Tag Archives: leaking windows

November 14, 2025 · 12:30 am

It’s Raining….

Scott Helfrich – http://www.nwf.org Photo Contest – The National Wildlife Federation Blog

It was raining super hard this morning when it was near time to go to the gym, so we decided to cancel. I spent the morning with my bucket and towels trying to contain the window leaks. This was one of the worst rains we’ve had, with water rushing down the street, water-water-everywhere. Brian came down to help me, then let me out of my place so I could go get my massage, and then met the building handyman and another man, who both looked at my door and my windows.

They will confer, decide what they think will fix each of my problems, and get back to us with a plan, costs, and time as soon as possible. Help is finally on the way!!!!

I was exhausted from spending from about 5 this morning until I went to my massage at 10 wringing towels out and moving things that might get damaged. I almost went to sleep on the table under Khun Weaw’s expert hands.

The sun is shining now and I moved my drying rack back out onto the balcony with all the towels on it, hoping I can get some serious drying accomplished this afternoon.

Soon we will go to the cafe to get out of Khun Nong’s way while she cleans. I have the place pretty well put back together now so she CAN clean.

My first “Rainy Season” will remain in my memory forever. Hopefully, the NEXT one will be one of fond memories of what I DON’T need to do anymore. 😃🙏🏻

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October 26, 2025 · 3:15 am

End of the Rainy Season?

http://www.chiangmailtraveller.com


THE RAINY SEASON – (June – October) – especially heavy June through August – heaviest in July.

We are finally getting to the end of “The Rainy Season” here in Chiang Mai. This has been a real adjustment for me.

I have a condo I love with large picture windows letting lots of light in and providing a spectacular view. Unfortunately, they also leak. The hard rains have moved me to form my ‘bucket and towel brigade’ with a membership of one, to be ready at a moment’s notice, day or night, to put rolled up towels on all the window sills, watching them carefully and wringing them out into a bucket at intervals until the rain has passed, and then trying to get the towels dry to be armed for the next rain..

I have also learned to always carry an umbrella and a “rain suit” that is an ingenious invention made from a plastic bag, with sleeves and a hood with a drawstring. Just the thing when it’s really blowing and pouring.

Happily, our condo building will be doing exterior repairs and repainting once the rainy season is completely over. One of the things on the list is doing outside resealing of windows – hopefully making it so the bucket brigade won’t be necessary next time.

The rain here is very different from what I was used to in the States. In Arkansas, if it rained, it rained most of the day. We postponed activities until it dried out. Here, it can absolutely POUR for several minutes and then stop, as if a faucet was turned off, the sun coming out and the rest of the day beautiful – or pour again, just as soon as you get your rain suit or umbrella put away. As long as you learn to be prepared to pull out your umbrella or don your rain suit, you get used to dealing with it, not postponing any activities. (I also carry a trash bag to put my wet umbrella in until I can open it up and dry it at home.)

My rain suit is actually purple, though it shows pink here.

Trying to get laundry done during the rainy season is quite laborious. I try to get my laundry out on my little balcony early in the morning to catch the good sun. Many times a sudden rain storm will drench your clothes, so you have to keep an alert eye on the skies, rather than depending on the weather app, ready to drag your drying rack inside very quickly to rescue your clothes. Then the sun will come out, and you reverse the process – sometimes several times – until the task is done.

Typhoons come from the direction of Vietnam. It’s a bit scary with weather alerts on your phone. (The alerts are in Thai – pretty useless to a non-Thai speaker like me)- but I’ve learned what it is and look for the dates that it will hit Chiang Mai. We’re up high, so we don’t have to worry about flooding, but we DO have to get serious about the bucket brigade at times like this…

The Rainy Season is coming to an end here. My son Brian says Thai ‘winter’ is next with a bit cooler temperatures (only 85 or so in the afternoons) and a LOT less rain! I’m ready!!!!!

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October 6, 2025 · 1:47 am

Happy Monday 10-6-2025

Tina Ann

This is our reminder to make time for fun every day, making ourselves part of our priority list.

I’ve had a good day. I had my workout at the gym. Brian complimented me, saying I’m steadier on my feet, more agile, and he worries about me less. A SHOWER of compliments from my son!

I just got back from getting a mani/pedi. I’m having this done every two months. It gives me something to look forward to, and having professionals take care of my hands and feet is a healthy addition to my taking care of myself. The ‘polish’ is my FUN part. Brian has been goading me to paint my toenails and fingernails ‘cyan.’ I actually had to look it up, but it’s a range of shades of aqua.

Scheme Color

I’ve ignored his request up until today. Since he has introduced me to the whole idea of mani/pedis, found a place to get the service, and actually sits there and waits while I get it done, I figured today was the day.

