Year: 2015

I call it writers paradise…

Nothing is better than and old desk, in a small cabin and in the middle of nowhere. It is just amazing that I have solid internet here, with fast speeds. Otherwise I could still write, but have to travel to town to upload. That would be okay also…

The desk (the village home exactly) seems lost in time, for it would look better with an old typewriter sitting on it, extra paper sitting in the corner and a cup of coffee to help pound the keys, as you write what your heart desires. But, I think the blending of eras is kinda quaint and it has grown on me as being pertinent…

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The fish in our lake are getting big. They feed the fish five times a day now and it takes four boat loads of fish food to feed the lake, so it seems to me, as I am sure to them, that they do nothing but feed fish. The fish are huge and I suspect that within a few weeks, they will harvest this pond and drain it…

I will post an article with detailed images about their process, I have a tripod and camera that can get up -n- close this year and we will see the harvesting of fish…

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Well according to Sveta, we had the Orthodox Honey Holiday on the 14th of August and I remember that everyone harvested honey. Remember, I told you all about Vova and gathering honey?

It is that time of the year…

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The hunters are gone for the week. I told you yesterday that the hunters here are like most in America, weekend warriors. They come for the weekend, get drunk and kill what ever gets in their way. I lived in a farm world, where we had to protect our cows from “city slicker” deer hunters, for if you did not, you would lose a cow, because a cow looks so much like a deer! Yup…

Next weekend will be the last duck culling and then the ducks are safe for another year. Sad thing is that they do not kill the ducks for food, just sport and poor sport at that. I was taught to hunt and kill only what you will eat. Never more…

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I have to say something about Sveta; Sveta has been pushed to do things that she never has done. She is a typical city person and has had many things handed on a platter to her or close to such a platter that could be in this world here. I spent years doing many things for her and she gathered such things as needed for normal life. Such as changing light bulbs, fixing your bike, installing new things in the house and many other such things, that to me are trivial, but to her were almost impossible…

I have still been there for her by phone and talking her through how to do things, but she is basically on her own and she has had to do somethings that she has never done before. I am proud of her and I mean very proud of her; Sveta has bought a bike and she is installing accessories that she deems necessary. She has installed a mirror and a bike computer. Then she told me, with me able to hear the happiness in her voice, “I even used a screwdriver!”

We live in a world that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; Sveta is trying to learn and become independent and I support her in that 100%, for I will not be here forever, in fact I understand that I am living on borrowed time and every second and ever day is precious and a blessing for me…

Coming to the village was multifaceted for me; I can survive with nothing and be happy, but most in this world can not. I needed to hone my internal skills and gather my soul back to its roots. This has happened, but I also have seen Sveta, who needs to grow and develop internally and externally, do just that. She needed to become independent, yet still able to be a partner. Partners have to compliment each other and that is a good way to look at Sveta and I…

I am proud of Sveta and the statement, “I even used a screwdriver!” Means even if I (Kyle) die tomorrow, I have accomplished something very important and Sveta is “that” very important!

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Long underwear, heavy socks, long sleeve shirts, coats and hats are necessary now. Last night hit 9 degrees Celsius and in another day, it will be 12 degrees during the day. This is perfect weather and Boza and I love it…

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All hunters are out in full force this morning, but either they killed all the ducks (No, still a bunch left,) or as our famous “Gay Duck” is doing, hiding in the reeds. He went through this last year and knows to stay low and safe. Looks like he taught his friends to do the same, for this morning I heard a bunch of them making very low level quacking noises in the cattails and such. No practice flying for the next week or so. The hunters will basically be done by next weekend on Sunday. They are mainly weekend warriors…

I wonder if we can weaponize the ducks as they could be classified as rebels and maybe we can arm them to fight back? Just a thought…

