Month: May 2013

Part 1 is here…

As I looked at the huge factories and warehouses being built, I thought about how all this is hidden from the western world and how much of the western world is moving itself silently to Russia and other parts of the world. Then it hit me – The west has taxed itself to death and when you see companies like Amazon, Bosch, Kraft and Tyson building warehouses and they have hundreds of trucks lined up at the docks filling and dropping off stock. Then you realize what is going on. I am seeing it first hand and it is amazing…

So we continue on down the road and stop to fill up the propane tank on the car. The cheapest was 13.8 rubles per liter. That equates to 3.785 liters per gallon and that means it costs: 52.33 rubles per gallon and that means approximately $1.70 per gallon for fuel. The cheapest benzine was 23.8 rubles. That equates to around $2.90 a gallon for benzine or as you call it gasoline. We can travel at these prices and they have not changed much in years…

Farming has also grown into a huge industry in Russia. Pig farms are prevalent and chicken farms are more prevalent. Fields of grain are everywhere, as so are fields of corn, sugar beets and soybeans. Farming has become big time and a perfect necessity in Russia. As I said in part 1 – John Deere is huge in Russia and growing like a weed. Those green Deere’s are all over the fields now in Russia…

We are still driving as I realize that Orthodox churches are being rebuilt all over the place. New roofs and new bells. This Easter was ideal for seeing the huge followings of people that love the Orthodox church. The cemeteries were just the most amazing colors from all the flowers and people everywhere were dressed in their Sunday best clothes. It was truly a step back in time to see people who respect the church and follow the dress codes that are appropriate. The Orthodox church is a strong part of society here in Russia…

I still muttered to myself about being considered a spy or such and was amazed at the fact that as I stated in Part 1, that the FSB was called to check me out…

Then I realized that we had reached our last big village that we buy food at, before we travel on the goat trails to our little village. The people in the grocery store were so happy to see us back and they always talk to Sveta about (me) the American…

Part 2 is done and Part 3 tomorrow… (Part 1 is here)

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have tons of data on every post on Windows to Russia. All this data points to one thing and only one thing. People only responded to hate and turmoil…

We go to the village and I post about the village and everyone leaves. No one wants to see pictures and stories about the village. Everyone wants to see death and destruction and someone complaining about things…

Kinda makes me sick inside of me, when I see a post about American or Russian governmental corruption receives thousands and thousands of hits and a post about village people and village life gets a hundred hits…

No one wants to see that people all over the world live a life the same as you do in your country. People only want to know what is happening if death and mayhem is involved…

If I had made this a hate Russia blog, then there would be quadruple the volume of readers. That makes my point and I guess I have to do some thinking’s, because…

You really do not care about Russia and the good side of life. You only care if Russians suffer and Americans suffer and the world suffers…

That is sad and I have the data to prove what is important to you and not important. Believe you me – You could care less that Russians eat carp, but you care if the West lies about Putin and you believe what comes from the western trash media…

Have a nice day and maybe I will not be back to write…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This last trip to the village is and example of what makes Russia so wonderful. So while I sip that cup of coffee and do some thinking’s I will jot down the main experiences…

Sveta and I have learned that you have to think outside of the box to get anywhere in Russia. You can’t leave at the same time as everyone else and get anywhere faster than a snails pace. You can’t even leave at a time that you think it would be safe to leave. In fact you have to leave when sleep is the only issue that reins in your head. So we left in the deep dark middle of the night…

It still took hours to get out of Moscow. Moscow is just plain huge and it takes a long time to traverse across the city, why the MKAD (Outer ring road around Moscow.) is  a 100 kilometers around and they are working on a ring road that is much longer. This all prelates that you have to have lots of preparation to go anywhere from Moscow…

We finally entered the dark void that surrounds Moscow, called Moscow Oblast and with that we are out of Oz and on our way to the village. That takes about 2 hours even on a good day or night. All was quiet and calm until we hit Ryazan and day light peaked its head up in the horizon. Ryazan is a huge city and has Barney Fifes all over the place. Mayberry RFD would be proud and Andy would be plum crazy…

We get pulled over and since all of our paperwork was in perfect shape. They decided that my American license was all wrong. Now that last time they had seen an American license was mine and that was 4 years ago. But they decided that I might not be an American!

As the little guy with an AK-47 was looking at me, he said, “He looks like a Russia to me!”

They kept trying to test my Russian speaking ability and like I have said before, “It is best to act stupid and do not try to argue.” I leave that part to my Russian woman and I stand there and act dumb. That is really easy for me to do… 🙂

Their life was being ruined one piece of paperwork at a time. Insurance – Yup! Registration – Yup! Any and all documents – Yup! Even the American passport – Yup!

