Windows to Russia

Went to the Big Village yesterday to get some car supplies. Finally finished the Volga and she is in smooth running shape. We stopped to look at what was growing in the massive fields growing all along as we drove…

Kilometers of sweet peas on one side. Sweet peas as far as the eye could see and almost ready to harvest….Yellow peas, field peas, every pea imaginable…

Kilometers and kilometers of sunflowers and soybeans and wheat and wheat and more wheat. Oh and sugar beets from the sunrise to the sunset in fields so big that a single field surrounds a half dozen villages with just a tiny goat trail leading into access of the villages…

These are fields that use to lay empty, when I first came to Russia. I asked many times, “Why all these fields laying empty and overgrown?” This was over ten years ago I asked these questions and Russia answered me…

This is a project that blossomed under Medvedev when he was president of Russia. It has put Russia back on the map as a powerhouse of agriculture around the world. I call this Russia’s greatest asset, her a fertile land and more land to grow things than anyone else on earth…

Russia has found her money maker and it is in GMO free foods…

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I talk about the circle of life many times on this blog. The Tiny Russian Village is in a downturn point of that circle. Our Bishop Mathew was transferred to a higher spot and went to Rome. When he left the monastery in our village lost its drive and now it has started to go back to the wilderness. No one cares again and no one has funds and or able to garner funds to keep the flow going. It is sad…

But it gives you the idea of who amongst the Orthodox, who drove the resurrection of the monastery. It is like once he was gone, the interest stopped…

I hope that we get back to the upturn of that circle of life for the Tiny Russian Village…

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I am filling the wells today. I am not sure what is happening and why it is happening, but the only two full time villagers seem to be at war. I guess they are bored and want to fight all the time. This effects all the people who spend summers at the village. No water and no one cares who lives here. In fact they have pissed off the local government responsible for our Tiny Russian Village and it seems the only person who can even or cares to fill the water is me. But I do not live here full time….everyone is mad at each other and that means nothing good will become of it…

Therefore, hardly anyone is in the village. Normally the village is bustling right now with people, but everyone knows there is no water and they just stay away. Our neighbor next door was trying to find water in the village and he begged us to help do something. So I did this morning…

Another example of that circle of life. I am dealing with different things right now and cannot concentrate on just the Tiny Russian Village and no one wants deal with what has to be done…

No one, who either lives here full time and or the local government who evidently has washed its hands of the situation…

But….when I am here, I will fill the water. I kinda like having water to scrub the dirt off me… 😉

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Tomorrow I will post pictures of what is going on around the village. The lake is at its fullest ever. They have really worked on this lake near us and it is brimming with water and fish. Oh I just want to go fishing and swimming in the beautiful lake…

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Gotta go….I need to shave. Make two or more trips to finish the wells and I need to do it before the demon horseflies come out in full force…. 🙂

WtR

It is amazing that you can wake up and stretch a little bit, then try to tell yourself to go back to bed & a streaming cup of coffee comes to your mind. You roll over and ignore that cup of coffee image, but then, you seem to smell that coffee….then it is simply too late and coffee has invaded your soul and taken over your morning… 😉

Why not get up?

The birds are singing their tiny little hearts out. The mosquitoes are buzzing the screen of the window, frustrated that fresh blood is within sight. The sign of the sun is peeking from below the horizon. The aches and pains need to be worked out of the body and you just have too much to do today…

Of all reasons to get up; coffee just makes life better…

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Yesterday, with sweet pea’s help, we replaced the outer tie rod end on the passenger side of Sammy the Volga. Svetochka got a first hand experience at a tie rod end that did not want to be retired, even if that end was falling apart. The pickle bar that I bought last week, did the job, but gave up the ghost and is junk now…

Ah, the Tiny Russian Village Time…

I shook and smacked on all the inner tie rods and found them all okay. But when I came to the passenger outer tie rod, it made a popping noise when I smacked it and complained that it was getting old and grouchy. So when grouch bear meets a grouch tie rod end? Grouchy bear replaces that end…

So I gathered my tools, my sweet pea helper and since Svetochka had bought an extra tie rod end, we were in business. But the pickle fork to pop the tie rod off, was almost not up to the task. The forks kept opening up and the tie rod end kept laughing at us…

