owl sees all

You have obviously been whacked with the Thai sense of humour stick. Durian is only topped by that fruit Noni. Generally called stink fruit. There are some Thai fruits that I enjoy. That big as a football orange, grapefruity thing is OK. And fresh king fruit is also nice. Yam lai is a good snack as is lychee as you say. Red dragon fruit is OK now and again. Don't like the white one. My three favourite fruits are; grapes, cherries and a nice juicy English apple. Used to live off bananas when I lived in the Caribbean. Only eat one now if I'm starving and there's nothing else.

The 'number 4' market is just a week away. Well worth a look Bannork. Reckon you could get what you need there. At bargain prices too. You probably know it as well as me. I don't like durians. The smell reminds me of stale petrol. And the taste!!! Only once, about 14 years ago. Don't think it's changed since then. Orrible! Also those twits that say durian is the 'king of fruits' get on my tits. Everyone knows that the 'king of fruits' is the humble grape. I think they say it just to wind us farangs up.

You are not wrong there. It is 7 in the morning and already it's 28c. Looks like another scorcher today Those people back in the UK don't know what 'hot' is. I'm reading that there are fires in my old stomping areas of Dagenhan East and Wennington (just east of Rainham). Think someone is starting these fires. Some funny things happening in the UK at the mo'.

01 Man City 02 Arsenal 03 Liverpool 04 The Irons 05 Chelsea 06 Forest Time the top six were changed.

Owl Log 27-07-2022 - Wednesday afternoon Three deliveries since the last Owl Log. Two fishing reels and an art folder for Mildred. Decided not to leave the rods with reels at the farm, Gonna keep them at home. Don't want to tempt fate any more than necessary. Took three rods back from the farm. . A smaller reel for the farm fishing and a more robust one if we go to a fishing park sometime. All ready for action. Mildred has a long week-end at the end of the month. Try our luck with the pla nin then. Would not even think of fishing for the beautiful mekongs. It would be betraying them. vid feed mekongs.mp4 And Mildred's folder. The last one is now filled up with 50 paintings/drawings. The pond next to our road is completely full now. Spotted a fishing lady yesterday. We can see you. Hiding under the tree. I'm still looking at pond 6 for clues on the fish deaths. Can't see anything amiss at all. The lilies are doing great, and everything seems natural and normal. Next pond along - number 7 - is also looking good. Those rats are sneaky. They can't get past the wire mesh but they can get their teeth into the sacks and try to pull them over. Gonna have over 70/80 sacks arriving after this year's harvest. The 40 or so in the store will have to be sold off. Price is 9 baht a kilo at the mo'. If it gets to 12 baht, it'll be time to take it all to Ban Dung. Not given up on turkeys, ducks or goats. But Mrs Owl is not interested in anything at the farm. I go nearly every day, and Mildred about three times a week, but the Mrs only visits once every two weeks. Then she moans about this and that. But the turkeys a.re still about. Mildred's special euca and pineapple are still doing good. Will have to pull the euca over soon to miss the roof. The nut bunches on the number one oil palm keep growing. If the price of nuts keep at around 10 baht, I'll be well pleased The price of cooking oil and palm oil is ridiculous right now. Over 60 baht a litre. A year ago it was cheaper than diesel at around 22 baht. I knew someone who was putting onto their pick-up. Not me of course. The Buddha at the end of the super-highway is having a fair bit of work done. New walls. Bricks at the ready. And the other side of the soon-to-be grand entrance. No sitting down on the job now. Our biggest euca is by default. I just happened to put the wire the other side of the tree a few years back. Anyway; it's grand. Also grand are the avoes outside the house. The biggest one is an inch in diameter at the base. Nadine - or is it Nadil - is the daring one. Got the makings of a Hells Angel. vid riding on car.mp4 Next drizzle is forecast for the week-end. Don't want this month to go out with a whimper. Rain where are you? Forget India, forget China; come to Isaan (Ban Dung area). Footy round up. The three divisions start up at the week-end. Starting with the northern clash of Huddersfield and Burnley. The ladies reach the euro finals. Well done girls. Just the Germans, or French, to beat now. Had a wager on PP. Through my daughter is England I must add. Ipswich, Watford and Swindon all to get promoted. Easy money! Sadness with the death of footy enthusiast, and Liverpool supporter, Iain Walsh. Known to all on here as Wilai. Rest peacefully fella. Got it wrong about Penny Mordaunt. Had a butchers but couldn't see no 20-1; so came away. Saved two squids there. She has gone and now it's Liz and Rishi. Mask wearing gradually lessening in Ban Dung. No-one wearing them in the village for a couple of weeks now. The Mrs has been nagging me to get cannabis oil. She wants to mix it with aloe vera for her skin. I said "Mrs Owl! That stuff would be wasted on you." She flashed me that big-eyed Thai wife look. "What you say farang?" I thought quickly. "You are lovely as you are teerak. You don't need anything more to make you more beautiful." Seemed to satisfy her. Close call. But still have to get some oil from somewhere. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

