Tuesday
Went for wood, hardware and tools today. Sim's brother has some woodworking tools so I borrowed them. I have an air compressor, a radial arm cut off saw, a jig saw, a belt sander and a jitterbug sander. Ought to be able to build something with all that gear. All I have is a drill motor and a small trim saw.

Wednesday
Have all the materials and tools now. No excuse for not starting on the refrigerator stand. Maybe I should make another drawing and think about it some more.

Thursday
OK today I am cutting wood. But I did not get very far. Still thinking about how this thing is going to go together.

Friday
Worked all day on the stand. Had to make some Engineering changes about half way through, but all in all it is looking good.

Saturday
Sailing today at Nai Harn Lake. My goal is to get some guys interested in model boat sailing so we can start a club and have some racing. I posted a note on the Thaivisa.com forum asking if anyone on the island has seen any RC sailing. Got no responses. I asked for suggestions on suitable sailing lakes and got a few suggestions. One guy who owns the Phuket Tennis and Sports Club said he has a lake suitable for sailing model boats. A couple of guys on the forum said they were curious and wanted to give it a look. I arranged to meet them at the Phuket Tennis and Sports Club. The lake at the club turned out to be to small but the guys are interested.

OK back to Nai Harn. I posted on Thaivisa.com that I would be at Nai Harn today with 3 boats. People were welcome to come by and take a turn with a boat. I had 3 or 4 guys come by. It is a very good location. There is an island with lots of trees and a high bank to stand on to watch the boats. They have restrooms too. It is mainly salt water but a mixture of fresh as well. The only problem for me is the drive. The lake is at the bottom of the island and that is a 45 minute drive for me. Oh well. I was able to get 2 boats in the water. My EC-12 rudder servo decided it was not going to work today. No pics. Sorry. Too busy working on boats.

Sunday
I finished the reefer stand. Got a couple coats of paint on it and put the refrigerator on top. Sim likes it so I am happy.

June 7 – 13
Monday
Not much going on today. Took Sim to Sew's house to do laundry. Sew has 2 washing machines and we have none, so a couple times a week Sim does laundry at Sews. Sew's house is hot inside, but I found a place at the front of her house in the shade where a nice breeze comes in from the ocean. So when Sim does laundry, I bring a beach chair and plop myself down in the 'cool' spot and take a nap.

I guess one of these days we will get a washing machine, but for now Sim enjoys going to Sews house, mainly for the delicious food she cooks, and the use of the washing machine too.

Tuesday
Today I put a shelf in my section of the armoire. Had lots of wood left over from the refrigerator stand. Now I have a shelf for T-shirts and a shelf for shorts. That is all I need. I wear a T-shirt and shorts every day, every night and every weekend. No need for anything else.

Wednesday



Today we went over to the restaurant where Sim's brother works. The restaurant has not been open that long and today the monks are coming over to chant some prayers and people will give the monks food and the restaurant owner will give each one an envelope with a bit of cash in it. The whole ceremony took a couple of hours and we all got to eat some good food. The ceremony is held to bring good fortune to the restaurant and give the monks some goodies so you can make merit for the next life.




Thursday
With more of the extra wood from the reefer stand I built a small plant stand for Sim to use in the house.

This afternoon we went up to the Yacht Haven Marina to meet up with Pon, Sim's friend. You remember Pon. He is the guy who stored our stuff for 2 years. Pon likes toys, especially water toys. He has motorboats, sailboats and jet skis. I asked him one time how many boats he has, but he could not tell me. He doesn't' really know. We got to the marina and found his beachfront house. He was still out sailing on his Nacra 16 catamaran. We waited for him at the restaurant next to his house until he came sailing around the corner after about 30 minutes.

I counted 6 boats at his house including a Bruce Farr 25 foot Pathu sitting in the front yard along with 3 jet skis and a couple of kayaks. We are going to store our kayaks at his place here at his beach house.

Sim and I took the Nacra out for an hour sail in the bay. Nice boat and sailed pretty well in the light breeze. Not enough wind to get the boat up on one hull, but Pon says we can take her out anytime so I am sure I will get another chance.

