A hillbilly shack in the jungle...

[Freddybear]

Freddybear is referring to this young lady. Her father was one of the the many local workers on the work site who drank most of his daily wages up. Eventually, he was let go.

Last I heard the father had his motorcyle repossed and was back to fishing and drinking with his buddies.

A positive note. The young girl seems to have a talent for playing Thai traditional instruments. She recently won a scholarship for B5000!

Did not mean to hijack your thread with my ruminations. Thanks for a wonderful report on the house. This was one of the best such reports I have ever read. A beautiful house and a great insight on the building process. Glad to hear the young lady's fortunes are better.

[Fingers_in_pies]

This was definetly one of the best posts i have read in a very long time. And the finished product is beautiful, you should be very house proud Hillbilly.

[hillbilly]

There have been a few changes in hillbily's resort the past week or so. Let's see what happened. First, the spirit house was a pressing concern. TIT...


The blessing continues. I was told that the monks would do this ceremony and then this guy shows up. TIT...


Notice, the proper spirit house (well at least in this area) that has the main body for the spirits of the land and the smaller house on 4 legs for the grandparents.

[hillbilly]

The daughter takes one of many visitors on a tour of the landscape work in progress.


This is a shot of our formal Thai garden underway.

[hillbilly]

Here is a look at our circular driveway the leads from the back gate to the house.


I do love my palms!

[buadhai]

Boy it looks great. I'm still confused about the spirit houses though. You say:

Notice, the proper spirit house (well at least in this area) that has the main body for the spirits of the land and the smaller house on 4 legs for the grandparents.

But Lom said, I think, that the fixed one with the single post was for the ancestors (they can fly and don't need a ladder) and the one with four legs and a ladder were for the gnomes that had always lived in that vicinity.

Is this a matter of regional variation, or what?

[hillbilly]

Remember my earlier estimate the landscape budget? Stay tuned...

Look at the concrete that has been laid for the formal garden. Also please see the Thai worker watering a tree. Our water for this project has been running constantly for the last 2 weeks.

[greenthaiway]

Great job Hillbilly!
Nice house in the countryside, I like it.
Planting older trees into the new garden was a good idea!
A fine house to live in. :-]

Remember my earlier estimate the landscape budget? Stay tuned...

Look at the concrete that has been laid for the formal garden. Also please see the Thai worker watering a tree. Our water for this project has been running constantly for the last 2 weeks.

[hillbilly]

Here is a Thai reply (translated in English) about the spirit house.

"I have to ask my sister." "My sister has to ask my mom." "My mom says it is very deep."

In other words no one has a damn clue, except my B200 per day Thai worker. And he ain't talking. TIT...

[hillbilly]

Another shot at our formal Thai garden. Personally, I was not a fan of this concept. However, the old lady won the argument. Notice, I limited her space, albeit in the middle of hillbilly's estate!


Guess what these rocks/stones cost? The budget has now increased...

[hillbilly]

Starting to come together. What aggravates me is that I keep telling everyone no 'motocyes' through the front gate. They do not listen. But what can I expect, when most of the workers park their mode of transportation in their living rooms at night?


Now what is this boat doing here???

See the motorcycle going down the driveway? To far to walk. TIT...

[Sir Burr]

Hillbilly,
Maybe you should have spent some money on automaticly timed reticulation for a garden so big. How are you going to keep everything alive during the dry season?
My garden is about a rai and a quarter and there is no way I can water everything by hand.
My automatic reticulation cost about 150,000 Bt.

Fantastic thread by the way.

[Fingers_in_pies]

The land scaping looks awesome.

[Propagator]

You have got a good landscaping crew there. Really looks good, now ya got to learn about pruning and maintainence. Did you think about getting a clause in the landscaping contract for them to look after it for the first year? Dont know if that sort of thing is done out there.

[breezer1]

Hillbilly looks FAN-TAZ-TIC well done brilliant thread enjoyed it very much and was a good learning experience .

[Eliminator]

Did the landscaping people put in a sprinkler system for you? You could easily set one up that runs off a timer and a lot less trouble than running around with a hose or buckets.

[buadhai]

automaticly timed reticulation

Did the landscaping people put in a sprinkler system for you? You could easily set one up that runs off a timer and a lot less trouble than running around with a hose or buckets.

Are Sir Burr and Eliminator talking about the same thing or is "reticulation" something different?

I agree though. It will be tough to keep all that turf alive and green during the dry season.

[Sir Burr]

You're right Buadhai, reticulation just means a sprinkler system.
I would imagine that the big stuff, palms and trees are relatively drought proof, but, the smaller plants and shrubs will definitely need regular watering.
My lawn turns brown every year as I just do not have enough water to keep it green, but, within a week of the rainy season starting, it all turns a lovely green again. this might have something to do with the type of grass I have. Yah Malay, a very coarse grass that also grows in the shade. If hillbilly has bought Yah Japan, if this dies, it may not come back.

[buadhai]

Yah Malay, a very coarse grass that also grows in the shade. If hillbilly has bought Yah Japan, if this dies, it may not come back.

The only turf I see for sale here in Korat is Yah Japan, but I'm going to have some shady areas where I'd prefer one of the shade tolerant broad leafed grasses like Yah Malay ( what we used to call "Hilo Grass" after Hilo, Hi). Do they sell it by seed or what?

[Dean]

HB, I do like your gate and am still getting ideas on what to do with mine. I have take many pictures of gates/openings that I'd like to hve but my contractor,at least to the first one, said it would cost 150,000 baht to do. For the meantime, one the house is done, I'll use some kind of lumber to block off the gate opening until I decide what I want (or can afford).

[Sir Burr]

buadhai,
I've only seen Yah Malay as turf. Never seen it as seed.

[Lek Lek]

Appreciate your story Hillbilly

[hillbilly]

Did you think about getting a clause in the landscaping contract for them to look after it for the first year? Dont know if that sort of thing is done out there.

Yes, it is done out here in Thailand. It will cost me B4000 each month. This includes about 10 workers and 2 days work. The first month is free.

[hillbilly]

Maybe you should have spent some money on automaticly timed reticulation for a garden so big. How are you going to keep everything alive during the dry season?

Good question. I am at the end of my money rope and could not afford an automatic sprinkling system. We have a full-time gardner now (Jaew, she has been in the story) for B3000 per month. Perhaps not the best way to go, but the budget sometimes tends to point the direction...

I will try to add the names and prices of the various grasses, plants, trees, bushes etc. that have been done under the landscaping bill. But please keep in mind that the invoice is 7 pages long.

[hillbilly]

In the midst of everything, the neighbors always manage to bring a fish or two by to sell. Usually a couple hundred baht or so depending upon the size of the fish that they caught from my riverbank.


Now if we walk back to the end of Hillbilly's resort we can see how the That traditional bathrooom is coming along. What you see is what you get. There is the shower and the toilet. You flush the toilet by dumping water into the stool.