Windows to Russia

Svetochka found a Tiny Russian Village in a deep freeze and at first I think she was kinda stunned at how winter has not let go of our village. Then she warmed up to the place and now smiles, big smiles as she realizes how wonderful a frozen tiny Russian village can be. Her and Boza go on long walks and they come back all excited and she has images that she is taking of the whole area. I am getting a break from walking Boza and that is good. For I have no option – rain, sleet, sickness or shine. Boza needs to walk. It is a vacation for me… 😉

Boza adores Svetochka and loves to walk anywhere with her. They seem to be very much at the same mentality level, when it comes to exploring. Neither one leads, they just wander aimlessly, meandering among the trees, homes and valleys of our village area. They are two peas in a pod; I call Sveta a “Sweet Pea” and Boza a “Pee Pot,” it really fits then to a tee…

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My blood sugar levels are now running 5.2 to 5.5 at fasting consistently and 7.0 to 8.0 after eating. That means I am winning the battle of the sugar issues. Sveta is seeing it first hand and she is stunned. She knows that I have been 15 and above consistently in the past. This is a new quality of life for me and while I have to watch it still, for the rest of my life, I am feeling better…

My blood pressure is getting low and I am trying to adjust. Sometimes I get dizzy as I stand up. But when your blood pressure readings can be all over the place at the drop of a hat, then it makes it hard…

The thinner I get, the better my conditions. I am definable a poster child for having to much fat and what it will do to your body. Weigh too much and you have blood pressure and sugar issues. Weight is simply inactivity and what you put in your mouth… Just a fact…

Easy Peasy to solve, but mentally a real bummer in life for some people, including me at times…

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Tomorrow Svetochka and I want to go to the Big Village. We are going to walk to the bus stop 2 to 3 kilometers away and take a bus into the Big Village. Then shop at the stores, turn around take a bus back and walk through the demon snow drifts back home. All while carrying too heavy bags of food and such. I will take the sled and hide it near the bus stop. I will drag our stuff that way. Life has a way…

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When you live in the U.S. you have an issue that keeps you from seeing the pervasiveness of the government, because it is in your face and all around you, that is all you know…

Then if you move away and get away from that source of propaganda, you realize that you have never seen the forest, because you only looked at the trees…

A normal not filthy rich person from the U.S. is virtually not able open a checking account in the rest of the world anymore. No one wants that American to open an account in their bank! Why? Because the hell involved to allow an American to open an account is not worth it. If they allow you to open an account, they will have enough paper work to buy a house available to cover their asses. This is how bad it has become as America shoves their nose into the whole worlds business. That is wrong…

Did you know that if you are an USA citizen and get married to someone in another country, that the income that person makes in their own country is taxed by your country; The Good Ole USA? Did you know that?

Seriously think about the fact that one day you will be caught by the IRS (I have been audited a dozen times in my life! Never came to anything, but stress and loss of work time!) and they will try to gather all the income tax they can from your spouse, who lives in 10-buck-too and also try to collect from back to when they first started working as an adult in their country and they where not married to you. Did you garner the words, “THEIR” and “NOT MARRIED” ?

Since the IRS is used as a control factor in the USA and they go after people that irritated them (them as in governmental demons,) The IRS is a pit bull that will get you if they think that they can get some extra money out of you and your loved ones. Even if those loved ones are not American by birth, or has ever lived there, and or has ever even been there…

Think about that for  second and wonder what is wrong with America. From what I understand, there is only one other country that has tax laws like America does for overseas expats. I used a western link to point out my point being made below. So talk to the hand, if you do not like a western link from the media proving my point…

Only two nations in the world tax their citizens who live abroad. One of them is a small and vicious African dictatorship. The other is the world’s most powerful democracy.

Does the U.S. really want to share this distinction with Eritrea?

I have to tell you that it is the things like this about the USA that makes it one of the most unfree countries in the world. Scoff all you want, but superficial local internal freedoms are not the same as freedoms of your movements around the rest of the world. When we stifle our peoples dealings and abilities all over the world, then we have become the number one dictatorship of the world and capitalism seems to be a glorified dictatorship of the upper class of people, running the country…

Besides do we enjoy being a Eritrea wannabe?