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I have been looking for the perfect wood finish. Most finishes, unless you use oils, will scratch off of a finely sanded wood project as you use it. Then you leave a light colored spot. Now I realize that there is good finishes to penetrate and solve most of that issue, but expense is a problem for me. Money does not grow on trees and priorities have to be set. So what ever I do to finish wood products that I have worked on, needs to be reasonable in price to do and kept in a jar with a lid to use until all gone…

I created such a finish…

First off I discovered the idea of using coffee and teas as wood stains. I worked on that and perfected how to mix and apply just right, coffee and tea solutions. It stains beautifully and you are able to have degrees of stain ability from light to dark, all according to your desires…

The cane on the left is a medium height waking cane. More length than a standard cane, but not a staff or walking stick. It is a left handed version only. I was surprised by that, but after looking at it, I should not be, for the bends are conductive of that hand usage…

Now coffee alone just does not do the job. There needs to be something to deepen the depth of staining and lasting ability of the color. I grew up with a grandma who made everything herself. I knew about oil and vinegar to redo wood floors with and it works, just plain works. I myself use to care for my wood floors with vegetable oil and vinegar and the results were always amazing. Now if you have poly floors and other synthetic such finishes, this will not do the job, but real oiled and finished floors, this is the key…

Therefore after studying the internet for several days and seeing coffee as a stain and even tea as a stain for wood of all types, in variant degrees, nothing about mixing coffee, oil and vinegar. Oil and vinegar many such cases of doing that, but with coffee, No!

I stain the cane above with coffee three times. Then I took the coffee and experimented. I use one part coffee (Strong as an ox version!,) one part 10% vinegar and one part oil. I lid the jar and shake real good. Then shake as using it and dip a rag and just wipe the wood down. I let dry for a few minutes and then with a clean towel, rub it down. Rub hard and let sit for 10 minutes in the shade. Then reapply three times more. The final application, just allow to dry completely and then later, buff as hard as you can with a clean cloth…

The vinegar makes the oil penetrate and yet dry properly, the coffee adds more stain and is not necessary if you stain with coffee alone, I wanted a darker cane…

So, soak wood with coffee, until as dark as you like, then apply vinegar and oil, that will seal the color and allow a slight satin effect to the wood once buffed. The resultant effect is a none slippery dark colored wood and it smells just like coffee only, for once the vinegar drys the odor of vinegar goes away…

Now coffee will not penetrate some woods as well, thus if you use the mixture I said above, the vinegar helps the coffee to penetrate and the oil also. Then as it drys, the color is left behind, with a oil that has been preserved by the vinegar…

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Well I am going to stick with Windows 10, it is no more intrusive than Windows XP through Windows 8.1 and contrary to the “Doom Sayers,” all Windows products phone home. Either get use to it or learn how to turn it all off and block everything with a better firewall, than what Windows uses…

It is fast and after I tamed it, it is good. The only thing that amazes me is that I have already had over two gigs of updates to install. This is just amazing, a brand new operating system and the updates are literally non-stop. Makes no sense, but then it is Windows, so I guess it does make sense…

Well it is time to get moving, it is now 7:30 a.m. and I have things to do. Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

8 liters of pickled beets…

As in my first article above in the link. I pickled beets and some carrots. According to my grandma’s old recipe, they could be eaten on Sunday and only get better from there on out. Well?

They are so good…

I am forcing myself to only eat 6 chunks of beets and two chunks of carrots. I truly want to eat all 8 liters, but would not survive if I did. Between too much sugar and vinegar, I would be done in, but well preserved… 🙂

Purple mouth and fingers; Ooh Ya Yummy…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I pickled 8 liters of beets, I still have 12 fresh beets left and they are for Sveta. The pickled beets are for me. I love pickled beets and will munch on these for several months, a little bit at a time. I have a recipe that pickles raw beets, that I got from my grandma, she would pickle them on Friday and by Sunday family lunch time, we would all eat liters (quarts) of raw cold produced pickled beets. They would last at least two months in the refrigerator (though with me around they never got past a week) and I would terrorize my sister with a purple mouth and hands…