When he saw my fingernails, his grin filled his whole face. He said, “All RIGHT!!! I’m not sure I actually LIKE this color, but his reaction is certainly worth spending two months with it. 😄. We followed this with a stop for chocolate – icing on the cake of the nice morning.

When I was coming back from breakfast with Brian, I met the cleaning lady who has been so, so nice to me. She was by herself, so I motioned for her to follow me out to sit on the bench in the foyer type area that is on each floor. (Happily, I remembered to turn my hand down and make a clawing motion, rather than the normal, “Come here” gesture, so I didn’t insult her suggesting she was an animal.)

She put down all her stuff and I got out the earrings I’ve been carrying around. I showed her, pointed to her ears. She looked really surprised, but I made as sure as I could that the earrings were for her. Her face split with a grin and she put them in her ears as we sat there. She stood up, did a little dance, and I helped her put her mask on again. I don’t think she got the idea that I painted the earrings, but the delight in her eyes showed she liked them.

I got home from our morning and quickly moved to the balcony to get my laundry in. Everything was completely dry with the exception of my socks, which were ALMOST dry. I brought everything in and was closing the balcony door when the rain started. WHEW!

It was a hard rain, so it wasn’t long before I needed to roll up towels to put on the window sills to contain the leakage. I have my bucket there to wring out the towels when needed.

Here’s my latest painted sketch. I love Halloween, and will see what I can find regarding creative costumes for kids plus wonderful jack-o-lanterns to share with you.

Have a fun day!

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October 1, 2025 · 3:13 am

Happy October 2025

Happy October 2025! I miss being able to drive down with a mailbox decoration from the shop and my husband and I changing out the one there for the new one twice a month. It was particularly wonderful when someone would start to drive by, stop, and get out of the car to tell us what a kick they got out of our decorations. Several people told us they drove by often just to see if we had changed the decoration yet. How wonderful is that! 🤗

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This morning I was up at 1am wringing out towels from my leaking windows with a hard storm from Typhoon Regasa. I got back to sleep, back up again at 5 in order to check the towels again and get ready for the gym. I had to wring them out again, but that has been it for the day. I got the towels on my drying rack out on the balcony, and everything is almost dry now. I have rolled up towels in the window sills again, in case we’re not finished with the remnants of the typhoon, but hopefully, it has passed us now.

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This is the latest painted sketch.

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We went to visit Harvey at the nursing home this morning. This is a 3 hour round trip we make three times a week to show him we love him and make sure he’s getting the care he needs. At first we thought he wasn’t going to talk to us at all. I had almost given up after about 25 minutes of our asking questions or making statements with no reaction from him at all when he suddenly said, “I’m trying to remember where I got your engagement ring. I want to get you a “better” wedding ring.” I sat there with tears running down my face.

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Today has turned out to be a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. Dark clouds are looming, but they haven’t won yet. I’ll take it! 👍

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When we got home, Brian walked me to my door. A couple of minutes later he was back with a small package in his hand that had arrived downstairs. I opened it and found two new squeeze balls! When he ordered the original for Harvey, two came in the package. He gave one to Harvey and the other to me. I have to admit I keep it on my computer desk, reaching for it and squeezing it whenever I’m here. It’s mesmerizing. Sadly, about 3 weeks ago I punctured mine inadvertently with a fingernail. I told Harvey about it when I was handing him the ball, encouraging him to practice with his weaker left hand. Brian quietly ordered another set. I’m thrilled! I have my toy back! We’ll take the other one to swap out for the original one the next time we visit Harvey. This new one is actually better than the old one.

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I hope your day/evening is filled with giggles and grins..

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August 30, 2025 · 8:47 pm

8-31-2025 Thoughts

Two of the latest sketches/paintings.

My friend Carla (the pretty lady in yellow) and her son, Clint – to the left of her in the photo – were the car race feature winners last week! They share a love of fast cars and racing, and they enjoy being together to build the cars and try to win on the weekends at the local racetracks. Mother/son adventure – BEAUTIFUL!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!👍🥳

Making progress on the owls puzzle. I’ll work on it again this afternoon.

We are still trying to decide whether to try to go visit Harvey this morning or not. My phone app is saying “Very Heavy Rain” basically from now through the rest of the day. We looked at a radar image of the storm coming toward us from Vietnam, and it looks like the worst of it is going to the south of us (thanks also to Sheila for this info.)

If it looks like ‘just rain,’ we’ll go. If it looks like our places may need bucket and towels and that we might get stranded at the nursing home which is a good 40 minutes away, we’ll cancel the trip for today. We’ll decide closer to the time.

I hope that good things are happening with/to/for you!

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