Changing Tires

Alright, I can do anything. I can live in third world conditions without water or sanitation. I can sleep in the heat of the night under mosquito netting. I have proved this to myself. I could also leave here. And certainly this option has been presented. But that would seem like running away. Why should I expect my condition be any different that those around me. But 22 days of tuna and minute rice has become monotonous. The days have moved from constant work and constant exhaustion to frustration at the slowness of getting museum business completed. I am now back to the priority list that I had prior to Ike. But everything is slower.

I received the generator for the museum today. This sounds like it would be great. But it requires that the museum office be put back together. I have had a small generator at the house. I have mainly used it to do laundry. Since last week, I use it to watch TV in the evening. Both my flat screen and my satellite are working. But the news out of New York does not look pretty. I do like watching football.

Today, I spent all morning trying to change a flat tire on Elaine's van. This would be no big deal many places. But there is only one mechanic open, and he is working by himself. Elaine has been afraid of getting a flat all week. I changed one tire for her last week.

Elaine takes care of dogs on the island. She runs a shelter and does a yearly spade and neuter clinic at the museum. Elaine's helper was deported. The volunteers she use to have help her have all left the island. I now take her phone calls. I went with her a few days ago to feed a dog in an area she was afraid of getting stuck with another flat. The house was gone. The family was gone. But the dog has been returning every day.

He was not a happy dog. We left food and water. My plan has been that if she got another flat I would take a tire off the truck and come change it for here, at any time. She finally got a tire flown over from Provo. Today, one of her tires was flat. It was not even the one we have been concerned about. The problem was that the tire mechanic did not have air to fill the tire yesterday, though lucky enough he did have a spare rim.

This morning I took this tire to get filled and took the flat so Elaine could have a spare. The flat tire had two nails in it. This has been one of the problems here. There is roofing all blown over the place. But in every piece of roofing there were several nails. They are everywhere.

There was a long line of cars needing tires. I spoke to the guy. He told me a couple minutes, then he was gone. No one knew where he went. I waited for an hour, and then left. I tried to find somewhere else to get the tire filled. But to no avail. I eventually went back to the place. And the guy told me it was my turn. Bring the tires right now. I took the tires back to Elaine and got the new tire mounted. This took four hours. It is so hot.

I spent the rest of the day getting the generator out of customs. This only took four trips.

As I was publishing this blog the next morning; I noticed that I have a flat tire.