Slept in this Good Friday morning until about 8am!!

After a leisurely breakfast, Virginia accompanied me to the transmitter site.  While I continued installing capacitors, Virginia spent most of her time in the air conditioned transmitter hall.  Another diagnosis of her rash is that it is a result of the heat, so we will see if this will help.

Shortly after starting on the installation of the capacitors, Dave Pederson came and began helping.  This really sped things up as he would take the capacitors out of their special padded boxes [vacuum capacitors are fragile and very expensive!], and remove the bolts from the bottom plates.  While he did this, I would quickly consult the Kintronic photos to verify the capacitor orientation, then properly orient the capacitor and bolt it to its mounting plate.  By 1pm, all the remaining capacitors were installed and we headed home for lunch.

Well, I had my usual PB&J sandwich for lunch — I like them, always have!!  My nap ended up being 30 minutes today — again with my feet elevated to help reduce the swelling, especially of my left foot and ankle.  Virginia got word from our family doctor to try hydrocortisone cream and/or prednisone to see if that helps her rash.

We headed back to the site about 2:30pm where I began doing the short connections within each capacitor bank.  These connections consist of copper tubing, normally about 1.5 inches in diameter.  Kintronic has made a nifty connector that slides inside the tubing and expands using just one set screw to join two pieces of tubing.   I’ll try to remember to take a photo of this connector next week.

Some of the Kintronic connectors had some light corrosion on them, so Dave used sandpaper to clean the corrosion off and Brasso to polish them.  Again, it was necessary to consult the photos to connect the interconnecting tubing to the right connections of the capacitors.  By the time one was connected, Dave would have the next two Kintronic connectors cleaned and ready for the next connection.  By 4:30, all the possible short connections were done.  For now, we decided not to do any of the longer connections between capacitor and inductors (coils).  There is still some solder-brazing of copper straps to be done and installing the longer connections will restrict access routes too much for doing the solder-brazing that still needs done.

On the way back to the duplex, we decided to check out the nearby beaches.    Every beach was crowded and there were lots of tents and temporary kitchens made from old pallets.  Since Bonaire is a small island, many use their long weekend for a vacation camping on the beach.  It costs too much to fly anywhere else!  We decided not to go for a cool-down swim with all this crowd!

We also noticed that the ship Logos Hope ( https://www.gbaships.org/en/meet-logos-hope ) was at the dock in Kralendijk.  We had seen it coming in last night.  The Logos crew has organized a special tour of the ship for TWR staff tomorrow at 2pm.  We also have tickets for a theatrical presentation of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” on board the ship on Monday at 2pm.  On Tuesday, several of the Logos staff plan to assist with various projects at the TWR facilities.  TWR’s Jonas used to work with Logos ships and helped outfit this ship when it was first obtained by GBA Ships.

For supper, Virginia prepared macaroni and cheese with bacon and lettuce with grated carrots, then iced tea in two variations — with lemon and with peach flavor.  We are still using up some of the food supplies that our team shipped in the container from Niles.  Later we had brownies with walnuts for dessert.  This proved to be a yummy ‘practice run’ for the desserts that she will be preparing next week.

Virginia’s rash seems to be looking a little better this evening.  Your prayers for her would be appreciated.

We do not plan on turning the alarm on again for tomorrow morning.  Everyone sleep well!

Jonas and I were the only ones at the transmitter site for morning devotions.    Lionel took a day off to watch his 3 year old daughter while his wife had to take care of some business.  Later in the day, Dave Pederson was there for a while and Ivan was painting.  Ivan has been painting the WEB power building to match the transmitter building.  Now he is repainting some of the transmitter building because it looks so faded.  That’s one thing we have noticed here–all the bright Caribbean colors fade to more pastel colors over time.

After checking emails, we ordered five relays and sockets to be included in the shipment that will be sent from Niles in a month or so.  We also attempted to order two contactors, but somehow the order did not appear to go through.  Rather than risking making a double order, we decided to wait a while in case an email confirmation for the order might have been delayed.

Jonas and I began installing more vacuum capacitors in the phasor room.  The total number of these capacitors that will be in the phasor room is about 50, not the 40 that I estimated earlier this week.  Six bolts hold each capacitor to their base plates and each one’s orientation must be verified using photos that Kintronic took at the factory.   Often it is necessary to sort through 40 or more photos to find the one that most clearly shows the right orientation that will allow the prefabricated connections to fit right.

Sometime during the morning, the special truck came and loaded the ‘rented’ container that brought the dummy load, back onto its trailer.  The shipping company should be taking the container and its trailer away shortly.

Had lunch at the duplex, as usual.  Rather than a PB&J sandwich (which is my standard request), Virginia made a toasted cheese sandwich.  Also had a small bag of cheddar Sun chips.  I then lay on the couch with my feet up for a 15 minute snooze before heading back to the site.  It is less than 1.5 miles from our duplex to the transmitter site.

On the way, I noticed that the salt ‘harvesting’ machine was close to the road, so decided to get some clearer photos.

