New Year's Eve Day Trip

We loaded up the kids in the family truckster and took out for a nice drive. We went north on Hwy 107 to Chiang Dao. Now, this is not the same as Qingdao, China. It was an absolutely beautiful drive through the mountains. We passed by an elephant preservation camp and saw around 15 elephants standing by the road. There were two calfs and one looked like he may have been born in the last week or two. Later on in the drive, we passed a sign (in Thai) that said something like: "Caution: Elephant crossing" and had a picture of an elephant. That isn't something you normally see just every day. We also saw lots of "evidence" that elephants had been walking down the road. Big evidence.

We don't have much else planned for to celebrate New Years. We wil just stay at home and listen to the neighbors shooting off fireworks.

Anyway, you all have a safe and happy New Year!

Boomer Sooner

Read all about it here. Wow! Talk about a season that I had given up on! Turns out, Oregon shouldn't have been complaining about having to play a "non-ranked" team in a bowl game.

Oklahoma 17- Oregon 14.

Boomer Sooner!

God is Good

All the time.....

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, do lean not unto your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge the Lord, and He will make your paths straight."

Sounds easy, huh?

Well, yesterday, I didn't do that. I trusted in my own efforts (made a conscious decision to do so) and today, I paid for it. Turns out, I worked all day long yesterday on a project. And I mean worked hard on it! Well, since I had decided that it was a "no brainer" and I didn't need God's help, I totally messed it up. Wasted the entire day yesterday, which affected two other entities in the work that they have to do to clean it all up.

But, God is good; all the time. All the time, God is good.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been and the one for whom it meant the most work turned out to be a gracious woman of God who has forgiven and already fixed the problem that it present to her. I contacted the other entitiy and they hadn't completed the task on their end and was able to stop her staff from entering any more data, which would have ended up being double work for them.

Thank you God for looking out for me. You are such an awesome God!

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day, whatever the heck that is.

Do they know?

Today, the world is "playing" Christmas. Many, many people are "playing" Christians, too. Do they know? Do they really know that we celebrate the birth of the Savior? Do they understand that this Savior was born to die? Will they ever understand that in His resurrection, death has been overcome and we can have life eternal?

Are you "playing" Christian today? Quit playing and start living. The best Gift has already been given. Just accept it. Take the Gift into your heart and truly live.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve in Thailand. (and probably where you are, too).  The last minute shopping is done.  The presents are wrapped and under the tree.  There is a chicken in the crock pot and a pan of dressing in the oven.  We are getting ready for a nice Christmas Eve dinner, then we have decided to go ahead and open the presents tonight.  This is a change from our family tradition, but with Christmas on Sunday, we want to be ready for church tomorrow, so, we get the goodies tonight!

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours.  In the words of a friend of mine, “may you have a Christ-centered, non-politically correct Christmas!”

Merry Christmas!

In a few hours, I will be done at the office until next Tuesday and really don't know if I will post or not from home over the holiday. However, I wanted to take this moment and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

The Reason for the Season

Here in Thailand, people are beginning to put up Christmas trees, holiday music is played in the stores and folks are starting to celebrate Christmas. However, if you ask any of them what is the reason for the season, they will say things like "to show love" "to give gifts" "to have a party". They do not know that the reason for the celebration is the birth of the King of Kings. Jesus was born 2005 (more or less) years ago. It is for THIS REASON that we celebrate; not to simply give gifts. We give gifts because of the gift that God gave us in Jesus. We also follow the tradition of the wise men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus, so many years ago. And, of course, that gift now gives us the free gift of eternal life and forgiveness for sins, if we ask Jesus to save us and believe in Him.

This Christmas, instead of just tearing into the presents and stuffing yourself silly, how about a true reflection on the real meaning of Christmas. If you have a Bible, turn to Luke chapter 2 and read the story. If you don't have a Bible, go to this web site and read the section online.

Have yourself a very Merry, blessed, Christmas and may the real joy and peace that comes only from the Creator God reign in your life in the new year.

My drive to work this morning

Living in Thailand is always an exciting adventure. There are so many wonders to see. Sometimes, however, it just makes you wonder, hmmmm.

