Windows to Russia

Yesterday allowed me to get a grasp once again on what Russian people are all about. The men who now claim to be my bestes friends on earth and Vova leading the way as my bestes – bestes friend and he made sure they knew that. Are from all walks of life in Russia. Several of them are extremely rich. One has a girl half his age as his wife, one is a starving artist (so he says,) one works in the armament industry, one is a writer, one is a factory worker, one is ex-military, one is from Afghanistan and so on and so on… (Actually two were not in the picture and they refused, too shy, as the others put it!)

I do not get much hate when I meet Russian people and the few that I meet who hate, would be slapped down by the ones who embrace me. I am welcomed and made to feel at home. For Russians are a curious, trusting and loving group by nature…

I feel blessed to have the ability and means to meet such wonderful people everyday of my life and I seriously am blessed for having such a wonderful girl by my side, even if she is in Moscow right now. Russians are still able to understand that temporary separation of the opposite sex from each other is important and guys have to go be guys, even if it kills them; for life to be smooth and stable. Russians believe as we (I) did many years ago and I remember the horror I experienced when I put my daughter in college and the dorms were coed. It was a nightmare and accepted by society as Okay! It is not and is just a small example of how I feel and why I think Russia is on the right path. Girls are girls and boys are boys! Oh My!

A country is no better than the morals, curiosity, love, porosity, abilities and many thousand other things that its people allow and do themselves. A government is an extension of the people and when a government has gone rogue the people have gone wretched and allow it to be the way it is. We are what we sow…

These guys will come back, for hunting is important, even if you kill nothing and for these guys, hunting is the excuse to get away from all the pressures of life; including the wife. 🙂 I have been told that I do not have any choice in the matter, I will go with them hunting next time and that is that. I can be excused from drinking vodka, but from hunting; No Way!

Russia is about the people…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am debating going to the Big Village, but, I do not want to and really there is nothing I need to get. I have tons of food and other supplies. The need and desire is not there, so why go? I will not and Boza and I will walk in the upcoming snow storm.

* * * * * * * * * *

This is my new razor for the village. I decided to buy a razor like what I started shaving with many years ago, many more than I care to think about. It shaves like a dream and is simple, but simple for a simple life. I even have a brush and extra blades, all made in Russia…

It is what life is about and what life should be about; what makes you happy…

* * * * * * * * * *

Boza and I found a spring, Sveta had mentioned such a spring for water, if there was no where else to get water. I found it yesterday and it use to be a major source of water for fingerling ponds. The ponds I found the remains of yesterday. So it has been proven to me that our end of the pond system use to be self-sufficient and had its own breeding system and such. Makes sense, and now I know exactly where the fresh water source is to get water if need be. The cement pond is huge, but one end is blown away, thus no water collects anymore. It use to service a series of three smaller ponds and also was used for water for the village at one time. I found the remains of several small pumps and pipework for running water to a water facet. I just love finding history and really wish that history was not always decaying. Oh well…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

These are the Russian guys I have to put up with…

Bunch of guys out hunting, Vova and I are in the middle back row and the guys are from all over. One is an ex military from the Afghanistan war and his buddy is the littlest guy crouching down in the front. That guy is from Afghanistan. (No hat very bald and dark hair!)

They shot 44 times at many Wild Boars, never hit a thing… Not a thing, but they scared all the boars away for the rest of the year and the deer and the rabbits and the humans left in the area…

But they do not care and are happy as happy could be.

They were so excited and they all want Vova to get a copy of the newspaper when and that is an “IF” the article is printed in the local paper…

Have a nice day and they want me to go hunting with them next time they come…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Boza and I are alone (our better half is gone) in the Russian Village. Sveta has made it back to Moscow and is doing her thing. Boza and I got up at 5:45 a.m. and walked for an hour. It was dark as the Ace of Spades and the wind was blowing to beat the band. I noticed that Vova was up and the lady at the white house was up and getting ready to leave to get her 10 litres of milk, that she gets every Monday from a small village called Sisoy. Vova was up and getting ready to go wild boar hunting. (A wild Boar is called кабан or cabon!)

