Steps

Hi,

If I didn’t know better, I might think we were in another drought.  It’s been many days since we had any rain.  Maybe it’s time for the cloud-seeding plane to come up our way.  

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “Pledging My Love” by Johnny Ace.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT_eOiTwtoQ   Are you ready for ‘Easy Monday’?  “See the curtains hangin’ in the window, in the evenin’ on a Friday night.  A little light a-shinin’ through the window, lets me know everything is alright.  __ __, makes me feel fine…”  Hint:  I think you know this one.  It was 1972, a duet by two guys, tons of covers on this tune.

Sunday morning we went to Central Plaza right after they opened in an effort to beat the crowds.  On the main floor where they have rotating exhibits, there was a big BMW display, complete with an ‘office’ and test drive cars in the ‘car park’.  There was also a Ginseng root exhibit.  Actually, they were selling very old roots at very high prices.  Blue and I checked out some of them and noticed that there were small tables set up inside the exhibit, each with a calculator and pen and paper.  Hmm, the root in today’s photo priced out at a little over $5,000 US.

The internet in Thailand is making big news these days.  Since 2006, the single portal in and out of Thailand was deregulated.  This meant that web traffic came into the country through multiple 'gateways’.  It was recently disclosed by the current government that they have a new plan for a single gateway that would allow for closer monitoring of content and also blocking content.  With the multiple gateways, speeds have been faster and Thailand has become an IT hub for the region.  As one might imagine, this new plan is being met with great opposition.  It has been dubbed ‘The Great Firewall of Thailand’.  This name is a nod to the protocol in China where the internet is censored.  More will be revealed, and if it happens, the VPN marketeers will have a field day offering work-arounds.

This morning we tried another tick remedy.  This one was a spray, scrub, and rinse affair.  It didn’t lather like the label implied and this evening we’re seeing ticks without even trying hard.  Back to the spray that got rid of two out of three of the varieties.  I don’t like the cold season, but that seems to be the time when the ticks go away.  The funny thing is, most of the time Daku doesn’t seem phased by it at all.  Hmm, that’s because he’s a dog. 

The farmers behind us have become a nuisance these days.  They have been burning plant waste for the last four days.  We’re a long way from the burning season, and most people apparently take the local smoke in stride.  It’s just what happens.  Today we were in the pool, doing our laps in the nice warm water when the smell of smoke hit us.  We got out of the water and went into the house.  It was a shift in the wind and we figured that maybe we could go back in a few minutes.  It only took 5 to 10 minutes for the nasty air to pass and we continued our swim.  Lisa suggested that we should have big fans that would blow the smoke away from the yard.  I like this idea.  With the push of a button, giant fans would rise above the wall and clear the air and then settle out of sight when not in use.  This will keep me awake tonight for sure.

Have a Great Week.

               Peace,

                         Danny

“It is better to take many small steps

in the right direction than to make a 

great leap forward only to stumble backward.”

~Chinese Proverb