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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.

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.

Snaps in the boonies here. I was concerned the ducks would not like it in their new home. Could they swim even? given that they had never been in water before. ducks swim 01.mp4 ducks swim 00.mp4 They found the restaurant. Only the best grub for them. Water melon, lettuce and Isaan rice. Evidently they are all males. Don't know how you tell when they are little. Kun knows what to look for though. Nut cut a few days ago. 725 kgs. Price has dropped to 6.5 a kg. Kun loading up. Kun and his nut-cutting wife. Getting unloaded at the wholesaler. While I was waiting, a pick-up with 3 tonne came in. The tobacco farm is getting bigger and bigger. About 6 rai this year. The price the farmers get is - as of last time I inquired - 120 baht a kilo. they seem to have plenty of kilos. Cutting is ongoing. Looks like they are doing OK. Hope they don't smoke away the profits. The garage at the top of our road has a new fence. Good to see. I go there to get benzine. Grand-pa taking the grand-children out for a spin. This grape place looks interesting. Mildred and Adjung went along. The way in. Any Isaan budding winemakers interested? Mildred is off school for 3 weeks. She knows where the place is, Must go there and buy some. The humble grape; king of fruits. Who is that? Where did you get that shirt? Overloaded or just a big load? Common sight on Isaan roads. Bought myself a new mouse. Used it for a few hours. Didn't like it at all. Went back to the old one. Gonna keep it as a spare. That's Big Orange with Whitey Long Tail. Big O is getting on for 18 inches long. A magnificent koi. Members from AN might recall the leaning tree by pond 6. Gone fishing. Started at 4ish - too hot earlier - and by half 5 we had caught 30 eaters. We usually have a competition. Can't recall the last time I won. Years ago. I do have the job of unhooking though. That slows me down. Mildred don't like the sun. Mrs Snaps doing her bit. Gave away a dozen or so. Happy, the adopted farm dog, tucking in. Still not processed the pics of Mildred's school visit io Khon Kaen Zoo. They all seemed to enjoy the day out. Mildred reckons there were half a dozen schools visiting. Next post hopefully; for pics and report. +++++ Easy 5th round of the FA Cup predictions. 8 matches, I got seven right. PNE unexpectedly smashed Burnley. Ruined my accumulator they did. Great match ups in the 6th round. Cherries v City my pick. Back with EPL this w/e. Liverpool are running away with it. They have two away toughies in May. But they also host The Gunners on the 10th of that month. It's all gonna be over, except the moaning and groaning, by then I reckon. Could be over right now. Cherries for top 4??!! +++++ Trump has everyone guessing. Looks like Greenland, Canada and Gaza are gonna be the new US States. Strange world for sure at the present. Sir K Starmer wants to get a posse together to protect Europe's interests. Dear me! Couldn't even protect youngsters from Jimmy Savile +++++ The farm next to us has just done a solar set up. Went and had a look. Their main cable from the water pump is 3x2.5mm2. If they are using the same pump as all mine the cable should be 3x4mm2. Also they have no water sensor attached. That could cost them a new pump. The sensor on paln system 2 kicks in every 20 minutes on high sun. I've got the delay at 5 minutes. Then it starts pumping again. Gonna investigate. That's 8 systems within an area of two footy pitches. We have three of them. Just hope the table holds up. We got a bit of rain in the night of 26th Feb. So that spell without the wet stuff was 149 days. Certainly the longest since I've been here. Last year 119 days. The year before 117. Wow!!! The March heat has arrived so early. Lovely at night. Nice in the mornings, but after about 11; absolutely scorching. Calms down about 5ish. In a couple of weeks it will be hot all the time. Robert has been getting out and about. Pics next post. Mildred has finished all her exams for the school year, Her best subject is English. Her worst; Thai history. The Mrs was definitely upset with me. Didn't speak to me, or do me any grub, or make a cup of Rosy for nearly 3 days. I asked Mildred what was the matter. She said mum was upset about having to pay for the car, by selling a bit of gold. Walked past the Hat Lady's shop a couple of times on me last visit to Ban Dung. Should I have popped in to see if she had saved a nice hat for me? Perhaps next time. Only one thing left to say; bye y'all.

