The high temperature today was 112 degrees with a heat index of 123 degrees! We decided not to go for our morning walk; instead we cleaned up the yard. All the scraps from the carpenters and some of the thatch ropes were littering the yard. We wanted Donkey’s wife to have the wood scraps and Donkey said that he was going to use the thatch ropes to make a small house for his chickens to sleep in. The carpenters did not come to work today and neither did Donkey so the compound was quiet. We love a quiet compound but that also means that we don’t have any help. We knew if we wanted to beat the heat we were going to have to get out early to pick up the yard. We had an overflowing truck after we got everything picked up. We took the load to Donkey’s house. The front gate was open but everything was very quiet. Steve went to the back of the house to see if he could find anyone. Finally Donkey came out of his house in his underwear with no shirt. He had been sleeping; it was about 9:00. We have figured out that some people get up at 5:00 to get ready to pray and as soon as prayers are over they go back to bed. A few minutes later Amina, Donkey’s wife came around the corner of the house with a 5 gallon container of water on her head. I don’t know where she had to go to get the water but she had a heavy load! Amina was happy to see the scraps; she does all of her cooking outside on a wood fire.
We had several errands to run this morning so as soon as we dumped the wood at Donkey’s house we headed to town. We needed eggs and we were looking for decaffeinated coffee but we did not find any. We will have to pick up some next time we go to Tamale. We bought some but when we got back to the mission house we realized that it was not decaffeinated.
The carpenter thinks that he will finish the round houses tomorrow; we decided that we did not want the men to work on Sunday because we are going to be visiting one of the churches and will not be here to assist with the work or buy additional items that they might need. While we were in town today we ran into Baba, one of the carpenters, and told him that there would be no work on Sunday. He acted like he understood but no one really knows for sure! Ha!
Take care and enjoy your weekend; we heard that there are lots of storms coming! Stay safe!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
I got stuck on the roof of the mission house this afternoon! I could see Dad but I could not get to him. It was too far for me to jump to the ground and there were no trees around for me to jump to. I was crying for help! Mom and Dad walked with me all around the house until I found a safe place to jump down. I jumped down into one of the bushes; it was a long drop and I sort of landed on my shoulder but I am fine now!
Today while Mom and Dad were loading the scraps of wood in the truck I was playing around in the big mango tree. I have found that I can launch myself out of the mango tree and land on top of the paint shed! The tin roof makes an awesome sound when I land. This morning I walked the new rafters on the round house. I decided that I should climb up the electric wires. Mom was so worried that I would get up on the pole and get electrocuted! I heard her tell Dad not to say anything or try to make me come down or I might climb all the way up on the big pole. They have seen bats that get fried on those wires. Mom and Dad started heading to the main house calling me. My fear of being left alone is worse than my desire to climb. I quickly followed them to a safer area!
No Fried Monkeys!
Love, Skeeter
