Who knew today would be today?

Started out simple enough. Caleb, Sharon, Annica and I headed out for a walk/run at about 8:30 AM. We found many nice gardens and houses just behind our apartment. Then we turn around and there is a herd of cattle headed down the street. We stepped aside and tried not to look like some alfalfa and they passed us by. A couple of blocks later the donkeys were moving in our direction so we moved across the street to the safety of on-coming cars careening well beyond sensible speeds on dirt roads. Who needs Valley Fair when we have Iringa streets.

As we headed back we encountered the Iringa Diocese of the Lutheran Church. We didn't realize it was less than a block away on the road behind the apartment. We stepped inside to be greeted by Pastor Isreal, a retired pastor who has lead many of the Bega-Kwa-Bega groups but now is just visiting the offices. He claims to be the tallest man in Tanzania but is about as tall as Annica! He took us to the offices of Radio Furaha, the Lutheran radio station here started by Paul Harris (whose apartment we are renting). I told them I have Paul's phone and apartment and would like to meet the rest of the staff when they return from the transmitter site trying to trouble shoot some difficulties.

Back at the apartment Sharon and housekeeper Grace were going at the cooking with vigor. We will blog that in a couple of days. I sat down with lunch and the knock on the door was Protus, the Radio Furaha manager. He was headed back up the hill to try to fix the transmitter. I tagged along and found the Crown PA2000 2000 watt FM amplifier overheating.

The fans were not running and some complex system of control between the power supply and amplifier was failing. I helped hold the many screws as they removed the covers and tried to look into things. After about an hour or so we decided to bring the power supply and amp back to town and the Iringa Electronics shop just on the other side of the Farmer's Market. We rattled down the "road" to bring things to the shop.

We found that the fans worked fine but something in the control circuit was failing. After much poking and trying, the amplifier was fixed. I had returned to the apartment and Protus called to say they were headed back up the hill at about dinner time. I begged off and have yet to hear the transmitter back on the air. At least the transmitter site is well guarded. Here is our guard sleeping while we work.

Dale, Annica and Tobie went walking down the same road in the afternoon and crossed a field only to sink to their knees in muck. They wandered home and washed up. We haven't figured out what that was, but will stick to the roads from now.

Saturday is Skype day for us. We will try to Skype back to the home folks as Carrie's family will be together and it is our Grand daughters's real birthday on the 13th. In addition, we found a place that will deliver pizza (with two hours' warning!) so we might try that. Next thing you know, Jimmy John's will show up before we even find they have moved into Iringa. I just hope that Jimmy is not Maasai!