Windows to Russia

We needed it, the plants needed it, the animals needed it, the dirt needed it and life needed it. What was so important? Rain, that is what we needed and yesterday we got it! Rain and rain and rain. Inches of beautiful ground watering, rain…

Before the rain came rolling in, in the form of a thunderstorm, it got hot and muggy. Sveta and I had just come back from town and while we drove, Sveta felt rain. I looked and the sky was almost cloudless as I realized that the humidity was screaming upwards from what had been the only saving grace at 25% or so. It was now approaching 100% and moisture was dropping out of the sky as it went upwards. This made a period of time of what I call, misery and it got bad for a very long time. Then in the distance, the rumbles of thunder wafted across the valley…

The clouds were so far away, that I just knew that they would pass us by, as they have done many times on this hillside. Then they billowed and grew as fast as you could just stare and watch. For if you looked away, they had tripled in size in a blink. With them came, “The rain…”

It clashed, it banged, it rumbled, it flashed, it shook, it blew, it broke things and it vibrated, but the most of all, it rained and rained and rained…

It filled our buckets, it filled the rivers, it filled the ponds and most of all it filled the earth around us. The animals can drink, the plants rejoiced and we found relief in the heat, as the rain passed through…

I laid down on the bed, as the rain fell and bounced off the tin roof of the village home across the road. It is a new roof and is metal, for most are not and they do not sound the same in the rain. Sveta laid down next to me and Boza was hiding under the bed. Then as the coolness and the sounds entered as pleasant thinking’s, we fell asleep…

So as I sit here this morning and still reap the benefits of yesterdays rain, I checked the next 10 days forecast and it will be much cooler, with chance of rain everyday…

When I was little, my grandfather taught me a different saying…

Rain, Rain, Come and Stay; For I will play another day…

Going to be a good day and I plan on BBQ’ing today…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It was, that now shan’t!

That sums up an America that had the sparrow by its tail and instead of doing good, it produced nothing but resentment for its very existence on this planet…

The coffee is really good this morning and as Sveta sleeps and dreams her village dreams, I sip a cup of coffee and write my thinking’s, this wonderful morning in the Russian village…

We do indeed live in a strange world. I look around me and see people that just want to survive and just want to get along. I see people all over the world that just need enough to fill their belly everyday and they ask for no more. The new joke on the block is, “Oh hey did you hear that America gave “Egypt” (Insert country of your choice in quotations) 4 billion dollars?” Answer, “Yes, but China had to cosign on the loan and the Statue of Liberty was given as collateral!”

What is now laughed at by a huge percent of the world, should be a very “No laughing matter!” by Americans…

It is no “conspiracy theory” when literally all things bad happening in the world lead directly back to the shores of the North American continent. It is no trite fullness when the populace of the world looks askance at the intermingling of a devious U.S. in world affairs, that are none of its business. What is even more awry is the basic fact that Americans show the world their, “Duh! What? Who? (shrug shoulders about now)” face, over news that the whole situation in Ukraine was started by the USA and that it is even compounded deeper and sadder, when you realize that Iraq, Libya, Syria, Vietnam and many others are just simulates, repeated and failed manifestations of a deluded administration of a overwrought country of hasbeens…

Therefore, it is no fault but of its (US) own accord, when a country (Russia) that in the past is so blinded against Americans shenanigans,  from the gold and star dust in her eyes , that she even turns on America and looks away!

I have watched it first hand and believe me, if Russia does not trust America anymore, then there is no one left in the world to trust America and the paid lackeys, such as Britain, do not count…

I have watched as the U.S. has destroyed the relationship with Russia, a relationship that survived the horrors of a U.S. intervention in the past with Yeltsin and Gorbachov. A relationship that has always been one of wow and well wished on the Russian side. I have watched that relationship crumble and become a serious issue that did not need anyone on the Russian side to instigate. For Russia just had to stop ignoring the truth about America and that was the extra rope that has helped hang America in Russian eyes…

