I GOT A BITE

I hobbled in to the front desk

All bandaged up

Whang Pho nurses to the rescue

a punture wound near the ankle

It did hurt a little , but swelled up quickly

I was out back of the house in the neighbors field ,picking ripe mangos that had fallen on the ground and ready to eat, when all of a sudden ,I felt a sting on my leg, I was walking in a lot of leaves so I could'nt see what had bit me , but it hurt a little and started to swell right away , I hobbled home and did'nt say anything to Ciejay just went to the bathroom and washed it off and put a little cream for insect bites and said nothing . well during the night it started hurting like mad and by morning it was infected and red all around the bite, and it hurt even to touch the area around it .Having seen a e-mail sent by a friend of a spider bite and what it had done to a poor guys leg kinda scared me a little , well maybe a lot, I said to Ciejay"let's go to the hospital", and off we went . The hospital is only about 1 mile from our house and by the time we got there , I was hot and had a fever, and hurting , well the sweet nurses got me right in and said they did'nt know what got me , but it got me good , they numbed it and then lanced it and cleaned it real good and put me on some anti-biotics and pain killersand sent me home .

I can report that I am mending well and after the first night ,I have been feeling better and am able to walk ok without limping as the swelling has gone down.

I made it almost 5 years without getting any serious bites, and had ,I had on my long pants ,I probably would not have gotten bitten this time .

Lesson learned " don't go in the woods or fields with shorts and sandals.
Malcolm

BACK TO THE REAL WORLD (at least here in Whang Pho)

This picture is from the net and shows how they take the cassova to the market, it does nor bruise easy.

Take a look at that good dirt

How do they get them so straight ??????

these fields look so good and the soil smells so fresh after just being plowed ,reminds me of my chilhood and visting Grand-pa's farm

they put the stalks here for a month or two and they come to life , they cut them into pieces 6 to 8 inches long and stick them in the ground and kazam with the first rain they take off.



Taking a well deserved break after all that driving in the hot sun

Well Songkran has come and gone and everyone is happy and friends again, the stuff in the Big City has calmed down , at least for the time being , so I don't have to have my soaps interrupted with updates from the one sided media. Life can now get back to what I call normal here in my little corner of the world I call paradise.

It's almost the rainy season here and folks are getting the soil and land ready for their cash crops that will feed and clothe their families for another year . We have several cash crops that grow well here in our valley, cassova, pineapple, sugar cane , and corn. Lots of other veggies and fruit, grow here as well as this valley is very fertile .

The one in the pictures about to be planted by my neighbor is cassova, easy to plant , and a once a year crop that needs very little water or attention once it gets a good start from the rain fall.

I read somewhere that a lot of countries that need to import a lot of their food are now buying Thailand's cassova instead of potatoes as the potatoes will rot in a few weeks and even quicker than that if they get damp , where as the cassova will last a lot longer and not as effected as much by the dampness. I have been using the cassova in my vegetable soup and it adds a good taste and in fact I can't tell a lot of difference in it and potatoes when cooked with other veggies. Do you have cassova growing where you live? Have you ever had it to eat? And what did you think of the taste and texture.

I just found a picture on the net and it said that cassova is easy to transport as it can take a beating and keep on ticking . Malcolm

What is the main cash crops in your local area? I know that you can grow lots of stuff ,but one crop seems to stand out as a money maker for the locals .

HAVING FUN the second time around

I'm hot too Keep the bucket full there's more people coming

Everyone is really enjoying themselves

If you don't like getting wet this is no place for you today

Think I'll just sit here and cool off a while and chill out

Here I am , the ole stuck in the Mud, I actually enjoyed it this time

Everyone gets in on the fun ,riding on the three wheelers too

My guns bigger than your's It really is a family affair

This cowgirl normally sits quitely behind the table in our local market , and now she's the leader of the pack. ha ha


