Still in Limbo

Hi to all of my few readers;

I am still in the US. It turns out that the security clearance and background check I asked for months ago is really necessary for me to deploy to Afghanistan. Without the background check making sure I'm not a 'wife beating, shoplifting, drug using terrorist candidate' I cant go into a war zone and do good deeds. I got an amendment to my contract which included the missing pieces, downloaded it, printed it, filled it out, scanned it, saved it, and resent it in 15 minutes. This is a world record for me in the world of IT!

While we're at the changes I'm undergoing I should add that my wife, Krista, and I went to the mall (about 2 time a year for me under duress!) and bought a 'droid' phone. Since the advent of portable phones I have had one, but reluctantly. This new phone is a 'necessity', so to speak, because it has international calling and a whole lot of extras. It means that if I can keep it in Afghanistan or have access to it I will be able to speak, skype and download e-mails. It is big, bulky and I'm pretty sure it'll scratch my back if I download the correct app.

Other topics: Fred (our more or less permanent intern) and I have perfected the deep well hand pump kit. The original kit still works well, but we had some concerns...we have redesigned the cylinder - the new cylinder is half of the length of the original 12" cylinder and has no bolt holes. This is a labor savings, but also prevents any possibility of leaking from those holes. We have a new cable tension adjuster that allows you to tension the cable without using the cable clamps! One turn of an included allen wrench allows the cable to be set to the proper tension. We are having the cylinders bored at a friend's motorcycle shop. This saves the step of turning the sliding check valve and gives an overall better/more accurate 'fit' between the sliding check valve and the cylinder wall. We were concerned about the possibility of getting contaminants into the drop pipe. To solve this we took the old cup leather assembly and drilled the cage and check valve to accommodate the cable. This assembly gets installed at the top of the pitcher pump cylinder and pretty much eliminates the chance of having dirt or a mouse from getting into the drop pipe. We are also including two 1 1/4 'stand pipe clamps' with each kit. These allow the pump assembly and drop pipe to be held on the top of the well pipe without human assistance.

We are continuing the prototyping of our "Ram Pump Kit"...more on this project later...but it is really neat!

-Jim-