Compicorn

Compicorn is ground grain to feed the cows. Right now with so many stale (opposite of fresh- so a cow who has not calved recently- and not giving much milk) and dry cows, we are not feeding very much, as cows who don't give much milk can get all their nutrition needs from the corn silage and brewers' grain.

Early this week there was a call from where our corn is being stored, they thought our corn was too wet and heating up. This is bad, it means that there can be mold and spoilage of the corn. They did not have a loader tractor working to move the corn around to mix it and help in dry. In Canada if your corn is wet, you would dry it by blowing air through it, but there do not seem to be those facilities here in Ukraine. They harvest grain as dry as possible, and then spread it around inside a building on a cement floor, and move it around to dry it as needed. Max drove there on Wednesday with the Boricks (it is the name of the loader on our Belarus tractor) and moved the corn around for them.

Anyway, they decided to grind some of this corn right away, and Friday morning Victor called to say that the mill would be delivering some to us. Garry said fine, we had room in the bin in the upper floor of the barn (he built it about a year ago if you want to look back in the blog.) It didn't arrive in the morning, or in the afternoon while Garry was sleeping (seems like all that sleep helped, he's feeling much better today)--- it arrived after dark, when the pizza I made was going in the oven of course. Maxim was outside since the bricklayer had worked until dark, and he came in to get Garry. They told me it's like a four man job to get the truck to blow the feed into the bin- the truck driver made three, I think. The pizza was staying hot in the oven when they got back in the house.

Garry was a little disappointed because it looked like the load of feed was straight ground corn- ground corn likes to stick together, it didn't come out of the truck easily and it will bridge up and not fall easily down the chute from the bin when they feed it to the cows. It turnes out that our stored wheat was behind a pile of sunflower seed that was waiting to be crushed (most sunflowers here get turned into oil) so they used some millet they had handy to add to it instead. They also add some salt and ground limestone to the mix, to meet some of the mineral needs of the cows. Garry gives the fresh cows injections of vitamins because they are not readily availiable as feed additives.

This morning they fed some, Garry says it is more yellow than the previous wheat compicorn but it does not seem to be heating up anyway. As I said, Garry was feeling better today, but he is still coughing.

This afternoon we went to Dnepro to visit with an English teacher's students. She gives lessons in a back room at a movie theater, and for group meetings we meet in the lobby of the theatre (it was a little noisy since Real Steel was playing in the background!) Garry noticed at the refreshment stand that a bottle of beer is cheaper than a small popcorn, 7 grivna for the beer, 10 for small popcorn- large is fifty- more than the movie ticket!

We picked up groceries on the way home, and got back to the village as the last cows got home at the far end of the herd's homes- right past the bar- they walk through the yard there. We stopped to talk to John Weins, his crew was just finishing cleanup for the day at the village property they want to turn into a trade school next year, if all goes well. He mentioned that he had heard that there was a chinese restaurant in Zaporosia now. Garry was excited, he really misses eating chinese- there are sushi restaurants everywhere in Ukraine, but we have never found a real Chinese restaurant.

When we got back to house, we started to unload the car, but discovered a problem- Maxim had locked the door on the driveway side of the house. Garry went around to go in the new entryway, since it is usually unlocked when Maxim' s closeby- he had taken the load of trees and junk that the boys and John had cleanup to the dump since it was in our precept (wagon.) Garry couldn't get in the door- the bricklayer was finishing over the door, and standing on boards there. Max arrived back with the tractor- not only was my key inside - so was Max's. We couldn't get in for at least a half hour. I had unpacked some of the groceries. Garry decided to put the cat food back in the car (leaving the kitty litter and bottled drinks outside) and go find the Chinese restaurant.

We know it was near Mc Donalds and after walking around a bit we found it. Our Russian was not up to this menu- it was in script instead of printing, so we ended up with Garry asking the waitress what was spicy/hot. She picked #25 and #29 and we ordered ordered- we hoped- plain rice. We drank green tea while we waited, and then she brought us each a little plate with an upside-down bowl of rice molded on it- at least two cups each- and one plate of really hot spicy, my-lips-are-burning delicious stuff. When we finished that dish number two arrived- also beef, maybe sesame beef, we almost finished that one, asked for the check, asked which dish was which (we are defintely getting the super spicy taste treat- #25 next time) paid the bill, talked about asking for a container for the rest, and then started picking at it and ate the rest between us.

We drove home, unloaded the rest of the groceries, I assume Max brought the drinks in, or Mint made a huge mess somewhere and we didn't see it when we drove in. Mint is still a chewer of things. Polo is better behaved, by far. And the entryway is all bricked outside - I'll get a photo on Sunday, I hope.