Lickey

Im looking for a bit of information here, so thanks for any help you can give me

How does this pink/yellow/white lifeless globule [with no wings or legs ] get to the top of a cassava stalk?

Shaking the stalk has little or no effect on them?

Using a motorized pressure spay from underneath might dislodge 80% but rain on top of the leaves clears them all?

Thanks, Lickey,,

I have lived in Thailand for 3.5 years permantley now, with my GF, my daughter recently e-mailed me stating that she was getting married in mid-september this year, of course dad has to be there, and my gf, [gf is the owner of a large beauty salon and wants to do her hair,make-up ect, ]

I realise that she has to prove reasons to return ect, which is not a problem,

1 she has blue book, she has tax reciepts from local goverment for buisness, son is in Madihol Uni, daughter is doing entry exams for the same,

2We have many pics of us together, at home or on her 40rai farm,

3, i have many letters from my Uk bank and family, plus PP stamps,

4, I have an english bank acc which shows a good sum,

5, can we do this by post, avoiding the trip to BBk,

Also, i can arrange a flight pattern with dates [without booking] and the relevant sponsors letters from my brothers and mum,

Would e-mailed letters be accepted, even with passport numbers included?

And an official invitation to the wedding?

Thanks for all replys,,,,

Just to end, my Passport has 3 years to go, but i only have 5 pages left, does anybody think i could get this renewed while in UK?

Thanks, Lickey..

Inspect your cassava stems for ants, you will see them running up and down the stems with small white blobs on their backs, Ants transport the bugs from stem to stem and feed off the sugary shit they produce,

We lost 9 rai of Papaya to mealy bugs, we tried all the herbal remidies suggested, we planted cassava only to get infected again, [the ants keep the bugs in there nests to use when they want] I found a chemical [hate the stuff,but needs most] that killed of the ants and probaly a lot of benifical insects, but it stopped the rot!!, belive it or not, they attacked the rubber trees, munching away at the new top leaves, again, ants were seen up and down the trunks,

Personally, i dont think the rain washes them away, i think the ants cant be bothered with a 2 mtr climb when all the lush vegatation is coming through on the ground,

Control the ants and you will control the mealy bugs,

try this site,the first farmers cut copy and paste,

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/Zoo.../antfarmers.cfm

The Rossi interview!!

Valentino, could you have passed Pedrosa in the last few laps?

For sure, i could pass redposa, but my shoulda is hurting, so im happy with podium,

When Jorge came past you, what was in your mind then?

I was happy he came past me, i am thinking, ah, 2 hot blooded spaniards, home GP, they will end in the gravel, so i waits my time for no1 place,,butta ok, no lollipop Lorenzo win de race and then he jump in der water, this water isa da main drain from Grandstand toilets,anda on der podium he smell like rotten durian fruit for sure!!

Hope you are 100% for france vale,

Moto2, was it really fuel that came out of that bike and brought off 9 or so others? i dont think so, after all the sparks created, there was no sign of a fire atall, high octane fuel evaporates almost imediatly on contact with a warm porours surface and tends to lift the tarmac if it pentertrates,it was a cracking race though, and a worthy replacement of the 250cc class,

125 was, as usual a good race,

Im sure we will be in for another great season,but i think WSB live was a 1 off, because of the ash thing, There is no postings for WSB in this months UBC/Truevisions mag, only 30 min highlights, but im keeping my fingers crossed, Assen was brilliant, well, for us Brits anyway!!

Your battery is on its last legs or your auto trans is very low on oil,torque converters will scream untill they have enough oil to supply the system,

Its a six wheeler lift axle with underlift and winch,

Last weekend just outside Namsom, midnight Sunday, a drag outfit went into the ditch on the first bend, 30odd tons of maize on board,

The wrecker in the pics couldnt shift it even after it had been emptied, 36 hours later, an 8wheeler crane picked it out,

The axles of the truck seemed pretty unscathed, and probaly cleared the way into the ditch for the drag, but how did the steer axle of the drag end up between the trailing axles? bit of metal fatigue perhaps?

