Watchtower

These baskets have many purposes in Thailand. On a farm, they are used to collect vegetables or hold tools. In a home they are used to stack drying dishes, hold clothes to be washed or carry the clothes to and from the laundry line. On the university campus, the gardeners use them to carry fallen leaves, weeds, and other trash they have swept up to the garbage can. I'm sure the uses go on and on.

One use I would not have expected is that of a cat's playground and watchtower.

The baskets with the more open weave (the ones on the left) are often used to cage roosters. Just flip it over, and the rooster can't go anywhere.

Today I saw a mom duck and her ducklings under a basket like this. However, one of the ducklings had managed to find its way through a wide weave hole. The little duck was running around the basket, trying to figure out how to get back with its brothers and sisters. At the same time, its siblings were running around the inside perimeter of the basket, trying to figure out how to be free like their cleaver brother.

I'm sure there's some kind of lesson we could take away from that.