Diary of a farang in Isaan

[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Biggles would have approved!

 

Humans have evolved to eat leaves, roots and fruits etc. We are not equipped for grain products; but I do appreciate that Lao Kha is rice based. (I also developed a liking for single-malt whiskey. At 2 litres for 100 baht*, one could easily get into over-indulge mode.}

 

Ginger, onions and citrus fruits are as good as it gets, for us humans. Throw in a bit of 'how's your father', footy and the occasional lump of cheese, and we are in utopia.

 

* Most decent Nong Khai shops.

Single malt whiskey - 2 litres for 100 Baht? When someone mentions single malt, you think of Scotch.

What whiskey is at that price?

[owl sees all]

16 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Single malt whiskey - 2 litres for 100 Baht? When someone mentions single malt, you think of Scotch.

What whiskey is at that price?

It's 'best' single-malt; Lion 2000. Established by the French (I think) and continued by the Lao people after independence. Don't think the Scots had anything to do with it but they get everywhere, so who knows.

 

 

[sotonowl]

3 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Couldn't quite do it. A draw is not really any good to The Owls, but as long as Forest keep in that top 6 they'll be happy.  At the present time there seems little advantage in being at home. No crowd to get behind the home team.

 

My acc' (8) went down. Got the first 5, then Cherries let me down. Redeemed myself a little by getting the Brighton/Arsenal correct score.

To be quite honest the crowd really doesn't help the team at Hillsborough, it can become toxic if things aren't going our way and some of the players just can't handle it.

I watched the game on iFollow. We were the better team on the day but I thought we were going to get mugged, fortunately Connor Wickham stepped up to get us a point.

As for my bets yesterday I thought they were all down but when I looked at my account I'd actually made a few bob, not a lot as I'm not a big gambler but any profit is good right? Anyway, I checked my settled bets and I'd had 50p on Derby to win and both teams to score at 13/2, forgot I'd done the bet.

How do you bet Owl? Have you got a UK betting account? Is it illegal in Thailand? I wouldn't know as I've never felt the need to bet when I'm there.

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 21-06-2020

 

The rain has held off for a couple of days which allowed Som to do the tractor work for us. He is the husband of the lady with the big mangoes.

 

The idea being, that because this part of the farm is virtually always wet, during this time, we would set it aside for rice growing.

 

 

Mrs Owl will scatter the rice in the next couple of days and then the tractor, with the scarifier attached will turn the top few inches. The harvest a few years ago in this area, was over 20 sack a rai. The soil is very good and I'd wager we get at least 30 sacks from 1.6 rai. Once the rice starts to grow I'll block of the drainage pipes under the road, and keep an eye on water levels,

 

 

The rice area is to the right.

 

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I was lucky with the pick-up. The local lad didn't attach the battery correctly when he was repairing it a few weeks back. The battery slid from its housing and came to rest against the top pulley. Carved a decent size hole in the battery cell and sprayed battery acid all over the front of the engine.

 

 

The battery seems to be OK on 5 cells but I'll charge it up every few days until I get a new one.

 

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Milly and Boyz have been riding their bikes to and from the farm most days. Have to be so, so careful 'cause of the Evil Keniveels charging about at over 100km hour. One of us goes with them either in the pick-up or me on my bike.

 

 

Milly seems to like my bike better than any other. She is taller than Mrs Owl at just 10 years old. We went to Big C and had a look at the bikes yesterday. There is one called 'Turbo' that she likes. Only 6 gears to worry about (my Carrera has 24); just under 4k bhat.

 

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Didn't go to the school on Friday as there was an IEP (Intensive English Programme) meeting in the big hall Saturday. Masks and 2 metre distancing were observed. I tried to get a cup of coffee. "No have!" I wandered off to have a look at the new building. Fantastic!! Be in operation next month I reckon.

 

 

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The cats at Um's house are growing so fast. They are two months old now.

 

 

Give me back my snake Boyz. It will bite you.

 

 

 

 

Charkie's kittens, on the other hand, are tiny in comparison. A month old now and the children are handling them.

 

 

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You win some and you lose some. Recently my biggest loss was Milly going back to school. I wanted her to take a complete year off. Mrs Owl would have none of it; "she need friend." Just two weeks to go to the start. These people seem so scared to buck the system in any way. Or, am I wrong, out of touch and 'farang, ding dong'?

