Well work, 2nd fire battle and avocado harvest

 So last week we went three days in a row with almost no  running water, managed to get two buckets...

We were waiting for it to come on knowing we're one of the first to lose water on campus and that the pump was struggling to keep up with all the needs.

As we're at the end of dry season, so the gardens take a lot of water to get a head start on the short rainy season.

 Also water is needed for the staff and the families of the 40 Bible students. 

 Cory's nursery was starting to suffer after we exhausted our reserve buckets of water.

Test run - good flow!

This morning thankfully the well was pulled and raised a few meters to get it out of sand, then in a few hours it had filled the (about 1,000 gallon) gravity tank, providing great water pressure this afternoon.

The new abundance of water and the lack of wind near sunset prompted Cory to take the opportunity to burn trash.

Lessons learned:

1. Make sure no wind, near sundown.   Check.

2. Only burn trash or brush when water is available. Check. 

4. Have water in buckets on hand, next to the fire. (didn't plan on big fire, had a small stick)

4. Do NOT throw a few dry thorn branches on the trash fire next to some dry weeds also to be burned.

5. Keep the fast, helpful neighbors happy and make sure they are close by.

6. Make sure Kris is on stand-by and  is not listening to her music while burning is occurring.

7. Make sure back door is unlocked so that the water buckets in the house do not need to be carried through the house, out the front door, and around to the back where the burn pit is located. 

We keep six 5-gallon buckets full of water for use for when the pressure drops too low and we don't have running water available. 

The thorns, with 30% humidity and upper 80's weather, gave a critical mass for a large fire, very fast.

 Soon it was spreading to dry grass as Cory ran for a water bucket. Filled to about a gallon was not enough, second bucket filled fuller and left the spigot running this time into another bucket.

Yelled for Kris to get help as the fire could be seen rapidly growing. 

The bucket put out most of the fire as several students quickly arrived with another small bucket of water. Kris arrived with a 5 gallon bucket from the house as well. 

 In a minute the fire was out.

After church Sunday Cory detoured to check the avocado tree and noticed a couple fruits on the ground under the tree so Monday he went with two of the students to harvest the ripest fruits.

The resident at the apartment had been keeping seeds as requested so we brought back about 80 seeds and 120 avocados.

There were probably 800-1,000 fruits on the tree.

The yield was lower the past two years and this may be a seedling tree but the quality and flavor is excellent and it could be a 'Hass' avocado.