Anna the dog

[Looper]

^^Lola is a terror - worse than Vinnie Jones!


Huge lumbering Malamute and some kind of toy poodle or something being walk by 2 nuns who told me they were from Tibet

The senior nun was sporting a pair of oxblood DMs so not to be messed with

They might be 14-ups under those habits

Be in zen-like contemplative peace with your inner skin-head

[Joe 90]

Huge lumbering Malamute and some kind of toy poodle or something being walk by 2 nuns who told me they were from Tibet

TD Pic of the year so far Loops!

[Mendip]

^ Not your usual type Looper? I mean, I can understand you going for sisters but that's a bit out of order?

I wouldn't make a habit out of it.


Do you know how many women of the cloth I've had a dalliance with?

Nun!


Anyway, Anna helped me to take Tem his tea last night and to be honest, I felt a bit awkward.

They couldn't keep their eyes off each other!



Anna must have liked what she saw because as soon as we arrived home she took her first bath of the year.

You can't beat a bit of 'eau de pond'!



And two minutes later... who'd a thunk it?

[Edmond]

This is better than Corrie.

[Reg Dingle]

Like some kind of Mills and Boon with dogs

[moose65]

Why do nun's always hang out in pairs ?

Cause one nun makes sure the other nun don't get none !

[david44]

This is better than Corrie.

Eastbenders surely Shirley?

[Mendip]

I sometimes wish I had stronger willpower.

The gardener had left his kitchen light on when he went out tonight, and when I noticed we were having a big fly hatch I popped over to turn the light off.

While I was there, out of curiosity I took a peep in his fridge... and there they were, two bottles of his finest Ya Dong.

I didn't even particularly want it.



And later on... as I was preparing my nighttime Milo I noticed a packet of these absolutely delicious little treats in the fridge. I've recently discovered them at 7-Eleven... they're like little balls of shoe pastry injected with custard.

If we didn't have them I wouldn't even have thought about it.

And only 27 Baht for six... well five, Maya had one as well.

[Reg Dingle]

^ I used to love those creamy balls.
It's a slippery slope fella

[DrWilly]

Nighttime milo?

[cyrille]

shoe pastry

Better get some ointment for that.

[Mendip]

Easy to mock, I was tired last night.

Hence the Milo and choux pastry creamy balls.

You live and learn.


Anyway, caption this morning's snapshot of rural Isaan life.

I'll start with, 'Dr Willy and Cyrille lament their lack of opposable thumbs'.

[DrWilly]

Bham! Mendy lashes out.


Was your milk sour?

[Mendip]

You can only push me so far...


Anyway, there's a lot going on in Korat today... I reckon that all this excitement would be enough to drag Shutree away from his sock drawer!

Tem dined alone last night.



After he'd finished I was walking back to the house with his empty bowl, when I noticed that this mysterious blue line had appeared outside our back gate.



I knew immediately what it meant!

Last week the crew preparing the ground for our new back road disappeared without going all the way to our gate. They had stopped at a patch of sandy concrete outside the apartments, 30 metres or so from the end of the road.



I asked the wife why the fukk they hadn't gone all the way to our gate, the end of the road?

"I don't know"

I mean, for fukks sake, the wife and gardener were actually outside chatting to the road crew but it hadn't occurred to them to ask why the new road surface wasn't going to the end of the road.

I went into one, wife and gardener disappeared with the land deeds, and two hours later all was apparently sorted.

By the way, all that rubble at the end of the road used to be the wall between the daughter's bedroom and the 'Buddha' room. Why the fukk it all ended up across the end of the road to constantly jam in the gate wheels I do not know. The gardener is absolutely determined to turn this place into a Thai rubbish tip.

So, once I saw the blue line I knew that I had won a small victory. Last night I told the daughter that we were losing our petanque court the next day.

And yes, I should have been called Nostredamus!

Although be careful what you wish for... this is Isaan, after all.



Yeah, they hit our water pipe.

The apartments also lost their water supply and I was all for offering the 7-Eleven girl the use of our pool to freshen up... but I just knew that the wife would have something to say so held that thought.

