They're a mouthful.

Well, more of the empty lot next door than our backyard, but hey, the important thing here is the cows, right?

If you've stuck around this blog since I made my move to Maha Sarakham, Thailand, you know that I'm somewhat obsessed with the flora and fauna surrounding me (whether I end up eating it or not), and I hope for the Cows in My Backyard series to become something of a time-honored tradition. So far, it's only been a year or so. Here's to more cows, and maybe even more backyards in the future.

I love companies that don't take themselves too seriously; especially ones that should. Then again, maybe the Pumpkins are old money aristocrat types convinced that their family crest strikes fear in the hearts of would be wrongdoers (fuck thee not with the PUMPKINS, knave!).

We put in curtains (cream) and grass (green) today. It's amazing how much more this house feels like home now.

As a side note, there's a dirt track to the rear of our house where dump trucks come to drop fill dirt at the back end of the development. I took the Crown back there today to drop off 16 bags of black loam I bought (20 Baht/bag) to lay under the grass. After throwing the bags of loam over our fence, I got back in the car and did donuts and long drifts in the dirt all the way back to the paved road. All of the laborers working on various houses pumped their fists in the air and shouted Thai arribas. I've changed back to 15" wheels because I didn't have money to buy new tires for the 17" rims and I got tired of changing flats every other day. I know, poor white collar me. Next thing you know I'll be drilling holes in my muffler instead of getting it done properly.

Got my DSL hookup at the new house - currently 256/128k or some such sadness, but it's a lot better than nothing, and I'll be upgrading to 1Mb/512k on Monday. I think I may even bother to bring the DL speed to 1.5M for another 110 Baht/month. Thinking about the hikari line I gave up in Japan sometimes makes me sad, but I find comfort in the Apocalypse coming and killing everybody with faster connections than me (most of the developed world).

As a side note, this morning at first I could not get the Crown into gear but somehow squeezed it into second while starting at the same time, and drove it all the way to a garage without depressing the clutch. I borrowed my sister in law's new Chevy Aveo because we are getting the Cefiro resprayed (almost for free with 1st class insurance - we only pay 4,000 Baht). They replaced a clutch cylinder part on the Crown and I just picked it up - 600 Baht, all inclusive. I love Thailand.