Busy on not so secret project for the last few months

[dash riposki]

Then various crap hit the fan, including my laptop probably going terminal.

I've been building a small house in a rural village for the last 4 months, with me moving in to do some finishing during the last month.

Labor is cheap, here. Building materials a little cheaper, but you don't use much wood, (termites) except teak.

I have rights to the property until death, can't sell or rent.

10 minutes to a smallish Tesco, 30-40 minutes to big box stores and the city I used to live in.
We've only found one snake so far....harmless...except to the toad it was dining on.

 

[jokiin]

living the dream

 

[dash riposki]

Drone video this morning. The rice behind the house was just planted yesterday.

 

[dash riposki]

living the dream

Strangely resembles a nightmare....interrupted by confusion or senility?

 

[Nigel]

Snakes will normally leave you alone anyway unless you threaten them, it's the mosquitoes living & breeding in all that water that I would worry about! Don't know if they are an issue there?

 

[dash riposki]

Snakes will normally leave you alone anyway unless you threaten them, it's the mosquitoes living & breeding in all that water that I would worry about! Don't know if they are an issue there?

The water is not there all the time.
It has been empty for 6 months....with cows grazing there.

The mosquitos are fairly modest so far, worse in the city.
Most of the snakes are harmless, but there are some pretty nasty ones you don't need to step on by accident. Kraits, vipers, various cobras.

I'm trying to get the construction debris cleared up and remove habitat and food for the crawly stuff.

We have a lot of toads in the area, various small lizards. Not seen any rats.

 

[dash riposki]

Home, sweet...unfinished home.
Only 'major' stuff left to do is ceilings/insulation, and kitchen.

The ceiling is a problem because the locals, if they attempt to finish the ceiling at all, don't insulate, and create a massive heat depository in the sealed attic.

I'm trying to find a worker who will finish the ceiling the way I want it.

Kitchen is easy, but waiting for the right semi-skilled worker to come available.

Most of the local farmers also do construction work on the side. The planting season is over, so it's just a matter of waiting for the right guy to need money.



Yesterday, a concrete and tile guy showed up looking for work. He was part of the crew who built the bulk of the house. Works slow, but does it right. My girlfriend negotiated tiling the front porch, and some concrete work. 4 days of labor, about $75, usd.

I'm not taking advantage of the worker. Minimum wage is around $10 a day. He will have a 4 minute walk to the job site.
It beats riding in the back of a pickup truck for 45 minutes to a job site in the city, for around the same money.


Oh. The mosquitos are not so bad. Gnat type insects are worse, off and on.

 

[dash riposki]

You're not safe on any Thai road, or street.

If the bad drivers don't get you, the wandering dogs, will.

During a morning walk on a rural road, this beast attacked me.

Didn't hear it coming. Didn't bark, growl....nothing. was walking in the middle of the empty road to my house, felt an impact on the back of my right leg above the ankle. Turn around...and this aggressive dog was there.

Managed to back away....get some distance.
Earlier in the walk I learned the less aggressive or just curious dogs will back off if you are facing them.

Turn around to walk away, and they move in.

With a pack of dogs you are screwed.

Ended up getting 3 shots at the emergency room. Rabies, tetanus...and not sure what? $12 usd.

Have to go back for 3 more shots next month.

Girlfriends family located owner of dog. Very poor, living in a shack. Claim dog has puppies it was protecting......by running 50 yards from the house and biting somebody walking on a public street?

 

[kamkar]

Dogs roaming the streets are bad, in my book it say a lot about a country.

 

[dash riposki]

Dog belongs to homeless/squatter type. Village chief won't do anything.

 

[Lothar]

You're not safe on any Thai road, or street.

If the bad drivers don't get you, the wandering dogs, will.

During a morning walk on a rural road, this beast attacked me.

Didn't hear it coming. Didn't bark, growl....nothing. was walking in the middle of the empty road to my house, felt an impact on the back of my right leg above the ankle. Turn around...and this aggressive dog was there.

Ended up getting 3 shots at the emergency room. Rabies, tetanus...and not sure what? $12 usd.

Have to go back for 3 more shots next month.

How in the world are you able to get it that cheap?
Did they actually give you Rabies Immunoglobulin in addition to the Rabies vaccine? Not sure what the 3rd shot it was that they gave you, but I seriously doubt that it was that based on the cost that you paid.

Why a simple, lifesaving rabies shot can cost $10,000 in America

Untreated rabies is always fatal — but key drugs leave families with thousands in medical debt.

www.vox.com

 

[dash riposki]

How in the world are you able to get it that cheap?
Did they actually give you Rabies Immunoglobulin in addition to the Rabies vaccine? Not sure what the 3rd shot it was that they gave you, but I seriously doubt that it was that based on the cost that you paid.