The rose colored glasses just fell off and broke…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This morning I got up at 4:30 am and it was so wonderfully cool and refreshing. The inside of the village home was still warm and stuffy and Boza plus I, decided a walk was in order, then get water from the well, then eat and then I stared at the clock that I have tried to fix three times before. I decided to try one more time, the forth time is not normally known as the charm, but I tried anyway…

I am on my third cup of coffee and for two hours now, I have been listening to the tick / tock of a weight driven clock from the Soviet Era…

I will not celebrate yet, for things have a tendency to stop after I praise myself for a good job done, so I do not bestow praise, I bestow the opposite. I predict that the clock will fall from the wall and smash into a thousand pieces. Then as I cry crocodile tears over the lose of a wonderful treasure as you see in the photo, I will realize that I should never attempt to repair anything again. So break a leg clock…

Now that should cover the attempt by the spiritual gremlins to ruin my early morning work. So far it is working, for the clock is ticking away and keeping great time by the way…

It was not easy to get back together and since I did not have any parts left over, I figure something had to go right…

I know that the reason it stopped working, was because it was dropped many years ago, since then it has hung on the wall and simply looked pretty or at least as pretty as a clock with a strange design of a face and a bushy curled haired girl on the swing arm…

It is going to another hot day and tomorrow will be hot also. Then according to the weather forecast, all next week will be ten degrees cooler everyday and hopefully rain at some point in the week. I do not hope for too much, so if the cooler weather will happen, then I will carry water and feed the plants myself…

Also Sveta is coming today or I should say tonight at 9:30 pm. That means that this will be a wonderful day, for my sweetie will be here tonight for about a week…

Break a leg clock…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Actually I heard it in her voice and suspected it, but it still is a pleasant surprise when Sveta said that she had to change her plans due to the upcoming holiday (Russia Day) and she had to either come early or late and since coming later than like after the holidays, would not be an option for her, nor I. She chose early and worked it out to come this Saturday, like in tomorrow, to show up and stay about a week at the village…

Therefore yesterday I received several items of tidbit; One – was that Sveta would show up this Saturday Night and Two – was that Sveta’s son Misha is getting married to his girlfriend. So then there is a wedding coming up and it should be a doozy, for the girls mom is into this, getting her daughter married thingy. Married before she is a spinster thingy. Her mom is also into this thing called, “Grandchildren!” Like not as in singular, but as in multiples…

I already had predicted the marriage situation and I will also go on record that soon the announcement of a bouncing baby will be forthwith. I can see Sveta’s face as she reads this part and she is thinking that she will be a babushka… 🙂 hee hee

My advice to Misha, “Run Misha! Run! Run while you can!” But I know it is too late and he already has that deer in the head lights look…

I am glad that the train was filled for the day she wanted to come and glad that the train was filled for all the days around that particular day and I am very glad that she will come much earlier. The holidays in Russia starts the 12th of June and since people travel by trains in Russia more than by cars, the trains are full up for the holiday times…

Oh me – oh my! If I could have been able to get a photo in the dark, I would have last night. The lake area and fields around it where full of millions of fireflies. I was stunned and it was simply incredible. It was like waves of flashing lights and many times they seemed to be in a form of orchestral. The lights would flash from one side of the lake to the other, as if they flashed to a song only they could hear. Then I heard music and maybe that was their motivation, the sound of a million frogs wafted up to me and it seemed that for awhile, that nature was conducting music on a grand scale…

Nature and the earth really are splendid and we do need to stop and smell the roses more than one time a year…

Photo above is a Windows to Russia, just look deeply…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

That is what I will attempt today, the title tells it all. Yesterday I over did it and now I am paying big time for all that I did yesterday. It got too hot and I was stupid, as I worked until the heat almost brought me down. It snuck up on me and before I knew it, I was pretty sick and had to lay down. It scared me a little bit and that is sometimes necessary, for having had six heart attacks is enough reason to be careful. I guess I need reminders once in awhile, for I seem to be too stupid and ignoring of the signs. I am use to Sveta being around and telling me to slow down and such…

Therefore, I have four mouse holes to fill and keep the little darlings from having freeway access to the village home. Then when that is done, I am going to write thru the heat today, on one of my books. I have taken a break from all the writing and it is time to get back to what I was doing and finish at least one book…

