Year: 2015

I woke this morning at around 4:30 a.m. and grabbed a cup of coffee first thing. Boza was hungry as he kept staring at his empty food bowl, so I gave him 300 grams of food and he drank a bunch of water and we were ready to explore the village. Actually I wanted a second cup of coffee, but Boza decided to sit at the door and make groaning noises. That is how he tells me to get my butt in gear…

The village was quiet this morning, for many people showed up to plant their gardens and they partied half the night. That is normal when the part time villagers start showing up. Everyone runs around meeting everyone and that leads to a shot of vodka here and a shot of vodka there and a shot of vodka everywhere. Then the next day no one gets anything done due to hangovers and I have to be quiet until noon, so as not to wake the dead as they recover…

Boza and I walked for two hours, we checked on our strawberry patch, we checked on the monastery, we checked on the natural water source in the woods, we checked on the river and we checked on the fish in the lake. It is our job, you know? Then we water our garden, did the laundry and washed the dishes. Now I am writing a post and Boza is sleeping under the bed…

I am going to mow the yard, but that has to wait for as I said, “I do not want to wake the dead!” There must be 35 people in the village right now and I just saw the monk go up the hill to the monastery. That means the bell will ring soon and most likely a hundred people will walk up the hill and they will have some sort of service at the monastery. It will be interesting as the monastery grows, for it is twice as busy now as it was last year and our home is centered to all the action…

Tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to the big village and go to the market. I have to find myself some lightweight pants or long shorts or both. I also need to find a vacuum cleaner, a cheap one, as I killed the one I have, finally. Plus I will do my weekly shopping for supplies and who knows what else…

Okay, I will take some pictures of the market!

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This is what the internet told me…

Friday May 22, 2015

Afterfeast of the Ascension. Tone five.
Fast. Fish Allowed

Prophet Isaiah (8th c. B.C.).
Martyr Christopher of Lycia, and with him Martyrs Callinica and Aquilina (249).
Translation of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari, in 1087.
Venerable Joseph of Optina (1911).
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1938).
New Hieromartyr Basil priest (1939).
Repose of the Venerable Shio of Mgvime (6th c.) (Georgia).
Translation of the relics (1775) of Child-martyr Gabriel of Slutsk (1690).
Martyr Epimachus of Pelusium, who suffered at Alexandria (250).
Martyr Gordion at Rome (362).
Venerable Nicholas, who lived in Vuneni, of Larissa in Thessaly (1400).
Zaraysk Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1225).

The Scripture Readings:

John 10:1-9 Matins Gospel
Acts 19:1-8
John 14:1-11
Hebrews 13:17-21 St. Nicholas
Luke 6:17-23 St. Nicholas

There was a young man taking pictures for the church and he explained to me that pictures are fine, just not from the front of the procession. They want to respect the people in the walk to the monastery. I knew that from last time and thus stayed in the front row seat that I have in my yard. The one thing different this time than last year was, they had to take a different and longer route to the monastery and that tells me something about the future. They are blocking the middle road that we now use all the time to drive through the village…

It is hot today, so they have a ambulance to care for the people who get sick as they walk. They walked from across the river at the first foot bridge, which is about 2 kilometers, then had to climb our hill to get to the monastery. I watched and the ambulance, bus and several cars, kept busy trying to help all the people walking in the sun…

They all rode home on the bus though…

Just thought you would be interested in seeing life in the monastery, when I am able, I take an image record of it…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Today I am taking it easy. I will not cut any trees down, mow any grass, move any logs, build any fences, and or dig any holes. I will go to town later and buy groceries, but I am going to read a book and recover from being stupid. That is my middle name (stupid) and while I am getting back in shape again, I pushed it too hard yesterday and ended up falling asleep in my dirty clothes, forgot to take my evening pills and this happened after taking a pain-killer and nitro for my heart, which kept me from hearing four phone calls from Sveta. So I am sure she is upset with me now… Ouch…

There are times that I despise getting old and there are more times than that, when I get really grouchy over having six heart attacks and having to act like I am old, when I want to be thirty years old again. It works if I do not look in the mirror and ignore my past, well until I exert too much in a given day, then even, not looking in the mirror and seeing this old guy, does not help…