Why a simple, lifesaving rabies shot can cost $10,000 in America

Untreated rabies is always fatal — but key drugs leave families with thousands in medical debt.

www.vox.com

From what I understand, it's not the rabies injections we are familiar with in the west.
It's also not very effective, but it's what they do.
(That is the reasoning for everything strange and contrary to established science, here. The rest of the world is wrong)

Some of the cost of the hospital is reduced because I'm over 60.

Thailand has fairly good and inexpensive low level public health care.
With major ailments, you still die, but you don't bankrupt your family while you do it.

 

[jokiin]

How in the world are you able to get it that cheap?

no ridiculous medical system there

you have medical emergencies there that can leave you with 100k debt, have the same in Australia and you pay nothing, when I say nothing though it does actually cost you 1.5% extra income tax, pretty small price to pay

 

[Lothar]

From what I understand, it's not the rabies injections we are familiar with in the west.
It's also not very effective, but it's what they do.
(That is the reasoning for everything strange and contrary to established science, here. The rest of the world is wrong)

Some of the cost of the hospital is reduced because I'm over 60.

Thailand has fairly good and inexpensive low level public health care.
With major ailments, you still die, but you don't bankrupt your family while you do it.

They're supposed to give you Rabies Immunoglobulin also which starts working immediately because the Rabies vaccine takes 7-10 days for your system to build antibodies.
That is the major part of the rabies regimen that cost $$$.

 

[dash riposki]

Dogs roaming the streets are bad, in my book it say a lot about a country.

They're supposed to give you Rabies Immunoglobulin also which starts working immediately because the Rabies vaccine takes 7-10 days for your system to build antibodies.
That is the major part of the rabies regimen that cost $$$.

I don't doubt you. This is thailand.

 

[SawMaster]

In the old days that was a problem here too, and worse as 'mad dogs' tended to run in packs. Every child learned very early on to carry a stout stick to beat dogs off with, and in the rural wooded areas it was also useful on 'mountain lions' too Unknown loose dogs tended to get shot back then which wouldn't be legal in most places now.

I like dogs in general and I can't condone random poisoning, but if the problem was large I'd be looking for places where I could do some 'live trapping' and relocating of the unruly ones in a stealthy manner, releasing any 'nice' ones who would hopefully learn to avoid my traps quickly. If necessary I'd consider selective baiting with a small chunk of meat infused with an overdose of painkillers tossed directly in front of the problem so only the intended subject would be affected and they'd not feel any pain as they passed on to doggie-heaven. Hate to even think about such things but humans matter more than dogs, and if you can't or won't train your dog to interact well with humans then neither you or your dog(s) belong in society

As with all things don't get caught because stupid people are dangerous too.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

Here there have been the eagle poisoning with cabofuran a extremely poisonous pesticide, but not long ago they also found poisoned sausages in a park,,,, the assumption is it was targeted at seagulls,,,, in that case a lesser poison was used.

Personally i tend to like dogs more than humans, at least from the onset a dog is clean, if it is out to hurt you you have to be deaf dumb and blind to not see that, humans is a whole other ballgame, even if you are somewhat familiar with some traits and tells.

 

[SawMaster]

I've never had a dog tell me a lie, try to cheat me out of my money, or ask me to do something immoral or illegal. I can't say the same for humans.

Dogs and humans both are capable of doing serious harm to innocent people so both have to be trained to not do that. and if either happens to break that sacred trust then I don't care how they are dealt with so long as it never happens again. I'd prefer re-training where possible but sometimes that just doesn't work or is highly impractical so in those cases their total elimination from life in society becomes the best choice. Dogs who are trained or allowed to be vicious to the general public should be fed their owners, and when that is done let them starve to death afterward- solves two problems at once at almost zero cost.

Phil

 

[dash riposki]

They tend to let the dogs run loose, here. Big, small, friendly, or vicious.
Where I lived before there was a large dog roaming free that was muzzled. It was on an access street I needed to traverse on foot or motorized. Dog seemed very mellow, never showed any interest in me or other moving things. Not sure why a muzzle?

The presence of the dog that bit me, in the location it's at, blocks the best route to walk to girlfriends family homes, and also the farmlands they own.

I'm not stupid enough to walk down the paved main road, this is a pretty empty road that runs parallel to the main road. The vicious dog is right before an intersection, turn left to go to main part of village, right to go deeper into farmlands.

There is a public park in the small city ten minutes away I could walk in.

I don't mind going there, due to the attractive ladies running, or working out, there.

 

[dash riposki]

I like dogs, the girlfriends father offered me one of his dogs, who took a liking to me. Nice dog, huge, size of a small great Dane. Sweet, friendly but has grown up running free. Wouldnt do well on our small lot or in the small house.
If it were a young dog I'd take a chance, but it's ten years old. (But a brute)


Front porch getting tiled.