On December 1st we arrived back in California safely. The trip back always messes with our minds as we leave Bangkok around 5:30 PM and arrive two hours later in Los Angeles. Yep, two hours later after being in the air for over 15 hours.
The next day, after uncovering the rest of the furniture and our car, I had to go to Garden Grove to pick up some parts for the winter heating season.
I was hungry so I stopped at Tommy's Restaurant on Chapman Avenue across from See's Candy and had a wonderful breakfast for $3.23, tax included.
Folks, this was one of the best breakfasts I have had in the USA at any price. Try it, you might like it.
Daeng and I will be fixing heating systems here in Southern California until the end of February and then back to "The Land of Smiles" until the summer.
Please do yourself a favor and check your furnace air filter. Dirty air filters cause the most problems with furnaces so change or wash your air filter. It is usually in the bottom of your furnace or in a filter grill where the air returns to your system to he heated.
We do our filter when we change the clocks; the spring ahead and fall back time change. Also, check the batteries in your smoke alarms.
It is also better for your health to have a clean air filter. Please remember you breath that air, also.
We also celebrated life with a lot of folks this winter. That means we ate lots of cake! Congratulations to everyone.
Daeng likes Christmas and all the decorating and package wrapping. She does a beautiful job wrapping gifts, also.
Here is a picture of my daughter Tina, Uncle Jimmy, our friend Bill and Daeng decorating my sister Diane's tree.
Here is a gift that Daeng brought back from Thailand to give me for a Christmas gift.
It is a paper clip holder for my desk.
She said it looks like me sitting on the toilet. We both laughed.
The New Year celebrations were fun as well.
On New Years Eve, Daeng, sister Diane and I spent time with my Mother. She is still hanging on at age 92 and is pretty sharp most of the time.
On television we watched the ball drop in New York City with Mom, had some sparkling apple and pomegranate juice. We were in bed by 10:00 PM.
Give us a break, we're old!
On Sunday, the family and a few friend got together to celebrate the New Year with Daeng's and my birthday.
Daeng was born on Christmas Day in a pig barn in Thailand on the Myanmar (Burma) border. There is no written record of her birth so all her identification shows here birthday as January 1st.
I always kid here as she has two birthdays in a week.
Last year, when she turned 40, I told her I was going to trade her in for two 20 year old girls. She just put her hands on her hips, looked me straight in the eyes and said: "You're not wired for 220!" I love her!
It is great to see friends that we miss when we are in Thailand. Here is a picture of our friends Devin and Peg.
We also love visiting Michael and Charlotte in Wasco, California. Wasco is a little above Bakersfield.
You can read a few more stories regarding Bakersfield by clicking HERE.
Daeng handmade an apron for Charlotte. I love this picture of her modeling it.
Michael's son, Vincent, made the trip with us. He was is a great traveler and was fun to be with.
We also had dinner at a fund raiser put on by the "Friends of Jimmy K". We had a great time.
I love the expression on Charlotte's face in this picture. I was wondering where Michael's other hand is.
I might also add we always have fun with our extended family.
I had to laugh at Daeng as to soften her hair she puts on this mud like stuff that she brought from Thailand. She mixed it up and put it into her hair. Than she wraps it in a towel like rag and leaves it for at least 8 hours.
I must admit, it does make her hair very soft.
We worked a lot in December fixing heating systems but January and February were very warm months. I think that Los Angeles broke their record for having the warmest January in written history.
It was okay for me as I'm getting to old to work very hard.
We did get to go to a few conventions and hook up with some old friends.
We had dinner at Todai's with our old friends, Paul and Cheryl Scaglione. Cheryl gave me a DVD of the "Legend of Masty Huba". If you you like to read more about him just click HERE.
Around 1980 a California artist, Andrew Taylor, painted a picture of me and titled it "Masti F. Huba".
I don't know were the "F" comes from but you can guess.
We also had some time to visit with my daughter, Amy, who lives and works with the Peacemaker group. To read more about their store just click HERE.
The store is wonderful, the people are great and the food is always delicious.
If you get to Costa Mesa, California just stop in and see them.
It was a wonderful winter but it is time to return to our home in Thailand on the Myanmar (Burma) border.
