Felt initial, severe Covid symptoms on the evening of 20260901. Went to the clinic on September 2nd and got medicine (Molnupiravir). Finished a five-day course of the antiviral. By the 8th, I was feeling better, well enough to go out for a bicycle ride and a sunset check.
It was a good little reminder to myself: Health is everything.
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20260908 |
You have two chances each day to be outside in Thailand, early mornings and late evenings after the sun goes down. I took my first photo at 05:55 hours. I saw some interesting birds. I always see at least a few good birds.
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20260829 |
And I suspect I'm not the only one. She was one dog cycle, 12 years, ahead of me. If I did not before, I do now understand that I am 68 years old. I do now understand how much time I may or may not have remaining.
So I said fuck it. I went back down to Bangkok again on the last weekend of August. Of course, it was August. It's always been August every damn year. Inside my head was a jumble of "I've got 12 years left" and "You only live once" and all kinds of positive and negative thoughts stirred up by Miss Dolly's passing. I'll summarize the thinking as "Fuck it. I'm going down to spend some time with my friend because I want to and I can and I will because nothing is guaranteed after this weekend anyway."
Miss Dolly Parton, you were an American hero. Of that, there is no doubt. One of these days, I may get around to painting my Thai Stick of Life painting. Instead of cannabis wrapped around a thin bamboo stick as Thai Stick was in the original American War with Vietnam era, imagine instead all of humanity wrapped around and stuck onto a huge bamboo shaft. So many millions and millions of people on that Thai Stick of Life. And if you look around the early to mid 21st Century, you'll find me just behind Miss Dolly Parton.
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2026 August 28th - 29th |
I think we went down on Friday, August 21st. I believe we came back on Sunday, the 23rd. Our travel hero was there, flying from work on Friday evening back to work on Sunday evening. I remember some really good food once again in the Terminal 21 mall. There was some decent Bonchon kimchi. Do I only remember the food?
We were there, and then we were gone. Short trip.
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2026 August 21st - 22nd |
This was my second trip to the Korat Zoo. It was almost magical. Due to the threat of continued rain. Due to our arrival in early afternoon. Possibly due to plain dumb luck, the entire zoo was ours. We may have seen a total of 10 or 20 other visitors. That number would normally be more like 1,000 or 2,000 other visitors.
Swimming tigers, roaring lions, big scary old rhinos, we saw it all. Even taking turns driving the golf cart was fun. I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity for an almost private visit to the zoo again. They do a pretty good job out there. I salute them.
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20260819 |
And it was really good. We had kind of a guided tour by a bright young student from มหาวิทยาลัยขอนแก่น / Khon Kaen University. And there was our friend, Cactus Jon, who happened to know the entire process of petrification so well that he was able to explain it so that we finally understood it. Because we were on a guided tour, we were able to avoid most of the students, of which there are many, as there should be for a regional fossil museum like this one.
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20260818 |
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20260817 |
That's how I found myself in Decathlon looking at hats that provide very full coverage, while also being relatively lightweight. My current hat for working in the fields is good, but it's so stiff and so heavy. Still, I wasn't satisfied with any of the choices on offer. Where is that perfect hot weather hat? Maybe that famous one from Australia. They do know a little bit about heat there in the outback.
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20260811 |
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2026 August 2nd - 6th Secret Island Trip |
Felt initial, severe Covid symptoms on the evening of 20260901. Went to the clinic on September 2nd and got medicine (Molnupiravir). Finishe...