You want to open a bank account in many countries? Good luck Mr., Miss or Mrs. American, they do not want your money!’ and that is simply wrong on all levels…

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Have a nice day and I am going to be quiet now. Sveta is sleeping and Boza is next to her snoozing away. They are both storing up energy to go walk in the forests of life…

WtR

Being an American and having lived in Russia for 10 years now, I’ve been finding more and more Americans renouncing their citizenship based on the governmental policies and the wars that America commits. There is many more doing this than the government of ours admits to. The numbers are skewed because of policies that make it almost impossible to leave. If they had easy exit (as most countries,) then many many more people in the US would leave in a heartbeat…

Last night I received three e-mails from individuals that are needing help to leave America and what I see as a predominate issue is that people are very uneducated and scared. The world is a scary place to an American that has been coddled and cuddled all their life by a government and to be more scared of your government says a big statement…

One thing that I can say while sipping a cup of coffee is, “That after watching Russians, whom are not cuddled and coddled by the Russian government!” That they in fact are freer than Americans, due to such lack of attention by the governmental processes to be…”

I myself think it’s very proper and very brave of someone to break the ties and take that first baby step into the wonderful wild world we have at our disposal. For it’s either exile or prosecution, if you are an American and refuse to pay for taxes that you have no say of where it is being spent. Your money you pay in taxes is spent as if it is the governments own money to spend as it pleases. Since when did that happen and why?

If the US government passed an amendment (or something) that gave us Americans the choice of where our taxes would go (Like I would refuse my taxes to be used to war on other countries! I would refuse to have my money sent to countries like Egypt and Israel!) – that would be true democracy. It would be moral, ethical, and chances are far more ground breaking than even the founding of the original United States. Could you imagine a country that asks her people where it is able to spend their money? How about a country that asks her people, “May it go to war?” How about asking her people to do anything, because we have a little address we over look: “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” said by Lincoln at Gettysburg…

I had to learn that address by heart and recite it in front of class when I was little. I have never forgot it and can to this day, say it from memory at the drop of a hat…

Things like this will only happen when the “people” start making the tough choices and sacrifices. Which is why America isn’t a democracy, much less even a republic – it’s a plutocracy, plutonomy and or plutarchy. (means rule by the wealthy)

But I hope that will change, I have a growing impression that Americans will be setting the stage again, like they had when they broke away from the former Empire or North fought the South…

If I am wrong – well then you can continue to live in a world that only seems to care if we talk about adoption, abortion, gay-isms, married with children-isms, dancing with stars-isms, LGBT-isms, gun control, torture, Kadashy-isms and rape to name just a few items of molehill interest. These are the true cover up molehills of a society. If we allow all the molehills to control us then the wealthy and the government has us under their control. For they know that as long as you are looking at a molehill, you will never notice the mountain they have made to obscure your life…

While our real issue and problem (The real mountain of an obstacle!) is an out of control governmental system that has been allowed to grow exponentially beyond the normalcy of moral, physical, mental and financial barriers…

“A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.”
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

WtR

Boza and I are quiet this morning. We are walking on tiptoes and trying; oh it is hard for boys to be quiet! Svetochka is sleeping and when she comes to the village she sleeps to noon the first day and any other day that I let her sleep that long. Therefore, Bozochka and I are really trying to be quiet and good…

Oh how hard for boys to be good and quiet! 😉

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Boza and I walked already a long time ago and Boza did his doggy stuff and he wanted to go home. He knows mamma is there and wants to stay by her side. This is normal, for he loves Sveta very much. But then again, so do I…

It is always strange when she comes, for Boza and I are so use to a certain pattern and we religiously follow that pattern. It is how I remember to do things that are necessary for my health. When Sveta comes, Boza and I get off pattern. That is okay though, for soon we will garner another pattern to match the time now and then go back to the old pattern when Svetochka is gone…

