Year: 2017

Yesterday I had to go out in the snow and work on the car. We had a dead miss in the ignition system and I had to fix it, just so we could get to the doctor for Boza. I fixed it and was soaked to the bones…

We have a saying, “Niggar-Rigged” and or the original “Jury-Rigged” and or Niggardly… Stop! Before getting an attitude it is not related to the word “Nigger…”

So with a little bit of old parts, new parts and some duck-tape and bailing wire, Sammy the Volga ran like a top, but needs new parts…. See niggard-rigged…

In the next few weeks, I will put new spark plugs and wires on her. It seems that we had and have a bunch of mismatched plugs and wires to deal with. Therefore, I will start from scratch and put new spark plugs and new wires on her when the weather breaks…. Today Svetochka and I will go buy new ones to get the job done…

I have a new water pump waiting and now in the Que is the ignition to finish, It is always something and never ends. Especially when it does not stop snowing and spring keeps waiting in the background hiding…

We had to get to the doctor for Boza and here is what we found out…

Boza has one eye that has responded perfectly to the medicine. His right eye is at 12 mm Hg and we cannot ask for any better than that. But! His left eye is still at 60 mm Hg and plus. This is bad and we will keep doing his medicine and go see the doctor again next Tuesday…

There will two doctors to look at him (one is a doggy surgeon,) I suspect that his left eye will have to be operated on to relieve the pressure. Not going to be a happy doggy, but we must get the eye pressure down…

So lets hope the weather breaks and I am able to spend a few hours tuning Sammy the Volga up. Though it was nice how well she ran yesterday. We have one fast and powerful Volga Wagon… 😉 But I have to install a water pump soon. It will take more than a few hours though and something new cropped up yesterday, the heater core seems to be plugged and heat, in this cold wet weather was not to be found. She ran good and never over heated, but all we had was cold air inside the car. Yes, heater core it is…

Another thing that has to be done is take Sammy to a body shop. It is time to get two new doors, rocker panels and some other body work done. Then painted back to the original color. Sammy is a great car and she needs a new dress put on, so that she will be oohed and awed at as she runs around…

Volga’s are becoming rare and Volga wagons are even more rare. In a few more years she will be a classic. Good girl she is…

Oh yes! It is starting to look a lot like Christmas…

“It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas” by Johnny Mathis (Lyrics)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGBie5pT9nw

And or maybe better yet…

Now that is Russia…

WtR

“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does.

They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited

He was thinking this back in the early 1900’s. Could you imagine what he would think nowadays?

WtR

When mingling with the natives, do as the natives do. In my case Russians…

Or…

This has also been made into ringtones for your phone…

I hear it all the time when someones phone rings outside (No not my phone, silly people.) I see cars with Putin painted on them, shirts with Putin’s picture on them and the other day I noticed that there are hats with Putin’s face on them…

Whatever; “Such as Putin….” This is what happens when it is obvious that Putin is married to Russia, heart and soul. The people love him…. Yes many woman wish they had a Putin in their lives; Even in America…. It is also when we make someone bigger than life itself…

Gotta love the Russian people…

WtR

Again…

Or…

Boza and I walked at 5 a.m. and I took some images…

I loved the baby size street cleaner. He went back and forth a dozen times, cleaning this one spot. I have to say, he was determined to get it clean…. Looks like a cow to me, with the paint job…

Walking the hospital area is important for Boza and I. Boza can move around with very little restraint and is safe to sniff the world at large. We like to get there before the rest of the world wakes up and interferes with our peace of mind. Peace is important, for once the natives wake up, life is a shamble of humans going about their business and Moscow has a bunch of humans to shamble about…

Oh yes and one of the most important holidays in Russia is coming up…

[contentcards url=”https://sputniknews.com/russia/201705031053252321-russian-military-rehearses-2017-vday/”]

Yes big stuff and party time for everyone! But then Russians love to party and they have many important holidays to allow just that. This is just the biggest of the party holidays… 😉

Trees are painted white, signs everywhere and the rumble of tanks on Red Square is prominent…

My sweetie is home and we will party with Boza!

WtR

In 1935 my Grandfather Keeton took out a note from a bank for $1000. This was only done once in his life and I happen to have the paid slip for that note taken out from the bank. A bank in Kansas City, MO.

