080229 Thaikarl - happy leap day to yall!

friends,
leap day was yesterday here, but it's today for yall.  warm and sunny today.  that means i get to take a warm shower.  the 2 inch plastic hose that comes from the pump is transparent.  if it sits full of water in the sun  for a couple  of hours, it will get warm - even hot.  so i turn the pump on into a  bucket, then turn it off when the bucket is full, which just empties the standing water in the pump hose line.  i've rigged up a shower pump in the  back of the  house.  i bought a larger submersible water pump in bangkok.  like you would use in a fountain pool.  i ran some hose up and tied it to a line i strung between the shed and the betal nut palm.  when i plug in the  pump, the water comes out the end of the hose so that it goes back into the big jar i'm using for shower water.  when i want to be in the water, i reach up  and divert the stream to me, so i can wet and wash.  when i'm not getting wet myself, the  stream flows back into the jar,  so the water isn't wasted.  pretty basic, and doesn't do much  at night of course, but it's a bit of a  luxury, none the  less. i like to shower behind the house  anyway.  under the stars at night.  wonderful.

we are planing to go to rayong in south thailand tommarow after tok votes.  we are on a special mission, which i'll tell you about after it is accomplished.  i asked tok what the  voting was for, and she said she didn't know.  she's a rather apathetic voter.  you are required by  law to vote in thailand, imagine that, so she has to go.  but she said that all the political candidates are all warm and greeting and promising before the election, and then they all disappear and try to get themselves money. so she says it doesn't matter if she votes or not.  in fact, she marks her ballot wrong, so that it would be counted anyway.  this is  not that uncommon i understand.  sort of a protest vote.  but she says she believes that she  is the  only one to have a defective vote every single time there has been a vote.  i just asked her if she  can remember ever making a qualified vote.  she  can't remember ever having done so.  and she has been voting since she  was 17, and she's 44 now. vote buying and other schemes come  up after every election.  i think the usa has a better system, even with all it's faults, but the US is a different country, and had different reasons for setting things up the way we do it.

thai politics are pretty wacky.  i can't claim to understand it very well at all.

we did a budget this morning.  i hate doing budgets.  on paper, it always says "you can't  get there from here".  but, i may  have to change my ticket and come back a little earlier.  whull see...

cares! Onward!  Nu and Tok

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