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Snaps here. It's Sunday the 30th March. Soon be April, and hopefully, the slow start of the wet season. Fingers Xed. This March has been a strange month. We have had scorching hot weather during the day. But only a few sticky nights. Most un-March like. Even a period of cool days and nights. Gradually getting the ducks to relinquish their fears. I've got within 2 metres now. As long as Robert is not with me. I'll try to hand-feed them soon. Done the MOT. Picked up the paperwork. Lovely place if you like creatures. There are two lizards in the cage. This one spoke to me. ''Hey farang. Set me free, and I'll give you lottery numbers.'' Brought some fish food with me. Lovely. In Ban Dung, the build next to Tesco is coming along. No idea yet, what it is gonna be. But plenty going on. Went to Ban Dung Bus Station to get some plastic bags. Thought I'd pop into Ting's shop. Just to say 'hi' of course. She was busy, but handed me a little something. It was a Romantic Moment. The elephant team arrived when i was there. Gave the beast some sugar cane. And it was off. A bit of something going on outside town. Thought at first it was tree trimming. Probably fixing damaged cables. Kun and wife Rooney doing more charcoal. First load in the logs. Seal it up with special mud. Mrs Snaps watching me intently. Sure to get a whacking later. ''You look charcoal lady!?'' Have to light the fire inside. And a few days later, it's ready for charcoal harvest. Oscar relaxing. He is putting on a bit of weight. Corn harvest near us. The cobs have been cut off. The vegetation is for cricket food. Big demand for cricket grub in these parts. The village held their annual music festival. For the last couple of years it is daytime only. I didn't go. Mildred with the camera. A few dancers braving the heat. Top Isaan singers. Plenty of goodies on offer. Let the fish go into different ponds. Pla nin into '1' and '2'. Mekongs into '5', '6', '7'. Minar and Wow doing the honours. The new solar set-up next to us is complete. somewhere to live is next on the agenda. From this point, 7 solar systems can be spotted. 4 in this pic. White circles are ours. Went along to the grape farm. Not plastic sheeting. A very fine polyester netting. Pick up yer basket. Cut off the grapes that take yer fancy. Go and pay. 200 Baht a kilo. I got the best ones. +++++ Footy back. Well sort of. EPL postponed because of the FA Cup quarters. Never heard anything like it. Well done Forest and Palace. I'll be rooting for the North Enders and Cherries later today. +++++ Mrs Snaps saw me with the little bouquet of wild flowers. ''Where you get them farang?'' ''I found them on the side of the track teerak.'' ''You sure lady never gave?'' Whack! ''Would I ever lie to you teerak?'' Another whack from the the back-scratcher. i didn't feel anything. Nor did the Mrs and Mildred. People felt the tremors as far away and Chiang Mai. Just goes to show. As dominant as we humans think we are, nature can bring us down to earth in an instant. Going fishing later with Mildred. Very dull today. Perfect for catching fish. Been asking around about where to get ducks. No one seems tp know. Can get turkeys and goats but not ducks. I'll keep asking. Will gold get to 50k Baht a baht this week? Pound v Baht is gradually creeping up. That's it. Getting ready for a bit of fishing. Take care out there. And stay away from those earthquakes.

Thanks for those kind, and rejuvenating, words Rattles. I'll be 78 this year. Don't feel a day over 76! I'm getting a hiding on the JFK Bird Flu thread on the AN sister site. Derogatory words, insults and one even - well more than one actually - say I should seek medical help. The funny thing is; I do my best to stay away from it. But at least the posts are staying up; this time. CharlieH must have had a word after a mod removed 20 in one hit. I love my life here in upper Isaan. Beautiful nature is all around. Have dogs, cats, ducks, wife, daughter and fish that rely on me; for their well-being. Although, for sure, before long I'll be relying on them. Fortunately my health is holding up well. But!! I've lost some of my insightful outlook on life. Now, when I see a nice looking bit of fluff, my first thought is; 'can she make a nice cup of rosy.' Not that I look at bits of fluff that much. At least not while the wife is about. Want to see my next birthday. This elderly body can't take the whacks that it did previously. Went fishing yesterday. Caught 20 eaters. Five to Kun, 5 to Sister Land - who cares for GrandMa, at her house - and the rest will do us for a while. Fished in pond 2 for a short time before calling it a day at 5-30. There are only two Sawai it that pond, and would you Adam and Eve it, one took me bait. It was a much bigger fish than the Nin we were catching, so couldn't 'swing' it in. And we had no net at hand. Mildred went down the bank to unhook it. Here's the top fish catcher; adjusting her float. a stiff bit of grass with a few poly balls stuck on. Don't like any sun. Have to improvise with the tackle here. Let's hear it for pencils and cable ties. Talking of fish. Just before she broke up, Mildred had to paint a picture on the theme of 'Creatures' for her art exam. All the children, well, not all, but the ones doing art as a subject, had two and a half hours to do their stuff. There was another exam painting. The art group each had to copy a part of the school. The teacher kept that one. So can't upload it unless she gets it back at some stage. There was no time limit on that one. Just updated her www. www.mildredart.com