Perseverance is the key to success….and sore arms, back, knees and cuts and scratches all-screaming at you the next day, remind you of perseverance and its end results, when tackling a car of vintage age…

Need a new pickle fork…

WtR

Svetochka’s mother is in Moscow and we are in The Tiny Russian Village. But that does not stop the phone calls and the knowledge that Russia and football game was yesterday. Svetochka knew exactly what time the game started and her mother called her several times to make sure that she was going to watch it. Football and or Soccer as Americans call it, is truly the world sport….billions and billions of people get involved and Svetochka even has a football World Cup shirt to wear… 😉

I myself do not have much of any desire for virtually any sport and thus I just watched the excitement of everyone around me in Russia. The big village emptied the streets near game time and Svetochka had the internet going on the laptop and the pregame rolling…

But alas Russia got smacked around by Uruguay and U – 3 to R-  0

I had a little sweet pea and she was getting upset and excited about the game. Russians love their football, almost as much as hockey…

One last phone call made after the game ended and Svetochka smiled after here and her mother consoled each other at the world shaking loss to Uruguay. But life goes on and it all gets better…

Life’s good…

WtR

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Sammy the Volga was happy and ran smooth….link below when we first looked at her…

Model 310221 Volga and the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra!

There is still water problems in the Tiny Russian Village….Vova is mad at everyone, which only means actually at the only other person that is living full time in the village. Nina dislikes Vova and Vova dislikes Nina and between them both, they have messed up the water situation in the village…

If Vova fills the wells, Nina steals the water for her garden by pumping the well dry. Then when he refuses to fill the wells, Nina calls Father Pavel and the local administration on Vova…

You see, I am not here this year to take over the water job. Vova is grouchy, I am gone and I filled the wells even if I wanted to drown some people in them, for stealing all the water. I understand Vova, for I dealt with Nina and a half dozen more stealing water. Some filled swimming pools, most drained the wells and poured it on their gardens, whether it needed it or not. I filled them everyday, yet the city people mainly would empty the wells daily. Still, Nina a full time villager, always did her best to be first to pump the water out of the well next to her place…

Probably the biggest issue at the peak of summer is people from all over filling containers with our water, believing it is blessed water, because of the monastery….we have a blessed source nearby, but people are to lazy to climb to it…

Gods Place: A Blessed Water Source…

Yes, I feel sorry for Vova…well at least a little bit… 🙂

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So now in the next week:

I have two windows to install. A set of air shocks to install on Sammy. Mow the grass. Fix the fence, which means to cut fence posts in the forest. Plus do many other necessary things all around the village home. We also have to work on Nicolis old place, looks like Svetochka and Larisa have worked out a deal and we will get the papers to the place. Seems Nicolis wanted it that way, if not us, Father Pavel has already contacted Larisa and tried to get the place. The Orthodox Church wants to buy up the whole village…

Gotta go, Svetochka is sleeping and I want to walk a little bit…

WtR

Tomorrow morning we leave to the Tiny Russian Village…

Yesterday I spent almost all day and finally succeeded in replacing a bad tie rod end on Sammy the Volga. As par to normal, a simple easy job ended up being a mess and after buying a tie rod/ball joint fork tool and a much bigger hammer. The old tie rod popped off finally and then life became better….I really thought it was going to win…

The old saying:

If at first you don’t succeed, get a bigger hammer. – Alan Lewis

Today, I have to align the front end, shade tree mechanic style, with a string and a tape measure and make sure everything is tight & secure. I never had a tie rod end this hard to remove. It was literally determined to stay in its tapered home, I guess it was happy?
I have about a centimeter of toe in on the front suspension and I need to get that to about half a centimeter or less. Some toe in is required to allow the front on a rear drive car, to center itself, but too much will hurt the tires…

Not a fun job in the parking lot of a apartment building, but we do what we must do…

I will pack the car today also and we can get the new windows to the village home that we bought. I also have new shocks to install on the rear of Sammy the Volga (in the village.) Trying to keep her in good shape…

Therefore, I will talk to everyone in a few days…

WtR

Russia in the #WorldCup⁠:

🇷🇺 Games: 2
✅ Wins: 2
⚽ Goals: 8
💪 Points: 6/6

The best start of any host nation in the history of the World Cup. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/u5UIsKx1Xo

— FIFA World Cup (@WorIdCupUpdates) June 19, 2018

Russia have had the best start of any World Cup hosts in history. Their eight goals in two games matches Italy in 1934…

WtR

You can play it however you want, but isolation is Americas new byword. Is that good or bad?

“Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back” — UN Human Rights Chief #Zeid following USA decision to withdraw from U.N. Human Rights Council.#StandUp4HumanRights

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) June 19, 2018

And when I see this kind of tweet below it supports what I am thinking…

Israel thanks President Trump, Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Haley for their courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies of the so-called UN Human Rights Council.

— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) June 19, 2018

From the horses mouth….the king of hypocrisy…

Good quote:

I believe that every single one of us, celebrity or not, has a responsibility to get involved in trying to make a difference in the world. Our generation faces many challenges, some of which were passed on to us by the past generations, but it’s up to us to find solutions today so that we don’t keep passing our problems on. – Shakira

Just think about what you see in the video…

WtR

Cool butter beans…

BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) — A satellite with a huge golden umbrella-shaped antenna is in an orbit more than 400,000 km from Earth, waiting for Chang’e-4, which is set to be the first ever probe to land softly on the Moon’s far side.

The relay satellite for Chang’e-4 will establish a communication link between the Earth and the far side of the Moon, and might serve probes from other countries, contributing to international scientific exploration, said Ye Peijian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of China’s leading space experts.

The satellite, named Queqiao, or Magpie Bridge, was launched on May 21 and has entered the Halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the Earth-Moon system, where it can “see” both the Earth and the Moon’s far side.The Chang’e-4 probe, including a lander and a rover, is expected to be launched later this year. Its mission to explore the far side of the Moon was proposed by Ye, who has worked in China’s lunar exploration program since Chang’e-1 more than 10 years ago.

Chang’e-4 follows on from Chang’e-3, which was launched at the end of 2013 and became the first Chinese spacecraft to soft-land on and explore an extraterrestrial object.

After Chang’e-3 accomplished its mission, China’s space sector debated Chang’e-4’s destination. Some were in favor of landing on the near side of the Moon again, because it’s safer.

“I disagreed with that. Why should Chang’e-4 repeat what Chang’e-3 had done? We should not be afraid of failure in scientific exploration. We need innovation,” Ye said.He suggested sending the Chang’e-4 to the Moon’s far side. This would be unprecedented and innovative.

He believed the United States and Soviet Union had wanted to do that in their lunar programs, but hadn’t because of technological restrictions at the time.Since the Moon’s revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, the same side always faces the Earth, and most of the other side is never seen from Earth. Landing and roving on the far side of the Moon require a relay satellite to transmit signals.

The first ever satellite operating on the Halo orbit around the L2 point, Queqiao used relatively small amounts of fuel during its journey to the planned orbit as it was under precise control. Its designed life is three years, but Ye said it might work for seven or eight years.

That means it could also provide communications for probes from other countries if they intend to explore the Moon’s far side in the near future.

“That’s the significance of going to the far side of the Moon. China will not only be the first to go there, but will also contribute to world scientific exploration,” Ye said.A reliable long-distance data transmission link is a key technological goal for space experts around the world.

Queqiao carries an umbrella-shaped antenna with a diameter of 4.2 meters, the largest communication antenna ever used in deep space exploration.

The antenna was the central difficulty of the relay satellite, and took engineers a long time to develop, according to Ye.Its name, Queqiao, was selected from more than 100 candidate names in a public naming contest.

In a Chinese folktale, magpies form a bridge to enable Zhi Nyu, a daughter of the Goddess of Heaven, to meet her beloved husband, cowherd Niu Lang, after they were separated by the Milky Way.

“We think the name is easy to understand, and it signifies the establishment of a bridge of communication,” Ye said.

Source: Chinese satellite could link world to Moon’s dark side: space expert – Xinhua | English.news.cn

WtR

Source: Единый Транспортный Портал

Have fun looking around Moscow and more…

WtR