I haven't noticed him getting sunburnt but he has that pale colouring that could make him susceptible. He generally seems to stay out of the sun.
Sadly for me that wasn't an option today and I've got sunburnt shoulders to prove it.
Today I sorted out the overgrown waterfall.
It's difficult to find a flattering body angle these days...
But job done... hopefully the week after next I'll get time to start properly tackling my pond issues.
You are a daft twit sometimes aren't you. You may have had no option about getting out in the sun, but shirtless and hatless equals brainless in my opinion.
In Aussie they had a saying that you may have heard while there. "Slip, slop, slap"
Which means slip on shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat.
Luckily your shirt was tucked into your shorts or you would have had a burn bum crack and that would have been painful.
^^ I may be daft but at least I'm not dithering!
I heard of that "Slip, slop, slap" but I thought it was some kind of Aussie sexual practice. At least I know now.
That wasn't my shirt tucked into my shorts by the way... that was my boxers, exposed because my shorts kept slipping down. This incidentally kept tripping me and nearly took me over the edge of the waterfall a couple of times.
Now, THAT was daft!
Edit: I don't wear a fukkin girdle Lom!
Mendip, looking at the work you have to do in the Garden, the overgrown waterfall as case in point ... just what exactly are the Gardiner's duties?
^Fair question that. I'm thinking there's photos of that incident involved and Mendip is being blackmailed
^ Yeah, that sounds more like it!
I'm thinking of re-branding my gardener as a gardener/dog and chicken carer/handyman/driver/chef. I think the wife even gets him ironing when I'm away...
When I'm away he looks after my animals and keeps things running, but has no time to do a lot of actual gardening. To be honest it's also good to have a man about if I'm working for long periods... I could manage without him no problem when I'm home but that wouldn't work.
Those that know me better know that he's pretty essential to my whole set-up here... but that's another story.
Suffice to say that my daughter loves him to bits and I can sleep easy when away at work. I trust him 100% and I know that he'd put my daughter's life before his own... that is worth everything.
And he brings me good Ya Dong.
But David yes, I do sometimes wonder what his duties are... but I know he gets run ragged when I'm not here so I let it pass.
Maybe you need an apprentice gardener.
Before you tackle the pond a trip to the Cambodia Border to buy a couple of those $5 grenades might be reccomended. Whatever lurks beneath unleshing those loud belching sounds could be dangerous! Or assign the pond cleaning task to the gardener which should be part of his job description. If you follow through you may want to start the apprentice gardener interviews now.
^ I think you're right Cal, the gardener can take over the pond cleaning duties... those pla chon have big teeth!
Not sure about a hand grenade though, but it would solve the problem in one fell swoop.
I do sometimes wonder how safe Yogi's dangling bollocks are when he goes in for a dip. I certainly wouldn't go in 'au naterel'.
to kill all the life in the pond you could get some one in to do the issan electric net
Champion thread Mendip
I have only read half of it so far
Don't know how I never spotted it before
I came across a dam on one of the summer creeks in the forest while hacking around the jungle 6 months ago. The centre section has collapsed and all the water has drained away so I will be looking at a redamming project in the future, and guaranteeing water retention will be one of the challenges. I was thinking about putting a pipe and valve in before rebuilding the collapsed section to allow drainage in case it does not seal properly the first time it is filled, but then I thought I could just use a 2 inch syphon if I ever need to drain it, so I will keep it as simple as possible.
^ It was a harmless event that has been blown out of all proportion. Not important really.
Your dam project sounds good. Do you get regular rains in your neck of the woods or do you need to get this done before a wet season? Would you be allowed to stock it with yabbies and marron? I looked at stocking our pond with red-clawed crayfish but it's too muddy apparently. Maybe a project once I get the water quality and predators sorted out.
Yesterday I spent half an hour fishing and managed to catch the first pla nin for some time. This was around a pound and a half so it'll be fish and chips tonight. The gardener filleted it for me and was awarded the pla sawai for his efforts. I also saw a big rat snake swim across the pond but no picture sadly. Yogi will doubtless nail it at some point if I can't catch it first and release it outside the garden, and if so I've decided to cook it and make a belt.
^Rain is unpredictable round these parts Mendip.
This year we have La Nina weather system so tons of rain. Other years it can be months without even a shower like during the bushfires a year ago.
I had not thought as far ahead as stocking. Sometimes these ponds can stock themselves. A few years back I found prawns living in my in-ground water tank. They had somehow migrated from the summer creek where they lived in the pools. I don't know how prawns migrate across land but they seem to be able to.
^ Maybe the eggs get transported on birds legs?
Pla chon can migrate across land as well... but mine didn't need to. I stupidly introduced them myself and paid for the pleasure of doing it when I bought four from the market.
