Clearing Weather

It's been raining and the visibility was 0/0 all morning. Things are clearing a little know, and the guys are scrambing to get something, anything, done this afternoon. If we can get a plane or two away for one flight each, they can still salvage part of the day.

Credit On Account

Saturday afternoon I took eight kids to the river to go swimming. It's been warmer and drier the past month, so the river has been a great place to be. Ever since we started swimming at the river three years ago, there has been a guy selling things out of a small shack by the river. The favorite of the kids (and me too) is the salchi papas. That's a bag of fried potatoes with a few pieces of hot dog, covered with catsup, mayo, and onions. It's really tasty, especially after you've been swimming in the cold river for an hour. So, as we were getting in the car, my boys asked me if I had any money, and I said no. Then as I sat down, I realized that my wallet was under the front seat, where I had put it. In there, I had a $1 bill and a $10 bill. I knew that $1 wouldn't be enough, and that he wouldn't have change for $10. So I told the kids to wait and went to talk to the vendor. Sure enough, he didn't have change for a $10, but he said he give us some anyway, and that we could pay later. He knew we came to the river often, and that was good enough for him. He dished up nine orders, and we were all happy campers. I paid him a dollar then, and on Sunday afternoon I rode back on my bicycle and paid him the other $3.50. I can't tell you how many other times people have given me credit, and let me come back some other time to pay. At the gas station, the barber, the variety store; as long as they recognize your face and know you come in regularly, you can buy on credit. No credit cards, no ID checks, just plain old good faith in each other.

Back In The Saddle

The group that was down here to do some filming left this morning. They drove down, and now they are flying back to Quito. We like to give visitors a taste of Ecuador from both the ground and the air. Mike came down on the bus yesterday from Quito to pick up HC-BZE, which we had down here in Shell while he was in the US for his son's wedding. The guys were able to get some maintenance done on it. So this morning he's taking Gene and his group to Quito. Gene was a pilot down here in Shell and left about six years ago. Today he's flying left seat to Quito and Mike, a flight instructor, is in the right seat. I'm sure it's bringing back lots of memories for Gene. And quite a few of us, well actually all of us, stopped what we were doing to watch and wave goodbye.

On The Beach

There's a small group down here in the Oriente for a few days. Gene Jordan, one of the MAF vice-presidents, has brought two teens and a photographer down to film for a video. The purpose of the video is to encourage teens to get involved in missions. Yesterday Dave flew them out to ToÒempade where they went on a canoe trip to Palm Beach, the location on the Rio Curaray where the five missionaries were killed in '56. One of the things the group did was play Pato Pato Ganso with some of the Waorani kids. Most of you will know that game as Duck Duck Goose. Whenever I go to Waorani territory, or hear of stories from others who have made a recent trip, it always makes me wonder at God's wonderful plan. Fifty years ago the Waorani wanted nothing to do with outsiders. Now, because five men were willing to give their lives, the Waorani have the Gospel.

Helping Hand

This week a small work team from Trinity United Methodist Church in Opelika, Alabama is visiting the MAF operation in Shell. Betsy and Lindsey are helping out over at the Nate Saint School. They are both in college, and are training to be teachers. Jonathan is a network installer, and is helping me. Yesterday and today we've been working on repairing and upgrading computers, which has included some motherboard and processor upgrades for two machines which belong to MAF staff here. We've been able to accomplish a lot, and it's really been helpful to have him here.

First Day of School

Today is Mrs. Ruckman's first day at Nate Saint School. The kids have been in school since last Wednesday, but Mrs. Ruckman didn't arrive in Shell until Friday evening. She came to our house on Saturday for lunch, and it was great to have an answer to our prayers sitting at the table with us! Dustin was so excited that she's here. For three days last week the parents and a couple others subbed in the classroom, and the boys had a crash course on Germany. One of the three students in the class is new to Shell, and is from Germany. Dustin said yesterday that he is ready for 'real' school.

Emergency Flights

Darryl, one of two pilots in Sucua, was on call over the weekend. I don't know just how much he actually flew, but I did see him here in Shell about 3:45 PM. He had picked up a small family and brought them to here. The mother and infant had been struck by lightning. The father was with them of course, and the mother was unconcious. This morning we've got a medical transfer flight to Quito. I'm not sure what's wrong with the one patient, and the other is a tourist with a broken hip. It's a bit unusual to have a flight to Quito with two patients. We just had a false alarm about another flight that needed to be done to Coca. This is all very ironic, because as Dan and I were walking out the door on Friday afternoon, Tom·s said he had only one flight for Monday. I said, "Yes, but this is only Friday!"

