Russian Village; Sunrise to Freedom…

Boza and I take smaller walks 5 times a day. It is way too cold and dangerous for Boza to be out for the two to three hour walks we like to take. He is struggling with understanding, but when we step out he does his doggy business and then heads back the way we came. He is usually waiting at the door for me to catch up. If it is daylight, then he will want to walk around 30 minutes, but that is pushing it…

Vova sang and played spoons today. He was in a good mood. His girl from a nearby village is crazy about him and he, like most guys, is happy when a female likes us… 😉

The sky is clearing and that means it will get super cold tonight. I mean ice cream freezer cold! As you see the sun is almost gone at 3 p.m. and I will be glad when the days finally get noticeably longer…

The home is warm and Boza and I have good friends, I have a perfect girl in Moscow and we have plenty to eat and drink!

What more could we want? (Well maybe the perfect girl with us in the village!)

Have a nice day…

Kyle and Boza in the Tiny Russian Village…
Windows to Russia (WtR)

01/02/2016 in Russian Village; Sunrise to Freedom…

This morning as I checked the crippled thermometer, it read between -20 and -25 (-4 to -13 F. for you Americans,) and after walking the dog, fixing several village homes fences and listening to the bell tower ring; Boza and I made it home and I decided to start the car. To be sure I was not sure if the car would start in this temperature. It has never started this cold before. But it did and started easily…

As it warmed up and I brushed the snow off the car, I watched person after person walk up the hill in -20 and colder weather. They were all going to church up the hill!

I just wondered how many of you reading this would walk 4 to 5 kilometers in weather like this just to go to church?

I walk in this weather for fun, so yes I would walk to church in this weather…

Back to the car…

Sammy the Volga fired up and warmed up with no issues. The antifreeze is good till -45 and the windshield washer fluid is good till -31. Lets hope that neither of those temperatures is reached, but yes, it is possible here in Russia…

Therefore. I started the car to make sure that tomorrow I would be able to get to town early and get my shopping done. I want to pick some items up and I have dog food to pick up also. Boza has plenty of dog food, but as Sveta demands; “Her doggy needs lots of food!” (And that is that!)

I turned just now to see where Boza is and found him sound asleep curled up in a ball on the bed, in my spot. Yes I have to fight for my spot on the bed… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

As I walk and Boza walks, the snow is so cold that it squeaks. My walking staff squeaks as it twists in the snow and life in general just squeaks in general, for it is cold, crisp and wonderful. The sun has made it up and is trying, but I have seen a single cell old flashlight with more heat than what I feel today from the sun. The sun actually seems to be making it colder instead of warmer and seriously, the sun seems so far away. Makes me wonder how a solar cell would do up here. I would like to get a kit and set up a solar collector station to supply electricity. Something that is crossing my mind…

* * * * * * * * * *

I have been mending fences the best I can around the village. All I can do is try to prop up sections that have been snapped by the excessive cold. This morning, I found top of the hill goat ladies fence broken off from the cold. The cold takes old wet fence posts and freezes them solid and as it gets colder, the fence swells, as in frost heave and the post will explode sometimes. I then find good logs and prop things back up, at least until they come to fix it in the spring. Can’t dig or nail; the ground is like stone and the posts are like steel beams…

* * * * * * * * * *

Vova is grouchy, he did not stack firewood like he should. He was too busy chasing the woman from Saria (Big Village) and kinda slacked in the getting prepared department. I have offered him a whole stack of firewood, but he is so mad at himself that he is splitting everything he can find in his yard to burn. The offer stands, but he is like me, really grouchy…

You have to get prepared, for we will very possibly have a few -30 nights and it will take some wood to keep warm. I am burning around a wheelbarrow a day of wood, if it is cold at -20. Warmer than that, and I have no issues with usage. I still have not used even half a stack of my wood and I have three more. Plus I have tons of wood to chop up if need be…

January and February are going to be brisk and next summer I will be rebuilding my wood piles, with the realization that I need to build at least five piles minimum. Or better yet, build a wood lean-to in the corner of the yard and put at least a three year supply under the roof. Then a stack near the house to refill from that lean-to…

