Picked up Dave

Picked up Dave at 8 am yesterday and headed to the hardware store to load up the Tracker with Lumber so we could work on continuing to improve the caretakers house with a new bathroom and shower for Adolfo and Cassimiro.

20 yards from the start of the last hill that runs to the river below, the brake pedal hit the floor. Broken brake line. Give up the day or add some brake fluid, pinch the line with some pliers, hold on to the depleted emergency brake and hope for the best? Sent Dave down the rocky hill to clear the road. A dozen cows were on the way up. Took 10 minutes for them to pass. At the bottom of the hill the road turns steeply upward which would work as an emergency exit ramp if needed. Adrenaline pumping I rolled over the brow of the hill. Hadn’t felt that way since jumping off a 7000 foot cliff for the first time at Valle de Bravo in Mexico with my paraglider. Made it. Unloaded the lumber up the hill and called the mechanic for the flat bed tow truck. Dave and Adolfo went to work. Adolfo had a new horse for me to try. A Young mare with a sweet white blaze. Saddled her up and loaded her with the clean laundry for the Micro house and some replacement outlets for the solar team and rode off. The solar crew arrived by motorcycle at the micro house and we started finishing the last lighting installations. I made the bed with the fresh sheets, poured the men some filtered water and bid them adieu. Jumped back on the horse and headed back down to meet with permaculture associate Isaac from New Zealand to review his progress and departure for South America. Had to chase a neighbors cow out of my Guandule crop first as the solar crew had neglected to close the Micro house gate after them when they entered. Arrived back to Dave to find the generator wasn’t working properly so we jury rigged the breaker and cut the remaining 2x4’s for the new framing. Two of the solar crew from the micro house arrived back below and declared they needed the 12 foot ladder. They placed their heads through the rungs and headed back up on the bike. Must have been painful. Rushed Isaac up to grab his tools two hundred yards away in the Guayaba orchard and took a quick inventory of them as the flatbed truck arrived for the Chevy. The new horse was fine, the framing progressed, the solar got finished. Isaac is on his way to South America. Dave and I climbed into the Chevy on top of the flatbed opened a beer and enjoyed being driven back to town the 8 miles ,8 feet off the ground waving an ice cold Jumbo Presidente Beer out the window at our friends on the mountain road like we were in a parade.