I agree about Cloughie. We didn't need Lingard for this season. Talent everywhere, and not the talent you are on about in '87. Forest and Pool also had some good battles back then. Forest were the last club to be champions after being promoted. Always like them.

It's about time the big six were smashed. Can't see past Man City for the title, but this could be the year for others. I'd quite like to see Forest do well too.

RIP bro.

Live up country; near the mekong river. East London and Essex growing up. Played for the army and semi-pro until retiring at 42. Reached the last 16 of Paddy Power's Last Man Standing a few years back. Look forward to seeing The Irons get into the top 4 this coming season 2022/23.

Thanks for that Rick. Been considering all the possibilities. I've been around fish and fishing ponds for many years and I've usually found clues when fish deaths occur like this. I rule out disease, as it was all too sudden, and in any case these fish were healthy and put into a healthy pond. If it had been oxygen levels, I would have seen signs of this before hand. fish deprived of oxygen have their mouths open when kicking the bucket more often than not. Also they would have been noticed gasping for air at the surface. A lightening strike hitting the pond! Possible; but no storm in the 24 hours leading up to the find. Although a lot of fish die. There was not an excessive amount for a pond of that size. In the UK we would use the maxim; one kg of fish to one cubic metre of water.. The fish were not crowed at all. Ant there is healthy plant life. So that leaves a toxin or poison as the culprit. The pond is flanked by a pond on either side. A dirt road at one end, and quite a way back, the euca plantation at the far end. I don't think that there could have been an accidental poisoning. Ponds one and two get the run off from the plantation. They are both fine. And this pond was the only on affected. My dosh is on a deliberate action, by someone unknown (at the moment). What toxin or poison? Well no sign of oil or film of any sort so I'm guessing it would have been water soluble. I've taken some water samples and I'll try to get an analysis at the Provincial Fishery Udon Thani. Might also try the Agricultural University - also in Udon - for an answer. This all begs the question! Who would do such a thing? I've got my suspicions. Mrs Owl thinks the same person also. We will see.