I have other things that are just part of a normal day, but I will take it easy today, for I got seriously sick yesterday…

On another note; I took around 500 pictures yesterday and I realized that for years I have been taking images of this village. I have about 5000 to 6000 images of this place. I am sure that I have the largest archive of images of this village on earth and they show huge changes as time has gone by. Even as short of a time as it is…

I was going to take more pictures today, but I will rest. I hope the monks rest also, for there was two monks, who spent all day, weed eating the monastery grounds. Through the heat and all, they had on their monk robes, a monk hat and they have beards. I know they had to be hot…

Another thought is the picture below. It is the new electric meter that was installed on the bell tower a few days ago. I find it interesting to see a new fangled device stuck on such an old structure. By the way this structure (bell tower) was built in 1910. A few years after the church was finished around 1907…

The picture at the top of the post, is a photo of the last section of the original wall that surrounded the monastery in the old days and I wish they would rebuild that wall. This original wall had to have been at least a kilometer long and a meter thick. Now that would take a lot of bricks…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

A Bergdahl is another distraction, another disassociation, another attempt to install blinders by media, another dissuasion, another lie, another game, another coverup, another drum beating, another Snowden syndrome, another gay pride, another false flag, another dance, another yelling match, another pointing fingers, another beat your chest, another trial by media, another impeachable offense, another immigration and global warming issue and most of all it is simple a sign of a very very sick country called USA…

The one thing for sure, positively for sure is that, a Bergdahl is nothing but a lie and a cover up for the real truth and that truth is happening as we stare weary eyed at the onslaught of one crises after another, crossing the news like a ticker tape on the stock market. It is more than chaos, it is intentional self-destruction of the truth, so that the crap that runs our country can get richer and gain more power…

It really is that simple…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The photo above was taken at 4 am this morning. No flash, I just love peonies…

Last night at 11:30 pm, I could have read a book outside still. It was dim but not black dark. The stars were showing, the moon is gone and the sky is light all night long in the distance. So light in fact that it turns our night into a permanent dusk or dawn at night. I got up at 3 am this morning and went out to water the blackcurrant, so that we will have plenty of good fruit to eat and it was just as light out, in fact more light out at 3 am, than 11 pm…

This is what I am thinking as I sip a cup of coffee this morning and ignore the stupidity called the western world. Sorry but the report that I read about “The Russian Aggression Act!”

http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2277

It makes by blood boil and reaffirms my thinking’s about how stupid our government is. How terrible of a system that we have in place to run America and it reaffirms the fact that I know we need to install a new governmental system after kicking out the old to the garbage dump. This includes from president on down, for they all stink to high heaven and in the past these scoundrels would be tar and feathered…

Okay, enough of that and back to good thoughts; I do know that the days are getting longer and that the sun comes up before 5 am and it sets after 10 pm everyday. The days are definitely getting longer and I am going to study about how long they will get. I know that we at least have nights and the farther North you go, you lose even those nights and become eternal days, just as in the Winter, we have eternal nights. Pretty cool if you ask me…

I know that toward the end of June is the longest day of the year. At that point I suspect that we will be able to read a book at midnight and most likely all night for that fact. We will see, for I will most likely be here watching the sky… 🙂

My system has adjusted to only three to four hours of sleep at night due to no darkness and I sleep now three to four hours, when the heat is at it worse. It is what many around here do and it just makes sense. As Sveta says, “Do like the Spanish do! Siesta in the daytime…”

Moscow is easier to block out the real world, because here you live right smack in the middle of nature and it is the world and nothing but the world. 🙂 I just get overwhelmed in Moscow by the sheer humanity and here there is virtually no humanity to deal with…

What a wonderful place the Russian village is…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I am not writing much today. Busy day in the village, I will check on the thirty cars that have gone into the monastery and see what they are up to. I have a trip to make into the big village today is pizza day at the magazine (store) and I do not want to miss that. 🙂 I have a table to build and another corner of the room to tear apart and clean. I know it will be hot today and Boza and I have several walks to make to see the countryside and take pictures…

