Windows to Russia

Wind chill is not actual temperature, it is what it feels like.

But, I will say that the wind sucks heat out of everything and the word fast, is not fast enough to explain it. Power went out all over the valley. The big villages nearby, that I can see in the distance, had no power also. We had a storm. A storm that rivaled a thunderstorm for ferocity in the summer months. Wind chill hit a bone rattling -51 C at several fun moments. They had the air raid siren going in one of the bigger villages and it wailed for six to seven hours. I have been up most of the night tending to the fire, so it would not go out and making sure that the Tiny Russian Village home kept in one piece…. The outer mud room filled with drifting snow and at one point I finally opened the front door and it was half way up the door in a drift; and ice started to form on the south wall as the wind relentlessly pulled the heat from our home. Needless to say, log walls have a limit to there insulating ability…

The wind hit a wild 65 kilometers and hour and they just started the air raid siren again. It is 5:30 and we finally got power back on…

I am not sure it will stay on, but I have boiled a pot of water, built our fire back up and shoveled snow to the outhouse and gates. Boza and I walked at 2 a.m. and he did his doggy business. I had to carry him over some drift areas and we finally got to the top of the mountain. There it was wind swept almost clear and Boza did his business. We walked for about an hour and finally got our courage up to trudge back down the mountain to our home. The path we cut coming up, was gone and even deeper. At one point, I had a doggy in my arms and was pushing through a drift up to my waist…

Needless to say, I had to change clothes when I got back and the snow covered ones are hanging near the fireplace drying…

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Today,

I have to restock all the wood. I put a dent in the inside pile last night, had no choice, that or freeze to death. It was definable an interesting night and actually a very good night. I realized that I was prepared for the worst; flashlights charged, firewood stocked and plenty of food for energy if needed. That was an issue these last few days. I have had to eat and eat too much in my eyes, for my blood sugar has been very low. I have almost stopped taking my pills and it is still pushing the low side. My body is burning calories like crazy and it is compensating by heat production and my blood sugar does not get a chance to go up.

Interesting how our bodies work to keep us alive…

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I feel the heat wave coming today!

Short lived and most likely only will last a few hours, but it will hit zero degrees this morning and then turn around and get to around -15 tonight. It is hitting zero now. When it gets daylight, Boza and I will take a long walk and or try to walk. Then we will get ready for round two of the brutal storm hitting us. By noon it is suppose to be back to -5 and dropping fast from there…. Plus it is really suppose to snow tonight. What we just had was a warming up party…

I know what is coming, for my arthritis is going nuts and I hurt like hell…

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It is so beautiful out…

And all is good here in the Tiny Russian Village. I don’t complain, for there are many places much much colder in Russia than our little place. I am thankful just for the experience of life…

WtR

Ever wake up and happy you are still alive? As you get older, you will experience some of those interesting moments of life…

About once a month my body does the opposite of what it should. That is a rough day and night! Just had one of those nights and days that make me wonder if I will make it. Yesterday, no matter what I did, my blood sugar was low and I mean low. Blood pressure was very low and heart rate was to the moon. I woke early last night at 2.2 or so mmol/l it scared me. I was not sure where I was at and or even knew who I was…

I ended up taking no pills at all and this morning I woke groggy and lost also. Sugar was at 6.5 mmol/l and blood pressure at 88/40. Heart rate though was at 59 bpm. So I was over the worst. This is normal about once a month and it is a scary thing. All the previous day, I fought with low sugar and blood pressure. That is one of those up and down moments of life…

I talked to my Svetochka Sweety in Moscow and after she talked to me awhile, the food I ate a few minutes before, started to get into my system. I stopped shaking and things became clear again. Thank God for my sweety to talk to…

Svetochka is going to try to come this Friday coming up. I do not know if it will happen, the snow is getting very deep and it is treacherous around this area. But we will see…

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So therefore, that cup of coffee is so special this morning…

I sip it as I write this…. The wells are filling with water right now. Boza and I walked in three foot drifts to get to the main well and after pushing snow around, I got to the switch to fill the water wells with. I have to take the snow shovel next time and dig a path, for it is snowing like crazy again and getting deeper my the second…