Owl Log 17-07-2022 - Sunday morning Can't complain about the rain. This week has been good. Next rain forecast is for Tuesday morning. Fingers crossed. The mekongs are a joy. They race over as soon as either me or Mildred arrive on the scene with the bag of grub. Mrs Owl has been at the farm picking the fruit. First job is to clean out the pick-up. I will say, she is far better at that than me. Not that I've ever tried. It gradually gets filled with junk that I pick up from the farm. The rubbish just gets chucked in the back, until Mrs Owl wants it clean. The Mrs also had to get into the rice store for 5 sacks. Someone in the village was off to Bangkok and wanted to take some rice with them for the family there. Much cheaper to do it this way than buy the rice in the capital. Might get the 5 sacks replaced after the harvest. All sorted. Time to get down. "You want me to help you teerak?" Mildred's been off school most of the week, and it gave her time to finish a couple of her paintings. This most recent was inspired by her Grand Ma's house; next door but one to us. www.mildredart.com Such imagination. When I was twelve, my thoughts were on fishing and how to catch the monster in my part of Essex. And bunking off school to collect bottles, for throwing in the Thames behind Barking Power Station. Then we would smash them with stones, as they bobbed about 30 metres out. Manchester United 4 - Liverpool 0. Looks like the Devils are on the move. Mrs Owl was well pleased as she supports them; big time. "Who is your favourite player at the moment teerak?" "Wayne Rooney." Can't argue with that. The avocado plantation outside the house was getting out of control. A bit of trimming was needed. That's better. Happy comes over to see us every day. We don't always have any food for him. Always likes a stroke; food or not. Not been feeling too good since last week end, when I took in a couple of lung fulls of insect killer while I was getting ride of the hornets in the farm kitchen. Didn't wear a mask or hold my breath for long enough. Only got one new sting though. Alongside my right eye. Still sore after a week. Feeling a bit poorly, I took the opportunity to go on a fast. Sunday afternoon - Last full meal Monday morning - a couple of biscuits Tuesday - nothing Wednesday - nothing Thursday - two boiled eggs and two slices of toast Friday - nothing Saturday - two boiled eggs Sunday (today) - two boiled eggs and two slices of toast. Been drinking lots of water during this time. About three litres a day at least. Also resting up a lot. Feeling much better now. Back to normal today. Another death in the village. Patong's father; just 65, and quite sudden. He was a bit a grafter at his farm. I'm told. Everyone baffled! Had a nice surprise this morning. I was changing the budgie's dishes and 'White bird' sat on my finger when I was putting the food pot in place. Still no progress on their aviary. Perhaps later in the week. Footy round-up. Rooney has gone to the US. Pogba to Italy. Leeds losing their players. Fulham getting new recruits on the cheap. Mildred has just told me that this week she only has to go to school on two days; Tuesday and Thursday. Don't know why at the present. Teacher shortage? Exams? Covid? No problem with the leccy. Best to leave everything as it is. The English Queen's son, Charles, got a load of cash given him a while back in suitcases. Word has it that he engaged a local company, to his gaff in Scotland, to count it. And their bill? Seven thousand squids. I would have counted it for free. As long as they fed me haggis and passed me best single malt. And let me fish in their trout stream. Boris is gone! Well almost! Who will replace him? I'd like to see Tom Tugendhat. But I think Penny Mordaunt will get the gig. Ordered two fishing reels and a artists-carry-bag from Lazada. should get them early this week. Bit light on copy this week. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

I'm the same Scuba scuba. These Samsung devices are so prone to be dropped. Have a Samsung camera that was dropped (not by me I add) and I've yet to find an agent to fix it. Contacted Singapore Samsung and asked if it I could send it to them. They gave me the link to the Samsung Thai www. Absolutely hopeless. Still not fixed it after seven years. Don't want to talk Samsung down though. Took lovely pics when it was working.

You are right as usual One more farang. People do these silly/funny things though. They also lose them, and have them stolen. I can leave my phone anywhere and it will still be there next day. I went swimming in the lake, to rescue a distressed chicken, with my phone in my shorts pocket. No problem! Put it in the warmth of the sun for an hour. Got up and just walked away as if nothing had happened. Phone was good to go too. Still works as new five years later. Also dropped it from 10 metres high. Fell on grass, not concrete fortunately. Give me the originals. It's the no-nonsense mobile for me any day. Rather than these all singing, all dancing time wasters of today. People need to connect with nature more. 5G? My phone works well enough on half a G. Battery lasts for three months when fully charged. Things have gone backwards for the human race. Walked on the moon in the 1960s. You would think that 50 years on we would have regular visits to the sun. I know what you're thinking; far tot hot!! Go in the winter when it's much cooler.

Quite! Forget looks, forget the Gees, forget slo-mo camera, forget sound quality. Will it still work if the wife throws it across the room while in a hissy? Bought mine in Laos eight years ago. Dropped it, washed it and sat on it. Still going as good as new. Only 600 baht too.

A couple of things to consider that have not yet been. What is the test result if the phone is dropped from the standard test height onto concrete from 1.5 metres? If it is put underwater, as in dropped down the loo or inadvertently washed with the clothes in the WM; will it still be OK?

My Mrs said they were much the better team. Looks like I'll be having a wager on United for the coming season. Liverpool's run of recent times, seems to be petering out.

Big thunder storm yesterday, and got worse at about the time Mildred was due to catch the school bus. Gave it a miss. Extra day off.