* * * * * * * * * *

The car is running good and I fixed a bunch of issues. It carried us to the train station and me back home in style. I actually had some heat and that was a good thing. I will work today on fixing the heater still more. The heater hoses were all arranged wrong, but since I never drove in the winter much before. I never dealt with it, it was not needed. Thus, now it is needed and needed badly in the village. I am fixing it… 😐

* * * * * * * * * *

Down in the valley are a bunch of tractors and they are running with trailers from one set of fish ponds to our set of fish ponds. There seems to be a bunch of fish farms along our river called Para. The carp fish business is huge in Russia and Russians really like the farm raised carp. It is considered a delicacy and cheap on top of everything to boot. Last night as I came home from dropping Sveta off at the train station, there was about six trucks loading up carp to take to the big cities. Big business and it extends all winter long. They have winter ponds to house the fish that they sell…

* * * * * * * * * *

The Russian Village home is tight, warm and comfy. The work I did on it this summer is showing up in the way it feels. Sveta was shocked at how warm it was and she wanted to stay. Her family never used this home for winter and Sveta had doubts about winter worthiness of the home. I think now she has changed her mind.

* * * * * * * * * *

The lady from the white house just stopped by and got a phone number to Sveta. She would like to be able to have me pick things up when I go to the Big Village. I am glad to do it for her. She does not like Vova and Vova does not like her, but that is life and I like them both. 😉

The white house lady is shy and she is comfortable talking to Sveta, but not me. Her brother Nikolai is, if you remember, the one who went to the Big Village with me all summer. She is not as brave as her brother, with this grouchy American… 🙂

* * * * * * * * * *

It is wet and humid this morning, Boza and I are both kinda sad! Sveta is our beam of light and sunshine in a dark world, but we will adjust after today and get on a pattern. Boza and I both like to have a settled pattern to get things done and stabilize our life. Sveta wants to come for my birthday in the middle of January, hope the weather is good!

* * * * * * * * * *

Have a nice day and soon I will get pictures to record what it looks like here. It is so beautiful and Boza and I tomorrow will walk to the Holy Water spring. I will take the camera tomorrow and see what we see…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sveta went tearing down the hill and the dog Boza, ran with all his might to try to stop her. He just gets really upset when we do things that make no sense to him. 🙂

I did get an upside down image of Sveta, but she asked me not to show it…

This an image of our kitchen in the Russian Village Home…

I installed new heater hoses on the car, disconnected the Gaz fuel system and tightened the fan belts. The propane system has developed some issues and it looks like spring will be as soon as I can work on it. I will not be able to use the system during the winter time hardly at all anyway and I will keep 20 litres of benzine aside as a backup.

The car is running as good as it will get for this winter and since it will start in at least -20 degrees, who am I to argue?

If all else fails, we have a mini van that picks people up for a fee and it runs twice a day 11:30 – to 12:00 and back at 14:30 – 15:00. That is one way to get to town to gets supplies…

Gotta go and Sveta, plus Boza says HI!…

Have a nice day!

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Today I plan on getting pictures taken as Sveta slides down our huge hill by our village home, on a round plastic sled with two handles to hold on for dear life. Sveta wanted to sled and we bought her a disc at the Globus in Moscow. What a ride this disc is…

I help Sveta get on the disc and then push her to get her going and at that point gravity takes over and after about 10 meters of smooth sailing, the disc starts to spin and whips back and forth in the ruts that the tires have left by our car and Sveta, plus a barking crazy Boza, disappear two hundred meters to the valley floor.

Boza is trying to get Sveta to stop, for it seems to upset him that his nice momma is doing crazy things and he tries to pull on her coat to stop her, but he just ends up being dragged to the bottom with her and I am laughing so hard all the time watching. Sveta is hollering a the dog to stop, the dog is barking at Sveta to get off that deadly thing and quit acting like a fool and I fell on the ground in a fit of laughter, from pushing too hard.

The last run of five runs yesterday, found me watching Sveta hit the field in the bottoms and roll upside down, feet straight up in the air, a barking dog, leaping as high as he can to avoid flailing legs from Sveta. I could not stop laughing. Though I found later that I had skinned my knees… 😉

I went down and found a smiling red faced girl and a grouchy barking Boza.

That is Heaven people and the Tiny Russian Village is such a heaven.

I will try to get pictures today… 🙂 (Maybe of an upside down Sveta!)