This is a short list of things I saw this morning on my drive to work:

• a foreign man out jogging in shorts and muscle shirt;
• a Thai guard bundled up in winter hat, coat, and gloves; huddled over a fire trying to get warm;
• two stray(?) dogs sitting directly across the road from each other, seemingly guarding the road like two statues in front of a bank;
• a large dump truck completely full of people (all bundled with warm clothes) on the way to a work site;
• a newly painted bridge, even though they painted over the bare re-bar exposed from vehicle damage;
• motor cyclist driving down the wrong side of the road;
• a car driving down the wrong side of the road;
• a man leading two very large white Asian cows down the road;
• a woman taking her kids to school; (big deal you say? well, there were four of them on the little motor cycle!)
• a tree of beautiful orange flowers;
• a woman walking down the street in her pajamas; (no, she wasn't an insane person!)
• a 300 year old woman peddling her way on a bike; (well, she looked that old!)
• a bunch of chickens will little chicks spilling out into the roadway;

and more, just on the way to work this morning.

Ain't Thailand great?!?

Thailand Confirms Talks on Jets-for-Chickens

Jets-for-Chickens

Oh my goodness! And I thought the international barter system was dying!

54 degrees

It was so nice and cool here right now. Yesterday, it only got up to 77 degrees. It was 54 this morning when I got up.

There was a news report of a death attibuted to the cold(!) weather!

I didn't realize it was THAT cold. It wasn't quite "crisp", but I thought it is very, very nice.

58 degrees

It was 58 degrees this morning here in Chiang Mai. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Pleeaaasssseeeeeeee

Can we open "just one"?????

Christmas House Pic

Lights Pic

The "Christmas House"

"The Christmas House"

My kids met some new little friends in our neighborhood. I asked the little girl if she has seen our Christmas lights and she replied, "Oh yes! My family calls it "the Christmas house"! That just absolutely made my day yesterday!

The Christmas House. Wow.

Bubble Time

I'm tired.

OK, it's time...

It's finally time to make this an "official public declaration": WE ARE MOVING TO HONG KONG! That's right! Next June, we are packing up the kids, selling the car and buying our Octupus card. We will be living in Ho Man Tin and frequenting such delights as Dan Ryan's, TGI Friday's, Amaroni'sl, Fat Angelo's, and Ruby Tuesday's. I have already submitted applications for enrolling the girls at HK ICS. We are all looking forward to the move, although life in a high-rise apartment will be MUCH different that what we have experienced as a family.

We are going to miss living in Chiang Mai. We love it here and will miss our friends a bunch.

Top Ten Reasons

I subscribe to Plaxo and they just sent this out as:

The Top Ten Reasons I Didn't Send Out Christmas Cards Last Year

Winter has finally arrived

Well, not here in Thailand, anyway. I have this list of cities on "My Yahoo" weather center and I was amazed to see that Vinita, OK, was colder than Fairbanks, AK, or Lhasa, Tibet (but not Ulan Bator, Mongolia!). Looks mighty cold. Ah, for a little of that here.

Chistmas lights fiasco

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I never thought that a little "exterior illumination" would be so difficult to maintain! First, on Monday, my little "gazebo" lighting display decides to have some sort of short, triggering the GFI for the entire house. No matter which cord I unplug, it flips the breaker. I still haven't gotten that taken care of. Then, last evening, it started raining and it flipped the GFI AGAIN!!! Bummer.

Just call me Clark W. Griswold.

Sally and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by dining at the "Le Coq d'Or" (the Golden Rooster) this evening. It was quite possibly the nicest restaurant I have ever had the opportunity to dine in. It was beautiful, elegant, romantic, delicious, and quite expensive. But worth it once a year! I had french onion soup, Sally had Shitake mushroom soup; I had Caesar salad. Sally had a very nice steak Dianne; I had pan fried snow fish. We then finished with a spectacular crepes suzette, with coffee (for me) and tea. What a wonderful evening!

I love you, Sally.

Sooners Are San Diego-Bound

Holiday Bowl, December 29, Oklahoma vs Oregon.

Not bad for such a horrible season!

Boomer Sooner, forever.

Happy Anniversary

I married the love of my life 13 years ago today. I would do it all over again. I love you.

Quake jolts three districts in Chiang Mai

Bangkok Post Monday 05 December 2005 - Quake jolts three districts in Chiang Mai

It was a 4.1 on the Richter Scale with an epicenter in Hang Dong, about 19 miles from my house!

