When Mr. Iddrisu got to work this morning, he told me that we had not paid the taxes for the Social Security. It was due by the 14th of August so we were not very late; there are usually no penalties attached to the Social Security payments. We pay it by check for 3 months at a time. We quickly wrote a check and sent him to the office to pay it. He was gone forever! I was worried that something had gone wrong or that they refused the check! You know how your mind runs all sorts of rabbits when things don’t go exactly as planned! When he finally came back, he said that he had no problem paying the taxes but the internet was down so they could not fully process the payment; he is supposed to go back in the morning and get the receipt.
When the laptop died and we lost all the data, we lost last year’s Social Welfare report. Steve will use last year’s report to get the statistics to add to the new report that he is working on. We have a hard copy of the report but we really need it saved on the computer so I spent the morning and part of the afternoon re-typing the report. We could have scanned it into a file but if we do that it cannot be edited. Anyway, we don’t have the software for that type of editing. I had so many interruptions that I only got 10 pages typed. I have 3 pages left. Guess what I am doing after supper?
The mason called Timothy today and we are trying to make arrangements for him to start work on the building at Kulkpeni tomorrow. We are going to go to Tamale tomorrow so we will have to depend upon Timothy to organize the work. We agreed on a price with the mason whereby he will pay the masons, day laborers, pay for their chop and their drinking water. This should free Timothy and us up to do other things. We only contracted like this once before but it did not work well; it was when we were putting up the first section of cement wall at the mission house. The contractor said he would do it for 5,000 Cedis and by the time he was half way finished with the job he was crying that he had used all of his money and that we were going to have to add more to finish the job. It was very annoying to say the least! We are drawing up a contract for the mason to sign in hopes that will help.
Tichak, one of the night watchmen, is going to take part of his annual leave; he needs the time off to harvest his peanuts and to weed his corn. Kwabena, the other watchman will cover the days he is gone.
Have fun!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom boiled field corn today and I thought it was grand! It was so mature that she had to boil it for hours, seriously she put it on at 7:00 this morning and it cooked until 11:30. Just goes to show that almost anything will get soft if it is cooked long enough. After that long of a cooking time there could have been no nutritional value left in it. Mom picked the individual kernels of corn off the cob for me so I did not have to get my hands dirty trying to pick them off myself! Mom loves me!
I did not go to the Child Center to work this morning; I stayed in the office with Mom while she was typing! I am such a good helper!
I had to go in the time out box twice this morning, not because I was biting but because I have started hitting! Yes, I have decided that when I don’t get my way or something that I am not supposed to have gets taken away from me and I am annoyed I can reach out and smack the offender in the face! This reaction to my annoyance is not going over very well! In my defense I have just about learned to control my biting. If I can’t bite, how am I supposed to show that I am not happy with what is going on? The parents are not taking kindly to my hitting so today I was put in the time out box 2 times. I am always remorseful when I come out of the box and try to groom whoever I was in trouble with! I hope you feel sorry for me; I am pretty pitiful when I am inside the box!
No Hitting! No Biting! What will be next?
Love, Skeeter
