Saturday, April 30, 2011

Annual Kralendijk to Rincon Race

April 30 is a holiday here, known both as the Queen's Day, and for the last 22 years as Rincon Day. It is also the day of the annual running race and fun walk from the Stadium in Kralendijk to Rincon. As I recall this race predates Rincon Day, but I can't figure out how many years it has actually been held.

I always ride my bike to Rincon on the west side "tourist road" on the morning of April 30 and then cheer on the walkers and runners as I head back home on the main road. This year I shot video clips of the various runners and walkers. I may not have gotten everybody, sorry to anyone I missed.

I isn't really that great a video 'cause I was shooting into the rising sun for the most part, and it appears that the ride quality of my road bike leaves a lot to be desired compared to my mountain bike. I think I have shot smoother video off-road on the mtn. bike than I got today on the road on my road bike. The roads here have gotten pretty rough though, and I actually do ride the mtn. bike on the road quite often now to save wear and tear on the old bod.



Friday, April 29, 2011

Rolling On

Perhaps they were inspired by the recent visit of, and the painting prowess shown by, the senior class of the Perry Hall Christian School. A number of the youth from the IBC are using their Easter vacation time to paint the new church building.

I only saw guys working on the church when I visited the site, but the young ladies have swung a mean paint brush in the past, so they might yet take roller in hand this week.


Here we see they guys cleaning up after a long day of work.










Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Kibrahacha Trees

The heavy rain we had last week has caused some of the Kibrahacha trees to pop. I first noticed them on Monday morning.

These trees are east of Antriol and North Salina. I'm not sure what the trees north of Sabadeco, and up around Goto Lake are doing.









Monday, April 18, 2011

Annual Kite Flying Contest

Sunday was the 33rd (i think) annual kite flying contest here on Bonaire. There was quite a crowd out enjoying the festivities and great weather. The competition was highly organized and the judges were actively involved in the proceedings.
These guys were holding on for dear life to a rather large kite. Eventually they tied it off to a telephone pole.
It wasn't windy by Bonaire standards, but the steady breeze was great for flying kites, as you can see here.

Perry Hall Christian School trip part 2

Cutting in the edges isn't as much fun as rolling paint on large sections of wall, but they persevered and made everything nice and tidy. Dionne, Daphney, and her friend (who's name I forget-sorry) painted the Spanish language TWR sign last summer. The crew shown here made short work of the English language sign this year. Check out the piles of weeds in the background. We had two inches of rain one day, which softened the ground and made weed pulling easier.
Yup, they even painted the part of the building that no one sees. Hooray.

more Perry Hall Pix

Some friendly donkeys came by to check out the freshly painted building. Or maybe someone told them that the young people also trimmed a bunch of bushes and pulled out a ton of yummy weeks. Here some of the team is putting the finishing touches on the front of the office wing. It is looking very nice.
Heading off to the airport with the spiffy office in the background.
They wisely arrived early so as to be at the head of the rather long check in line. Then they spent the next couple hours in the comfort of the air conditioned transit lounge, instead of standing in line in the heat.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Blast from the Past

It was great to have Mr. Solomon (center) at church a week or two ago. I haven't seen him out and about for quite some time. Also in the picture are Amado Felix on the left and Denny Hogan, on the right. Christophe Lusse (left) is here for a week. Denny Hogan is in the last week of his time here helping with the antenna tower rebuild project.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Perry Hall Christian School

The Senior class of the Perry Hall Christian School is here on Bonaire for a week. In addition to enjoying the warm weather, they are doing a bunch of projects for TWR while they are here. Here are some action photos. The office wing hasn't been painted since 2004. We didn't notice how dull it looked until we saw some shiny new paint on the walls.
Um... those pesky cacti, sand burrs and thorn bushes will definately get you if you let your guard down for even a second.
They worked on the shady west side of the building in the morning and the equally shady east side of the building in the afternoon.
I call this one Rambo.

PHCS Monday

In addition to painting the office wing, the group is tidying up the grounds. There are loads and loads of weeds to cut back with the string trimmer.
It was an overcast day, which made for very pleasant working conditions, and a perfect backdrop.
Was it Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn who talked everyone into white-washing the fence for him? Whoever it was, he's got nothing on these guys.
Cleaning paint rollers is the worst job in the world, but the power washer makes short work of them. It spins the paint right out of those puppies - and all over one's clothes!

Visitors from the North

We've been blessed with some talented and very helpful volunteers so far this year. Cees and Clary came from Canada to help our director, Joe Barker, figure out the new Dutch tax laws. Rick, from California, designed and built a few engineering projects at the transmitter site, and also thoroughly traced and documented all the control circuitry for the transmitter and antenna systems.
Jim, from Pennslyvania, accomplished some much needed electrical projects in the TWR houses.
Pat Hogan came from Ohio to visit her husband, Denny. She made about a zillion curtains while she was here.
Denny Hogan has been here for a couple months, replacing the cross braces on the antenna towers. (and enjoying the view from way up there in the air)

Monday, April 04, 2011

Special Olympics Walkathon

The ninth annual walkathon to benefit the Bonaire Special Olympics team was held on April 3. The event starts at 5am at White Slave and everyone walks, cycles, runs etc. along the west coast, 30 kilometers, all the way to Rincon. By 7:30 there are lots of people walking past our house in Hato. Here is a vido clip I shot on my way to church at 8am. Note Johan at the traffic circle taking his palm tree along for the walkathon. This is at least the third consectuve year that he has taken this tree. Looks like it is getting big and heavy now!

International Bible Church building Progress

The walls are all up on the new IBCB church building and the windows and doors have been ordered and paid for. That covered patio is on the upwind side of the building and will let us keep the double doors open for ventilation during light rains.TWR had some extra cabinets that now look great in the new church kitchen. One of our seasonal visitors has promised some base cabinets this fall when they update their condo.
Above we see Bob Lassiter reviewing the agenda before the monthy Saturday men's breakfast meeting. Pastor Baran is looking out the window.
The inside of the auditorium. The wind was blowing through quite nicely last Saturday, even with the big side doors half blocked off with plywood.
One of the bathrooms, showing off some nice tile work.