For all intents and purposes the wall project is finished! The rain that we got last night caused the weather to be much cooler this morning. When we got up it was 75 degrees outside; can you imagine how lovely that felt after having a month of over 100 degree days? Steve had to take the motor king to the welder and have the hinges on the tailgate welded and he also had the foot rest under the gear shifter welded. He did not realize that the gear shifter had been bent, thus causing the foot rest to break loose. After the foot rest was fixed the shifter would not shift because it hit the foot rest. He tried unsuccessfully to re-bent the shifter but ended up going to town to buy a new one. Meanwhile the masons were without sand and cement blocks. After I hauled the cement to the back of the property I hung around and let the men load cement blocks in the truck. I just drove and the men did the work. At one point they told me that I had hauled enough and they would call me after they took their break! Excuse me! I let them know that this was a one time thing and that I was not coming back after their break to do anything! It was out of the goodness of my heart that I was out there in the first place. They should have been grateful that I saved them from hauling the blocks in the wheelbarrows. By 10:00 Steve had the motor king up and running.
One of the women that started working on the wall project 2 weeks ago was very pregnant. Her job was to haul blocks, mortar and water. She has not come to work for a few days. Dawda told us today that she had the baby this morning. These are some tough people!
We got enough rain to fill the cistern ¾ of the way full; so wonderful. When the ladies came to work this morning they were so happy that they are not going to have to buy water today. They said that they caught all of their jerry cans, buckets and pots full of water. Everything looks so nice and green because the rain washed the dust off the plants. Dawda said that the wall would be stronger because of the rain. Speaking of the wall; Steve and I walked around and counted the blocks that the mason put up. We are paying them by the block so we had to know how many blocks were laid. We are walling in around 10 acres. They set 8,946 blocks. There were 14 to 18 people on the job each day. They have to come back and add a few “T” posts that they missed for the razor wire and to patch a few holes. Dawda said that he will come back in a few days to finish up. We are proud to have that job finished!!
Keep us and the work in your prayers!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