Owl Log - 10-07-2022 - Sunday morning Spent an uninteresting couple of hours at Mildred's school last Monday. Hundreds of people there. Think it was some sort of fundraiser to get the construction finished. Little has happened this year. Hope my generous donation will help. Took advantage of the absolute boringness of it all to go for a drive for half an hour. Glad I did. found an 'environmental officer' out on the road. Another generous donation. Given with a genuine smile this time. Lovely lady. Great job dear. This was just along from 'Fang' school. And where do you go to school? I go to Ban Fang. About 10 km from Ban Dung (to the east) there is a lovely round-a-bout. Well looked after. Cute. The village Buddha-over-the-pond is still on the go. Progress best described as steady. Bricks at the ready. Have a couple of really old oil palms in the Buddha compound. With nut at 10 baht a kilo, might be worth someone getting hold of a ladder and doing a bit of cutting. At the farm there is one outstanding tree. If the other 700 or so were all as benevolent as this one I could soon retire. A drop of rain in Ban Dung plays havoc with the parking for the daily market. Compared to other countries, Thailand - especially up here - seems to be escaping any prolonged downpours. Not raining at the mo'. Next drizzle due on Tuesday. Number five pond could be smothered in lilies before the end of the year. After the pond six catastrophe I've decide not to bother with buying any more fish this year. Gonna put 100 litres of EM into pond six to kill any bad bacteria and get it rejuvenated. Pond five will probably get a few litres also. The mekongs in pond four are doing great. vid Milly feed fish.mp4 Really must find out about growing pineapples. Surely it can't be this easy?! Big effort to get the village looking ticky-boo this morning. Is there a big cheese on the way? vid village tidy up.mp4 Caught Mrs Owl red-handed. Having a crafty one. Found out where the old concrete pipes are stored. Any farmer wanting one; free. Cows out and about again. Not come to out house yet. No mangoes for them anyway. A bit of concreting at the Buddha side entrance. A couple of decent showers in the week. I've got my hopes up that all the ponds will be filled this wet season. Not yet put in the two pipes between pond 2 and 3, and 3 and 4. Maybe next week will see some action. Mildred off school for half-term starting on Wednesday. We'll get the chess set out for a few games. Budgies doing OK. Not got round to sorting out a new home for them. Charger and batteries have arrived. Plugged in the charger. Seems to be working well, but the lights stay on even when the batteries are fully charged. Well, I think they are fully charged. Have a Samsung camera, that got damaged a couple of years back. It takes great pics. Much better than the phone or even the my Minolta. Been trying to find out where it can be repaired. BlueSofa - remember him - once told me there is a Samsung repair shop in Udon. Anyone?! Footy round up. Rahime Sterling is about to join Chelsea from Man City. He originates from the Wembley area, which is not too far from the Bridge. Might be able to get back to visit his old muckers occasionally. He went to Copeland school; just along from where I had a shop on the High Street. Had a visit from two teachers in the week. They liked the posters on the wall. The world map; math tables, how the human body works, etc. Mildred's art production has slowed. She starts a painting and then seems to leave it for a week. Hope she will finish one or two when half-term arrives. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

Some of this Chinese stuff is good. The Chinese watches that look a lot like a Rolex are cheap and tell the time good.

