Hurricane No More

So Hurricane Felicia, turned Tropical Storm and now turned to Tropical Depression still has not made it here yet. We are suppose to get 3-5 inches of rain and like 20mph winds, so nothing like it was (cat 4). Now I wish it would just get here and leave so the humidity and clouds will leave. Suppose to be tonight into tomorrow but it is just kinda sitting out there. Everyone is doing well. The boys are liking school. My job is going well, starting tomorrow I go to full time. That is about all that is going on.

Here are a couple of updates from Bill.


August 8th

"Today we dropped into a village that we ended up coordinating 3 different landing zones for 3 different sites. It was a very productive afternoon. Its amazing to see how eager the people are here to come out and see why you have come. The kids get the biggest kick out of seeing themselves on the camera too. And its like a mob when we had out candy... I got a picture of (name withheld) today passing out candy and there is like 50 kids all around him. We also saw part of a church service today... they still had on t-shirts and pants but the women had on grass skirts with feathers in it and palm leaves and feathers in their hair. The men also had some palms in their hair and they were surrounded by the village while they were in the middle dancing and seeing while beating on long tube type drums. (name withheld) and I wanted to buy the drums from them, but they were just starting their service and I didn't want to be rude so we left so they could continue.. Tonight, its SP Lager time. Ive had a beer or two here and there but we haven't had a chance to just sit and shoot the shit and drink some beer. We may play some cards tonight too. Tomorrow will be my first day off... looking forward to sleeping in."

August 10th

"We started off the day returning to a village that cut us an LZ... the site didn't have much but a couple of small pieces... the guy told us that another dude down the river has a wing from the site, so we went to see him. He told us the whole story of the crash as told by his father. His father pulled the pilot out and nursed him back to health in his home... once he was healthy he brought him to one of our bases and turned him back to US hospital. So, even though that site came up with a guy who survived it, it was a cool story to hear. The village is also the one that we saw the religious service at. (name withheld) and I bought a drum each from them. The drum is really really cool. I feel like I have to use hand sanitizer everytime I touch it but its really cool. I'm not sure how to clean it without taking a chance of ruining it. Its carved from wood and has some kind of lizard skin streched over for the drum. They also have hardened pieces of gum that they said they use to seal holes. The whole thing was probably fired because it slightly smells of fire and its all a dark brown, including the gum patches. So... it may be clean, but with seeing the wads of gum on it, I feel the need to sanitize it. Any thoughts? Later on we also went to a High School... we interrupted school to which I apologized to the principal but he assured me it was ok. We spoke to a few kids who knew of some sites. One kid told us he had 3 sites in his village, so we went there. There were 3 american bombers right there in the village. Again, very cool to see, but no luck with MIA stuff... all three were there because during the war it was designated an emergency landing zone... the crews are all accounted for and safe. But the aircraft wreckages were really cool. One of the B-25s still had some nose art on it of a bomb and its name, "Fer-De-Lance". You can google it and you should see it on Pacific Wrecks website or some other type... well, we were right there wear it lied in peace. Very cool. Tomorrow we go up to another village that has a landing zone cut for us, hopefully this one turns up some good stuff for us... So so far we haven't got anything that we can go back and say... ok, dig here... but we have been able to say, ok, this case... close it, we don't need to go back anymore because this crew is safe or whatever."