They tried to find anything and everything wrong. Nope! Nothing wrong…

But! They called the FSB (KGB) and finally in comes a Captain in the FSB (Federal Security Service). They actually woke him up from his sleep (remember it is early morning) and he then looked over my paperwork to see if I was a spy…

He looked at each piece of paperwork and handed them all back to me and I put them away and from the look on the Captains face, I could tell that some policemen were going to get an ass chewing later that day. I turned to leave and the “Barney Fife” with the AK-47 was grinning from ear to ear. I could tell he liked the fact that his superiors were going to get chewed out. I also wondered if “Barney” had real bullets in that AK-47. I was hoping that he had only one bullet in his pocket, just like the real Barney…

So we jumped back into the Volga and tooled on down the road. I then was doing some thinking’s about that they really thought I was a Russian, with an American passport. That was interesting, for the realization of what they said sunk in after I was able to relax. – “He looks like a Russia to me!”

Normally I would take that as a compliment, but in this case it got me in a pickle and these guys had to call the higher ups to clear me. I found that interesting and it is the first time that I have really dealt with this situation. Needless to say we took a different rout home, to alleviate the memory issues of these cops…

Then we were once again putting the kilometers behind us as we watched the countryside of Russia flow by. I saw hundreds of John Deere tractors and the John Deere technical center (I talked here about it!) was getting huge and it is going to be John Deere Russia before long. In fact John Deere, like McDonald’s is becoming a Russian name…

It was at this point that I realized that there was factories and warehouses going up everywhere. Every big name company was building a warehouse and villages and cities were growing, all along the highway that we traveled…

End of Part 1 and tomorrow Part 2…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

A few days ago I said that they were working on the pumps to fill the lakes. They got the pumps going and now all the lakes are filling for the carp crop. The hatchery lakes are full, the fingerling lakes are full and now the big lakes are being filled. The frogs are coming out of winter hibernation by the millions and they are singing their songs of love…

So here are two pictures of the huge pump system and my best buddies in the whole world: Sveta and Boza…

I could see where they had rebuilt both the pump motor and the pump itself. They had new gaskets and parts all over them. Looks like we will have fish again this year. They do a huge business in farm raised carp. During the season, there is hundreds of trucks with water tanks on the back, coming and going from the farm. These trucks buy fish and then drive to the small villages around and sell carp on the side of the road in the center of the village. The carp is a highly coveted fish in Russia and I have to say that the carps that are given to us by the locals, are really a tasty treat…

These farm lakes bring back memories of the catfish farms that I use to run around on as a little monkey. I know that I use to bring home some really huge catfish and grandma would get out the cornmeal and we would have a delicious meal that night. I knew all the places that the big cats gathered and they could be caught by hand. Yes I was a rotten monkey when I grew up. Everything was fair game in the world. The guys who ran the catfish farms figured if a 6 year old could catch and carry two catfish as big as he is, then more power to me… 🙂

So this whole village area brings back wonderful memories for me…

I just love Russia…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This year we almost forgot about the Victory day holiday. We many times are in Moscow and get to see the parade or at least the effects of a huge parade.  This year though we are in the village and enjoying the emerging May bugs, 1000s of Lady Bugs hatching and Scissor Tail Swallows dancing in the skies. I have to say those swallows are beautiful and a deep purple with an orange breast. They eat mosquitoes like they are the greatest food on earth and thank goodness that we have so many swallows. The swallows look like purple martins in coloring, except much bigger…

So I am not going to write much about Victory day and if you want to know more just search the site and you will find many articles from the past on Victory Day…

Search “Victory Day” – Windows to Russia…

Have a good day. Sveta and I will, we are going to travel to another small village nearby and check out some new to us village roads. The great thing about these village roads is that you never know what you will come upon. I am always on the look out for old Soviet abandoned ares. They are just the “Cat’s Meow!”

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Cup of Coffee Thoughts Today:

Sometimes it gets interesting when Sveta and I take off on a vacation. Sveta is responsible for all the IBM Servers at the Gazprom Bank and when someone has an issue (and someone always does), she has to try to fix that issue even if she is thousands of miles away as we are many times on vacation…

So today has started out about normal and someone from the bank has called and she is trying to solve issues by phone. So I took the opportunity to write a post…

When she is dealing with issues like this it reminds me of my days past, as I always seemed to be working 24 hours a day at times and you never ignore a successful business, if you want to keep it successful. Sveta is now outside talking up a storm and trying to talk someone through the process of gathering the backup files and reinstalling those files that are needed. It makes me smile… 🙂

