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!”
Do I look like I am full of thoughts this morning?
Maybe coffee will help that situation?
Okay second cup of coffee is down the hatch and thinking thoughts is not high on the agenda. Walked Boza, it is 4 a.m. and so far the main snow has missed us. It is actually +1 and it looks like I have a last chance to get to the Big Village and grab a few more supplies. I decided that the Birdbrains need more food in stock, thus I will get some more millet and oats. I also need to get a decent can opener, for using a knife to open cans is getting old and I decided that I need to stock a few more bottles of Vodka. Vodka is money…
Thinking of that subject…
Living in the middle of nowhere and what is money?
Salt, sugar, vodka, tea, coffee, cigarettes, benzine and individually wrapped candy pieces. That is money or substances that people would pay gold, silver, weapons, ammo and other necessities with…. If the end of the world came and money was worthless, the items above would be worth much more than their weight in gold. A man would be a king if he was well stocked in the above items. As long as he could protect such items?
Isn’t that the name of the game. Exploitation? Hold out what people need in their minds to survive and they would even trade a rifle with ammo, just to get a bottle of vodka, or that last pack of cigarettes. How about salt? Salt is necessary for life to function and curing meat with salt is almost the only surefire way to keep spoilage at bay. Yes you can smoke it, sugar cure it, but salt is quick easy and salt is money…. Sugar curing is easy also, but you simply do not need sugar to survive. Salt is essential for certain body functions to operate…
Sugar in the form of candy would have twice or better, the value, than plain granulated sugar…
Then simple items like matches, toilet paper and a thousand other things would make you everyone’s favorite friend. I realize that you can wipe your butt with a leaf, but there is something about toilet paper that makes you feel civilized. Besides in my world, I would grab a poison ivy leaf in the dark and that would be a bad thing… 🙁
The world I live in now actually functions more the way stated above than not. I live in a world that what you have in hand has a million times more value than what you have in the bank or on the books. What is that saying?
A Bird In Hand…
A bird in the hand. Something of some value that is already acquired. Taken from the proverb “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” which means that having something, even if it is a lesser quantity, is better than taking the chance of losing it in order to attain something else that seems more desirable.
I do not smoke and or drink vodka. But I have both in hiding within my reach. People pay well for such items when they run out. I started to stock these items after being asked a thousand times, “Do you have vodka?” As they held out money to show they want to pay for it…
So I decided this last summer to capitalize on my options…
This morning after the snow started to let up some. I found myself being watched. I decided that it would be a good idea to feed the little devils, before they tried to eat me and fixed up another batch of birdbrain food…
They are a joy to watch as they fight over the food. They squabble and squabble…
Well good thing I made that last trip to the Big Village yesterday. Looks like a week of snow and right now it is a literal blizzard. Boza and I are safe, warm and cozy in our Tiny Russian Village home and we walked this morning at 2 a.m., to find the world had become a foot deep and very white. It took Boza a few minutes to assimilate to the new surroundings and he stayed closer than normal to me, but soon he got his sightless bearings and off he ran to trip the snow drifts fantastic…
I will try to get images later, but it may just snow for days at this point and it is all I can do to fight the white and drifting snow. Much less try to stop and take pictures of the world. I think in a few days, I will be able to get some images…
Boza is smart, he did his doggy business at 2 a.m. and home we came. Then he settled at my spot on the bed and fell sound asleep. Therefore, I am writing a post. I tried to shovel snow, but as fast as I shoveled, the wind blew it back. Some times you have to just wait and let the world stop being wild and when it calms, you dig your way out…
It is not cold! Just -1, but a 20 to 30 kph wind is making things interesting. So it is cold regardless as the wind cuts through everything you wear. The wind is coming straight from the south, 91% humidity outside and max gust of wind was 48.2 kph. Old Man Winter has woke up and he is playing today…
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I do have to say something; The propaganda about certain so called dictators in the world by the Western Empire has reached a whole different level of sadness. Castro has just died and we have people celebrating in the streets over his death, I saw this over Bin Laden and have seen it over several things like this in my many years. The comments on websites are atrocious and we as a race should be ashamed of what is happening. To celebrate any death is sick and a sign of the moral structure of a country…
I lived in Florida for years and knew many Cubans from that association. Florida is a crime heavy state. Mostly gated communities, emergency call boxes every mile and on and on. Security measures are number one in Florida. The Cubans in general were not all of the socially moral type who came from Cuba. We acted like they were and the good Cubans who are out numbered by far, do not lay the same groundwork of terror that the hate filled ones do about Cuba and its past. When you get a societies dredges because they were kicked out of their country. You get what you take in and praise as wonderful. Once again, we made our bed and we sleep in it nightly. We accept the propaganda about Cuba as verbatim and do not stop to look at the sources of these propaganda…
RIP Castro he is a serious part of our history and will go down much higher on the list of importance than almost all of our presidents of the US! If we can not separate the chaff from the grain in such instances, then we are lost to propaganda and that is what is wanted. We blindly follow the narrative and worse of all; We blindly murder for the narrative…
He was no angel of mercy, but seriously, we in the USA are actually far from an angel of mercy! That self proclaimed illusion that we like to associate ourselves with. We are not but a reflection of what and who we condemn. We are our own worst adversary for peace in the world…
It was the US that tried to assassinate Castro numerous times. It was the US that spread lies about Castro and his doings. I know, Cuba is one place I have been in the military. All is not what it seems when we as a country (USA) talks about Cuba. The narrative has been and still is a narrative of hate and digression about Cuba…
Do you ever want to know the real truth?