From my understanding:

This money was for paying off medical bills and burying my Grandmother Keeton. She died young, in pain and of cancer. She was 37 when she died and my Dad who was the baby of the family had to grow up fast, hard and tough. My dad was the youngest of seven kids…

Grandpa, a boiler maker as his profession, was raising seven kids all alone and the eldest sisters of the siblings took over mothers spot…

$1000 is like $18,000 right now:

To borrow this kind of money must have been a terrible thing for my grandfather to have to do? My dad said it hung over his dad like a demon for the year it took him to pay it off. It seems that grandpa did not like to borrow money and felt that owing someone, was slavery until paid…

That is how we thought in the old days…

He paid that $1000 off in exactly one year. That is like paying $18,000 back nowadays, having seven kids to feed, house and take care of, then paying everything else that life throws at you. Could you do that? right now and still raise seven kids…. No I mean you, that person who brings home 45,000 a year in gross pay. Taxes and whatnot’s take half and then remove $18,000 for debt and live in the rest for a year…

Give or take according to your situation, that would be from $4000 to $5000 to survive, feed the family and pay the bills…

My dad told about how the whole family all did what they could to help pay it back. Every penny went to pay the debt back, a debt that was imposed upon them because they lost a mother to cancer…

Debt:

Somehow we have lost that fear of debt. We live in a debt society or I should say, the west lives in a very debt society and I now live in a cash or do or buy it society. Russians and that extends to the government try really hard to keep from taking out debt…

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan doth oft lose both itself and friend.” – -William Shakespeare

I watch Russians give money to others. I very rarely see a Russian hand out money and ever expect it back. Everyone in Russia has that person who has to have a ruble to survive and it is handed over without recourse. It is the Russian way and no we do not care to talk about mafia types. That is a whole another world and a very small part of this world. Same as in America. Playing with the devil is the path you take selling your soul…

A huge portion of the populace gives to those who do not have, for one day, you may need that ruble back and someone will pay it forward. It is a “circle of life” in a country like Russia…

I have learned to become part of that circle and it simply works…

Who really eats?

In the real world life is like this…

One man has a dollar, the other man has just borrowed 10 dollars from the bank. The man who borrowed the money just bought his dream toy that morning and the man who has a dollar, does not have that toy…

But later that night when dinner comes around; the man who spent $10 on a toy, does not have any money to buy food. His belly is growling and he is hungry. The toy is not edible…. He actually borrowed money to buy that toy, money he did not have in the first place…. Money he now owes on top of everything else…

The man with the toy looks out his window and across the street sitting at the dinner table is a man with his family eating dinner. That dollar bought dinner and the man with the toy sees boiled potatoes, salad, pot roast and even wine to drink…

The man with the toy looks at his family and sees a hungry family, but he has his toy!

What this means?

Very simply, it means you have two ways to look at things and two ways to take care of life. One you buy toys and owe, owe and owe some more. You never have enough and you never get out of debt. To eat you even borrow money. To live just basics of life, you have to borrow money. Money is that 800# Gorilla sitting in the corner…

Or! You buy what you need with what you have and feed your family and yourself. You belly is full, you do not have an 800# Gorilla staring at you and your family goes to bed at night in peace…

You either live within your means or you do not…

We have misconceptions:

We associate countries like we do people around us, people with who are rich and who are not. Who is third world and who is not. Who has massive GDP and who has small GDP. This misconception is not real world and that is the crux of the matter…

The man with a dollar and no debt is rich in all truthfulness. The man with $10 debt and a toy is dirt poor, until he pays that debt back…

We must pay our debts and when our family looks at us and their bellies growl from hunger, then we might learn to not go into debt for toys…

WtR

[contentcards url=”http://theduran.com/russia-is-now-in-charge-of-syrias-air-space-america-is-shut-out/”]

The days are ending when America just flagrantly wanders the earth and bombs aimlessly. It may take a few more years to be fully realized by all, but a “Syria No Fly Zone” imposed by Russia is a game changer and the US only has itself to blame…

I talk about the winds of change and this is an example. Russia does not bluff and do not cross a Russian Red Line…

America needs to revamp its foreign policy program and get on the porch with the big dogs that are coming up in the world…

Or will we (USA) just start a war to end all wars?