Snaps here. It's Tuesday - 18th March - 2025. Ban Dung is gonna be the new Bangkok. Works to the North and South of town are steaming ahead. Another Global House. There is one in Udon. One just out of Udon on the H2 toward Khon Kaen. Another at Non Han, on the Sakon Nakhon Road. They are taking over! Just a stone's throw, further north, there is another big build. Don't yet know what this is gonna be. South of town, opposite Big C, there is a huge building going up. Mrs snaps says that Ban Dung is gonna have its own province soon. We will see. But she is never wrong. Not a particularly nice structure this. But I've seen three such building around. It's the colours. Must be a Peacock fan. The salt fields are in full swing. Nearly all the salt is now collected in black holders. Then it's put into sacks. Each sack weights about 40kg. There are thousands of them. Once the rain starts, they move onto the other gathering method. Cooking/boiling. I kid you not. I'll get some pics once that starts. They told me they were gonna wash the Mazza. I said 'no'. I explained that the pick-up don't like being washed. Would you Adan and Eve it? The next day there was a short burst of rain. Here's Poo. Mother of the triplets. Of course, if yer pick needs a new shaft, you just look around for a suitable branch. There ya go. Saw a little pick-up - very little - in Ban Dung. Think it sits two in the front. Will not get a lot of nuts in the back. The bit of spare land nearly opposite us put a sign up. I'd like to rent it, for a cat's home. Told the Mrs my idea and she went to have a gander. Not for sale or rent she said. So I've no idea what the sign is about. Keep cows away perhaps! The bulb had popped on the outside light. Soon had it sorted with an empty biscuit container. A bit of mastic to make in waterproof. And it was good to go. The original broke years ago. Big market by the river last week. I didn't go, but Mildred did, and took some pics. Quite popular this once a year market. That's money blowing in the breeze. Donations. Mrs snaps went for the Buddha good luck. Buffaloes. There is something going on around this area. They have diverted a biggish river, and started major works. I'm gonna investigate as soon as I'm able to get over that way. About 10km for us. It was me yer honour. I was manouvering the Mazza over to use when I fixed the light. And!! Who put the pot there in the first place? Never mind. Got a ring from the farm and sorted it. The Mrs said she didn't want the neighbors seeing my handy-work, so covered it. Another job on the 'to do list'. The new car cover the Mrs got at the market. A guy dropped into the village restaurant for a nibble. What parking?! My pineapple is showing again. This will be the third one from the pineapple head planted three years ago. A well earned rest for the farang. +++++ Well done Toon. are Pool on the slide. Bad little spell for them this month. Forest keeping the top 4 a reality. Seagulls earn a good point at City. What happened to Cherries? Dear me. Lost at home. Orient win away after 6 losses on the spin. Can't afford any more dropped points if they are gonna get into the play-offs. Blades beat the Owls. F1 started up in Oz last week end. I was interested in the sport a few years back. Even went to Brands Hatch a couple of times. And Doddington. +++++ A vid of some people supposedly catching kois to eat has surfaced in the UK. Sad. I remember about 25 years ago, a couple of Polish guys put a net across the Grand Union at Tring. They got caught because someone was watching from an upper window at the pub. Killed hundreds of fish. Think they got fined. But no worse than some Kiwis who shoot carp with a bow and arrow. It's a cruel world. The first half of Mildred's holiday has raced by. She goes back to school at the end of the month for 4 days, then another month off. There is a thread on AN about making chocolate. I'm gonna give that a go. Seems simple enough. Want cocoa powder, coconut milk and honey in equal measures. Then into the freezer for a few hours. Then into the fridge. Mildred loves chocolate. Not done a reishi brew for over a year. Must visit the hat lady, Ting, to get some strips. Got to keep my strength up. Anyone a fan of Van the Man? Check out his Eden Park Concert. Brilliant. Especially the Parchman Farm song(s). No luck on the Thai lottery. No '2's, no '0's. Stupid lizard. I'm gonna stick to my own methods. Been a couple of leccy cuts recently. The latest was this morning, when it went off a couple of times, between seven and nine. Not so hot today. Off to the farm for the second time in a short while. Have to keep feeding those ducks. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