 

Went to Big C yesterday (Saturday) for shopping and grub. Mask, temperate-check and record tel' number in little book. I think Big C have stopped doing the 'Big C' branded cat food. No reference to it anywhere. Couldn't understand the Pringles offer. 45 bhat or 88 for two. Even Milly said it was not much of a bargain; so gave them a miss.

 

Stopped at a hardware shop to get some fittings for our loo bum gun. Mrs owl said she was off to 7/11 with Milly. Daughter came back just as I was coming out of my shop. "I hate seven/eleven." She had forgotten her mask and they wouldn't let her in. This was the same 7/11 that wanted to see my passport to pay a leccy bill a few months back. I don't go in there, and now Milly has boycotted them as well. Eat your masks 7/11.

 

The UK footy has started up again and all will be sorted out before the end of July. Some of the Div 1 and Div 2 are a bit peeved as they have gone straight into the play-offs. At last a chance to make up for the ever poorer exchange rate. There was a race course in Udon. Don't know if it's ever gonna be operational again. Bluesofa will know.

 

I notice that John Pilger's film 'The coming war with China' is being aired on Aljazeera, Very sad film.

 

Still haven't be able to open my flash-drive. Windows 10 is so, so bossy and unfriendly. Come back XP; all is forgiven.

 

A bit of a problem in the family. Mrs Owl secretly put her gold into the shop three months ago to get money to send to her daughter for a business venture in BKK. She would like me - at the very least - to pay the interest. Just sprung it on me this morning. Reminds me of that song; "Life is a cabaret old chum; come to the cabaret."

 

Take care out there.

 

Bye y'all.

 

[Kadilo]

4 hours ago, owl sees all said:

 

A bit of a problem in the family. Mrs Owl secretly put her gold into the shop three months ago to get money to send to her daughter for a business venture in BKK. She would like me - at the very least - to pay the interest. Just sprung it on me this morning.

 

Uh-oh.......”business venture alert”. 

 

 

[bluesofa]

6 hours ago, owl sees all said:

I notice that John Pilger's film 'The coming war with China' is being aired on Aljazeera, Very sad film.

I hadn't heard about this before. Thanks for the info.

As a keen documentary watcher I've just downloaded it. Afterwards I noticed it's on youtube too.

(The coming war on China (2016) if you're searching for it)

 

[owl sees all]

11 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Uh-oh.......”business venture alert”. 

 

 

Not quite as it seems. It never is!

 

Before the COVID thing the daughter wanted to buy this fruit stall in BKK for 20k bhat.

 

 

Evidently it is quite busy; normally!! However, I could see problems ahead and said to wait until the virus dust settled.

 

Mrs Owl voiced my opinions to her daughter, who I understood was going to wait and see as I suggested.

 

That was the last I heard of it until last w/e, when the Mrs told me about the money being sent 3 months ago. Now I've found out that the other half of the 20k was borrowed from someone in our village.

 

 

[bluesofa]

18 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Not quite as it seems. It never is!

 

Before the COVID thing the daughter wanted to buy this fruit stall in BKK for 20k bhat.

 

 

Evidently it is quite busy; normally!! However, I could see problems ahead and said to wait until the virus dust settled.

 

Mrs Owl voiced my opinions to her daughter, who I understood was going to wait and see as I suggested.

 

That was the last I heard of it until last w/e, when the Mrs told me about the money being sent 3 months ago. Now I've found out that the other half of the 20k was borrowed from someone in our village.

I'm sure you'll qualify for fruit at family rates (plus the P&P)

[owl sees all]

A great example of Thai fish sharing and taking their turns at work for the good of others.

 

The catfish would slide onto the tiled area and swish about sending the food flying into the fish's mouths that were open expectantly. This was at Kham Chanod.

 

 

I had another vid' of ants carrying/pushing a potato crisp up a wall. About 20 involved. Unfortunately it's on the flash-drive that I can't open.

 

 

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

That was the last I heard of it until last w/e, when the Mrs told me about the money being sent 3 months ago. Now I've found out that the other half of the 20k was borrowed from someone in our village.

Dear Owl,

 

I wish I could say that Thai wives attitudes change when they go to live in a foreign country but ,at least in my case,they don't appear to as I have just been "blindsided" by my wife who has been arranging a business venture with her Isaan Thai friends but has certainly not included me in the discussion.

 

Flying under the radar for 3 months or so seems to somehow make it "legitimate."

 

I am really (deleted) off!

[HighPriority]

I hope you’re feeling strong Ode.

Believe in yourself ????????

[owl sees all]

Owl Log 22-06-2020

 

The weather has been absolutely scorching the last couple of days so Mrs Owl took advantage and threw the rice.

