George finally decided that Svetochka is A-Okay! He came to see what she is up to. At first when Sveta came, George was confused, for we took down our, “No girls allowed!” sign. (Just kidding! Well maybe….) And he wondered who this strange female creature was, called Svetochka. But yesterday, he allowed Svetochka to take his picture. He is our hunting Shrike that lives at our home and is one beautiful bird. Sorry the image was taken in full against sunlight, but yes George said, “Hello!” to Svetochka…
Then Sveta proceeded to terrorize us with picture taking…
I love it when Sveta comes, for she takes much different images than I would. She sees life as Sveta sees it and that is just perfect in my eyes…
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Boza and I walked while Sveta slept. We decided that we just had to see the beautiful world as it woke up this morning. The sun came up and kissed the bell tower first, then the valley. All was cool and wonderful and isn’t that what life is about?
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Looks like I need to buy two new tail lights for the Volga car. The whole assembly. I got everything almost working, but soon the lights will be too corroded and old. Therefore, since they are dirt cheap and easy to replace, new tail lights assemblies will keep the local cops happy. Should be able to get two for under a thousand rubles. Bulbs are only around 20 to 25 rubles each, but it is time to get whole units…
I also worked on Sammy the Volga and fixed her exhaust. I hope that it stays sealed, but the manifold bolts are getting rusted out. It is okay for now, but looks like it may be time to drop the exhaust and install new bolt studs to longtime cure the exhaust leak…
Finally found the issue with coolant problems. Sammy has been upset since I replaced the radiator hoses and water pump. I could not find what the problem was. I replaced every heater hose, radiator hoses and the water pump. Everything was new? Except a small hose, right in front of my face. A obscure thin return line from the radiator holding tank to the radiator itself. Sammy does not have a fill spot on the radiator, it has a separate fill bottle and I ignored a vital hose. As luck would have it, I had a piece of gas line that was a perfect fit. I installed it and Sammy became a good girl again. Oh how the little things will cause issues at times. Sammy just wanted all her coolant hoses replaced and that was that…
Sammy is a good car and she just keeps on running, bailing wire and duct tape are amazing inventions to keep a car running… 😉
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Oh My! Sveta has been making salads. She grabs beet greens, turnip greens, rutabaga greens, onion greens, garlic greens, carrot greens and chops up delicious turnips, rutabagas and carrots into tiny bits themselves and then we shell fresh sweet peas and mix it it all together with a caesar salad dressing; then lay smoked chicken breast slices on top. Oh my golly molly! Talk about a wonderful meal…
My sweety is utilizing the garden to its best and it is so wonderful having a “sweet pea” like Svetochka to help me eat right…
I realized that next year we will not grow potatoes, onions and or garlic. These items are just too cheap and plentiful. Svetochka and I want to grow pumpkins and I will try my hand at sweet potatoes. Also much less beets, turnips and rutabagas; we gonna have tons of root veggies and they are really good. Potatoes can be bought for around 20 rubles a kilo and be picked up in 50 kilo bags. Onions are the same price and weight, if not cheaper…
Need to grow things that are not as readily available in the stores….Like I am thinking about celery next year. Yummy! I also am developing out four asparagus patches and they have come back to life with a little bit of care. I have been eating asparagus all summer fresh from the patches…
Raspberries are in full swing and the work I did last year on the patches, has shown itself this year. I am looking into blackberries at this point. A good blackberry patch would be priceless…
Talk about a second childhood; as I eat and care for the gardens, I flashback to when I was a little monkey and running around eating everything I could find on the plants. Grandma would say, “Leave some for us will you!”
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I think I will pull some young beets and make a Borscht to day. I splurged and bought a pack of chicken legs. Makes the best Borscht. Maybe it is time to dig up new potatoes to put in it also?
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Looks like our weather meter says rain today and at a cool +10 this morning and a clear sky; it is hard to figure that, but it seems to know best. I just check the Russian weather service and it confirms what our system says. South wind (pushing temps to +25,) knocking on the door of the northern front and that means wet! Then back cold again tomorrow as the wind shifts back from the north…
Svetochka and Boza are both sound asleep. They are two peas in a pod in that aspect. Life is really grand with Sveta here to pick on me! 😉
WtR