EARTHQUAKE!

At about 4:30 pm local time, we had a small earthquake here in Chiang Mai. It scared the kids (and me) but didn't do any damage. We did run outside where we saw our two large fish ponds still sloshing the water back and forth. That was kind of cool, I guess. Anyway, there were three "hard punches" with three loud "bangs". It almost sounded like an explosion. Sally even thought it might have been a plane that crashed near the airport.

I called a friend up in extreme northern Thailand, to see if he felt it, too, but he had been driving on a bumpy mountain road at the time and didn't feel anything. I tried to call a friend in Bangkok, but her phone was on "voice mail".

At this point, I can't find any "real" information about it; scale, epicenter, damage, etc. As soon as I find out something, I'll let you know.

Santa's list

We were discussing the fact that the kids ought to be getting their letters to Santa in the mail pretty quick. Sally mentioned to the kids that, when they write their list, they need to remember that Santa usually is only able to provide "locally available toys".

I thought this was pretty funny and something that parent's in the States don't have to say. It is an "overseas parenting problem". You see, the kids know what is here, what is at Toys R Us in Hong Kong and Singapore, and what is back at Wal-Mart! The problem is, there is no Wal-Mart or Toys R Us in Chiang Mai, so, some of the things that they may ask for would be IMPOSSIBLE for "Santa" to bring! Egads!

Christmas lights

I'm pretty happy tonight! We came home from a dinner party and found that our next door neighbor has decorated his house for Christmas! It looked really nice and and he did a really good job in his trees. It compliments my lights and he has even done it in the same style.

(now I think I might need a few more lights in my trees.)

Working Late

Well, after having worked hard all day, I came back to the office after supper. It is now 10 pm and I am finally caught up! YEA!!!

It feels good. Really, really good to be this caught up!

Fancy counter thing

I added this fancy neo-counter about two weeks ago. This morning was the biggest "at one time" numbers I've seen, and I wanted you to see them, too, so, hereyago:

BCS #23!

WOW!!!! Oklahoma is rated 23 on the BCS poll!

Ordinarily, that wouldn't be something to say "wow" about, but this was such a horrible season, and we are still in the top 25!

Boomer Sooner, forever.

Just my luck

I found the TGI Friday's website and was looking to get enrolled in their e-club. (There is at least one Friday's in HK). I had a little problem registering and contacted their customer service. Here is the reply I received this morning:

Wouldn't you know that they aren't interested in developing customer contact/participation overseas. And, in fact, have it appears that I am just a number to them. I am surprised it did say: "Dear 1229587."

Bird Flu at Disneyland!

My friend, Randy, had this on his blog. I just couldn't resist stealing, er, borrowing it for the BoyneBlog! Thanks, dude.

Winning Season

No matter how many games we might loose in a season, if we beat the fire out of OSU, it is a winning season!

OU 42 - OSU 14

Boomer Sooner, Forever.

Christmas lights

Well, they aren't the greatest pictures I've ever taken, but I can't find my tripods to get some proper night pictures, but, it gives you an idea of the Christmas lights that we have set up in our yard. I was excited to see people slowing down to take a look, and, at one point, some folks on a motorcycle actually turned around and came back to look!

BEDLAM!!!!

That's right. The OU-O State game is today. The one hundreth meeting between the two Oklahoma schools. OU has dominated the series, 76-16-7.

Now, being from Oklahoma and living overseas, I will ALWAYS pull for OSU, except for one game: this one. During this one, I'll bring out all the old jokes and start dissing. I think my favorite one is: OU and OSU were playing. The score was so lopsided in favor of OU that they decided to call the game. Three downs later, OSU made their first touchdown!



Boomer Sooner! (forever)

It's beginning...

...to look a lot like Christmas!

That's right! It's the day after Thanksgiving, so we have our tree up and the lights in the trees in the yard. I'll try to have pics on the blog in the next couple of days.

Too full for pie

Too bad, too, because there was pecan pie. I hope you all ate as well as we did.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Count your blessings! Name them one by one! Count your many blessings! See what God has done!

I am thankful for:

my family,
my friends,
my health,

and the many, many blessings that the Lord has provided.

Plus, it was 61 degrees this morning!