Well Songran only comes once a year ,so what the heck , lay aside my Ole Stuck in the Mudism and join in the fun as Martin encourged me to do . I took his advise and rode full force right to the gang of folks gathered in and around our town square, it did'nt take long till they spied the old farang, and I was smiling this tme ,a sure sign that I was ready for a water fight. WELL QUICKER than you could bat a eye there was a swarm of them headed my way and I just prepared myself for a good soaking , and I got one too. All in all it was fun and I as they say "let my hair down " and joined in and had a great time , It was something to write home about .Now from a ole mudder I encourge you to join in with the locals and have yourself a jolly good time . No one was harmed and no animals were abused in the posting of this read HA HA HA . Malcolm
I am trying to include a small video I took and don't know how it will turn out , if it doesn't at least I tryed and maybe someone can show me how next time , it's really taking a long time so I don't know whats happening.

HAVING FUN ??????

They think they are having fun, if so why is it that everyone I know bolts the door for a week and never leaves their house or a lot of folks just "get out of dodge"before all the water cowboys and cowgirls come to take over the town and reek havoic over all the local residents . I have watched in horror(before I bolted my doors ) as water was thrown on passing motorcycles loaded with kids and watched them wreck because of the force of 5 gallons of water being thrown at them from a moving pick-up . I was almost blinded my first year by the white power stuff they put in the water ,it burned my eyes so bad ,and the power if mixed very strong will ruin the paint on you truck or car, I have seen folks bowled over like a bowling pin ,hit so hard with the water and some of the water canons they are selling nowdays will put your eyes out if you are hit in the face. I just think that the Thai folks have pushed the envelope on this one and gone a little overboard to say the least . Let them have their FUN , I'll just get out of Dodge.

Maybe it is a custom from the past to bring ,luck and happiness, and propersity, for the new year, and I certainly wish them all that , and I think in the ole days they were not quite as crazy with the water .

Maybe I'm just a ole stuck in the MUD. Malcolm

IS THE DOCTOR IN????

The term alternative medicine,is used in the Western World encompasses any healing practices that does not fall within the realm of coventional medicine,commonly cited examples include :chiropractic,herblism,traditional Chinese medicine,yoga and acupuncture.
Definition from Wikipedia,the free Encyclopedia

Pictures from WWW and Jackiechan and Malcolm
My grand-mother was a herb gather from the old south in the USA all her life ,she gathered herbs to make home remedies for her family and friends and the folks from the close by farms,some folks would drive from the city just to buy her herbs and homemade remedies.They called her the Herb Lady , we just called her Grand-ma.Remember the T V Hit Medicine Woman, well she was all of that and was a mid wife to.
I can still remember a couple of walks in the woods behind the farm,as she would walk along the paths,so well worn from many seasons of gathering the herbs and ,leaves and bark and berries and nuts, and all kind of stuff ,that she would use to make the home remedies that would keep her family and friends healthy and strong during ,the winter times when colds and flu season was there.My grand-ma and grand-pa had twelve kids and it was a full time job just keeping them all fed and healthy.How I wish I had paid more attention to her then ,instead of throwing rocks at the squirrels and birds and complaining that I was tired and" lets go home now." Grand-ma would laugh and tell me what each thing she picked or dug up was used for,that it was important for me to remember , because one day I may need to use the herbs and plants for my kids.I did remember some of the things she taught me on those trips gathering the herbs for her Home Remedies, but most of all I can remember how awful they tasted.
Have you ever used Home remedies for what ails you ?Do you still use them for some of your aches and pains ? Do they make you feel better ? I think a lot of what ails us is all in our heads anyway and just the thought of grand-ma or mother, and trying to get it just like they made it ,is great therapy, and all of a sudden we felt better .I still have a few of them that I use from time to time and of course , my sweet little wife Ciejay has me taking so many herbs for this and that , I expect I'll live to be at least one hundred.How about you ? Do you take herbs for strength and energy.
If given the choice,would you take the counter with the conventional medicine or would you take the medicine made from herbs and natural stuff.Many times I have found that the side effects from the doctor precribed medicine is far worse that what the meds are suppose to be treating you for.
Here is the Wikipeda definition for Home Remedies. A home remedy is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment that employs certain spices,vegetables, or other common items.home remedies may or may not have medicinal properties,that treat or cure the disease or ailment in question.as they are typically passed along by laypersons,many are used as a result of tradition,or habit,or because they are effective in inducing the placebo effect.A significent number however have been demonstrated to effectively treat some ailments.Some popular examples that have been proven to be effective are as follows .
1. chicken soup for respirotory infection, colds and the flu.

