A day in the life...

[DrWilly]

^With the amount of swag he's boosted off airlines, I'd assume he's got a cupboard full of stuff like that too.

I'm sure he has. Bet he's never worn any of it.

Do you not remember the state of his sneakers on the boat?

[Stumpy]

What do you Merkins call the second level? Upstairs or downstairs?

There is guttering on the lower level which extends out further than the upper level, thus catching all the water!

Well when we talk gutters us Merkins always put the gutters on the highest roof. Never seen gutters on the lower level because usually the rain will jettison right over that lower level gutter. Along with that, the intent of gutters is to stop heavy water from hitting you as you walk around the house in the rain as it's caught and directed else where.

Morning Mendy.

[Mendip]

Well, you have to fill your time somehow when you live in Isaan!

I agree with much of what you say HW... I don't do digging in the rock-hard soil any more, or lug about concrete posts and give myself hernias any more... but have you ever had painting and decorating done in Thailand?

I have several times. They refuse to use dust sheets, the pathways, windows and anything else in range will get spattered in paint, which is left to dry. And the standard of work, cutting in gloss around the window frames etc is just awful.

The entire exterior of our house needs painting and no way will I tackle that but it's impossible to find anyone to do a decent job.

[Mendip]

^^ Aah, but our guttering is for water collection as well, so the water from the upper level pours onto the lower level therefore getting collected by the lower level guttering.

And then during a storm the water fills the water butt in 3 seconds flat afterwhich it pours over the sides!

[ootai]

What do you Merkins call the second level? Upstairs or downstairs?

Mendip
In relation to your question above what do you "poms" call the bottom floor of your house?
I say the bottom floor of "your house" because I know you don't have a basement floor and if I didn't qualify the question it would leave it open form some smartarse American (cue Stumpy) to say 'basement" as an answer.

Anyway us educated Aussie call a basement a basement, fukkin original ay?
Then we call the floor that is on the same level as the ground surrounding the "ground floor" but the Americans call this the first floor.
If the house is more than 1 story high we Aussie call the floor above the ground floor the first floor but the Americans call this the second floor.

I believe this method is so the Americans can pretend their buildings are taller than other people's when they are in fact the same.

[Stumpy]

I guess it's the way I was brought up.

I applaud Mendy getting out there and doing his own work. Its not about saving money, its about showing his daughter things as well as staying away from sitting all day do nothing watching others work. I finally stopped doing my hedges as the balancing act on top of 12ft ladder wasn't worth the risk. Actually let me restate that, my wife told me I am done doing it. But even when the guys come I still help. Just no ladder circus act with a gas powered edger...

He already has the gardener on the payroll

Lets be honest here Snubs, I think we ALL know Mendy does not have a gardener. He has a part time helper/driver who occasionally does some weed whacking for appearance sake.

[Mendip]

^^ I call it 'downstairs' and 'upstairs'. I've never has the luxury of living in a house with more than two levels so that has never been an issue.

I grew up in a bungalow so that was even easier.

I believe that for a high rise in the UK the floor you walk into from street level will be called the ground floor (ground level) and the first floor will be one above. But I'm open to being corrected on this.

[Mendip]

^^ Stumps, I'd like to think I'm setting the daughter an example by doing my own stuff but she thinks I'm mad and just says why not get someone else to do it. But she's young, she'll learn. How can you replace that feeling of satisfaction every time you look at the shiny black pool fence and know it was all your own work... even if you did get sunburnt to fukk, graze your knees on the ground, scuff your knuckles while sanding and get paint and thinner into all the cuts at the end of each day... and generally just be in a shitty mood for a week. You can't replace that feeling.

And as for the gardener, as you know he is a lot more than that and gardening is probably the thing that he's least proficient at, but what to call him? 'Driver' sounds so pretentious and I do all my own driving anyway, apart from on a Friday night.

As a side note, when I filled out the forms for my extension last year everyone living on the property had to be listed, and I discovered that the wife had listed the gardener as a 'servant'. I guess that shows the Thai way of thinking!

[Headworx]

but have you ever had painting and decorating done in Thailand?

