Some days priorities get changed and today was such a day. When we arrived at the transmitter site, the first thing I noticed was the double trailer parked at the building with no semi attached. We learned that the driver from Mafutseni had arrived yesterday to pick up another load of hay, but the loader/backhoe (Case 570T) would not start. Therefore, the driver dropped his trailers off to return later. We also learned that our maintenance manager, Khumalo, had removed the starter to have it checked in town, only to find there was nothing wrong with it.

Khumalo and his crew reinstalled the starter. Still nothing worked. Tobi suggested they jumper the solenoid contacts, which they did. The starter cranked, but the diesel engine did not start. I concluded that there is an electrical fuel cutoff that is not operating. Khumalo found that there was no power at the key switch which in the ‘on’ position would open the fuel cutoff and in the ‘start’ position apply voltage to the solenoid for the starter.

A wiring diagram would be helpful to diagnose the problem, but TWR has no service manual for the Case 570T. I looked on-line for a diagram, and found a downloadable manual for about $30. But with 1300 pages to download with slow internet service, it would have taken hours, just to get to the wiring diagram pages.

I suggested that a wire be run from battery positive to the key switch. When that was done, the starter still did not work. With the switch in the ‘on’ position, the startersolenoid contacts were jumpered, and the engine started. The engine also stopped when the switch was turned ‘off’. I measured the ‘start’ terminal of the key switch and there was voltage present there when it was turned to the ‘start’ position. I then measured the voltage to the solenoid coil when the key switch was in ‘start’. There was none, meaning there is an open circuit. I suggested that another wire be run from the ‘start’ terminal of the key switch to the solenoid coil. Though I did measure current going through the coil, the solenoid did not pull in to activate the starter. Initially, I concluded the solenoid was stuck and not activating.

By this time it was almost lunch time (1pm) and Khumalo informed me that the hay needed to be loaded and ready by morning. So after lunch the Case loader was started by jumpering the solenoid contacts. I asked Khumalo to tell the loader driver not to shut it off until the job was done.

During lunch, it dawned on me that Khumalo had used a long coil of wire to run to the solenoid coil. It was quite possible that the resistance of that coil of wire was enough to reduce the voltage at the solenoid, such that it was not enough to pull in. I suggested using a much shorter wire to see if that helps.

Since the double trailer was at the building and the bales about ½ mile away in the field, Khumalo had one crew use a low trailer, that can haul 8 bales, go the the field. One of the John Deere tractors can lift the bales onto the low trailer. This trailer was then unloaded near the double trailer. While the Case was lifting these bales on the double trailer, the crew would reload the low trailer. When about 25% of the bales were loaded, the semi driver showed up and said they had another job for the double trailer in the morning, so it had to be unloaded by evening. The semi driver then moved the double trailers closer to the bales for quicker loading, Even so, it was past quitting time (4:30pm) before the 60th bale was loaded.

Yesterday, Virginia made some cookies with the macadamia nuts she cracked last week. She sent some with me to pass out to the site workers, during morning break. Most of them had seen her using the vise to crack them. They were, and are, good. There are a few cookies still left at home and enough nuts to make another batch. YUM!!!

Tobi had to stay in town today, so I didn’t go to the transmitter site. No need to take a vehicle with only one person, if there is plenty that can be done remotely.

This morning started out warmer than the two previous mornings and the sun has been shining brightly all day. The forecasted high was 79F so we didn’t use the fireplace. In fact, when it got warmer outside than inside, we opened windows to let the warmth in.

We added four more entries to our blog today, hoping to get it up-to-date. Have experienced cases where one entry overwrote a previous one, requiring the reentering of the previous one. It proved to be a tedious duplication of effort (not once, but twice)! Hopefully, the reason for that has been found and won’t reoccur.

We made a quick trip into town so Virginia could exchange some items. I’m getting a little more comfortable driving on the left side of the road. Today, another section of the new four lane highway through Manzini was opened, so we had to learn a new route into town, and back out. On the way home, we stopped by the Sunnyside Butchery close to us to pick up some mince (hamburger meat). The shop was all out, told us they expected a delivery from the abattoir tomorrow, and to come back then.

We had hoped to be done with blogging earlier, so I was only able to do some preliminary drawing with LibreCAD, but it looks like its going to work. There are a few functions that are more cumbersome than AutoCAD (that I used regularly from 1990 to about 2010). With practice, I’m sure drawings made with LibreCAD can be done more quickly.

