owl sees all

Owl Log - 18-11-2021 - Thursday evening Just as @Rickudon said his daughter is doing a split week at St Marys', Mildred is the same starting next Monday. Evidently the word has come down from high, that only 20 at one time should be in a classroom. And there were 36 in her class. So it's Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week, and Tuesday and Thursday the following. She is not unhappy about that; and neither am I. Went to have a look at the huge tree near her school. If I'd had a bit more time I would have climbed up it. Time was short however, as I was on my way to see Ting at the Natural Health Shop. Went net-fishing this morning. Didn't do that good. Only caught seven pla nin. I kept the biggest and Piapp took the rest to cook up for the workers cutting rice on his farm. We have twelve farms bordering ours. Four of them are making charcoal this year. The lilies are blooming lovely. At least 20. Haven't had a drop of rain since the downpour on October 22nd. So Mrs Owl's garden needed some water. Hadn't started the pump for over six months. Got it going but it stopped after just 20 minutes. Couldn't keep it running after that. So it was into the machine-fix shop in Ban Dung. Dropped it off after taking Mildred to school and picked it up in the afternoon. Was expecting a bill of 300/400, so a surprise to get a hit with 920 baht. Paid up with a smile; as you do here. Can get a new pump for 2400 baht. Found a few leaks. This one was easy to spot. Wire comes in handy. But a couple of others only became apparent after the water was running. Used a mix of silver, metal tape and black insulating tape. Run the pump, and Mrs Owl spent the next two hours watering. The hose pipe is made up from at least seven lengths. When I've finished paying for the DinL's washing machine. I'll treat teerak to 100 metres of 25mm. Might make a nice Xmas pressie. We have three water pumps. One in use, one in the store room and one under the table next to the deep well. The road at the end of our Super Highway is having a makeover. It was not heavily used. A motorcycle every 5/10 minutes and a four-wheel vehicle 3/4 times an hour. A good few carts as well though. TBH I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. I think it's being widened. What an absolute waste of dosh! I escorted Mildred to her bus stop, and caught the twins going to the farm with their Grandma. I'd like to get some turkeys. Not for Xmas dinner, or even to sell on, but because they are beautiful birds. "Teerak! What about those turkeys. Have you changed your mind at all?" "Don't like them. People will take them." "They don't take the chickens teerak." No response. I'll keep working on it. 'Batman' has morphed into 'Sugar Duck'. When the little lad realises that it's quicker to sit on it and pedal, he will be terrorising the dogs, chickens and farang. video_25641110_091651.mp4 Footy starts up again this week. Some very tight matches. Reds v gunners the pick for me. Foxes v Chelski a good un too. Three more points for the mighty Irons at Wolves. Mrs Owl's daughter sent her mum 5k at the start of the week. Went in Big C this afternoon to do the weekly shop, and she bought a bicycle. I didn't even know she had the dosh. I'm paying 4500 for the loan on the pick-up, and 1k a month for the washing machine. And the wife never told me. That's Isaan for ya. Just waiting for Mildred to say the word about school. I'd much prefer to do home teach for 90 minutes a day. Start afresh next March, when she changes school anyway. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

We are just in a small, quiet soi, but we still get them 2/3/4 times a day. The wages money is not what it's about. Bit like those MPs in the UK; opens doors to lucrative things. Actually our village number two, tried to flog me some health insurance about 8 years ago. Only 30k a year, he said.

There was a market near Phen or Pen or Penn (all same town) that had a toy trader a few years back. He sold jigsaws; all depicting animals. He sold three for 100 baht. I bought nine and gave them away to the village kids after Mildred had conquered them once. Quite recently bought some 'art animals'. Daughter uses them for her art projects. I encourage her to do anything creative. The Base! Don't usually go to that area, so I'd not noticed it before. Nice concept though, with the gardens up top. There is another group of high condoes just south of the Sakon Nakon road near the railway station. They sprung up quick a while back. Spoke to a farang in Udon and he told me that Udon now was second to Bangkok, in terms of size. I'll try to make time one day to visit the Udon Museum.

It's difficult. With Mildred off school, I cannot easily get to town on my own. It's rumoured that all the schools will open from Monday. Things could look up.

Thanks for that HP. I think the 150 baht would be the fee for a chaperone while in the compound. If an unvaxxed person was to enter, they would have a person with them all the time until they left. That didn't apply to me so it's only a guess. Great place to spend an hour. Must try it HP.

Stunning pics Ody. Thanks!

