I'm back! I had a friend try to cure my computer's senility while I was off island. He did but in the process wiped the hard drive clean. I don't miss many of the files. No big deal.

I am supremely jet lagged. The last two days have ended with me dragging myself around trying desperately to stay awake until the real bed time. It ain't easy. And it's going to be a while before I want to fit myself into an airplane seat again. It's a long way from New Hampshire to Guam.

Today I went by the canoe to see who showed for the regular Saturday meeting. There was quite a crowd but as I approached I could see it was only a buch of kids. There was a strange van parked there. It was a group of troubled kids on an outing. Some of them were very interested in what we were doing and asked good questions. Manny had a model of a Chamorro canoe he'd made and he showed them how the thing sailed. Then we went over to the real canoe and showed them what we are doing. We fielded questions ranging from "How many people can sail in the canoe?" (4), to "Where is the bathroom?" (Men forward of the outrigger, women through the hole in the bottom of the deckhouse.)

I also heard the whole story of the Quest, our canoe. she was built by Manny's father for fishing off the island of Hoak. After we bought her they sailed her from Puluwat to Pikelot, an uninhabited island where the islanders harvest turtles. It took two days to make that part of the trip. It was 118 miles. They rested on Pikelot for a day and then sailed for Guam. They made that leg (382 miles) in 4 days. Later that day they sailed her to Saipan. After that they made short trips around the island until the typhoon damaged her. She hasn't been in the water since.

I also heard the story of how Malapi lost his left hand. If you remember Malapi was the old man who helped out with the canoe for a while. Back in 1972 he was spearfishing at night from the reef off Puluwat. He had a fish and was headed back to his friends on the reef. He swam with the fish on the spear in his right hand, pulling with his left. Suddenly something grabbed the left hand. He pulled and got free but then realized he couldn't make any progress swimming with his left hand anymore. It was gone. His friends rescued him and took him to the Peace Corps volunteers on the island who arranged to transport him to a hospital.

This morning my friend Peggy and I went out to look at houses. she is curious about what houses are going for. I think she is also trying to persuade me to buy a house. She had one listing of a place in Umatak that they wanted $22,000 for. The other was in Agat and they want $63,000 for that one. The Agat house needs lots of work. It seems structurally sound but it could use paint, a new kitchen, utilities upgrade, new bathroom fixtures, some new windows, air conditioning, reconstruction of the side steps, and extensive demolition in the back yard. There is a 4" cast iron sewer line running across the back yard that is broken in places. It looks as though a previous occupant was building a concrete covered patio back there, maybe an outdoor kitchen. There was water leaking from a pipe in the middle of the yard and another leaking pipe at the outdoor laundry fixture.

The other house was worse! It had no roof, no windows, and no doors. There were pipes in the house but no wires and no apparent utilities in the place. We found the remains of the roof in the back yard. Great view though, mountains all around.

It's great to be back home. The weather has been wet and gray but also warm and friendly.