Coffee is my vice and if living without it is the only way, I will live with it and endure. Somethings are bigger than life and to sit and sip a hot cup of coffee early in the morning, is akin to life itself. That is why coffee has been so prominent on this blog, coffee is essential…

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Boza fought the drifts with me and sometimes only his nose was showing. I have to say, Boza is one tough dog and if I go, he goes…

We will go back in half an hour and in the meantime, I gave him an extra portion of chicken and dog food. He is laying next to me on the couch as I type this and has his head on my leg. I have mainly had female dogs and the few male dogs I had, had no sense. Boza is male and will fight bears for me if we need to. I still get sad, thinking about him losing his vision and wonder about why life does things to some of us, who do not deserve it. Then I just realize that we adapt and keep going. I guess that is the difference in Boza and I & many people in this world now. We have become soft and pliable to all the wrong things…

This is Boza and I going to the well…

Boza; since he can not see, just runs in circles and actually life is all good…

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Had to make a well run just now. I try to keep the wells at 1/3 and below from full. If I don’t, they freeze very hard and it takes a big heavy bar to crack the ice. not fun at -20 below…. Boza and I were gone about an hour and daylight is peeking at us right now. Svetochka called and she is up and bright eyed and bushy tailed…

Therefore, I had to heat my half a cup of coffee back up and now I will finish it. The wells are done for a few days…

Damn, my fingers are frozen and I can hardly type… 😉

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When it is daylight, Boza and I will walk for real. I call the well work, just that, work. It is necessary for the village to function. So, we will walk down into the valley and see what life is about. Boza and I walk about 10 kilometers a day and that is just right. It is good for us and we try to do it in any weather. It looks to be a good day and hopefully it will not snow all day…

The graphs that I can produce from the weather station I have is above and the system gives me a few days probable weather forecast from the history I am collecting. It looks to be not too bad and we are lucky. We will have a barely freezing period during the day tomorrow. The problem is that when it does this, it snows a foot or more. The system does not see that, but I know what will happen…

Since I have the system connected to the internet, that is why I can get a forecast. It uses what our history is and uses what the internet connections give and creates a average of everything. Thus, It can be totally wrong and we may wake up tomorrow with three foot of snow on top on all we have… 😉 We will see…

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Vova and i went to the Big Village yesterday. I was not sure we would make it at times and we crawled his Niva, LADA 4×4 through the woods, at times just between trees and brush. We made it though and went to the market, that they have on Sunday. Not worth going, but Vova wants to get some Valenki boots. Did not find any. All they have are modern boots and believe you me, those do not hold a candle to a authentic Russian Valenki…

I have three pair and they are used constantly…

My three perfect snow boots;

The tall ones are still wet, only on the surface. they are made of wool and the link above is how they are made… I like the ones with soles and tread on them. They are warm and will keep your feet happy at even -35 below…

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Oops, gotta go feed the birdbrains! They will eat the house if I do not…

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The birdbrains are happy and they only griped a little bit. I have one sparrow that almost is ready to eat from my hand. I bought sunflower seeds to give to the chickadees and really would like to get them doing that. They are flighty though. The sparrows all want to sit on my head as I fill the feeder…

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Well that is it for today. I need to check my sugar levels, feed Boza again and see what food I need to eat to keep me going. I am not hungry, but need to eat to keep things on track. So off to check my vitals and see what I need to do next. I know tomorrow, I will restock all the wood in the Tiny Russian Village Home…

Maybe I will split some wood today? I do have to answer a donation email today. I will do that after awhile…

WtR

We have birdbrains and they are happy birdbrains…

What is life?

Well, from birdbrains to long frosty walks and a beautiful Russian woman. I guess that is life…

Have a nice day…

WtR

In Russia there is a beef bonanza underway. Russia’s government and business people want steak. Steak that they could sell to beef-hungry countries like China. They want the thousands of jobs that a beef industry could create. A steak empire, built on American-style Angus beef…

WtR

At 3 a.m. Boza needed to go out and do his doggy stuff.