Owl Log - 12-11-2021 - Friday afternoon - Udon special Went to Udon Thani in the week. Left early, and stopped off at a couple of nice places to get some pics. Couldn't go past Buddha Bunny with out inquiring on his state of health. Apart from a touch of gout, he is looking just fine. Just along from Bunny, there is my favourite Buddha in the whole world. It's always work in progress here. It looks good now. When it's finally finished I'm sure it will attract visitors from all over. Just a little vid of my visit. vid nice buddah.mp4 Then I was off. Stopped at a road just outside Udon just to admire the wires. Simply must get a life. Next stop was the 'almost finished' athletic stadium. I say almost 'cause the viewing areas have no cover. Maybe I'm doing it a bad-un. Perhaps it is finiahed and they are gonna let the spectators sit in the sun. Don't forget to bring your brollies folks. Giving the footy pitch a decent watering. Must be a game coming up. Then I arrived in Udon proper. This building must have recently been constructed. Don't recall seeing it before. Called 'The Base'. Looks entirely residential. Like the roof garden. Last stop was the Chinese Quarter. Got into a bit of bother for not entering in the 'correct' way. Moved around a barrier. Got caught, and had to get my temperature checked, hands gelled, and submit my contact details. The lady that collared me spoke decent English. The last two columns on the check-in form were new to me. The second from last had 30 or so ticks. I asked him what they were for. She told me that one was for the vaccinated, and the last column - that no-one had ticked - was for the unjabbed. What happens if I tick the last one, I inquired; innocently. "Come in same, but charge 150 baht," was his reply. So, I ticked in the appropriate column; as you would. I seemed to be the only person visiting. Bought some food for the fishes and set off a feeding frenzy. There seemed to be more carp on that day, than I can remember. I think all the carp were hungry, saw the rich farang buying all the food, and came over. The water feature is about 40 metres long, and the fish are usually scattered all along; but not on that day. . I left the water area and had a butchers at the artwork on the wall. This wood is beautifully carved. I try to visit the Chinese Quarter whenever I visit Udon and have time on my hands. I find it relaxing to spend 30 minutes wandering around. And, even though I've been there 20 times, I still look forward to a visit. Then it was off to see me mate. Got back home at 17-30. Only one regret; that I didn't go and see the giant Yang-na tree at the top-end of Undulet Raod. Next time in two weeks for that. Perhaps include a Prajek Park visit also. Only one thing left to say; visit Udon for a great day out. Bye y'all. ==================================== More on The Base. Lifted it off the official site.

I don't see how much of the technology (that some say is simply fantastic) is of any use to the vast majority of humans.. Could make rich people richer; I guess. OK, so technology might put a man on the moon or detect a mouse moving in Russia, but will it enhance our lives? Is it all about internet speeds? Are the kids of today lucky to have the technology?

That's a great post Owl. Technology has improved some lives, but for the average person in the world, is 5G a bonus or a master? Has it made kids lazy? And not just kids. When I first came here (Thailand) there were very few 'weight challenged' people about. Now I see lots of overweight ladies; especially. Telephone in one hand and chicken leg in the other.

It was our old TV that went kaput. Passed it on about three years ago, when we bought our 32 inch Sharp. The village expert (same guy that's running from local office) had a good look at it, and pronounced it 'dead and buried'. I came on the scene too late. Obviously I could have fixed it. I have everything in my tool-box the TV needed; pliers, hammer and yes - as you say HP - cable ties and super-glue. But I also have something that's important here; imagination. Anyway; it was not to be. So 1800 baht worse off, but back in favour with the MinL. Got the ladder back this evening. Not back in perfect order. In fact it had to have a few whacks with the fourteen-pounder to get it fully straight. So things are on the up and up. But, a word of caution, if any member goes to the Chinese Quarter in Udon, don't jump over the fence to get it. It's changed. And another tip; don't tick the unvaxxed box on the entry form. Well you can, but they then want 150 baht.

