Life is a full time job in the Russian Village…

Life is fragile and let it down and it will get you. In the Russian Village as in any village far away from society, life will catch you unaware and surprise you. This is on my mind because Vova has not appeared for a day and his lights were off all night long. I must drudge through the snow to his home. It snowed all night and now the drifts are 6 to 7 feet deep. Therefore it is time to make a social visit to Vova…

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Life is a full time job here in the Tiny Russian Village. You have to prepare for anything to happen. If the electricity goes out; well it could be weeks before it comes back on. The well freezes and you have to chop a hole to get water. Wood from the wood pile does not carry itself and you must constantly carry wood. Boza wants to play and run and you must try to accommodate his wishes also. You have to keep yourself from getting too hot and sweating outside and at the same time; keep yourself from getting too cold. You have to adjust as the Tiny Russian Village gets smaller and smaller everyday, for the snow is getting deeper and deeper, everyday…

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When I cook, I cook for two or three meals at a time. The skillet above is full of potatoes, carrots, kielbasa and onions. I ate a third of it, with the help of Boza of course, and will eat more later today. Looks like three meals in this skillet…

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The 4×4 you see belongs to Vova and it has a bad alternator. I just communicated with someone about how people seem to hate to fix things, they simply buy new instead. This is an example, but besides Vova has his Niva for getting girls, he says. (I have a girl and she is nice and sweet!) This truck is the answer to the issues here in the village, Vova has all papers for the truck and I think if the price is correct, like almost free, case of vodka, a please let me have it, then I can work on it in the spare time during the summer and next winter have a way to get around. It needs some minor work and a new set of tires. If I can swing the money and not destroy my budget, (to terribly bad,) then it is what Sveta and I need. It will crawl through very deep snow and get us to civilization…

Sometimes we have to buy what is a necessity and in this case, this truck would solve huge issues…

Probably never happen, because money is tight for this American and even the dirt cheap trips we use to take, have become out of reach in price. The world is crashing as people look around and ask, “What Happened?”

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All my cut paths are gone. The snow has drifted in and they smoothed over. I see at least an extra foot of snow this morning and getting around is tough. Sveta is trying to work a deal for snowshoes, but that is in the city, where deals can be made. She has found a set of very expensive snowshoes owned by a Muscovite, who has never used them and never will, and she can possibly get them for like 4000 rubles ($50) and they are made for big men and less than a third of what they cost right now in the store. She is looking for skies for her and maybe she has some at her moms house? This is one of those budget destroying items that becomes a necessity and since she wants to come down in February, I will be able to use them through March…

Sveta and I decided that as we can afford such luxuries, we buy what will last and not cheap. Items have to last for many years, not one season. The fact that these snowshoes are cheap is a plus benefit and why we have to try to get them. They are quality…

Lucky the paths are easy to redo as the snow is dry and light!

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I had to smile at an e-mail I got from an office in Washington, D.C, “How do you like the cyber attacks, you unpatriotic POS? We have more to send your way!”

and

I responded, “Good and please pass my site around to the rest of your cronies! It is good for rankings! But hey why would you call me a Point of Sale (POS?) or do you mean it in the way of Urban Dictionary type of language! But thanks anyway, however you mean it…”

You have to wonder how they can send hate from a DC office and such, but when I complain and send the facts, I am ignored and they, those who are suppose to care about such hatefulness, look the other way… 😉

WtR