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Today we had to move all the painted trusses across the road to the warehouse site and assemble them in pairs. Each pair gets lifted into place by the crane.

These trusses weigh about 400 pounds each so it's a hefty load for us to carry. With eight or ten guys it's not so bad. The real challenge comes when two are welded together with the five foot spacers and we have to carry them from the assembly jig to set them aside for the crane.

It was still very windy today! The land is very dry and you would not believe the dust storms. Some of us had dust masks to wear and others wrapped bandanas around their faces. I'm not sure whether we looked like mercenaries or bank robbers! Well, we have to be "flexible" and we do what is necessary to get the job done.

Of course during all this construction the school on the property continues on. There are 300 children enrolled this year and grade seven has been added to accommodate those from grade six last year. I assume grade eight will be added next year.

Part of the kids routine is some physical exercise. The picture on the left shows them going through part of their routine. The big kid on the right is our own Penny Southworth joining in the fun.

The following pictures depict the installation of the first set of trusses. We had ropes tied to the four ends and two tied higher up. This was to facilitate the rotation and orientation once in the air. The higher ropes were to keep it from blowing over in the 30 to 40 mph winds. I was afraid we might be pulling too hard and have it fall towards us but it never happened. The first one was the most difficult and after it was up we started bracing them together.

Pictured to the right is Eric Jolin on one of the guide ropes

And while all this was going on the ladies continued to paint the last of the 21 trusses which we will carry over tomorrow. We will all need a good night's sleep tonight!

The bike shop is coming along. I didn't see too much of it myself but I did stop by once and they were making a good headway unpacking bikes and getting drywall up. Don Hay says the shop should be open by Wednesday and they will start training mechanics too.

These last two pictures show the 8 trusses up and our arc welder up on the ladder putting in the spacer bars.