Diary of a farang in Isaan

[owl sees all]

12 minutes ago, bannork said:

Essex pessimism. Last year was a good year for rain, I believe this one will be too because I saw a fire fly last night flitting around the living room. The beers and whisky I had consumed earlier had nothing to do with my scientific observation.

Last year was a good year compared to the years since 2017, but well down on 15 years ago.

 

I've never seen so many ponds being dug as this dry season. Must be eight or so new ones. The farmers know that they cannot survive if it continues like this. This dry season is the driest I've known since I've been here.

 

Meanwhile, - back in Dagenham - the Chase (fishing gravel pit) is a metre higher than what I remember it 60 years ago.

[owl sees all]

 

Even more water by same guy.

 

 

[owl sees all]

Owl mini Log - 06-03-2023 - Monday evening.

 

Just got back from the farm with Mildred..

Decided to run a one inch pipe from number 5 to number 7. Hopefully this will put a couple of inches in.

 

 

Tomorrow, while Mildred is at school, I'll get some water running from one pond to another. (hopefully). She was very concerned with the lack of water this evening in her pond.

 

Also took the opportunity to trim the tree that is growing where I don't want it to.

 

 

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

On 3/6/2023 at 9:32 AM, farmerjo said:

Yes i've got a feeling it will be a year of dribs and drabs,no consistency.,

1st test will be we normally get a decent rain around the 10th of March before then waiting till songkran.

 

I reckon you are right there FJ. I also recall rain in the second week in March. Maybe its on its way and I'm just moaning for nothing.

[owl sees all]

Ban Dung pics

 

Going to the hospital in Ban Dung gave me the opportunity to get up on the roof for a few pics,

 

There I am!

 

 

The entrance on the 2096.

 

 

 

Accommodation in the hospital. Looking south-east.

 

 

View south-west.

 

 

West view.

 

 

North-east.

 

 

East. Big school at rear of hospital.

 

 

East.  South view of big school.

 

 

Next time I'll get some pics looking north into Ban Dung. And if I can get up to the roof of the accommodation block, then some south view pics.

 

 

 

[bannork]

14 hours ago, owl sees all said:

I reckon you are right there FJ. I also recall rain in the second week in March. Maybe its on its way and I'm just moaning for nothing.

The summer storms will come when it's humid. But in spite of it being the second week of March, it's still cool at night and the daylight sun is not intense. It's hazy without being humid !

Strange days.

 

[GarryP]

On 3/9/2023 at 8:58 PM, bannork said:

The summer storms will come when it's humid. But in spite of it being the second week of March, it's still cool at night and the daylight sun is not intense. It's hazy without being humid !

Strange days.

 

Summer storms have been forecast for Udon on Sunday and Monday. 

[owl sees all]

19 hours ago, GarryP said:

Summer storms have been forecast for Udon on Sunday and Monday. 

Hope you are right Gary. But I don't trust the BBC.

[bannork]

59 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Hope you are right Gary. But I don't trust the BBC.

They're rarely Wright though I wasn't aware they had expanded to forecasting Thai weather, presumably during matches in place of the absent  commentators.

'A long ball to Rushford, meanwhile thunderstorms are expected in Udon'.

Not humid enough imo, and when the Meteorological Office here announced the start of the dry season a few days ago, I wanted to weep. There's been one drop of rain since October, that's five months of dry season already!

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 12-03-2023 - Sunday morning - part one

 

Due to the new restrictions on size of uploads I've had to split today's Owl Log into two.

 

A much more relaxed week compared to the last couple. M in L seems stable and no-one is panicking. Not been back to the hospital so getting up onto their roof for a bit more snapping will have to wait.

 

My silly billy daughter Mildred thought that the last day of school was Thursday. Caught the bus as usual in the morning. Got a call a bit later to say that there were no classes. So it was off to Ban Dung to pick her up.

 

What I did see when there was a fair few people at the KrungThai bank - opposite the hospital - waiting for it to open.

 

 

 

I'm not happy with the KTB, and will try to open another account with the bank in the small one-way soi; between the lady-boy massage shop and the barbers.

 

The road-works on the 2022 are finished. What a great job too!!

 

 

Street lighting; the lot. Can't wait to drive down at night and see them operational.

 

 

And those lines"? So straight!

 

Who owns that pick-up? What a brute!

 

 

Dogs still can't leave stuff alone. Clothes, shoes or anything really.

 

 

And of course there is always rivalry on who has the first and last bites.

