April Update

Dear Friends,
It has been a little while since I put some new pictures on my website. That is partly because life has become more normal and I have not had any major adventures recently. If you read in my recent blog, I did ride an ostridge a couple weekends ago and there is a picture of that in the new album. I also decided to put the newest album separate from the others so it would be easier for people to access. But I am having some minor technical difficulties right now displaying the album on my site so I just have a link on the page that will send you to the Bubble share site where the album is actually located.

Here is the link to my main page: http://calebklay.wordpress.com/ to see the last couple of blogs.

Here is the link to the new album on Bubble Share: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/153215/overview

Thanks for your continued prayers. We have almost finished all the work on the float plane and should be complete by the end of this week. It is really nice to have my own vehicle to get around. Continue to pray for my paperwork. I was able to get a 3 month extension on my visa easily but am still waiting on the work permit. I also need that paperwork complete to finish the paperwork on the motorcycle.

In His Service,
Caleb

April 16-23

• Monday 16: Got a ride to Steve Machell’s and picked up the dirt bike. Followed him to the mechanic shop so he could leave his truck there and then brought him to work on the bike. He sold me the bike so I now have wheels to go and come from work when I want. Worked on the float plane more. Primed and painted the wheel wells and a few other small parts.

• Tuesday: Put a second coat on the wheel wells and other parts. Worked on the brackets in the floats some in the afternoon. Rode to Rose Ave in the evening for supper and bible study. Nice to have my own wheels to go and come.

• Wednesday: Spent most of the day working on the float brackets. Got them mostly done should be able to easily finish them tomorrow along with some other things.

• Thursday 19: Got the last bracket on the floats finished. One of the pilots teenage son, Chad, was helping out in the hangar and he helped me squeeze some of the rivets and put the main gear assemblies back in the floats. Also got all of the other small parts I painted put back on the plane. Also lowered the plane back on to the wheels after double checking everything worked properly with the retract system.

• Friday 20: Put the engine baffling all back on and got it ready to run. Inflated the low strut so the plane is sitting level. Finally able to run it by the end of the day. Started slow, which is expected since it has been sitting for a long time (Nov or Dec of 06). But once it was running everything seemed to work well. Went over to Rose in the evening, helped a little with a puzzle and then watched a movie.

• Saturday: Did laundry and cleaned in the morning. Got some oil and brake fluid for the bike and rode to the hangar to work on that. Went to the Caters for a BBQ lunch for the maintenance people.

• Sunday 22: Did sound at church. Spent the afternoon hanging out with the little missionary kids on the compounds looking for lizards and other “pets”. (Check out the picture of the salamanders in the new album)

• Monday 23: Worked on the float plane some more. Finished cleaning the floor inside the plane and etched and alodined for priming and paint.

April 4- April 15

• Wednesday 4, 07: Continued working on 185.

• Thursday: helped prep it for painting.

• Friday 6, 07: Rode the dirt bike to Mundy’s for our last Swahili lesson. Didn’t have work cause of Good Friday so went with Jay to look at an HJ45 LandCruiser on the Northeast side of town. Went through the Somalia area of town which is very different from the other parts I’ve been too. The Landcruiser used to be operated by a safari company so had the pop up roof and cammo paint scheme. Ran good and body was in good shape but they were asking too much. Have to wait to see if they will come down in price. Would be a fun truck to have and only needs some work most of which is not critical for general operation. Went over to Rose after getting back and played badminton. Stayed and watched a movie in the evening.

• Saturday 7, 07: Cleaned the apartment and did laundry. Went over and helped Ryan putting in some speakers in his van. At 11:00 left with 5 families in 4 4×4s for a picnic in the Ngong hills. I rode bike which was a lot of fun. Trucks go a little slow for a dirt bike on the real rough parts so learned to wait and then go at my speed (15-20km instead of 6-10km in the trucks). When got back in the evening went over to Rose again and watched another movie.

• Sunday 8, 07: Went early to help set up and teach some sound stuff. Stayed for part of the second service to train that sound guy but he didn’t show so ran sound until 12:15 when sermon started and then asked to leave since needed to get over to Rose for the big Easter lunch and games. Stayed until almost dark then rode home.