I got up from a deep sleep, for I stayed up late reading and it took a minute to gather my brain together. I could hear the wind blowing and realized that snow was falling. In fact it was a blizzard outside and drifting deep in the -10 below temperature. Boza who is fearless in most aspects of life barreled out into the blizzard and greeted life full on. No eyesight, but lots of heart…

We walked up the mountain and went to look at the wells to make sure water was okay! Then we found something strange…

Boza sees much of what I see, I do not know how, but there are things that can not be explained and this morning Boza and I found the spot that at least one Orthodox Saint is buried. Four rabbits were nested at the spot and they did not run or move when we came up. Boza was seeing something even though he can not see and hovering above these rabbits was an swirling something??? I soon found out what it was…

The rabbits looked at us in the flashlight beam and just snuggled deeper into the snow drift at the right back corner of the old blown up church. They did not care and or fear us. Boza went up to them and sniffed at them and the snow simply made everything very surreal as it swirled endlessly. It became twice as cold as it was and something seemed to touch me and that was when I saw what Boza had been drawn to…

In the snow above the rabbits was a fading in and out woman. The woman was dressed in typical habit like clothing. Or I should say, monk like clothing. She was dressed for the weather and was looking down at the rabbits. She swirled as an image in the powerful flashlight I carried and one minute she was there and the next gone and then back again. Then she looked at me…

She stared at me and then almost seemed to smiled. The cold went away, or at least the extra cold did and she pointed down next to the rabbits. The spot she pointed at was where a brick layer was exposed in the excavations of the church basement area and I had been studying this spot for sometime. As I took my foot and shoved snow away from the area, I felt her leave. The rabbits stayed still and watched me push the snow away and Boza stood next to the rabbits and looked up into the sky. I could not see what he was seeing and or if he saw anything in his mind. For Boza is very blind, but I really think she was talking to him at that point. I kept pushing snow…

I exposed the layer of brick and then realized what I had been shown. I knew it was there and for some reason, this morning I was shown her grave. This is the same way that I was shown the tunnel entrances, the cemetery and many other secretes of the monastery. I have yet to be wrong and when the past shows you their secretes, it is easy to be right…

There is some terrible things that have happened at this monastery, but then also there are some unbelievable things that have happened in its history. I have never seen and or felt this individual before, but as I have seen several images of this person in the archives of this monastery, I knew who this was. This was the original female leader of the founding monastery in the early 1900’s and I do not know is this her place she was buried or she was pointing out for me to find, the spot of the Saint I knew to be buried here at the monastery! I do not know if she was a saint or not? The original female monastery was very short lived, for soon after the founding, the Soviet Union came into existence. Things got messed up at that point in history…. I simply know that what I have been shown is a spot where someone who is or should have been a Saint is buried…

Then the rabbits took off, the presence was gone and Boza was trying to find me. I shined the light around and we found ourselves coated with an inch of snow. The bricks had already covered back over and I took a big rock and marked the spot. Come spring thaw, I will be able to find the exact spot this all happened. It is a cornerstone chunk of rock that was placed on the church foundation. I will be able to find it, it is huge…

This is why I am in this Tiny Russian Village!

I knew this from the first day almost ten years ago that I visited this village. I realize no matter what happens in the world, no matter how bad it gets, I am safe in this village. Something talks to me here and something tells me its story…. It is more than a single entity, it is many entities and over the years, I have been the reason for many to have reached their final resting time. When I first came to the Tiny Russian Village, it was overwhelming with an atmosphere of dread and grief. The souls walked in limbo and turmoil was in the air. It reached a peak in the early years I was here. They the Orthodox church had a bad individual overseeing the place and the souls screamed for help. Then I started to answer the best I could and grew to accept these entities around me here in the Tiny Russian Village…

There is still a group of buried souls, ones who helped steal the gold and silver and then murdered. I know that spot. They are fine with the past now and when the time is right, I will point the way to them. Time is a factor only to us living, to these past people, time is nothing. So I have to allow things to develop in my time frame and not theirs. They simply want someone to understand the circumstances behind their life and ending on earth…

What is? Is what is!

