Windows to Russia

Today that cup of chicory was perfect and with it was lots of thinking’s. So I decided to post some pictures of what has happened the last few days…

First is a sign to the entrance of the Fish Farm that our village is located inside of. 1933 is when it was built and it is still producing tons of fish a year. They have it down to an art…

Second picture is the top of the bell tower in our village as it peeks over our fence…

Third is a young lady who is visiting with her parents in the village. They have a home here also like we do. As you can see Boza wastes no time in making friends…

Fourth is a new product that we found. I have looked all over for diet drink made in Russia. This is made in Tula, Russia and as it says on the front it is called Tula Drink. It has the flavor of Kvas, no sugar, no carbohydrates and a twist of lemon. It is so good that I bought a whole case of it to have back in Moscow. We have never seen it in Moscow. But then again we find lots of stuff outside of Moscow. In Moscow they don,t allow many outside products that will take away from the big purveyors like Pepsi and Coke. This is a wonderful thing for this diabetic to have something other than diet cola to drink…

Fifth and sixth are the start of a huge thunderstorm. Sveta got pictures as this storm started to grow. It grew right in front of our eyes and grew to cover the whole sky. I feel that we were lucky to get that anvil shape (cumulonimbus) of the cloud. By the time Sveta got the picture it was almost bigger than what the camera could capture. This storm went from a clear sky to what you see in just a few minutes…

Seventh picture is the goat that supplies us with lots of good milk. We just had to show you our prize raw milk producer… 🙂

Then last but not least a picture of Sveta doing what she loves to do best. Reading under the shade tree…

Now that is living…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

This morning I was sipping that cup of chicory. While I was enjoying that cup of chicory I was doing some thinking’s. I was thinking about sunflowers and a reservoir that Sveta, Boza and I stumbled upon yesterday…Lets start with the reservoir. In Russia you do not have signs everywhere telling you what is here and what is there as you drive. You either get a premonition or just are plain lucky to find things that are really cool…

We took a trip yesterday to refuel the car with propane and get groceries. On the way back we pulled off the main byway on a farm road. Normally a farm road has about 30 feet of asphalt then becomes dirt. But as we let Boza run and play and Sveta was taking  pictures. I was staring at a asphalt road that disappeared into the distance. It just seemed strange to me that this road was asphalt as far as I could see. Granted it was old and looked like it had been mined with bombs at one time and they all had been set off. But it was definitely a road to something important. I then studied a pothole and saw the tale tale signs of a concrete base under the layer of asphalt. I knew then that this was a Soviet era road covered over. I have discovered that the Soviets were happy to build roads out of prefab concrete slabs that are laid like cobble stone but much much bigger… (Russians still make roads that way sometimes.)

When Sveta and Boza wandered back to the car. That is when I said lets go and see what is at the end of this road. Being a good camper and adventurer Sveta said okay… 🙂 (Boza always wants to go!)

Within a couple of kilometers we saw water. and that water grew into a huge lake in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by huge fields. I knew immediately what it was. It was a man made reservoir to water the fields…

We found a man who was using the waterfall at the outlet as a shower and he told us that it was an old irrigation lake for the fields. It was a beautiful isolated lake that humanity in general has forgotten about. That makes it a perfect place for Sveta, Boza and I. We are going back to swim this week before we leave. The water is warm and inviting…

Now on to sunflowers. This year there are wheat fields but I have to say in our area there is more sunflowers growing. There is kilometers and kilometers of sunflowers everywhere. Wheat definitely took a backseat this year to sunflowers. At least in our area…

Knowing farmers the way I do they planted what they can make money at. What with the games played last year over wheat by the Russian government. I do not blame them. You have to make money to stay alive. I find it interesting that we have an abundance of wheat this year and yet I see hundreds of kilometers of sunflowers instead of wheat. Interesting…

That was what was interesting yesterday and today we have to get back to work. We have 50 more meters of fence to do and we are done this time with fence. We still have about 60 meters left after today, but we will wait until we get different fencing in Moscow. We are going to replace 60 meters with a new fence completely and that will be a new project all together…

Have a nice day…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

Sveta yelled yesterday from the yard at the village house. I ran out to see what was up and found Sveta and Boza hugging a tree and a bad attitude snake being very aggressive with them. It seems that Boza heard the snake first as it crawled toward Sveta as she was reading. Sveta knew what the snake was right away but I did not. To me it was identical to a blacksnake in America…

But I have learned that in Russia things are not the same as in America. Looks can be deceiving. As my grandma would have said…

Having grown up on a farm and lived in the country most of my life. I was use to snakes. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, coral snakes and cottonmouths to name a few. But I have never seen a blacksnake act like this one. It was aggressive and tried to attack. That was my first clue that this was not common American blacksnake. Well I keep sticks for just such interesting occasions and decided to see what this ornery critter was up to. The second he sank his fangs into the stick that I put in front of him, I knew that this was no common Midwestern blacksnake that I use to play with all the time growing up. This snake had an attitude that would rival a Rattlesnake…