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

When Sveta comes back in January, I want here to bring her ice skates and we have the perfect pond to skate on. It is frozen solid already and I will scrape the snow off for her to enjoy life. The big lake at the Fish Village, has guys fishing in the bitter cold. Some guys just love to sit on the ice and fish. I see these kind of guys sitting out on the lakes, even at -30 below, they have fire pots for heat and drill lots of holes in the ice to set out as many poles as possible…

Boza is in heaven, as am I and Sveta even is, as she dances with joy at the wonderment of the village in winter. She will be back and Boza and I will look forward to that trip. We went yesterday and will go today to stock lots of food supplies. This weekend is the last weekend to work on the car easily. The temperatures will reach +4 and I have to take advantage of that. For in a few days, it will go back to -10 and lower…

Boza and I got up at 6:30 a.m. and walked for an hour. It was crisp and cold and we followed cat and fox tracks all over the fields. Boza loves chasing up a kitty and taking off on a wild chase. Thus it is time to lay back down and let Sveta sleep her beauty sleep some more and Boza and I will gather our energy for another long walk later in the morning…

Have a nice day…

Kyle, Sveta and Boza…
Windows to Russia (WTR)

A reporter had a driver in a “3110 Volga” brave the weather and they came out to the Tiny Russian Village, all the way from the Big Village. They got their interview and got out just in time before the huge snow hit and darkness enveloped the countryside. They were worried and left on the run…

Sveta and I did the interview, mainly I allowed Sveta to translate, because this lady talked real fast, like a reporter in a hurry. I could not grasp anything she was saying, at all…

We went to Vova’s home, since he set this all up! Vova is so excited that I am going to be in the village and it looks like his love life has settled down and he has no love life again! 🙁

Thus, he is glad that his bestest friend from America is here, but actually I am his only friend from America and the only American in the whole damn area for hundreds and hundreds of miles in any direction…

We are going to wait to see what is printed, before I say things like, “Cool!” or “All Right!” or “How good!”; for I do not trust reporters nor politicians… 😉

The region is excited about the fact that an American would desire and want to stay all winter in a Tiny Russian Village. But, how could you not want to when the TRV is so beautiful and just plain perfect in all aspects?

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton with WTR…

Today, after the wild snow last night, we will attempt to get to the Big Village. Looks good outside this morning and Sveta and I moved the car to the top of the village to allow us to sit on level ground. Nothing else, we can sled down the hill with the car and hope for the best… 😉

Sveta picked the best time to come to the Russian Village, for it will actually warm up a few days, then it will scream, cold at us for the next month or two. Sveta will be back in Moscow before the screaming chill starts. We have to get to the Big Village and stock up on supplies. For I most likely will be snowed in for at least two months. We are hoping that Sveta can come down at my birthday time in January and stay a week. I can walk to the bus stop and meet her if that is what needs be…

When Sveta leaves on Sunday, it will be plus 6 or 7 degrees, now how is that for perfect timing?

Have a nice day and the next article is about a reporter who came from the regional newspaper and did an interview with me. I have Vova to blame and thank for that… 🙂

Cup of coffee time…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia

Fake gates on the bell tower!

That is what we found yesterday as we walked in the rain. They had someone with a huge printer print plastic sheets with an image of a gate from another monastery somewhere. I could see them from the road and thought at first, “They are putting up gates; yippy!”

But alas, not to be true and they are fake… 🙂

They also are putting concrete floors in the complete lower section of the bell tower and decent stairs all the way to the top of the tower. Looks like there will be lots of school field trips this next summer.

It also looks as if there will be soon a full time person living at the bell tower, it really is needed, because kids/young adults like to damage the tower in pranks as they are drunk and such. Sad, it seems that you cannot get away from kids that do that stuff…

Kyle Keeton at WtR

We bought Sveta a pair of valenki with rubber soles and a pair of pants, super well insulated. Those, with her fur coat and two sweaters allowed her to be comfortable all the way to the village. Sammy the Volga has an issue with heat production in really cold weather. I guess I need to fix that issue? For Russia gets really cold.

The village home was frozen and it took several hours of burning wood to get the home warmed up. The lakes are frozen and we saw guys ice fishing as we came in yesterday. Then as we pulled into the village, life became a better place to visit. The air is crisp and clean, the monastery radiated life and you could just feel the re-energizing of your soul. God is truly in this place and it is very obvious…

December will be warm enough in general, that I will be able to get the chainsaw out and at least cut up all those trees brought for firewood. The wood is seasoned oak and I must get a splitting maul this week to start splitting wood with. Looks like enough wood for two years easily. Plenty more where that came from…

Gotta go, Sveta is getting up and I have to cook breakfast. I already took my pills, drank two cups of coffee and time to sit down to eat. Have a nice day and I will be back tomorrow…

Windows to Russia
Kyle Keeton