The pain-killer I took is a good one, but it causes me to not function well, so I take it at night very rarely and then I usually do not remember much from that point on. It is called “Nice” and it does one thing good, very good, kills pain. This morning at 3:30 a.m. I woke up and could actually get out of bed without screaming. It also made my finger that I broke feel good and that did not interfere with my sleep either…

It is a butt kicking pain-killer and I only use it when I am in very bad shape, as I was last night…

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The window dressing above is plain and simple, they also belongs to the old general store that is located in the village. A store that is no longer in use, but the building is still there…

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I may not even go into town today either. That is how bad I feel and I have plenty of food for Boza and I. We could go for weeks without going to town… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was walking with Boza and it was 4:30 a.m. at the time I stopped to listen. The sun had peaked above the edge of the earth at around 4 a.m. and we had been walking in chorus with what seemed like millions of birds, all singing for attention from what ever audience that they could gather to listen, why even the Ravens cawed in unison as if to add a spark of difference to the musical ensemble…

A noise presented itself above the rest and it was a sound not unlike an angry bumblebee and as I looked around to see what I did to upset a bumblebee, I realized that the sound drifted from afar. Then it sank in what I was listening to and I started to look upon the horizon and climbed higher up the hills, to allow me to find, that familiar giant bumblebee, the crop duster…

We climbed to near the bell tower, the highest spot around and then I spotted the buzzing noise. It was a white, single engine and single stubby winged plane and then I saw enough of it to recognize that it was an old World War Two fighter craft. A fighter plane that had been converted into a crop duster and that explained why I could hear it so well, that is about 600 or 700 horsepower at tap and the pilot was enjoying life immensely. He would barrel roll at the end of the field, then flip the plane and make another pass…

I knew exactly what fields he was spraying, for Boza and I stop at them when we go to town. I like to let Boza run in open flat lands with very little grass at times…

The crop duster brought back memories of a childhood, memories that had all but died in my mind. For sometimes we allow ourselves to drift from what should be and become attached to what is to be. When we should never allow that to happen…

Then it hit me, I was in heaven and I checked myself to see if I was still alive. After I yelled at myself for pinching my arm so hard it hurt, I then thought about why I felt that way…

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Field so huge that you could die eating all the wild strawberries that will be available…

The blooms are just starting and the total field is over a hundred meters deep and two hundred meters wide. This is the most incredible wild strawberry field I have seen. You can be sure that Boza and I will be keeping an eye on this field and getting some wild strawberries to eat…

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Daily window dressing…

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Oh and why is it heaven?

Because it (Russia) and Boza and I are free!

Free to chose, free to live, free to walk, free to create, free to become, free to be free. No nanny state trying to save you from yourself…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Many thoughts this morning after a two hour walk with Boza. It has taken a few days, but I have built my stamina back up and now we walk four times a day for an hour or more. Now after an invigorating walk, I am having a cup or two of delicious coffee and I thought that I would jot down my thoughts this morning…

I have to move the internet antenna, for yesterday I started to take apart the back lean to and realized that the antenna is attached to the lean to and that just will not do. So I cut a long pole and will move the antenna today. Time to dig a hole for the pole… (Just did this job a few minutes ago. Decided to get it done…)

I have to mix gas and oil for the chainsaw and brush cutter. Today and or tomorrow, I will mow the lawn and trim more root sap suckers out of the way…

It is time to finish off the old plum tree. I got it cut down all the way and cut up. I have even used the trunk pieces for making bench seat areas, but now I see that I have to devise a way to kill the stump completely…

I need to build another bench seat out front and then we will have enough seating to rest at various times of the day, in the shade. For according to the weather forecast, it will be in the upper twenties centigrade for the next few weeks and that means it will be mosquito time and hot to boot. Today will be 10 degrees and tomorrow 27 degrees. Now that is a change…