Owl Log 03-07-2022 - Sunday afternoon Been having a lot of trouble with the leccy. Couldn't work out the exact problem for a long time. The village electrician tested the box and said everything was OK, and perhaps there was a faulty wire somewhere.. I did a couple of simple tests and I was convinced otherwise. Would have cost well over 1000 baht to replace the box. Anyway, in the week the box tripped and I couldn't get it up and running. Turned everything off and it was still tripping on 30 amps. Took it off and replaced it with a 40 amp switch. Might put a proper box back on at a later stage. But no problems so far after a few days. Holley! You are history. Got another hole in the roof over the rice store. Didn't bother trying to fix it. Got a new sheet and fixed it on top. Got Soo to do the biz. I would have done it myself; but who would have took th epics for the Owl Log? Put the new sheet in place. Job done. Moved Mildred's pineapple to the other side of the farm house. 10 months ago. Just the top of a pineapple. Took quite a while to get going. Not ready for eating yet. Another month or so. Rain on Friday night. Did the ponds and the paddy a real favour. Number one pond 100% filled and ponds two and three about 90%. Thanks to a bit of siphoning. Best year for water since 2015 I reckon. The village buddha-over-the-pond is romping on. A couple of pics have been displayed around the buddha showing what it's gonna look like. And it's getting there. Not exactly like the pic on the wall. Gonna be grand though. Old habits die hard. Mrs Owl's mum is getting on and can't walk unaided. But every year she makes mats. After a bit of drying they are good to go. Went down the buddha soi at just the right time to see the buffaloes coming home. vid buffs go home.mp4 The land clearance, just outside the village, is finished, although the old trees and roots are still there. It's next to one of the four roads that lead into the village. I'd plant Oil Palms if it was me. Price of fuel is gonna be high for years. And can only go higher. Easy income. Opposite are the two big ponds and a watercourse. I've sussed it out. Water fills the winding-way one. That fills; and the overflow goes into the very deep pond. When that's filled, the overflow then fills the deep pond lower down the slope. Nadia and Nadill out spending their pocket money. The farm house, just along from us, is now completely finished. Roof goes on. And a bit more roof. Not yet invited to a house-warming party. The house over the back has a new machine for cleaning the rice. I took a sack round there to give them a bit of work. The don't take money, but a few cups of finished rice and they get to keep the 'rum'. Tiny bits if the rice grain. vid rice machine.mp4 No footy roundup. Can't wait for it all to start again in a month's time. Mrs Owl wants me to pick Mildred up from school each day. At the moment she get home between 16-50 and 17-00. If I picked her up we'd get home well before 16-00. Mildred wants things to stay as they are. I'm happy with it as it is too. Got more stings clearing the wasps/hornets from the farm kitchen. But they are gone for now. The mekongs are doing great. As soon as I go over to their pond they charge over. Mrs Owl says they are like a load of sharks. No more rain forecast until Tuesday. I'll have all that's going. The next nut cut will be very decent. In about 10 days time. The price is still just below 10 baht. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

Just came in from the farm. Had a couple of jobs to do this afternoon, including getting the hornets out of the kitchen. I managed to clear them, but not before I got 4 stings. Three on my side - through my shirt - and the other on the tip of my finger. That was over an hour ago, and there's not the reaction as last time on Thursday. Wearing a shirt probably saved me from a few more stings. But I was victorious, and they are gone. For now! Fixed the hole in the roof also; more on that in the Owl Log tomorrow. The rain has done the biz as far as the rice fields are concerned. And our pond number one has filled nicely. It's not done that by early July for years.

You are not wrong there Evenkeel. Was badly bitten by 20 or so hornets about 7/8 years ago. Not nice at all. But I'm not subject to great discomfort, unlike others. I think there are three stages. The first lasts for an hour or so, and it is just painful. The second one is different for everyone, and lasts for a couple of days. With me it is just ultra tiredness and loss of appetite. Then there is a day or so of itchyness. At this time you have a job not to keep scratching the hell out of the stung area. Takes about 5/6 days to disappear altogether. I like to light a fire and let the smoke do the biz. Today I'm gonna hit them with a spray and destroy their house. Took this pic just a few minutes ago. The other marks are just scratches. The one on my hip was through my shorts. They don't care where, or how, they get ya. People have been hospitalized over the stings.

Thanks for that Rhodie. Dave was the boss way back then. Give him my best wishes if you ever pass that way. That was my first ever stay in Thailand. He looked after my interests OK. Put me in the picture on a lot of stuff. Would play Chubby Brown vids in the restaurant.

Didn't think Pattaya and rain were compatible GT. i was there in 2007 and the place was under water due to a shower. I remember swimming from Beach road down Soi Diana and round the corner into Soi Chaiapoon to my hotel. Stayed at Canterbury Tales. Is it still there? Might have got those two Soi names mixed up though. A long time ago. Had some rain last night. Went to bed early as I was feeling under the weather since Thursday when I was attacked by a load of hornets at the farm. Got six bites. Two on my arm, one on my hip and three on my back. Still sore now. But now have morphed into an itchy soreness. Didn't have a shirt on. That'll teach me. Have to sort them out today. a couple of other little jobs to do also.

Mildred did say she was not feeling 100% when I met her at the bus stop on Friday. I think a lot to do with is is tiredness. If she goes to school next week, I'll get her tucked up earlier. Had 4 budgies to start with. 'Yellow' and 'Dark blue' escaped. Never found them. Not likely to either. But ya never know. Might come back to see their mates or for food.