Yes mate I have, multiple times. And it all went exactly as we'd planned, on time and on budget. Another very good thing about living in a Farang ghetto is there's Foreigners here that did things like painting and decorating for a living in their home countries before coming here and setting up their own business doing work to Western standards. So contractors I use for jobs Thai's would fuck-up for sure (interior decorating, plumbing, electrical, air-con installation/servicing, etc) are done personally or overseen by foreigners who know what fussy people don't want. I've seen more than enough Thai workmanship to know they work under near enough is good enough standards!

[DrWilly]

^ aaaah, but you pay more! How about
minimum wage?

[Stumpy]

but what to call him?

I'd call him a Groundskeeper. Kind of covers everything.

And to your point I was same with my daughters and they said same thing. "Dad just pay a guy to clean the gutters, mow the lawns, vacuum the pool, paint etc. I said " Some day you will appreciate do your own work and someday you will make your own money and if you want to pay to have someone do it, your choice. Just remember money doesn't grow on trees" .Funny now. She and her husband bought their first house and moved in. She sent me pics using a laser level to hang pictures and her digging a trench to put in sprinklers. It all paid off.

[armstrong]

I wash the car myself. I do a crap job but it's relaxing.

We did spend 6 months without a washing machine once because I was determined to fix it myself. After many trips to home pro, Mr DIY etc I eventually accepted defeat.

[Mendip]

^^ Yeah, fingers crossed.

But 'Groundskeeper'... that sounds a bit too grand and is also a bit crickety for me.

^^^ That is the a difference between living in Pattaya and living in the arse-end of Nakhon Nowhere. Doc, I'd happily pay extra for a decent job done once... but there just doesn't seem to be that option. It at least I haven't found it yet... but I do have a list as long as my arm of contractors I will never use again.

But anyway, there's more to living in Isaan than spending day after day doing pointless jobs to keep occupied. In between sanding down the pool fence I've been renovating some bird nesting boxes.

We have a pigeon problem and I'm gradually tackling it by removing all of their roosting places... I'm just too soft these days to kill them so am getting rid of them the hard way... non lethally. And I know an air rifle would be a lot easier but that's not for me... you have to be comfortable with yourself.

The pigeons have taken over my open-fronted nest boxes so after returning from work I waited until this fledgling flew the nest before renovating the bird box. Incidentally, I had found this bird in the garden several times and replaced it in the bird box before the dogs did their stuff... until finally I found a patch of feathers and Yogi with blood all down his front. Yogi doesn't seem to have my moral compass and has made many a meal from a fledgling's maiden flight.



I took the nest box down and it was pretty disgusting... almost full of pigeon shite.



But a couple of hours work and some leftover wood stain from the jetty... and transformed into a pigeon-proof brand new home for our wild birds. You need to make an entrance hole around 2 inches diameter to attract the wild birds and keep the pigeons out.



I put it up and it was inspected by a hoopoe literally within an hour. We now offer east and west-facing detached accommodation to choose from



The male called his mate and they seem to have opted for the new west-facing box. I'm hoping we get two breeding pairs this year. Hoopoes are my favourite Thai bird but we also get magpie robins nesting in the boxes. It'll be interesting to see what happens.



There's one more open-fronted box by the pool house/gym to go and I've been waiting for this guy to fly the nest.



And yesterday it looked like he had. Another box to renovate.



Who says it's boring living in Isaan!

[naptownmike]

Those nesting boxes are great. I plan to make a few as well.

What size hole did you go with.

[Mendip]

2 inches Mike.

This seems right for the hoopoes but the magpie robins may like a smaller entrance... to keep the hoopoes out.

[Stumpy]

We have a pigeon problem and I'm gradually tackling it by removing all of their roosting places... I'm just too soft these days to kill them so am getting rid of them the hard way... non lethally

I hear ya Mendy. Our neighbors houses are literally over ran with Flying Carp...oops I mean pigeons. I don't know how they can stand all shit on the ground, the smell and moreover the noise they make. Anyway they ran out of room and tried to branch out to our home. My FIL and I kept putting pressure on them to hopefully deter them to no avail. They kept at making nests up under a few roof over hangs. I felt like I was losing this battle and I really didn't want every day to be consumed always looking and chase them away. So I ended it and popped a few with my .22 cal pellet gun and the others caught wind of it and have not returned. I wouldn't care if they nested in trees but they are like cockroaches and always want to nest in houses and their offspring always nest where they were born or nearby. All the other species of birds are quite welcome and I love them around our house. So many nests in various trees.

