WOW, it's hot!

It's about 87F here right now (whatever that is in C) and that's in the shade. The sun is so hot you really could fry an egg on the pavement (what pavement there is). It's difficult to move, let alone do any real work. I fixed some computers here this morning (surprised?) and I'm surfing the internet looking for answers to some well drilling issues that seem to have the locals stumped. The wells are caving in when they drill them because they are drilling in a sort of sticky sand that is the consistency of sand mixed with honey. When the drill gets down in the hole the walls collapse down on top of the drill and keep it from being pulled up out of the hole. Very frustrating.

I met the guy last night that designed and upgraded the whole water system here at the base and we talked windmills and desalination. He was intrigued by the idea of running a desalination plant using wind power, which by the way, is possible. There is so much need for this stuff here. I wish I could just go on-line and order it, but unfortunately the red tape is considerable. It's not going to be impossible, just challenging. We're all healthy so far with no major issues but it's a constant struggle to avoid infections in tiny cuts and to avoid food and water related bugs. One of the guys in my dorm got food poisoning yesterday and spent a rather unpleasant 24 hrs. but we haven't had that problem yet. We are all feeling a bit tired out by the constant heat.