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There are quite a

There are quite a few things here that remind me of my days growing up in PNG. Seeing the Southern Cross constellation. Hearing the birds singing throughout the day. Heavy rains that are warm enough to play in. Hearing the sound of Cessna 206 planes taking off. Pulling stickers off my socks. Finding huge rhinoceros beetles. I heard some people in the back of a pickup today who were singing. That reminded me of the PMVs (public motor vehicle) that drove around the highlands of PNG with a bunch of people sitting in the back singing in unison. I remember it to be a very unique way of singing.

I went with Dustin

I went with Dustin to the school this morning. He wanted to practice piano. He's been taking lessons since January. He asked to take lessons, so we let him take them for six weeks on a trial basis. The six weeks are up, and he still wants to take more lessons. I remember when I was his age in PNG. My parents bought a piano (from where I don't know) and my dad gave us lessons. For the most part I hated it. I'm happy to see Dustin so eager to learn to play the piano.

The boys are off

The boys are off from school today, and I'm off of work. Actually I am at the hangar working on the go-kart. The project today is the seat and also the throttle linkage. Last night I put the gas pedal on. We're getting close. The throttle linkage will be the last major problem to solve.

Capture the Flag

Taylor is off playing capture the flag tonight. It's almost ten. I think I'll need to go find him soon, but I'm sure he's having a good time.

Repeater Trip Scrubbed

Our trip to the repeater has been scrubbed. It's rainy and cloudy, both here and out in Makuma. I don't know what happened to my post of late yesterday, but I thought I wrote a bit about that in here. MAF has a couple VHF repeater antennas. One is to the north of Shell, and the other is south of here. Every six months or so they need to be maintained. New batteries, work on the solar panels, whatever needs to be done to keep them operational. The planes use the VHF radios, which are line of site radios, thus the need for the repeater towers. The planes also use HF radios. So here I sit wearing rubber boots and a thick layer of bug spray, all in anticipation of a hike through the jungle to the top of a mountain. I think I'll walk home and put some shoes on.

You ought to check

You ought to check out this web site. The family lives across the street from us. They have a fruitful ministry here in the Oriente. Rick owns a plane and flies it around the jungle, preaching and working with the churches.

Taylor is so proud

Taylor is so proud of himself today. He's learned how to blow bubbles!

Things went well in

Things went well in the classroom today. The class is small; four students in seventh grade, and four in eighth grade. The worst thing was that three of the eighth graders are taking algebra, and I was almost no help to them when it came to answering questions. Now I know why guys like Tom Robison and Victor Lang taught the eighth grade algebra classes at Oak Creek Intermediate School. I struggled through anything more than bonehead math when I was in high school.

Taylor was home again today, but by 5 PM his fever was down. He's looking forward to going to school tomorrow, especially since his dad will be at school. He likes to play with me at recess time.

It was Taylor's turn

It was Taylor's turn to stay home sick today. Dustin was back at school again. After dinner I bounced on the tramp with Dustin. When we were done jumping I invited Taylor to come lay there with us. As the sky gradually got darker we counted the stars as they came out. It was a nice way to end the day.

I've been tired again today. Don't feel like I have much energy. I'll be substitute teaching the next two days, and then two days next week. I think that's got me a bit down. I wish I knew why, but I'm just not looking forward to it. And I'm just subbing. It makes me realize how much I enjoy what I'm doing this year.

There were two challenges today. One was to get a modem working. I'm trying to get a faster modem on the line that we call in to the hangar on to get our e-mail. Right now it's a 14.4K modem--not very fast. But it does the job. I have a 56K modem we could use, but there are a couple families that can't connect with the faster modem. It's a mystery to me why that happens. Anyway, in trying to get one of the modems working last night, I ended up not being able to connect at all, even with the old, slower modem back in place. So first thing this morning I had to get that straightened out. Nobody likes to be without their e-mail. The other thing was a PC that wouldn't print. With a little help from Bruce I was able to add an input/output card and have a second parallel port on the box. Our accountant is happily printing again.

What a lazy day

What a lazy day we had. Taylor was the first up and wanted to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Hard to do when there isn't anything like that on TV. Ellyn pulled a video off the shelf and he watched that. After dozing a while longer I was up to make pancakes. Dustin didn't go to school yesterday as we was sick. Fever and head cold. He was doing better today, but still stayed inside all day. I headed over to the hangar and finished up my taxes. Had to do things a bit differently since we're living overseas, but it's done. Now I need to find someone travelling back to the States who will hand carry and mail them. Who knows how long it would take to arrive if I mailed it from Ecuador.

All in all a low key day. Mostly because I didn't have the energy for much else. I think the most exciting thing of the day was watching the army plane fly over several times at less than 1000' and drop six to eight guys at a time with static line parachute jumps. They use an Israeli made plane called the Araba.

