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Thread: An Isaan Pond

  1. #876
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    Mendy keeps him around for his Mad Ya Dong distilling skills.
    So he's not really a gardener, but he is a distiller.






    But calling him a gardner keeps the fuzz away...

    Smart work, Mendy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    Seeing as they announced my daughter's school is closed again
    Poor kids. Locally they just restarted this week, I see the neighbours' children going in every day, whereas my last school in Udon Thani was trying remote learning with no success at all. No surprise, the teachers had no new tools, no special training or teaching platforms and many children have no Internet anyway. So they also brought the students back to school recently, except only half the school on any one day. This means the As are doing Week 1 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday whilst the Bs are doing Week 2 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The following week they swap, so As are doing Week 2 and Bs are doing Week 1. This means the teachers are working six days a week while the students are studying 3 days a week.

    At some point these students are going to arrive at tertiary education having missed a year of secondary school.

  3. #878
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    So he's not really a gardener, but he is a distiller.
    I think so, coupled with Van Valet parking in ditches and an occasional welding gig...

  4. #879
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    So he's not really a gardener, but he is a distiller.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    Your gardener needs to get mowing that grass... I'm beginning to think he is a free loader!
    You can call him what you like... but he's well pissed off with you, KW.

    I told him what you'd said so he donned his PPE and got busy...



    Not a bad job... I ask him to leave some areas long to provide some kind of refuge for the snakes from the dogs. He thinks I'm mad of course but it's less work so he's quite happy.



    The beautiful cool breezy morning I awoke to lasted for around twenty-two minutes. Then it became as hot and humid as hell.

    But this jetty won't build itself. Today's task was the step.



    As usual, a potentially enjoyable and rewarding task made unbearable by the relentless baking sun and stifling humidity... but ya just have to press on.



    And a couple of hours later...



    I was reasonably pleased with the finished job, although it took a lot longer than anticipated.



    It looks as though the two slabs left of centre slope downwards to the left in the view below, but they are in fact level. It was the upper left coping stone that sloped up to the left. It just didn't look right first time around so having finished up once, I mixed a bit more cement, went in again and raised the left most paving slab a bit, just to make the step look better. Now the left-most slab isn't level and is out of whack with the other paving slabs along the step, but overall I think it looks better. This is the problem when you aim for perfection but are adding to a 'rustic look' old project!

    It still doesn't look quite right... but there comes a point when you just say,'fuk it, it's good enough'. It was so baking hot today and I also had a Ja Dong head to contend with.



    And then it started raining again. I covered the step up and left Maya admiring the jetty. I think she's looking forward to jumping off the end once it's finished.



    And that being the last dirty job of the project I dumped my filthy, soaking wet work clothes by the back door with the intention of finally giving my feet a good clean up.



    Maybe if I can stay off the Leo and Ja Dong I'll get better luck tonight!
    Last edited by Mendip; 18-06-2021 at 03:31 PM.

  5. #880
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    An Isaan Pond-20210618_155011-jpg

  6. #881
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Ducking brilliant!

  7. #882
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    but he's well pissed off with you, KW.
    Nice Job KW. Motivational speaker. It worked. I see the Ya Dong distiller knows how to handle a weedwhacker.

  8. #883
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    And that being the last dirty job of the project I dumped my filthy, soaking wet work clothes by the back door with the intention of finally giving my feet a good clean up.



    Maybe if I can stay off the Leo and Ja Dong I'll get better luck tonight!
    Thank fuck you spared us the pic of you without all those clothes!

  9. #884
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I told him what you'd said so he donned his PPE and got busy...

    That PPE is classic!

    Only a Thai could think of that.

  10. #885
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    ^ Yeah!

    He alao wears my daughter's old Covid face shields from school.

  11. #886
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    I suppose at least he is wearing a face shield?

  12. #887
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    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    a Thai could think of that.
    Recycling, I believe it's successfully practised elsewhere around the globe.

    The bags contents have been used now, the no cost empty bag, has found a fit for purpose use.

  13. #888
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Recycling, I believe it's successfully practised elsewhere around the globe.

    The bags contents have been used now, the no cost empty bag, has found a fit for purpose use.
    Technically reusing or repurposing rather than recycling.

  14. #889
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    I think OhOh misinterpreted my praise for 'out of the square' thinking, as cynicism.

    I would reuse it as a bag, or, as I've done in the past repurpose it by burying in my garden as a plant root barrier ... but never would have thought of it as PPE

    I used to store mulch in them but, if they are the same style of fish food bag as what we have, they degrade in sunlight quite quickly.
    Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago ...


  15. #890
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    Mendip, a side question to your topic: what do you cook for your dogs?

  16. #891
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    From the colour of green your pond is full of bio material which is stewing in the Korat heat and only few hot days from a fish die off. Maybe time to play with the hand grenades.

  17. #892
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    reusing
    A "plastic bag" has been "reused" as a "material" to form a defensive garment, IMHO.

    With his own, Thai ingenuity/financial benefit. Bypassing all the collection, remanufacture, transport, energy consumption, profit generation by others actions.

    In addition to utilising/conversion of the now alleged by some, "due to mass vaccination", into a face mask. Designed for one use and now recycled to another.

    All accomplished by a Thai gardener at home. Another Thai interpretation of the RULES.

    Greta would approve, I suspect.

    recycling

    /ˌrēˈsīkliNG/

    noun

    noun: recycling

    th"action or process of converting waste into reusable material."
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  18. #893
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    FFS.

    If you are going to be a pedant, at least be correct.

    what is the difference between recycle and reuse - Google-haku

  19. #894
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    ^An answer in a forum thread, run out of reds?

  20. #895
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    ^An answer in a forum thread, run out of reds?
    eh?

    Try English.