Sorry about the spelling all you good german viewers, I have every ingredient to make this, but my good friend Emil tells me the main spice is Majoram, my thai wife doesnt know this spice, ive tried web translator but no good, if anybody could write the thai name for Majoram, i would be very gratefull, Thankyou, Lickey.

Riley,over the months, it will get worse till the pedal is non-exsistant, there are 4 cheap ways round this, but to start off with, you say they replaced the driven plate, so putting another new one wont make a difference!! unless of course they do the "fatter" plate that makes up for the re-surfacing/skimming, this was possible in the UK to buy from your local spurious parts shop,,

Pressure plate skimming? went out with the ark,, cant believe they did this??

Im not familiar with the Vigo clutch system, is it cable or hydralic?

If its cable, you can increase pedal travel by releasing the cable at the operating arm, add some hex nuts between arm and adjuster nuts, this will bring the pedal up,

if its hydraulic, remove the slave cylinder, find a nut that fits snugly [not over it] on the push rod, file or grind the other edge of the hex nut so that in turn fits nicely in the slave piston dish, refit cylinder, [no need for bleeding] and that should also bring pedal up,

Another method is spacing out the pivot of the thrust bearing arm, this is more complicated if you dont have an access to the bell housing via an inspection hole,

Another point is does your Vigo have an oil pressure gauge? perhaps it would be worth having a mechanical gauge fitted to the engine to make sure the pressure is as stated in the Work Shop manual, if not, perhaps the crank thrust bearings are badly worn, allowing the crank excesive back and forward movement, this is of course maximised by clutch bearing thrust pressure, pushing the crank forward,

An easy test, when the engine is hot, lie underneath the engine, using a pry bar on the front pulley, try to lever the crank forward, [you dont need any great effort] then pry it backwards, if the movement is greater than 1/32 in, you might have a crank thrust bearing problem,,

So there we are Riley, a few things to try and think about, Cheers, Lickey,,

If the engine is ticking over, gearbox in neutral,clutch pedal up, the only thing that can possibly make a noise is the gearbox or the cush-drive springs in the driven plate center, [broken springs] Get the garage to check the gearbox oil, if it has a magnetic drain bung, this is a good indicator of gearbox problems,

And be very careful re-facing the flywheel, a cable operated clutch or a hydralic system might not have enough adustment to accomadate the extra push needed,

lickey,,

Pickled Beetroot, one of my favorite sandwich additives, must look at the local market,,

Anybody tried Jerusalem Artichokes? i suppose in a way they are a bit like cassava [growing properties] Perhaps a good question for Bina,

Thanks, Lickey,,

Strange days indeed!! got Mr Poo to dig in the Pidgeon pea plants into the salad beds, [added N] covered the 10 beds with differenent mulchs,banana leaves,bamboo,tamarind waste from under the trees, so all looks good,,, done my usual walk round the banana/papaya plantations, Found 40 or so hands of banana and 30kilos of Papaya, [nice load for our honda wave!!]

On my walkabout, i saw a lot of tamarind pods on the ground, I tried one, it was lovely,deep golden brown sweet pulp, Im thinking, this cant be?? 6 weeks early?? so i collected a load of pods, took home to the mrs, she was suprised that they were ready so early, she put it down to temps of 36c daily after the end of the rainy season, So my normal 4hrs a day on the farm is 2hrs choosing which bananas to cut and 2 hours tamarind picking,so it doesnt leave me a lot of time for the salad beds,

Bananas are easy, take home,wash,dry, put in a paper lined bin with some acectelyne gas,24 hhrs and you have ripe bananas, 1 hour max, now Tamarinds,mmm they come in all different shapes and sizes, you need a hand that can tell the difference between 005gramme and 004.5gramme,thats the difference between a sweet and a not so sweet pod, My evening job is the intial sorting, the large pods go into a box,and mrs [with 20odd years of experience does the final sorting and bagging] Guaranteed good at 60bht a kilo, i do the smaller pods, 30bht a bag, but should be mostly good,,

4 days, 1455bht and counting,,, and a long season this year,

Happy days are here again!! Cheers all, Lickey,,

70 rai and you could not do what you wanted on 1 rai, I think 1 rai of rice looks after 1 family member a year? give them whatever,rent out the rest and move away, at a convinent distance, of course,your wifes feelings come into the mix, but surely she can see you are not happy,