It's Friday. I'm tired,

It's Friday. I'm tired, but happy with what was accomplished this week. I'm sure the work team wishes they could have done more this week. They didn't have great weather for working outside, and they weren't able to get much done on the Burk's roof. They did have good enough weather today to get out and visit a Waorani village. It took three flights to get them all there. You can read about it at their web log.

On a flying note, Dan Rogers is having the longest day out of the four pilots who flew today. He still isn't back. He had 3.5 hours of flying and 14 landings. That was on paper before he left. It will be interesting to see how his day really turned out. When it comes right down to it, MAF aircraft make more takeoffs and landings that any major airline, even though MAF flies a smaller fleet.

The past couple nights

The past couple nights have been very clear, even though during the day it's been cloudy and rainy all day long. Each of the last two nights I've had a really good view of the Southern Cross, or Cruz, constellation in the southern sky. It's the only constellation I knew as a kid growing up in Papua New Guinea. It's also the constellation on the flag of Papua New Guinea, and the flag of Australia. I find it ironic that after growing up in the southern hemisphere I find myself south of the equator as an adult.

Here's an interesting article

Here's an interesting article from the AP on the dollarization of the economy in Ecuador. We've been using the dollar here in Ecuador since September 2000. Ecuador had a growth rate of 5.4 percent in 2001, the highest of any country in Latin America. Depending on your point of view, dollarization may not be the best way for a county to manage it's economy, but it certainly is helping Ecuador.

There are four planes

There are four planes out today. The weather is much better today when it comes to flying, but still not good weather for roofing. Yesterday we only had one flight make it out of here, sometime around 3:30 PM.

What a rainy 24

What a rainy 24 hours we've had. It started raining last night about 11 PM and soon turned into a huge storm. I woke at about 1 AM to a huge simultaneous flash of lightning and crash of thunder. It continued to rain until some time after lunch today. Not good weather for re-roofing a house. The work team didn't get anything done on the roof today. They did do some work in the hangar and at one of the other houses.

I had a school board meeting this afternoon. There are only a couple left for the school year. We're in the process of looking for teachers for next year. Looks like we have a teacher for grades 2-3, and we still are looking for a kindergarten teacher.

We had a couple from the work team over for dinner. Ellyn made some great lasagna. You can't just go out to Costco and buy some. Here you have to make it from scratch. We had a good time visiting while the boys did some homework after dinner. By the time the company had left and the boys were in bed, it was late. I had hoped to work out tonight, but that didn't happen. Instead I finished watching A Knight's Tale which I had started watching at lunch. Now I'm going to work on my taxes for a bit.

I just uploaded some

I just uploaded some photos from Taylor's party. They're on his photo album pages.

We have a work

We have a work team here again. This time the team is from the church of Trish and Sandy Toomer. They have several projects they will be working on, but one of the bigger ones is to re-roof the Burk's house. We're all praying for dry weather this week. You can check out what they're up to at www.junglepilot.org.

Today was Taylors birthday.

Today was Taylors birthday. He came into our room this morning while we were still sleeping and said, "Happy Birthday to me!" Needless to say he was excited to be seven. I don't know how many times he checked the digital alarm clock in our room to see what time it was. Twelve o'clock, the time of his party, couldn't come quickly enough.

He invited his class to the party, and the theme was army. Ellyn made a camo cake with soldiers on top. She took small hot dogs and shiskabob sticks and made over a hundred corn dogs. We all loved them! The kids ran an obstacle course, hit a piÒata, and had a water fight with water balloons and squirt guns. It was a warm afternoon, so the water fight was perfect. Pictures will follow and I'll put them on Taylor's web page in a day or two.

Tay had invited his Ecuadorian friend, Christian, who arrived quite late, but was dressed up and brought a small gift. We can't communicate much with this little boy, but it's neat to see Taylor trying to speak Spanish with him and want to be his friend.

It's Friday. I've been

It's Friday. I've been able to get a lot done this week, and for that I'm thankful. Tonight is the Pinewood Derby at Nate Saint School. The boys' cars are both done and they're ready to race. (In case you're not sure from the picture, Taylors is a squirrel.) This is the fourth annual edition. Tomorrow will be Taylor's birthday party, and he turns seven.

The hanger is a

The hanger is a bit noisy today as Mateo and Oscar are re-skinning a horizontal stabilizer. They took off all the old aluminum and are drilling and riveting to put new aluminum back on. This is necessary as the stabilizer can get quite banged up when planes take off and land on dirt s. Rocks and other debris get kicked up and make all sorts of dents. The one they are working on is a spare that will be put on a plane during some future inspection. This allows the inspection to be done in a more time-efficient manner.

