Around Forfar

OK, we are not always talking about, or learning about renewable energy here at Forfar. We do spend time hanging out in the lodge, playing cards, domino’s, scrabble, etc, and taking in the local sights and scenes. Here are few pictures.

Terpy is a local lady who comes in each evening and set's up a small concession stand in the lodge. She offers cokes, candy, jewelry, and other treats for sale to the students.

Forfar Interns

The day to day operations of the Forfar Field Station is handled by a dedicated staff of interns. They manage getting groups on and off the station, logistics of food, fuel, and other necessities, teach classes, facilitate trips, and generally make the place go. They work hard at what they do and were very helpful to us as we worked to get our projects done.

In the backrow we have Leslie, Katie, Lindsey, Megan, Ryan (String), and Bob. In the front row we have Brock, TJ, Rob, and Ryan (Red)

Bahamian Food & Staff Pictures

The food at Forfar is good and no one but the picky eaters go away hungry. Last night the cooks prepared a traditional Bahamian supper for us. Pidgeon Peas and Rice (spiced with coconut milk), Baked macaroni and cheese, Conch fritters (think hush puppies with bits of conch mixed in) and fried grouper (fresh catch with special thanks to Ricardo Riley our maintenance chief). Yummmmmm! Here are a few snaps fo the Forfar staff.

This is Catherine White. She is a bit camera shy but agreed to a picture when I told her I'd make her famous as a cook on the internet. She takes care of breakfast each morning working with Mrs. Fowler.









Here is Portia Riley and Elthy Mae Murphy. These are the ladies who put together the AWSOME Bahamian meal for us. Portia told us she is one of 20 children in her family, born to one woman and one man. She grew up on a farm just north of Stafford Creek. Elthy lives in Stafford Creek and is the mother of three children.


This is Jan Gibson. Jan is our housekeeper in charge of the lodge. She also takes care of our laundry at the station. She resides in Stafford Creek and is always bubbly a bubbly morning person.



This is Joyce Fowler. Always stylish in the kitchen with her hat for the day. She makes all of our sandwich and sweet bread too. I heard stories that if one of the gents happen into the ktichen without their shirt on, they are likely to get a towel snapped on their backside as a reminder that shirts are required. Mrs Fowler has been with Forfar for 20+ years.



This is Maxwell Roberts (aka Daddy Cool) He provides security for Forfar in the evenings from 6:00 PM to midnight. He makes sure everything is locked down for the night and "everthing stays cool". Max is also the pastor of the Miracle Church of God in Stafford Creek.

It Never Rains on Andros In January

We woke to a clear day and set about pumping out our final anchor hole for pouring. Due to the high tide it soon became clear that we could not bail or pump fast enough to keep up with the water so we bagged the pour till the tide went down.

Back in the classroom we began our work on solar thermal systems, and then went down to study the hot water heating system at the Forfar motel. We are formulating our plan for monioting and modifying the system to improve performance.

After lunch we headed out to pour peir #4. We just finished the pour when the rain moved in. So we covered our work, gathere our tools, and headed back to the classroom looking like a bunch of drowned rats. The rain stayed with us till late in the afternoon and though we were anxious to get back out and finish our work, the weather looked iffy so we decided to wait till tomorrow to finish our concrete work.

We learned two things today. You can't fight the tide, and if you want a weather forecast ask Ricardo, not Pete. We did get to enjoy a lovely rainbow at the end of our day.

Bahamian Concrete 101

After our day and night of rain we woke to a lovely day. Our holes were filled with water but Pete Davidson loaned us a bilge pump and we pumped one of them out and started to work. In the US we typically call the concrete compnay and tell them how many yards we need, they back the truck up to the site, and start pouring directly from the truck. Not so here on Andros.

Ricardo is the maintenance chief here at the staion,working here at Forfar for going on 22 years now. He gave gave us a lesson in how concrete is mixed here on the island, instructing us on the finer points of dry mixing the materials first then forming a tray from the dry mix, adding water and turning it into a strong concrete mix. In the US we would add small gravel to the mix. Here we simply drop in some concrete mix and then drop in the large baseball to football size stones to the mix. Repeat, repeat, repeat. The sand here is carbonate based (rather than silica)as is the stone we are tossing in. In addition the carbonate stone is pourous and irregular, so it sucks up the concrete for a strong bond. Since carbonate is the base material of Portland cement the final Bahamian concrete pour is super strong.

Building Rebar Cages

Five of the students are enrolled in the Cultural Studies class and they went off with Pete for lecture and walk/talk down to the Maritime Arts and Inspiration Center. Aaron, Tommy, and I began construction of the rebar cages. The weather was not cooperative, blowing at 20 - 25 knots, so we did our work in the wind shade in back of the odge. We finished our work in time for lunch and then the rain set in. It continued to rain horizontally the balance of the day. Note: My compouter died this weekend so picture posts are delayed but we will catch them up soon.

The Beat Goes On

It was back to work today. We are trying to finalize our digging and be ready to pour concrete on Monday. Our missing rebar came in on the flight today so we should be good to go. We're are having one issue that we did not expect. Some of our foundation holes fill with water at high tide, and empty out at low tide. So we will do it the Bahamian way, and go with the flow. Concrete pour starts at low tide.