While I'm planning and finding time for a complete revamp of the pond I've decided to do my utmost to get rid of these pla chon. They're ruthless predators and breeding as well... the pond just can't support that. We've found several big pla nin minus their heads and I think the pla chon are now too big to be bothered to eat the small fry.
While browsing Lazada the other day I came across these fish traps for 68 Baht... what's not to like.
I seem to have been here before... but this trap just looks better than my old one. I sneaked a frozen pla nin head from the gardener's stash in the freezer for bait. His next tom yam fish soup will have two fewer eyes floating around in it.
And there we go... even the dogs were showing rare interest in this. Let's hope the pla chon are hungry tonight.
Mendip, is it not better to get a net big enough to string across the wide and you and the gardener drag net the whole thing to catch the Pla Chon and see what you have?
Hand grenades more fun, big expolsion!
^^ Strigils, this is something I've been thinking on and I'm considering getting one of those throwing nets. The problem is I designed the pool with underwater ledges for plant pots and shallow areas with walls to hold in soil... and of course there's all the plants as well. I think dragging a net through could cause a lot of damage, would snag on a lot of stuff and and bottom hugging fish would probably not get caught anyway. But it's a thought.
Cal, this is the second time you've mentioned hand grenading our pool... it ain't gonna happen. I don't care how much fun it is!
Anyway, maybe these extreme measure aren't warranted after all.
Yesterday morning before school we checked the fish trap.
Without doubt the tether was more taught than I'd left it the night before, suggesting a large pla chon had swum into the trap and pulled it a long a bit.
My retriever said that the net definitely felt very heavy... this was the most excitement I've had in a long time.
After a few tense moments the trap eventually broke the surface with a swirl...
And...
Nothing!!!
What a come down.
This is what I don't understand... I know there are pla chon in the pond and I know they like plan nin heads. Lazada suggested that these fish traps are the dog's bollocks with advertising pics showing nets full of fish. So what's going wrong? Could it be that I've completely wasted 68 Baht?
I chucked out the trap for a second chance.
Today we checked it again... and nothing again.
In fact the only difference between yesterday and today was that the pla nin head was now stinking like hell. I had to put my hand through one of the entrances the pla chon are supposed to use to get the head out and throw it over the wall. That was three hours ago and my hand still stinks of rotting fish. I've tried washing it, soaking it, even used some alcohol gel on it... but it still stinks. Saturday night as well... was hoping for some action.
Anyway, after a conflab we've decided to keep trying. Much to the gardener's disgust my daughter cadged a nice frozen pla nin from his stash, complete apart from two two fillets that went towards our fish and chips last week. We've moved the trap to an area of overhanging reads by the waterfall as pla chon are known to be ambush predators and like to hide in underwater vegetation.
Even our daftest dog Max could work out how to use an entrance to get the bait. Maybe finally we will catch one.
Well Mendip, if nets and hand grenades are ruled out then the tried and trusted stun with electricity method is your last resort short of draining it.
PS love the way you put mini-menidp straight to work from school.
To get fish stench off your hands: Wash your hands with Comet Cleanser (powdered) used to scour sinks and toilets. We would use this to get the anchovy (bait) stench off our hands when fishing for Stripped Bass.
Are you sure your trap is sitting on the bottom properly? You may want to put some small weights on the corners I don't think they work well upside-down or on their side.
Good luck
^ That sounds like sage advice Mike... this is the sort of solution I like. It doesn't involve expensive filters and UV lighting, draining the pond or wheel-barrowing out a couple of tonnes of gravel. This I like.
Must admit I was on the verge of giving up. Yesterday morning I retrieved the trap alone as the daughter has been complaining about getting rotten pla nin head splash back and now refuses to help.
Sunday... nothing.
And then the miracle happened.
After the daughter had left for school I retrieved the trap to find this.... a very stinking, rotten, two-day-in-the-water pla nin head.
I decided to give this up and took out the stinking pla nin head to throw over the wall. I got distracted while doing this and fed the fish, and couldn't help but notice that we have a flock of pigeons who gather at the windward side of the pond at feeding time, waiting for the uneaten pellets to drift over.
Anyway, I came back to the trap to hose it off and put it away and found this...
Yes!!! I had caught my first fish... a little pla nin fry. OK, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but at least shows that the trap works. It was still alive so I threw it back in the pond and then got busy with Mike's advice.
Six bricks to weigh the trap down and a brand new pla nin head from the gardener's diminishing tom yam stash. I think the trap was staying the right way up before but to be honest once it was 2 inches below the surface anything could have happened. Visibility ain't great in this water.
I lowered the weighted trap over the jetty... a good spot.
Roll on tomorrow morning... I think we've nailed it!
Its like Chitty trying to catch that fuckin mouse...all over again
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