The Numbers Game

Today's blog starts with a skill-testing question:

The ladies' work in the morning ended with the number 250. What would this be?

a) 250 sweat glands activated

b) 250 bricks carried from the stock pile to the duplex

c) 250 new muscles discovered

The answer is b). c) may also prove to be true; only time will tell. The ladies spent the morning helping the Haitian men build the walls of the duplex. It was hot, difficult work. One by one the 45-55 lb bricks were carried to a spot in the duplex near where the walls were being built. They learned quickly to avoid the dust of the concrete cutter and to check the bricks for stowaways. One of the ladies carried a brick to the pile, slung it up to the top, and only then discovered that a 5-6" black spider had come along for the ride. Other bricks harboured several tiny crickets.

Not to be outdone by the upper body exercise, it had rained 1" the night before, and the ladies' calves got a workout with a thick layer of clay under their footwear.

In the afternoon, the ladies finished painting 60 sections of fence in the compound and around the elementary school. They were surprised to see the words of "encouragement" the Haitian children had left in chalk on the boards that had received a first coat of paint the day before.

The men completed an important project today. They replaced the roof on the carport. It was a challenge to remove all the decaying leaves and over-ripe fruit from the old roof before replacing it with a nice bright red tin roof. No one fell off the ladder, although the odds were in favour of that.

Tomorrow's plans include a trip to Jacmel. Stay tuned.

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