WtR

https://www.facebook.com/DailyCaller/videos/10153943492616770/

Myself, the Mainstream Media (MSM) needs to be broken up just like Ma Bell was many years ago. Time to put the media back to the little people and keep it out of the elite’s hands…

WtR

Hot tea weather…

I will add to this tomorrow morning….

-20 and it is just 5:30 pm. The sky cleared and when the sun went down, the temperature dropped like a rock. It is brutal out there right now…. Just stoked the fire and it is +20 inside…

WtR

Update: It is morning and right now 2:30 a.m.. Boza and I got up at 1:00 a.m. and had a quick walk. My blood sugar was at 3.1 mmol/l and I needed to get things under control. I glanced at the temperature meter and inside it was +20 degrees. Then I focused on the outdoor temperature, -24.8 degrees. LOL, it was crisp out there and so wonderful…

-24.8 C is -12.64 F, if that helps to correlate for you better. Windchill is -30 and colder. Yes, we have a breeze blowing (Well okay, a gale is more like it.) Boza was all gun ho to walk and after 10 minutes, decided that life was better in the home. We scurried back and got inside to stay warm… 😉

Built a fire to help keep the chill out and Boza has gone back to sleep. Me? I am writing a post…

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There something so magical about stepping outside and the smell of a wood fireplace meets your nose. When the air is as crisp and clean as it is here in the Tiny Russian Village, you can smell a fire a mile away. Something just makes sense when you see the smoke curling up from a chimney. That tells me that home is warm and wonderful…

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Begin and end my day with this version of the song Sound of Silence…

Just seems fitting to the world at large…

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There is something striking about the realization that the sun struggles hard to even get above the horizon. It reaches many times barely above the trees and shadows are long and impacting as you walk. I have lived many places and been many places in my life, but never have I been anywhere where the soul is touched with such meanderings of paragon…

Russia is a country so enticing, but you must break away from the degradation’s that have molded your life. The depth of its ability to effect your innermost persona is a catching array of stigmas that you never have a shield against their intrusion upon you. Then one day, the veil lifts and you develop perception…

Perception then become recognition, awareness, consciousness, appreciation, realization, knowledge, grasp, understanding, comprehension, apprehension and cognizance all the same, but yet all describe different ways of perceptions that we meet in life…

I struggle with health issues and they sometimes get me depressed. Then, I have been checking Vova’s blood sugar and when he ran into the realization that he is having issues and is actually borderline diabetic, I saw myself in his face. For it struck him hard, he became sad, angry and worried in that order. He does not want to die and does not want to lose his legs. As we all know that person who has had that issue…

I realized that we all have to meet life and life will get you down. Life can be brutal at times and yet at the same time life can be so fluent and respecting, that we allow ourselves to be crushed by the downturns. I met such a downturn many times in heart, brain tumor, diabetes and other issues…

I stood outside a few minutes ago and it struck me…. I use to exist and not live. Then I found life…

I found my soul mate in Russia, I came to Russia, I fell in love with not only a Russian woman, but I fell in love with Russia and then my soul became Russian. Can’t explain it, for I am not smart enough to canalize such direct changes deep inside of me. Therefore, I have to simply accept such changes and garner my abilities to survive such changes…

I guess…

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”  ― Oscar Wilde

I chose to live…

WtR

No getting out now. I made my last trip for a few months several days ago. Once the serious snow hits, that is it and unless you have a decent 4×4 you are going nowhere. That is why I am searching for that perfect cheap 4×4 to use in the Tiny Russian Village…. Drifting snow is the killer…

Pretty simple; If you do not have enough food, water and firewood? You are in trouble…