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Trip to Big Village was rough. The little Niva that Vova has, made it. We had a plowed road, but the Fish Village came and got their blown up bulldozer, with another bulldozer. Thus with a little imagination, you can think about one bulldozer pulling a broken down bulldozer, down a narrow kinda plowed road and as they crashed through the woods, they tore our nice plowed road to pieces…

Thus, it got hairy at times and I have to say the little Niva is tough. But needs a little more height and much better tires. We actually had to plow some areas with the front of the Niva and that was no fun…

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Here is are two Niva’s living outside of Russia. I really like them…

They both have alternate tires, but one has extreme alternate. I like them and it makes me wish to have a Niva also. I drove Vova’s last night and it is a good vehicle. Though I am use to the spacious Volga and I am a big guy, thus the Volga is more comfortable for me. But being able to crawl around in the deep snow means something also…

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I have had a few very interesting e-mails and it looks like I have found a couple of guys who are actually what they are! Guys and real! It is hard on the internet to discern things and like I talked about yesterday, websites are being systematically destroyed, if they do not meet criteria set up by the powers to be. Fake people are a huge part of that system of destruction. I also have people set up intentionally as people, trying to befriend me to nuzzle closer. Therefore, if I seem aloof when you first contact me? I have reason for such standoffish attitude at times…

When you spend daily combating Washington D.C. and her attacks against a site that occasionally talks out, with experience learned over the many years I have been alive, on the troubles in the Wonderland called the U.S. of A. Maybe that is why they attack me, I have been first hand on the front line of our great country killing other countries to savor their resources…

I appreciate pictures from other people, for I take a bunch of images myself and get tired of just looking at my shots of life. I love to see what the world has around it and images are part of sharing that makes the world go around…

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I guess I am done for today. Svetochka is here and I hear here stirring. Boza just, “Ooof ooof” and she heard him He ran under the bed to leave me to get in trouble! Thanks buddy, I will remember that… 🙂

WtR

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and Pope Francis signed a joint declaration after their first historic meeting in Havana, Cuba. They called on world leaders to prevent Christians in the Middle East from “being completely exterminated” and to help refugees from those regions…

No comment! Just found this interesting…

WtR

This morning

Yes it is definitely coffee time this morning. The wind is blowing like crazy and it is -8 or -9 here in our village (according to the semi-broken thermometer.) No snow until late tonight and maybe tomorrow we will get some snow also. I mean a steady 10 meters per second and gusting to 15 meters a second. That is at least 22 mph plus…

The image to the right is this morning and these are the places nearby us, Well,I should say within 20 kilometers and more. We are on the highest spot around and the wind really blows bad up here. That puts the temperature feeling like -20 Celsius and that my friend is too much for this bear this morning. The wind is slicing through the clothing like it is not there. So it is not so cold as very windy. The trees are talking and what they say is, “Get back inside fool!”

I have talked before about how the wind is a huge factor in survival here and as it blows, you can feel it suck the heat from the home and your body. It has been very interesting to watch the weather in this village and if I remember correctly, Sveta has somehow found a small weather station for me to install here. I then will be able to get accurate readings on many variances of weather… (We do not have accurate readings for our village, but that will change and part of a plan I have is too set up a true weather station in the village. This device that Sveta has found will give accurately, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity and several other readings. I will post these readings if I can get things to work correctly! Big if…)

Therefore, after walking the dog and he was able to do his doggy duties, we are back in the warm home and trying to keep warm. The coffee is perfect this morning; You can hear the wind blowing to beat the band outside and Old Man Winter has decided that we need more freezing and icy conditions. They had called for this week coming up to be warmer, but overnight all that changed. They adjusted the temperatures on the forecast and now it is being changed to the bad side. I suspect by tomorrow, we will find that we have lost all of our plus zero days and they will become negative zero days…

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Tonight Sveta is coming to the Big Village and Vova is going to get me to the Big Village to get her. The road is clear through the woods and Vova has already been that way. The rest of the village is not plowed, for as you remember the bulldozer broke down. It was not a bulldozer weakness issue, it was a man made issue. Man made in the fact that the guys running the bulldozer ran it out of oil and blew the engine. No lie, they blew up the engine in an old Soviet bulldozer. These things are tough as nails and by the simply fact of not checking the oil, they killed it…

