It is Christmas Eve for the Orthodox Church and Boza and I were walking in the fields, Father Pavel came by on the road and stomped through a foot of snow to greet us, just to say, “Hi” and he wanted to make sure that I was doing okay! I told him I feel wonderful and life in the village is perfect. He kinda looked at me like, “Crazy American!” Then he hugged me and told me if I need anything to call. He was cold and had been up at the bell tower ringing the bell and having a service at their tiny church and three other vehicles were stopped behind him to leave also…

Russians have yet to figure out this strange American, I am not the normal American they have seen or know about and someone like him (Father Pavel) has dealt with youth from America and Britain and they definitely are not like me. I am coming to understand that how I grew up and how I think and how I was raised is becoming a lost way in the states of America. I guess that is how you convert society, allow the collapse of standing on your own two feet. I was raised to get up no matter how many times I am knocked down and then get up one more time on top of that. Forget someone helping you, get the hell up and keep going…

I was raised to contemplate bad things before I leap; like a broken bone, think about it, how bad is it, is it a break or fracture, is it worth freaking out over should I adjust and adapt to what has happened. Now a compound break is bad news and lets hope you do not have to deal with that. Then you might want to panic peacefully to get it out of your system and then figure out what to do about it. Panic never helps and I have had several compound fractures and or breaks in my life. I have a huge knot below my left knee from a bad break many years ago. I was deep in a jungle and a ratter tunnel collapsed and snapped my leg. It had healed way to much to worry about after we finally crawled out two weeks later, to have it reset properly. I was lucky that a friend knew what to do to pull it and set it close enough. Damn that hurt. Those kind of things remind you of the fun past…

Thus no matter what happens in life, stop and think about what just happened to you. Just like the other day when I fell on the lake bed. I was hurt and hurt bad, but I laid there for a long time trying to understand what shape I was in. I did not wish for help, I wished to do the right thing instead of making it worse.I knew that if I was hurt really bad, I could make it much worse by over reacting. I figured out what to do and how to deal with it…

I also know that you have to react at times to keep from being killed or hurt (once again panic does not help) and you also must be able to think on your feet. That takes instinct and learning. We have to be able to see, sense, feel and hear what needs to be done and allow ourselves to take care of us. People do not have the ability anymore to adapt quickly and or think properly about what is needed for the given situation. At one time, man in America was weeded out if weak. You died early or never was born in the first place. But that has changed and the weak have taken over…

Is that good or bad?

Side thought: People attribute meek to weak; For God says “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” and I seriously do not consider the meek weak. Try being meek for a week…

I consider meek a strength that has its place in a proper world…

I see a whole world of people from my country, who simple spend life waiting until someone tells them what to do, gives them food and or a cell phone and computer. I see people in America that have more money than I have and they have never worked a day in their life. Unless you call fill out paper work for government assistance work. I suspect if we really had a Zombie Attack, 90% of the people would simply die from inaction, waiting for the governmental services to tell them what to do. Sorry, but there would be no government… 😉 That is not meek, but weak…

Russians are not this way. The Russians are in my eyes meek; meekness meaning restraining one’s own power, so as to allow room for others to flourish and or righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering, long suffering; Russians do not understand a life with a governmental nipple feeding them and or tell them what to do. The government may try at times, but the people simply ignore what is told to them. They do not fear the government, they support the government to a fault, but they do what they want in the end. For a government is a basic necessity and your life is up to you. A Russian gets up from the ground when knocked down and will do what it takes to survive. They will feed someone in need and not worry if they ever get paid back, for one day, someone will feed them and they will be paid back…

Darn that is why I love Russia. The independence and freedom is so plentiful…

* * * * * * * * * *

Time to go! I have rattled enough and Boza and I have things to do. I must bring in firewood and I want to work on dual booting Linux and Windows. Besides Boza and I walked two plus hours, so maybe we need a nap! 🙂