[Shutree]

But 'Groundskeeper'... that sounds a bit too grand and is also a bit crickety for me.

How about 'factotum'? Like wot Figaro was.
He'd be the first gardener in Isan with his own theme song, 'Largo al factotum'.
(You'll be humming it by the end of today, sure.)

[Shutree]

Those nesting boxes are great. I plan to make a few as well.

What size hole did you go with.

In UK there is guidance for different birds. I made one of these which was successful for Blue tits. I haven't yet experimented here in Thailand.

Where To Put A Bird Box | Nestboxes - The RSPB

[Mendip]

^ I reckon I could go a bit smaller for the hoopoes according to that Shutree... maybe 1.5 inches would be better. Birds are a lot skinnier than they appear clad in feathers.

After spending the morning sanding down the fence I needed a change so decided to dog out the fan palm stump. It's been standing there for a week now with not a lot of interest being showed by the gardener so I thought I'd lead by example. I need the exercise anyway.

This was bladdy hard work, to be honest. There's a water pipe running against the wall but I managed to avoid breaching it with the hoe. I also managed to avoid chopping off any toes, which was a result.



Half way through the wife stuck my lunch on an outside table but I wanted to get finished... and so one of the dogs nailed it. This pissed me off but I'm not sure who the culprit was so couldn't dish out any punishment. I have my suspicions it was Yogi but you have to be sure.

After about two hours digging and chopping I finally managed to push the damn thing over. Max was well impressed.



But it's too bladdy heavy to heave out of the hole. I wish I knew someone with a chainsaw as this will take a lot of chopping... but for another day.

[ootai]

^


But it's too bladdy heavy to heave out of the hole. I wish I knew someone with a chainsaw as this will take a lot of chopping... but for another day.

Mendip
If you want to wait until Sunday, probably in the afternoon, I could bring my chainsaw down and you can deal with it (the palm that is).
I am booked in to see the Doctor but she has a lot to do for me (filling in forms for my Aussie driver's Licence) so I might be late finishing.

[Stumpy]

Also Mendy, these are a very handy tool when falling trees, pulling walls down or pulling up stumps. I have used mine many times.



Can find on Lazada for about 2k baht

TEKTON : TKT5541* หัวรอกเกียร์ 2-Ton Power Puller

Tools Mendy...tools. If you had one of these Come alongs, you could pull that out of the hole in a few minutes and then put that stump on a dolly and wheel it out into the nearby field. I wouldn't use a chainsaw IMHO. Palms are very fibrous and they can wad up in the blade. You could buy one of those Bow Saws and make short work of it.

Cheers

[Reg Dingle]

Half way through the wife stuck my lunch on an outside table but I wanted to get finished... and so one of the dogs nailed it. This pissed me off but I'm not sure who the culprit was so couldn't dish out any punishment. I have my suspicions it was Yogi but you have to be sure.

Have you tried sniffing the ballbag of the Alpha Males around your yard?

After about two hours digging and chopping I finally managed to push the damn thing over. Max was well impressed.

Whilst Yogi and the "gardener" looked on, one fondling his nutsack in the hammock and the other lavishing the odour of Isarn jungle curry all over his scrote.

[Reg Dingle]

Just looked at the tool you used to dig all those stumps out....A hoe

My dad (78 years young) came around with what he called a grubbing axe and dug out the rooting system on two 3 foot diameter trees that kept shedding white shit and attracting wood pigeons last year and a hedgerow...

This is what you want/wanted

[David48atTD]

^ I've heard those called a mattock

[bsnub]

Just looked at the tool you used to dig all those stumps out....A hoe

Poor Mendy. He may be a fancy scientist, but he drinks box wine and has no clue how to pull a stump out of the ground.