I am writing from yet another airport terminal. This time I am in Philadelphia waiting to depart for Kentucky. I am heading to Louisville to take a water hand pump repair course with an organization called Edge Outreach. Although I took pump repair a few years ago and have built some pumps out in the field, I still feel like I need additional training. During my two recent trips (Nepal & Haiti), I saw a couple abandoned wells near our drilling locations. When I investigated, I learned from the locals that the pumps were broken. In Nepal, the pump head was smashed so without bringing in a whole new head, there wasn’t anything I could do with the tools I had available. In Haiti, I couldn’t tell from topside observation where the pump was broken. In most communities, I really can’t touch the pumps unless I am sure I can repair them because although they were broken before I got there, had I taken them apart and not bee able to fix them, they would have turned into my responsibility. I am hoping to build my pump skills and confidence over these next few days of training at Edge.
I couldn’t find anything interesting in the airport to take a photo of so I decided to highlight my Red Machine smoothie – I am hoping that the vitamin enhanced smoothie will help relieve my allergies. Does that even work? If not, I will still enjoy the smoothie in-between blowing my nose and rubbing my eyes :p
How Many Cows 