A day in the life...

[Bonecollector]

^ oh you c^^t 555 ive banned myself, nice ride, I love the old school seats, have fun mate

[Stumpy]

^ oh you c^^t 555 ive banned myself, nice ride, I love the old school seats, have fun mate

555. Was a beauty ride. You know. Just get out. Crank it up to 130+ and smile.

[Stumpy]

Well as winter winds down and the ground dries out those little thorn weeds start dropping their seeds for next year. I hate those fkrs. So does my FIL and the dogs. We just had 4 days of good rain which was perfect as it brought them all up to the surface. My last job of today was to mow this area. I drop the mower to its lowest setting which of course means I have to walk the area for rocks and hunks of wood and whatever else is around as when they hit the blade it is loud.



I used the bag to catch as many seeds/thorns as I can and every year I am seeing less and less. Its never perfect but not to bad. If left unchecked that entire are would be brutal to walk. Soon this area will be a dry desert

Beer 30 time

[Bonecollector]

^Can we get a picture of said thorns? Nice looking garden Stumps....we are still in the planning stages of our retirement home on my partners land in Surin. She has a nice 1 and a bit rai plot near the city centre but we are just thinking maybe we want something a lot bigger, you know something you can really walk around.

What are your thoughts on taking care of your garden? In hindsight would you have preferred something a lot smaller to take care of?

[Shutree]

those little thorn weeds

Do you mean these nasty little things?

[Stumpy]

As requested



Green state. They grow low along the ground



Dry state. When dry they stick in everything. Dogs get them stuck in their paws and fur and of course they stick in shoes and flip flops and they get everywhere.

What are your thoughts on taking care of your garden?

I really enjoy keeping our place up. Its relaxing and I just take a section at a time and do my thing. I love being outdoors so I work at all times of day even though my wife and FIL retreat to the shade and fans and watch...

In hindsight would you have preferred something a lot smaller to take care of?

Of course land ownership and upkeep is an individual preference. I grew up on a lot of land so what I have now is manageable and now after 6+ years I have it somewhat on autopilot if you will. It is not too big where its just a wild hunk of land. As time has gone on, all the tree/shrub and grass planting we have done has matured making it nice and comfortable. We have lots of fruit trees which my wife and FIL love and I have my resort pool side where I relax albeit I keep up the entire property. I am glad the "Back Forty" as I call it now stays green for at least 9 months of the year. Having it green keeps things cooler and the dust and dirt down during summer.

[BLD]

Always enjoy the issan threads. 14 years living in lao makes me think Lao and isan folk are very similar. And genuine folk

[Stumpy]

View from my morning bike ride today along the Wang river. Enjoying the cool mornings.

Light project list today.

[Stumpy]

Decided to go do the wife's passport renewal today in CM. Amazing a MONSTER facility and only 5 people. Wife was in and out in 15 minutes.



Did me a bit of replenishment for the liquor cabinet and fridge



Stopped at the big nursery area and picked up some plants for the Pool bar area. Wife picked up half a dozen more orchids



Now relaxing enjoying a beautiful early evening



My bird buddy is watching her nest and keeping an eye on me

[DrWilly]

Bastard, I just worked hard and dealt with a few complaints.

[Stumpy]

Well Happy Friday. Tis another one.



Weather warming up fast. Did a full service on the pump system and filter on the jacuzzi and got the water balance dialed in.





Went into town and picked out some pots for the new plants and picked up some more ground coconuts husks for planting. Monster decided to drop by to see what all the commotion was about. Then I turned my back and...........



Bastard nicked a BeerLao from the fridge. Apparently he is going to watch me work...

[Bonecollector]

Dry state. When dry they stick in everything. Dogs get them stuck in their paws and fur and of course they stick in shoes and flip flops and they get everywhere.

God those fuckers, I know those

Of course land ownership and upkeep is an individual preference. I grew up on a lot of land so what I have now is manageable and now after 6+ years I have it somewhat on autopilot if you will. It is not too big where its just a wild hunk of land. As time has gone on, all the tree/shrub and grass planting we have done has matured making it nice and comfortable. We have lots of fruit trees which my wife and FIL love and I have my resort pool side where I relax albeit I keep up the entire property. I am glad the "Back Forty" as I call it now stays green for at least 9 months of the year. Having it green keeps things cooler and the dust and dirt down during summer.

Thanks for your opinion on the matter. It is something we really need to think about as right now we only have the 1rai and there is no possibility to expand. That 1 rai is however worth nearly 2mil, so we could sell that and move further out and buy about 5 rai instead. I just don't feel it is enough and like you guys, we would want to have an array of fruit trees. I can definitely agree gardening keeps you active and probably a very good thing to have in retirement. Keep your mind engaged and bones moving are two very important things forsure. Meh Thai mum will be retiring from the skank as well so I think it will be good for her to keep herself occupied. Starting to conclude 1 rai for 1 main house, 1 yai house and a decent garden is definitely not enough.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden and experiences Stumpy!

Cute turtle by the way!

[malmomike77]

Cute turtle by the way!

Turtle

[Stumpy]

Thanks for your opinion on the matter

My pleasure. As we both know, everyone has different expectations. My wife and I did consider more land but wondered what would we really do with it. I wasn't going to be a farmer, been there done that. was great as a kid (Sort of) but nothing I had interest in doing later in life.

we would want to have an array of fruit trees.

