We finally tried out the new and improved corn roaster. It worked beautifully! The corn and soybeans can either be roasted with firewood or with propane. Today we opted for propane. We did not even have to move the roaster off of the veranda. Since no one had ever used propane to roast corn we had no idea what temperature we should cook at or how long it would take. We decided to err on the side of caution and start with a lower temperature. The first batch took 3 hours to cook which is longer than it would take with firewood so the second batch we cranked up the heat and it cooked in 2 hours. The corn and soybeans were so evenly browned. When we use firewood and hand turning the cooker develops hot spots and burns some of the kernels. We loaded the cooker with between 50 and 60 pounds of grain. The motor was amazing; it never bogged down one time. It just kept plugging along. It ran for 5 hours straight. We made a heat shield between the heat source and the motor. The metal shield never got too hot for us to put our hand on it. Red put wheels on the cooker because it is very heavy and he added wheelbarrow handles to make it easier to move from place to place. After all was done and said we have invested a lot of money in the roaster but it will serve us well for years to come! We are very pleased with its performance!
Donkey was back at work this morning; he is still complaining about his waist pains. We thought he should go to the doctor but he said that he knows what caused the pains. We were expecting him to say that he had lifted something heavy or had been cutting firewood or something that might hurt your back but instead he said that the pains are from the sugar that they put in the drinking water at the palace. He said that they put sugar in the water as a treat to those who visit the palace. It is the custom here in Ghana to always offer guests that come to visit water to drink; the water at the palace is even more special than regular drinking water because it contains sugar. Nazo spends part of each day at the palace. Hence the reason he has waist / back pain.
This afternoon we went to town and hunted down Gomda the mechanic. We needed to firm up our plans for tomorrow. We want to get Gomda a driver’s license so that when Red is out of pocket we will have someone that can drive us to Tamale and back. My brother Paul is coming to Ghana in June and his trip coincides with our trip out. Red will be with Paul on the other side of Ghana when it is time for us to go to the airport in Tamale to fly home. We have moved on to “Plan B” which is to get someone else a driver’s license. Gomda is a mechanic and he drives all the time in all sorts of vehicles; he just never has gotten a driver’s license. Our personal driver’s licenses go out next month so while we are at the driver’s license office we are going to try to get ours renewed. Wish us luck!
Enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
Skeeter’s Monkey Business
The hunger strike paid off! I told you I was not going to eat those mashed potato porridge stuff that Mom fixed up and I did not! I held out long enough that she made me luscious corn porridge. I have been gorging myself on corn porridge all day! YUM! I have to make up for the calories I missed out on yesterday.
I had another exhausting day! They were outside most of the day working on the weaning mix. The sound of the motor running for 5 hours was mind numbing not to mention the sound of that corn being stirred in the roaster. Then there were people everywhere and Donkey had to sweep right up next to the veranda where we were sitting. I felt sure that the broom/rake he was using was going to jump out of his hands and get me! After a lunch of corn porridge I took a good long nap. I am a baby! I am allowed to take as many naps a day as I need. I find it difficult to take a nap in my laundry basket; I much prefer to sleep in the curve of someone’s arm so I can hide my face when things are not just right!
I have found that I like the yellow melons. Yellow melons are sort of like a very firm honey dew melon but the outside skin is bright yellow. No matter how ripe they get they are still crunchy. I started eating them yesterday and I might not have enjoyed them so much if I was not on the hunger strike but I tried them again today and I even liked them when I was not starving!
When Mom is sewing, she keeps the iron covered with a bucket. When she needs to use the iron she puts the bucket over me! I hate that but guess what? I have figured out that if I walk over to the edge of the bed I can slide out from under the bucket. I am a clever one aren’t I?
Enjoy your supper! No more potato porridge for me! Yea!
Love Skeeter
