Category: Russia

I have moved all the precut wood that I am going to move. The rest is so bad that it is crumbling to dust, thus I will let it finish tuning to dust…

Next I start stacking the wood that I am going to cut, then I will start a fourth stack on the back fence line of fresh cut wood. It will season for a year and next winter will be perfect for burning…

I have enough old wood that needs to be cut up to fill in the last gap on the third stack of wood. Then it is fresh stuff to the back fence…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am also stacking planks that are still good and will save them to rebuild the back lean-to on the house. I have to first remove everything from the back of the house and then start over again, after I have sprayed for termites…

The image is the last major war zone I have to deal with on this home. It also is the biggest battle to win. The back wall is weak, it has had tons of boards laying against it for years. The boards are rotted and then today I found that someone had piled a huge mound of sawdust against the back wall. Wet, moldy and rotted sawdust… 🙁

What can be used will be saved and stacked under covers and what can be used for firewood will be cut and what is crumbling to dust will be dug up and hauled off. There is much more bad than good…

That is my blue barrel in the image that I will fill with wood chips in a few minutes. Then I have to find what I will do with that barrel to keep it dry and usable…

Once I have removed the back lean-to, I will assess the wall and repair as necessary the strength of the wall. I then will rebuild the lean-to, but will not attach it to the wall. It will be a freestanding structure and I may even move it to the back fence line and leave a walkway between the home and the lean-to. This use to be a chicken coop and a storage building all together. The chicken coop will be rebuilt separately and I plan on having chickens next year…

The good thing is that the wall is still straight and fixable…

Have a nice day and come back tomorrow…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

+2 this morning…

So far this is the only tunnel that I did not know about and I have a feeling that there are more. The earth under the monastery is laced with tunnels. This one goes into the yard of the Blue House and I see where the entrance or exit is. There is a hump of dirt at would be outlet, with a partial collapse of a chamber halfway through the yard. Never saw it before, but it is there…

There are tunnels between the two big buildings, tunnels from the bell tower to the big buildings, tunnels from bell tower to church and tunnels from church to all buildings, plus tunnels down to two homes near us and now a tunnel to the Blue Home…

The tunnels are built way before any village homes and the monastery was here before a village was. Thus the village was built on top of the old monastery…

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I have been watching the babushkas who grow tons of potatoes. It amazed me about how many plants they plant, and the amount of potatoes has to be in the over a ton range easily…

One lady has her son here and he is hauling by two wheeler every morning, to one of the two nearby villages, about 100 pounds equivalent sacks of potatoes. Fresh garden potatoes. The man is my age and he is just here to sell the potatoes for her. This is something she use to do herself, but at mid eighties years old, she just can not do it anymore…

The other babushka, has a better deal going. The people drive up to the village and get their bags of fresh potatoes. She digs them up as they call for them and sets them out near the road all bagged up…

Strange, you would think that they would get together and set up a central base to sell these potatoes?

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First frost this morning; only on a few plants and those plants had hair like structures and very thin leaves. Winter is coming and Father Frost is waking up from his short nap. Hope he is not grouchy… 🙂

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The best thing I did was to stop the beta blockers. I am starting to lose weight again and feel a whole bunch better. The beta blockers made my feet swell and caused me to retain water, very much water, in my body. I am leaning out again and feel better about myself. taking medication is sometimes a two sided situation and you really have to weigh and measure the benefits against the issues…

Now, I am watching my blood sugar levels. Sveta brought me a new meter and if the numbers stay low, as I lose weight, I will be able to reduce the anti- sugar pills as I call them. I have already woke up twice and had to go eat a sweet in the middle of the night. This issue has not happened to me for many years and I know my sugar levels are getting better…

I also watch my blood pressure daily several times a day. It is all good right now and I want it to stay that way…

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Well folks, it is time to finish hauling the last of the cut up wood. Then I start cutting up the trashy wood around the place and finish the third stack of firewood.  Today I fill the blue barrel that I just bought, with wood chips and put it inside for dry storage. They make it so that I do not even need paper to start a fire in the stove. A handful of wood chips and off she goes in a wonderful blaze of glory…

I also have to touch the wood stove up and make sure it is all good to go for the winter. For as soon as Sveta comes back down, she will need to have the stove going to stay warm, for a warm Sveta is a happy Sveta and not a grouchy Sveta… 😉

Have a nice day and if you want to say “Hi!” Hit the Guestbook link in the menu at the top of the website. Let me know who you are, not who you want to kill… 🙁