Mighty Nice

When I woke up this morning, I noticed something. It was "nice". I was just on the "cool side", but was very comfortable, temperature-wise. I looked at my handy dandy indoor/outdoor digital thermometer and saw it was 71 degrees in the bedroom. Not bad; not bad at all! However, I just had to smile when I read the outdoor reading: 62 degrees F! Not THAT'S what I 'm talking about! Starting to feel a little bit more like the day before Thanksgiving!

Bicycle riders

or, cyclists, as they like to be called and call themselves. I'm not one. I really wanted to write a nice long rant about the funny looking clothes they wear, but, frankly, I just don't have the energy to do that today. Suffice it to say, "Pointy helmets and spandex; do you REALLY need all that?"

(no offense to my friends who bike; just felt like saying what was on my mind)

K for Klose...

but no cigar!

Sooners loose to Raiders 23-21. See the how close the call was HERE.

Nevertheless, BOOMER SOONER!

Doves

Including the United States, (which is a foreign country to my younger daughter) we have now, as a family, lived in 5 different countries: USA, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, & Thailand. Believe it or not, but there has been at least one constant in each country, indigenous to that country: doves.

Each country's dove has its own different song. Even in West Africa, where the countries were only several hundred miles from each other, the dove songs were different. As I sat at home this morning, listening to the Thai dove song, I smiled. There were two doves sitting in a tree right out our front door. I could see them. And I could hear them singing to the birds across the street. "My" birds would sing a verse; then the birds across the street would sing a verse. It was very, very pleasant.

Parents who love their kid

It may not look like it, and I imagine this girl doesn't think so, but I think that these parents really love their daughter!

Read the story here.

Back "up" to 25!

Yahoo! Sports

Well, them Sooners are back on the BCS top 25 list. Let's hear a big WHOOP-EE!!!

Texas A&M Aggies/Oklahoma Sooners Recap Saturday November 12, 2005 - Yahoo! Sports

NCAA Football - Texas A&M Aggies/Oklahoma Sooners Recap Saturday November 12, 2005 - Yahoo! Sports

OU 36 Aggies 30

Boomer Sooner!

Done!

The Christmas shopping (for the folks in the States) is done!

Jingle all the way!

Bangkok Post Friday 11 November 2005 - Thaksin's safari could backfire

Bangkok Post Friday 11 November 2005 - Thaksin's safari could backfire

The Night Safari, mentioned here, is about 1/2 mile from my house in Chiang Mai. We were kind of hoping to be able to hear the lions roar.

Getting into that "Christmas feeling"

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I guess. At least in my mind, it is. I can imagine the aisles and aisles of Christmas stuff at Wal-Mart and Target. I have started to play my Christmas CDs and am beginning to think about how to decorate the outside of the house.

I did run across something that I found hysterically funny! Check out this link: http://www.goingjesus.com/cavalcade.shtml It is a three pager of some of the tackiest Nativity sets you will EVER see in your WHOLE LIFE! Talk about trivializing the coming of the King! I think my least favorites are the one of Santa bowing at the manger and the one with the Snowpeople Holy Family. Egads!

From the "What's that, again?" file...

I received this flyer in with my phone bill this month. I can't really read it, but they do have some English words at the bottom. I was simply glancing at it before I tossed it and noticed that they have their own Thai definition for ISP. The real words are supposed to be "Internet SERVICE Provider."

I knew things were bad here (in that regard) in Thailand, but I didn't think the phone company would actually sponsor something like that! I guess the guy that put the flyer together had his mind on something else that day.

Prepare for worst, hospitals ordered - Bird Flu

Bangkok Post Monday 07 November 2005 - Prepare for worst, hospitals ordered

No matter how you look at this, this just isn't "happy". If you don't want to click on the link, the story is about how the Thai government is preparing to deal with what they call a "possible health catastrophe". They have proposed plans for "possible sites for field hospitals, temporary shelters and helipads to treat and transfer large numbers of patients in case a pandemic strikes."

"So far, Thailand has confirmed 20 cases of H5N1 infection, 13 of whom died. Last year, the Public Health Ministry reported a case of suspected human-to-human transmission in Kamphaeng Phet province, where the virus was suspected to have passed from an infected girl to her mother, who had no record of contact with chickens but became sick and died after nursing her daughter."

Let's pray that this one passes by.

BCS#25

Well, shocker of shockers! Oklahoma is ranked number 25 in the BCS poll for week 10! I can hardly believe that! I gave up on this season (not on the Sooners!) and wasn't expecting anything like that at all! What a pleasant surprise!