If you are still working or have a good pension, then rice,sugar cane or cassava, is usually a break-even option, from what ive learnt in the 3 years ive lived here permantly is that Thais have no conception of money, unbeknown to my mrs i kept a book on what it cost to do 9rai of cassava, inclusive, it cost 33,000, [ok, the world economy went badly wrong] but mrs was estatic that we got 15,000 bht after 11 months??????? why was that i hear you ask, well, she didnt know how much we spent on getting the stuff in the ground, looking after it, and the harvest, [bit like our neighbour last week, spent 4k bht on the lotto, won 1k, and had a party for all his mates??]

For me, long term crops are not on my agenda, because once the crop is harvested, the money should see you through to the next seasons harvest, the ground does nothing,because the thais are waiting for rain, and plant the new crop, if you want to live like a thai farmer, this is fine, but if you want UBC tv and internet, you need to make a profit to cover the price ect, Gary A started a topic some months ago titled, Think you can make money farming in Thailand? Think again!!!!! he is quite right, farming is a hobby for us retirees, it gives us something to do, with our pension money ect,

The mrs fruit farm was establised about 22 years ago by her mum & dad,it was done in a way that there would be different fruit ready every month, this provided an income or food every month, the whole 40 rai is Nor Sor Sam, so in extreme difficulties, a part could be sold of at the top going price,

Anthoma, in your case, [and if you have got the money] move away to your own piece of paradise, dont let the family rule you,,

Lickey,,

About3 years ago an Aussie fella & his mrs called at our Salon, I got chatting with him, he was looking for farming land, about 30rai, my Mrs knew of some and offered to show him later in the afternoon, he agreed, and of we went to look at the for sale stuff around Namsom, he said he need a river,concrete road and electricity, Mrs found a few places and we went to view, on a trek through one of the farms, i asked him where his Mrs lived, he said about 15ks away, I asked if her family had land? he replied yes, they do, BUT, i want our land to do what i want, so i think 15 ks is a CONVENIENT distance away from them, Good thinking on his behalf, bit late for the OP, but something for newcomers to think about i reckon,

Cheers, Lickey,,

Yes Doom, it would be interesting to know the facts, although nobody seems to know?? me and GFhave lived in Thai 3 years without a break,

So what would this mean in terms of living in the UK? she is of course my common law wife [as classed by the UK goverment] but what rights would that give her if we/i wanted to live in UK?

Would she have to do the ILR tests ect,

Interesting to know, Thanks, Lickey,,

Funnily enough my girlfriend had to fly up at short notice yesterday, we booked on Sunday night, to see her mother.

She told me this morning that her mother knows your wife's salon, though I didn't think she uses it, she says yes I know the salon "they have falang sit outside too much"

Unfortunately I could not come but I promise I will soon.

Hi Oldgit, Spose your MIL is right in a way, yes, it is a meeting point for local falangs, but i do have strict rules on alcohol, [after an incident 2 years ago] rules are that no beer before the salon is closed, useally about 6pm, and spirits only at xmas or new year, I really have to think of my wifes buisness, so even in the evening, beer bottle visibility is kept to a minimum, a large bowl of fruit and bottles of water are seen from the road, If your mrs is still in Namsom, tell her to pop in and have a chat with Pan [my mrs] ..

Ray, my uk friend has a 110cc Honda click just now, he wants something a bit more powerfull, he will be back in Thai next October 2010, so if you still have the bike, perhaps he will want it?

Cheers, Lickey,,

Ray, well, im sort of alive and kickin, a week or so ago i got bitten by a bad mossie, I had all the syptoms of Dengue fever, but it didnt effect my blood, hence i was late up, but it was good to see your new 800 bike, looks really smart!! and my favorite colour, electric blue,

Ray, i have a friend who wants a bigger bike, do you still have the 400dragstar? do you want to sell it?