Comments are history, but saying hello is a good thing…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I said I had to remember the camera and…. I forgot it. Never fear, I have my cellphone and it takes terrible images, but that is what we get…

The market has clothes, food, tools and well; you name it. But they did not have winter clothes yet, thus the market was not what I needed today. Though I saw several people I knew and saw lots of stuff I would like to buy. Then after the big market failed me, I went to babushka land (a little side market in the main town,) there I found everything I needed…

I found sandpaper, new pants and new socks…

I found the deal of a lifetime; two pair of pants and three pair of socks, plus sandpaper, plus a knife sharpener! All for less than a thousand rubles and with the money left over from that thousand rubles, I bought two Sasiskas (pig in the blanket) and munched away. A very happy bear, was I… 😉

The socks were Lama Wool and they are so wonderful, that next weekend, I am going back and pick up three more pair. I also am going to get two more pants, for these pants are perfect. They, like the socks are warm and comfy. Besides the price is right and the pants are Russian made…

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The bell in the bell tower is ringing right now as I write this, Boza is hiding and I will finish this article and take him for a walk. Boza is scared of the big bell and so will not bug me to take him out for awhile. The bell simply scares him…

Therefore, I am drinking my hot tea, writing an article and listening to the beautiful bell tower talk to the countryside as she calls for worship tonight…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

6 degrees this morning and foggy…

All these years I have tried to keep comments going, but anything to do with comments has been a concentrated focal point for attacks. Comments are a weak point in a WordPress website and that seems to be never going to change. Thus, I am removing anything and everything to do with comments from the code of the website. Now I may put, after code removal, a complete outside hosted system. But as far as the domain Windows to Russia, it will have no links dealing with comments…

This is the only way to nip the scum in the bud and this is being done after many hundred of hours of painstaking research and waste of time dealing with comment trash and hate attacks. 99% of all web attacks (for me) come from the USA, totally opposite of what you are lead to believe in the western news…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am going to the Big Market in the Big Village. Every Sunday they have a huge market and I will go to try to find some winter clothes. I also need sandpaper, knife sharpener and several other items to continue my working around the village home…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am starting the third stack of firewood and it is nearer to the home. That third stack will be the stack to feed the small inside stack supply, then the other two stacks near the gate, will feed the third stack, as it is needed to keep it full. That way I have firewood always nearby and being rotated according to the age…

I also will build the second sawhorse today and will start cutting logs down for firewood. I will try to find a splitter for wood today and then after I cut my stumps, one stump will be for splitting wood…

* * * * * * * * * *

The Monk brings the money people to look over the place. They usually come in a Mercedes, but today just a black Peugeot. How sad… 🙂

Sveta wanted me to catch a picture of the people coming up to see things at the village monastery and I caught these people. They went to the top of the tower and oohed and ahhed…

These are the people along with many others that are paying for the restoration of this monastery. I guess that is good for relations with God, at least that is how it is in America, pay your way to heaven? It takes money though to fix things up, for volunteer work only goes so far in this day and age…

* * * * * * * * * *

Well gotta go! I have to walk Boza once more and then off to the Big Village. Maybe I will take some images of the market. It is really cool and while I am at it, maybe I will take photos of the stores I shop at. That would be a good idea! Now just remember to take the camera… 😉

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Or what to do with a ton of fish…

Well one little guy is happy to have fish, Boza, he just loves fish heads and I will allow him to eat two of them when I get fish. He simply is the first in line and just loves the lake manager who drops fish off to us. Boza can smell the fish from a mile away… 🙂 and he now knows the sound of the truck. The look on Boza’s face is priceless as I clean fish. He actually drools as he stands patiently waiting for a fish head and his eyes just sparkle like gems, at the thought of the tasty delight awaiting him…

This time, with six whole cleaned fish in the freezer ready for Sveta to come. I was at lost with what to do with another twenty fish. I put them in the refrigerator and thought a few minutes. I just had too many fish and I have eaten so many that I am getting tired of looking at them. Then it struck me…

I will salt cure them and then jerky them…

So I cleaned them, cut the heads off and the tails, then packed them in salt. Sea salt, to be exact. I am going to let them sit for a few days in the saturated brine solution and then dehydrate them in the dehydrator. I am going to make fish jerky…

I love fish jerky as much as Boza loves fish heads… 😉

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I found a surprise and after I found it, I realized that I am easy to make happy…

I found a TET teaspoon in the package of my new hot tea and it is really cool. It is now my favourite spoon to stir my coffee and tea with…

See, I am easy to make happy…

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My last pickled beets were consumed last night. They were so good and I wish I had more, though after about 8 litres of them, I am getting a little purple coloured…

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Russians are interesting; I walk the village all the time, everyone who comes and goes knows I am an English speaker. Thus when they see me, they say, “Hello!” It has become very common for me to hear the word hello and next in line is something like good evening or good day…

The monks always tell me good day and it always strikes me strange to hear English out of nowhere. The other day, I was walking in deep thought, Boza and I had walked to the woods behind the village and I was think about when I would fix the source of our water. The mosquitoes are still terrible at times, but getting better and soon I will go work on the water source…

I walked by the small church in the village the other night and then I hear, “Hello, good evening!”

