the email? That done, they then sent a code to my registered phone number. The last four digits of which were 7715. My phone number is 7115. So it's back to the bank, in the week, to sort that out. I hope to get internet banking back sometime this year. Hopefully before they discontinue it like KTB netbank has. The battle to get a refund on the pick-up loan, where we were overcharged, has hit a brick wall. Behind my back, the Mrs paid it. And she has refused to return to our bank to get the info I require. Just one of the many problems us farang have, when dealing with authority, here in Thailand, when the wife is pulling in the opposite direction. World focus Climate Change icon Greta, can now be called Dr Thunberg. She is granted an honorary degree from the University of Helsinki. The British horror film, "Winnie the Pooh - Blood and Honey", has been cancelled in Hong Kong. Allegedly because of the resemblance between Winnie and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim Jong-un has warned that North Korea is prepared to conduct nuclear attacks at any time; in order to deter war. This weekend, a huge asteroid will pass between the Earth and its Moon. Although only 70 metres across, the lump of rock, could make a mess of a city like London; if it hit directly. But on the upside, it is thought the rock to be rich in lithium. The UK's Ministry of Defence, defends the decision to send depleted uranium, to help the war effort in Ukraine. Shares in Deutsche Bank take a dive. Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon gives farewell speech at Holyrood. Cash-strapped Sri Lanka will get 5% of the IMF bailout. 330m US Dollars will be arriving any day. Thai musings. A gang was sought, found, and arrested after a 22 year old lady was stabbed and killed in Nakhon Sawan. The main suspect - 16 year old Pao - claimed that his knife accidentally slipped out of his hand into the ladies shoulder. A Taiwanese woman won a eating challenge on the popular 'Good Morning Thailand' show last week. She ate a 3kg chicken and 1kg of rice in just 35 minutes. 100 pig’s heads were donated to the famous 30-metre-tall Buddha statue at Wat Klang Bang Phra, in Nakhon Pathom. The lottery winner was reluctant to say how much he had won; as he laid out the delicacies. Sixteen Chinese tourists said they were abandoned at an elephant village, in Pattaya, by their Thai tour guides. Local police are investigating. A Thai man was sentenced to two years in the monkey, for installing hidden cameras in women’s toilets, at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. A Mae Hong Sorn man, angry that his wife advised him to conserve water, stabbed her to death. A wild bear suddenly appeared in Ban Huai Ruam village, in Chaiyaphum province. It had wandered out of the forest in North East Thailand. Rescue workers caught it after 4 hours, and sent it back home. A fishing boat and an oil tanker collided near Koh Samui. Two fishermen died; three rescued. The missing radioactive caesium-137 cylinder, from the Prachin Buri plant in central Thailand, was found to have been melted and turned into red soot. Footy news England beat Italy in the Euro Qualifiers; 1-2. Next up for the St George Three Lions; Ukraine. Football boots made from Kangaroo skin, are to be fazed out. Friendly match yesterday; Syria 3 - Thailand 1 Banks 'O'Dee win thriller against Borra Rangers 4-3. Brechin hit double figures against Wick. Goals in the Highland League average over 6 a match. The Cobblers are now Orient's main challengers, after Carlisle and Stevenage fade. Thumbs up to Aseannow for their good work. And thanks to the top mod who helped the 'Diary' continue. Rain!!!!!! Where are you? Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

Congrats are in order Garry. I patented a puzzle/game back in the old days. It was a cube - as in Rubiks - but there the similarity ends. there was a hole in the centre of one side. Had to drop a marble in the hole and then get it out again, by rolling it about in the labyrinth hidden inside. It took me ages to make a prototype. But I couldn't sell it on. Just one of my many ideas, and patented devices, of yesteryear.

I can just about remember, when I was at medical school in East London, the lecturer saying that for every disease we have a cure. The cure he was referring to was a big pharma concoction. Now there is seemingly an injection for every complaint. As I stated earlier, break you arm, go to the hospital. But good health - certainly in the western world - is down to ourselves.

Good post. Interesting perspective. I agree with most of it. The biggest health problem facing the west is that of ignorance. Most believe - and as most farang in Thailand are from the west that would apply to them also - is that firstly the medical system is there for the benefit of their health, and secondly they know what they are doing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Medicines, pills, injections are all toxic to the body. You cannot poison the body back to good health. To quote Voltaire:: '''Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.'''' Just as poignant and relevant today.