Oldgit, done Sheperds Pie tonight, just as a test dish, Mike & Dennis tried it, and ate the lot, [me and mrs had a small piece] and now they want it as a regular friday night dish, [along with fish & chips] ,,,,,,

Next time you are up this way, PM me the day before, let me know what you would like to eat, your Mrs goes in the salon, we sit outside with a beer or 2 and a good falang food!!!

Cheers, Lickey,,

I think the Ducati offer was made a few years ago to Rossi, but as Rossi was living in London and he owed the italian tax people a rather large sum [in Pounds, it was about 30 mill] and if he rode for Ducati, this could be deducted at source, now it seems hes paid off his debt [or part] and i believe his base is in Italy again,

Sure Aussie J,Burgess will follow in Rossis footsteps till he retires, so will all the mechs and pit crew, who wouldnt want to be behind the [one of] greatest bike racer of all time?

Valencia, Stoner highsiding on the warm up lap?? strange days indeed,,, Pedrosa off with a typical Pedrosa start, Rossi and Lorenzo having a battle, then the classic Lorenzo mistake, trying to get away from Rossi, Rossi was through and content with 2nd place,,,

Well done Ayomama, last 250 2 stroke race, a very deseving victory on an old Honda,

125s, again a great battle with Simon and Smith, Hope Smithy gets it next year,,

Hi oldgit,

Its true what Ray23 says and 99% right what dave suspects, Ive lived in Namsom 3 years now with the mrs, yes, she has the best beauty salon which does all, Sauna,massage,manicure,pedicure,haircut/styling,mudpack facials,hair dyes,wedding preperation,[early morning} unwanted hair removal,eg leg waxing, you name it, she does it,,

Our farm, its now totally organic, the main fruit now are bananas, next month will be Tamarind, some Papaya,we gave up on corn because of the labour costs to pick and process these,

I have my falang friends, Mark & Mike, english, Dennis, irish, Emil german, and every friday night, mrs will cook fish & chips with parsley sauce or mushy peas, @ a cost of 100bht per per person, she does a good asortment of western foods, but sausage egg & chips with bread and butter is a great favorite!!

Namsom, its a town of 8500 regestred people, it probaly exceeds that by 20%, the temple in the lake is really great, its been improved over the last 18 months with a supporting concrete wall around it, all done by local fund raising, same as the temple opposite our house, new domitory & school being funded by locals having partys ect, Mrs has a lot to do with this,

Its a farming comunity, not much goes on here, what ive found is that peace of mind and an abillity to be happy whatever the circumstances will contribute to my well-being,

So Oldgit, if you come to Namsom again, do drop in, just need 2 hours notice if you want fish& chips or any other easy falang food, that invite goes to all who wish to visit Namsom,

Cheers, Lickey & Pan,,

Hi Soihok,

Sounds like you had a really good time at Sepang, im sorry for the late reply, just getting over a dengue related illness, but the 3 hours or so on TV took away all the pains, seeing Bradley Smith make it to 2nd in the WC, 1st brit rider since Barry Sheene in 1978, was an achievment and definiteley worth a mention, the 250 race was also great, with Aoyama battling for the lead and swapping places, real edge of the seat stuff,

And the Moto GP, Rossi overshooting the first corner,ending up mid-pack, and over-taken by rear grid starter Lorenzo, You know, having watched Rossi over the years, i put this move down to tactical brilliance, he wanted to learn the wet circuit,where his bike would be best,where he could use the power ect & to make sure his tyres would last the distance,I think Stoner was lucky that it rained the whole race,if the sun came out 8 laps from the end, who knows??

Ive never been to a 990/800cc GP, last time was Mick Doohan at Donnington, ive only heard them on TV or youtube, but even they will not surpass the sound of Hailwoods 297/6 Honda or Read,Agostini,Bonera on MV Augustas in the early 70s,and my greatest race, Race of the Year,Mallory Park, Ago V John [moon eyes] Cooper, best series, Transatlantic Trophy,and the Shellsport 500,

