I am thrilled with the new electrician.

Great progress today. Phai's trip to the government offices has been postponed due to an issue with the paperwork for the property her sister is buying. So we were here when the electrician arrived and clarified my desires. Then Phai and her sister decided to visit their sister in law who is in the hospital. They dropped me off at Tesco Lotus and I an hour of shopping all by myself. I loved it. I even treated myself to  a banana split at the dairy queen. One of my readers has been trying to get out to get a banana split. Her first trip was to ColdStone Creamery but they had closed that store. Then she kept getting rained out. I told her I would get one in her honor and I did. It was good but certainly not ColdStone Creamery good. They also have a Swenson Ice Cream restaurant in Tesco Lotus but I will save that for another time. In fact I may try their "Mango Delight with sticky rice topped with tender coconut". I found a pair of new shoes (sandals) for me and two pair for Phai (sandals and tennis shoes) and four new shirts for me. The total with tax for 3 pair of shoes and four shirts was $37 so it didn't break the bank. Oh yea, we stopped at the bakery on the way out and I ate a chocolate glazed doughnut. Kind of blew my diet in one visit to Tesco Lotus. 

Then we went to the new "Thai Watsadu" hardware store. Phai's sister had never been and she was amazed. We picked up a few items for the house like a shower curtain and some small rugs. They had really nice rugs for 19 Baht which is about 67 cents. Our son in law bought four and is using them for floor mats in the his truck. 

We  got back to the house about 3:00 pm and I was really happy with the progress the electrician has made. He is putting the plugs exactly where I wanted them and appears to be doing quality work. I am hoping he can finish tomorrow so we can get the other company back in here to do the doors and ceiling. They Have a lot more cinder blocks up (they delivered additional cinder blocks as we were leaving for Nong Bua Lamphu). The Bathroom walls are about two thirds finished with the mortar coating and she is still working now (6:00 pm). It poured again for about an hour this afternoon but it doesn't affect our construction anymore. The days have been so much cooler and if I wake up at night I actually pull a blanket over me. We will definitely wait until our next trip to install air conditioning. Our budget it pretty tight and we have to survive two more months here with no paychecks for Phai coming in. 

I have really been accepted by the kids now. Yesterday Lam (my eight year old grandson) drew a line in the dirt and started tossing coins to get them close to the line. He was surprised when I pulled a handful of coins out of my pocket and joined him. Our skill levels were about equal. Little did he know know, that was a big pastime when I was his age. I wonder if kids still do that in the States or do the have an iPad app that does it? My three year granddaughter has stared climbing on my lap and sharing whatever she is eating with me. Last night she thought it was really funny when she popped a sour candy in my mouth. I made an exaggerated face and she really laughed. Today I was playing a jumping game with her and another little girl who's mother is working on our house. We would count to ten in english and then jump up while holding hands. Then we would repeat while counting to ten in Thai. Good practice for them and me. I am trying very hard to communicate in Thai instead of just having Phai translate for me. It is tough but two months of real effort should help my Thai skills. I have not worked as hard at it as I should have because it has been easier to simply communicate through Phai. With the stress of the house construction nearing an end I should be able to focus more on my Thai language skills.

You might want to take a look at the photos under the "New House Photo Album" tab. I posted about 70 new photos. Some have been on individual blog pages but many you have not seen before. 

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More rain. Can imagine a cement truck trying to reach the house through that mud? 

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I was surprised when Phai had her brother in law cut this big tree down. She want to plant a lot of mango trees when the final leveling of the lot is completed.

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Phai looks at the rain over the news walls in our back room.

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The electrician we hired worked all day today.

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The wall plugs are going in. Notice they do not use grounded plugs here. 

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Putting the mortar coating on the bathroom walls.



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