I will only tell you that Apple Vinegar (murky brown, real unfiltered, unprocessed, Apple Vinegar, with the mother still floating around inside,) is a key ingredient and I made my own from the terrible apples in our yard. Just filter the “mother” out when ready to use…

So true to tradition, I made these beets Friday afternoon and this Sunday, I get to try them out. I also as an experiment, made 1 liter of pickled raw carrots. I still have five carrots left for eating and when Sveta comes…

My grandma would say, “Enough vinegar cures anything!” I would imagine it would, but it still goes bad, so be careful even with vinegar…

Have a nice day…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Also in Russia be careful if you buy vinegar, for most vinegar is sold many times at the 80% to 90% level. My first experience with that was many years ago here and I got surprised real quick… Just a tidbit of information…

Sunrise today in the village called Sunrise to Freedom, exploded with hundreds of shotguns going off and the game began, just as a shooting gallery in a carnival. As I expressed last year, I use to hunt avidly, but over the years and especially after seeing how Boza interacts with other animals, I just do not believe in it anymore…

So I decided to write this article this morning instead of walking right now. Boza is trying to crawl upon my lap and is scared to death, for the gunshots are steady fast and ducks are falling like rocks from the sky. It will slow down after today, but today is the day that all ducks who do not understand that humans are not that nice, will die…

I find it interesting that everyone talks about how Americans have so many guns, but I will tell you as a fact, Russian villagers have guns, maybe just shotguns and long rifles, but they have lots of ammo for these guns and they know how to use them…

One guy down in the valley is able to let off 15 rounds at a time, non stop, as he drops ducks all over the place. I can see him from the house and it is one of those drum type auto full auto shotguns. I would not want to be on the receiving end of him, if I tried to attack his country. It rained ducks this morning…

The ducks have been practice flying for weeks now. Mom and Dad duck have raised their kids and trained them to fly. Then the kids have practiced and practiced and practiced some more. Well that practice and flying in formation killed them this morning. They had no idea that guys with shotguns waited in the tall grasses, all around the lakes…

Oh well, it is what it is, but I really dislike that the ducks that I have come to know personally, to be killed….

I like ducks…

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These below are this morning as Boza and I walked…

I have to say something about the water issue again; after all I said yesterday, last night they filled the well, this morning 9 to 10 hours later the water is still running, it is flooding everywhere and as always, people prove my point. I went to get someone up to turn the water off and I found no one…

Then I realized, they are all out killing ducks and forgot about the well running. For you see, duck hunting is associated with getting drunk and Vova even told me that he can not hit a duck sober, but when drunk, he can hit them every time… 🙂

I think that sums up a huge portion of how humans look at life…

Pardon me while  I get a swimming pool and fill it with our drinking water, for otherwise it is just running in a stream down our hill and listen to the serenade of gunshots in the “Duck War,” as I soak in a bath of well water…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I knew the rain was coming and I also knew I had some things to get done. I woke up at 4 a.m. and grabbed a cup of coffee, the dog, the wheelbarrow, a shovel, what energy I could muster and went up the hill to a huge pile of crumbled brick, sand and dirt. Then I proceeded to bring three loads down to our house and finish the gate area. For as in all plans, I put the gate in a spot that was almost a hole. So you walked out my new gate and went down a foot or so. Kinda dumb on my part, but that is life…

This morning I corrected my mistake in placement and now it is not a mistake. It is just fine… 🙂

The last load Boza wanted to stay home, for he said he had worked enough, I looked at him and said, “Poor over worked doggy! Please stay in the yard and sleep while I go to the top of the mountain one more time!”