Therefore, as always drinking and driving do not mix and the DT 75 Soviet bulldozer paid the price… 🙁

Enough said about that…

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I popped a new can of coffee open this morning. It is actually in the old style of can and when cutting it open, the pressure pop just filled the air with the most wonderful aroma. We don’t have such sounds and smells like the old days very often. I remember the old days and that perfect smell of coffee as it was percolating and when you twisted the knob of a can opener to open a new can of coffee. Oh Yes…

Now if I could just find a percolator to brew some fresh coffee…

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I think I will grab a second cup of coffee this morning and finish this post…

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Many commenters are terrible at being a decent human!

I have decided that if the comment sections of all websites in the world were removed, we would have a better world. People admit many times that they do not even read an article, they look at the title and comments, or they read the comments instead of the article and comment. Neither way is productive and neither way increases your knowledge of the subject being written about. In fact, comments are simply a tool to try to control, destroyed and or promote certain ideologies being presented in many articles…

People have become basic beasts in most of the comment sections on the internet. News sites have become battle grounds of hate, racism, control, lust, disgust, vitriol, overrun with vermin of all types. Once again a small portion of the populace and or trolling ruins things for all and a huge portion of this garbage in comments is money backed. Between bots and humans working full time at ascendancy of the internet. We have a very unpleasant place to search and just want peace at times…

Could you imagine reading an article on a news site and being able to say what you think and not have an onslaught of hate being tossed in your face. Try commenting negative against an issue that promotes LGBT and see what you get. You could simply say, “I do not believe being Gay is correct!”

If you are on a news site, you will be attacked and called every name in the book. It gets simply horrific to see what people will come back at you with…

I know all about it and I have been unmercifully attacked on this site over my feelings that being gay (homosexuals) is just not right in my mind, basically it involves the way we treat such issues in the media and on governmental levels and promotion of being homosexual in media and at governmental levels is wrong. Do what you want, but keep it out of my face and that is how I feel. I do not care what you do behind closed doors and I feel the same about heterosexuals. Sex is something that is great, but needs desecration. Just like Bruce Jenner; I do not care that he wants to be a woman! But good grief, do we have to have that fact he did what he did, plastered all over the world (everyday for years it seems,) as if it is something we should all be proud of and strive for? Why is it acceptable to, in my face, the fact that someone wants to be a woman? Who cares? Do it and shut up about it…

Oh and I had good friends in America who were gay, they did not push it at me and vice versa. I believe we should respect people and keep somethings to ourselves. My dad was gay (my dad has been dead a long time and he was gay in an era that could not accept it openly) and I am not, there goes that hereditary thingamabob theory all to hell…

Comments suck and we ruined them to try to control peoples ideas about what they read. I look at it this way; If you do not like what you see on Windows to Russia, then don’t come back. I do not force you to come here and I do not pay you to endure what I say. If you like what I say, then come back and sit a spell, but otherwise go somewhere that tells you what you want to hear. It is a free world and a big internet. You can find many sites that cater to your whims and they will be happy to let you tell the world what you think about even my site WtR…

Believe me plenty of forums and sites have spewed tons of hate at me and my wife over the years… (Even Boza gets hate mail at times!) Running a blog (10 years) as long as I have will open your eyes to some serious human issues as you see what goes on…

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Well I am done spouting about things for today. I have to get ready for Sveta, I do not want her to think that Boza and I are dirty grubby boy animals! Time to clean the house and I am sure Boza will straw boss with the best of them, as I clean…

WtR

The Fish Village had broken their actual snowplow, but they had an Old Soviet Bulldozer waiting in the wings. A DT 75; The tractor has a 4 cylinder engine, it is a Volgograd model DT-75, or DT-750, and is one of the most popular Russian crawlers built. These things are everywhere in the countryside and still plowing and still moving earth. Yes they are old, but you use what you got…

But we now have an Old Soviet Bulldozer broken down at the top of the hill, by Vova’s home. It decided to have a rest and broke something…. or something human related happened…. It is old and was made in 1930 or so and the guys driving are old to…