Owl Log - 09-11-2021 - Tuesday afternoon. Well teerak, it was like this! We was working in the rice-building and he (my work mate) left me for half an hour. I didn't know if he was coming back. It well past four, and I thought we had done enough for the day. I locked up, and went to find him to let him know that was that for the day. His road is rubbish! Had to leave the pick-up there overnight. Got it out the next day with the help of Guy's tractor. Mrs Owl joined in the rescue by giving emotional support. We were fixing up wire mesh throughout the rice-store. Last year, the rats got among the sacks and ruined a lot of it. So I had to sort it out for this year. Have three rooms; each one 3x3 metres. But I think there will only be enough rice to use one of them this year. The next job, will be sorting out the holes in the roof, but that meant the ladder had to be fixed. Don't want to be 5 meters up on a dodgy ladder. More on that next Owl Log. Dropped it off at the car-fix shop on Sunday evening. Gonna get it on my way to the farm this afternoon. Hope it's fixed OK. Didn't check yesterday as I had to go to Udon. It does get busy during the rice harvest. Jobs and sundries that had been left for getting on for 12 months, have to be sorted. Sacks, nets and covers have to be either fixed, renewed, or new stuff bought. Rice is ready for cutting. Cut, but not yet bundled up to be taken to the threshing machine. If there is a substantial harvest they will come to you. But for 10 sacks, it's better to take the rice to where ever the machine is working locally. Chai cut the first section of rice. This area is about 25% of our total paddy. He got 10 sacks. One for the machine driver. And the nine left was split 6 for him; 3 for us. The other rice - a different variety - will be cut in about two weeks. Some buffaloes were causing a traffic jam on the way to the village. I was lucky to get the pic at five-thirty in the evening. Buffaloes were also on the move in the village at mid-dayish today. The young herds-lady was hiding from the camera. I can see you dear. Back at Sook's farm the charcoal making was in full swing. When they use the bigger logs they have to smash them up to bag them. There is always a good market for the charcoal. One year Guy got over one hundred sacks, and sold out during the winter. 150 baht a sack. This is hot, dirty work, so a hammock is always close; and a bottle of Lao Khow to quench the thirst. Their pond has filled well. Mrs owl chatted to Sook, and he told her the down-pour on 22nd October raised the level half a metre. This is a lovely tree. And to think the Mrs wanted to cut it down a few years ago. The MinL's TV went kaput, so I ordered one on Lazada. Came this morning. Fixed it up for her. Been growing some bulbs. They are doing OK. Batman was in the village one day last week. Have to read up on the 'Superheroes' vid batman.mp4 And finally; Jack the cat. Sleeping as usual. Some of the youngsters have drifted back to school. Went to Udon Thani on Monday and saw quite a few children in the school fields. Although it's not all over. Mildred hasn't had the word yet. Left for Udon quite early yesterday, and that gave me the chance to stop off to take loads of pics. 'll do an 'Owl Log Udon special' in a day or so. This afternoon, have to pick up the ladder (hopefully) and try to get some more wire netting. Need about two metres more to finish the first store-room. Someone is definitely helping themselves to our fish food. I reckon it's someone nearby with a pond. I think it's Sharong's dad, but Mildred thinks it's Bella. Have to write a little note, so when they open the top of the store they see it. "Take no fish food: 5,000 baht fine." Get more response if it's in Thai of course. Onwards and upwards for the Irons. Whacked The Reds at the week end. I said right from the start that it was top four without breaking sweat. @Kadilo said to lay off the reishi wine, but I think he now gets it. No rain for nearly three weeks. Just goes to show how lucky we were last month. That's it for now. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

That's the other Owl Dave. He supports The Owls (Sheff Wed). Irons and Orient for me. 9 goals between them last week end. Irons for C/L and O's for promotion. No prob's.