With that, I left and then after I was half way up the mountain (seemed like a mountain to me,) Boza started to make his little noises, I dropped everything in the middle of the road and went back to let him out with me, then he was happy and we got one last load of gravel dirt…

Good thing Boza came along, he was a big help and he found a kitty to chase…

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Now it is raining, as I knew it would. I watched the rain come for hours. In my world here in the village, we are at the highpoint in the whole valley and you can see forever, literally forever. I watched the clouds coming from the north and our world got darker and darker. It was sad to watch the sun being shoved aside for cold weather and rain…

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Thus, I am going to read a book. Work will wait for another day, it is dark and the type of rain that will according to the weather reports, last until tomorrow…

Yup it is good book time…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Thirty three huge beets and seven ugly gigantic carrots and I mean ugly. But, I ate one whole carrot yesterday, just as ugly and huge and it was as sweet as candy. They say, “Do not judge a book by its cover!”

I will most likely dig up a potato plant tomorrow and see what I got on my second attempt at growing a potato. If there is 28 potatoes again. I may have to find someone to take them. I just can not eat potatoes due to health reasons and I have eaten too many now. We will see…

Looks like the soil was too hard under the carrots and next year, I will make sure the carrot rows are extra deep in well worked soil. The beets were just fine, just as the onions were perfect. But carrots is something I have never grown successfully before and I call these ugly, but successful… 🙂

Carrots are not an issue, I will eat them everyday, but beets are an issue, for I have to pace myself with them. I am diabetic and beets and potatoes will bother me if I eat them too many and too fast. Potatoes a 100 times worse than beets, but beets will get me, occasionally… (Carrots do not, no matter how sweet they are?)

Time for borscht and carrot salad…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The birds woke me up at 5 a.m. and they were singing to beat the band. A grouchy woodpecker was screaming at them to shut up and Boza and I went outside and hunted him down. We politely told him to shut up, for we like our songbirds and Mr. Woodpecker was not welcome. He screeched at us and flew away to go pick on someone else… 🙂

The weather is perfect this morning, 12 degrees centigrade and dry. I took the camera on the walk, but really I just walked and gawked. I did find three trees of almost ripe purple plums, but apples just did not happen this year and purple plums almost didn’t happen. I did find a bunch of yellow plums and no one but me seems to care about them. So I ate breakfast as I walked today. I will do the same for the next few days, as the yellow plums are perfect and everywhere…

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I took Boza to my favorite spot to sit and watch the birds on the lake. I got up and left for I noticed an issue with the lake pump. It was whining and roaring. I took a picture of it and when I expanded it on the camera screen, I realized that the intake on the river side was almost blocked. and the pump would burn up soon, thus I took off to wake the guys at the fish house to fix it. I got all the way to the main road about two hundred meters and realized that Boza was not with me. I could see him still sitting and watching the birds. I walked back as silently as I could and snapped a picture of him, deep in thought and totally oblivious to the fact I had left…

I do know that when he would realize I was gone, he would panic and when he does that, he makes a like pig like sound, a small faint squeal.  But today, he was totally absorbed in life on the lake. There was his favorite ducks and the fish were jumping all over. Boza never knew I had even left…

I had to call his name three times, before he realized someone was around. Boza loves nature and I have seen him do this for 15 to 20 minutes at a time and never move. All you see is his head moving to follow birds as they fly around. Boza loves birds and wants to fly…

That is my log seat and that is Boza’s spot as we watch the beautiful lake and wildlife…

Then Boza went with me and we woke the fish guys up. насос (nasos) is pump in Russian (I learned this word a few weeks ago, as I needed a fuel pump for the car!) and I repeated it and pointed down the road, they gathered the issue and one took off running in his skivvies. For these pumps are very expensive…

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It will be hot again today (I know 27 degrees Celsius is not hot to many of you, but when life is mostly mid teens temperature, it is hot,) therefore, I have work to do this morning and need to get going. Boza has straw bossing to do and I have to do what he says… 😉

Have a nice day and by the way, the hate comments have stopped, death threats, commie hate and many other nasty things has stopped. Burnzone, the new comment system, has really nipped the trash in the bud. I just make sure that bad words have been added to the list of moderation and anyone who is nice should be able to see their comment immediately. We lost the last few months comments and that seems to be the way it is…