 

Som (tractor driver) had already ploughed with the six disc, so there was nothing more to do than cast the rice. 

 

 

When Mrs Owl was half way across the field the tractor started scarifying.

 

 

Mrs Owl didn't trust me to do any throwing, so she did it all. I just had to refill the buckets, and move the posts which said where the rice had been thrown. I didn't think she was scattering enough, but what do I know?

 

Now we have to wait 10/12 days to see the rice poking through. Then we want a drop of rain.

 

Bye y'all.

 

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

6 hours ago, owl sees all said:

A great example of Thai fish sharing and taking their turns at work for the good of others.

 

The catfish would slide onto the tiled area and swish about sending the food flying into the fish's mouths that were open expectantly. This was at Kham Chanod.

 

I had another vid' of ants carrying/pushing a potato crisp up a wall. About 20 involved. Unfortunately it's on the flash-drive that I can't open.

 

Couldn't upload the file in AVI form. Had to covert to mp4. But worth it; 20 seconds of magic.

 

 

[owl sees all]

42 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

 

Couldn't upload the file in AVI form. Had to covert to mp4. But worth it; 20 seconds of magic.

 

 

I give up!

[Sterling]

I was able to right click on the video and download it locally to my Mac and watch it with VLC.

That's a LOT of fish!

[bluesofa]

18 hours ago, Sterling said:

I was able to right click on the video and download it locally to my Mac and watch it with VLC.

That's a LOT of fish!

Thanks for the suggestion. I did exactly the same as you and watched the video.

 

Just now my wife was telling me they've lost about 500kg of bla nin.

They've died in one of the ponds due to the lack of water - the rain being late, and it being too hot as well. They need to rely on the rain as there's nothing else where they are.

They have been desperately selling the fish on the markets everyday for weeks now, to try and prevent this happening.

 

[owl sees all]

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I did exactly the same as you and watched the video.

 

Just now my wife was telling me they've lost about 500kg of bla nin.

They've died in one of the ponds due to the lack of water - the rain being late, and it being too hot as well. They need to rely on the rain as there's nothing else where they are.

They have been desperately selling the fish on the markets everyday for weeks now, to try and prevent this happening.

 

This is so distressing to hear.

 

Lack of oxygen, low water levels and correspondingly nitrate and ammonia levels rise. There is a stress disease (Streptococcus) that pla nin are susceptible to also. Once the disease sets in they can die in big numbers (although it could be just one isolated pond). Tell-tale signs are:

 

Have the dead fish got their mouths open? (lack of oxygen)

Is there any sign of poor quality skin? (Streptococcus)

Does it look like their eyes are bulging or blood-shot? (Streptococcus, water very warm)

 

I lost 1000 big fish - in just two days - a few years back. Almost certainly Streptococcus, brought on by water being too warm (over 30C) at the bottom of the pond. Surface water temperature is not so critical if there is sufficient depth. But less than about 80cm will see the high temperatures, we are experiencing, have a bigger effect.

 

This year, with the lack of rain, some fishes will suffer. Catfish are far hardier and will tolerate much poorer conditions than for pla nin.

 

 

 

[bluesofa]

50 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

This is so distressing to hear.

 

Lack of oxygen, low water levels and correspondingly nitrate and ammonia levels rise. There is a stress disease (Streptococcus) that pla nin are susceptible to also. Once the disease sets in they can die in big numbers (although it could be just one isolated pond). Tell-tale signs are:

 

Have the dead fish got their mouths open? (lack of oxygen)

Is there any sign of poor quality skin? (Streptococcus)

Does it look like their eyes are bulging or blood-shot? (Streptococcus, water very warm)

 

I lost 1000 big fish - in just two days - a few years back. Almost certainly Streptococcus, brought on by water being too warm (over 30C) at the bottom of the pond. Surface water temperature is not so critical if there is sufficient depth. But less than about 80cm will see the high temperatures, we are experiencing, have a bigger effect.

 

This year, with the lack of rain, some fishes will suffer. Catfish are far hardier and will tolerate much poorer conditions than for pla nin.

I couldn't give you specific answers at present to your questions. I haven't been to the farm myself.

If you remember, I've no understanding about any of these 'natural' things, apart from what I'm told, being in telecoms & IT. It would make me pretty useless as a farmer, which is fine by me.

 

Even right now my wife is still at the farm with the family helping to rescue the struggling fish, putting them into some large plastic tanks with a small pump to keep it oxygenated. She might be back about 10pm.

