When they stopped digging the pit yesterday it did not have water in the bottom but today when they continued digging the pit started oozing water. They wanted to make the pit 6 feet deep; I am not sure how far they dug before the water started coming up but it is close to 6 feet. We are not worried about the water because cement needs water to become hard. There is only about an inch or so of water in the pit. The masons mix the cement on the ground by hand; there are no cement trucks here. We told John, the mason, that he should pour the cement and gravel in the pit with the water and mix it on the floor of the pit. The cement and gravel will suck up the water and the masons will not have so much work to do! John thought that was a good idea. The diggers started working on the other pit this morning. This one might be a little harder to dig because there are several trees in that area and where there are trees there are tree roots. We still have not received the load of gravel that we bought last week. The guy we bought it from is the middle man; he said that the end loader that digs the gravel did not go to the gravel pit this week. John said that he is going to start molding blocks out of the gravel from the pit tomorrow but that is what he said yesterday.
A few days ago, we went to visit the Mion-Lana (a high ranking chief); so today he sent one of his elders to come and thank us for the visit. In turn for his thank you, we had to send a small monetary gift back to him so that he knows the elder actually brought his thank you message to us. The elder was waiting for Donkey when he went to the palace this afternoon. It would be against protocol for the elder to come to visit us without someone to lead him!
Red stopped by a few minutes ago; he is going to build the metal doors for the toilets at Kulkpeni for us. He has 8 doors to make. He said that he is not busy right now and that he will start them tomorrow. He is a funny guy; he told us that the price he gave per door included everything, material, workmanship, locks, hinges and painting. We agreed on the price and then he said he would need us to buy the paint and the turpentine. Really! I quickly told him that he would have to reduce the price if I was going to have to buy the paint and turpentine. How could it be included if I had to buy it? He explained that the labor for painting them was included but he needed help buying the paint and turpentine.
Take care, have fun, keep smiling!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I bit Mom first thing this morning and had to go in that hateful time-out box! I have been doing pretty good and have had a couple days that I did not have to visit the box at all. Mom says that I am just like a little kid; I have to revisit the bad behavior just to see if I can get away with it and if the consequences are still there. After my stint in the time-out box, I was able to behave myself beautifully!
We watched an episode of “Call the Midwife” this afternoon before I took my nap. That show is easy for me to watch because there are no guns, no horses, no fighting and no scary parts. I did see a dog today and that was very concerning to me! I was sure that it was going to jump out of the TV and get me! I prefer calm shows rather than the action ones that Dad sometimes watches!
Donkey piled more dirt around my jail cell today but he just piled it there; he still has not leveled it; talk about a trip hazard!
Love, Skeeter