We purposely set up our property to have 2 separate different places to hang out and work on. I left the area where the pool is now open knowing it was part of my plan so the other side was all the effort to plant a large mix of various fruit trees and set up the watering etc
.

I can definitely agree gardening keeps you active and probably a very good thing to have in retirement. Keep your mind engaged and bones moving are two very important things forsure.

To me I am extremely thankful to have the compound set up to have different things to do on any given day. It definitely keeps you busy and active and moreover hobbies to keep you active.

Cute turtle by the way!

For clarification......Tortoise. Turtles live in water, Tortoises exclusively on land. When monster was about 6inches in diameter and maybe a few ounces, it was a cute little thing. Now he is about 30 inches in diameter and a 96lb walking rock that bulldozers anything he wants. Amazingly though, he does understand verbal commands and knows who I am and when I walk up to him when he is about to tear up some shit and I say KNOCK IT OFF!!! he stops and walks away.

[malmomike77]

My wife and I did consider more land but wondered what would we really do with it. I wasn't going to be a farmer, been there done that. was great as a kid (Sort of) but nothing I had interest in doing later in life.

Exactly.

The idea of something as opposed to the reality needs careful consideration, number one being how are you going to cope as you age.

My main wants are an area for growing veg for our own consumption, an area to relax and one for fruit trees. With the trees, on some land we have i made the mistake of planting too densely and had to take some out, also making sure to regularly prune the fruit trees so they deliver the fruit you want but don't get too big to be able to prune and harvest - this means managing them from the start and forming them.

[Bonecollector]

For clarification......Tortoise. Turtles live in water, Tortoises exclusively on land. When monster was about 6inches in diameter and maybe a few ounces, it was a cute little thing. Now he is about 30 inches in diameter and a 96lb walking rock that bulldozers anything he wants. Amazingly though, he does understand verbal commands and knows who I am and when I walk up to him when he is about to tear up some shit and I say KNOCK IT OFF!!! he stops and walks away.

You learn something new everyday on TD! Yeah pretty sure I've read that they are quite smart.

[HuangLao]

God those fuckers, I know those



Thanks for your opinion on the matter. It is something we really need to think about as right now we only have the 1rai and there is no possibility to expand. That 1 rai is however worth nearly 2mil, so we could sell that and move further out and buy about 5 rai instead. I just don't feel it is enough and like you guys, we would want to have an array of fruit trees. I can definitely agree gardening keeps you active and probably a very good thing to have in retirement. Keep your mind engaged and bones moving are two very important things forsure. Meh Thai mum will be retiring from the skank as well so I think it will be good for her to keep herself occupied. Starting to conclude 1 rai for 1 main house, 1 yai house and a decent garden is definitely not enough.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden and experiences Stumpy!

Cute turtle by the way!

Cheers to both of ya!
One can never have enough property to garden properly.
All about expansion and experimenting.

[Mendip]

Bonecollector, if I did this again I would have large land/small house.

When we arrived we built a largish house on residential plots... and then as more plots became available we expanded but this has resulted in a poor, haphazard layout and we have again run out of space.

We now have about a rai, but my time again... I would buy a 6 rai plot (6 rai seems to be common... a jurisdictional reason?), build a 2 metre wall around it and then get busy in developing it. I think 6 rai is a good size, and you don't have to use the whole 6 rai of course... leave plenty wild. But I would just love to have some land.

[malmomike77]

You might need to upgrade the gardener if you do that

[Stumpy]

So I set up my sprinkler for the lawns and..........



Annie our full on water dog comes and just stands in front of the sprinkler. Then she sat on it.

[bsnub]

Annie our full on water dog comes and just stands in front of the sprinkler.

She needs a proper cold PNW river to dive in. I love water dogs, but they are out of elements in LOS.

[Headworx]

^Huskies are the dogs I hate seeing here. Beautiful animals, but definitely not suited to conditions like this.

[Mendip]

^ PNW?

But I think I get your drift Snubs.

One of our neighbours had a Siberian husky a few years ago... and I had to persuade him to at least leave a fan going to cool the poor thing down.

Many years ago I stayed with a friend in Poolewe on the NW coast of Scotland. He had an Old English Sheepdog... covered in hair and baking hot in temperatures above freezing. Towards the end of an evening this dog wanted to get out to cool down even when it was snowing and sleeting outside.

These poor huskies in Thailand.

[hallelujah]

^Huskies are the dogs I hate seeing here. Beautiful animals, but definitely not suited to conditions like this.

I was just about to post exactly the same. You really feel for them.

[Bonecollector]

Bonecollector, if I did this again I would have large land/small house.

When we arrived we built a largish house on residential plots... and then as more plots became available we expanded but this has resulted in a poor, haphazard layout and we have again run out of space.

We now have about a rai, but my time again... I would buy a 6 rai plot (6 rai seems to be common... a jurisdictional reason?), build a 2 metre wall around it and then get busy in developing it. I think 6 rai is a good size, and you don't have to use the whole 6 rai of course... leave plenty wild. But I would just love to have some land.

Thanks for the advice Mendip. We are definitely bending more this way now but we were never going to build a big house anyway. The bigger the house the more area to clean and keep cool.

Great to hear opinions from the experienced and yes Huang Lao, maybe better to keep it simple at first and then see how you feel. I guess then you haven't spent any money on indoor space you don't actually need/ use. We are planning on building joining pathways to each pod so to speak, so with excessive land we can always add a guest pod later or when the grandkids arrive!