It is called:
Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been the subject of much folklore in Britain and other European countries. They are not regarded as highly dangerous; the snake is not aggressive and usually only bites when alarmed or disturbed. Bites can be very painful, but are seldom fatal. Read More >>>

While not very dangerous as far as poisonous snakes are concerned. (As I found out later by Wiki) That did not make any difference at the time that I was encountering the snake. He had a real bad attitude and was looking to kick some butt, any butt. He did not run away as they are suppose to and I realized that there was no way that I would allow him to hide in the yard. While we might not be hurt as bad by the vipers bite I am sure that Boza would have a bad time if bitten. Since Boza is so small…

Two colors of the snake…Sveta could not understand why I did not get all excited over the snake. She said that if the village people would find out that we killed such a snake, that they would all go into a heart attack. They would be so scared of more snakes around. I did not want to kill it but realized that it (snake) was trying to tell us that he considered our yard his yard and we were trespassing on him…

I am trying to figure out why the snake was so aggressive, as the information available says that it is not an aggressive snake. Well you could not prove that to Sveta, Boza and I…

That is why I just love Russia. A new experience everyday…

Kyle and Sveta and Boza…
Windows to Russia!

I just think that this church is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. They have been working on fixing it back up and I am glad because these are the parts of the past that need to be saved. The walls of a church like this are a meter thick of brick. They are built like a fortress…

It seems that all these churches were painted white and as you can see this one was also at one time. The people have been working to remove the paint back to the original brick and it looks so much better…

I just thought I would share what I think is a beautiful church and I will say that if you ever wanted to feel the presence of God then this church would do it for you. No hype and no games. It is a Church of God away from the turmoil of the world. It is visited by local people and is cared for by local people. This church gives you an idea of what life is all about because within its walls there are many funerals and many weddings. It is a place that the soul and heart can rest for a while if need be…

Kyle Keeton

Sunday the day we rest and go to the market. We will not work today, but we will load up on veggies and fruits from the market. We also always buy socks and other clothes at the market. Every Sunday in Sarai a big village near our tiny little village, they have a huge market that I call a street market. The main street in the town is taken over by vendors who set up tents and kiosks and they sell everything. From school supplies to clothes…

The booths go for at least a kilometer and a half. The Market also twists around the backside of the town and that is where you find the bargains. We try to find the babushkas that sell their own veggies from their gardens and purchase from them. It is easy to tell the difference between imported veggies and fruit and the home grown. We bought peaches, pears, tomatoes, peppers, plums, light-bulbs, clothes, meat, milk and several other goodies. We decided that we had so much stuff that we will go back tomorrow to get our next 6 rolls of fencing. It was just too busy right now… 🙂

So the rest of the day will be a restful day and then tomorrow we start back working again on the house and yard…

Hope that you all had a wonderful weekend…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

That cup of chicory is always better in the village. Today was no different and thinking’s always go with a good hot cup of beverage. Today those thinking’s have settled around Shashlik (шашлык), Real Pepsi and that Fence…
Even though I am diabetic, I had to try the real Russian Pepsi Cola. In Russia we have two types of Pepsi. One is made with corn syrup and the other is made with real sugar. The corn syrup one is just exactly like what you get in America. The other one with real sugar is what was made in the Soviet Union and is still made today. A little known fact is that Pepsi was the first cola to infiltrate the USSR. In fact I believe it was the first Western consumer product that was sold in the USSR. It seems that I have read that Pepsi has a 50 year span of time in Russia…

I have to say that little bottle of Pepsi was the best I have had in a very long time and one little bottle is more than enough to quench the thirst. It brought back memories of the old Pepsi and another era of time, at least the old Pepsi that was made with real cane sugar. Damn it was good and in Russia you have a choice of either one. Why buy the corn syrup version?

Shashlik is another Russian favorite. It would be called BBQ in America. We just use metal sticks here to hold the food. Just like a shish-kabob. We put veggies and meat all together on the grill. In these pictures you see cabbage, whole onions and chicken…

Then the last picture is a good chunk of the 50 meters of fence that we worked on today. Tomorrow we will pick up another 50 meters and that will get us about half done with our fence. I also have to pick up some fence posts and replace a few. When we get done there will not be any goats eating our plants anymore. (We hope – cross your fingers!)

Well it has been a long day and we are going to bed. I am going to have another cup of chicory and Sveta will have another cup of green tea. We will chit chat about the day and then tomorrow we get up and go to the Street Market that is every Sunday at out big village near us. Maybe we will get some pictures and we can show you one of the most fun markets we ever go to. It is where we can buy anything from jeans to car parts…

Have a good day and night… 🙂

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

It is a shame that the West can not grow up and accept facts as they really are. Abkazia does not want to be part of Georgia and that is final. I don’t care about all the other republics that want the same thing all over the world. I am talking about Abkazia and they do not want to be part of Georgia…

NATO has refused to recognize presidential elections in Abkhazia, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Saturday. Presidential elections held on August 26 in Abkhazia, which NATO refuses to recognize as an independent state and considers it part of Georgia, were won by Alexander Ankvab, who received 54.86% of votes. “The holding of such elections does not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement. “The alliance reiterates its full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders,” he added… Read More >>>