This morning started out cold (even colder (about 40F) in the valley where the transmitter site is located, but with the sun shining it warmed up quickly. After site devotions and taking care of the correspondence that came in over the long weekend, I headed out into the antenna field to get more accurate information on the guying of the log-periodic antennas. It was now warm enough that a jacket was not needed – my flannel shirt was adequate and by noon was almost too warm!

It is about a half mile walk out to those antennas and on the way I noticed a large tractor-trailer flatbed truck and a cattle truck. They were being loaded with hay bales. Also noted that the adjacent field’s hay had been cut and TWR tractors were windrowing and bailing more hay. Talked to the truck driver from Mafutseni Ranch while his crew directed the loading and tied down the bales. Watching all that was going on and taking photos, distracted me for a while, before getting back to the original purpose of my trek out there. In all, I was in the field for over three hours.

[Some history—Initally we just mowed down all the grass and left it under the antennas. The antenna field was much smaller then. Eventually, one of the nearby ranchers suggested cutting and baling the grass. He actually did it for us for a while, saving us the cost of mowing. Later still, Steve bought a baler and began selling the bales, which covered all the mowing and hay making costs with enough extra to replace tractors and equipment every few years.]

Back at the building and for the remaining hour of the workday, I started to turn my antenna guying notes into preliminary sketches. I asked Tobi about CAD (computer aided drawing) programs. Only TinyCAD is available for making electrical drawings – nothing for mechanical drawing. Tobi did find on the shelves an old copy of TurboCAD for Windows XP and Vista (compatible with my old laptop). I took it home to try.

Lorraine took Virginia to town today to see a dentist. Last week, a crown on one of her front teeth came loose. She wanted to get it fixed before it fell out. The dentist is from Uganda, but also preaches at International Family Church where the Stavropouloses attend. The crown came right off for the dentist, but he discovered that it was more than just loose. The post had broken, so he cemented it back in place for $47 and told Virginia she would need to have something done when we get back to the U.S. [Virginia texted this information to Samuel (our son) and he replied “I think you’re going to have to see me for an implant when you get back.” BTW, the root canal and crown was done about two years ago, but NOT by Samuel!]

I tried to load the TurboCAD CD onto my laptop and kept getting a ‘corrupted disk’ error. The CD did have some scuff marks on it, so thought that might be the problem. Then tried the tutorial CD, which had no marks, and got the same message. Wonder if it might be my laptop’s CD player?

I now tried to download FreeCad, but it will only work with Windows 7 or newer. Next, I was successful in downloading LibreCAD, another free CAD program. We’ll see how well it works or if something else will be better.

This morning is the coldest since we came — about 43F. Tobi did not go to the site. Initially I thought I would go anyway and put photos into our blog then post them, but decided other wise Good thing, because posting at the site would not have worked. Managed to post three weeks of blog material today. Wasn’t easy – had to email photoes from my laptop to the kindle then copy them from that email into the blog, going back and forth with each photo. If I got interrupted, it was easy to forget where I was in the sequence of transferiUi is me sweetie eeueeieiei in iewuuiuuung! Some photos from cameras, other smart phones, or tablets had to be transferred to the laptop then reduced in size before sending them on to my Kindle to insert into the drafts.

Kept a fire going in fireplace all day. [Keep in mind, there is no central heating in houses here which have concrete walls with no insulation. The windows (single pane) and doors have lots of air leaking around the openings.]. Just wish I had my electric chain saw, log splitter, wedges and sledge to tackle the pile of wood that is available. Much of it is too long, too big in diameter, or both to go into the fireplace.

There was a short power failure again at Evangelical Bible Church. Just like last week, the music program continued. With the keyboard silent, someone moved to the piano to pick right back up with the accompaniment. Brother Gilbert (instead of Pastor Deon) spoke this morning on Mark 8:34-37- “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.”

This Sunday was being celebrated as International Sunday. People from various countries or ethnic backgrounds wore traditional clothing. In all there were about 16 different countries being represented. We were the only ones from the United States, for that matter from the Americas.

After the service, an International Dinner had been organized as a fundraiser for the Evangelical Bible College of South Africa located in Capetown. The cost was reasonable (less than $3 for food and $0.60 for drinks per person) and the selections were amazing. I can remember cuisine from Eswatini, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Portugal, Scotland, Pakistan, China, Zambia and maybe others we forgot. We were given a large take-a-way box to put our selection in – more than enough to eat. We brought some home for later.

After church we stopped by the pharmacy, next to Pick N Pay, where we picked up some prescription medicine for Virginia [no prescription required] and then did our weekly grocery shopping. The MasterCard that we reactivated this week worked for both purchases.

This afternoon we built a fire, worked on drafts for our blog and had popcorn in the evening.