A Good Day

A Good Day

Overall, it was a good day.  I was assigned this morning to service the big bulldozer as it was overdue.  Jules worked with me on it.  Though his English is not so good, we were able to communicate enough to find the tools I needed and the stuff to finish the project.

 We started with the oil and oil filter.  Of course, we had to take apart a pile of protective metal shields to get to the stuff, but it worked out.  The oil was drained into a couple of five gallon buckets and left to dribble while I swapped out the filter.  The equipment takes almost seven gallons of fresh oil; I was pretty sure I had half of it soaked into my clothes as unattended oil tends to do that. 

After the oil was changed we tackled the fuel filters.  These were a little more of a challenge as they had been put on so tight we couldn’t get them off.  We ended up using two filter wrenches in unison to break them loose.  What a pain.  Had diesel fuel everywhere, which wasn’t that bad as it diluted the oil in my pants so it wasn’t so … oily; just dieselie.  After the filters were removed and replaced I discovered that the priming pump for the fuel system didn’t work.  I located a wiring diagram in the manual (we do have that for the dozer) and was able to bypass the system in order to get the pump to prime.  Got stuff started up and everything ran fine.

After lunch Jules and I headed over to the septic mound system project on the other side of the wall to help out.  Hauled in some stone while Francois spread it with the excavator.  Wrapped that part up at 4:30 then helped Francois build another building pad for the next structure.  It was after dark by the time we finished that. 

Dinner was steak, very well done (Kyle would have love it) along with potatoes, salad and string beans.  The beans were a little stringy but still good and the potatoes were great with butter and sour cream.  See why I can’t seem to lose weight?

I was going to take a shower after dinner to get the oil/diesel/dust/stone debris off, but the shower blew a water supply line.  John, the base manager, had been working on putting new shower heads on.  He kept finding lines that were not solvent welded correctly and this one missed his gaze.  He did fix it before evening was gone.

A special surprise was planned by Nat, his sister Michelle, and Travis.  They got together a special prayer and worship time on the helipad at 7:30; everyone on base staff was invited.  Many of us showed up and we enjoyed an hour of singing; actually listening because I didn’t know any of the Canadian songs.  We had prayer intermixed here and there.  I ended up stretched out on the concrete looking at the stars while most songs were sung; as did many others.  It was a special time that was informal and on the spur of the moment.  Very enjoyable reflecting on my time here (it’s been a month now) and thinking of where God has taken me and where I am to go from here.

At nine I finally got my chilly shower in.  Now I’m at the room and, after talking for twenty minutes or so with Michelle, I’m wrapping this up and heading to bed.