The masons wore out 3 shovels on this job. After the workers went home this evening we went to town in search of shovels. We wanted the metal handled shovels because the men are so rough that they break the handles out of the wooden ones. While we were out we bought the drain material; we are going to slant the floor ever so slightly and put drains in so that if it rains or we want to wash the cement floors it will be easier to get rid of the water. As soon as the mason got here this morning we helped them set up the next sets of pillar boxes. We needed the pillars to be 13 feet high; the pillar boxes are 2 feet tall and 2 ½ feet tall; Dawda was surprised when we told him he could use 4 – 2 foot boxes and 2 – 2 ½ foot boxes and get the perfect 13 feet.
After we got the pillar boxes set we opened the Child Center. Zorash was not here today and Steve had to go to town to get 2 of the vehicle’s VELD stickers renewed (road worthy stickers).
Shortly before noon Dawda, the mason, called and said he needed us to come back to help him with a problem. In Dawda’s defense he has never built an 8 sided building that has only half walls. He wanted to know how he was going to figure out how to make the walls and the pillars all level. The pillars are various heights because some were buried deeper than others. All the pillars have rebar sticking out of their tops. We showed him how to tie a small rope on the rebar and pull a line between the pillars and check it with the level to make sure it is level all the way around. They can add cement to the tops of the pillars to build up the ones that need it. Once Dawda figured it out he ran with it. He was impressed when he connected the last pillar to the first one and the string was at the same point and the lines were still reading level.
Red stopped by this evening and collected the money to make the rebar inserts for the lintel boxes. He plans on starting them tomorrow. He is going to do part of the work at his house and the rest on site. The building is looking good.
Today is Yendi’s big market day; we did not need food from the market but I did want to try to find a king sized pillow case. We have a king sized pillow that does not have a pillow case that fits it. I like the pillow and am tired of sleeping with the end of the pillow hanging out. I tried putting 2 pillow cases on it but they don’t like to stay. On market day a vendor comes that sells used bedding. I usually only buy things like tablecloths and zippered pillow cases for fabric scraps; after digging through piles of stuff in the hot sun I did find a pillowcase. Lucky me!
Take care and have a great day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