Cheers, Lickey,,

Hi Soihok, dont be to critical mate, im a great follower of Moto GP and have been since the late 60s, its seems that for a long time that no one wants to get into an active dissicussion about possible winners, because Rossi is the best tactician out there, and nobody will bet against him, Perhaps people get fed up of him winning? me for one, I dont, you compare him to Carl Fogarty, who would win and still blame other riders that he could have won by more if they hadnt slipstreamed him,, in comparison, Rossi in 3rd is the happiest man on the podium, hes such a likeable fella, always happy, & Sepang, Lorenzo 1st Rossi 8th Rossis title,,,

You have a good time in Sepang Soihok, when you get back, perhaps we can chat about some of the worlds best older riders, and the best races weve been to,

Cheers, Lickey,,

Hi Bayboy, it took me about 6 weeks to set up in the wet season,

The first harvest was inOct 07, collected about 6 tonnes from the 800 plants, unfortunately, the hand carts and 10 odd labour made a right mess of the pipe work, kinking it,splitting and pulling apart, on after thought, i should have pulled the lot out, but to do that would have been labour intensive.

So i scrapped the idea, next was 18mtr blue 1.5 plastic pipe with 3 impact sprinklers on 18in stands, the reason for being so low is that the jets didnt go into the flowering part of the plant, flowers are easily knocked off with water jets, had 2 of these units running of the booster pump,between 20 min cycles, would slide the pipe another 20mtrs along the rows, it was quite succesful,but never tried the fert in the tank angle,

Cheers, Lickey..

Jim,

You dont state what land title you have, i see yo said in the Farming forum that your wife said "cannot" so did you buy off a family member? who perhaps has no title to the land? it could be goverment owned, or it could be Chanote or nor sor sam, if its the latter, you can sell, if not, well, count your losses,,

Hello all, i would like to keep this thread running with a review of whats happened in the last 2 months,

It would be nearly 2 months ago or more when the Rice paddies first started to turn green and and about 6 in high, A local goverment agri man and mr Poo came to the salon & had words with the mrs, anyway, after they left,mrs told me what it was about,apparantley, the local agri office have 30,000bht to spend on organic ferts for each 10k farm road, Mr Poo nominated our farm as a gathering place cos we have a toilet/water and a covered concrete pad,,mrs said yes,

I would say there were 30bags of pelletised chicken crap, and 90 bags of rotted rice straw/husks, these were mixed together along with some water and made 150 odd bags of good quality compost, this was all divided up for mainly rice farmers, we dont do rice and got the remaining 4 bags, which i spread in the banana plantation,

Recently, Mrs cousin Nom came back from a 2 year work in Korea, only to find the money he had sent his family had been squandered on hiso life rather than payments on his truck ect, Mrs tried to help him by opening a bank acc just for him, but when he got back, he had all the pick-up payments to pay, once this was done he didnt have any money, so he decided to sell his 6 rai of the farm, which is the 6 rai of banana we planted while he was away,

Now, bearing in mind, mrs looked after him from 6 years old, [his father died of aids, his mum ran away] she paid for all his schooling,even got him a job at the Thai Farmers bank, Mrs rekons on 40kbht and 5k for loss of banana plants, she didnt get a bht from him, so now he is struck of the family book and nobody will talk with him, he made 300k from 3 rai of nor sor sam land,

Down on the farm today,

My main objective is the bananas this time of year, we have a daily walk through the plants, looks like 2/3 more days before any will be ready, shame really, they sell as fast as we can pick and gas them, looks like a day or 2 without front door sales, [no beer money,sob sob,,] i went to check in the barn how much organic fert bags Mr Poo had used, NONE!!! so that was my job for the afternoon, looks like the rain has almost stopped, so i applied fert to about 60 plants and started the bore pump to water the fert in, only another 1000 to go,,,

Had a walk round the farm with cam as well, Tamarind trees, well, mrs says she aint seen cropping like this for years, take into consideration that the farm has had no chemical spray for near 18 months now,the tamarind have had organic ferts only,

The other pics, Cousin Nom cut and ploughed in our banana plants and planted sugar cane, which do you think will win? banana or cane? perhaps some very sweet bananas??

Cheers, Lickey,,

Spose these ladies flog the motor so they can carry on playing casino whatever, Could you imagine a Tool Hire shop here? it would be empty in a week, and the ladies would say the jack-hammer and compressor were stolen last night!!!