  21. #896
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    Quote Originally Posted by Headworx View Post
    An Isaan Pond-20210618_155011-jpg
    I was thinking more like "Hey Arsehole, where is the wood? You are taking forever"

  22. #897
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    You can call him what you like... but he's well pissed off with you, KW.

    I told him what you'd said so he donned his PPE and got busy...



    Not a bad job... I ask him to leave some areas long to provide some kind of refuge for the snakes from the dogs. He thinks I'm mad of course but it's less work so he's quite happy.


    I dunno Mendy, I think you are covering for him after he missed spots and had already put the weedwhacker away. Looks like a bad hair cut. . I know there are Ya dong allowances in your contract......


    That said, my wife has used pig feed bags as aprons for various things. I see it up here a lot at the market for the ladies deep frying. I save the bags as our mooban encourages no burning so you can put out 2 to 3 bags of your yard clippings for garbage collection day.

  23. #898
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Mendip, a side question to your topic: what do you cook for your dogs?
    Klondyke... our dogs get a mixture of stuff. We get these flat packs of frozen dog food from Makro... all different flavours and about 30 to 40 Baht each. When boiled up it looks like very finely ground mince meat. I guess it's the sweepings from the floor and similar to what goes into pies in northern England. We add cheap boneless chicken cuts (also from Makro), and maybe beef if on offer, pork on offer etc etc. This is mixed with any leftovers from the day, good quality dog biscuits and, of course, some rice.

    I also feed around 15 street dogs a day... I swap fresh eggs with a local vendor for all her left over noodle soup at the end of the day. I don't like giving this to our dogs because there are bones. The street dogs get a bit of all the other ingredients but heavier on the rice and dog biscuits... otherwise it just gets too expensive.


    Quote Originally Posted by CalEden View Post
    From the colour of green your pond is full of bio material which is stewing in the Korat heat and only few hot days from a fish die off. Maybe time to play with the hand grenades.
    Yeah... back on this topic again... but anyway Cal, I'm way ahead of you.

    Quote Originally Posted by ootai View Post
    Originally Posted by ootai (An Isaan Pond)
    I would say I am competent if you want to blow something up using explosives but building anything, never.
    See... I have a plan! I can pay Ootai in fish soup.


    Anyway, what an absolute wanker of a day today has been.

    I've spent most of it going through my daughter's maths as she has her end of year assessments next week... or is it SA2 I think they seem to call them. She struggles with maths and while she's in Primary 4, I am just about competent enough to help out. This won't last much longer though sadly.

    In between my maths tuition I tried to get a couple of odds and ends done on the jetty.

    The offshore end plank of wood required some shaping to accommodate for the vertical members. I marked it up ready for cutting.

    Of course if I ever build another jetty I will pre-drill the screw holes in slightly different positions to centralise them... but such is life.



    A bonus was that due to the measurements a 2.5cm overlap of wood over the end of the jetty was impossible. I reckon around 8mm overlap will now happen, thus reducing the gaps between each plank.

    The first cut for the port side offshore vertical member went OK.



    The second cut for the starboard side vertical member was an absolute disaster. This project seems to be going wrong right at the end... of course... it's always in the finishing.

    Out of 21 planks of wood, I had selected one with an invisible hairline split and when I cut out the shape for the vertical member the end of the bastard piece of wood just fell off.

    You can see where the Chaindrite and wood stain had soaked into the split.



    Regrettably my daughter learnt a couple of new words today.

    I have to say though, I wish she could remember how to add improper fractions with such ease.

    Anyway... onwards and upwards and all that. Tomorrow I will go to Do Home and attempt to buy a tube of the strongest wood glue they have. Fortunately this is not a load bearing part of the structure and only really for appearances sake. It still pisses me off immensely though.

    After cutting I tested out the end plank. It fits OK... but that screw will be a bastard to get in, I know.



    I'm not showing a picture of the starboard side because it still pisses me off so much.

    I lay down the first plank (onshore) to see how things look. I'm much happier with this end. The overlap from the frame will only be around 5mm... so I've gained back some wood there also. I reckon the final gaps between planks will be just under 9mm... so not a disaster.

    Dan was well impressed.



    So, this is the status at the end of day... 30?

    The wood is just resting in place.



    I've already Chaindrited the newly cut surfaces of the offshore end plank and tomorrow I'll add wood stain and of course glue on that bastard piece that fell off. My plan is then to secure the onshore and offshore end planks and bar plank tomorrow. Once that is done I can lay down all the other planks to evenly distribute the gaps and then secure everything down with screws. There will also be some cutting required to accommodate for the diagonal members which, as sod's law dictates, will fall in the worst possible positions.

    And I've also got another term of maths to go through with the daughter.

    I'm tentatively hoping for a Monday end of project celebration.

    And I still haven't cleaned my feet up yet... so it will probably be a pretty subdued celebration.

    Oh... as an aside, while I was twatting about on the jetty today I noticed a few of these guys.



    There were several of them around 4 inches long and they are unmistakably young pla chon... or snakehead.

    Once the jetty is finished I'll have run out of excuses not to drain the pond. We obviously have a breeding population of snakehead and something has to be done.

    And another one... taunting me at the margins...

    Last edited by Mendip; 19-06-2021 at 06:40 PM.

  24. #899
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I'm tentatively hoping for a Monday end of project celebration.
    Maybe you can stretch it out to Friday..

    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    Once the jetty is finished I'll have run out of excuses not to drain the pond.
    I'm sure you're looking forward to that.

  25. #900
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    Mendip
    If I were you as well as gluing the piece of wood back in place I would screw a small piece underneath across the split and have it align with the cut of the opening you made.
    That way it provides support in 2 directions. Hope what I said makes sense but if not I tried.

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