Snaps here. Dark and dismal outside, but no rain yet. Last rained during the early hours on the 1st of October. That's 147 days ago. Longest spell without rain since I arrived in Thailand Two major occurrences this month. The car saga and the release of the ducks. Mildred had to go on a scout day. So no morning bus as usual. The Mrs picked the daughter's friend, Adjung, up on the way to Ban Dung. Went to drive across a road, to go into the car park, when a m/c hit the near-side rear. Vid in earlier post. Fortunately no one was hurt. Lucky escape all round. The m/c damage has been sorted with a donation of 13k baht. Injuries to ther rider 3.5k baht. Biggest problem is the rear light assembly. Need a new bumper too. Offside rear OK. Gonna have to wait a while for the repairs to get done. Getting the two smashed bits (rear light and bumper) will be a challenge. Not a new car. Have to look around the scrap yards. We had the ducks for 10 weeks. Started with a dozen. 6 died and one mysteriously escaped. Time to build them a nice house and let them free. Brought pipes back from Ban Dung. I had already made the skeleton waterproof. It was broken in a couple of places. Had to fix them. No good if it don't float. Cut the 1.5 inch PCV pipes up and glued a cap on each end to make them watertight. Put them in place with cable ties, ready for proper securing. Bound them up good with plastic string. Coming along. Put on the braces for the roof covering. Same fixings with the bamboos as the PVC before. Bound them on tight with plastic string. Time for the covering. Plastic string again. The floor had been bought off Lazada. 200 baht for 10 metres. And all was set for launch. Got 5 sacks of straw for bedding. Leftovers from the rice harvesting. Have to keep it away from the edge in case dogs nose around. Secured both side with light rope. And it was all done. The last day for the ducks, before letting then go into pond 5 (next post). Somehow the camera went missing. Was it in the car, which was in the garage? We called them to check. No! Not there. looked everywhere. Mildred found it under the seat of the Mazza. Dear me! Started processing all the pics for posting. Have over 200. +++++ Liverpool have it all sewn up. If they don't win the EPL, it'll be the biggest collapse since building 7. That Championship is a real yo-yo. Three clubs especially, are having nightmares. The Black Cats were running away with it in November. Now they are 13 points behind The Peacocks. The Rams (do they want Rooney back), stuck at the bottom, with just 2 points from the last 18. And Boro. Looked good at before Xmas, now lost their last 5. +++++ Someting is going on down the soi. A new house?! We had our final soil drop last week. An ordinary soil load is 500 baht. Stony soil 700. Very stony soil 900. Get the use of a tractor with those. What a mess. At the rear of the Ma in Law's place. One of Mrs Snaps' brothers responsible. I'll not be clearing it up. Got enough to do keeping our soi clean and tidy. That's good boys. Your food will come soon enough. Robert has a new pal. Wagger and Mimi on the rear wall. And they are best mates with Robert. Main bus stop. Pigeon take over. Next post: Tobacco plants all over the place. A vinyard I didn't know about. Mildred goes to Khon Kaen Zoo. Only one thing left to say. seez ya next post.

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

You are right Dawg. Not yet seen any of them go underwater like a fish, doing proper swimming. Same with chickens. Can they fly like a bird? Its all down to Bernoulli. He said that wherever there is an increase of speed of a fluid over a solid there is a force in that direction. Anyway! Robert is having fingers pointed at him. 'Lobert no good' is all over the village. What have you got to say about this Robert? I demand a DNA test.

Given the maximum fine is 20,000 Baht for overstays - I make it that he will have paid 800 Baht a year - plus he has avoided all the 90 days reporting (about 100 times) - and he has avoided the annual begging to stay another 12 months process for 25 times - and he has no change of address notifications. Well done mate - credit where it is due.

A good point IJC; worth considering for sure. When I first heard from the Mrs about the crash, she was calling from Ban Dung Police Station. It all sounded so terribly drastic. Pulled out onto a main road in front of the m/c. She basically admitted that it was all her doing and agreed to pay all costs. Don't know whether she signed anything. The Mrs says she can't remember. Later that day, I recalled being at a school open day a couple of years back, when they announced that they had 'real time' vid cameras at places around the school. I spoke to Mildred, and she did the biz and got a copy from 'Camera 1'. Passed it on to me. That's how I got it. It showed a different story of the incident. Another camera - 'Camera 2' - is set up on the far corner where the m/c first entered the road. That one was pointing down the main road where the school back gates are.. But not so applicable, except it could have shown excessive m/c speed perhaps. So the dosh breakdown is this: 13k to fix m/c. 3.5k for injury. And, an estimated 25k+ baht for car repair. Paid 15k down to the garage, and waiting for the final bill. So final costs could be approaching 50k. As with a lot of Thai ladies, getting to the bottom of money transactions can be sometimes difficult, and often exasperating. But in this case - for once - I think it's all above board. If not fair and square. All history now. Lucky escape for all parties.

So they pled guilty because they realised they didn’t have a hope in corrupt Thailand. Shameful state of affairs.

Well!! My fast lasts between 36 and 48 hours. No food during that time, but lots of water drinking. Started it a few years back in response to belly problems. When I turned 70 really. Also fatigue. I was feeling whacked out after a few hours working in the sun. Much of the food here don't agree with me. I was forever on the loo in the early days. The fasting is one aspect of a changed lifestyle. No sugary drinks; Coke and Pepsi etc. Rarely eat rice. Some bread; but only decent loafs. Lots of meat; as rare as possible. As much veg as I can stomach. don't really like a lot of the veg here. Fruits; when in season. And as I say; lots of water. Not had a beer for over 4 years. Do some work at the farm every day. Go to bed usually between 8 and 9pm. I find that helps. Must say; I'm pretty lucky with health. Just a dodgy hip, and a bit of skin dryness in the cooler months. On me lower legs mostly. That's it. Short term memory can be a bit dodgy at times; put things down and can't find them. Go in the kitchen and they're there. Mrs Snaps says it's not her moving stuff about. Then I get a whack. So I don't argue. Not been to a doctor since coming here. No!! Tell a porky. I hurt myself, when I came off me cycle a few years back. My own fault for holding onto a tuk tuk for a free spin down a bumpy road. A few stitches. but nothing broken. If I could have used me right hand; I'd have sorted it out myself. Went to the local clinic to get fixed up. I wouldn't have any injections though.

Hey, no need for the 'dissing of duck type swimming