Buadhai Builds A Pond

[a. boozer]

Who knows what these are for?

No! Do tell.

[a. boozer]

Would love to have a pond myself, but unfortunately owning a Thai 'Bangkaew' dog, rather puts the mockers on it.

[Spin]

Who knows what these are for?

Javelins for you Lao midget?

[dirtydog]

Staking out the liner or eating loads of noodle soup.

[Thetyim]

^^^^ Are they the fortune telling sticks that you shake in the temple ?

[lom]

Who knows what these are for?

A Thai ladder in kit form?

[a. boozer]

The rungs for the escape ladder you are constructing for your tiny Lao pond digger to escape from the murky depths of that 60 metre hole?

[a. boozer]

Who knows what these are for?

A Thai ladder in kit form?

Bloody heck Iom! You must have posted that whilst I was typing. Now I suppose that we will have to share that case of Chang that BH was hopefully going to give as a prize for getting the correct answer.

[gos]

dunno but I hope those tiles are not in your new house the edges look a bit rough

[Gerbil]

Who knows what these are for?

Defence against very small vampires?

[AntRobertson]

You're all idiots! Those are clearly the quills off of a porcupine or my name's not Bob!

[Propagator]

Nah - you're all wrong, they are the poles and cross sections for Thai scaffolding

[buad hai]

The answer soon....

[NickA]

eating noodles?

[dirtydog]

You're all idiots! Those are clearly the quills off of a porcupine or my name's not Bob!

Steve, your name isn't Bob....

[Propagator]

Right lets use a bit of deductive logic on this.
Unless BH is trying to fool us completely we must assume that the a/m items are for use on, near or around the pond. Assuming that the tile is a standard 30 cm tile that makes the a/m items about 20 cms long.

I would like to discount the theory that they are used for pegging the liner as they have no hook to stop the liner slipping over the top, and also in the drawing BH shows that a paver or stone will be holding the liner in place around the edges.

It is noticed that there are four serrated rings around each of the sticks. Could it be that this is to tie nylon to in a criss cross fashion, to prevent animals getting to close to the pond.

Another idea that BH is going to make some kind of Kon Tiki raft to put on his pond.

My final idea is that they are CHOPSTICKS that he has bulk purchased for the house warming party that he is going to invite us all to.

To be honest I aint got a clue as to what they are

[lom]

Support sticks for flowers and young trees?
But it looks like one of those Isaan flutes, disassembled..

[Gerbil]

The grouting on those tiles is filthy. Have a word with your maid will you.

[Jet Gorgon]

I agree with Mr Prop that they were formerly used as conveyances for lifting food from bowl to mouth, aka chopsticks. However, they have been on the floor so nobody wants them for food now.
Note that they have all been uniformly marked with a black magic marker under the four ring grooves. So, is each one stuck in the ground up to the black mark to ensure the uniform height of something? You guys are the builders.
Else, maybe the black rings are a sign that they are discounted goods for sale with a no-return policy, or one food court vendor's way of proving that these chopsticks are actually HIS chopsticks and not the property of the common food court.

[buad hai]

Here are some of the materials we bought yesterday:


Cement, gravel and sand in bags and those lovely fired clay bricks. All of this will be used in and around the pond.


Here's the beginning of the trench into which the concrete collar supporting the pond edge will be poured. (I think that sentence is one for CMN's grammar thread.)


Kind of muddy yesterday.


Ms. B volunteered to clear dirt from the trench and dump it elsewhere.


Ms. B checks the level. Now you can see how the chopsticks are used. (BTW, pack of 10 pairs at Lotus for 7 baht.) The concrete will be poured just up to where the blue line is. We need the extra space above the blue line so that we can check levels across the dirt that is still in the middle of the pond. After the concrete sets we'll break off the 5 cm that is sticking out.


Here the trench is pretty much done with the chopsticks in place. This doesn't have to be totally accurate as we are building an informal pond with no perfectly straight or perfectly level architectural details. However, we do want to avoid having a pond that looks like a tilted teacup ready to dump its contents on the table.

[buad hai]

I stuck in a bit of re-bar this morning. Probably not necessary, but it was left over from the kitchen job:



I'm ready to pour the concrete. But, Ms. B has never actually mixed concrete before so I'll wait until she's home from work. Also, if we wait until after 5 PM we'll be able to use the sand and gravel piled just outside our driveway instead of the stuff we actually bought.

[klongmaster]

Also, if we wait until after 5 PM we'll be able to use the sand and gravel piled just outside our driveway instead of the stuff we actually bought.

that brought a smile with my late breakfast BH...as always you continue to entertain...

[buad hai]

shhhhhh.......

[ChiangMai noon]

Inspirational thread BH.
I was going to employ someone to do this for me, instead I'll show the pics to my wife and she can get on with it.

[AntRobertson]

I was going to employ someone to do this for me, instead I'll show the pics to my wife and she can get on with it.

When shes done with yours send her around mine.