Boomer Sooner!

Beautiful Morning!

It was such a beautiful morning, this morning. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. And, it was 68 F! Gotta love this “winter”!

Better safe than sorry

Well, fortunately for us, the flooding was only extremely minor and our office did not flood. However, Typhoon Kai-Tak is heading about the same course as Typhoon Damrey did. Kai-Tak seems to be weakening, however, and we probably won't get as much rain in our rain basin as we did with Damrey. Hopefully, no dams will be failing this time!

Gettin ready

Well, we just finished getting the stuff up off the floor on the first floor. Here we go again.

Just Plain Absurd

OK, this is just getting ridiculous! We are now expecting ANOTHER flood! This makes the 5^th flood preparation we will have had this year! I am getting really tired of this. It is taxing on the body and stressful on the mind.

Flood stage is at 3.70 meters and it is currently 3.48 meters. It is rising at a rate of 5-7 cm per hour. It will enter our building at 4.5 meters, so, while we still have a meter to go, we just don’t know for sure whether or not we will actually get that much flood waters. The really scary thing is that they aren’t even announcing it in public and the public hasn’t started sandbagging yet. At about 3:30 pm, we will secure the first floor and will sandbag after we leave tonight.

"Winter" has arrived!

It never ceases to amaze me how "winter" is subjective and relative. Many Thai people are talking about how "winter has come" and "how cold it is". I honestly don't think that 70 degrees (21 C) qualifies as winter. Finally, I am just getting comfortable.

There are kiosks at the shopping centers selling gloves, mittens, scarves, and knit caps. My daughters are begging for gloves "because it's winter!" I have been in Bangkok and mentioned that I live in Chiang Mai and everyone, without exception says, "Ooh, it is cold in Chiang Mai!".

I will admit it is nice and cool at night. We are able to sleep quite comfortable with just a fan in the window. It got all the way down to 73 F in our house this morning. Yes, indeed, winter has come. Break out the hot chocolate and ear muffs.

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

We asked for "Honey Mustard Salad Dressing" and THIS is what we got! Hysterical!

Elephants carved out of a single log

One of the pools at Belle Villa Resort

Our villa at Belle Villa Resort

That's Better

Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 24.

Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!

Boomer Sooner!

Power Cord

I won’t post anything else until Sunday or maybe Monday, as I am away from home and I forgot my computer power cord.  Silly me.

Regend of Zorror

OK, I found something to write about! I get an email from the local theatre each week that tells me what's showing. This week, you can go see "The Regend of Zorror". I'm sure it will prove to be a great flick. I'll probably just pick up a copy on DVD at the night market for a buck or two. It will probably be "filmed" right in one of the local theaters with people moving in front of the camera.

Nothing to say

I haven’t felt like posting much of anything this week, yet, oddly, I feel compelled to tell you that in this post.

Nipsey is dead

I will confess that I knew Nipsey Russell mainly from Matchgame, but I really liked him. As I read his biography, I was impressed with the fact that he had a bachellor's degree in literature and "was a lifelong student of literature and foreign languages."

Thanks for all the rhymes.
It makes me remember the times;
when I was young and life was fun.
But now, the church bell chimes.

Accronym of the Day

F – Failing to meet the expectation of others

R – Really tired

U – Underestimating how other’s words affect me

S – Stuck

T – Trying to do the best I can

R – Ready for a break

A – Attitude needs adjusting

T – Taking it one day at a time, just to get through

I – I need a back rub

O – or a nice vacation at the beach

N – Never give up; never surrender.

Squeak squeak squeak...

Any win is a big deal this season!

Boomer Sooner!

Chiang Mai Zoo

We took the kids to the Chiang Mai Zoo last Saturday and had a lot of fun. It is a HUGE park with over 200 acres. You can't really walk between all the exhibits; you need to ride or drive. The zoo has two pandas from China. They have a really nice exhibit, but tend to be a bit anal-retentive about the pandas, for instance, they held up a sign that said "Quiet Please!" when everyone laughed when one of the pandas took a poop. You have to pay extra to get into the panda house. The price for foreigners was $2.50 for adults and $1.25 for kids. They also had the price in Thai, so I whipped out my Thai driver's license and informed the woman that I live here. We paid about $2.75 for the whole family to enter. (It is very common to charge two different prices; one for locals and one for foreigners.) I am really glad I didn't pay $7.50 to see the pandas poop; I would have been less than happy.