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Boza and I are going to wait for daylight to have our long walk. That is something we do, snow, rain, sleet or shine. We walk and see the world of the Tiny Russian Village. I am going to check my vitals, such as sugar levels and blood pressure. I woke at 4.4 mmol/l and 89/55 blood pressure. I want to see how they are doing after breakfast and some coffee…
We got lucky and the snow missed us in the Tiny Russian Village. More coming, but for at least another day, we will have it easier to get around. It should be snowing right now. The weather station is flashing major snow storm, the regional weather reports say major snow storm, but I see stars and a sliver of moon. Granted it is 2 a.m. in the morning, but since Boza needed to do his doggy business, I am writing a post…. Thus, morning may come and the snow may fall…. They call for blizzard this afternoon… 🙁
We will see!
Our road we walk
The Village Home
Christmas Tree Lane
Our Village
A birch forest
Boza chasing quail that he stirred up
Cemetery
Cemetery and bell tower
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I had to laugh at the games being played right now over the presidential election in America. I guess Stein wanted to join Sanders in the free money for your soul campaign! But they say everyone has a price!
Now you should see the point I make; “America is the land of Chaos” and this is a perfect example. Jill Stein wants a recount in three states and she has no horse in the race! Actually she did, but her horse died. Shame, but it looks like we will all be in hell anyway when it is over, no matter who is president…
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Well there is a list of what is being posted as propaganda Russian websites…. and WtR is not there! So I guess that means my site tells the truth, What ever! Hard to fault someone living in Russia and reporting on Russian life from a first hand experience. The sites I see listed are sites that are different than mine. Most of these do not even reside and or even based in Russia. Some of them are 5th column sites against Russia out of Moscow. So they may have a point about propaganda games…. I live and breath Russia… My favorite is; Ron Paul is on the list…
Yesterday was get feed grain time for Vova’s animals. As in the past I am the designated driver. I do not drink and thus am a natural for driving around the other small villages and gathering foods for the animals. Therefore, I found myself driving all around the back roads, seeing the sights of nature and really enjoying the trip. I struggled with low blood sugar, but had a couple of pieces of candy and pushed through it all…
We stopped at a grain storage area and for a bottle of vodka, got a winters supply of what I call chaff, chaff in this case is is about 50% good grain and the rest trash. We gathered over a ton of it yesterday. The chickens love it and so do the rabbits. It cost nothing except a bottle of vodka and that ran 120 rubles at the local market. The only thing is that we have to be on the down low and not make a big scene and act stupid. But hey! That is my specialty (trying to not act stupid) and been doing it all my life to survive…. This is part of surviving and when we have chickens in a few years, this is what we will do…
I drive Vova and make sure that he is safe. He would go anyway, sooner or later and it is better that I do the driving, for as you know he kinda has issues with the demon vodka. He is a good friend and I want him alive not dead or in jail. We can not make him stop drinking and like many friends I have had, they have to hit bottom before they can get up (if they get up) and get better. Bothers me, but Vova will do anything for me and is a best buddy…. Alcohol is a demon… 🙁
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So yesterday, I ended up busy all day and this morning already, I have been again to the Big Village. It is snowing and looks to get very deep in the next few days. It feels like one or two feet coming and I wanted to get a few things to tide over the long snowing spell…
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Filled up the wood bin this morning and carried in twenty big split logs. The logs burn a long time and I have enough wood for a week right now, inside the home…
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Boza could see fair this morning and was running around like an idiot. I had to slow him down and be more cautious. But he was happy and that he could see a tree and it is hard to take away the occasional good days that he can see a little bit. I let him run and run. He is a happy dog and eats good. What more can we want?