* * * * * * * * * *

Gotta go; need to haul wood inside, get water and today I am going to take a bath. So have a nice day…

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

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… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

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)

Happy New Year from Windows to Russia…

Sveta, Kyle and Boza…

To be honest with you, I thought at times that 2015 would be the last year that you or I would see. We came close and it was not for the trying part by the west to start a war. I have been in the heart of battle and I have seen the slaughter of many men, who did not deserve to die, on either side and I will be frank with you; We are either lucky or our guardian angels are working overtime…

I suspect that God has kept us here, for we (America) showed such stupidity in the geopolitical arena that only the hand of a higher being could have stayed the execution of the end results…

America has waltzed from one country to another and pushed buttons, played games, tried to color revolutionize and or hundreds of other nasty things that we seem to enjoy doing to countries all over the world. I have to say that we are truly a pile of crap with a coating of icing to cover it up…

* * * * * * * * * *

2016 is going to be a interesting year and I pray that the people in America get off their asses and try to end the terror that is our government. I suspect that too many like the way it is and bar lack of food to the masses, we will all sit watching the Honey Boo Boo and or allow the Kardashians  to invade our last brain cells and squish the last semblance of life from our souls…

* * * * * * * * * *

The future of the world is up to the people and this is more so than anytime in history. Never in the past have we had such technology to allow the world to come together as a one, instead of an array of individuals, all hating and scrounging for resources. If instead we acted as one and spread the resources all around the world and allowed everyone to have a life fulfilled with our desires and dreams…

But alas, what fun would peace on earth be?

* * * * * * * * * *

I think the situation with Bill Cosby sums up 2015 and a bunch of years before that. I looked up to the man, I enjoyed his work and now I find my self disillusioned…

I use to believe in America and tried to accept what we did, was at least the best of the situation we had when the cards were dealt. I looked up to my country, I enjoyed the abilities that we had and could achieve and now I find myself disillusioned…

I find that as we were deceived by a powerful man in the entertainment industry, so we have been deceived by a country that has death as its partner…

have a nice day and someday wake up and think about what it all could be, not what it has become and realize that we have the power to make it better…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Сараевский американец Кайл Китон: «Россияне не хотят войны» – American from Sarai, Kyle Keeton: “The Russians do not want war”

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Russian_Village

http://ryazpressa.ru/news/articles/saraevskiy-amerikanets-kayl-kiton-rossiyane-ne-khotyat-voyny_03-12-2015/

In Sarai area there was an unusual lodger. An American Kyle Keeton masters the Ryazan hinterland.

– “I grew up in the west of America, Missouri, where, too, are frost and cold. Only the winter there is much shorter than in Russia” – says Kyle. – “So I am not afraid of Ryazan province.”

Kyle calls the outback village “Dawn of Liberty.” It was here that he lived in a small house, bought his wife, Svetlana, 25 years ago. Generally Svetlana originally from the area, but her parents’ home at the time became dilapidated, and then collapsed. So I had to buy a new one because it would not let small homeland. Initially, Svetlana went here with her son, and now with her husband Kyle.

Read More >>>>>

The newspaper hit the stands and we are in print, not just internet…

No wonder the whole town knows about Sveta and I. We are local celebrities…

* * * * * * * * * *

Ever tried to clean fish at -12 below Celsius? Well I got the pleasure again today and my fingers have just thawed out. I am freezing them for when Sveta comes and Boza got a fish head to eat today. Now that was a surprised doggy; fish heads in the winter! Oh My!

Up the hill came one of the fish village managers and I bought two fish for 50 rubles. Buddy bought a bunch (like 10 kilos) and he was a 100 rubles short, so I lent it to him. He is making fish stew for the New Year and I will get my money back in delicious stew made from these fresh fish…

Looks like big New Year party at Buddies and I will go early and stay away as the drunks get wild. I told buddy that I love Sveta and no way will I stay to chase women and or drink. For it seems that he has as many women (and twenty gallons of moonshine and twelve bottles of vodka) as he can invite coming and a bunch of guys also. After declining late night invitation. He (Vova) smiled and said, “Kolia lyublyu (Kyle love) Sveta!”