To me it is the same everywhere in the world. I believe that even in America that a state has the right to become its own country. If it is self sustaining and does not need the federal government to survive. Then it has the right to leave (secede) and go its own way. That is how I look at it…

So it is really simple. Abkazia just wants to be Abkazia…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

Sveta and I just spent a long day getting things done. We got our two 50 liter propane bottles filled, we picked up 50 meters of rolled fencing, we talked with all the neighbors and caught up on all the gossip and we took lots of pictures of the village and the town near by. The town is actually called a village but for us Americans it is definitely a town or even small city. There are at least 10,000+ people living in it. The village is called Sarai…

The pictures above are an example of how the natural gas to the homes is done in Russia. I have been amazed that residential pipelines are always above ground. This is how they do it in a big city like Moscow also. Except we live in flats in the city and they just run the pipes all over the outside of the building. I see once in a while gas pipes buried but that is a project that the homeowner has to do…

The last picture is of our lake near our tiny village. It is being drained so that they can get all the fish out and when they do that the water birds are soooooo happy. It is a fish eating paradise. You can see the little fish making the water boil… 🙂

The lake is being filled again as I write this article because they are going to start another crop of fish. They just pump the water back and forth from the river. It is an amazing system and they can fill our huge lake in a matter of a few days. Just like they can empty it in a few days. The farm fish business in Russia is a huge lucrative business. It like any other business helps grow other businesses and the amount of employment in this area has got to be in the hundreds of workers during the Summer time. Of course Winter gets very slow…

That is it for today. We are tired and have fencing to put up tomorrow. It is time to keep the goats from getting into our yard and trying to eat everything that we plant. It is either put up a better fence or start having goat stew. Since the neighbors would not be able to see the humor in eating goat stew. We will just make it goat proof…

Have a great weekend…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

Oh my goodness what a wonderful Thursday morning this was. Sveta had her green tea and I had my chicory. It was so nice to be in the village. We arrived yesterday and as always on the first day it takes forever to get everything in line. You have to go through a reversal pattern of when you leave and get everything going again. The first thing when I get the doors unlocked is to fire up the electricity and get all the essentials going such as refrigerator and such. After we got everything humming smoothly again and it felt like home sweet home. We discovered that a mouse had decided that we had a good place to live and he had a few good meals of tea bags and soap. Of course like my grandma would say, “He don’t eat much!”… 🙂

The second picture is one I caught of Sveta reading a book and enjoying life. I put an inset in the picture. I think Boza is laying next to her and snoozing away. She needs a break after she helped me put a new bench in on our picnic table that we have. That is why the tools are everywhere. Our old bench rotted off in the ground and it was a project that had to be done. Another project that has to be done is the fence that you see in the background of the picture. It is made of just trees and limbs from the forest. It is starting to crumble and we are going to try to salvage the fence this next week…

Tomorrow we will go and have two big propane tanks filled. Propane is what we cook with and we are on our last tank. So it is time. I also am making a list and going to pick up supplies to seal and winterize the home and it is time to be getting some new windows. We have the measurements and it looks like we will try to find them in the near by city. If they do not have them then we will get them in Moscow…

Sveta and I saw a beautiful thing today. We saw three eagles and it looked like it was mom and dad and junior and the adults had the yellow beak and the smaller one had a much darker beak. Sveta tried to get a video of them and we really won’t know how well it came out until later. This picture is of a young eagle. So cool and they were just screaming as they circled. Now we always see lots of hawks here but this is the first time that I have seen eagles and I can tell you that all the water birds were very flighty and nervous until they left. They were simple huge…

That is it for today and as we get more picture in the next few days we will post them and I will keep things updated. The weather is fantastic and the clouds are like big cotton balls in the sky…

Kyle and Sveta
Windows to Russia!

Update (August 25th, 2011): Ukraine showed her face and we got what we needed to pinpoint a little closer the blockage. Windows to Russia is being blocked again in Ukraine. But we know the origination area this time. We are going to find out the bottom line before it is over… 🙂

The web gods evidently decided that we were punished enough and allowed Ukraine to see Windows to Russia again. I was just in the stats and saw that Ukraine had moved up a notch in Rankings after falling 35 countries in rank…

I then ran and tried the Host Tracker site and walla walla bing bang we are all over the world again. I still do not know what happened (Well I know what happened, but I do not know who!) and my host has been very quiet about things. I am doing an inquiry to see if they did anything or know who did what…

I have a suspicious feeling that someone got tired of my insistent calls and nosing around into blocking software and who designs it. I do know that Windows to Russia was not the only site and it reached 208 sites blocked. I am glad it is gone and lets hope it stays that way…

I will update as I get more information. This has been a good day. I got grouchy with a reader that seems to feel that they have to have an attitude,  we had a record Tuesday in page views, I had a good discussion with another commenter, the Western media was caught at a whole slew of lies and tomorrow morning at 5am Sveta an I leave for the village. The next post will be from the village and maybe we can post some cool pictures…

See you in a few days…

Kyle Sveta
Windows to Russia!

PS: I am so happy that Ukraine can see the site again… 🙂