 

 

Is it worth sewing up?

 

 

Saw a Tesla in Ban Dung about a week ago. First one I've seen here. The Mrs spotted it too. Put it on her wish list for 2023.

 

The duck farm - just along from us - has a solar set up. Went and had a look. See if I could gather some info'.

 

 

A bit of a jumble this farm. Discarded things everywhere.

 

 

And there it was!

 

 

 

And upstairs.

 

 

I only want a system for pumping water into the ponds.

Checked the head - in the deep well - yesterday, and it was just over 6 metres. Perfect. But I will try my vacuum free-water pump first. Have to get a metal drum in Ban Dung.

 

Still not got the water flowing from pond 5 to pond 7. Water is desperately low. Maybe just one more day before the fish come to grief.

 

 

The plastic pipe just wasn't up to the job. Got a PVC set-up in place now. Was missing a connector or two. Had to melt a plastic pipe to get a fit. Tried to bodge it, but no luck. Lit a small fire to melt the plastic. Nearly burnt the farm down.

 

Fortunately Mildred was there, throwing water on the raging fire.

 

 

Try again today. Last chance.

 

Last day for Mildred on Friday. Got to the pick up place at the normal time, but the bus had gone early. Not the only one. Bus driver's wife did the biz by running the kids up to the 2022 to meet the bus.

 

Mildred examining her nails.

 

 

Footy round up.

'It was close until they got their second'. The Reds went on to score 7. How many times have United let in that many in their history? And as for the victors Liverpool. They visited Bournemouth yesterday full of hope. But, were humbled by the South Coast outfit.

In the Champions League; Spurs go out. Chelsea go through.

QPR end their losing run by beating Watford.

The Owls win again. Unbeaten run now 22 matches.

Banks O'Dee beaten at home by Buckie Thistle.

 

World focus.

BBC say 'sorry' over Lineker debacle.

US bank failure. Silicon Valley Bank has inadequate liquidity and pending insolvency. Regulators in California have stepped in, and seized 177 billion of assets.

Big action in Ukraine. Russia attacks energy infrastructure.

The civil rights leader Malcome X's daughter says US authorities, "executed their plan to assassinate" her father. She has plans to sue the FBI, NYPD and the CIA.

Senators in US are informed that China's TIcTok poses a lethal threat to Americans.

Authorities in Berlin say that ladies can go topless in swimming pools.

Big pussy problem down under. Killer cats creating terror among small mammals in parts of Australia.

 

Thailand musings.

Biometric recognisance - using facial and eye scans - soon needed for high-value transactions. Bank of Thailand announce. Banks must adopt these measures by June this year.

An annual report has found that Thai prisons in 2022, are well below international standards.  Department of Correction say reports of 'VIP sections' in prisons are untrue.

A broken drill bit has been hurting a lady, after it was left in her leg after surgery. Someone at Saraburi Hospital left the tool inside her leg during surgery more than six years ago,

A 14 year old girl was shot dead in front of a mosque in Pattani province

TAT says over 6 million visitors will visit Thailand in 2023.

In the Mae Chan district of Chiang Rai, police have seized 6,104,183 Yaba pills.

22 year old Khittiphot, a billionaire’s son, denies that he bit a woman's genitals.

Child obesity! One in 10 Thai kids are clinically obese says the Department of Health (DOH).

Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan is world women's snooker champion. The cue-mistress potted the balls at the Hi-end Snooker Club to take the title.

 

The mekongs are showing well. They have been in three different ponds, but the one they are in at present (pond 4), is very much to their liking it seems.

 

 

Mildred off school until the first week in May. Plenty of chess and maths. "How do you find the area of a circle Dad?" "Just need pebbles dear. But marbles better." "That's what I told the teacher. But she looked befuddled."

 

Every day I am picking up the rubbish along our soi. It is definitely having an effect on others. They have stopped throwing their garbage everywhere now. Cleanest soi section in the village.

I said to Mrs Owl about getting every village house-hold to pay 'little leg lady' 20 baht each a month to keep the whole village free of trash. This little lady is under one metre tall, and her earning potential is limited. Mrs Owl said it was ''farang rubbish idea'.'  A lot of my ideas are 'rubbish'. The Saturday morning 'Chess Club' never took off.

 

Have a couple of roof-tiles misplaced. Have to sort it before any 'big rain' gets here.

 

Still not put the stone down at the farm. So many distractions this year.