Friday
Pon wanted us to go on a boat trip to some of the islands in the bay, but Sim is coughing and not feeling well so we had to pass.

Saturday

Today Sim and Toey and I drove down to Kalim beach to watch the Surf Contest. They hold 3 contests in Phuket during the summer months when the southwest monsoon generates some waves. We found the contest and walked over to the beach. They had some chairs set up under a tent and Sim and Toey sat there while I walked the beach and took some pictures. The contests are sponsored by Quicksilver and a few of the locals businesses and there was a pretty big turnout of people today. The finals are tomorrow so we are going again at 10:00 for the Longboard finals. I am thinking of entering the next contest in August so I want to check out the competition and see just how good I need to get to have a shot at winning the meet in August.

June 14 – 20 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
We drove back down to Kalim Beach again this morning. The longboard finals are supposed to go at 10:00 this morning. We got there about 10:15 and they had not started yet. Waves are smaller today and the tide is out leaving exposed rocks. Good luck guys. What I thought were the finals turned out to be the semi-finals. It seems they are running a day behind. Anyway the guys got some good waves and they all appeared to be having a great time. We watched several heats and all of the guys were Thai. I guess none of the farang we saw surfing yesterday made it into the semi-finals. I am anxious to get a board into the water now. Pon showed up unexpectedly. He said he had a great time yesterday boating around the islands in Phang Nga bay.

Our internet connection has really been horrible the past week. It will be on for 30 minutes and then down for a couple hours. Just when you get into somewhere or something it goes down again. Really frustrating. Tomorrow I will have Sim call another Internet provider to see if they service our moo baan. TOT sucks.

Monday
We lost the internet connection again today. Boy this is frustrating.

Tuesday
Sim got a call this morning from Sew. She has not been feeling very well and has decided that she needs to go to the hospital to see a doctor. We drove to her house and picked her up and headed to Phuket town to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital. This is the best hospital on the island. It is also the most expensive. They have lots of staff to take care of your every need. They run golf carts out to the parking lot to bring you to and from your car. We got there, parked and went inside. Sew only had to wait a few minutes before she saw an RN and got to tell a nurse her symptoms and what not. Well they decided that she should be admitted, so upstairs we went to get Sew into a room. She got a private room for 2 days that ended up costing her about $800. Health care in Thailand is less than the US but not cheap. It was and expensive bout with the flu.

Wednesday
Happy Wedding Anniversary to my son Joel and his wife Golden.

Thursday
Sim's brother brought over a motorbike for us to use. He has had it sitting around and no one is using it so he brought it over. The bike, a Suzuki 100 is about 12 years old. So far I have replaced both rear view mirrors, the kick start bar, 3 light bulbs including the headlight and washed 10 lb. of dirt off of it. Still needs a taillight lens, the brakes worked on, a new spark plug and a tune up. It runs, but sputters and coughs. It shifts hard and the brakes do not work very well. It is fun to ride. Not. Works in a pinch if you have to go somewhere close by though. Going to get a newer bike for those short runs into town for milk or something.

Friday
Happy Birthday to my niece Carolyn.

I Skyped my friend David this evening. Skype is a great way to communicate with friends and family. I highly recommend it. You can make voice calls, computer to computer absolutely free. If both of you have cameras, you can include video in the call as well. We use it to talk to and see our granddaughter in California. Anyway, I had a great conversation with David. He is coming to Thailand in October of this year. Looking forward to some golf games with him.

June 21 – 27 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.

Monday
Internet down again today. Bummer. Sim's brother has to go to the hospital today. He has been complaining of chest pains. Not good. He is a smoker, but refuses to quit. I think Sim has told him my story, but it does not look like he is going to quit smoking. The doctor at the hospital looked him over, listened to his heart and sent him home. Maybe it is a muscle pull.

