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… 😉
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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)

Boza and I got up at 5 a.m. and walked this morning. That was late for us, but there was a reason…




Ever tried to clean fish at -12 below Celsius? Well I got the pleasure again today and my fingers have just thawed out. I am freezing them for when Sveta comes and Boza got a fish head to eat today. Now that was a surprised doggy; fish heads in the winter! Oh My!
Last night was cold, my special broken thermometer said around -17 and I am going to get a new one as soon as I go to town. I built a fire and stoked it up at about 9:00 p.m. last night and it still has some warmth this morning as I got up. The home is doing good and I think it will be reasonably comfortable down to -30, with no problems. This is only about heating one room, so the room with the refrigerator is cold as a freezer. I have to think about that as I store food and such…
I had several people ask me about the outhouse and what about sitting in a frozen place when doing your business?
You know? I have to talk about Windows 10. I was upset and have waited for a few days to talk about the trashy piece of junk that Microsoft has decided to shove down our throats. I really gave Windows 10 a chance and I tried to solve all its issues. But there was an issue I could not overcome and that was its ability to eat data on the internet. When you live in the middle of nowhere and I mean literally nowhere! Every megabyte counts as you try to keep within a budget every month. One of the most expensive things I have to shell out for is internet and that runs about 900 rubles a month. That 900 rubles gives me basically 16 gigs of traffic usable for a whole 30 days… (I also get an extra 16 gigs of traffic from 1 a.m to 7 a.m. but, that is stupid and hardly counts in the life processes!)
This morning at 5:30 a.m. the outdoor thermometer said, “-15”, actually it shivered and said that. I know it shivered, because after I tapped it to make sure it was settled, all the numbers below 0 fell off and went to the bottom and what did not fall is hardly enough to read the thing properly anymore…
This morning I reinstalled Windows 8.1 back on the laptop. I gave Windows 10 a better than fair chance and actually tried to make it work, even with all the flaws. I thought about going back all the way to Windows 7, but Windows 8.1 is basically the same with different eye candy and Windows 8.1 is still functional with basic tweaking. Windows 10 is truly a piece of CRAP! I tried Microsoft; for months, but you screwed up a good thing, all in the name of the all mighty dollar ($)…
Have a nice day…


