John, the mason, tried to put an apron on the backside of one of the older buildings this morning. The water passes by the back of the house and the erosion is eating away at the foundation; we need an apron to secure the building. The neighbor woman told him that he could not put the footer on the building because she had planted green leaves in that area; this is the same lady that we had trouble with earlier when we were building the wall. John said nothing to the lady but he pulled his men from working in that area. He is going to have the church members talk to her. It is not the church’s fault that she planted right up against the building. Her green leaves will continue to produce as long as we get rain or as long as she wants to irrigate them! Please, if it is not one thing it is 2 other things! Needless to say, the mason did not get as much done today as they hoped to.
We have to go back to Tamale tomorrow so we bought extra cement, sand, rough gravel, rebar and roofing sheets. We tried to think of anything that they might need while we are gone. Timothy Niligrini is also going with us to Tamale; he is the one the masons go to when we are not around.
Donkey’s son Zimblim’s legs are looking better; he got another injection but the person that gave him the injection would not tell him what he was injecting him with. We have about decided that the person giving the injections is not a doctor but a nurse that is pretending to be a doctor.
Mr. Iddrisu’s leg / foot is still swollen. He has been painting the kitchen. When I walked in the kitchen the smell about knocked me over! I actually went out to catch my breath! I looked around for a dead mouse; I smelled the garbage can, I checked the refrigerator to make sure that it was still working and nothing had gone bad in there. I noticed the smell was worse when I got near Mr. Iddrisu. I wondered if he had had an accident and soiled himself! It was awful! I finally asked him if his foot was stinking! Sometimes infections can stink! He laughed and said no it was no his foot was not stinking; he said that Amama asked him the same thing! I asked him if he could smell the stink; he said he could not. I kept smelling around and then I asked him if the paint was rotten. He said, “Maybe.” I grabbed the paint bucket and sure enough the paint was spoiled. This paint is sort of like a chalky white wash paint. They use their hands to mix it and whatever water they can find. It does not take long for the paint to sour! Problem solved! The souring of the paint does not hurt it; it just is very offensive to your nose.
Thank you for the love, prayers and support!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom and I washed off the patio at the front of the house this morning! It was great fun! I have never deliberately gotten into any body of water! I get enough of the near drowning experience when Mom gives me a bath but today, I was feeling very adventuresome! As Mom washed the clothes, she bailed out the wash water and carried it outside to pour on the patio. The parents normally use it to water the plants and flush the toilet but since we have had an abundance of rain Mom used it to wash off the dirt. The water backed up in the gutter that wraps around the house. The backed-up water was too much for me to resist! At first, I just looked in the water; did you know that you can see your reflection in the water? How cool is that? Then I got a little bolder and jumped down in the gutter at the shallow end just to get my hands wet. The longer she poured and swept the water into the gutter the bolder I got. Then I started jumping in the gutter and running a few feet through it. I did not stay in the water long; I jumped out and climbed up on the barbecue barrel. I had the grandest time! I was muddy from head to foot! Mom decided to make playing in the water even more fun by dropping in plastic toys that would float! Just when I thought I was having the most fun any little monkey could have Mom added toys to the mix!
I am still not going to take a bath!
Love, Skeeter