 

I see the ten-day weather forecast (weather.com) reckons there won't be any decent rain (in Udon) for another week.

[owl sees all]

Owl Log 23-06-2020

 

Off to BanDung today. It was all about MinL. She had to get a new ATM card with a 6 number pin. The poor lady can hardly walk and Mrs Owl was trying to do it on her behalf. Very difficult! Now the MinL has to go after all tomorrow morning.

 

Had a meal at the restaurant opposite Farmer's bank. !70 baht for three of us. Left a lot of my rice. Didn't seem clean food to me. Never mind; filled a gap.

 

Bought 5 Papaya trees on the way home. Twenty baht each, but they were the 'dwarf' variety and are a bit more expensive.

 

Arrived at the farm a bit late. The tractor had done a good job. Very neat.

 

 

Just want the rice to grow now.

 

Milly and Boyz went fishing in number one pond. Didn't catch anything. The fish seem to have disappeared. I've got a feeling that it's someone that works at the temple. Not a monk, but an odd-job man.

 

 

"Milly!! I've told you before, you must put the hook into the bait." "But Boyz, you don't understand; I'm using the hair method."

 

 

I left them to it, and busied myself separating soil from the little euca bags. Mrs Owl put the lot into the furnace. "The plastic will not burn with all the soil in there teerak." No response from the Mrs. I'll have to sort it out over the next week or so.

 

Got back from the farm after seven tonight. When Milly starts back at school, we'll have to return earlier.

 

More to follow.

 

Bye y'all.

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

40 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I couldn't give you specific answers at present to your questions. I haven't been to the farm myself.

If you remember, I've no understanding about any of these 'natural' things, apart from what I'm told, being in telecoms & IT. It would make me pretty useless as a farmer, which is fine by me.

 

Even right now my wife is still at the farm with the family helping to rescue the struggling fish, putting them into some large plastic tanks with a small pump to keep it oxygenated. She might be back about 10pm.

 

I see the ten-day weather forecast (weather.com) reckons there won't be any decent rain (in Udon) for another week.

I make you right with the weather. This season could be awful. This could be the third year running where the rainfall is considerably less than 100cm for the whole year.

 

The farmers that planted rice early have replanted, and it appears that they have done OK in preserving the water from the two recent downpours.

 

Just have to keep 'em crossed.

 

PPS: Just checked on my regular site and they say next Tuesday before anything more than a shower comes along.

[bluesofa]

An update from yesterday on the hundreds of bla nin that were dying.

 

There were five of the family last night scooping out the fish from the pond. There were at it all night, until 4am.

It turned out the fish were too far gone and had died already. The pump wasn't needed, but they're still in plastic tanks of water, ready to start selling later today and onwards.

Wife and son out sparko right now, until they go to the market in a couple of hours.

 

[owl sees all]

35 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

An update from yesterday on the hundreds of bla nin that were dying.

 

There were five of the family last night scooping out the fish from the pond. There were at it all night, until 4am.

It turned out the fish were too far gone and had died already. The pump wasn't needed, but they're still in plastic tanks of water, ready to start selling later today and onwards.

Wife and son out sparko right now, until they go to the market in a couple of hours.

 

Sad indeed.

 

I have slowed fish deaths a good deal by casting salt into the pond. Talapia (pla nin) live quite happily with water that has a salt content. It can calm the fish, of they are unduly stressed.

 

Just mention it to Mrs Bluesofa. She probably knows all about it as she is probably packing the dead ones in salt, ready for sale at the market.

 

Is the market the one near Makro?

[bluesofa]

31 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Sad indeed.

 

I have slowed fish deaths a good deal by casting salt into the pond. Talapia (pla nin) live quite happily with water that has a salt content. It can calm the fish, of they are unduly stressed.

 

Just mention it to Mrs Bluesofa. She probably knows all about it as she is probably packing the dead ones in salt, ready for sale at the market.

 

Is the market the one near Makro?

I just asked, and the answer was that the fish are packed with ice, but no salt. The idea of salt was dismissed - that's only needed if you're making bla ra!

 

The markets they go to now are on a casual basis - in nearby villages, (the parents used to go to Nong Bua market for years - a km east of the one near Makro, on the same road).

 

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 25-06-2020

 

After me telling Bluesofa that there would not be any big rain 'til Tuesday, it bucketed down last night, starting at 23-00. Didn't last long though; just 30 minutes.

