Shipping Container = Early Christmas

Since coming back from the excursion to Milot, there has been no shortage of activity back in Pierre Payen.  Last Monday, Owen and I tried to take a day off since we had gotten worn out from everything that had been going on the last couple of weeks.  However, Chris had other plans for us.  He learned that the container we had been waiting for had finally cleared customs and that we were about to be receiving a lot of things.  One of those things is 64 solar panels.  So, instead of taking the day off, Owen and I tried to figure out what remaining beams needed to be cut to make the support structure for the solar array complete.  Later on Monday, Chris took the red truck into Port and picked up the stuff we ordered.  It was supposed to be a simple process:  drive to Port, load the truck, drive back.  However, when Chris arrived he noticed that we were missing items and that other items had been broken....three solar panels to be exact.  Apparently the shipping company does not have a fork lift, and since the solar panels come in a crate of 32, they removed all the panels, relocated the crate, and then put the solar panels back in.  In the process, three solar panels broke and no one seems to want to take responsibility for them.  Also, one of the missing items are the controllers for the solar panels...without these we can't complete the installation and start generating power.  We are still trying to work out everything, but hopefully we can get it figured out soon.

So, when Chris got back, we unloaded the truck that was full of everything from welding wire to diffusion plates to a concrete mixer.  We also unloaded the 64 solar panels, one by one and relocated them where they will not be disturbed until we are ready to install them.  On Tuesday, everyone headed to Port to take Owen to the airport and run errands....everyone but me that is.  I stayed back and made sure work continued as normal.  My job for the day was to install a couple of the new items that had arrived.  First, I put together the electric concrete mixer that will replace the gasoline one we are currently borrowing.  We don't actually use it to make concrete though, we use it to wash the sand that goes in the filters when we install them.  We have found that it is just as fast to mix concrete on the ground, and it is a lot faster to wash sand in the mixer instead of in buckets.  The only problem is that the mixer has one speed and it is rotating so fast that water and sand spills out.  Currently we are trying to remedy this and we are looking into a separate controller to reduce the speed.  The second task, was to install the new bench grinder.  We have an old, small bench grinder, but it just wasn't powerful enough to do some of the things we needed it to.  Well, after installing the one we just purchased, I think we are going to be fine.  Lastly, I installed the probes on the concrete vibrators.  Because the old vibrator heads broke, we have had to use a rubber mallet to hit the outside of the filter to remove any air in the concrete mix.  However, we now have the smallest probes they make for our vibrators and now we are spending less time hitting the mold and the filters are coming out a lot better.

The rest of the week was spent trying to modify the concrete mixer to get it to work, recalculating beam lengths and angles for the solar array, and cutting the steal beams.  One of our missionary friends had a sister visiting, so on Thursday we took a hike to a location I had never been before.  It was the first time Chris had done the trail since the hurricanes hit and he commented on how much the landscape had changed.  There were some pretty difficult parts and boulders to get past, but we made it to where we wanted....a small 30 foot waterfall.

This is the river we hiked along for a little while...it didn't use to be this wide.

Chris starting us out on our journey.  We hiked between the two mountains you see in the distance.

On Saturday, Chris drove into Port to pick up our vision trip guests, Earl and Ron.  They are here to visit Clean Water for Haiti and see our operations.  While Chris was gone, we had some of the local fisherman stop by the house to see if we were interested in their newest catch.  Well, they had a nice big sailfish and since Chris loves fish, Leslie went ahead and bought it.

Chris and our new guests came home to this on the porch....a 40 pound sailfish.

Later in the day I went with some friends from Canaan to visit someone in Saint-marc.  After a couple hours there we headed back, ate dinner, and then played games until it was time to go to bed.  On Sunday we took Earl and Ron to church at Canaan.  After, we had the missionary meeting at our house and then relaxed the rest of the day.

Yesterday, I finished up all the beams that need to be welded to the solar array.  Climbing up and down 30 feet in the air multiple times to take measurements in full sun can get tiring fast.  I don't like it when things break, but I was happy for the rest when I had to fix the plasma cutter.  During the day, one of our workers, Manes, had an accident.  I was trying to get the air compressor to start and sometime I have to give it a little kick to get it moving.  Well I have it a kick and nothing happened.  Manes saw that I was trying to get it to work and came over along side me.  He stuck if hand behind the guard and tried to pull on the belt that connect the electric motor to the compressor motor.  Well, the belt jumped and threw his finger into one of the gears.  He quickly pulled it out and I saw that it had to decently sized gashes in it and I motioned for him to follow me so I could get him something to wrap it in.  He followed for a couple yards and then crouched down and started moaning from the pain.  I ran and got Leslie and she grabbed the medical kit.  After looking at it closer, you could see the imprint the gears/belt had made in his finger.  Jean took Manes to the hospital and got it x-rayed.  He found out that is wasn't broken, but they had to immobilize and he will need to let it rest for a few days before he can use it again.  Right now he is doing work that only requires on hand.  I'm glad the situation didn't turn out any worse than it did and that Manes will be back to normal in a couple of days.

Today we took our vision trip guest on a quick morning hike.  We took the VW and when we got a couple miles down the road Chris noticed that the brakes had gone out.  We pulled over and after an inspection found that one of the callipers had broke.  We turned around and decided to go slow and use the emergency brake to get us back.  Great idea, except we found that the e-brake wasn't working either.  Well, we ended up making it back without any more complications and then simply switched vehicles.  We had to take the large red work truck.  On the way up to the hiking trail you have to drive through a busy market.  We had a lot of angry market ladies wondering why we would bring such a large truck through their business area...we made it though.