It’s a small personal victory, hoisting the windsock pole over Matekane’s western end with a new windsock proudly unfolding into the brisk winter wind. The windsock pole weighs a ton! Something like my own personal Mount Suribachi for this former Marine turned missionary pilot. Replacing windsocks regularly keeps us safe though, despite the mission to lift a heavy pole.

It’s a quick job, but I’ll need help. It generally takes four grown men to gently lower the 30 pound windsock “hanger” to the ground. Trouble is it’s attached to a 15-foot-long steel pole, so mathematically that’s in the 450+ pound range! Raising it back up in position is a feat, especially when volunteers are scarce!

What should have been a proud moment, admiring our accomplishment correctly indicating wind speed and direction, quickly became a moment of embarrassment when I realized I had somehow installed the windsock inside out! “Maybe no one will notice!” I reason. And with just a few volunteers on the ground, I don’t want to bring this behemoth down and back up again. I’ll just be quick to replace this windsock when it shows the first signs of wear – usually about a year.

Of all the windsocks to last well beyond expectations, the inside-out windsock did its job superbly.

That was over two years ago! My constant reminder outlasted its brother windsock, stationed on the other end of the airstrip (changed the same day), by almost a year! Though it represented the wind correctly, it always bothered me that I had been so careless.

Today was retirement day for the Energizer inside-out windsock. With three volunteer herd boys (men), we brought that pole down and got a new one installed. This time, I was careful to make sure it was right-side out! And as we stood back to admire our handiwork, I had the thought that maybe inside-out windsocks aren’t so bad after all.