 

It had an effect on the rice area. This part of the farm is gonna be rice, and I'll gradually raise the water level to turn it into a paddy. Got to see the rice first though.

 

 

 

About 11 days to see the rice come through. Rice harvests are gonna be late this year. I don't think we will harvest 'til December.

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Stripped 3/4 kilos of neem leaves from the tree. They will be fermented for 10 days and used as an insect repellent in the sprayer.

 

 

 

Have to lock the top as it's an anaerobic fermentation. Otherwise one of the children, or adult, would whip the top off.

 

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

The Mrs went off to plant some trees at #8 pond. I busied myself getting some of the soil out of the plastic. Gave up after 20 minutes, Just too wet after the rain last night.

 

 

This is hours of work, but the plastic cannot be just dumped and I don't like the idea of burying it.

 

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Made a reishi brew this morning. About seven litres.

 

 

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Mildred and Boyz are always doing something. They have their own snail farm and have taken to worm protection.

 

 

Have to build a little house for the worms first of course.

 

 

They will want me to get a load later.

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

The most important pond is #5. It's filling nicely, helped by me pumping from #3 if there is no rain.

 

 

About half metre to go. Can there be enough rain to fill it? We will see.

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Been doing some internet research on the 'Agent Orange' used in Thailand during the US's Vietnam days. Evidently there is at least 70,000 litres unaccounted for. I've gleaned that there was a US base about 10km south of Udon, which dealt with vehicle maintenance, plus Udon airfield. There are a lot of people and kids up this way with deformities. This stuff was everywhere for years. And, right now I'm very close to VoA on the 2022.

 

I don't think we will be going at Ban Dung tomorrow, at least not to swap over M's homework, could do a bit of shopping.

 

The leccy bill was under 1000 baht for the first time in years. We have fans on the go virtually all the time. Three at night. One to keep Charkie and the little cats cool during the day, and two in our lounge. Two fridges and the usual electric stuff. Good!

 

More to follow.

 

Bye y'all.

 

 

[HighPriority]

Great news re the rain Owl. 

I must check up on what my extended family are up to with their farm, I don’t know what they’ve planted, if at all...
 
VoA ??

please explain for the young and feeble of mind amongst us...

[owl sees all]

4 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

Great news re the rain Owl. 

I must check up on what my extended family are up to with their farm, I don’t know what they’ve planted, if at all...
 
VoA ??

please explain for the young and feeble of mind amongst us...

The VoA.

 

Voice of America. And one of the notorious 'dark sites' run by the CIA in Thailand.

 

Everyone knows about the goings on in these parts.

[bluesofa]

14 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Owl Log - 25-06-2020

 

After me telling Bluesofa that there would not be any big rain 'til Tuesday, it bucketed down last night, starting at 23-00. Didn't last long though; just 30 minutes.

Owl, can you send some buckets over to Udon please?

 

It rained here twice last night. Noisily, but nowhere near heavy enough for any real use. Hopefully next week.

 

As an aside, the locals love the sound of the rain at night - helps them sleep! How they can say it's soothing, I have no idea.

For me, any noise wakes me up and keeps me awake.

 

 

Going back to when I had a GoGo bar.

There were half-a-dozen of the girls who stayed in a spare room upstairs. They slept on mattresses on the floor.

 

One month our water bill - usually about 300 Baht for the four-storey building - was over 3,000 Baht.

I spent a couple of days trying to find where a potential leak might be - unsuccessfully. When there was no water being used, the water meter didn't move one iota. No apparent leak.

 

I asked the mamasan if she had any ideas.

A few hours later we found the culprit: one of the dancers.

Turned out she had trouble sleeping, so turned the tap on in the sink in the girl's room. The running water was a 'nice relaxing sound', and she soon dozed off, with the water running all night.

Kept this up every night for a couple of weeks, until the mamasan discovered what she'd been up to.

Needless to say she had most of the 3,000 Baht water bill docked from her salary.

[owl sees all]

27 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

A few hours later we found the culprit: one of the dancers.

Turned out she had trouble sleeping, so turned the tap on in the sink in the girl's room. The running water was a 'nice relaxing sound', and she soon dozed off, with the water running all night.

Kept this up every night for a couple of weeks, until the mamasan discovered what she'd been up to.

Needless to say she had most of the 3,000 Baht water bill docked from her salary.

A little story about water. I'm sure he will not mind me repeating it but I'll not say his name.

 

He had a small shop on the nearby salt farm. His water was shared by his shop and the lady behind. Every month the bill would be about 100 baht. He would pay the bill and think nothing of it. One month; right out of the blue, it jumped up twentyfold.