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Got an extra donation for a few thousand rubles and I was able to buy something very necessary. I live in a village home with no closets and or dressers. I found for about a 1000 rubles a four drawer plastic mouse proof dresser. It is so wonderful and much needed. Thanks for the donations and this is the kind of stuff that helps make life a bunch better…
Therefore, I am ready for winter and will settle in to brave the storms coming…
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Gotta go and lots to do. Maybe take a nap, Boza had me up at 1 a.m. and had to do doggy business. That is life…
Try to start the car at sunup! If the car starts okay? Then off to the Big Village and get doggy food and other supplies. It reached -15 last night and the only thing that helps is the wind went away. It is bitter cold, but only a light breeze makes it bearable. Windchill is the same as the actual temperature. That is a blessing…. So far the coldest temp recorded on this new year in the last few days is -21.5 and that my friend gets rough as you walk around…
Regardless the coffee is perfect today and I am finishing my second cup as I write this article…
I am not sure Boza is going to town with me or not. I allow him to make the decision and when Svetochka is here, he likes to go to town with us. But we will see if he would rather stay home. I would like him to go, but he has to be comfortable with the situation…
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Dakota Access oil pipeline protests by the Sioux Indians has gone off the deep end. The government is using water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas and other strong arm tactics and many Sioux are injured. This is a serious issue and this image shows the bottom line. From the day white man came to America, the Indian has been pushed around, cheated and degraded. As I was a little kid the ant-Indian propaganda was incredible…
The pipeline has been rerouted from going through a white town who complained and now going through the Indian reservation. I will not get into details, but if the white idiots want a pipeline, then put it through the white’s backyard, not through a small Indian Reservation full of people that were taken from their land and isolated…
Say what you want and say how it is progress, they do not count, we need the pipeline, blah blah blah…
But why do we have to keep shoving, hurting and degrading these people, these humans, who we destroyed years ago. have we not done enough in the past to wipe them out? Move the damn pipeline through the middle of a predominately white city and tell the white people to shove it up their ass. Then as they complain, use rubber bullets, tear gas and whatever to degrade them and destroy their city…
I personally see the image above and that represents America to me. That is America in a nutshell and as we progress to a full blown military society, one day you will wish that you had woke up sooner…
The image above is the pipeline and tells the tale…
Grow up people…
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Sorry but we are just a bunch of idiots and with all the oil, gas and stuff abundance that we proclaim through fracking and trying to sell it all over the world, what the hell are we doing putting in another pipeline, in someones yard and not our yard. Sounds normal for the US! That reservation is their land and property and we need to respect it…
I guess by killing them in the end. We show respect! ~Sarc~
— The birdbrains are gathering at sunup and waiting for me to put food out. They sit in the cherry trees near the outhouse and watch for me. They no longer fly away and gather in greater and greater numbers as the morning goes on. I am trying to feed them at sunup and make it a habit to help them get the food before bigger birds come. I chase the biggest birds such as crows and mocking birds away. Most of the time the little birdbrains are in such numbers, that they keep the big birds away…
Boza has taken to eating all the time. He is running as we walk and between Boza and the Birdbrains; I keep busy feeding them…
It is good to see Boza eating, in Moscow we had issues with him not eating, but in the Tiny Russian Village, Boza eats like a horse. But!!!! Last night we had to get up twice and go for a walk. Boza had doggy things to do and they got urgent. That is okay, I like it when he eats. He will settle down and it shows me that he is happy and the Tiny Russian Village is his safe home in his eyes…
He lays here next to me on his bed on the couch and is sound asleep as I write this. Glad he can sleep! He kept me running around all night in the -15 degrees cold windy weather. It is sunup and -13 right now. The weather station is working good and I finally got the hard drive in shape. I had to isolate the bad sectors and bypass them. There is about 2 Gigs of dead space on the drive and if all goes good, I will make it until Svetochka comes back with the old laptop. Going to have to get a new hard drive for my computer,but that will wait a while; money is all spent and the budget can not be stretched to meet that demand. Oh well! We make do with what we got…
Was going to go to the Big Village today, but I do not feel like it. I need to pick up more doggy food, but we have enough. I just like to have more than enough. Boza likes to eat. I think I will go tomorrow, if sleep is good and all else is good. I will start the car today and warm it up, to make sure all is good. It will be sunny for the next few days and cold, cold and more cold…
— Kinda sore this morning. Fell yesterday and landed on my right side. This hill is dangerous when covered with snow and I have to learn again to walk carefully. But sore I am this morning…
Ouch!