It is Friday the 11th of April. Snaps here. Trying to make sense of a confused world. Wow!! It's been so busy. Stuff I'd put on the back-burner are still there. The fishing went well. We caught about 30 in a couple of house. 17 were eaters. Put the others back. This was the biggest of them. About one kilo. My ones were caught from a different pond. Not as big. Shared them out. We kept the biggest 6. The buffaloes had not been around for a while. Robert didn't quite know what to make of them. He found one that he wasn't afraid of. And with that, Robert's new friend went back into the herd. Oscar looking on. Cutting the leaves again in the baccy farm. They look like stalks with no leaves. Had a great nut cut this time. First day's load. Weighed in at 1070 kilos. Bigger load still next day. 1300 kilos. As soon as yer is off the weighbridge, the lads get to work. At the rear, the loader was at work filling up the big wagons. They then go to the factory near Khon Kaen. They loaded me with 1275 kilos of cassava waste. Much easier to drive with the cassava on board, than with nuts. The centre of gravity is lower and the Mazza don't wander about like when it's (very) full of nuts. The Buddha at the far end of the Super-highway was getting a paint job. Good to see a youngster learning a trade. Mrs Snaps' new car cover arrived. It is cat-proof; evidently! Anyone who did any competitive swimming would have one. This one has gone to the cats. These magnificent statues were mounted just a couple of days ago. TBH, I wasn't aware of a wat being near that area. They are everywhere it seems. They are great. Big event in the village was the major road being dug up. The end of our soi was no go for a few days. A few water pipes took a hit. The section done was about 250 metres. Nice and straight. Everything was soon getting back to normal. Moved the control box on Solar 1. We had lowered the pump a while back, and the cables were very tight. Moved the box two metres closer to the pump. When is it Songkran? When all the paddle-pools come out, and get filled. Our one is a 'Happy Pool'. +++++ Brum are on track for massive points tally in the third. 95 points in the can. Promoted, with 6 games to go. A possible massive 113 points. Pool could lose 4 on the spin and still be champs. They are that far out in front. Fulham did the bizzo on them at the Cottage. The Gunners look good in the Champions League. Villa let a decent result go in the dying seconds in Paris. +++++ Microwave has gone kaput. Ordered one on Lazada. Samsung; 1790 Baht. Mildred has just finished one if her most striking paintings. (I'll pop it in at the the end). I'm thinking she could capitalize on her talent. No idea how at the mo. There has been a lot of posts on AN about making chocolate. This evening me and Mildred made about 600 grammes. 250 ml of coconut milk. About 150 ml of honey. Cup of cocoa powder. 100 ml of Hersheys chocolate mix. Stuck it all in the freezer. Will put it into the fridge tomorrow morning. Did my fast as usual this month. Just 36 hours this month. Still keeping up with me bathroom yoga. Saw the little dogs running about, at guy's corner shop today. Guy wants 3000 for each. Pics next post. Think we should have the pick of the litter. After all the muttering, and finger pointing, at Robert. That's it for now. Another post early next week. Don't forget to don yer water-proofs when venturing out, for the next few days. +++++ Ginger painting his Ma n Pa. www.mildredart.com