I suspect the real reason it broke is because the guys plowing, had a few too many sips of warmth inducing drinks, that Vova supplied and driving the bulldozer back in the dark, may not work well. They had a UAZ 4×4 and went back in that. The bulldozer is waiting for them to come back and take her home… 😉

I am glad, for we do not need any trees tore down on the road back through the woods…

WtR

Yesterday I ate banana chips as Boza and I walked. I had a treat for Boza and banana chips for me. We sat on a bench across the lake from the Tiny Russian Village and enjoyed our lunch. After being fat, happy and sassy; we walked on our way…

Today, I am extra hungry and am cooking some pelmeni in the little oven…

This is the last of the pelmeni and when I go again to the store, I will get several bags of them. I get cheese and they are good. I still have a bunch of banana chips and they are very useful for taking on walks. Today the walks will be less than yesterday, for it is snowing, windy and damp. Good day to read…

We walked a long time this morning, but today we will not be walking the long afternoon walk. The weather is getting me down…

WtR

Wow it is zero degrees C. this morning and so nice out. Boza and I walked for almost two hours and now we are back inside where it is comfy and warm. Therefore, I decided to write a post and do some thinking, not that that will do any good… 😉

The coffee is fantastic and since I had stocked heavy, because coffee is one of those items that went sky high in price, I still have a bunch of coffee left and can enjoy. I use to stock up in America, because coffee price seems to be one of those items that can all of a sudden explode in pricing. I have noticed that Russian packers have taken up the slack and several Russian packed brands I have tried are damn good and I will buy more of them when I can…

I had no less than a dozen e-mails this morning and they were all good and helpful. I am amazed at how it took me so long to get a system that worked with communication to my readers. it has been a nightmare in the past and I know people could not see it as I see it, because I am the one getting all the crap, they did not understand the full extent of the issue. Knock on wood, the issue is solved, may it stay that way…

But back to the e-mails. It seems that we have some LADA Niva lovers and people who can help with getting Bronco rims (yesterday,) if they were for me, then I could answer better, but for Vova it will be a different story. The big issue is getting rims from the western world shipped to here. The weight alone would be worth 10 times what the wheels are worth and that is not cost productive. If they could come from China, then I could ship them dirt cheap. Shipping from almost anywhere in the world is not bad pricing, to Russia, except from so called western world countries. I know, I have shipped items and even a two pound item will cost near a hundred dollars to ship and that is cheapest way to ship. You might think things are cheaper, but in the end, one way or another the cost is astronomical to ship to this side of the world. I have even shipped cars to America and the cost is four to five times the cost of the car. I shipped everything trying to help people in America get things and it is not a pretty picture when you get the bill. Fact is, I hardly ever spend any shipping costs when I get items from China and such…

One e-mail in particular gave me some real information about exactly what rims to use and how. I was even sent a picture of his Niva and I have to say, it looks as good in America as they do here. 😉 The Niva is one tough little 4×4 and really gets around. Well it gets around until someone tries to drive through a 5 foot drift, but we won’t talk about that today…

I really appreciate the information and people trying to help solve the issue with snow and such. Cost is a big factor and I was given some very good info;

“yes it fits an older bronco but it also fits ford cars from a model A up to a half ton ford pickup from the thirties into the 80s it also fits a Willys jeep which most of them are 16 x 5 to 16 x 6 and I am assuming there are some of them left over from the war mine has aftermarket white spoked wheels in a 15 x 6 size”

So see the first e-mail from Iceland, that gave me solid information, has led to a dozen e-mails and now I have options that are available in Russia to solve the issue. I always want to learn and learning is the key to survival in this world…

I noticed on the image I was given of a Niva, the tires definitely are wider and it looks to sit the same as having 16 inch rims on it. If the guy will okay it, I would post his Niva on the site. I love to see Russian made cars in other parts of the world. I shipped a Volga 3102 to America and it was a sweet heart of a car. I like doing stuff like that and we know everyone to do the job, if you have the money? And that is big dollars to ship a car to America or anywhere for that matter…

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I have to mention New Hampshire Primary and the Iowa Frocus Crocus;

CHORUS
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!