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

At the time that I took these images above it was -22 and getting colder. But, tomorrow it will warm up to -8 and that will make a huge difference. Believe you me, -10 and warmer is a whole other world compared to -10 and colder. At -20, wood becomes brittle and you have to be careful how much you stress it. I am watching fence posts actually curve from the cold. The colder it gets the more certain grains contract and since grain is uneven in most wood, the post contracts different from one side to the other. I have a walking stick that has gone from almost straight to a very noticeable curve. It has lost the complete feel that made it such a good walking stick…

I have changed how I move around and I find that I can double step it and be safer. I now walk faster, but with tiny short steps. I get a pattern going and we cross the lakes with a steady short marching stride, with an added bounce. It really works and it allows me to get in better shape, plus warms me up at the same time. I could not have done this double-time a year ago and I really feel good; except when I have a bad fall like last week…

Boza amazed me yesterday. I said go for a walk and he looked at me as if I was crazy. Instead of getting up to run to the door, he jumped on the bed and stuck his head under my pillow. Earlier, I was taking him outside and when I opened the door, he stopped, sniffed the air, looked outside and turned and stood by the inner door. He did not want to go. Smart dog…

Therefore, I have to go and walk the poor dog. Actually poor me also, I just want to hibernate, like any good bear should do. But things have to be done…

I have a light to put up outside. I wired it yesterday to check if it works and now I will decide where to put it. We have a side yard that has no light at night and it is the side I park the cart on. We need to be able to see better, when I come in late from the Big Village. I need to move another wheel barrel of wood inside and that will give me three wheel barrels worth within easy reach. The falling incident made me realize that I need a few day supply inside, in case I can’t get around well. I have a market website that needs my attention online and I am still trying to fix a Windows 8 Tablet that was destroyed by Windows 10 update…

* * * * * * * * * *

I want to make it clear on record; Sveta and I bought a Prestigio Visconte Quad 3g, it had Windows 8.1 with Bing and worked very good. It was a great tablet and I was very happy with it. Somehow, it got in the mind to update to Windows 10. I never touched anything and did not ask it to, but after it set over night in Moscow (I discovered that on WiFi it will download updates without permission,) the thing had installed Windows 10. The tablet has stopped working properly and no longer has a touch screen. many other things are wrong, but the worst part is…

Neither Windows nor Prestigio will accept blame. Prestigio says (After sending it to them!), “Hardware is fine, software is not our problem!” and……….

Windows says after several e-mails, “There is nothing wrong with the drivers and software and the tablet should be checked for hardware issues, it is not the software! Windows software is proven to be perfect in all aspects for the Prestigio line of tablets…….”

Thus I have a tiny tablet that has no touchscreen, but works great when I attach a keyboard and mouse to work on it. So far it makes a great tiny screened Windows desktop, but I really do not need one of those… 🙁

The bottom line is that I am the stupid one as the end user and should have screwed down the system and not allowed it to install anything period. I messed up and have lost a good tablet, but I am not alone in this. Windows update destroyed my tablet and Prestigio refuses to fix it and the tablet was only a week old in my possession when it happened. Prestigio is the one I blame the most and they refused to care for the customer…

Windows as I have always said, “Just plain sucks!”

* * * * * * * * * *

Well the Boza is looking at me and I feel the need to walk. We will walk about twenty minutes and then get warm again. Thus, adios and have a nice day…

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

I find things interesting in Russia. The names of items you buy are just basic simple and while I might get some interpretations wrong, it is very easy to shop in Russia, for everything is titled exactly what it is…

The can says Meat (мясо – pronounced – myaso) in big letters and below is at least one of the ingredients in the can. I can attest to the fact it also contains potatoes, but since Russians love sweet peppers, that is the main draw line of advertisement. I know Sveta will roll her eyes and wonder why I eat this, but I do because, I like it and I eat it cold out of the can. It does not bother me in anyway and to me it is good…