2. willow bark boiled and in a tea to cure headaches and fevers.

3.duct tape for setting broken bones.

4.super glue to treat planter warts.

5.long cooked rice soup with herbs in Chinese Folk Medicine are also part of a healing repertoire.And the extra benefit for all Home Remedies and alternative medicines is most can be found in your kitchen or in your own backyard. Especially for those of us that live in the LOS. Malcolm

HEAD EM' UP MOVE EM' OUT

" Get along little doggie get along",Wyoming will be your new home by Woody Guthrie, and written years ago by a ole movie cowboy Gene Autry in the early 30's.The song is about taking cattle from one place to another, it was called then and still today, a CATTLE DRIVE .This morning on the way to Church as we were coming around a cruve in the road there was a genuine ,Thai cattle drive ,walking down the middle of the road,cowboys and all. There are lots of small farmers in our village that move their small herd up and down the sides of the road and every once in a while into a flower bed or two , for the purpose of getting free food for the herd, as not to many grow hay for the feed. This was not one of these ,but a real cattle drive taking the fattened cattle to the market, and very slowly as not to walk off the extra fat put on the few days before, I read about cattle drives in a few books and they say that calttle can loose as much as 300 pounds on a long cattle drive as the ones in the song " Get along little Doggie". They have raised them and fattened them in hopes of getting a good price for them at the cattle buyers in Kanchanaburi .at the stock yards.Was only a short wait as they moved them over to the side to let us pass , it also gave me time for a few photos ,and to see when possible, a few smiles from the cowboys as I gave them the thumbs up sign, for a job well done. I also read on a few web sites that there are many ranches in America and other countries where you can join them for a cattle drive , some long, some short drives, your choice for a fee and expereince the old west and a real CATTLE DRIVE, and be a cowboy or cow girl for a day or two . Sounds like a fun idea to me , how many of you would like to go on a cattle drive and be a cow poke for a few ???Eating beans and beef, from a chuck wagon , sleeping under the stars , branding the cows and riding behind them in all that dust ,and of course cow dung as they call it , I hear they even burn dried cow dung for the campfires , just like the good ole days . I think maybe I'm going to add A Cattle Drive to my Bucket List , and put it close to the top as I like the thought of sitting around the camp fire and singing the song "HOME,HOME ON THE RANGE". Where the deer and the antilope roam, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skys are not cloudy all day. Malcolm

When is a Orchid more than a Orchid

When it becomes a home.What a surprise yesterday morning when I was giving my orchids a drink of cool water before the hot day , flutter, I saw a little winged thing fly from under the gazibo ,where I have a few of my favorites hanging .I took a close look and there in the top of one of my orchids was a little bird nest, I got the ladder so I could get a closer look and peered inside to find these three little red eggs,I ran and got my camera to get a shot of them and hid behind some bushes near,in hopes of getting a shot of the mama bird, I did'nt have to wait to long because she was there looking to make sure all was ok with her babies to be , and hopped right in to keep them cool from the hot sun,that was surely on it's way . I'm so glad I saw her fly before I sprayed everything real good as is my normal habit. We have had birds build nest around our yard in the trees , but this is a first for me , to have a nest so up close and personal, and two of my favorite things in life together as one.I do so love all my little visitors to the back yard bird bath and for the little show they put on just for me every day ,and now I get to enjoy the beginning of life and growing up for a few weeks before they fly off into the Wild Blue Yonder . Malcolm