I jumped, for I was deep in thought and said automatically, “добрый вечер!” (dobryy vecher or good evening!)

I then walked on and realized that I felt strange for responding back in Russian, when I was talked to in English. Then I realized that almost everyone greets me with English, maybe not anything more than a greeting, but it is in English and the I realized that everyone tries to make me more welcomed…

This morning at 5:30 a.m., a gentleman was walking up the hill, he had a backpack and a plastic sack in his hand and as we passed, he said, “Hello!”

I hesitated and before I spouted, “доброе утро” (Good Morning,) I said, “Hello!” right back and we went on our way. I turned and watched him a second and he trudged to his home he is staying at. I find it interesting that people greet me in English and I like it. It makes me feel welcome in the village, for they do not have to do that and for many it is the only words they know or remember…

* * * * * * * * * *

Tomorrow I will go to the Big Village and try to find some clothes for the winter. I also am going to stock up on this tea that I now love and find that I do better sipping on hot tea during the day. It is cold now and hot tea is really the drink to have for these cold days…

I understand why Russians drink hot tea, It is cheap, easy to make and when it is a quality product, delicious. It struck me that tea like Lipton Tea is a junk company and if everyone would try hot tea from Britain, China, Russia and many other places. They would discover a whole different flavour and product…

I realized that it is time to get a Samovar…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Just a few pictures of my life at the Tiny Russian Village. The little tractor is at the Big Russian Village…

They are rich there! 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

+ 6 this morning and high of + 14 today…

I have the top boards for a surface of a workbench, but I have to create the bottom frame myself and I am not very good at woodworking. I have to build it from raw tree posts that I have. I can envision what I need, but working with wood is a talent and that talent, I am weak at…

I guess I will think a few more days, but it needs to happen, for I am using the cooking table to hold both tools and food. Not a good mix… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

I have so many projects and they are all important to me! But I do not have enough time to get them all done and that bothers me. I guess my past work loads and experiences are at work in my brain, for in the old days: Nothing was left undone at the end of the day. Even if you had to work 24 hours to get it done, you did what you had to do. For the next day, the corporation would have a dozen more issues to deal with and they simply said, “Get it done or else!”

Glad that era is over and now at least I can read a good book and walk the dog once in awhile… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

Iran, Russia and China are pulling together as you read this. The U.S. tried to change the flash-point to Ukraine, but Syria has always been the main red line for Russia, just that Russia does things silently and surprises the west when they do make a move…

The sides are forming and the fence riders are going to have to get off the fence and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk…

You have to understand that the U.S. is based on this type of history…

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is what all good Americans dream about…

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See the little white dots, Boza and I could hardly walk anywhere yesterday. There was tiny little flying insects, they went up your nose, in your eyes and you got plenty of protein eating them. I finally caught a place that I could at least get a semblance of what they are on camera. Those white dots are the bugs and they reflect the sunlight…

So cool and cheap food…

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It is interesting to me how nature finds a way.  Two trees and one tree overpowering the other. So what does the smaller tree do? It goes around the bigger tree and in the many years I have been here, the smaller tree is catching up to the bigger tree, Just kinda a funky way to do it. I do not see any long term stability available to this tree, but we will see. It has the survival ability and that alone is a good reason to respect it and allow it to do its thing…

Pines are scrappy little characters. Humans could learn from nature…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

+ 5 this morning…

I have to get a couple of pair of pants. I need the winter pants made of wool, with an elastic waistband. I have one pair and they are simply perfect for cold weather, I just need at least two more pair of them. I also need to look at shoes for the winter and I have to get sandpaper or emery cloth as I call it. Waterproof sandpaper for metal sanding…

There is a couple more items on my list, but those are the most important…

* * * * * * * * * *

I found a tea, a strong black English tea. I mean it is strong, black and made for men! 😉

Tea for men, how dare they! From the UK and it is good!