Chickens and Motorcycles

It should be against the law to drive a motorcycle while holding a chicken.  Common sense would dictate that it isn’t safe, but, surprisingly, it is quite common here in Chiang Mai.

 

Fancy Things

When I was young, I dreamed of a life filled with fancy and elegant things. Nowadays, I don't have the means to have many things like that. My life, however, is rather exciting and full of exotic travel destinations. Fancy things are few and far in between. Tonight, however, I got a taste (literally) of the good life. I got to go to Bruno's in Pattaya. I had a 600 gram Austrailian T-Bone steak. I had escargo. I had freshly baked bread. And I had my own little waiter guy to make me cherries jubliee. This was the first time I have ever had cherries jubilee. I have always heard about them, but never tried em. I must say they were fancy! It wasn't the best tasting dessert I have ever had, but it was FANCY. The T-Bone, however, was incredible. I was able to cut it with my fork.

I might not be able to eat like this on a regular basis, but I am grateful for tonight's meal!

Monday

I’m going to be doing a little traveling this week.  I’m headed down to Pattaya, which I like to refer to as the “Gomorra” of Asia.  It is a horrible sinful place.  I would never go there by myself or on vacation.  However, I am going there for a meeting.  At least I will get to go to Bruno’s and Henry J. Bean’s, so it isn’t a total bust.

2005 Sooners RIP

My dear Sooners appear to have given up the ghost for the 2005 season. The 45-12 loss to Texas, as humiliating as it is, was not unexpected. Hear me well, I am NOT a fair weather fan, but I do know when to throw in the towel.

Let's just look at this season as a training year for next year's team.

Boomer Sooner!

How did I miss this?

Blogcritics.org: Belated Note On Bob Denver

Did you know that Bob Denver died? I sure didn't. He died on September 6 at age 70 from cancer. Coverage of Katrina buried (no pun intended) this story.

I remember racing home from school in the third grade so that I could watch my beloved Gilligan. I remember being so upset at Watergate because they played those proceedings instead of him and the Skipper.

Thanks, Bob, for years of fun and laughter!

Back to "Normal"

I have had several inquiries as to the state of Chiang Mai, specifically regarding the floods. Everything is basically back to normal, whatever that it. The roads are clear; the water level is normal. My office is back in full service.

Thanks for asking; sorry I didn't report it earlier.

25 Srang

A friend just brought me back a 25 Srang note from Tibet! It looks a lot like the one above. This note was printed in 1941-1947, although there is no date on the bill itself. It has three layers of paper, with the center layer having a "security code" of Tibetan printing. If you hold it up to the light, you can see it.

If any of you come across examples of exciting paper currency and would like to donate them to my collection, just contact me for a mailing address!!

Aggie Ingenuity

My buddy, Tim Tillinghast, sent this to me today. In the words of my dear sweet little mother, "God love 'em".

Bird flu may kill 150m, warns U.N.

CNN.com - Bird flu may kill 150m, warns U.N. - Sep 30, 2005

The article says anywhere from 5,000,000 to 150,000,000 people may die from the bird flu. That is quite a wide margin of error!

I've heard that they think that a more realistic number might be 7,400,000 people. In any case, it is a horrible pandemic. Something like out of Revelations?

Congratulations Sooners!

Congrats on a job well done!

Boomer Sooner!

Here is the guy that painted the sign

Now, I wanna see a picture of the "ugly woman".

Rains from Damrey cause dam to break -flooding Chiang Mai

Beneath the flood water is the railroad track that connects Chiang Mai with Bangkok.

Typhoon Damrey bursts dam

Typhoon Damrey dumped so much rain on Northern Thailand that a dam failed. The waters flooded the highway that runs through the center of Chiang Mai causing incredible traffic problems.

Ping River Flood

Photo taken 9/29/05

Chiang Mai Flood

Photo taken 9/29

Chiang Mai Flooding

Photo taken 9/29

Flood report

My, my, my!  The 9:00 am report shows the water level at 4.24 meters, with the water rising 10 cm per hour.  There is still a huge amount of water upstream and that reporting station is still rising, too.  They are now predicting that it will peak at over 5 meters around 2 pm today.  They have already closed the main bridge across the river, although the highway bridges remain open.  Water should enter my office neighborhood at 4.2 meters and flood inside the building at somewhere around 4.5-4.7.  I sure hope the sandbags work this time. 