WtR

This made my day when I woke up this morning. Poor Steven Seagal, he is on Ukraine’s ca-ca list…

[contentcards url=”https://apostrophe.ua/news/society/culture/2017-05-05/drug-putina-stiven-sigal-stal-personoy-non-grata-v-ukraine-opublikovan-dokument/95199″]

“Using part 1 of Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine” On the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons and Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Fundamentals of National Security of Ukraine”, the Security Service of Ukraine decided to ban the departure to Ukraine for the specified person for a period of 5 years, ” In the SBU.

“The decision to ban entry to Ukraine is taken if there is sufficient information received in accordance with the procedure established by law on the fact of committing a socially dangerous act by it (a person – editor), regardless of the territory of its commission, which contradicts the interests of ensuring Ukraine’s security, a warning , The identification, termination and disclosure of which falls within the competence of the SBU, “the SBU explained.

Ukraine you are a “Silly Willy!”

I am sure Seagal will loose many nights of sleep over this decision…

WtR

Boza went to the doctor yesterday and  we had good news and bad news about his eyes…

The right eye is responding good to the original medicine and the eye pressure is kinda acceptable normal (Boza is at 25 to 30 mm Hg in his right eye and the doctor says that is acceptable and good.) He is actually seeing somewhat out of it and that eye is just maintenance to keep things in line with normality, or as normal as it can be kept. The left eye is bad (65 to 70 mm Hg) and that means excessive damage has happened and is continuing to happen to the left eye. So we now have a whole new set of medicine to deal with the left eye and a original set of medicine to continue with the right eye…

Therefore, Boza is having everything from antibiotics to super powerful pressure relief drops put in his left eye. Some drops have to be done six times a day…

Then on the 8th of may, we will see the doctor again and will know more about what is happening. I would say that it is 50/50 chance of surgery on the left eye, for I am not sure that it can be corrected by medicine…? He has hard spots on the cornea and other major damage…

The one good thing I see today is that he is resting peacefully and is in no discomfort. That is good and the main goal about all the drops and such. There is soothing jell stuff for the cornea and that seems to really help his pain…

I worry about the little guy and have found I have my hands full trying to organize all this medicine and get it all done. Svetochka is very worried about her doggy and is trying to find and do all that is possible to help him. She does the groundwork and I do the maintenance applying the cure…

Svetochka is a good girl…

* * * * *

Speaking of doctors:

Tomorrow I get to go to a doctor and have some spots on my face looked at. I also have an issue with my little toe on the right foot and it needs to be looked at. Being diabetic; Means you can never be too careful with your feet…

I also have to have my eyes checked. I am struggling with vision also…

Sometimes life gets you down…

I am just thankful that healthcare is very good in Russia and cheap…

* * * * *

As a side thought with coffee this morning:

I give Trump as president of America the benefit of the doubt. I think that he is in over his head and it will take time. I disagree with many things he has done and to be honest, he has not done most of the things being slammed against him. The wannabe Hitlers are running amuck in America and I just do not know if he can rein them in?

He is trying on many things, but he has an opposition that is unlike anything we have ever seen. Even Nixon did not have it this bad and they got him in the end…

Good or bad, I am glad he is there and not Hillary. He lost my trust with the Syria fiasco and the North Korea games and at least he knows that he messed up. Hillary would have done what he did and 100 times worse. Regardless of what Trump is, Hillary he is not and I thank God everyday for that…. A big problem is that being president of America does not mean you have any power to be that president…

Just like the healthcare issue. It really is simple; Even Russia has free healthcare for the natives and while I have to pay for that healthcare, it is better healthcare than what I would get in America and that my friend is what you should realize. Healthcare is just like abortion issues, war issues and political issues in America. They are all a byproduct and or symptoms of the big problem. The big problem is…

[contentcards url=”http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/04/politics/health-care-vote/”]

Problem is; we should not pay for healthcare, just like we should not have to pay for an education and many other items that we continually pay for, but should be from our taxes…

America is divided:

And that is exactly how the elite want it. Divided we fall and united we succeed…. So while you worry about the little stuff, we are running straight into a wall of concrete and that wall will not give as we hit it…