I said with a big smile, “Ya lyublyu (I love) Sveta!”

That sums up who is special in my life…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Last night was cold, my special broken thermometer said around -17 and I am going to get a new one as soon as I go to town. I built a fire and stoked it up at about 9:00 p.m. last night and it still has some warmth this morning as I got up. The home is doing good and I think it will be reasonably comfortable down to -30, with no problems. This is only about heating one room, so the room with the refrigerator is cold as a freezer. I have to think about that as I store food and such…

* * * * * * * * * *

I had several people ask me about the outhouse and what about sitting in a frozen place when doing your business?

That is a good question and one I asked myself and answered awhile back to myself. I just never knew that anyone else would care! The answer is to the left! <<<—–

I carry a padded room temperature seat bottom from the house to sit on. It works great and you do not have to worry about freezing your haft to the wood surface in -20 below weather… 😉

I might look stupid, but I am not!

* * * * * * * * * *

New Year is almost here. Sveta will be in Moscow and I will be here. I am sure that Vova has plans and personally I hope to be left alone. Boza and I like solitude and really do not want guests except for Sveta. I do have to go up to Vova’s today and gather a bucket of potatoes from him and I will check his blood sugar levels for him. I will also check his blood pressure! It seems that I am his doctor at times and I get to okay that he can drink and be merry for a holiday! 🙂 (Like he would listen anyway!)

I have a tin of cookies to take to him from Sveta and I already gave him a calendar from the Orthodox Church…

* * * * * * * * * *

I need to contemplate if I should make a trip to town today, for seriously, this is the New year holidays and Russian literally shuts its doors for a whole week, during this holiday. Most likely from noon the 31st of December to possibly the 9th of January almost nothing will be open!

But Magnet the big store will be open by the 2nd or 3rd of January, so since I have tons of food, I do not need to go! 😉 There that was answered and Boza and I will stay home…

* * * * * * * * * *

You know? I have to talk about Windows 10. I was upset and have waited for a few days to talk about the trashy piece of junk that Microsoft has decided to shove down our throats. I really gave Windows 10 a chance and I tried to solve all its issues. But there was an issue I could not overcome and that was its ability to eat data on the internet. When you live in the middle of nowhere and I mean literally nowhere! Every megabyte counts as you try to keep within a budget every month. One of the most expensive things I have to shell out for is internet and that runs about 900 rubles a month. That 900 rubles gives me basically 16 gigs of traffic usable for a whole 30 days… (I also get an extra 16 gigs of traffic from 1 a.m to 7 a.m. but, that is stupid and hardly counts in the life processes!)

Not the same as in Moscow with unlimited traffic for less money. Therefore, when I could not get Windows 10 to stop eating traffic, even if I shut it down for the night, when I started it back up, it ate traffic like a crazy fool. Then the camels back broke when, while Sveta was here, Windows 10 decided that 4 gigs of Ram was not correct and only reported 1 gig and at the same time refused to ever charge properly or report correct battery of the laptop. I also had over 2 gigs of updates it was trying to download and I simply screamed at it and told it goodbye forever…

Thus, I put back the original operating system, Windows 8.1 and it is acting very civilized and proper now. The machine is designed for 8.1 and that is what I will stay with. I am installing updates one at a time through Belarc and will not allow it to try to update to Windows 10 again and or even download the Windows 10 update of more than 3 gigs of data…

Damn you Microsoft! This has made me leery of them and I have deleted my account to help with testing beta software. I have reached the point of no return for Windows and will start back gathering my Linux past and reinstating a Linux Desktop in the future…

Windows 10 will not be in my future and support for Windows 7 and 8 will be gone before you know it…

There, now I am happier again! And yes I really tried, I know what I am doing and I really really tried to make it work. It simply did not want to play fair and that is the future of Windows OS…

All for itself and nothing for you but eye candy and clouds…

* * * * * * * * * *

Time to leave and get other things done. But I leave you with two images that I took yesterday in a lake bed. Looks like someone broke down many years ago and repaired a bulldozer(?), parts all over the lake bed and I have shown other parts in the past. I find it interesting what can be discovered when you walk a lake bed that is dry…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

This morning at 5:30 a.m. the outdoor thermometer said, “-15”, actually it shivered and said that. I know it shivered, because after I tapped it to make sure it was settled, all the numbers below 0 fell off and went to the bottom and what did not fall is hardly enough to read the thing properly anymore…

What a bummer!