Anyway, after waiting for nearly 18 years... we are getting a road!

[malmomike77]

I'd do something with your water pipe to make it accessible before they bury it. Our was going to get buried but I routed it along the wall above ground. I you just don't want to be digging up the 1 1/2 " concrete road they are laying when it breaks

[Mendip]

^ It runs along the wall so should be away from the road finish and be OK, the problem is exactly where they snagged it because of the concrete slope the apartments owner put in.

[malmomike77]

That's OK then

[DrWilly]

Good news.

[Mendip]

I rarely even bother to ask questions these days.




I went out later to feed Tem and inspected the afternoon's progress for our new road.

It looked pretty good to me, as straight as a Roman Road although I very much doubt that the finished article will last for 2000 years.

I'd do something with your water pipe to make it accessible before they bury it. Our was going to get buried but I routed it along the wall above ground. I you just don't want to be digging up the 1 1/2 " concrete road they are laying when it breaks

As Reg Dingle often says, 'I'm very much hoping for more than 1 1/2 inches', but I think our water pipe will be OK. It will be buried under any ramp from the apartments but that is pretty unavoidable and the apartment's water meter is 'our' side of their entrance, so any future problems will also be their problem, and so will get fixed. Apart from that the water pipe is routed under natural soil to our entrance. I'll make it all nice once the road is finished.



Anyway, Tem brought along his single mum girlfriend along with her young son for tea, which made things pretty awkward...



... because I had brought along Anna to say hello. Not only did she look well put out to see Tem with another woman, she also doesn't like female dogs or puppies anyway and wouldn't stop growling... and it was bladdy difficult to distribute all the food one-handed with no fights.

But I managed.



On the way back home I couldn't help feeling proud of meself to get the road going all the way to our back gate... although of course the next issue will be that the new road level will be higher than the concrete slab of the garage... but that's a problem for another day. A decade and a half ago it was difficult to plan for such eventualities.



I took a walk around the garden later and saw that Anna had relaxed. She seems to know which side of her bread is buttered... the Yogi side.



Another Isaan dog day, and a Thursday to boot!

So time for an early weekend Mont Clair.

[david44]

Life in Korat it's the dog's bollocks

[malmomike77]

^^ you have time to swap out those little planks for some 6 inch ones before morning

[DrWilly]

It’s bollocks alright!

[Shutree]

the next issue will be that the new road level will be higher than the concrete slab of the garage

Our new concrete soi is a little higher than my gate, but it is at a right angle and we joined them with two small slabs making a shallow "V" so that water drains across the front of the gate, rather than into it.
It would be easier to engineer this now than after the concrete is poured. Have you considered leaving a narrow gap across the front of your gate so that you can put a drain with a grille cover? We had to do this inside where the driveway slopes gently down to the house. I told the builder to make sure the covered carport had a 1:100 slope, and it does, from front to back rather than my plan of back to front. The first time it rained the carport filled like a pond. So we had to dig a trench in the concrete and add a heavy duty grille we can drive over. It works, I only wish we had built it like that in the first place.

[Mendip]

As luck would have it Shutree, I took this picture last night.

Looking at the rebar hammered into the ground, we will have maybe 0.4m to 0.5m to play with, between the end of the road and the garage concrete slab. Water could drain along the side of our wall, ie towards where I was standing where I took the picture, although of course levels may be a problem.

I was half thinking of bodging it by digging a trench, line with concrete and maybe fill with gravel, but a nicely shaped trench with a metal grill on top would be better. I think at some point an extra 6 inches added to the concrete slab will be necessary.



The rebar is currently going down and I think the concrete will be poured this afternoon. This was the status this morning... we had to leave the ouse via the front entrance today with the road temporarily out of action. Tem was well confused.



It makes you think... today I was reading in the news about a road in Wales that took 23 years to build. This road will take 3 days!

[Reg Dingle]

I was reading in the news about a road in Wales that took 23 years to build. This road will take 3 days!

The Welsh one would probably have had a camber to allow the rain to run off and hardcore instead of plastic waste and dogshit holding it together