Donkey’s friend that we wanted to hire to help Donkey haul blocks could not come today because he had to go to his farm. Donkey said that he and Mr. Iddrisu would start hauling the blocks without the extra manpower. We knew that meant Donkey would be moving all the blocks himself. Today Donkey moved 200 blocks by himself. We decided to call Red and tell him that we did not want him to make any more blocks at his house because moving the blocks was going to kill Donkey! Red came to the house to discuss the problem. He said that he could not mold the blocks at the mission house because he already had the sand and cement packed down at his house and he has a hand dug well so the water is there also. When “Plan A” did not work we went to “Plan B” which was to hire someone with a motor king to haul the blocks. The guy was going to charge 70 Pesewas per block to pick up the block and put them in the motor king and he was going to charge another 70 Pesewas to take them out of the motor king. Please, that was totally unacceptable! Now 70 Pesewas does not sound like a lot but it would add 1 Cedi 40 Pesewas to the cost of each block. Multiply that by 3,000 blocks and all of a sudden it turns into a lot of money! 1.40 Pesewas is 9 cents per block; and .09 x 3,000 blocks = $270. There is no way we want to increase the cost of the next building project by 270 dollars before we even get started on the work! In case you were wondering, a cement block costs 7.50 Cedis which equals 49 Cents. Yes, I am cheap, cheap, cheap and proud of it!
At the end of the discussion we decided to continue as we were doing and hire someone to help Donkey move the blocks. If we hire day labor we can get the blocks hauled for about 4 Cents per block. Enough of that! Did I tell you that we hate building projects?
We still have no electricity. Red said he saw someone that had a crane truck today; he is hopeful that it is the electric company’s truck but it could very well be it is the one that the Eastern Corridor road workers are using.
Meri was late for work this morning because she had to stop by the funeral grounds before she came to work. We are just happy that she came to work! She looked nice this morning all dressed up in her “going to a funeral” clothes.
Our neighbor, Mr. Oldman, stopped by for a visit this afternoon; he was dressed in traditional clothes. We asked him where he was going and he said he was not going anywhere special but that from time to time he just feels like getting dressed up and wearing the traditional clothing.
Enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom caught me today with my hands in Dad’s ice tea glass! If she had not caught me I might have fished out an ice cube! She cannot keep a secret! As soon as Dad walked in the room she ratted me out! I have to call “foul play” on that one! That is double jeopardy! Now I was in trouble with both the parents! If she had kept quiet Dad would never have known!
Did I tell you that I have some sort of rash on my face? The parents have diagnosed it as Impetigo! Really are they veterinarians? Dad looked up a cure for it and Mom has been putting some sort of antifungal cream on my face. I don’t have to worry about having a fungus on my tongue because I lick it off almost as fast as Mom can rub it in. My face does feel better. I can tell you why I have a rash on my face; it is because when I am left alone in my jail I sit and chew on the metal burglar mesh and it irritates my face. I like to chew on it because it makes a popping sound. This is just another reason that I should never be left alone in my jail cell!
I don’t particularly like Zorash but she is growing on me. For the past couple of weeks she has been sitting across the table from Mom at the Child Center cutting fabric scraps. Mostly I ignore her and she ignores me. But today we had a breakthrough! She was drinking out of a sachet of bagged water and I reached over and stole it from her. She said, “Ok, you can have it.” Later on she held out her hand to me and I put my hand in hers. Just before it was time for the Center to close I grabbed her shirt and helped myself to some of her fabric scraps. We might be friends after all!
No More Iced Tea for Me!
Love, Skeeter