* * * * * * * * * *

Therefore, with the demise of our outdoor thermometer; Boza and I went walking in the frigid, crystalline, and clear sky of Russia. That is a rare sky in the winter. Oh, it is always clean and frigid, but clear, hardly ever, clouds seem to be the norm…

Boza checked his winter fur coat before going out and he was satisfied that he had enough fur to do the job, then I proceeded to put on long underwear, two pair of heavy cotton pants, three pair of socks, the heaviest coat, a stocking cap, scarf, gloves, emergency bag of peanuts, flashlight, three shirts (two – long sleeve,) and a partridge in a pair tree… (I am not as furry as Boza!)

I take a bag of peanuts with me, in case something happens on the long walks I take. Sveta appreciated them the other day, as we ate peanuts in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. They were really good…

I had two cups of coffee before we left and now I am sipping on a cup of hot tea as I write this article…

* * * * * * * * * *

I sat on my bench I made in the summer this last year. It was crisp, but I sat to hear what the world would say to me. I was attempting to hear what songs nature would sing today to me, for yesterday, I was presented with an orchestra that beats all orchestras. Today was too early and all I heard was cars in the farthest reaches and highest reaches were filled with jet engine noises, as I could see the dot of light transverse the sky…

But yesterday I had a song of nature…

Boza and I had walked for several hours yesterday and we stopped near the cemetery and sat on a log. Boza was busy taking a snow bath and I really thought he could try harder to make snow angels, but he refused to listen to me, as he rolled in a snow drift. I was listening to how quiet it was…

Then I heard a woodpecker. He decided that we were not evil and he went back to work. Then some chickadees joined in with their little chirps, then a few more woodpeckers joined in. Within a few minutes, a breeze blew and the trees creaked, the birds chirped, the woodpeckers pecked and all of a sudden; twenty more woodpeckers joined in and hundreds of birds and a single yelping Fox…

It was unbelievable: The woodpeckers were drums of various types, the trees were musical notes from wind instruments, the birds were the ringing of bells and other instruments and then from nowhere came our huge flock of sparrows. They run in a flock and were born in our yard. Sveta got a taste of them, when they buzzed us one day. They are a huge ball of fluttering wings and they decided to join the band as it played. The noises all went together and I for several minutes enjoyed a song of nature. Then…

A big fat stupid Raven, came uninvited…

He lives in the cemetery and he swooped down among us and saw Boza and I. Then he screamed bloody murder and told the whole world as far away as New York City, USA, that we were near his cemetery. The orchestra ended and I got mad…

I shook my fist at the Raven! He looked at me as if, “Gotta do better than that!”

Then I yelled at him and shook my fist! The Raven was undeterred. But Boza jumped on me and told me not to threaten a Raven. Then since I was really grouchy; I took my walking stick and showed the Raven who was boss. I waved the stick of death and destruction at him and he decided that this bear was in a really bad mood and he flew off, cussing all the way. Boza started to growl at me as if it was all my fault and told me to stop threatening the Raven with death and destruction…

Since I am the boss; I waved my staff of magical powers at the fleeing Raven and Boza jumped on me one last time and we stomped home… 😉

But, Oh what a beautiful song I listened to in the woods yesterday. Nature knows how to play music and I will try to go back and listen some more…

* * * * * * * * * *

The walk yesterday had another twist of nature and delights…

Boza and I were walking along the river. The river is full and wonderful, but as we walked we noticed that someone had been cutting down trees recently and we decided to walk over to the edge of the river bank and see what some human was doing. I could see no reason why some fool human would be cutting down these trees?

We walked upon the set of trees we saw cut down and I looked at Boza and said to myself, “Self, this is no axe or saw!” and or then, “Self, this is no human!”

