We watched the most talented man today. He was using his chainsaw to cut boards out of the teak trees that the electric company pushed down in the neighbor’s yard. The boards were cut very straight and almost the same thickness all the way down the length of the log. First he cut the trees into 8 foot sections and then he cut all 4 edges off the logs and made them into squares. After that he started slicing off the boards. He was using a Stihl chainsaw with a 36 inch blade. The lumber he cut was about 10 inches wide and about 1 ½ inches thick. He had a piece of thin cotton rope that he kept in a tin can with some oil. The rope had nails attached to both ends. He used the rope to snap a straight line so he would know where to make his next cut. He stopped about every 4 cuts to re-sharpen his chain. He had triangular wedges that he used to keep the logs straight and keep them from rolling. This was obviously not his first time cutting lumber! He allowed us to take a video of him working. The video is very loud because the chainsaw was very loud.
We started entering receipts for September this morning. Mid way through the morning the auditor man from SSNIT (Social Security) came to the mission house to do an annual audit of the books. Please these people make me so nervous; they never find anything wrong but it is still an anxiety inducing process. Especially with the new system of doing everything for GRA (IRS) on line on the computer because when we are not in the country we have to rely on someone from the GRA office to file for us and sometimes they do not transfer the filing information to the memory stick so we can print the particulars at a later date. After about an hour, Steve and the guy signed the paperwork and the man went away to check on his next client.
When he left Mr. Iddrisu and I sat down and got all the documents that we had pulled for him re-filed and the receipts organized and back in order so we will be ready for the next go around. The SSNIT people pop in more than once a year. I think that they have a quota they have to fill and ours is easy to check.
Well, a month has passed and still we have not received our building permit. We have no idea what the holdup is but we are getting tired of waiting.
Nazo did not come to work today because today is the beginning of the second Dunbar festival. Today is the day for rice picking. Rice picking is about the only job that men do that has anything to do with cooking or preparing food. All the important men from the palace gather to participate in the rice picking. They actually pour out big bags of rice on the floor; sit around the rice and pick out the stones before it is sent to the ladies to cook for the festival.
Hope you have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