 

Haven't been back to the bank. But!! Mrs Owl says she has paid the 2,800 baht. She borrowed the dosh and I've said I will not pay it back.

 

Big event in the week at the wat. Vids in Owl Log part 2 later today.

 

Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

[owl sees all]

2 hours ago, bannork said:

They're rarely Wright though I wasn't aware they had expanded to forecasting Thai weather, presumably during matches in place of the absent  commentators.

'A long ball to Rushford, meanwhile thunderstorms are expected in Udon'.

Not humid enough imo, and when the Meteorological Office here announced the start of the dry season a few days ago, I wanted to weep. There's been one drop of rain since October, that's five months of dry season already!

Yes indeed.

 

 

Shows clouds and everything. But none over our area today.

 

 

They could be wrong of course. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

 

Only trust the BBC for footy results.

[rickudon]

Passport - Marks sending machine was in gear, got passport on Tuesday. So another option for you Owl. Wife's visa is apparently back in Bangkok - should arrive any day. I booked the tickets to UK - that hurt a lot! 2,800 GBP for the 3 of us. A once in a lifetime thing for the wife i think. Daughter will have options when she grows up.

 

Mangoes - have 5 trees with fruit, but not a lot. Planted one new Mango (grown from seed), No transplanting shock. Meanwhile, M-in-L continues her scorched earth policy in the garden - has weeded my pots, including a Pomelo seedling and many tomato plants. Seems to have developed a pathological hatred of anything green, unless she planted it..... I fear on my return from the UK in May it will be a moonscape! 

[GarryP]

Well so much for summer storms. Not so much as a storm in a tea cup let alone a fart in a jam jar here in Kham Muang. 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Good post Owl. Sorry to hear about the lack of rain. Doesn't seem long ago you had plenty. Everything is a bit topsy turvy - we had the wettest spring and early summer I can remember - had torrents of water flooding past the house damaging the road on a few occasions.

Cats are a problem here. They have to be kept inside for killing the local wildlife. Rarely now you see a  cat at all and if you do it is hiding in the bushes like a criminal or something. 

[bannork]

8 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Well so much for summer storms. Not so much as a storm in a tea cup let alone a fart in a jam jar here in Kham Muang. 

On the Thai news this morning the weather woman only gave northern Issan a 10% chance of rain. I reckon the Meteorological Office have to err on the side of caution, warning about billboards getting blown down, just in case some do.

Still, all is not lost. Looking at this 10 day forecast for Udon, I see the night minimum temperatures rising to 26 degrees in just over a week. That's when the storms will begin imo. 

[owl sees all]

6 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Passport - Marks sending machine was in gear, got passport on Tuesday. So another option for you Owl. Wife's visa is apparently back in Bangkok - should arrive any day. I booked the tickets to UK - that hurt a lot! 2,800 GBP for the 3 of us. A once in a lifetime thing for the wife i think. Daughter will have options when she grows up.

 

Mangoes - have 5 trees with fruit, but not a lot. Planted one new Mango (grown from seed), No transplanting shock. Meanwhile, M-in-L continues her scorched earth policy in the garden - has weeded my pots, including a Pomelo seedling and many tomato plants. Seems to have developed a pathological hatred of anything green, unless she planted it..... I fear on my return from the UK in May it will be a moonscape! 

That is good news on the PP front. Now I'm thinking that I'll get Mildred's PP first. Mine can wait until later in the year.

 

Those prices for the airfares are a fiddle. Pity Ryan Air can't do long haul.

 

I think it's a mistake to diesturb the soil unless there is water. Just killing insects and the like.

[owl sees all]

31 minutes ago, bannork said:

On the Thai news this morning the weather woman only gave northern Issan a 10% chance of rain. I reckon the Meteorological Office have to err on the side of caution, warning about billboards getting blown down, just in case some do.

Still, all is not lost. Looking at this 10 day forecast for Udon, I see the night minimum temperatures rising to 26 degrees in just over a week. That's when the storms will begin imo. 

According to the BBC world forecast. There is a 10% chance of rain in Udon province on Thursday night.

 

Only this afternoon i was noting how poor the sugar was. Everything needs rain desperately.

[HighPriority]

@owl sees all what are the upload restrictions ?

Are they from your provider or AN ?

[owl sees all]

5 hours ago, HighPriority said:

@owl sees all what are the upload restrictions ?

Are they from your provider or AN ?

AN have put a 70mb limit on uploads. Could only get one vid on.

 

Post the other half of the Owl Log later today.

