Year: 2016

This morning in the dark, I went to get water. Our water is in a cistern and or as we call it a well. The water level right now is a good six feet below the surface and we have a long hook to get the water out in buckets. I pulled the lid off the well and hooked a bucket to the rod and dropped the bucket into the well. All I got was a bouncing bucket. The rod was not stout enough to break the ice; so?

The surface of the well had frozen last night…

Then I sat on the edge of the well and thought a second, while my butt started to freeze and remembered a very long steel rod I have. Very heavy, but very long (over 6 feet,) it is an old piece of over an inch wide rebar. Darn thing is heavy and I had to be careful not to drop it in the well. But it worked and I cracked the ice and got my water. I will get more buckets later…

Now if you want to know how cold it got last night, then what I said above should tell you. Our thermometer said -20 and less; no way to tell how much less. The next two weeks will be as cold and it looks like it could be a challenge to get water from the well. So today, I will fill up all the buckets that I can, for emergency…

Besides we have tons of fresh snow daily to melt down also… 😉

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It seems that the only camera that I can keep going on a walk with Boza is my cellphone camera. It is so cold that everything else freezes up and simply has no battery or will not expand the lens out. I do not want to tear them up so I will just take pictures from the cellphone and be happy with that. I can take images nearby the home, by starting the Olympus up inside and going out for a short time. That is no good for a long walk and it just freezes very fast…

My cellphone is a beast and has a huge battery. No moving parts and just works under all conditions…

My cellphone…

Kyle and Boza reporting from The Tiny Russian Village…
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Boza and I got up at 5 a.m. and walked this morning. That was late for us, but there was a reason…

Vova was busy as a beaver all day. He was cooking, decorating and getting ready for his huge party. Then the party never happened… 🙁

No one showed up except two people and one was his newest girlfriend from a nearby village. I stayed away, because, well, I do not like to drink and party, but…

Sveta called me and it seems that Vova called her and was kinda complaining that I did not show up to his party and that he cooked tons of food just for me… 😉

I felt guilty and went up to see what was happening at the Vova house hold. The image above is a certified Vova decorated New Year Tree and I like it. It looks about correct for a guy tree and I would have done the same. He puts up a tree every year…

The weather last night became simply put, “Too Damn Cold for man or beast!” Thus no one could make it and I understand. It seems that Vova had big dreams again and as par relevance, they ended up being reality checked in the process…

That is why I like Vova…

Therefore, I ended up sitting in Vova’s house watching Putin talk about the year and the future of the next year and ate wild boar, rabbit, chicken, farm pork, salads and toasted a sip of champagne at midnight. Russian champagne by the way and actually very good…

The two that showed up at Vova’s was his girlfriend Natalia and a guy named Sasha. Sasha disappeared as soon as I got there, for it was snowing like crazy and the temperature was dropping fast. Natalia was a nice girl and she was spending the night with Vova. He was all happy about that and after about an half hour, I bid my adieu and we went outside to watch the fireworks in the distance. Vova grabbed his rifle and fired off two rounds in the air as he danced and then he had a single one shot roman candle and he giggled as the green ball of flame settled to the earth…

The fireworks were everywhere in the distance and I counted twenty displays going off at once across the horizon…

I hugged Vova and wished him Happy New Year (s novym godom) and went back to my humble abode with Boza waiting. I talked to Sveta on the phone and told her happy New Year and Sveta was staying with her mother. I was glad for that and truly I was worried about Sveta being alone. I know that Sveta is happy when she is with her mother and I am glad that her mom wanted her to stay. Her mom has turned 80 this year and the more times Sveta stays with her, the better…

Then I read a book until 2 a.m. and went to bed thinking…

What a wonderful place… (Just need Sveta here!)

All in time my friend and everyone have a wonderful New Year…

s novym godom – с новым годом – Happy New Year

Kyle, Sveta and Boza…
Windows to Russia (WtR)