 

I visited him during the day, when they (wife and lady neighbour) were on the phone saying that they wanted someone to check their water meter. I didn't think too much of it, but had a look at the small pond behind his shop as I had been told there were fingerling pla nin introduced. It had getting on to half-a-metre of water in it! There had been no rain to speak of. Here was the answer. I looked further and found a pipe with a valve under some sheeting.

 

The lady had been running the water into the pond when the shop was closed to fill it. What I found amusing, and he found annoying (couldn't blame him), was the level of pretense the two ladies were going to, to deflect away from the pond.

 

I was never forgiven by the ladies.

[owl sees all]

Owl Log - 28-06-2020

 

The man who was to buy our Kabota couldn't raise the dosh. So that fell through, but word had got around and a new guy appeared on the scene. Started it up for him, and pointed out the extras; a single plough (unused) and a scarifyer (1.5 metres wide with 15 points), with heavy duty chain still in place.

 

 

We - or rather Mrs Owl - struck a bargain. 12k. Had to take our water pump off the Kabota frame. That was easier said than done. Finished up cutting the through the holding bolts.

 

 

Three hours later the Kabota was on its way to a new home.

 

 

The money would help to pay a few bill; that's for sure. "When's he gonna pay the 12,000 baht teerak?" "After rice, cut and sell." "Right, but roughly when?" "He not plant rice yet. Why you want to know many questions?"

 

Not worth getting any further into the discussion. So it's later this year I guess.

 

Now we have a new parking spot for the pick-up.

 

 

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I decided to plant the avocado and mango trees. Mango on the left; avocado right.

 

 

They are doing well in water, but it's time to pot them.

 

 

I put some sand and rice hulls into the mix. Can't leave them on the table. That's asking for trouble, so I'll move them later.

 

The avocado next to the one potted, had a great set of roots but no stem. Avocados lay dormant for ages then shoot into life, so I'll keep an eye on it.

 

 

Daughter loves to help, as long as it does not clash with her internet research.

 

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Eucalypti doing OK. Fish are happy and Mrs Owl has just made me a cup of Rosy. Things are ticky-boo in the Owl domain.

 

But, Mildred has to go back to school on Wednesday. Not looking forward to it. She leaves at 06-45 and gets home at 16-45. That's a long time to be away from my best mate. Just had a word with the Mrs and she says that not so many children are doing the school run in the pick-up-bus. So it could be a much later leave and an earlier get back. Soon be able to see what's afoot.

 

The kittens are getting about now. Still very small, especially the three coloured one. Curley-wurley, the dog opposite has spotted the kittens and is hanging about. He knows he can't come past the gate but he might not have passed that info' onto his mates. I don't think the little cats will be going out of the house (open section) for a couple of weeks yet.

 

Liverpool won the EPL in the week. Good luck to them. Barrow back in the football league for the first time in; must be 50 years. Suddenly Cardiff are 'the team' hitting form in the Championship; just at the right time. And Wolves for top 4?

 

Rain is on its way. Thursday I read.

 

Bye y'all.

 

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

"When's he gonna pay the 12,000 baht teerak?" "After rice, cut and sell." "Right, but roughly when?" "He not plant rice yet. Why you want to know many questions?"

 

Not worth getting any further into the discussion. So it's later this year I guess.

Hmm, sorry to sound negative Owl.

Why do so many Thais give their goods away with no security?

 

My B-I-L did exactly the same last year. Let a guy drive his motorbike off with no down-payment, and the promise he'd pay in full at the end of the month.

Months later B-I-L was still chasing the guy for the cash.

 

Going back in time fifteen years, running the GoGo bar. One of our regular ex-pat customers from Darlington had plenty of cash to invest.

He would lend people cash at the usual loan-shark rates, but only if they provided him with some security to cover the loan first.

Motorbikes, houses, cars. All with keys and ownership documents, no exceptions.

He had his Thai step-daughter run the business for him. She was hard as nails apparently.

 

He lent a couple of million at a time to a Thai local discotheque owner, on a regular basis. The owner put his multi-million Baht house up as security. He always paid the money back.

 

Other 'customers' weren't so lucky.

As well as the high interest he charged, our ex-pat customer ended up with two houses, two cars and lots of motorbikes when the loans defaulted.

Plus a couple of death threats too.

 

Too many people will commit themselves to promises they have no hope of keeping. I just hope Mrs Owl gets her/your money on time.