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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Yup. No communication is safe these days. Even if I whisper something to my wife whilst we are outdoors and all alone it seems that people still find out what I said.