It has rained so much that the garden has been kept soaked and we now have beets and onions growing great, but carrots have not come up yet. I keep looking and I need to weed tomorrow. The soil is too wet and I will sink too far in it. So tomorrow is my day to weed. I know from experience that carrots take forever to germinate and therefore, I will be patient. I only planted red beets, onions and carrots this year. I am experimenting and plan on getting a rototiller to really do a garden correct. If I can find a small one, gas powered or even electric, I will till the soil to the bigger garden size this fall and be ready for maintenance tilling in spring. I need to find a source for cow manure, to till it in for the winter…

And after I moved the antenna, I adjusted it just a few minutes ago (I think you see that I write some and do something else and then write some more. Not always, but today is that type of day,) I have five bars of five bars for signal. That means I now have internet as good or even better than I have in the city…

I have a reader who has asked about windows on the village homes. I have been taking some pictures of the windows as I walk around with Boza. The image above is the first I will post. I will most likely just add the image into a post I am doing, such as this article and will quit when I am out of windows to take pictures of…

That is all today, for I have much to do and need to get going. My broken finger slows me down and I have to be careful with it. So time to go and Boza and I hope you have a good day…

For we sure will… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The orange dot on the images above is our village home. I put the dot in the front yard…

It is called “заря свободы” or “dawn of freedom” and I call it Sunrise to Freedom…

That is a name that should make you think and wonder about the truth behind life in Russia. The locals call it “kommuna” and as it sounds, a community farm village and that name holds over from the Soviet times. I discovered that in 1963  that this place was a huge cattle farm and maybe it was a dairy farm for all I know…

The image was sent to me by anonymous e-mail and I can tell it is of our valley near our village. It is near a horseshoe bend in the river, river is called para, and there is remains of cattle corrals and such all over the area. The village in the background is a large village that I can walk to, to buy food if necessary. If anyone knows who owns this image, I would like to have more if possible. Photos of this area would be much appreciated and I would gladly give credit to any and all…

Here have a Yandex link to make it easy for you to find the place – https://maps.yandex.ru/

I am going to work in the yard today, so have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This morning at around 5:30 A.M. Boza and I were walking down by the river. Now, the river bottoms is a flat expanse of land that stretches as far as you can see, jammed packed full of green tall grass. Boza was standing next to me, when he pointed out tracks in the surface of the sand road at our feet. They were deer tracks, small deer, but many of these tracks, leaves me to think a herd was around somewhere. Boza sniffed the tracks and then sniffed the air. That started the fun for today…

Boza started to weave all over the field in front of me and he simply dissipated out of sight in a few minutes. I did not call him, for yes he would have come back, but there is nothing better to a dog than when they are on the scent of an animal and I knew that he would be surprised when he discovered these animals. To be honest I was not sure what would happen, who would run first, Boza or the deer…

I waited and watched, occasionally a Boza head would spring up above everything and once or twice he looked to see if I was still there. Then, it all happened at around a kilometer away from me. Boza found the place where the deer were bedded down for the night and they were still home…

I am here to tell you that life does not get any better than this. Last year Boza discovered a duck and Boza tried to catch him, but that was nothing compared to this time…

http://windowstorussia.com/photos-of-russian-village-06-25-2014-and-a-story.html

Too make a short story even shorter; The deer (eight of them in all) headed across the field straight toward me, I stepped back behind a fir tree along side of the road and watched. The deer were making squealing noises as if the devil himself were after them. Then leaping like a frog after mosquitoes, here comes Boza running for all he is worth and trying to clear the grass in a single leap and bound to catch them. The deer were faster, but only just a tiny bit and Boza must have been charged on adrenalin at that point, because I have never seen him move this fast…

Now what kind of buddy would I be if I did not help my favorite hunter?