Big Fat Fly is on the window again this morning and since I do not try to kill him, it stays at one fly in the room at all times. Strange, kill it and a new one comes, but leave him alone and it stays at one fly. A Coo Coo Bird is outside the window today and he is singing his Coo Coo song like crazy. Normally they do not come this close, but I guess that I am becoming a normal character around here and the Coo Coo knows that. The Coo Coos are thick as thieves around here and they sing early morning and late at night. Never in between…

Well I better get going, more cars are coming and now strangers are filling buckets of water from our well, that they are carrying with them, as they walk up the hill and that water is our life blood. Sometimes we do not get a refill on water for days. I worry that the sign on the highway talks of a Holy Water Well, and I wonder if the people think that our well is the Holy Water? Yup…

The only thing holy about our well water is the fact that many frogs live in it and you wonder why I am a Grouchy Bear at times…

Have a nice day and I will talk to everyone later…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I will lead off with the fact that Sveta is safe back in Moscow, her train ride was fantastic and she said, “I had a special coupe that held two people and being alone, I felt like a queen. The conductor woke me up and asked me for tea or coffee and she even had a treat to go with my hot tea!” Sveta enjoyed her trip and I am glad and actually the trip by train is much faster than by car to the village…

Now on to the title; When Sveta came last time to the village she brought my Blackberry that just arrived from China. It was an old model called the Pearl Flip 8220. It is a beautiful and well made phone, it just is old and outdated in this new tech world we live in. But it is one hell of a nice basic phone and that is exactly what I got it for. Just a phone to take simple pictures with and communicate to Sveta, via text and voice…

I had a serious issue though and that was the fact that a old Blackberry has to have a Windows OS computer, installed software from the supplied Blackberry disc, to transfer data such as images to anything else and I am in the village with nothing but a Android Tablet… (Doing just fine without that Windows machine – Thank You!)

I found my dilemma not an easy thing to overcome. Since the older Blackberry has very different formatted SD Cards and transfer of data is not a simple thing, in fact neither device could see the other device and therefore, images were non existent. I spent four days trying to solve the problem…

Google was very little help. Nobody was any help to be honest everyone is using cloud service, I call it Doofus service and I guess it works, but that is not the point is it? I want to connect physically with my device, from another device of my choice and I do not want to use a doofus service to obtain that desired end. The big wheels of data on all the great and powerful tech sites all said it can not be done and it has to be connected to an outside device such as a Windows Computer or the doofus cloud system…

So I finally found a guy who was talking about how great Ghost Commander File Manager was on his new Blackberry. It was the “Cats Meow” and he loved how great it worked to get deep into the files on his Blackberry. Granted this was a new Blackberry, but since I knew that Ghost Commander is a free apk for Android and I just happened to have a copy on the SD Card of my tablet, I installed the app and bing bang, I now can see and manipulate any and all files on the Blackberry, from the Android Tablet…

So no blackberry software and no cloud doofus stuff and no one telling me it can not be done. It still is unsaid until now that it can be done and I am saying it can be done. The information was strictly about a Blackberry phone and usage for that phone, not by Android. I was lucky and now if you have the same issue that I have / had, you can install Ghost Commander and solve the issue…

Recap: You can connect by a data cable from an Android tablet to a Blackberry device and use Ghost Commander File Manager on the Android and have a physical connection to view all files to transfer and manipulate to your desires and end…

Update; Total Commander a file manager for android, works even better. Ghost Commander work half the time. Total Commander works all the time. Get the version called beta and it is for Kit Kat android plus retro to the others. Total Commander it works for Blackberry to Android usb connection…

Now a disclaimer; You also can mess things up very easily, so I am warning you that if you play in the system files of either device with Ghost Commander and have root activated, you can and will screw  your fun times up. Also I want to add, I only have used this on a Blackberry flip phone and you may find that it does not work for you. It does work for me and it might work for you…

Also; No Blackberry was harmed in this process, by a Android Tablet, nor by a Grouchy Bear…