Thursday
Mafia Wars on the computer all day long. Okay, I admit it. I am addicted to this game called Mafia Wars by Zynga. You can play on Facebook and MySpace. It is a game where you do JOBS, earn MONEY, buy WEAPONS, VEHICLES and ARMOR. You FIGHT other mafias with your stuff. Other mafias fight you. As you play you keep increasing your LEVEL and adding people to your MAFIA. That gets you stronger and you can fight and defend better. Anyway, I am totally addicted and play the game whenever I have nothing to do. Sim says I play way to much. Sometimes she is right. But what else to do? I have lots and lots of free time on my hands.

Friday
Took Sim to the Post Office this morning then over to the restaurant where her brother is the Manager, then off to Sew's house. Sim likes to go visit Sew every couple of days and Sew loves to have Sim come over. I go to but since I cannot talk to Sew in English, I end up sitting out in front in a shady spot where there is a nice breeze blowing and take a nap. I have learned to take along a beach chair whenever Sim is going to Sew's house. Sometimes I just go to the beach and take a long walk while Sim visits, does the laundry and eats Sew's great cooking.

Saturday
I think our motorhome has finally sold. We got an email from Motorhomes of Texas saying they had a deposit on our coach. So if all goes well, the coach will be sold in a couple of days.

At the house we are renting there is a small tree in the front yard. It is a nice enough tree, however it sheds leaves all the time. The way the wind blows this time of year, there is a constant pile of leaves at our side door. We have to sweep them up every day. I asked Sim to call the owners and ask if we could take out that tree and put something else there. Anything else. Sim said that particular tree may have been planted for good luck. I guess in some circles this tree is planted on purpose for luck. It does have some small green fruit that people eat but I found it bitter and inedible. Sim called and the tree can go. She called her brother, and a nephew and before long we had the tree out and taken away by city workers. In it stead we have planted a plumeria. Well actually, Sim's brother brought us 5 plumeria, so I planted them all along the side of the house. Should smell really good in a couple of months.

June 28 – 30 (Phuket, Thailand)
Monday
The coach is sold. I did money and wire transfers and the deal is done. Called the insurance company and cancelled the insurance. That is a big burden off our finances. We took a hit, but it is sold and is now water under the bridge.

Tuesday
Today we went to the Land Office. We bought some land here in Phuket about 7 years ago. It is a plot that used to be a rice field, so it needs to be filled in with dirt before we can start building our house. Well we have been trying to get going on the fill for a few years now but the land owner in front of us refuses us access. Now when we bought the land we were told that every owner from us to the main street must give up 3 meters for access and a road. Well it seems the front owner did not agree or it is not on his deed or something so we are hoping the land office can help. I sat in the waiting area and Sim was gone a good hour before she came back. We have a couple of possibilities to explore, so more on this topic later.

One of the land officers wanted to show us a couple of properties for sale so he jumped in the car with us and we drove out to see a couple of land plots that are for sale. Both plots are 1 rai big and out in the country away from everything. They are not in an area that will become an expat or foreigner populated areas either. So even though the land will appreciate over time, it will not appreciate very fast.

Back at the house later in the evening, Sim and I rode our bicycles over to our land plot to take another look at the possible access routes. I think we are going to be OK but Sim needs to do some more visiting and persuading with the local government officials.

Well that is it for June. The weather continues to be warm. The temperature is usually 82 to 90 during the day and drops to about 78 – 80 at night. Humidity this time of year averages about 60 – 70 percent. It rains every 3 or 4 days, but only for a couple of hours usually. Sometimes we get a daily thundershower in the afternoons. It is nice and the rain cools things down that have been out in the sun. Overall the weather is quite tolerable. I am growing more and more used to it. Sleeping and napping are the only times you really like having the air-con on.

I think Sim is going back to the US in July for a week or so. We are still looking for a good way to get my meds over here. The law states you can only bring in a 30 day supply and they intercept all packages coming into the country. We are afraid that just having them shipped in will not work. With the price of the medications here in Thailand, we calculate it will be cheaper for one of us to fly back to the US every 6 months and bring back a 180 day supply.