It's Tuesday 25th March Snaps here. The euca tree in number 4 farm looks out of place. Only this time last year it was surrounded by hundreds of others; all roughly as big. Will not be too long before the new-growths need trimming. Me and Mildred did the trees, in farm 4, last time. Took us probably 60 hours, spread over a couple of months. She has told me she don't fancy it again. I'm glad about that. Neither do I. Have I found the dirtiest road in Issan. Beautiful Thailand ruined by trash. At least in our area. I'm sure it's rubbish-free in other parts. The baccy plants are flowering. Is that the sign for harvesting? I pass that way every day. Keep my eye on things. Having a rest in the hammock, when I got a visitor. Just fantastic. Mildred planted a tree about 18 months ago. She has started getting fruit. No idea what the fruit is. Tasty though. They approach me when I walk over to give them food. That's cabbage and watermelon on the menu today guys.. If Robert is with me they soon flee to the water. He don't want to scare them, but the ducks are always on safety-first alert. Just in case. Not yet seen them in their purpose-built mansion. Looking to get some more duckies. Working on it with Mrs Snaps. The local children are back at school; just for this week. Then it's 30 days off. Mildred had me camera, and was messing about with the settings. Took about 20 pics. Just experimenting. This one was a cracker. The fish in number 6 are doing so well. This was the pond that was poisoned a couple of years back. Last year, let it dry out completely for the sun to get at it and sterilise everything. Now it is booming as before. Big Orange and White Long Tail eating the offerings. Did a nut-cut last week. About 2 tonne in all. The best result for ages. Split the trips into 2. Put the net over the first load. There are two wholesalers. Both about 40 km from the farm. As well as the nuts, both have started to take in eucas and cassava. I was interested in this, as I like the cassava waste, that comes out of the chipping. At the first depot, I asked for some waste, but they said 'no', as they had a regular buyer. I was there about 30 minutes, and in that time 4 m/cs turned up with their goodies. These nuts are from older trees. The bunches are ginormous. Some getting to 40kg. My total weight was 850 kg. Then it was back to the farm to load up again. Much more this time. Have to make sure nothing is gonna fall off. Went to the other depot this time. This is what I was after. They had about 5 tonne. I asked if I could have a pick-up full. They obliged, and all was quickly done with the big loader. Nuts came to 1010 kg. Cassava waste; 1095 kg. 264 Baht fo the cassave. The next day bagged the goodies up. 52 sacks; each holding roughly 20 kg. It's not easy to bag it up. Even a tonne in the pick-up starts to ferment after a few hours. It gets hot. Hot like toast straight out of the toaster. I'll try to get another load next time. That will be enough for the top part of the farm. Just over 100 palms. Even after bunging Kun some dosh for helping with the bagging work, it only worked about at 6 baht a sack. Cheap, compared to the chicken poo, at 25 baht a sack. On the way back from the second depot, I spotted a beautiful tree, a couple of hundred metres away from the road. I was full up, so couldn't get too near. Next time I'll get down the track for a closer look. Or walk over. These trees are all over Isaan. Now and again you see one that is perfectly balanced; if that's the word. I know their canopy can get to as wide as 40 metres. This one only half that. Mildred at it again with my camera. +++++ Thailand 2 - Afghanistan 0. Typical Thai names. England won their two matches. Are they in a soft group or what? Albania; the team they beat 2-0, just walloped another group-member 0-5. At the week end there were just the lower divisions playing. In Div 2, there were just 15 goals. And 3 games accounted for 12 of those. Five 0-0 draws!! Football proper starts up again in a few days. +++++ There was a family in the village keeping ducks a couple of years back. Gonna find out where they got them. I like ducks. So does Mildred. Another 20/30 would be great. Wars everywhere is seems. Is The Don finding out that words are much easier than actions? The pound against the Baht is holding up. When it went to 42 a while back, I feared the worst. On first visit to Thailand it was 73 Baht for one squid. Mildred went to school today - and yesterday - for just a few hours. Off now til Monday. then its 30 more days off. Great! We have agreed, that every other day we will have a bit of Maths, a bit of English and a game of chess. Maybe a bit a human physiology. Went into the Hat Lady's shop in Ban Dung yesterday. Bought myself some reishi strips, to make me wine. There she was! Looking so good. She looked at me - what to say - nostalgically. 'Long time no see', she whispered. A few outstanding tasks on the to-do list. Fix the hole in the water pipe at the back of the bathroom. The cat - don't know which one - got into the roof space and busted a bit of ceiling. Fix the oil heater. Plenty of time for that though. Sort out the Mrs plant-pot outside the gate. Dump the 10 sacks of leaves, accumulated over the winter, to the farm and throw them into the paddy. Might get on with that today when I go to feed the ducks. Do do stuff though. Earlier I sorted out a fan that wouldn't turn. Have not yet made up me mind about the durian growing. Might leave it to next year. Have decided to do one more solar system next month. This one will be a challenge as the panels will be 9 metres up from the ground. Put the Mazza through the MOT yesterday. Flew through. Have to pick up the badge and paper-work on Saturday. Bought some fish yesterday. 600 pla nin (tilapia) and 18 mekong cat-fish. 1120 Bhat i all. Pics next post. That's if for now. Snaps in the boonies signing off. +++++ Isaan street racer.