“Crash Test Dummy” comes to mind…

WtR

Sveta and nature seem to get along very well. They never find her threatening and always carry on like she is not there. This bird is watching her, but he has a business to attend to and gathers a mouth full of twigs and grass…

Speaking of birds, quail eggs are cheap and Russians love them. You can find them in just about any store with food and I bought some for Svetochka. I created this delight for her and she even took a picture of it. Sveta loved it and smiled the whole time she ate it…

Now I still find it interesting that Russians love dandelions so much. As an American we try to eradicate them, but a Russian loves them. So much so, Svetochka takes pictures of them all the time…

The last two images are of a family and their two kids. The kids are safely tucked away in the green trailer attached to the bike. Then off dad goes towing the kids behind him. Parents in Russia are always pulling their kids somewhere. Either on a sled in the winter, a wagon in the summer and now we see that they have special covered trailers to haul them around. Keeps dad in good shape…

You just saw Moscow through the eyes of Svetochka, while she is out riding her bike and or at home…

Love that girl, her outlook on life is fantastic and refreshing…

WtR

I feel lucky. I am in a special seat in life. That seat is watching America from the outside and the America that the world sees. This is not a very pretty sight and actually it is kind of scary to see what is happening…

If you stand far enough away from the issue in and about America. You easily see what we are facing and what stands out is, that abuse of power by our rulers is at the heart of almost (well actually all) every problem we are facing and have faced in the history of our country. America is sincerely the most corrupted country on earth…

While we seemed to understand that politically we have been corrupt for a very long time. We are now faced with the realization that the corruption extends deep within society, politics, finances and last but not least the military…. It is so corrupt that we are not able to understand anything but that corruption…. We are a form of corrupted corruption…

We have help to see the issues present all over the world, yet we never seem to study that mirror first and see what is happening in our own backyard…

We have reached a apogee of where the mafia/gangsters idea of life as in the roaring 20’s is actually less corrupt and more moral than what we have become today. The mafia has family as a root and there were areas in life and morals that you never cross and or family dealt readily with the issue…

We have become so corrupt that everyone is in free fall mode and everyone who desires power has an open road to see ability to garner that power. Even over our president of our country…

We do not even try to keep such abuse, trials and tribulations within our own country, we spread it like wildfire all over the world

Maelstrom is predominant and desired…. Everyone who desires power has something on everyone else. Everyone who desires power uses all the dirty tricks to get that power…

Blackmail is a way of life in America…

* * * * *

Most of us see what is happening, but as humans are prone to, “We would rather deal with something easy!”

“Easy” as in just simply trying to make a living in a society that has made being number one and rich, famous and powerful as the forefront attraction to life…. Survival, money and power are predominate, thinking and learning is far from the top as a priority…

Really I was in the same boat. Who the hell has time to think about a better life, when all you can do is barely keep enough money to simply pay exuberant taxes, keeping up with the Jones and trying to stay ahead of the overhanging rules of what is right and wrong by our government…

You ever stop even once in your life and ask yourself why we have the IRS?

How can we grow as a society when all we do is spend a brunt of our personal resources feeding a federal government, city governments, country governments, state governments and taxes on literally anything and everything we buy. The last year I was in America, I paid 46% of my gross income to some form of fees, taxes and what knots…

Then I paid taxes every time I bought food, clothing and what knots again… Why? And the big question is, “Why do we not do something about something as simple as taxes?”

Did you know that, “The United States imposed income taxes briefly during the Civil War and the 1890s, and on a permanent basis from 1913.”

[contentcards url=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_history_of_the_United_States”]

I ask why and got in trouble in America. In fact I asked why too many times. I ask why do we destroy other countries? I ask why do we have taxes? I ask why do we treat each other like trash 90% of the time? I ask and ask and ask about things. It is a serious issue I have and have had since I was a little kid. I ask why and I really want to know why!

I have been told from a little tyke to a big bear things like, “None of your business, go away, not important, worry about something else and I have been actually threatened, beaten and jailed for simply asking “Why?” …

If you could see things from where I sit, then maybe just maybe we could get back on track again…

Asking why is a sure fire way to stir things up and learn at the same time…

WtR