Get Your Camera

I was laying in bed contemplating a day without electricity. I know, I know, there was a recent blackout in the U.S. Northeast that eclipses any power outage we might ever have in Ecuador. But still, the power went off right at 8 AM, and that usually means it's a scheduled outage, and could last a while. Or, it could last only a few minutes. By 8:20 AM I decided I better go over to the hangar and turn off the computers that were running on backup power supplies. If the power was going to be out all day, I didn't want to use the batteries if it wasn't absolutely essential. By the time I was getting ready to turn off the second UPS, the power came back on. Great! That meant I could go home, take a hot shower, make breakfast for the family, and listen to our church service on casette tape. Electricity on our MAF base is required to run the water pump, as it used a two-phase electric motor that won't work with our generator. Well, all that to say, I was laying in bed this morning, when Ellyn saw a moth on the window. She said, "David, grab your camera!" I was feeling too lazy to jump out of bed for my camera, but once I saw the moth, I figured it would be worth it.

View From Above

Remember yesterday I wrote we were having unusually clear and dry weather? Here's a satellite image and it's amazing how many volcanos you can see. The Oriente, or the eastern part of Ecuador, is where we fly.

Water And E-mail

Earlier today Ron was fixing a pipe in the water system. It's a black plastic pipe that runs along a ditch out beside our house. He had found six cuts in it from machetes. We have a large self-propelled walking mower that is used to mow the yards, but when it comes to trimming, a machete is used, not a weedeater. He replaced that section of pipe with galvanized pipe, since it's not the first time this has happened. And, it won't be the last. As he was working, I told him I knew he was thankful I was here to keep the e-mail going. He had told me that before. And I told him I was thankful he was here to keep the water going. Ron's job might not be glamorous, but he makes this place more liveable in many ways. It means there is more time for the rest of us to do our jobs. E-mail is important to Ron and his wife, because they have two grown sons in the US, and a grandson. Being able to communicate with e-mail, and send the occasional digital photo back and forth, makes the distance more bearable.

Back To School

We woke up to another sunny, blue sky day (this view is from the front of our house, looking down the driveway--this is my daily commute). The kind of weather we've had lately is unusual for this part of Ecuador. What made it even better was that the water was running into the water tank last night and the level is up. Man, I feel like I'm back in California, the land of sunny skies and water shortages. Only here we don't have a Hetch-Hetchey we can dam up!

The boys were to bed early last night, and up early this morning. They're excited about school. They were ready to go about a half an hour before they could leave the house, chomping at the bit. We live about 100 yards from the school, but they can't go on the school grounds until 8 AM. They've been out of school since May 18, about three months. It's been a long summer, but a good one for them. They've been bored many days, but they've also learned to play with others they wouldn't normally spend time with. I went over to the school for the first forty-five minutes of the day, and attended chapel. Dustin's teacher isn't here yet, but there are a handful of people filling in until she arrives early next week.

Green Eggs And No Ham

You don't have to see the movie The Hulk to enjoy green catsup! Even here in Ecuador we're not outside the long reach of the arm of advertisers.

Shopping Spree

It can be a bit of a pain to get equipment here. I can buy quite a few things in Quito, and the prices aren't all that bad. For instance, right now Beto is up in Quito looking for some network cable I need. Likely he'll find it, and the price won't be too bad. But, some items are only found in the States. That's the case with a hub I need. I have a Netgear 4-port hub with a 10Base-2 connector here in the hangar network. I'd like three more, and there's no way to find that in the country. On top of that, it looks like the manufacturer doesn't make them any more. I googled the web and ended up at Half.com, and then 01:56 PM

Success

I finally went home at 6 AM. The server was up and running and it was a worthwhile night's work. Along the way I turned the water pump back on and opened the valve. When I arrived in the bedroom, ready to drop into bed, I found Taylor in my spot. Rather than wake him, I fell asleep on the couch. I slept until about 9 AM, and then came back to the hangar to make sure all was well. It appears nobody would even know I had made a major change to the server if I didn't tell them. I like it when things work out that way.

Cold Coffee

The coffee in the thermos is cold. But I'm still drinking it. I've made a lot of progress so far, and at this point people are able to dial-in to access their e-mail accounts. I'm glad I made a trial run last week, and took lots of notes. It really had helped. I also have a test machine here that I can try things out on, and I used that once to check some file permissions. So far so good. The real test will be at 6 AM when people actually start trying to access the server.

The Weekend

Yesterday I finally finished a project that's been on my list for months. I finished painting around the last window. I had to paint the outside of the house around each window as we had new windows put in back in February. The old window frames were cemented into the walls, and had to be knocked out. I have another project I need to work on, but we're still fighting a water problem. I would have liked to pressure wash a bit more around the back of the house, but that will have to wait. It seems we have a water leak somewhere on the base, and with that in mind, I didn't think it wise to use water to clean sidewalks. Cleaning the cement around the house needs to be done once a year, as it becomes mossy and slimey in this climate, turning a dark and dirty color. Even though there's always more than enough to do on my 'honey do' list, I managed to get almost all of it done this summer.