The deer did not see me and they were coming straight at me. I was behind a fir and dressed in blues and greens for clothing color. They had no idea that I was around and they were running for dear life, those poor dear deers. They reached my spot and I stepped out waving my walking stick. The deer froze like statues and out of the eight deer, three fell and Boza torn through the middle of them and almost fell near me, because he could not stop in time also. Then the deer with a chorus of squeals, took off back the way they came. Boza looked at me and I said, “Net!” Which means “No” in this part of the world and Boza stood there and watch the deer disappear into the morning mist…

Now I fed Boza extra goodies when we got home and he is sound asleep under the bed right now. I was impressed with how he was able to track them to their bed and even more impressed with how fast he is. For Boza is a good dog and would never hurt anything, but when it runs, it is fair game to chase. An animal that does not run, is left alone by Boza. As many cats have discovered with him. He is not a fighter, but he is all for fun and games and these deer in his mind wanted to play and run. Once he reached me and everything reversed direction, he knew it was time to end the fun part and laugh at what we saw…

Boza s the best dog I have ever owned and Sveta found him at a gas station. She just could not leave him there after the station people said he needs a home. I think she saw a kindred soul in him and we took him home with us. I have owned many dogs and had many favorites, but Boza is the top of the line and has a soul and spirit of a true genial animal, that looks at life as just a big bowl of cherries, even when the cherry pits get bit by the teeth and it hurts…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Had to hibernate for the last few days. The bottom fell out of the temperature, thunderstorms constantly, electricity down for the most of two days, I broke my left pointing finger (rebuilding the front gate and caught my finger in a tensioned wire twist) and I got very sick with fever also. Therefore, I feel much better at this moment and Boza and I are going to take a long walk. It is still raining slightly, but the sky is much brighter and less dense with clouds, that means life is good… 🙂

The worst thing was not all the above, it was the winds that became relentless while all the above was happening. The winds became harder and harder, which caused the temperature to feel colder and colder. That is what got me and once chilled, I was in trouble. Broken fingers is part of my life, as I have broken many a finger, or should I say, “I have broken more than 50 bones in my life, for I have been full of rambunctiousness all my life!”

Last year if you remember, I drove a nail almost all the way through my right foot. I guess I have to do something every time I am down here, for if you remember also, a few years ago, I burned my belly really bad with a grease fire. It still is trying to finish healing after all these years. I have to say that I have a permanent huge scar on my belly from that incident…

Just another acquisition in my normal life on this planet. The balm above is the best stuff I have ever come across and Sveta is the one that found it for me. She bought me three tubes of it and boy am I glad she did…

Well Boza and I are going to take a walk. He has been short shifted lately, because I was not able to go anymore than a few minutes at a time. He is a good boy and tries his best to understand, so he deserves a long walk today. I have on three long sleeve shirts, long underwear, wool pants, coat, hat and gloves. Boza has his fur coat on, so we are set to go…

Have a nice day, for we sure will…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Kyle

Last year the gates for the bell tower laid on the ground all summer. This year they have installed them and like everything else in Russia, no paint has been applied and they are rusting, more and more everyday. That is Russia, for people just do not paint and when they do paint it usually is a wild color, like bright blue or green or yellow and whole villages are painted in that same color. Sveta said that is because they only get a shipment of that color and everyone uses the same color of paint. Thus, many do not paint at all…

I find that black, white and green are common colors that I can find in our big village, but it is all oil based enamel and the idea of latex enamel is unheard of in the villages. Now in Moscow we can get latex enamel and we painted our village home with such paint…

http://windowstorussia.com/village-home-before-and-after.html

The house was wild at that time in its life, in the link above and below is a picture of the home right now. Two summers of me living here in the village is starting to show…

But back to the paint issue. yes some homes are painted in our village and that is good, a home has the highest chance of being painted over just about anything, though I have noticed that in the big village, people are painting their fences now. that has shocked me. Our village has actually a variety of colors and it is unusual. Most likely it is because of no one living here and no store is located in our village anymore. The people in the summer bring paint from all over, like from Ryazan and Moscow, which has a huge variety of paints available…

I suspect that the gates will be several years before they get painted and will have rusted a bunch by then. If you look at the image on top, you will see that originally they sprayed the gates with black from who ever made them. Nothing since then has been done to them. I say it is a miracle that the gates are up and still not laying on the ground like all last summer…

This is just another part of Russia that I love and I notice when someone paints, for it stands out in Russia and sometimes makes others decide to paint also…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…