Back at the site, I continued to install vacuum capacitors and by the end of the day 32 of about 50 were in place.  Tomorrow, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays, so everyone has a four day weekend.  Since we only have a week left on Bonaire, I might try to continue doing some work tomorrow.

We made a quick trip to Van Der Tweel supermarket this evening to get more ingredients for making desserts for next week–two days now instead of just one.  Traffic was really heavy in town, probably due to the long weekend ahead.  No swim tonight because the beaches are also crowded because of the long weekend.

Supper tonight consisted of leftover spaghetti topped with grated cheese, lettuce with bacon and grated carrots.  Do you notice that the list of supper items is a lot shorter with the rest of the team gone?  For dessert later in the evening was a repeat of last night vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping on a sugar waffle.

Virginia has developed a rash of unknown origin on her upper arms.  It is amazing the variety of diagnoses from A to Z that she has received — allergy to the sun, or sun screen lotion, to zika virus.  [The zika virus has been on Bonaire] The rash seems to be spreading to her forearms.  This evening she is trying to contact our family doctor via Facebook for his diagnosis and advice.  What amazing times we live in!!

Since tomorrow is Good Friday, we decided not to turn on the alarm clock.

In addition to Jonas, Lionel and I, Dave Pederson joined us at the transmitter site for devotions this morning.

After taking care of some emails, Jonas and I began to install some of the capacitors into the phasor room.  All the switches and inductors (coils) are in place.  Installing the capacitors involves careful review of photos taken at the Kintronic factory to insure that the special plates on the top of the capacitors are oriented correctly.  If not correct, the connecting pipes also supplied by Kintronic will not fit and the capacitor will have to be remounted with the correct orientation.  We were able to get about 10 of an estimated 40 capacitors mounted before lunch.

Each capacitor that has one side grounded has a ground strap attached to its mounting plate.  As we were installing the last three (of the 10) this morning, we noticed that there would be problems connecting these particular ground straps without some modifications, so Jonas sent an email to Kintronic for their input.

Kintronic had completely preassembled the phasor on the floor of their factory in Tennessee on top of a template made of masonite 4X8 foot X 1/4″ panels laid on their floor.  The holes for mounting all the components were marked on the template, which was then laid on the phasor room floor here.  From the template all the holes can be accurately drilled.  It is a really neat way of making sure everything is located exactly as it was at the factory, so all the interconnecting pipes will hopefully fit properly.

Just before lunch, we received word that the contents of the container received yesterday had cleared customs (without their even opening it!) and that we could cut the seal to unload it.

As usual, I drove home for lunch.  Upon arrival at the duplex, I notced a pile of branches laying by the sidewalk.  We had borrowed a pair of lopper shears from TWR to trim branches off a small tree that was starting to obstruct the door of our side of the duplex and also prevented the cleaning of one of the windows.  Virginia had done a neat job taking care of the problem!  When we asked about getting rid of the branches, we were told to dump them on TWR’s vacant lot between our duplex and the Pederson’s house.  That lot is quite overgrown and the trimmings will not even be noticed.

After lunch and a 15 minute nap (with my feet raised), I returned to the site.

The dummy load completely filled the container from side to side and was within 10″ of the top of this extra tall container.  The tractor was hooked onto the dummy load to drag it out of the container far enough to unload the remaining items.  From this location, a crane will lift the dummy load high enough to clear the two AC condensing units and the generator to place it onto its concrete foundation.  The crane can not come until next week.

Now that the dummy load was out, we found there were 2X6s screwed to the floor on the other side with no sign of damage to them.  The only thing we can figure out is that, when the dummy load was pushed into the container, it was not quite pushed in all the way [18″ short of the inside blocking].  The outside 2X6s were then screwed into place.  Somehow, during transport, the dummy load gently slide up against the inside 2X6s and left the 18″ gap we saw upon opening the container.  We are grateful that no damage occurred.

With the dummy load out, the heavy work began!  First there was a large pallet with relatively light items.  The pallet was too long for the tractor to lift with its ‘forks’, so the items had to be unloaded by hand.  Next was a small pallet with about fifteen 50 pound bags of special cement for laying tiles.  The weight was too much for the tractor to lift, so these had to be unloaded by hand.  Next was a small pallet with about 20 boxes of floor tiles.  These boxes weighed 47 pounds each and again had to be unloaded by hand.  The next pallet was a little bigger and had about 40 boxes of floor tiles and, of course, had to be unloaded by hand.  All these were loaded onto the mission dump truck and had to be unloaded inside the building.  We had our ‘workout’ today–mostly inside a container with the sun shining on it!
The last item was a 6 foot diameter reel of coax cable.  The weight written on the side was just under 500 pounds, but I was able to rotate it 90 degrees and roll it out of the container while Lionel and Jonas unloaded the tiles in the building.

We had just enough time to sweep out the container and close its doors before quitting time.  Before leaving, an email had already been received from Kintronic with a possible solution to the problem with the ground straps this morning.