Then right behind us, a tree fell…

I mean fell five feet from us and could have killed us. I spun around and Boza spun around. I looked at the tree and followed the trunk to where it was broke off, or should I say cut off?

I said,”What The! (and maybe a few choice words after that)”

Then all hell broke loose. There was three beavers staring at me and they did not know we were there…

The snow was a perfect muffler and Boza and I had sneaked upon a beaver family at work. The beavers screamed in terror, I screamed in terror and Boza yelped in terror. Then before you could blink, the beavers jumped of the edge of the river bank and took a slide down onto the ice. Slide off the ice ledge and slipped under it to their home. I stood there is awe and Boza finally woke up to the fact that something interesting had happened and started to bark as if he was in control of everything…

Then Boza and I walked the river bank and found that there had to be hundreds of beavers all along the bank of the river. We found trees cut off and path after path leading down to the river and we walked for over a kilometer. Fresh cut trees everywhere and now we were looking for falling trees. I snapped some images later in our walk after recovering, but need to go back with the big camera and try to catch the beavers at work…

These beavers all live in burrows in the river bank and I could not find a single structure or entrance anywhere. The water level is high and the holes are underwater. But I found the beavers…

* * * * * * * * * *

I guess that is enough for today. Our walks are interesting to me and I look forward to seeing new things everyday. One thing I have learned is that we are never to old to learn and never to old not to explore new stuff…

Just need to teach a beaver to say, “Timber!” Ouch…

Have a nice day…

Kyle and Boza
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sveta is back in Moscow and Boza and I are in the Tiny Russian Village. The winter chill has set in hard today and we are going to see many -20 degree days coming up soon. That cup of coffee is sure talking sweet this morning and I am on a second cup as I write this…

What a wonderful visit Sveta made to us to guys! We walked, we talked, we laughed and we just got lots of simple things done. The trip was way too short, but I think that Sveta has seen the beauty, perfection and soul healing of the village. I see that the village is starting to talk to her and she sees it in a different light than they did many years ago, when it was simply a place to bring a child for healthy summers. Sveta sees a village home and a tiny village that is safe, secure and wonderful; all year around…

* * * * * * * * * *

This morning I reinstalled Windows 8.1 back on the laptop. I gave Windows 10 a better than fair chance and actually tried to make it work, even with all the flaws. I thought about going back all the way to Windows 7, but Windows 8.1 is basically the same with different eye candy and Windows 8.1 is still functional with basic tweaking. Windows 10 is truly a piece of CRAP! I tried Microsoft; for months, but you screwed up a good thing, all in the name of the all mighty dollar ($)…

Therefore, I am sitting here revamping all my software, images and what-knots and enjoying Windows 8.1. Never thought I would say that Windows 8.1 is actually an acceptable operating system, but compared to Windows 10, It is…

* * * * * * * * * *

I have never owned so many boots. I have even more than what is in the image above, but these are the main boots I use. They start from the left and smallest in height; rubber shoes, Velcro short boots, medium snow boots and extra tall deep snow boots. I also have some Finnish made boots, but they are not as warm as the Russian made boots…

This morning I wore the medium snow boots and they were just perfect. The one thing that has to be a fact in Russia is; you gotta have coats and boots and you never have enough of either… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

Boza is sad today and he always does this after Sveta leaves (Me to!) Today he will not eat and will be happy to walk, but he will spend his time looking around for Sveta. It makes me sad to see him this way, but by tomorrow, he will be back to normal (Me to!) and we will have a long walk then. Today he was excited to get to the frozen lake bed and he ran like the wind, chasing snow devils as they swirled across the dried lake bed. He is so fast and in seconds crosses the lake and I am just starting to walk across it. I have to call him and make him slow down, but he just looks at me like I am an old spoiled sport…

* * * * * * * * * *

Well I gotta work on the OS that I installed and get things updated. At least I can update when I want to now and not when Windows says I have to. Talk about eating up internet traffic data and that is something that is short on supply in a Tiny Russian Village in the middle of nowhere…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)