OOPS! Sorry. We bin bizy.

We are into the "dry" season now. I put it in quotes because our back yard is still sloppy mud and it is still raining a little every day. I haven't been able to work on the van because the grass around it is only a disguise for the mud. Gordon and I jacked it up and slipped some concrete slabs under the front wheels to keep it from settling into the slime but I need to crawl around under the thing and cannot until we get a long dry spell.

The USDA is supposed to build a drainage system up behind the house. Actually they've been working on planning and surveying for over a year now but they haven't started work yet. It would be great if they would do the job before the next wet season.

Wakana has been working all week and is very tired. We went to the canoe meeting yesterday. When we got there she parked herself in the shade and apologized for not having any energy. I unfolded one of our canvas beach chairs and settled her in it. She promptly fell asleep and sat there for over an hour with buses running by behind her and the chain saw running in front of her. I doubt an explosion would have disturbed her.

We had a problem with our canoe house. The local authorities would not approve our building permit. That was awkward because we had already begun building and we had to quit. After some haranguing of the political establishment by some of our more savvy members they finally gave us our permit. Now we are back into construction.

The utt is a traditional canoe house built from wood and thatched with sword grass. We have the frame up and are working on the steeply pitched roof. It is about 35 feet long and about 25 feet wide. The frame is made of old telephone poles sunk deep into the ground. The cross members are also made up of telephone poles tied to the uprights. The ridge pole is a single 38 foot telephone pole and will be about 25 feet off the ground when we get it up there.

Raising the ridge pole was a mystery to me until yesterday. We had a crew of Puluwatese working under Manny and another older man. At each end of the frame they raised two tall poles, trimmed and debarked tree trunks about 10 inches at the base. These were set into holes and tied tightly to the frame. Cross pieces were lashed to one of each pair of uprights and another piece was lashed at the top tying each pair together. Apparently we will raise the ridge pole into place with ropes and an upright will be placed under it to hold it in place. Then the rafters will go in to form the roof frame. That will be one long day of work. A 38 foot telephone pole is one heavy piece of wood.

It was a beautiful day down by the water yesterday. The trade winds kept the apparent temperatures down and the sun was bright on the water. There was a surfing competition down at the harbor mouth. That is one of the few places on the island where you can surf. We have very few sloping beaches that the waves can get to. The reef stops most of them way out from shore. The water was clear and blue and green and all those tropical colors that water should be.

I tried to get a job at a dive shop a while back and was refused because I was too well educated, i.e., too old. Yesterday I was rejected from the museum curator job I쳌fd applied for. Hmm, what is the message here?

Over the last few months I have been experiencing some pain in my left hand, in the joint where my thumb joins the hand and some unusual pain on the skin of the back of my hand. I finally asked the doctor about it. X-rays show a bone spur in the joint and a bump on the back of my wrist that may be pressing on a nerve. I have to wear a splint to immobilize the thumb. Next week I am supposed to get a shot in the joint. If that doesn쳌ft work the doctor wants to operate. Sigh. I cannot play my guitar any more. That makes it tough.