Dear Christopher,

so sorry about getting the letter there late.  Things have not been 
going very easy at this end of the line.  We have had major storms 
moving through. The Mekegwa' is so flooded that it has stopped all 
travel on the national highway.  The Tamlang was way down this morning 
but was still so high that I got across but it pulled off my pants all 
the way down to my knees. It turned out that the problem with pants 
getting pulled off is not the embarrassment but the extreme danger of 
not being able to keep a grip on the rope as ones pants act as a 
parchute and try to drag you away in the swift current. I must admit it 
was a bit frightening to not be sure if I could keep a grip on the 
rope.  Looking at the swirling torent below was enough to frighten 
anyone and the prospect of trying to swim out of it before I hit major 
rocks and my pants at my knees was enough to make me tie my pants on 
very tightly when I returned. However at the next placid little stream  
that we cross on the way to Kensuli. It was such a raging torrent and 
no rope available that I decided to forego the excitement of trying to 
cross. I did get half way across and all that was left was to make one 
flying leap and hope to clutch something on the further bank. If my 
grip should fail then, well it was sort of the same story as the 
Tamlang.  So I'd had enough adventure for one day and headed on home.  
Leonda was in a dither when I arrived home because she had made me 
promise that I would radio when I got to Kensuli, where there was a 
radio. ( My radio was inoperative and power is so low that the base 
station at YH is not functioning)   Well I never got there, so I never 
radioed and she was sure that I had been swept away in the torrent Well 
she was not much wrong in that assumption, except I did manage to 
survive.  

Well with all of this. Of course there is no solar power to speak of.  
The hydro has been causing problems.  The large quantity of silt keeps 
plugging up the lines and we have to clear them again and again, plus 
other inexplicable problems have cause our power supply to be iffy at 
the best.  Then when I fired up the generator.  there I stood on three 
inches of gluing mud stuck to the bottoms of my tsinelas.  the floor on 
the back porch  almost  touching my head due to the fact that once 
again a crack is forming under CO and the ground in just one day has 
subsided half a foot. The wind and rain blowing in at right angles and 
water coursing down the hill and filling the crack that is threatening 
to tear CO in half.   I pulled  and pulled then found that the bolts to 
the carburetor had fallen out so I got those put back in.  Once it was 
started I ran through the poring rain to find that no power was getting 
to YH.  So another trip down.  Well so as not to bore you those trips 
went through about 4 or cycles. Finally the power was getting to the 
house. Wow, maybe we could send some messages.  It was nice to hear the 
hum of the generator behind the howling of the wind and rain.  Well 
that lasted about ten minutes.  the generator continued to hum but the 
power did not. When I went back down I found that the generator had 
fallen off of the engine.  Well at that point I cried uncle and decided 
that we need to find someone who would like to donate a nice new, high 
quality, sparkling, efficient, diesel generator to the project that can 
be flown in by helicopter.  Well it was not until 8:00 pm that the 
hydro had produced enought power to flip on the internet. I pasted your 
letter into e-mail and sent it and almost immediatly the power went 
off. I was not even sure if the message had been sent.  Any way those 
are a few of the little things that have been happening. So I was 
hoping to get the letter to you but not everything cooperated.

We are trying to accomplish things in spite of the weather.  We seem 
to have a stream of shivering little children passing by our house.  
All the children from school who were hoping to get back home across 
the Tamlang were all there this morning wondering how to get home 
Little Iprila just had to come on back to Kamantian along with all the 
other girls. the guys can manage the Tamlang.  Ma is trying to fix a 
thanksgiving meal but all the special things that were supposed to come 
in and make it special never arrived.  Five guys from the school 
volunteered to hike out to Bingbilang and carry in the much needed 
food.  They did a great job and got through megkerutus even though it 
was well above their waste and then waited and waited. There was no way 
to tell them that Chris was unable to cross the Mekegwa and so late in 
the after noon they returned empty handed and arrived at our house 
about dusk. Although they carried nothing I gave them each p20 to at 
least compensate for a little of the effort.

We had thought of sending the helicopter out and bringing in supplies 
but the weather has closed in again another typhoon is on the way so we 
will just have to be satified with Kumbahang and pulug.  wish you could 
all be here to enjoy the adventure with us.

Love, PA