Buadhai Builds A Pond

[Marmite the Dog]

Another quality BH production.

You should hook up with David Attenborough & Scampy and make a TV series.

[buad hai]

& Scampy and make a TV series.

I'm still working up to the level of angst required....

[Marmite the Dog]

^ What about if we got Forreachingme to send his kids round and trash your garden?

[buad hai]

^An excellent excuse to find a different house -- one that is actually ready.

[El Gibbon]

Maybe this should go in the 'house' thread but:

Get a freaking huge water truck to sit outside your gate with a diesel pump to circulate the water at a high rate, put in a squirrel cage generator - enough to power a light bulb - in the waterway and move in....

Flock em, you got your garden and a roof over your head. A huge tub of ice to cool the food and beer - two bags will last two days - and some charcoal to burn in the road and it will be a first class thai dwelling.

Oh, yeah, if you gotta piss or take a crap there is always the sales office doorstep.

E. G.

EDIT:
You have the best garden, water thingy I have ever seen in a vacant house.

[buad hai]

You have the best garden, water thingy I have ever seen in a vacant house.

Thank you!

The problem is not finding water and power, but getting permission to move in. There is a water line not ten meters from the house and construction power in the house right behind us. With permission I could do both myself in two hours. But, we do not own the house, yet, and they will not give us permission to live there just yet.

[ChiangMai noon]

That is a lovely job you have done.
I will try and emulate and fail with misery.

[buad hai]

I will try and emulate and fail with misery.

No, it's not hard. You know what Ms. B calls me? "Mr Clumsy." I'm a slob. I spill. I'm afraid to ride a motorcycle. I fall down.

If Mr. Clumsy can build a pond, anyone can build a pond.

[a. boozer]

[quote=buad hai;385215
No, it's not hard. You know what Ms. B calls me? "Mr Clumsy." I'm a slob. I spill. I'm afraid to ride a motorcycle. I fall down.
If Mr. Clumsy can build a pond, anyone can build a pond.[/quote]

It's not the actual construction that is the difficult thing, the important thing is to have the vision of how a project will look on completion, I'm afraid that having that kind of perception is not one of my blessings!

[El Gibbon]

You have the best garden, water thingy I have ever seen in a vacant house.

Thank you!

The problem is not finding water and power, but getting permission to move in. There is a water line not ten meters from the house and construction power in the house right behind us. With permission I could do both myself in two hours. But, we do not own the house, yet, and they will not give us permission to live there just yet.

Well, flock me, move in and tell them your only staying for 20% of your life, ie. the deposit.... lol

[ChiangMai noon]

he needs to kick up an inordinate stink at the office.
if he doesn't they will continue to take the widdle.

[buad hai]

^I know you mean well CMN, but this is just not on. When I kicked up a stink about Bangkok Bank ripping us off for $500 it caused great pain to Ms. B as she just doesn't do that sort of thing. They called her repeatedly and she repeatedly told them that all was well.

Same with the house. She's just not the type to kick up a stink and hates it when I do.

She'd rather roll over a play dead then insist on getting her due.

[pugforever]

It's not the actual construction that is the difficult thing, the important thing is to have the vision of how a project will look on completion, I'm afraid that having that kind of perception is not one of my blessings![/quote]

that's why google sketchup comes in, to help you visualize how it'd look. great stuff, easy to manipulate.

[buad hai]

bkkmadness and perhaps a few others suggested that we stock the pond with fish more exotic than goldfish or Comets. Any suggestions?

It's a small pond with plants, so I don't want anything too big or voracious.

I really know nothing of fish so welcome some ideas.

[Jet Gorgon]

get moved in first.

[buad hai]

get moved in first.

I'm there three or four hours a day, so I think some fish would be nice....

[a. boozer]

get moved in first.

I'm there three or four hours a day, so I think some fish would be nice....

So nice and peaceful to sit and watch fish, particularly if there is the sound of falling water in the background.

BH. We have four dogs (two Thai ridgebacks (Lang Ahn), a Bangkaew, and a young Rottweiller puppy, that seems to think he is a Bangkaew, totally emulating him, in his habits regarding water. So a pond in a similar style to yours is out of the question, now my train of thought has gone to the possibility of building a raised pond alongside our 'sala', from where I could sit and look at the fish.
Am not thinking of anything too large, possibly about 5 foot long and about 4 foot wide, considering a concrete base, with block 'walls', the outside to be faces with round stones, 3 - 3 inches in diameter, to give an effect a little like that of an old fashioned garden well.
Any observations would be appreciated, as I am one of those morons without much forward vision.

[buad hai]

Any observations would be appreciated, as I am one of those morons without much forward vision.

It depend on what the rest of your garden looks like.

Why not start a new thread, post some photos of the existing location and see what we come up with?

[a. boozer]

Any observations would be appreciated, as I am one of those morons without much forward vision.

It depend on what the rest of your garden looks like.

Why not start a new thread, post some photos of the existing location and see what we come up with?

A good idea, but I also neglected to mention that I am totally inept with gadgets, and have yet to master how to post a picture on TD.

[buad hai]

^If you'll e-mail a few to me I'll post 'em for you.

[a. boozer]

^If you'll e-mail a few to me I'll post 'em for you.

BH. That's very decent of you.
I will take a few pictures, hopefully later today, and send them through to you.

[buad hai]

Time to clean out the construction debris and other junk. (No beer gut jokes, please....) The water felt great. Nice and cool on a sunny, hot morning.


I worked on the stream yesterday and completely filled one of those black construction buckets with bits of concrete, brick, rocks and other junk. But, out of the main pond I only got about a third of a bucket.


We bought six bags of small black river stones for the stream yesterday. Ms. B thought we bought too much. I thought otherwise. I was right. Six bags barely made a dent. We need at least eight or ten more.

[buad hai]

Time to put in a water line for the pond water inlet. The closest water pipe is along this wall:



While we're doing this will also plumb for some sprinklers. I'm going to use impact (Rain Bird) sprinklers for this part of the garden, so two will do.


It's really humid here now, so digging these ditches is hard work for an old man like me.


One valve is for the pond water supply. The other is for the sprinklers. I'm also adding a hose bib as there is not one in this part of the garden.

[Sir Burr]

Great job BH. Why not transplant your home grown lotus to the pond?

[buad hai]

Why not transplant your home grown lotus to the pond?

Soon. We were just discussing that this morning. I think I've got just the spot....