There are four planes

There are four planes out this morning. We have six Cessna 206 aircraft in the Ecuador program. One is based in Quito, and five here in Shell. The Quito plane is here in Shell for a couple days, so each night all six planes are carefully pushed into the hangar. They just fit. If there were enough pilots all six planes could be flying right now. Usually one or two are in for routine maintenance. There's a guy down in Puyo who makes great models of the planes. I have one of HC-BXK.

Back in Shell again.

Back in Shell again. Flew home on the MAF shuttle flight with Henry Orellana. He's the only Ecuadorian pilot who flies with MAF here. He's actually a member of Alas de Socorro Ecuador, the national counterpart to MAF. (Alas de Socorro means 'Wings of Help' in Spanish.) It was a cloudy and rainy day over much of Ecuador, and we flew through the clouds up to 15,000 feet to get home. By the time we arrived over Shell we were still up at 10,000 feet and it took us a few minutes to circle down and land.

It was good to get home again and be with the family. I was home in time for lunch. Went back to the office and managed to check a few things off of my to-do list. After work the boys and I went back over to the hanger and they got their first ride on the go-kart we are building. We still need a gas pedal and seat, but we improvised to get a ride out of it.

Discouraging Afternoon

I wanted to add to this last night in Quito, but couldn't access Blogger to put anything up here. It's easy to stop in the net cafÈ to check e-mail since it's only half a block from the apartment where I stay when I'm up here.

This afternoon was discouraging. I brought a part up with me from the Dell's truck (They're letting us use it while they are in the US). I need to replace the part, but none of the Nissan dealers in Ecuador have the part. I spent $6.75 paying taxis to take me around, and no part. That amount probably doesn't sound like much if you ride a taxi in LA or NY, but I never spend that much when I'm in Quito. Then once I was back at the office I found that I had a problem with something I thought I had taken care of earlier in the day. It seems like it's always two steps forward, one step back with that server. Finally, once I was back at the apartment, I broke my favorite belt.

The evening was better. I curled up on the bed and finished reading Grisham's latest novel, The Summons. I only had a day and a half in which to read it before I had to pass it on, and thankfully it was a short read. I didn't think it was one of his better books. I also just started reading The Partner.

Thoughts from a net

Thoughts from a net cafe in Quito tonight. I flew up on the shuttle today. I've made the trip so many times by plane it's becoming routine. I'm here to work on the server at the office again. It hasn't been working properly, so I'm here to coax it some more. I made some good progress this afternoon, and hope to get more done tomorrow. I'm off to my room to read for a while. The room also has cable with US television channels, but I try to read instead of watch TV. The longer I'm away from US television programming, the more trashy it seems when I do watch it. It really is possible to become desensitized to the junk the networks shove in our faces.

I didn't get a

I didn't get a chance to put anything up here yesterday. As often happens it was late at night before I thought about it and I was too tired. We started off Sunday with our puff pancake and listening to our church service. We're always a couple months behind as it takes some time for them to collect six weeks worth and mail them to us. We were especially excited this time as the last box with six tapes also had the bulletin for each of those services. We have a great church family!

During our service a little boy from the church up the street came to play. Christian is his name, and he likes to come over after his Sunday School and bounce on the trampoline. Taylor bounced with him for a while, then they wanted to play soccer. I played with them, and it sure was hot. Later they were in bathing suits bouncing on the tramp with the hose spraying at them. Christian speaks only spanish, so it's good for Taylor to be with him.

Yesterday was a classic Shell day. Hot and sunny in the morning, and by 4 PM we had a extremely hard rain. Then by 6 PM a nice sunset.

I'm pooped tonight

I'm pooped tonight. And I don't think I really worked that hard. One thing I miss here is the sense of satisfaction I get from being a homeowner. I don't have to mow the lawn, weedeat, or split and stack firewood. One thing I've been doing this year that's giving me some satisfaction is building a go-kart for my boys. I'd say I'm building it with them, but there's not a lot a six and nine year old can do when it comes to cutting, grinding, and welding metal tubing. I didn't even weld when I started the project in October. Today I was welding on my own. My friend Sandy has been doing the welding, and teaching me as we go along. Today he was busy working on his car, and I did the welding. I put the brake assembly on today and started working on the brake and gas pedals. There are four other MAF families in Shell that have go-karts.

Emergency Flight

I'm glad we're here.

It was a quiet Friday afternoon today. I had been monitoring the e-mail throughout the morning. We've been having some problems with e-mail since last Sunday. Our internet connection between Shell and Quito is over a satellite link and we had been having problems that could be caused by sunspots. Today thinks were looking normal. I also spent some time working on a printing problem on the accountant's computer. It looks like lightning may have damaged the printer port on the computer last week. I was in the middle of completing a workaround solution when Dan came in and asked if anyone wasn't busy and wanted to go for a ride to pick up a snake bite victim. Since I was the only person in the room, I was as a pretty good candidate.