Remember we get who we vote for and when nothing worth voting for is available, then we must demand new and better. I am tired of the same old same old and not a one of the candidates are anything better. Too many skeletons in the closet, too many ties with outside sources, too many issues and too many puppet strings attached to all of them. When are we going to learn to study the situation for what it truly is and not allow the media to play our minds with propaganda and sweet chaos?

Serious issue is that; “What sane person would really want the job of president?” Something to think about…

Heaven forbid, we could have had what I see now and had voted Ralph Nader in many years ago… ~Sarc~ and a LOL…

WtR

We climbed the mountain today. It was not without mishap, I broke a walking stick today, my favorite one! It really was only good for summer, but it was light and strong and that is a good thing for the strength. Boza and I were on a huge snow drift and truthfully, I should have not been there, but we like to crawl up things and see what is on the other side. I had walked up the hill without breaking through and decided everything was cool. I got to the top and actually the picture “The top looking down,” is where I went almost under. You can see the edge that is not covered in snow at the right, that edge was also under me and I was out in the deep drop off. I was stepping gingerly to get a good shot and after I took the image, the ice cracked under me. I dropped the camera and it skittered away down the hill. I had the walking stick in my left hand and pulled it across my chest horizontal. That was where I ended up, almost to my shoulders in a drift and could feel no bottom under me. 🙂

The walking stick held for now and with a Boza licking my face, I decided how to get out and after a few moments; I got myself raised slightly and used the back of my neck to snap the stick. Then I had two, almost sharp sticks to use as spikes to pull myself out of the hole. Therefore, it was spike in the snow and pulling myself along. I finally got to where it quit cracking under me and was able to crawl. Then my knees quit breaking the ice and I got up. I was sad my stick was no more…

Then Boza and I had to go down the hill and find the camera. Camera came out okay (slid like a sled, never hit a tree and traveled a good 200 meters into the woods, skittered on ice all the way) and I was glad of that. Sveta bought me that camera and it is my favorite camera of all…

I found another stick as I walked and it is better yet than the one I had just destroyed. This is a nice stick and believe it or not, it was a stick that someone in the summer had cut to us as a long spike somewhere and left it…

What a wonderful way to live life. No wonder I am getting better and better everyday. Life is meant to be lived, not hiding and scared. Boza and I live life and that is that…

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Yesterday Vova had buried his Niva in a deep snow drift. I am not sure why he thought he could get his vehicle out, but he soon found out that it was definitely too deep. I spent another morning helping get a car out of the snow and felt that exertion this morning as I got up, ouch! It was strange, after I got home I found an e-mail about LADA Niva and what wheels to put on instead of the stock rims. Then you can put better tires on the Niva. I was told that Ford Bronco rims are wider, an inch less in diameter and fit perfect. this allows a better tire and much wider tire, for the footprint… Interesting… The information came from a man in Iceland and he worked with Niva as a work vehicle for many years. He would know… Now to find a Bronco in Russia?

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Father Pavel came by yesterday. He wanted to say, Hi! He was going to the monastery and check on his bees. They have 20 or so beehives at the church. I noticed that bees, honey and Orthodox goes together almost everywhere I see a monastery. Honey in Russia is highly valued and considered almost medicinal in use and purpose. Father Pavel is a good man and I really like him…

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That is it today, I am going to sand on my new walking stick and get it better suited to use. I love walking sticks and Boza and I will have to send our favorite stick on a good burial. It might have saved my life, for at the very least it allowed me to not go in over my head and use it as a way to escape easily. that is why I do not walk without a good strong stick to help keep balance and use in emergencies…

Have a nice day…

WtR

I feel better everyday from getting the flu and today Boza and I walked a good long walk. We checked everything from one side of the village to the other…

The hog carcass had to be a left over from hunters a few months ago. The foxes finally found the remains and the other night, Boza and I could hear the fighting, crying and yelping of a large group of foxes. We found what they were going after and yes, it stunk… 🙂

I really like this cabin below and would love to see inside…

Have a nice day…

WtR