It makes me realize how wonderful these new cellphones are and the ability to deal with problems from all corners of the world. I spent most of my work life carrying a pager!  I really hated those things and they never failed to go off while you were sitting in a movie at the theater. We did not have the option of a cellphone and had to hunt down a payphone to call work and see what happened…

While in America my people would call and bother me if one of them got a hangnail. Russians do not even want to make a phone call unless it is a real emergency. So I know that unlike in my time, when I would be drawn away from a movie for a petty happening. Sveta who has the Gazprom Bank servers in her hands, has a whole different ballgame to deal with…

That is just my coffee thoughts today and later today Sveta and I are going to drive to a distant village and see what is happening there. A village so distant that we might even get in some very rough muddy roads… 🙂

If we get buried again, I will let you all know…

My Russian Gal Smiles: Even as I bury the Volga in Mud…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Sveta is reading a book, Boza is under the bed and sleeping and I am sipping a cup of  chicory with milk. Russian music is playing in the background, as it waifs in on the breeze from the neighbors place. I hear the intermittent roar of a huge electric motor as they try to fix the water fill station for the lakes and a teenage boy cruises up and down the hill on his motorcycle…

It all signals peace and quiet!

The village has lost more full time people and it looks as though there is only 3 people who live here year around. The village is full now as we are in a holiday and lots of people come to find that peace and quiet, but the village is dying and becoming a summer only place. just like the Russian dachas…

I have a dream to live here full time and I will not give up on that dream. This is one of God’s places. You know that place that we all dream of and just know that god has blessed it. That is the village “Sunshine to Freedom” to me. Why we even have a blessed water source near us and the village is part of an ancient female monastery…

Gods Place: A Blessed Water Source…

Our Village Monastery in Russia – The St. Nicholas Monastery…

I was just outside and saw that the lake is filling up with water and that means the fish farm is coming to life. Last year I fixed Sveta some carp that she really liked. I learned to cook carp from my grandma and since Russians love carp. Well it is a good thing that I like it also… 🙂

So I am going back to peace and quiet and read a book myself. I have been doing some thinking’s as I work on the car and wonder to myself how Sveta and I can live full time in this wonderful place…

Have a great week from the Russian Village called Sunrise to Freedom…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

After searching for a rebuild kit and failing to find a suitable kit to rebuild the carb with. I decided to install the new carburetor and go with that. I will keep the old carb and rebuild it at home and have a spare for when it is needed…

So after priming the engine and making some minor adjustments. It purrs like a kitten, which it has never run that good before. The last carb was a Chinese made version and it was just never right from the beginning. This carb as I said a few posts ago, is made in Saint Petersburg, Russia and it is just a whole bunch better…

Now I just have to wash the poor car and wax her. She is covered in mud and not happy at the way she looks. So it is bath time and then after she drys, I will touch up the bad spots with paint also…

Right now all we have is a few mosquito and flies. The horse flies and deer flies are not around yet and down in the village they are prevalent during the summer. Why they think that this American is a delicious treat and attack me from every angle possible… 🙂

So have a great day and Sveta, Boza and I are going to take the Volga for a test run and see how she runs on benzine. Gotta save that propane for going home…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It is Sunday – May 5th, 2013. It is also Easter in Russia, Orthodox Easter to be exact. Today you will not find Easter Bunnies or baskets of grass full of candy, but you will find that yesterday, people were at the churches getting bread and eggs blessed for Easter. Eggs are blessed and then painted brilliant colors and bread is blessed before they eat it…

Graves are visited during this holiday and small villages are full of kids, dogs and adults, so driving through a small village is done with caution at this time of the year. It is Spring and Easter and everyone is out and about…

Village life is wonderful…

Happy Easter…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Sveta looks at life as just a wonderful excursion and she smiles no matter how stupid I am. This is what I am thinking over a cup of wonderful coffee in the village. Yesterday we had to gather some help and get our Volga pulled out of a mud-bath that I let her play in. We almost made it and about one more meter and we would have been home clear. I made a tactical error and took the right side, instead of the left side of the road and the right side was semi-quicksand…

This is a typical Russian road in the village areas and now you understand why we are going to have a special rear-end put under Sammy the Volga. A cone type limited slip differential. That way we can get around better, even though a pack mule would have issues in this stuff…

We finally found a guy in the village of ours that had a Land Cruiser and he was after several attempts he was able to get us pulled out backwards down the hill. We tried forwards, but gravity was too much for the land Cruiser and it just dug itself a 4 wheel hole to settle in…

Sveta loves this picture and she said, “See how proud I am as I claim that I stuck our car in the mud! I am a proud girl!”

You know! I am thinking that I am a lucky guy! She never gets mad and looks at things like this as fun and a good time…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…