 

Sally and I are getting to go for a drive.  I’ll post some pictures, if I find anything worth taking a picture of at this point.

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Today is my little girl's birthday. I love her so much!

Bursting Dams

A dam north of Chiang Mai has failed and the water is expected to flood Chiang Mai in about 12 hours.  The city is bracing for a flood on at least the same level as the August flood.

Bangkok Post Wednesday 28 September 2005 - Flash floods hit the North

Bangkok Post Wednesday 28 September 2005 - Flash floods hit the North

Someone pointed out in a comment below, that Damrey was going to miss us. That is true! However the rain from a tropical storm probably won't. It started raining today as a result of this weather system. We never thought that we would actually have a typhoon here. We were concerned with the heavy rains and flooding that comes with it.

Flood Number 3

This whole flood thing has me puzzled.  The authorities said they were going to release water from the dam last night at midnight, but they didn’t.  The Army is out en masse placing sandbags all along the Ping River and along a brand new earth dike that has been placed along a low point on the river bank.  According to the flood monitoring website, the river level has been dropping for two days.  Why didn’t they release water?  Are they gambling that Typhoon Damrey will go outside our rain basin?  What is the deal?  Are they going to inundate the city with flood water after they see the rain starting to fall?  In my opinion, this is very bad flood management.  Actually, it isn’t management at all.  Wassup with that?  Don’t get me wrong.  I would rather it NOT flood.  But we are ready for it if it does.  (I hope)

 

Complaining

I realize that I am often guilty of complaining.  However, I hope I never get accused of complaining even if I were hung with a new rope!  There are some people like that who would complain if they didn’t have something to complain about!

 

Now, they’ve got me complaining about the complainers.

Hard to tell

It's hard to tell whether he looks more like his mom or his dad.

I hope

I hope this casket was empty when it floated away!

Hey! Check this out!

Capital Homes | Team

This is my baby sister! I'm so proud of her!

Flooding

Well, I just sent an email out to the entire office telling everyone to stay at home tomorrow until they hear differently.  We just got word that the authorities are going to be releasing water from the dam at midnight tonight.  We are sandbagging again!

When will this end?????

Typhoon Damrey Coming!

Typhoon Damrey on the way.

My apologies to the Naval Maritime Forcast Center/ Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

High and Dry

High and Dry
I found this picture on Yahoo today! There has to be a sermon in there, somewhere...

Vanquish Interior

Yes, I DO realize that I will never own a Vanquish. But if I did, the interior would look like this. Ain't it purdy?

Flood Monitoring Website

The Flood Monitoring Website has changed addresses.  It is now www.hydro-1.net.  I am so glad that it is up and running so that we can do some off-site water level monitoring.

Bubble

Here’s a bubble for ya:

 

Man, I’m tired.

My Buddy Scott

My friend, Scott, made it back to town today, with his wife and brand new baby. I'm really glad he's back. I can’t wait to “do lunch” and get caught up on new “daddy-hood”.

This is getting ridiculous!

Well, with the advent of Tropical Storm (Typhoon) Damrey, the Bangkok Post is reporting that we need to be ready for additional flooding this week. On Thai radio, the authorities are warning people that we will likely have more flooding on Wednesday. After all this is over, I am going to need a day off!

Almost back to normal

Well, after our own very little crisis, my office building is back to almost normal (whatever THAT is). The a/c's are A-OK and the water has been reconnected.

It is amazing how big something like this seems at the time, then pales in comparison to a real crisis like Katrina or Rita.

WC "Bill" Saylors

My Grandpa would have been 98 (?) today. We called him "Doll Boy".

The kitchen is looking better.

Still sweeping water out of the library.

The water is drying up.

The cleanup has begun!

Flood pics

I took the following flood pics this morning as I arrived at the office. There was still about an inch of water in the building, but it is all gone now. We had minimal loss this time. Probably lost some of the air conditioner units, but at least we didn't have carpet to deal with this time. Just newly laid tile. We just received all of our wooden furniture back from the refinishers just last week, so we have to have those re-done again.

more mud