[owl sees all]

15 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Good post Owl. Sorry to hear about the lack of rain. Doesn't seem long ago you had plenty. Everything is a bit topsy turvy - we had the wettest spring and early summer I can remember - had torrents of water flooding past the house damaging the road on a few occasions.

Cats are a problem here. They have to be kept inside for killing the local wildlife. Rarely now you see a  cat at all and if you do it is hiding in the bushes like a criminal or something. 

Thanks for the compliment FIATOC.

 

Weather around the world is changing at quite a rapid pace. Some 'experts' say that it is the sun. Others say it is humans causing the changes. I personally point the finger at Gary Lineker. Or Miss Greta.

 

Cat numbers in Isaan never really get out of control. The dogs keep them in check.

 

We had over 30 at the farm at one time. But that was during the time of the 'dog wagon'. That has long been discontinued; hence the acute rise in dog meat at some restaurants. Now the dogs are everywhere, and they roam about - sometimes in small packs - terrorizing cats and squirrels.

 

[gamb00ler]

4 hours ago, owl sees all said:

AN have put a 70mb limit on uploads. Could only get one vid on.

 

Post the other half of the Owl Log later today.

If you have a gmail account, Google gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free.  You can upload your video onto that Google drive using a browser.  When upload is complete you can share the video by creating a link to it and then post the link in a AN message.

[owl sees all]

3 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

If you have a gmail account, Google gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free.  You can upload your video onto that Google drive using a browser.  When upload is complete you can share the video by creating a link to it and then post the link in a AN message.

Thanks for that bro'.

 

Interesting way to go.

[HighPriority]

4 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

If you have a gmail account, Google gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free.  You can upload your video onto that Google drive using a browser.  When upload is complete you can share the video by creating a link to it and then post the link in a AN message.

So what happens when you hit 15Gb ?

Do you then delete the older files ?

Or pay for extra storage ?

[gamb00ler]

3 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

So what happens when you hit 15Gb ?

Do you then delete the older files ?

Or pay for extra storage ?

As you approach the limit of your free allotment they will warn you and prompt you to consider paying for more.

You can get more free storage by just creating another free gmail account.  It's up to you to manage your storage and keep track of what's stored where.

 

There is also an application (for Windows, MacOS, IOS and probably Android) that will let you view and manage the contents of your Google drive.

 

When using the MacOS application, the files that are stored in the cloud appear to be just regular files stored on a separate drive.  You can still access and manipulate them just like regular files, albeit with a short delay.

[HighPriority]

Thanks for explaining that @gamb00ler.

sometimes if you venture into dark corners of places like this you’ll find many threads with lost/broken/just plain missing links, it saddens me.

[sotonowl]

I came across this online Owl and thought of you.

[owl sees all]

4 hours ago, sotonowl said:

I came across this online Owl and thought of you.

Don't think that's a realistic sign Owl.

 

Obviously a disgruntled Iron's fan, who switched allegiance in days past; and regrets it. Now they can see the 'O's back on their way to the very top, while the Irons emotionally suffer from having left their famous old home; The Boleyn Ground (Upton Park).

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

15 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Don't think that's a realistic sign Owl.

 

Obviously a disgruntled Iron's fan, who switched allegiance in days past; and regrets it. Now they can see the 'O's back on their way to the very top, while the Irons emotionally suffer from having left their famous old home; The Boleyn Ground (Upton Park).

 

 

 

Sounding a bit disgruntled yourself there Owl !

But, as a Leeds fan i have more than good reason to be disgruntled !!

 

[owl sees all]

You are not wrong there Andy.

 

Peacocks could go down for sure. Last season they were in a similar position and escaped. Difficult to call at the bottom of the EPL. Cherries smashed Pool at the w/e. Can they build on that? The Saints keep looking as thought they are dead and burred, only to get the odd result. As for the Irons! Mid-table.

 

On the upside; it can be an exciting season in the Championship if your club has a decent chance of promotion.

 

My three to go down; Saints, Peacocks and - wait for it - Toffees!!! To be replaced by Clarets, Boro and Hatters. Gonna be great in the Championship next season; like it is right now.

[owl sees all]

52 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Sounding a bit disgruntled yourself there Owl !

But, as a Leeds fan i have more than good reason to be disgruntled !!

 

Orient well clear. Sending shivers down the spines of the league above's clubs.

 

 

Interesting to note that 3 of the 4 clubs have graced the 'top flight' in recent times.