Next on the tidbit list is the fact that I finally, after a hundred years, bought a electric shaver. That is not the reason I am writing this section of the post. The reason is, the shaver is packaged by the Atlanta House company that is based in Peachtree Towers in Atlanta Georgia, USA. I know the place well and did much business with the main office in the past. I also spent many hours of boring time in business meetings as my company had a subsidiary headquarters located in the tower…

Now back to the razor; It is washable and made in Russia for Atlanta House. It is simply the best electric razor I have ever owned, but to be fair it has been awhile since I owned an electric razor and maybe they have just gotten that much better in quality. It cost 650 rubles which is about 18 to 19 dollars. I had to laugh as the box says, “American Designed!” Now it does not say American made it says American designed and that is the selling point. It is made in Russia for selling by Atlanta House located in America, all over the world. I also know that Atlanta house sells items from China and many are labeled as this device is labeled. (American Designed!) Atlanta house products are very good by the way and I have used and owned many in my lifetime…

More tidbit; Boza and I are bachelor’s again and we were sad last night as our sweety is gone away fro a week or so. It was kinda sad last night as I got back to the village and since we left Boza at the home, he suspected but did not know for sure that Sveta was gone. It was his choice to stay behind and really it is better on his nerves. He is not a car riding type of dog. When I got home, Boza had to check out the car, check out the yard, check out the village and check out the car again, as he was looking for Sveta and could not find her. Then I heard him give a big sigh and resigned himself to the fact that she was gone. I already did that same thing as he did, because I dropped her off at the train station, I had a head start on acceptance…

I am done rattling today, I have lots to do and Boza has lots of sleep to accomplish. Together Boza and I have lots of trouble to get into and we have to get going on our trouble part, for soon Sveta will be back and get us under control again… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The picture below shows a planned future or at least a planned future by the orthodox Church. It is looking to be a perfect combination, as the last of the villagers die away and / or leave forever, that act alone allows the Orthodox Church to reclaim properties and rebuild the Monastery back to some form and semblance as it once was many years ago. These properties are usually able to be reclaimed free or at a very reduced price, either way the church has the money to do what it needs to do. This is coffee thinking’s today in the village…

In a very simplified sign, the Orthodox Church has installed a sign on the main highway to our village and their monastery. I see the long term plan and it looks to exclude the village from its future, for not a village home is shown. Just a glorified enlarged version of the monastery and past and present dreams and happenings. The sign shows the Holy Water Well #1, the eating place for monks #2, the Bell Tower #3, the monk dormitories #6, the place of the destroyed church #4 and the new little church #5…

Now almost all of what you see has to be built or rebuilt, there has not been a monastery here for a long time and in the past it was a female monastery, the new order or the monastery is to be strictly a male monastery. The old female monastery ended a long time ago and during the Soviet times the place had become basically two schools, one for blind kids and one for deaf and dumb kids. The bell tower was ignored during that time, but the church had been destroyed (blown up) and the big dormitories and cafeteria was utilized by the schools to deal with the kids. The school had a water tower, running water and steam heat. It was very modern by the times and standards. The school had also built many other buildings and taken over many village homes in the area. The remains of the school are almost gone and now the remains of the monastery are enduring better. Really due to the usage of materials, the church originally built with heavy thick walls of very hard bricks, the school built with non-reinforced concrete and those walls have all but turned to dust…

I want to talk about the Holy Water Well: Many people gather the water from this well and that is their main drinking water. It is a natural water source and is certified Orthodox Blessed. The water is a never ending flow of liquid that ends up in the big river at the fish ponds and I have drank the water before, in fact I have tried several times and every time I do, I get terrible heartburn, I mean terrible. The rest of the water sources around here, do not bother me like that, but this source causes me terrible heartburn. Strange huh?

The source for this well is way up high on a hill and it is a hard climb to get there. The map above does not show that, but it is straight up to get to the well. Scattered through out the website is lots of articles on this monastery hit the search and you will find an abundance of information…

Yesterday morning at 9am the bells rang for 30 minutes. Today on Sunday, people came from the other villages to pray to God at the little church. These people walk a long ways to do this and that is heartening in my eyes as I watch people who still believe in God and distance is not an issue…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…