It actually is stew in a can, but Russians do not have such a word and it is simply named (like many many items here,) Meat with sweet pepper…

Makes shopping for this grouchy bear easy and the pictures help also! 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

My life is actually, even after 10 years here, always fun and exciting. I learn constantly and I contemplate what I know from America and associate it with what I know here. In America, I would buy a can that most likely would say, “Beef Stew!” Is it beef? Well they want you to believe it is…

In Russia is says, “meat!” Not beef, not pork, not rabbit, not horse, but just meat. If you want meat you ask for meat and that could be any number of types of meat and or any number mixed. No one promises beef and tries to cut it with something else, as I watched happen in America a million times and even I in my college units that I directed, we had to mix turkey with beef and or chicken with beef many times and was ordered to do so by the corporation. In fact we would work real hard to get in our contracts with universities and prison systems a clause to allow up to 25% or more filler meat of any type…

In Russia you simply get what it is and no more, “Meat!”

Yes I love Russia!

Kyle and a sleeping Boza; wishing Sveta was here!
Windows to Russia

Trip to the Big Village, was timed perfect. I got back yesterday and it started to snow and has not stopped since. I am not sure I could make it through for now and will have to see if the Fish Village plows our roads for us, as they promise to do. I won’t lay any money on that happening, but; they do have the equipment and are able, is the desire there… 🙂

Vova was feeling sick and I picked up Kefir to help him, it seems even he admits too much home made brew and he needs to clean out his system. I drink Ryazhenka, another popular Russian sour milk like yogurt…

I also got him four loaves of bread, a carton of cigarettes and other stuff. Yes he looked terrible when I dropped it off and I thought to myself; He looks as bad as I feel!

* * * * * * * * * *

The Big Village was packed! It is winter holidays and the kids are out of school. The town was closed since New Year and nothing at all was open. Now I am here to tell you that most everything is still closed, but what is open; is packed and nuts…

The big grocery store just opened yesterday and the people were lined out the doors to get food. I felt sorry for the workers; they were still hung over and they all had that sunken black eyed look from too much good times. The babushkas were out in force and they wanted their food items and they wanted them now. Magnet the biggest store, had three huge double trailer trucks sitting outside to unload supplies and in general it was a nightmare. I gathered what I could and went on to the next big store…

At Petorska it was worse. The babushkas had gathered up in teams of three or four and were driving the employees to an early grave. I have talked about these vicious babushkas in Moscow in the past and in a village they are tougher yet. The only thing that I found not in stock was bananas and that was because they do not last very long. Everything else was available and I fulfilled my shopping list. I even found some extra goodies to make better treats with on a long winter day… 😉

Driving through the Big Village was not easy, the babushkas and dedushkas all had decided that today we did not have to watch for cars. The old women and old men just walk straight lines to were they wanted to go and heaven forbid you hit someone. I have to say that it was -20 and colder, so I can not blame them. I am sitting in a car and can wait…

My favorite pie shop was closed, so I did not indulge in meat pies, but the pet store was open and after waiting in a line of twenty people, I picked up four boxes of Boza food. I saw she had three more, so I will go back next week and get more. I turned around to leave and there had to have been twenty more in line behind me… Oh Well!

* * * * * * * * * *

Our river is frozen solid and with that the bridge is being torn up. But I watched the people coming to church and they just walk across the frozen river now. The image shows the middle of the bridge collapsed and frozen solid in the water. The ice is about a foot thick and you almost could drive upon it, I am sure…

I told you it has been bitterly cold and we have to be careful…

* * * * * * * * * *

I woke last night and at first I thought Sveta was there. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and there was someone next to me. Someone snoring…

My head was foggy from sleep and it took me a second, Boza had sneaked up in bed during the night. I put my feet down and found out why. The floor was freezing, the wood stove was out and it was -25 Celsius outside. (It is -22 right now at 10 a.m.) That is -8 to -10 F for some of you! He was cold and snoring like a freight train in my ear. That is how I knew it was not Sveta, she does not snore… 😉

So I could not get grouchy with him, you gotta do what you gotta do to stay warm! Right?

