Fix it time!

In June I spent some time getting things worked on.  When I came home, I found that my road sign had been removed.  It was very sad seeing the base and post without anything on it.  So, I decided it needed to be fixed.

I had some angle iron left from some project in the past.  So, I talked with a friend and asked him if he could get me a new sign made.  It needed to be something attached to the iron in more than one place.  So, he took on the project and came back with a pretty nice sign for me to put up behind the base that is seen above.

I thought this was great and would be plenty tall enough.  I didn't figure on my guard wanting to make sure it could not be moved at all.  So, this is what it ended up looking like on the corner of my road.

He must have buried it in two and a half feet of cement at least!  Now I need to find a hacksaw so I can remove the pole from the base.  I'm not sure what to do about the base as it is all cement too - the same guard did it.  He wanted to make sure it didn't get knocked down again by vehicles backing out of the lane.  It worked.  The sign was never knocked down again.  It just lost its top.

Next I found out that my generator was still not working properly.  It would only run my freezer and even then it was running poorly.  Since I had gotten a new refrigerator, I didn't want it to get messed up.  The power was out every day for 12 hours or a little more for the first six weekss I was home.  So, I really needed my generator to work.

I couldn't get it to work even though I took it to the generator fix it man in town and had the electric fix it men to my house to try to see if it was in the wiring somewhere.  My generator is the little one you see next to the flowery wall.  The bigger generator was one I was able to borrow from my teammates.  They were not back in Kenya yet, so I was able to use theirs.  After consulting with them about my problem they told me I just needed to get a new one.  Ugh!  A big expense, but it seemed to be really needed with the power being so iffy.  

I did buy a new generator when I was in Nairobi in August.  I ordered it over the phone so didn't see it before it was shipped up to Turkana.  I just knew the size I needed and the engine that might be best.  The expense for the honda engine was four times as much as the one I got.  I chose to go with an engine that we don't know a lot about, but has the name of the company that we order a lot of our water materials from on it.  I am pretty sure they will stand by it if there is any problem.  God is really good to me!  The generator is bigger than I had ordered.  It didn't cost any more and it will even run my a/c along with my fridge and freezer when the power is off.  One of the best features is that it has a key to start it as well as a pull rope!  My arm really appreciates that.  It was hard to get my teammates' generator started and I would sometimes have to call one of my workers to help me.

My fix it days were not completely over yet.  The fence around my compound needed some help.  There were a few places where the dogs had made holes and I needed to get those filled.  Also, on the side that faces Lumpy Bumpy Lane all of the makuti was old and falling apart.  Much of it had come off so that people passing by could see into the yard.  What you can't see, you won't be tempted to steal.    Also, lots of people walk on the road and will often pick up stones to throw at my dogs.  Of course my dogs also bark at them as they are walking by.  The makuti helps protect the dogs and me from prying eyes since my front rooms all face the road.

my fence looks like this with the Makuti now

My guards wanted the banda fixed as well.  They are guards for the yard and open the gate when someone comes.  They are not bodyguards :).  Just in case you wondered.  I agreed that it did need to be fixed and have new makuti put on the roof.  They wanted more than that.  They wanted the roof slope to be changed and for the rest of it to be renovated as well.  So, I asked them to call a 'fundi.'  A fundi is a handyman that is proficient in certain things.  The fundi they wanted to suggest was not available in June.  So, I had to wait until July to work on that project.  I did post some pictures on the blog in July about that fix it job.  You can look at that post to see how it was done.