Yup – There is Life After a Russian Winter and We Have a 13th Floor!
The last week as the snow has been thawing, I have been watching the ground for signs of life anew. The trees have not acknowledge Spring yet, so I figured my next best bet would be the forest floor…
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/S7WzcRLJ0HI/AAAAAAAAJ1g/jm7nrdnviPQ/s400/Photo016.jpg")
Above – Looks really barren at this point and still snow.
Below – take a closer look at the floor under the trees. Eureka!
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/S7Wzb_V2MoI/AAAAAAAAJ1Y/c7d2GRki4nw/s400/Photo015.jpg")
Below – Then I found what I was looking for New shoots with leaves… 🙂
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/S7WzsBPHlGI/AAAAAAAAJ14/1aiFZWW-pMY/s400/Photo027.jpg")
Above – Funny how these plants (seeds) survive 30 below zero and act like nothing is wrong!
Below – Then Boza and I found the elevators broke in our building and we decided to walk to the 12th floor (We live on the 2nd floor.) and see what’s up…
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/S7WzckFaZNI/AAAAAAAAJ1o/Dy1_4rswUp0/s400/Photo031.jpg")
The next building is starting to have the foundation layer poured and you can see the parking garage that costs 1,000,000 rubles per parking place, nestled between the buildings…
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_THosNXNQORw/S7WzdHsPLrI/AAAAAAAAJ1w/lMYxRufO6u8/s400/Photo033.jpg")
Above – Now the elevator will only go to the 12th floor and if you are on the 12th floor staircase you will discover that there is a 13th floor. They will not let me up there to see what is going on. Now this drives someone like me crazy and I already counted floors from the outside and saw that we have a secrete floor. If you look up the stairway you can see that it goes to a balcony and an open floor with no flats built. One day I will get up there to see what is so important that we have to live without a 13th floor.
That is it for today, after I kicked and pulled on the door of the 13th floor. I decided that maybe I should be good because they might just keep me behind those bars. 🙂
Windows to Russia!