I hope to get some of the medical work done done in Thailand, like joint lubricant injected into my knees, that was denied by my Medicare Advantage Plan through Anthem Blue Cross.
Although the injections have been helping me for years, the insurance company says that they don't feel the health benefit is enough to justify the cost.
The positive side is I can probably have the injection done cheaper cheaper in Thailand than my co-pay in the USA.
We'll write more from Thailand.
We are in the fun city of Pattaya, Thailand. We're rested and over jet-lag from our eighteen hour California plane trip last week. The weather here is nice today, around 90 degrees and the sun is shining. We will rest here for a few more days and then travel north to our home on the Myanmar (Burma) border.
Pattaya has not changed much while we have been gone except for a little inflation. I think that is the story all over the world.
We had a good summer making enough money to bring us back to Thailand for the next couple of months.
Remember folks, the best thing you can do for your heating and air conditioning system is keep it and your air filter clean!
We were part of the celebrations of lots of birthdays this summer. Some of us young folks enjoyed the cake, pony rides and bubble bounces.
They would not let Ralphie or me on the bubble bounce or the pony. Although we did eat lots of cake.
Some of us older folks celebrated birthdays, too. I was happy to celebrate my emotional 24th birthday. How I got that number is I started using mind altering stuff at age eight. After Cub Scout Meetings some of us kids would sneak into the bushes and drink the whiskey we stole from our parents. I stopped using all mind altering substances sixteen years ago and started developing emotionally again, alas age 24.
My Mom turned 91 years old in July. My sister, Diane, arranged a big party at Flagship Health Care Center. We eat cake, sang Happy Birthday and Mom had a great time seeing friends and opening birthday presents.
Daeng made her a beautiful picture tree with pictures from the last 90 years.
It really is a piece of art and took her over a hundred hours to make.
We visited with lots of friends to celebrate just being alive.
We also ran into a few friends that we had not seen is a long time.
Daeng wanted to see the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove before it changed hands. It is my understanding that the church went bankrupt and the 40+ acre complex was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese. It is kind of beyond my thinking but I'm not judging, I'm just saying.
You can read more about what is happening at the Crystal Cathedral by CLICKING HERE.
Deang loved the music from the stately Hazel Wright Pipe Organ inside the Crystal Cathedral. It is the most widely heard organ in the world today, made possible through the television ministry.
It was a good summer. We plan on spending the next 62 days here in the "Land of Smiles" and then back to the "Good Old USA" for the Winter.
Just give us a call if you need your furnace or air conditioning fixed. Just CLICK HERE for DIAL ONE Cooling, Heating & Plumbing, Inc.
We will try to keep everyone up to date with the interesting things that happen to us along the way.
We had a nice summer even though I hurt by back needing MRIs and treatment. That along with a knee operation kept me from doing much walking or a lot of physical things.
On Father's Day we had lunch with my youngest and oldest daughters, along with sister Diane , Mom and Grand-daughter Crystal, at Peacemakers in Costa Mesa. It was a nice relaxed lunch and we had a chance to catch up with family gossip.Even though the summer was a pretty cool one for the west coast there was enough work repairing units that
had not been maintained and were very dirty.Keeping your heating - cooling equipment and filters clean is the most important thing you can do to keep costs of operation low and the results of the equipment high.Daeng and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary with a little trip to Laughlin, Nevada. Daeng is not a big gambler, except to marry me, but does like the video 
penny machines.We met our friends, Michael and Charlotte in Laughlin and spent the weekend together at a convention.My Mother celebrated her 90th Birthday in July, also. Although her health is diminishing she was in good spirits as my sister Silvana and husband Rick came from New York to surprise her.
We had a little party at Flagship Health Care Center were Mom now has 24 hour nursing care. About twenty-five of her friend and family came to share cake and give pleasant birthday wishes.
We also made a little trip to the big city of Bakersfield to celebrate my fifteen years of being drug free. We meet with some other friends to 
share cake and stories of how our lives have changed.Today my life is beyond my wildest dreams!Daeng and I will make the looooong trip back to our Thailand home, on the Myanmar (Burma) border, the end of September.Daeng and I want to send our love to everyone!