• Monday 9, 07: Easter Monday is a public holiday so no work. Rode over to Rose in the morning. Built a walkway to one of the storage containers for one of the other missionaries. Got Nathan, a 13 year old MK on the compound to help a little to keep him out of trouble. Took the dirt bike back back to the Machel’s in the evening and they brought me home.

• Tuesday: Back to work on the float plane. Filled the fuel tanks to check the gages. Finished prepping for painting and helped shoot the primer.

• Wednesday: Helped paint part of the floats, Jose did most of the painting. In the afternoon fixed a bad solder connection on a plug on the DC3, a lot harder soldering in the wind on the engine. Had to make a wind block in order to melt the solder and make a good connection (the DC is too big to fit in the hangar for maintenance so everything is done on the ramp, well big stuff can be done in the door way but it blocks everything).

• Thursday: Cleaned up from painting, took off all the tape and paper. Riveted on the patches I made to the belly. Also removed 3 old plastic parts on the floats and riveted in new aluminum ones that should last longer.

• Friday 13, 07: Moved the float plane into position to jack and remove the landing gear. Jacks would not go under the floats since the tire pressure was low, so pumped them up wich was enough for the one side but the other strut was low. Tried to inflate the strut with Nitrogen but found the bottle was empty so that did not work well. Eventualy used a couple of 2×4s to lift the plane enough to get the floor jack under the float to raise it. Jacked the plane, installed the wing stands for extra support and then removed the landing gear. Started cleaning the wheel wells and prepping for paint. Got a ride to Rose in Jay’s new old landcruiser (the safari one we checked out last Friday) Had a surprise birthday party for Dwight with pizza and chocolate cake. Finished the evening with a movie.

• Saturday: Cleaned up around the apartment. Went to the garage sale on the neighboring compound to visit with folks, nothing I need. After lunch went over to Rose and played badminton for a while till it started to rain a little before 17:00. Only a short rain so able to walk home by 17:30 without getting too wet.

• Sunday 15, 07: Went to church a little after 7:00. Set up and ran sound for the first service. Helped set up for second but left before they started. Ate a quick lunch at 12:00 and then went with Gottfrieds to the Ostridge farm. There were 32 missionaries and kids that showed up for lunch. Ate ostridge and fries, very good. After lunch took turns riding an ostridge for a small fee. Pretty fun, not to different from a horse although they are more affected by weight and I am about as big a person as they probably carry. The ostridge did not run as much with me as it did with the kids but t still did pretty well.

March 3-April 3

It is hard to believe that is has been a month since I last posted my daily routine summary.  Sorry  it is so long will have to try to do it on a weekly basis from now on.

• Saturday March 3, 07: Worked on Email and Web site. Help 2 people with computer problems. Went over to Rose Ave in the afternoon. Played with Batterman kids and watched a soccer game at Smiths

• Sunday March 4, 07: Went to Nairobi Baptist 8:30 service. Worked on emails and website. Went over to Rose Ave.

• Monday March 5, 07: Worked on float plane. Ate lunch next door at dessert locust. I had rice and sauce and chicken, not bad and quite affordable.

• Tuesday March 6, 07: Worked on float plane some more. Got a call saying I should move today. Got a ride to Mayfield with Ryan and he waited for me to pack and loaded in his land rover them went to the grocery store for a few things. From there we went to the new compound I will be living on which is right next to Ryan’s compound. I have a nice one bedroom furnished apartment. Had supper with my neighbors the Moffits, and spent the evening unpacking completely, first time since May of 06.

• March 7-9 Been nice to ride with Ryan to and from the Hangar every day. Continued work on the float plane

• Saturday 10, 07: Decided I better go shopping for groceries if I want to eat anything. Got potatoes and onions from a guy down the street. Around 12:30 walked to Yaya grocery store (10 minute fast walk) and bought a number of things. Carried things back in backpack and grocery bags. Had a dual compound BBQ for Supper. Met a lot of my neighbors and found they have a lot of kids.

• Sunday 11, 07: Went to AIC Ngong Road Church which is about a 5 minute walk from my place. Walked to Rose Ave in the afternoon (about 22 minute fast walk)

• Monday 12, 07: Worked on float plane more. Watched a movie in the evening.