Just throw the idiot out of the country and ban him from ever returning. There doesn't need to be any second chances for these people.

Surprised more buildings didn’t fall. I presume many shifted/slumped. BKK is built on mush. “The subsoil consists of the layer of top crust underlain by the soft to very soft clay, which has the thickness of about 8 to 15 meters. The closer to the Gulf of Thailand, the thicker the soft clay deposit can be found. The water content of the soft clay is ranged from 80-140 %.” https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-general-soil-profile-of-Bangkok-subsoil_fig1_267216772

Yep - we know who they are - Ukraine (Democrat) supporters and those hiding here from being drafted. What next - provide a list of approved world leaders for t-shirts?? Lefties have a serious mental problem with reality - like him or not, Putin is the leader of Russia and is a public figure and many people like him and what he is doing. Not the same for Hitler, Genghis Khan, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, etc etc etc. but they are all figures of history and censorship is not acceptable. I would not wear such a shirt myself, but I would defend to my last golf ball someone's right to wear one and be an absolute dic****d.

History. Not always nice to ponder. Some of the stuff happening now will not be a good look in 50 years.

Snaps here. It's Wednesday the 12th March 2025. Got the car back. Very nice it looks too. Complete respray. Total cost for the car; 28k. Yesterday went to insure it in Ban Dung. 8.200 baht. A bit late. Sort of shutting the gate after the horse has bolted. Showed the insurance lady the vid of the incident. She said we wouldn't have had to pay anything at all. Did the m/c guy have insurance? This month we went to the number 4 market. Mrs Snaps bought a heavy-duty cover for the car. The one that she was using was getting ripped to bits by the cats. Didn't get anything at the plant section this time. Always does good business. The clothes section is getting bigger than ever. Hundreds of strides, shirts and women's stuff. And so cheap. You could go to this market and get a completely new outfit for about 300 baht. That's hat, shirt, strides, shoes and underwear; if yer don't go commando that is. Like most farang here. Could come out looking like a Big cheese. Although some of the designer stuff is a bit pricey. Mildred picked out a few lovely kois. The lizard was not for sale. Just used to glean lottery numbers. And I got them. '2's and '0' for the 16th of this month. Easy money. Get in there. The deal is; if you win the lottery, come back and give the stall holder a few baht for the lizard's good work. Sad news at the week end. Found a once beautiful cat, dead at the farm. Don't know how it came to grief. Found a nice place to bury it. Gave it a good send off. Kun reckons it could have been a dog. There are loads around. Maybe one of the Buddha dogs. Thy roam about at night looking for prey. Killed one of our ducks a few nights ago. Mrs snaps got talked into buying her mother's house. 400k baht. From her older sister who lives in Oz. Took the fridge out for our own use. Didn't work so good. So onto the Mazza, and off to Ban Dung. They delivered it next morning. 1.800 baht all told. Filled it with drinks; mostly water. What a posh farm gate. That'll stop the bar girls. Lots of chickens in our soi. The chicks have more to worry about with the cats than dogs. Not yet taken the election posters down. Traffic stops for a chicken family. This house has some great ducks. Only about 50 metres from us. And a big white cat. On his way over thinking I've got some food. Mildred letting the kois go into number 6. Out of all the ponds, this one, number 4, is the most active at feeding time. The fish go crazy. The Mrs started whacking my for nothing. So I walked to the farm to get some peace and quiet. Was gonna stay there all night. But she turned up at just after 19-00 with a cup of Rosy. Millions of little flies around the light. Came on just before the Mrs turned up. Don't ya just love cats. They always make yer smile. +++++ Pool out of the Champion's League. Leaves the door open for The Gunners or Villa. Both