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This is the type of 4×4 I have settled on finding. To buy it very cheap (I mean under 50,000 rubles,) you can even get them paperless, as in no registration. Out in the boonies, who cares and all it needs to do is get to the Fish Village. Then supplies are easily gathered for super bad winters. If you get such a vehicle, you can and ultimately will get it tagged properly, but it has really only one purpose; to get around when the going gets tough…. I am seeing them for 25,000 to 50,000 rubles and in decent shape. Time to get a 4×4 and or get a limited slip rear end under our Sammy the Volga…

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The bird in the image above is beautiful and he sings so heavenly. I have seen three of them at a time and they are really cool. They are around now, because I feed the birds and they enjoy the birdbrain buffet…

Maybe Svetochka can find out what they are called. She has lots of forums to show pictures on with people that would know…

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Russians love their vans… They are tanks and they look like hell after years of the snow and back roads, but who cares!

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Though truthfully, I would rather make Sammy into that tank and maybe next summer, we will gather enough money to get a limited slip rear end put under her. That will make her get around almost as well, just the depth of the snow will be a factor…. Dreams are good and something to work for. I have the money set aside, for people have donated for a 4×4 and when I find the right one, we can buy it. Down in the small villages these vehicles are plentiful and it will pop up one day… 😉

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-16 this morning. Boza let me sleep until 4 a.m. and then we walked for an hour. The air was crisp and the world was so beautiful in the flashlight I carried. Blood sugar was 5.2 mmol/l when I woke and I ate a pear and two cups of coffee. I feel good this morning and getting orientated to the cold weather more and more everyday. What was cold when I got here is now t-shirt weather, It is strange how we adjust. If we give ourselves a chance…

I keep the house dry and at first it is effecting to the lips and feet and such. Then after a week or so, you adapt and life becomes good. Keeping the inner home dry makes snow brought in a short time to melt issue and dry up. My boots dry fast and that is important when you walk so much. I wear valenki boots when the temperature gets cold and the snow is deep…

I have three pair! short ones, medium tall ones and very tall ones… Few more days of all this snow, the tallest ones will be brought out to play in…

Have a nice day…

WtR

Last week, a technology reporter for the Washington Post named Craig Timberg ran an incredible story. It has no analog that I can think of in modern times. Headlined “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say,” the piece promotes the work of a shadowy group that smears some 200 alternative news outlets as either knowing or unwitting agents of a foreign power, including popular sites like Truthdig and Naked Capitalism.

Go ahead and read it! Link is below…

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/washington-post-blacklist-story-is-shameful-disgusting-w452543

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WtR

We walk and walk all the time. That is what Boza and I do to stay in shape. That is important you know?

This morning the air was perfectly still, the trees had become white leafed look, with the snow coming straight down. It has reached -5 right now at 6:30 a.m. but at 2 a.m. it was still zero. It will be cold today and in the next few days, it might hit -25 below. That will be fun…

The sky cleared in the last few hours and that always means crisp cold air coming from the north…

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Filled the wells this morning and have already walked three times with Boza. I just did his eyes and after that he sleeps another few hours. I take that time to get things done, such as trash hauling, wood stacking and writing. Then when the sun comes up, he will want to take a long walk and then eat again and again. He eats like a horse and every walk is another bowl of food. That is his pattern. We walk and then he eats… Must be nice!

Eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep, walk and so on…

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The internet is working today, yesterday it was very bad. I guess the storm sent it into a tissy fit. Decided to post some images for you to see what we see in the Tiny Russian Village. You know? We still get lots of emails telling me that I am fake. That I as an American would never live under such conditions. Why with all my money and being from “AMERICA,” would I think that I could pull off acting like an American in Russia, much less living in a Russian Village!

My answer is, “Jerks!”

Gonna go walk Boza in a few minutes and try to get a few pictures of a covey of Partridges. There is about 20 to 25 of them and they always allude me as I try to get a good shot of them. It does not help that Boza gets wind of them and barrels along head first, like a bull in a China closet and scares them before I can get that perfect shot… 😉

I though they were Quail, but they are a Partridge and they are neat…

Partridge in a Pear Tree!

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Have a nice day to all my readers and to the ones who hate. God bless you also! For you give me many laughs over the years and I am a, “American living in a Tiny Russian Village!”

WtR