• Tuesday 13, 07: Pulled the prop on the 185 to send out for overhaul. Also found the problem with the ignition switch and fixed that. Most productive day so far. After work Ryan dropped me at Rose Ave. Had supper and Bible study with shortermers. Dwight brought me home just before 22:00.

• Wednesday 14, 07: While cooking supper, Ryan’s middle son Levi (age 3 I think) came over to visit. Stayed for supper and then were going outside to play ball when his dad came looking for him. He told me his parents knew he was here and he was going to eat with me, but this was not the case. This was the 3^rd day in a row he had gone to others peoples places for supper, he will make a good African.

• Thursday 15, 07: Worked a little on the flaps for the float plane. A 206 came in with both landing and taxi lights burned out (at different times recently) and the Nav light breaker popping. Changed the taxi and landing lights and then started trouble shooting. Found the problem was in the Right wing. Opened every thing up on that side to follow the wire. Finally found where it was rubbing on a wing rib and shorted out. Fixed the wire and rerouted so it wont rub. Had supper with the Davis family at Eagle’s nest and played with the kids till bed time.

• Friday 16, 07: Continued work on the float plane.

• Saturday 17, 07: Played with a bunch of the missionary kids on the compounds. Made a zip line, but don’t have a pulley so caribeaner slides slow and rough on rope.

• Tuesday 20, 07: Had bible study and supper at Hazards on Rose Ave. It was Kenyan food night. A little ugali, chipatis, and githeri. I ate almost half the ugali and a little still left over, guess most of them don’t like it.

• Wednesday 21, 07: Still working on the float plane, hope to have it done by next week. In the evening, went with a bunch of the AIM guys to the theater, watched Last King of Scotland.

• Thursday 22, 07: Stayed late to help Ryan change a DG in one of the planes. Had supper at Ryan’s place around 20:00.

• Friday 23, 07: After work went to Rose Ave. Had a movie night there and watched “Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” (the old BBC version). I brought my sleeping bag and spent the night.

• Saturday 24, 07: Visited for a while after breakfast, then played badminton with Christy, a new SIMPacter that arrived on Tuesday. Stayed till a little after 16:00 then walked home. Water was on so decided to do the laundry. Also went to the local Duka (kiosk) to buy milk and bananas.

• Sunday 25, 07: Went to the 8:30 service and AIC Ngong Rd again. Had pizza at 11:30 with Barb and John. Came home, changed and went to Rose Ave for BBQ in the afternoon. Helped grill 100 kabobs and have salad with a bunch of the SIMPacters and the Hazards. Played badminton till 16:45, hurried home to get ready for supper at Gottfried’s with some other AIM missionaries. Really good food all day and eat a lot.

• Monday 26, 07: Continued work on the 185, got the landing gear lights working properly and that finished. Removed steps with corrosion and cleaned parts for repainting.

• Tuesday- Friday: Mostly worked on the 185. Friday started working on Oil pressure indication problem on DC3.

• Saturday 31, 07: Went car shopping with Jay in the morning. Finnished around 11am, went with John M. to Steve M’s place to pick up the dirt bike. Road out to the Ngong hills together, did a little off-roading and practiced riding in traffic. Got back and went to Rose Ave, nobody there, so continued home on bike. Decided to go shopping at Nakumat since I had wheels. Got some stuff and returned home. Went back to Rose and stayed for dinner. Steve will pick up bike tomorrow afternoon.

• Sunday April 1, 07: Went to church. They were having problems with their sound system, so talked to them after the service. Brought all the cables home to test and repair the bad ones, should keep me busy in the evenings for a couple of days. Went over to Rose Ave in the afternoon, and played volleyball. Came back to Maringa (compound next door) and a bunch of AIM folks were having a big BBQ. Ate and visited with them.

• Monday April 2: Continued trouble shooting DC3 problem. Did not find any problems. Fixed a bunch of the Church cables in the evening.

• Tuesday 3: Could not find any problems with wiring on DC3 so swapped oil pressure transducers to see if that is the problem. Put plane back together. Finished fixing the rest of the cables from church (except the ones that need new connectors).