— The sun is up and so beautiful. Gonna walk Boza again soon. We will try to get pictures this morning. I have to build a wall to enclose the outhouse better and find myself a roofing panel to make a entrance cover. Got to keep the snow out of the outhouse. I also will split wood today and get ready for a long winter. I have enough wood, but really, you never have enough wood! 😉
— Going to make a Windows 7 Live CD, that means I have to find some burnable cd’s at the Big Village. I have to be able to save my data easily, Puppy Linux does the job, but I need back up, in case…. I have installed Puppy Linux inside of Windows 7 and it works perfectly. Really a good thing to do, for it creates a new boot menu that allows you to get into Puppy if need be. The program is called LICK (Right here)…. Works really good and saved this computer so far. Something to think about if you have an issue. Just get it ahead of time and install just in case. Make sure that you download a copy of the Puppy Linux you need in ISO form. It will simply install that ISO within the system. You do not have to worry, it will still boot automatically to Windows in a few seconds. Best to use the latest Puppy Linux and make sure it sees everything on your computer first. Just use a flash drive installer (Rufus) and try it out like a Live CD. Does the job…
— I post things like above to do with computers in that you may fix your own issues one day. It does not hurt to have this information and if you are reading this blog right now, you are on a computer of some type. Information is the key to success and you need to learn all your life…
— Time to walk Boza in the sunshine. It is cold as all get out, but it is beautiful to walk in. Yesterday, Boza and I walked to the Fish House and looked around. Then we walked the lake bed. The bed is almost frozen hard enough to walk safely, but we found a few soft spots. Just have to be careful….
— For those who have asked, Svetochka is doing good in Moscow, she misses us and we miss her, but she is busy as always and her mother has a birthday and Sveta will be going to her today to celebrate. As far as Mother in laws are concerned, Sveta’s mother is a jewel and a very good person. An old Soviet intellect, who from my understanding was working with computers in the old days. I bet she has seen some interest changes in computers over the years? She has a Samsung Tablet in the 10inch size and uses that to look at the internet. I see lots of babushkas with tablets in the villages. These ladies stay in tune with the world and know what is going on…
Time to walk Boza and see the world of the Tiny Russian Village…
Boza and I got up at 5 a.m. and were kinda sad. Svetochka is gone back to Moscow. We took her last night in Sammy the Volga to the train station and Boza and I had a long lonely ride back home. But! We are doing our thing this morning and filled the wells, ate breakfast, took our medicines and the sun is coming up. It is going to be a beautiful day here in the Tiny Russian Village…
Now Boza and I will get in a pattern and get healthy. We will eat at the same times, walk at the same times, work at the same times and go to bed early & rise early. This is important for us and it makes us heal and get better. A schedule is important and to Boza it is vital as he gets much older. I will rearrange the home today and make clear paths for Boza to get from my bed to his bed. I am also going to move his food and water bowls. They have always been by the door and he is having issues with stepping on them. This is an issue that I can solve with little repercussions for him to find his food and water…
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I want to thank the people for donations that have come in this month. These donations have bought Boza all his medicines and food for both him and I to use for the whole winter. They really came at a good time, for we over spent our budget tremendously in Moscow and now are just about back on track. Money is always an issue, the US does not send me anything for disability and or past services killing everyone all over the world. I have a website that generates $100 average a month and basically that plus donations is what Boza and I live on. I am working on retirement funds from America, but that is like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. If you are younger than I am, do not expect any help from the government for all that has been paid into the system. If I ever get it all worked out, the system may be so broke and all the money stolen by the government, that I will get nothing anyway…. Wish we had that trillion plus dollars back in the system, that we used from it to play war games all over the world, in Iraq and Afghanistan…
I paid for years into private retirement plans for several companies and as many know and have found out, pension funds from the old days failed and both companies are no longer in business and there is no retirement available from a defunct company…
We hear Social Security is broke and we hear that it is fine. I guess as long as we continue to borrow money at the pace we borrow it at, then anything can be said to be okay! But, the can has about stopped rolling and since our legs are broke, it will be hard to keep kicking it down the road…
I live on almost exactly the same amount that a Russian lives on with a pension, about $150 a month average… It is enough…
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The birdbrains are eating happily at there buffet. They are waiting for me in the morning and have their bibs on and ready to eat. I buy millet and oatmeal to mix for them. They love it and we have about 50 birds who like the buffet. The millet runs 20 rubles a kilo and the oatmeal runs 18 rubles a kilo. A kilo of each mixed together lasts four days. I have budgeted this and will feed the birdbrains all winter. This is my payment for them to keep the bugs out of the garden in the summer… 🙂
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Our Tiny Russian Village home…Sunset…On a clear day you can see forever…