Thanks for that heads up regarding pic quality Sterling. The pics in the last Owl Log were 600px (width with height variation), and the format was jpeg. Previous to that, the format was png and they were 800px wide. The difference in size is massive. The old pics being about 1-1.1meg and the smaller new ones just 150-250kb. But - as you rightly say - quality suffers. Now the good news. Although I had reached my total up-load limit of 15gb, I was kindly granted another 15gig. Just shows how many pics and vids have been uploaded. I reckon some 3000 pics and 150 vids. It's the vids that eat into the allowance. Being an average of 40mg a throw. I have a lot of vids on another platform and I could link to individual ones. But there is a time-lag. I don't rush to pit the content up on t'other platform whereas I like to get the vids up with the stories and the news on AN, otherwise the 'Diary' is out of sinc.. So back to normal with the bigger pics next week. ------------------- A bit of a funny sight about an hour ago. The MinLs three daughters and her er sister carried her to the bathroom for a hose-down. I offered my services. but I wasn't required. No pics or vid for that event. But it does bring it on home just how difficult, and all-consuming full-time caring is. On the upside, Poo, who was previously banned from inside the house - at least while Mrs Owl was around - has taken to laying next to MinL. So she is now OK to come ago as she wants.

Much warmer here.

If you crash your bike and break a bone or two, the hospital is the place to go. Otherwise steer clear. Good health is in our own hands. IMO, stay away from medicines, pills, injections and procedures. Live a happy, sensible life. Help raise the life-expectancy for farangs to 90+

Most of the above are due to lifestyle; and previous lifestyles. And most can be elevated, cured or eradicated with some 'drastic' and 'meaningful' changes. Last time I gave someone on here medical advice it resulted in a suspension, so I'll not do that specifically But there are certain fundamental principals worth considering. IMO, there is no such thing as an immune system. But there is a maintenance system, that is forever working to keep the body in good order. It - the body - needs nutrients to keep it performing at its best. What it doesn't need is poisons, toxins, bad quality air, poor quality water and food that only makes the body work overtime just to keep us healthy; which is the natural state. There is also the exposure to EMFs and the stress of modern living. Exercise is important for the over 60s. Important at any age, but moderation is the ticket as we get above 60 or so. So what are we to do in order that the list above doesn't get us? Look at diet and lifestyle are the two I would say are most important. We - us humans - have evolved to be fruit and veg eaters, with the occasional fat and meat thrown in. Most people eat far too much. One 'decent' meal a day is enough for most of us. If we must 'snack' then a raw carrot - or par-oiled - is preferable to a bag of crisps. Even a bag of salty crisps contains sugar. Sugar!!! The biggest single most destructive food our body can have. Cut it all out. Carbs are OK, but only in small quantities. There is so much more. Another post? Perhaps a new thread '''Blueprint for modern healthy living'''? For us farang of course.

Owl Log - 24-03-2023 - Friday morning Had some good news from AN Admin. Evidently I'd reached my six year limit on up-loads, and was severely restricted. Anyway, it was agreed to increase the total limit. And we are back in business. Just to round off the pond 7 saga with some pics. Some of the pla nin did not make it. Build a small dam and transfer the water - what's left - to t'other side. It's that naughty snakehead again. Just will not stay in the bucket. Fill the bowl with fish and bring it to me. Then it was my job to transfer them to number 3 pond; about 40 metres away. The well-dressad man about town did about 10 trips in all. Transferred about 300 fish. Job done. Time for a selfie. Have to get some coffee for the helpers Soo and E. Everything now in order with the uploading. Will try to load up some vids later. Thanks everyone. Including the mod who helped sort out the problem. I won't cause embarrassment by naming him. The images for this post were all in the 600px (across) and jpeg format. Not bad quality. When I compare them to the 800px and png images - that I normally use - there is no noticeable difference. Bye y'all.

The up-load restriction is less than 300kb in total. TBH this is nonsense. So instead of my usual 20 or so images, I'm down to just one; and even that has to be severely size reduced. I'll send a message to the top mod, to try to get some size increase. As it is at the moment, it could see the end of the Owl Log as we know it. Don't let that snakehead get back into the mud Mildred. To all the regulars on the thread, who have kept it thriving for over three years; thanks.

Dear me! Licking the computer? That's a new one. Missed out the 'c'. It's all the pop-ups fault.

Looks good to me. Not sure how it would go off-road. Thought that MG Thailand had the monopoly on that bright yellow.

I was licking away; it just wouldn't go. And when it did; it came straight back. Nothing at the moment. Maybe it's just stupid old Owl.

Just gonna try a new ploy to get the pics up. Knocked the size down to 600 - from 800 - and saved as a jpeg instead of png. One of the two big snakeheads. Give me a heads-up on the quality guys; if you would. Seems OK to me. Have to change all the pic sizes from now on.

Think they must have changed the definition of the word 'wrong'. Turn the clock back to the 1970s, and an 'ice-age' was nearly upon us. Are these the same 'scientists' that are now spouting the nonsense?

Highly qualified and non qualified both. It is we the people that have the power to change things before it is too late. Leave the decisions tho the 'white coated' - know everything - bods, and we are in big trouble. Humans get of your knees!