but i’m not so sure about the thought.
michael received a gift today - from our mâe bâan and her husband. p’khao and p’jim were very proud to present this gift.
p’khao explained to me that this puppy is luk kreung (1/2 thai and 1/2 farang (western)). i’m not sure how he knows this, but he thinks it’s a perfect mix for us. since we already have one thai dog and one farang dog. i think that’s just nuts. that one thai dog and one farang dog is all the dog we need.
and someone else in our family isn’t too big of a fan.
"get out of my house"
"and stay out!"
"do not sit down! i said move it!!"
"listen to me!"
"waan, tell her. tell her who is boss!"
"don't try to ignore me."
and this conversation went on and on in a very high pitched, very loud bark. with the occasional nip to the leg thrown in for good measure.
of course, the reception when the kids got home was totally different. they already “love, love, love” her. she is so amazing. p’khao and p’jim are so amazing. it’s all just amazing.
however, housebreaking is not amazing…
he’s been talking about it for weeks. but i was certain he didn’t mean it. when he left the house with his dad he looked like this…
and he said he was cutting it off. i thought he was bluffing. he returned looking like this…
i’m just glad he didn’t stop here
or daughter…
so the dog – yes, the very same dog that bit me - took a bite out of a13’s leg. and, it’s a pretty nasty bite. has her on crutches…
what to do about the dog has been the talk of the neighborhood. the restaurant owner a few doors down has filed a report with the tessabaan – which is the local government. the guy from across the street has said that he filed one a while ago – back when one of the tenants in his townhomes got bit – and nothing came of it. the husband of our mâe bâan has offered to take her – the dog that is – out. in a permanent way. another neighbor down the street is busy feeding the dog – she believes she’s making merit – and isn’t too keen for anything bad to happen to the dog.
that leaves us waiting, and getting shots. we haven’t seen the dog for a few days, but it also went into hiding for several days after it took a nip of my toe. maybe the dog is gone for good. maybe it will reappear. maybe the city will step in and do something. but for now when we leave the house we’ll just have to walk softly and carry a big stick.
we have 2 soi dogs on our soi. (a soi is a street) they’re both a bit skittish so we tend to give them a wide berth. one has been no problem at all. he avoids us as much as we avoid him. but the other. she’s followed the kids, tried to nip at c15 while he was riding a bike, and has generally been a tad menacing. but not overly threatening. so last night, when i had to walk past miss not-as-nice, i did so carefully. but once i was passed her i sort of zoned. and while i was zoning she snuck out from her hiding place and took a bite of my toe. what kind of dog bites someone on the toe? and draws blood?
i cleaned the bite. put some antibiotic cream on it. and figured that was enough. a few hours later i posted that i’d been bit on facebook. a friend immediately responded that i should get a rabies shot. i’d thought i wouldn’t because i’ve seen this dog everyday for over a month and figured it’s probably not got rabies. but another friend had a valid argument for at least going to the hospital to get some oral antibiotics. while at the hospital, the doctor was able to convince me that it might be for the best if i were to go ahead and start the series of 5 rabies shots. he suggested that i might not want to take such a risk when i was only sure the dog was probably okay. you know the whole better safe than sorry thing. especially when sorry in this case could equal dead. so i got the first shot last night. i get another on monday and the third on friday. the next one is meant to be february 5. and the final shot is scheduled for february 21. but if the dog is alive and well on february 5 i won’t have to have #4 or #5. and i don’t have to spend the next little while worrying that every little symptom might be rabies. it will be a better world for all of us.
last night i went to mckormick hospital. normally we use ram 1. it’s a fancier hospital. but mckormick is just around the corner from our house – it took me 2 minutes to get there. mckormick seems to be under construction, but that could just be the way they’ve decorated – or rather not decorated. i went in, registered and realized i’d forgotten my passport, but they were willing to overlook that, then i sat and waited for the doctor. he was very efficient and very convincing. from his office i headed up to the pharmacy and to check out – this is conveniently located at the same desk – but it’s entirely possible that that could just be their after hours set up. they gave me some super duper large and effective antibiotics and a bag. in the bag was my rabies injection that i was to cart to the emergency room. maybe not having someone who has the job of making sure injections make it from point a to point b is a good money saver. because my total bill was 1100฿ ($33.35). and 880฿ ($26.68) of that was medication – including the rabies shot. the kids were very disappointed to hear that the rabies injection wasn’t some mondo needle inserted into my belly. i was not disappointed by this. i was back home within 20 minutes of leaving the house. i’m a fan of hospitals in thailand.
