John, the mason, got the floor poured over the pits of the second toilet today. He said that he was very tired today because the sun was so hot! We have not had any rain for close to a week. The block molders came again today and molded 510 blocks. John hired the diggers to come back and start digging the footer on the back of the church property; he so desperately wants to keep the people from passing through. He said that while he waits for the floor to dry, he is going to cast the footer. He said that his plan was to use part of the day to set blocks on the toilet and part to build the wall. We will see how well his plan works out. He said that it is hard for him to get as much work done as he wants to because the people from the village want to stand around and look at the toilets, watch him work and ask him questions about what he is building because they have never seen a toilet built like this before.
Tichak’s son came to work after school today so we only paid him for half a day’s work because that is all he did and we did not give him food money because he only worked a few hours. He misses the extra money so he was begging us to give him food money on top of his pay. We do not actually pay him. He is paid by John and we reimburse John for the money he pays him. John is a softy; I would not be surprised if tomorrow John tells us that he felt sorry for him and gave him his food money.
Mr. Iddrisu continues to paint inside the house. He is using oil paint to paint the cabinets; the house stinks so bad; he uses so much turpentine that the paint is like water. He is painting white on white cabinets and they still need 3 coats of paint! He is so slow and he has to stop painting at 12:00 because his back hurts. Today Steve told him that he did not have to put a second coat of paint on one of the cabinets just to speed him up. Steve desperately wants to get the house put back together. You know how it is when you do a job like that; everything in the house gets misplaced and you spend half of your time hunting for stuff!
Donkey is still worried about those bees. This morning, he said that he had an idea; he said that we should hire the agricultural people to come with their backpack sprayer and climb up and spray the bees at night! Really! Now, you want people climbing a tree in the night with a backpack sprayer to kill bees? Bees can still sting you in the night! This morning while he was raking, he said that one of the bees chased him. I got the rake and raked the area under the bees and none of them even paid me the time of day! The hive has been there a while because they are free forming the honeycomb on the outside of the tree. Donkey also got stung by a red wasp today; did he hunt for that nest? No, because he is afraid of them too.
Please keep us and the work in your prayers!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom got up around 5:00 this morning, so guess what she did? She took me out of my jail cell and let me play on the front veranda and yard while she washed clothes and got the corn and soybeans ready to roast! I had a glorious time! The lights on the veranda stay on all night for security; you will not believe how many bugs were on the veranda and in the gutter. Now, I am not bragging about eating any of them but the birds were on the veranda with me and they were gorging themselves! I had fun jumping on them and catching them but I am not sure some of them are safe to eat so I let the birds have them all; I don’t want to be sick! I have a delicate system! Every so often Mom would bring me out a treat so I had plenty to eat and I had my first bottle at 6:30 this morning! All was well with my world until Mom turned on that corn roaster; I hate that thing! I am sure that it is going to jump off the veranda and get me! It has a big wheel and I can’t keep my eyes off it; it looks like it is coming straight at me! The thing ran non-stop for 6 hours!
Someone needs to call the police about the “noise pollution” that corn roaster is making!
Love, Skeeter