Saturday night the boys and I slept out in the loft above the carport. That was fun, and we should probably do it more often. The only problem was having to take Lucy down twice, as she thought it would be fun to join us. Somehow, sleeping with a macaw just doesn't seem like that much fun.

Today I played Risk with Dustin and Taylor. Tay had been introduced to the game earlier this week, but Dustin had never played it. He really liked it, and I imagine we'll be playing more often. We'll have to get our own game, as today we borrowed the neighbor's. The game is likely available in Quito, but things like that are so expensive in this country. I remember playing the game of Risk for hours and hours as a teenager. It's fun to play it with my own children.

At the end of the afternoon today, we drove over to the Rio Pindo to let a frog go back home. Taylor brought home a tadpole two weeks ago, and now it's a frog. A very pretty one I might add. I should have taken a photo before we let it go, but it's too late for that now. It was fun to watch it change right before our eyes.

Long Night's Work

I'm at the hangar tonight. I came over at 10 PM and I'm working tonight instead of tomorrow. I need to downgrade our e-mail server and if I do it tonight, I can minimize the disruption. I've been having a problem with the e-mail server program locking up in regards to certain functions, and it turns out the solution is to run Communigate Pro on something other than Red Hat 9. So I'm moving down to Red Hat 8. As I write this, I'm doing the install. I've already backed up all my e-mail files to CD, and will move them onto the new machine in a bit. The plan is to have a machine that is working by 6 AM. Maybe sooner. And, to have a machine that won't need constant baby-sitting.

Lunch Date

Dustin and I went to Quito for lunch today. It was a five hour drive there and another five and a half to get home. Oh, and while we were there, we decided to visit the orthodontist so she could do some work on his braces. It was quite a long day, as we left at 6:30 AM and didn't make it back home until 7:30 PM. But, that quarter pounder with cheese at McDonalds was great!

Seriously, we went up for the ortho appointment, and took up the MAF van with a 206 engine core. It's being sent back to the US. The van will stay up in Quito so a family returning from summer furlough can drive it down on Monday. We came home on the bus after spending only two and a half hours in Quito. It'd be nice if the orthodontist was a bit closer, but that's just the way it is.

A couple days ago we had made arrangements to have a visitor travel down with us. We met Joleen at the MAF office, and she came down on the bus with us. She's visiting family in Quito for a few weeks, and wanted to get down to Shell for a couple days. She's a teacher who has previously taught in Taiwan and Panama. Maybe she'd like to teach in Shell someday? You can be sure we'll talk to her about that!

I should tell you one story about Dustin. We were on the way home, and the bus pulled into the BaÒos bus station for a ten minute stop. He leaned out the window and bought a bowl of papas fritas, or french fries, from a local vendor. The fries came covered in catsup and mayo. Normally we try to stay away from the mayo, 'cause it can go bad so quickly. But this time he decided to go for it since he already had them, and he was hungry. A couple minutes later, as the bus was pulling out of the station, he found a fly in the fries, which was quite dead. He figured it must have been deep fried with the potatoes, so all is OK. Picking up the fly with his little fork, he flicked it out the window--and continued right on eating his fries!

News

• I'm going to have to re-build my e-mail server. After a month of spotty performance, I've discovered that CommuniGate Pro is not supported on Red Hat 9, because Stalker says RH 9 is too "buggy". Too bad that information is nowhere to be found on their web site. Sometime in the next week I'll be downgrading to Red Hat 8. Right now I'm doing an install of RH 8 onto another machine as part of a dry run.
• Curtis is rebuilding a trim tab. Several months ago when one of our planes was heavily loaded, the trim tab was damaged when it touched the ground during taxiing. The fix was to replace it with the trim tab from HC-BXB, which was grounded pending an engine change after a prop strike. Finally, this week, HC-BXB is ready to fly again, and needs a trim tab. When it was discovered that the cost of a new trim tab from Cessna is $1300, Curtis decided he could rebuild the damaged tab. He's almost done, and I'm very impressed with his metal-working abilities. There are a several complex bends in this job, and he's making it look easy.
• Ellyn is painting the new wall in front of the hangar. It used to be just a cyclone fence, but was converted to a block wall a couple months ago. The cargo desk door is right next to the wall, and the prop wash from the planes would go right through that area. This provides a little more protection for the customers and passengers as they wait in that area. It also makes our hangar area a little more secure, as it means the Chief Pilot and Program Manager offices are not so easily visible from the road.

Pindo Playing

I took a photo last week at the river and forgot to post it. This is the swimming hole which has become the boys' favorite in the past couple weeks. It's got a 15' high jumping place and lot's of mud for mud fights.