of course, i returned home to discover we had no internet. or phone. maybe that dog cut our line…
yesterday was teacher appreciation day in thailand. which means a 1/2 day of school. which for us meant three extra teenage boys and rock band. loud rock band. very loud rock band. and added together that meant i was looking for a way out. out of my house. michael’s better equipped to handle this kind of thing. he tunes out the extraneous noises quite well. and seeing as how he’s home for a few more days…
about the time i was becoming desperate a friend calls. wants to know if i’d like to go to the fish spa. i’ve never been to the fish spa and the idea of it was mighty appealing at that moment.
what do you do at a fish spa? you stick your feet in a tank of fish and let them nibble at your dead skin and other nasty bits that might be on your toes and between your toes and anywhere else you happened to stick in the water.
pre feasting.
the camera and water add like 20 lbs.
seems sort of cruel.
it's a spectator event.
how do i rate this experience? i’d do it again. it falls in between a foot massage and a full body thai massage. (foot massage being the best.)
as told to me by michael, a13 and s10. in an abreviated fashion.
there were techno colored lights. and, just in case you weren’t armed when you arrived, you could purchase a gun. (i’m certain it’s just a bb gun, but still, you could shoot your eye out.)
they went on the ferris wheel. they went around until they couldn’t take it anymore. they say they went around about 17 more times than they really wanted to.
they got to go hunting. sort of. they didn’t shoot their eye out. or their sibling’s. but they also didn’t shoot any stuffed doraemon.
and, i would guess that this may be the main attraction… win what you can toss a ring around. i’m also guessing it must be harder than it looks.
while i was off doing only what ever it was i wanted to do michael and the kids did this -
looks fun, right? apparently this masterpiece was the result of half an hour of a charades enhanced pictionary game between michael and p’khao.
still not 100% sure of what it is? let me help by breaking it down a bit.
and, like with all good plans, you need to set a time and figure out transportation.
our car seats 5. but i’m sure 8 will be fine. and that addition on the side with the ninth person. that’s p’khao’s motorcy. someone had to make the sacrifice and go alone. brave man. of course, i’m pretty sure, after seeing what he’s capable of, he could have gotten everyone there in his motorcy side cart.
we’re trying to get the pictures off michael’s phone so you can see the actual carnival. i heard that at the ring toss you could win bottles of whiskey and beer. and cigarettes, too… and i’m thinking that there’s no way that wouldn’t add up to a good time.
michael’s getting ready to start traveling again and - at the end of this month - my good friend, shelly, is headed back to the states for 6 months. either of those are excuse enough for a girls’ getaway, but put them together and a girls’ getaway becomes a necessity.
our first thought was we’d go to nepal. but the $700 dollar round trip tickets were a bit of a deterrence. so we looked for something a bit cheaper closer. and hit pay dirt with chiang dao. it’s a 40฿ ($1.20), 1 1/2 hour bus ride and then another 60฿ ($1.80) 8 minute motorcy taxi ride up to the chiang dao nest.
and it’s worth every single baht and more. the food was excellent. the western food might just be the best western food i’ve had in thailand and the thai food was fantastic.
once we arrived we had nothing to do. at least nothing to do that we didn’t want to do. the chiang dao caves were near by. but we didn’t make it to the caves. we were sidelined by this…
reading cabana @ chiang dao nest 2
there was also a beautiful pool
pool @ chiang dao nest 1
and if it hadn’t been too cold for swimming we still might not have dipped our toes in, because near by there was this…
reading cabana @ chiang dao nest 1
there was a wat within walking distance to explore. but we didn’t. cuz we didn’t want to. we spent 2 days eating good food and reading good books and watching a good movie. we also talked some alot.
over the past few years the family has begun a tradition of serving mom (me) breakfast in bed on her (my) birthday. and everyone’s gotten really good at it. lovely food and presentation. it’s a nice way to wake up. this year the tradition was expanded to include a-nolonger12 – i so prefer that to a13. and here’s what her breakfast looked like. the cupcake was a last minute addition from the bakery/coffee shop/slice of heaven two doors down.
it looks pretty amazing. little blue elephant candle and all.
but the even better part was just what breakfast in bed looks like when you’ve recently shifted house and you are the only member of the family who is bedless.
how special is that?