This is the tea I have looked for all my life and now that I found it (and the price, 34 rubles for a box of 25 tea bags) is excellent by the way,) I will drink a cup of coffee and then switch to hot tea. Cheaper and very delicious. Never thought I would be a tea drinker…

I bought it because of what is on top of the box in words. “It’s a man’s world”…

Glad I did; maybe time for tea thoughts also?

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The Western Empire is strange…

We push democracy with bombs and then blame who we hate for emigration issues all over the world…

We answer our mistakes with more mistakes of the same type…

Countries we should be working with to solve issues, we do not work with them. We only work with “yes man” countries and they are too weak in the first place (for they are yes man countries) to help in world issues…

Everything in the west is chaos related. We make disasters and fuel disasters and fester those disasters. A sick way to run life…

The west supports terrorism and then beats a drum to fight against terrorism…

The west is ailing and deficient; though at times I have to stop and wonder – is it all intentional or is it stupidity?

I think Hollywood / Main Stream Media / Video Games / Etc; has become too ingrained in the western life and we (many as in, 80 %) all live a fallacious existence. Totally shaped by preconceived, reshaped and propagandized notions, all because it is easier than thinking for ourselves…

Weird and I use to live it… (Though I did removed the TV from the house 30 years ago!)

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

+ 4 Celsius this morning…

I will now make Wednesday my new Big Village day. Nikolai is gone, the avto magazine is done and therefore, I will adjust what I do. Thus today at around 7 a.m. I will leave for town. Just about out of goodies to eat, I have food still, but not goodies! There is a difference… 😉

I sneaked up to the top of the hill in the middle of the night. The monks finally left and the big diggers left. They worked way into the deep night, so at 4 a.m. I took Boza and went to see what they were up to. I had looked earlier when they took a break for dinner, but my cellphone just sucks at being a camera…

The bottom opening is a way to the saints chamber, there are several very powerful female saints buried here, I am not sure they realize how close they are, but most likely they do know. They have to have old blueprints of this building in their archives…

This is the two levels of the basement I talked about. This is part of the tunnel system that runs all over the village top. They are destroying these tunnels as an easy way to get at the treasures, I guess we are in a hurry. Kinda sad…

I am so lucky to see and record what is happening…

Even if I have to be sneaky… 🙂

Have a nice day, for off to town I go…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Last week Europe saw one of its worst crises in decades. Tens of thousands of migrants entered the European Union via Hungary, demanding passage to their hoped-for final destination, Germany.

While the media focuses on the human tragedy of so many people uprooted and traveling in dangerous circumstances, there is very little attention given to the events that led them to leave their countries. Certainly we all feel for the displaced people, especially the children, but let’s not forget that this is a man-made crisis and it is a government-made crisis.

The reason so many are fleeing places like Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq is that US and European interventionist foreign policy has left these countries destabilized with no hopes of economic recovery. This mass migration from the Middle East and beyond is a direct result of the neocon foreign policy of regime change, invasion, and pushing “democracy” at the barrel of a gun.

Even when they successfully change the regime, as in Iraq, what is left behind is an almost uninhabitable country. It reminds me of the saying attributed to a US major in the Vietnam War, discussing the bombing of Ben Tre: “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”

The Europeans share a good deal of blame as well. France and the UK were enthusiastic supporters of the attack on Libya and they were early backers of the “Assad must go” policy. Assad may not be a nice guy, but the forces that have been unleashed to overthrow him seem to be much worse and far more dangerous. No wonder people are so desperate to leave Syria.

Most of us have seen the heartbreaking photo of the young Syrian boy lying drowned on a Turkish beach. While the interventionists are exploiting this tragedy to call for direct US attacks on the Syrian government, in fact the little boy was from a Kurdish family fleeing ISIS in Kobane. And as we know there was no ISIS in either Iraq or Syria before the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

As often happens when there is blowback from bad foreign policy, the same people who created the problem think they have a right to tell us how to fix it – while never admitting their fault in the first place.

Thus we see the disgraced General David Petraeus in the news last week offering his solution to the problem in Syria: make an alliance with al-Qaeda against ISIS! Petraeus was head of the CIA when the US launched its covert regime-change policy in Syria, and he was in charge of the “surge” in Iraq that contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The idea that the US can salvage its disastrous Syria policy by making an alliance with al-Qaeda is horrific. Does anyone think the refugee problem in Syria will not be worse if either al-Qaeda or ISIS takes over the country?

Here is the real solution to the refugee problem: stop meddling in the affairs of other countries. Embrace the prosperity that comes with a peaceful foreign policy, not the poverty that goes with running an empire. End the Empire!

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