Owl Log 31-10-2021 - Sunday afternoon GarryP's avocado is doing well it seems. Ours are a bit hit and miss. One death, and one growing, with the smaller plants. This one's OK, and I also put a new stone in the deceased avo's place. Fingers crossed. The one at the farm is doing just great. Plenty of coconuts at the mo'. Rice cutting has started. The farm next to us - the Buddah farm - is using a machine this year. We have no rice to cut as we rented out the paddy to Chai, for one bag in three. Some of the rice in the farms close-by looks terrible. I think the yields will be very disappointing for many. Fortunately ours is looking good. Mrs Owl sat on the her headphones. I sorted them out for her. And Mildred's set arrived last week. I don't use them as my audio jack hole, on the computer, has gone wonky. I dug out the old mastic on the water project. Replaced it with fresh stuff. although it's still soft. If it don't work this time, I'm gonna dismantle the unit, and start again; paying more attention to the sealing. Measured the euca on the road Friday; weighed in at 36cms. We also checked the biggest one - that we know of - in number four farm; nearly 32cms. There are a loads around 30/31cms. That is measuring their girth one meter up. The road tree is 2 years, 4 months in the ground. All the others are a year younger at 16 months.. Election time at the village. Sharong seems to be the only candidate from our village. Snapped him putting up a banner of himself. Didn't know he had a tie! Vote for the smart man with a shirt and tie. The water has equalised between ponds two and three. I don't suppose we will see any more rain until April next year. I might put a 4inch pipe from two to three for next year. The overflow pipe in number two was just under water a week ago, so the level's gone down about 30cms. Poom wanted to go home with us one day in the week. Probably missed his telephone. He just loves Liverpool FC. Bought a water tap set from the 20 Baht shop a while back. Two taps and some white tape for 20 baht! Bargain at double the price. Fitted the pink one about a month ago. Started leaking badly last week, so put on the green one. Works well so far. But early days yet. No idea where it was made. Don't think it's Thai printing on the packet. Also had a meter of strip LED lighting delivered. The goods, the P&P and the 19 baht driver's tip came in at 100 baht. Just thought it might come in handy. Very well made. Came from Japan. At the Big Mango Ladies' house they were having a boot sale. Well not exactly; more a footwear sale. Couldn't find anything my size. Thought I might get a nice pair for Mrs Owl as a Christmas prezzie. Have to hide them away for a while. She might find them and throw them out. Can't get all the pics to upload. 'Error code 200'. Mildred goes back to school tomorrow (Monday). Don't want her to go. Much prefer it if we can do two hours of home-teach. But, she wants to see her friends. That's a good enough reason to return. Enjoyed the footy yesterday. Pity the Seagulls couldn't snatch a third at Anfield. One of my teams won 5-0; the other plays today. Finished about twenty pages of the web-site. Probably publish next week. It's rice time once again. everyone rushing here and there. Need any rain that feels like falling, to rest up for a month. Time change this weekend. The footy starts at 22-00 from next w/e until March. I prefer it to be on summer-time. Is there a better place to be than Isaan? Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

You don't seem too keen on Super Spurs Deej. I feel the same about Arsenal; but for different reasons. My personal beef is with the club, not the players. Too many players just taking the money and not breaking sweat. Spurs have a few of those. Watched virtually all Spurs' home games in 60/61 season. Have slipped away a little since those 'glory-glory-hallelujah' days. Where is Big Sam when he is needed?

Found the precise HTML code. <IMG SRC="URL of first pic" onmouseover="this.src='URL of second pic';" onmouseout="this.src='URL of first pic again';"> Absolutely change only text in 'red'. Didn't remember it quite like this 25 years ago; but it's all good now.

Thanks for that Sterling. HTML is not new to me. About 25 odd years ago I was creating web-sites out of a shop in Wembley, London. At that time there was only two real options; write direct in HTML or use Dreamweaver. I can recall creating four sites in one day. At that time I used 'frames'; big time! I had a very good skeleton and simply filled the specifics in, that the customer wanted. Alas, those days are well gone. Much of the coding I used then is not now supported. Web sites of today are far more intricate and dynamic than in the early days. Regarding 'onmouseover' and 'onmouseout'. I have incorporated those elements for 'tables', but what I need is to change images when the mouse hovers over. Modern internet scripting and coding is like 'double-dutch' for me at the moment. Although Mildred gave me 9 out of 10 for what I've done so far. The other thing that I'm stuck on, is centering a 'for content only'. 'text box'; not for interactivity. To get around this, I'm using a 'table' (with a very light background colour), and simply writing the text in. That is really time consuming, considering I already have the text as I want it elsewhere on the computer. The biggest problem there is eliminating 'white space'. Have nine pages completed though. So it's not too shabby an effort. When it's fully operational I'll put a link on here.

Before putting it in a grow-bag, or pot, check on the plant's roots. A small root will thrive just in water but once it goes into the soil it will probably not fare so well. If I could suggest some soil. Don't have to be spot on but:40% worm casts, 40% potting mix. 20% washed soft sand. Just mix it all up. Perfect. Once potted; must drench it with water until it's over half metre high. Good luck. Keep us posted.