should romp home tonight. Owls come from 2 goals down to win away; and gobble up the canaries. TBH. I was gutted for the Cherries. Letting two points slip away at Spurs; after going 2 in front. Just love to see the 'also-rans' doing the bizzo. Bad for my faves though. Worse than bad; a catastrophic week end. Luke Littler takes the Belgium Darts Open. That's three titles so far this year. Two nine-darters in the competition. +++++ So! The Mrs agreed to pay her older sister 400k baht for their mother's house. A down payment of 200k, and the rest in 12 months. Had to sell 5 little blocks of gold to get the money together. Got 46.100 baht for each baht gold. Confusing for sure. I could see trouble ahead however, so I insisted (? sort of) that the wife get a guarantee paper filled in. Never know what could happen. Plane crashes global warming, WW3 even. March! Can be the hottest month. Usually April, but a couple of years ago it was March. Absolutely scorching early afternoon this week. Not yet got that sweltering night temperatures. It's all happening in the US. The Don wants the files. The FBI, CIA, AID and the others don't want to part with them. The USAID lady boss, said to her outgoing staff, to shred and burn any evidence. Quite exciting for onlookers. Will Greenland go independent? If they do, will they be tempted to pocket the million US dollars each to join the US club? The dosh is gonna be put in trust for any youngsters and babies. Others will get the cash. Take yer lady to the bedroom now! 55 Billion for the 6th biggest country in the world! Wow! How much for Scotland? Got a leak in one of the water pipes at the back of the house. Will try to put off fixing it until the week end. Too busy this week. Gonna get off to the grape plantation later today. Will get ready after posting. One of the ducks has gone. Kun is pointing the finger at the Buddha dogs. TBH, I thought the ducks could just swim out of harm's way. Perhaps they were taken by surprise in the dark. Started with 12. Now down to 4. Have to do the Mazza's MOT this month. I'm sure it will fly through. 265k kms on the clock. As good as ever. Still keeping up me Bathroom Yoga. Have cut sugar out almost completely now. Just one spoon in each cup of Rosy. Don't touch any cola, or cakes, even though I'm sometimes tempted. No beer for 3 years. Stopped smoking in 1977. Didn't do my monthly fast in March. Simply forgot. Too late now. Next month for sure. That's it for now folks. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

Now that was a hellava quiz… I got the cave question right

Rightee ho then. The quiz answers as promised. I enlisted the help of four former bar girls. Lek, Porn, Poo and Pook. All now retired, and living in the village. They have all the connections, and pulled out the stops, to get accurate data. Q1 - It's Phuket. 4743 bar girls in Phuket. 3247 bar girls in the chilly north. This was the average during 2024. Q2 - Phuket again. The obsession of lady boys shaving their legs at the bars, is world famous. Easy one that. Q3 - A cave in Chiang Mai. 7 bar girls learnt to play chess in caves in 2024. Q4 - The Nok in question, was a top bar girl in Chiang Mai. At the Braless Roadside Bar no less. Q5 - Chiang Mai again. Q6 - Phuket. Lek says the bar girls chucked 239,413 litres of water last year. Porn says in Chiang Mai, it was 239,400. So quite close. But south takes it. To summarise: Phuket, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Phuket. Unfortunately; no one got all 6 correct. So no evening in the Udon Chess Club, (above the Chinky), with Noi. Thanks for playing.

Also - In all honesty, the 'local' girls in Phuket and generally most of the locals down south (not counting those that work there), are far less beautiful than the girls from the North and Isan. But the girls from down south are still absolute beauties when compared to most Aussie girls - especially those from the rural areas.

A good crash helmet would have mitigated her facial injuries considerably.

This bloke was Canadian and in his 50's by all accounts he needs to get a life or visit Soi 6. And by the look of him on videos on the local news the RTP should have gave his a hosing down he's minging.