Thursday, November 27, 2003

Donkeys enjoy TWR flora

As I was heading home yesterday afternoon, I spotted some donkeys enjoying the fresh weeds in front of our office building.
One sad little donkey was "aw shucks" cute in an ugly sort of way.
I also snapped a picture that shows the overall layout of the studios and offices, as well as the sign that Udo and Ivan recently repaired, and the tower that Benny is painting.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Benny Back on Tower

After a couple days on the ground helping pour some foundations, Benny was back on the studio STL tower today.

The low winds are a help. The wet paint tends to migrate around to the downwind side of the tower legs when it is really windy. There are a couple new pictures of Benny in action.

Monday, November 24, 2003

Sinterklass Arrives on Bonaire

The Christmas traditions on Bonaire are quite similar to the Dutch ones. December 5th is Sinterklass Eve, and presents are given and received. Christmas Day is a religious time, and the day is spent with visits to Church and family activities.

The story is that Sinterklaas lives in Spain, where he spends his time recording the behavior of all the children in his little red book, while his helpers the Zwarte Piets (black peters) stock up on the presents.

Sinterklass arrived on Bonaire this past Saturday and it was a major event here. I've posted a couple photos that Rich West took of the activities downtown.


Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Tower Painting Pix

While Ivan works in the trenches (heh-heh) and prepares for pouring the foundation for a couple 40' containers we are going to relocate and Udo and Rich keep cleaning up the AC power wiring; Benny is high in the sky cleaning and painting the tower that the Studio side STL antennas are hung from.

I rented a helicopter (just kidding) and got some pictures of Benny in action. I was fooling around with a polarizing filter, but after coming in and seeing the pictures on the computer monitor, I think that the true blue Bonaire sky looks better without the filter. What do you think? I'll see if I can get some more pictures later this week when Benny is painting the next section down on the tower.

You can click on the thumbnails to see a bigger picture. You can then click on the bigger picture to see an even bigger picture. whoo-whoo

TWR launches innovative new AIDS programs in South Africa

TWR programming in Africa often combines the Gospel with humanitarian concern. The program, "The Honey that Kills" has made an impact on the AIDS situation in Uganda.
The Honey that Kills is also being produced and aired in Kenya and Swaziland.

Now new programs are being prepared to reach the impoverished rural areas of South Africa. These programs will supplement the on-the ground work that an organization called "Doctors for Life" is doing in the area. There will also be a new drama series about a Christian nurse working in a rural community clinic.

TWR Africa has a great web site with more information about these new AIDS programs and many others being broadcast to 40 African countries in 60 languages and dialects.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Udo and Rich rip out old wiring.

While we are waiting for our new standby generator to arrive. We are taking advantage of this opportunity to simplify the electrical power distribution for our the Studio/Office site. We've had many different power setups over the years, which had left us with a dangerous litter of redundant and confusing boxes, switches, and wiring paths.

Eugene Williams and his father started simplifying the AC power distribution a couple years ago. Now we'll finish the job and get rid of the last of the accumulated extra parts. We're putting in a new transfer switch and main 200 amp circuit breaker too.

I've added a few pictures of Udo and Rich in action out in the auto shop, which is also the location for the standby generator and power panels.

When they took the (heavy) old transfer switch assembly off the wall, it landed on Udo's foot. Udo's foot may or may not be ok.

Monday, November 10, 2003

Rainy Season arrives on Bonaire

It appears that the rainy season has arrived, about a week ago. After not having any rain for a few months, we typically have rain just before dawn and then sunny skies all day. The the bushes are getting green, the mosquitoes are beginning to appear, and it is a little cooler at night.

It was cloudy all day on Saturday, but cleared up in time to see the lunar eclipse.

Our old neighbors, the Richters, have web cams set up at their house. The top left image shows the back yard where we lived for some 12 years or so. They also have a weather station on the page so you can see how nice it is here on Bonaire.

What I find really interesting is that all the weather information is archived and you can look at the profile for a day, week or month. Seeing the big picture is really interesting.

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Private Plane Crashes on Bonaire

Around 12:30 am. Tuesday morning, a private plane landed short of the runway here on Bonaire. The pilot was ok, which is amazing. This qualifies as major event here on Bonaire and the rumor mill is working overtime these days.

I've posted photos of the plane and crash site for your viewing "pleasure".

If you happen to know the Papiamentu language spoken here on Bonaire, you can check out the coverage in the "Extra" newspaper online edition. (they are having some technical issues right now, but you can still check it out if you are patient)