Owl log - 24-10-2021 - Sunday afternoon A long wait for the big rain. 22nd of October was the day. Better late than never. The water was not draining from the yard when I got up, so I thought it could be a good one. Some pics. I spent the afternoon of the 22nd working with our handy-man on water related stuff. First thing was to put the caps on the overflow pipes. Didn't want the water running out. Waited so long to see them filled. That done it was putting into place the water equalling pipes. Put both into pond two and tree. That took a bit longer than expected. But we got there in the end. Be interesting to see if the two ponds are level this afternoon. Be going in about 30 minutes. Straight after finishing the Owl Log. As soon as that was finished we filled up the two water bowls in the loo. Took about 30 bucket fulls to fill them. The chickens were locked away on Friday afternoon. I had a lot of rice for them so I went over to their compound. He lets them all out if he is there. And calls them in with food when he wants to go back to the village. The house on the big road - Nan's old place - is doing business fixing up; well anything that moves. Although it was closed when we were there. I didn't go around the back to look, but the side still needs attention. Mrs Owl's garden is doing well. Mildred spotted a couple of fruits. It's all looking good for the moment. Rain, fruit and the lillies have blossomed in number seven. I've been so busy of late, that my water project has been put on hold. There was an air leak. I have fixed that, but I'm not sure if the mastic will air-proof it. Have to see next week. Also added some more two inch pipe at the bottom. For more water weight. It's gonna work great. After this I'll start thinking about drawing water up for 6 metres down. Although after the rain it might be a bit less. The headset arrived from LAZADA. This morning the Mrs sat on them. So that's another fix. The rice looks to be about two weeks away from harvest. Lastly a short vid of Mildred feeding the fish. video_25641012_173524.mp4 So there we have it. Had to wait until the start of the dry season to get a decent downpour. Plenty of goals in the footy. Good to see. What about the Hornets? Let in five at home last week and scored five away yesterday. Can the Irons hit Spurs for six today. Of course. Kadilo will be happy tonight. Bought a web-site on Easyspace. Been trying to remember all the coding from years ago. Much of it is not supported now. Anyone out there that can help me with 'onmouseover' and 'onmouseout' html coding? That's if for now. Mildred had her twelfth birthday last week. Had a slap-up, no expense spared meal for three in Ban Dung Kentucky on Tuesday. Back to roots and fruit since then. Off to the farm shortly. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

For those thinking ahead.

Why do the United knockers still keep at it? Just a blip in a long season. They won at the Iron's gaff a few weeks back didn't they? Spurs had their dodgy spell; let in three goals for three matches running. Now they are right back up there. The Gunners also started poorly too. Liverpool only took two points from six recently. Don't hear their fans shouting for a change in leadership. The one criticism I've got with United is that too many of their players seem to be simply going through the motions. Can't win every game; but can always gIve 100%

Thanks for that FJ. I've watched a few of these. I'm concentrating on my little one as the first part of a learning curve. This afternoon we had it running for quarter of an hour. Not too much flow; about 7 seconds to discharge a litre. But things were not going to plan! Took off the stop valve and tested it. It was leaking. Decided to discard it. Put an extra length of 1/2 inch pipe on. Filled the tank up once again while Mildred held her hand over the inflow pipe. Turned on the outflow valve half way, Mildred took her hand away, and it was running. But a leak developed where the top pipe went into the tank. That was small but significant. We were gradually losing vacuum pull. After a while, I turned the bottom valve on full to see what would happen; and the tank started to buckle. There are certain criteria that have to be met for these projects. I'm taking note and I'm quite confident that I will have success. As for dragging water up vertically from 6 metres down; well that's for the future. I might have to do a double tank for that. Watch this space! Thanks to everyone for your interest.

I did cover all this Bernoulli and pressure-in-pipes stuff at Uni. Fortunately I have forgotten what I once taught. Remember the Wright Bros? They didn't get it spot on first try. Or the gun. Plenty of problems with that until John Wayne came along. I did an experiment a few years back, where I capitulated an expensive water tank. Similar sort of thing; but then I relied on science. What I need to do is work out how much pulling power the vacuum has, and I can then work everything out. Or, forget the physics and maths and just suck it and see. Trial and error! We did get it going for a while today; honest!!!! Being an Irons - and Orient - supporter I'm the eternal optimist. No leccy at the farm yet. Perhaps next year.

Oh ye of so little faith. I'll have it fully operational by next Owl Log. With a video too. Just have to work out the pulling power of the vacuum. Watch this space guys!!!!!!

Good news about or energy-free water contraption. We got it to work for short while this evening. Have to increase the weight of the water in the outflow below the holder. Also a beefier main holder. The one in use caved in a bit. Pics and an full update next Owl Log. Tomorrow is another day of learning.

Fantastic. I've also tried this. But not with 100% success like your Mrs, Gary. The one at the farm - planted from stone - should be giving fruit next year. How much? Who knows?! I'll settle for half a dozen to start with.