Virginia had been asked to help with preparing a dessert for next week, so when I got home, we drove into town to Van der Tweel supermarket to pick up ingredients for making the dessert.  After getting back to the duplex, both of us were ready for a cool-down swim at Bachelor Beach.  This time I did some snorkeling for the first time on this trip.  Saw a few fish, but will need to swim further out to the coral to see more.  Maybe next time?  This is Virginia’s second swim on this trip and she really appreciated the cool-down!  She’ll probably want more like it during the next 10 days.

For supper this evening we had leftover chicken lo mein from last night and salad with grated carrots.  Later in the evening, we had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping on top of a small ‘sugar waffle‘ .  We bought a small package of them when at the store.

Jonas, Lionel and I were the only ones at the site for devotions.  Benny is off for two weeks vacation, so attendance is down a lot from last week!

This morning I spent most of my time in the air conditioned 100kw transmitter hall.   I emailed Jim to have him verify what he needs to complete the rest of the air conditioner installation for the 400kw transmitter hall and phasor room.

The list of things to order, for the shipment from Niles, MI, was revised based on stock-on-hand and additional items that seem to be added each day.

Research was then done for sources, and prices, of the relays and contactors that Jonas specified for the tower lighting and antenna tuning unit cooling fans.  We plan to order these items tomorrow once the financial arrangements are in order.

I drove back to the duplex for lunch and a short 15 minute nap with my feet raised.  This, and spending more time in air conditioned rooms, seems to be helping the swelling in my feet and ankles.

Virginia informed me that the internet was not working.  When I checked, there were no lights on the router.  If fact, there was no electricity at all in the other half of our duplex where the router is located.  The main breaker had tripped.  Just a few minutes after resetting this breaker, it tripped again.  Virginia had been cleaning windows and washing their screens back of the duplex.  There is an outlet near the outside faucet and some water spray had apparently gotten into the outlet’s box, as it is not weatherproof.  The main breaker, which is also an earth leakage (ground fault) device to protect the whole house, was sensing the electrical ‘leakage’ in that outside box.  After the second reset of the breaker, it remained ‘on’.  Apparently, the outlet had dried out, but there was still no internet connection.

On the way back to the site, I noticed that the ship that was at the salt pier this morning was now being loaded.  The ‘harvesting’ of salt that was being done yesterday was halted to do the loading.

Upon driving into the site, I noticed a 40 foot container on a trailer was parked next to the building.  This container contains the 600kw dummy load for the new transmitter.  Another truck followed me into the site.  It is specially equipped to load, or unload, containers.  After telling the driver where the container needed to be placed, so that the dummy load could be easily lifted by a large crane into its final position, he transferred the container onto his truck, then moved the container to where it needed to be set onto the ground.  This was all done within a period of less than 30 minutes.  The container is still sealed, as it has not cleared customs yet.  Hopefully, customs officials will come before the upcoming four-day Easter weekend!

After lunch an email came from Jim, so there are now more updates for the list of items to order.

This morning, I noticed that one of about 10 conduits going into the 200 amp distribution panel in the new transmitter hall was missing its lock nut.  So this afternoon, I disconnected the wires going through that conduit from its 3 phase breaker, neutral and ground, then threaded the lock nut over the wires and screwed it onto the threaded connector.  It sounds relatively easy, but these wires were routed behind many other wires and also tie-wrapped to some other wires.  In addition, the panel was ‘live’, which required careful maneuvering!

Heading for home, I noticed a large machine on the top of the salt ‘mountains’.  I drove to get a closer look and saw a large bulldozer working up there.  The front-end loaders were loading salt onto the conveyor belts from the bottom of the mounds of salt, but the salt pile ‘solidifies’ enough that the salt does not slide down.  This results in a high wall of salt which could collapse onto the loader, if it continues to ‘undercut’ the wall.  The bulldozer works to eliminate this danger.  At times, I could see the dozer sliding sideways. I wonder if the dozer operator gets hazardous-duty pay?  When it was time for the bulldozer to come down, it came straight down the side of the ‘mountain’ pushing a little salt as it descended.

When I got back to the duplex, the internet was still not working, although the power was still on.  I ‘recycled’ the power switch to see whether that would ‘fix’ it.

Virginia wanted to do some shopping so I drove her to Bonaire Warehouse Supermarket.  We also checked out the recycle next next door to the supermarket.  It was closed, since it was almost 6pm.  We need to recycle a stack of cardboard boxes that were used to ship food for our team.  This food had been shipped in the container of electrical equipment from Niles.

While Virginia shopped, I went to nearby China Nobo to order carry-out ‘chicken lo mein’ for two.  The owner attends International Bible Church.  For $9.75 we got enough food for two meals for both of us.  A pretty good deal on Bonaire!  At the Bonaire Warehouse Virginia found a good sized water melon for $2.49.  It must be locally grown to be that low in price!  My guess is that it will have seeds — we’ll soon find out.  She want to make a fruit salad with it.

When we got back to the duplex, the internet was now working!