Again have a nice day, for Boza and I will…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Yesterday brought to a head and issue that has become almost serious in our village. This year the village is very busy, due to the monastery putting into high gear the promotion of itself. Yesterday hundreds of people came up our hill to see the monastery and it was hot, dry and people need water. The monastery is negligent about this situation and not taking care of water for the many people coming up the hill…

Now we have barely enough water for the villagers, because the villagers are mainly from the city and they like many city dwellers, have water to waste. Thus, while they may think they conserve, when they fill inflatable swimming pools with our drinking water, then we have issues. Now it is not just city people causing issues. We have several full time village dwellers that are use to having access to the water wells and no one else around…

There is one lady in particular, that lives here full time and as soon as the well was filled the day before yesterday and then yesterday she put a hose in the well at 6 a.m. and pumped it dry to the bottom, right into her garden, storage tanks and other containers. She took every last drop that she could get and left nothing for the largest section of the village…

This left everyone coming down the hill to our well and taking all of our water. Then we had hundreds of people who needed water as they walked all over the village and stared at the monastery and there was many children and elderly. I ended up putting a bucket near our well and allowing people to use it to bring up water to drink. This morning we have no water!

The rest of the village city dwellers, emptied the well yesterday afternoon. I watched one fill up a huge inflatable pool. Three kids had a blast and I can appreciate such fun, but they used our only drinking water and our system is budgeted. The electricity and water usage is under control of the local governmental services in a big village. There is very little money for water service, because no one pays their bill or cares to pay a bill for water. They do not live here in the tiny village and don’t care…

The monastery stole their water tower and buried their own well years ago when I first came here and now they are also taking all of our water… 😐

The pump has to be conserved, for it pumps from around a 1000 meters deep and when it goes out, it can take months to get a new pump installed. The money is not available for such niceties and luxuries. These are things that city people all my life have abused in small towns…

I watched all this yesterday while I worked in the yard. People came and went and they all needed water, for it seems no one brought water or even food. I was thinking that maybe we need a kiosk of drinks and quick food. The spot we are located in is perfect for such a item and there are days it would sell like crazy…

Therefore, we have a reviving monastery that is taking all of our drinking water, we have city people using our water for the kids swimming pools, we have several grouchy full time villagers hoarding the water and then about twenty of us who seem to be unable to get water to even drink half the time…

Bathing is no problem and swimming is no problem, we have twenty lakes and a beautiful river for swimming and bathing issues. The Fish Village even has a nice swimming beach for everyone to use. But hey, the river is right down the hill…

I have learned, I keep one huge bucket in a shaded space, one small bucket in the house covered for drinking, one large bucket in the sun for washing up and two medium buckets as backup, in case a hundred people get straws and suck our well dry… 🙂

Oh, we call a well колодец (kolodets) and right now our kolodets is empty and a bunch of it is in a three ring inflatable swimming pool right down the hill with a group of who I call “weekend warriors,” who will be gone by tomorrow to go home to Moscow and party for the real weekend. They spend half a day hauling water by hand, so that their child can play in the water, as they stare at a wonderful lake a hundred meters away…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I treated myself, I bought some real cream for my coffee. Not much, just enough to have three cups worth. That is all the treat that I need and that is all it takes to make me happy. Though without a doubt, if I could get goat milk and goat cream; now that is a coffee, Hmm Hmm…

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I had a compliment yesterday and it made me feels good. Nikolai my neighbor goes to town with me on Tuesdays and he is a man who is in great shape for 84 years old. I mean he is in really good shape. He takes pride in himself and does pushups, chin ups and several other exercises everyday. Every morning he is out in his yard and trying to stay young. It seems to work…

Thus, yesterday when he pointed at a huge fat man, whom I imagined I look like, he shook his head, I patted my belly and he looked at me and said basically maybe not in this order of words, “нет, вы энергичный сильный!” or kinda translates to, “No, you energetic – strong!” Then he patted my belly and gave thumbs up…