* * * * * * * * * *

Well time to go. Boza and I need to walk and get some exercise. Then I have some internet business to do and then I am trying to salvage a Windows tablet. Does not look good, but I will accomplish something, even if I have to install Linux on it and tell Windows to stick it! Windows 10 destroyed the tablet and it has not been right since the update and Windows nor the tablet manufacturer take blame… Blah Blah Blah time and time again…

Have a nice day…

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

I finally have figured out this (our) wood stove stuff and it is a learned process. The books can give a general idea about what to do, but each stove is like an individual and a handmade stove is much more so than a factory built version…

The image to the left is just before I shut the top off. It is getting full air flow at this point and will eat wood like crazy. I now will put the rings back and set the dampers, top and bottom. This has taken me days to figure out the best positions of the dampers and still burn properly, but do not leave bad residues in the chimney…

Our coldest day yet was yesterday and I used only half a wheel barrel of wood. Vast improvement over the previous week and much colder to boot. I have learned to feed the stove from the top and leave the door closed, unless starting a fire. I have a system that uses, Boza’s food boxes (Boza eats and eats and eats; so I have lots of boxes!) and I fill them with wood chips and shavings. These wood chips literally need no paper to start most of the time. Just a match and start a few thin shavings going…

I was blessed to find a huge pile of these shavings and such, when I took down the back lean-to and they have been the best fire starters you could find…

I have two huge barrels full of these chips and I have hardly scratched the surface in using them. I also have hundreds of wheel barrels worth of firewood, so I am in like flint this winter…

It actually took a few weeks of burning to get a proper bed of ashes to build a proper wood fire. The process is almost opposite of a coal burner I used years ago, You had to keep the ashes cleaned out of a coal burner and with wood, you never remove all the ashes and when I worked on the stove this last summer, I removed all the ashes. Now I have them built back up to a proper level and over the next few weeks, I will see at what point is too deep of an ash bed…

* * * * * * * * * *

Well last night I woke several times drenched with sweat and I realized that I was running a fever. It broke by morning early and I feel pretty good today. I have had a rough start to the New Year, as I fell on a patch of ice and at this point I definitely realize that I fractured my elbow, twisted my back and hit my head hard. This has definitely slowed me down, but the weather has been so cold, that it all is good anyway…

The right elbow has a purple fracture line across it, but it is healing, not the first time and most likely not the last time I crack an elbow. I am still dealing with my broken big toe from Egypt (I snapped the toe completely and had a beautiful purple ring around the whole toe! Cool huh?) and the nail is almost ready to finally come off of that toe…

I realized last night that I finally have jumped over the hump of being on the healing end. My back has quit screaming at me, my head has stopped hurting and last night my elbow finally stopped the mending startup pain. It is harder to heal when it is so cold, but you do what you must…

The fact is; I feel much better and I am smart enough to realize that I am going to the Big Village and then relax the rest of the day…

* * * * * * * * *

Everyday is a learning experience in the Russian Village. I weigh and measure what I do wrong and adjust my life to keep it from happening again. Falling will always be an issue and we all fall when we least expect it and I guess I need to understand that in the village, falling can be bad. There is no one else around and when I fell this last time, Boza could do nothing but lay next to me and be moral support. I do know he is one fantastic doggy and his licking my nose got me going after falling… 🙂

I became overconfident as I walked across the lake bed and lakes are lakes for a reason, they have or had water in them and water freezes to ice… Duh!

* * * * * * * * * *

Well that is all for today. I have to wait for another hour or so and try to start the car. I saw -25 officially and my thermometer approved of that temperature. It will get up to -14 today and I hope the car starts at that point. It is still -20 and not climbing very fast today…

Gotta walk the dog!

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

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…