He was ready to go, so I grabbed a half liter of water (comes in handy in the hot jungle), ran to the bathroom (easier here than trying to find a private spot in a village where white-skinned people stick out like sore thumbs), and sprayed up and down my legs with Off! bug spray (better than becoming the appetizer, main course, and dessert for a host of gnats and chiggers). I was wearing shorts, so an extra layer of Off! was in order.

The plane was light so we almost jumped off the runway and quickly climbed to 8,500' on the thirty minute flight to Tzapino. We flew over Waorani territory and the Rio Curaray. It was on a sand back on this river that Nate Saint and four others lost their lives in an effort to reach these indians. The air was very hazy and with that and the clouds I found I couldn't see very much of the jungle below. Dan said the haze was caused by smoke from fires in Columbia.

Before long we were circling over the small hacked out of the jungle. After coming in just above the treetops we rolled to a stop then turned around and taxied back to where a group of about ten people waited for us. A man was cradling a young boy about six years old. He walked toward the plane and a woman brought along a jar with a small snake in it. They showed us where the boy had been bit on his right calf and then Dan helped the man and the boy into the plane. They had two sacks of food and those were put in the pod under the plane. Neither of them had shoes, a toothbrush, or overnight back. Not even a way to call their family once they got to the hospital in Shell.

As Dan climbed into his seat the man asked if he could say a prayer. We bowed our heads and for a minute the man prayed in Waorani. The only thing I understood was when he said 'capit·n' throughout the pray. When he finished Dan thanked him, called "Clear!" and started the 850HP turbocharged engine. We bumped down the grassy , left the ground and began winging our way back to Shell. We headed west, and with the late afternoon sun shining in my face I had a hard time staying awake. The little boy in the back sat still, very stoic and showing very little emotion.

On the ground again in Shell I watched as the man carried his son through the hangar to the waiting ambulance. How different the town of Shell is from their village. Just a short flight, but a world away. Having recently taken my own son to the hospital, I knew just a little of what this man was going through. I was thankful we had been able to bring this sick boy to the wonderful missionary doctors at the Hospital Vozandes.

I'll try to find out what happens to this little boy and his father and let you know.

Piano Recital

I wanted to put a little in here last night but I ran out of time. I was working on my taxes. Actually I wasn't working on them as much as I was doing a little reading and research trying to figure out just how I'll file this year. Living overseas throws some different forms into the mix. I think I'll try doing my taxes online this year with TurboTax. I'm a little behind this year, as usually I'm finished with my taxes by now. There's a big draw to doing things online this year since that way I can file electronically. Living in Shell I can't easily run down to the post office a day or two before the deadline to get my return in on time.

Last night Dustin had his first piano recital. He's been taking lessons since January. He and the other students presented the songs they've been practicing. Dustin played a duet with his teacher, and although there were a couple bumps along the way, he did a great job. He felt badly for having any mistakes at all. We're just happy he wants to play piano. We didn't ask him to, and he was the one pushing for lessons for the past six months.

Four Planes Out

There are four planes out right now. That hasn't happened much lately. It seems that there are usually two planes in for normal maintenence. Also, for the past five months or so there haven't been enough pilots here to fly all the planes. With a pilot returning from furlough a month ago, there are now enough guys to keep four planes flying. The weather went crummy for a while right after lunch, but it has improved since then.

Long Server Connections

I had hoped to be in Quito for the day. That didn't work out as there was a patient who needed to go to Quito and one to come back. The little boy who went to Quito a while ago was about four years old. I don't know what happened to him, but he was hurting and scared. He had a leg all bandaged up, was wearing a cervical collar, and had an IV. His mom was going with him, and she was in tears, as was her son. My heart went out to them, and I found I could relate all too well to what they were going through.

The reason for my trip to the Quito office was to check on the server. There's a problem with long connection times to the ISP, and at $.02 a minute, connections that last more than the needed time will start to cost more money than we can afford to pay. I was hoping to check the logs to see how many long connections we've been having, and to try and figure out why they are happening. I think I'll head up there next week. I don't mind staying since Dustin has a piano recital to play at this evening. I think I'd be home, but there's always the chance when flying in Ecuador that you won't be where you want to be at the end of the day. Dustin has been taking piano lessons for a little over a month now. He's practicing at school during recess and enjoys it so far.

Sporadic e-mail

Well, it's been way too long since I've put anything in here. During the time our church work team was here I put my energy into that project. They've been gone for several weeks and we continue to be busy. Most notably I've made a couple trips up to Quito in the past two weeks to finally get the e-mail server there up and running. I'm still not totally satisfied with the way it's working, but it is a step in the right direction.

The past couple days our e-mail here in Shell has been sporadic because of a poor internet connection. The problem seems to be taken care of now. At times like this we realize how much we depend on our e-mail do get things done.