Then I decided to look at myself in a mirror and I have lost a lot of weight, not near enough in my opinion, but enough to show…

I still have a belly, but I have lost most of my double chin, excess weight on the arms and legs and my belly is half the size it was. I climb, walk, and work, thus the weight loss is good. I eat, drink and allow nature to do her work as I walk and build fences, repair roofs and other good things…

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I want to show you how much the western news is lying about Russia…

The images above is yesterday in the Magnet Store. This is how the store is from when it opens to when it closes, it is not the only store, but the town is busy and this shows it. The image above is also an image that I finally got taken, after asking several people to let me take it people free. They obliged and I grabbed a quick snap. This is how the shelves look in any store I go to. We do not have a lack of product, it is Russian made and it is a damn fine quality and product. Everything is Russian made in a Magnet Magazine (store,) thus we know we eat good product…

In a market in the big village (about 7ooo people,) this is what you get; busy and good quality. Prices are cheap and we are always having to wait in line, Russians are good about lines at cashiers and cashiers are good about being grouchy… 🙂

This particular store is restocked three times a day, that means three huge truck deliveries a day. There is many other stores to buy food from here, but, I like Magnet for the price is cheap all the way around and all the product is now 100% Russian. The Russians have grabbed the bull by the horns and are producing products like crazy. It is just plain wonderful to see it happening…

I see article after article about how we are all starving in Russia and no one has any money to buy food, even if they could find it to buy…

I guess that is why I am losing weight, I am starving; this American is starving in Russia, please send donations. I am starving and need lots of money to buy the last chunks of moldy bread on the shelves. Please send donations to Windows to Russia! ~Sarc~

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Well since I am starving with the Russians; I thought I would write just a little more and then go walk the dog. Maybe Boza and I can find some roadkill to eat while we walk…

I started to paint the worse side of the house. It is so weathered that I am having to prime it first and then hopefully one or two coats of final paint will do. I am using a white base and it sucks it up instantly. You can see the white and that was 5 liters so far…

Then I moved the gate today in a many hour process…

The original gate post snapped off at the ground. I have been treating it carefully, but we seem to be grand central station for the monastery. Everyone and their brother come into our yard and ask direction and ask for water and and and…

I had it locked and someone decided that when something does not open the first time, then pull harder. They pulled as hard as they can and walla, I had a broken gate. This is the same gate that months ago, I broke my finger on…

I then proceeded to be nice and get the people their water. Then after they left, I cussed a few words of love to the sky and decided today is the day. I ripped out the old gate, filled the spot with new fence and took the chain link from the new spot I chose and finished the old area like new (Well as new as old wood can get!.) No gate at the main road and nobody will bug me, unless they holler at me first. Then I started on the new spot…

I installed the gate to swing inwards and put on a spring to pull it shut. I will put some padding to buffer the slamming of the gate, or maybe Sveta will let me get a screen door closure and slow it down with that. Now I can carry things in my arms and just push against the gate to open it. Kinda nice… 🙂

And golly, I just smashed my broken finger, the one a week ago I broke, once! Oh yes and that hurt like (well you know) and bled like a stuck (well you know!)

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http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/russia-haunted-by-starvation-burns-its-food

This is one of simply hundred of thousands of articles recently or millions and millions of articles yearly; being churned out by the west. These articles are pure lies and fabrication, with the wording of even truth, being twisted to meet the western agenda…

Yes 90% of western media is trash and that is that…

Oh and I have to walk, for Boza and I are starving and we need to go dig roots or something to eat. I heard that pine roots and nuts can be eaten and we have lots of pines. Just do not tell the Russians, for they are all starving and would eat all the forests in Russia… ~Sarc~

Get a grip on life people and question your media, question your politicians and quit putting the same trash back in the government time and time again. New trash is old trash; they all come from the same two identical parties called Republican and Democrats…

Wake up people…

Have a nice day…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…