Windows to Russia

I have been busy the last few days and now it is time to rest. The temperature is getting hot for a few days and nothing better than resting when it is too warm to work hard. I have been painting the trim on the house and all my buddies have given their opinion and thumbs up on the way the place is looking. I also have painted anything that can rust and one thing I painted is my two wheeler and the wheelbarrow has been painted also. The ladder was made by Sveta’s Father in-law many many years ago. I strengthened it and use it all the time. It is a great ladder. I also could not resist taking a snap shot of the swallows all over our power lines. They also filled our trees up and had a regular pow wow before they started their day to catch bugs…

They are good birds… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This morning as I sip a cup of coffee, we have not walked yet. It is not my fault that it is 6:30 a.m. and we still have not walked. Boza does not like the rain and he refuses to go out, well actually I gave him a choice and he politely ran back under the bed. He stuck his nose out the door and looked at me and I said yes or no? He said no…

But nature calls and after this post, we will go and walk in the rain…

Boza and I walked with the camera yesterday and gathered a few images. I decided to post a few here and you can see what Boza and I saw…

Boza found a friend first thing as we walked up the hill, whereas Boza was happy, happy, happy, his friend was hiss, hiss, hiss, so they did not party and hug each other. But as you see in the next Boza image, Boza was happy…

Everywhere are the Mountain Ash trees. The forests are full of them and the Russians do not use them for anything. They grow wild and are considered bad. I realize that there are several types of these trees, so I use the judgment of the locals and leave them alone. These seem to be extra poisonous, but back home in the Ozarks, we made jellies and jams from them…

A grumble issue of mine is the fact that we only have two working cisterns and I have found five total available in the village. One is legend to be poisoned by a disputing family/locals issue, another is buried deep in no mans land, the one shown is not working and that leaves two that still are able to be filled, most of the time…

The cisterns are a source of issues many times, as city people steal water from ours to wash their cars and many other such stupid things, as filling their kids inflatable swimming pools. 🙁 They emptied theirs up top the hill and then steal our water. I wash my car at the river, so can they and their kids can swim in the river or the lake for that matter… (I am just a grouchy bear!)

They are digging out the walls of the monastery, or at least the walls that they can still find. The wall use to go all the way around the whole monastery…

I snapped a image of a small bee that would not leave me alone. He sat on my camera as I took pictures, then flew hovering right in front of my lens. I finally snapped an image and then he left. Just like that, he left after I took his picture, “What a Ham!”

The as Boza and I walked down the hill from the tower, we saw Sasha wandering around and Olga, coming up the hill to help with an injured man at his home. She is an old lady and her daughter is way up the hill waiting and yelling at her! Some people are clueless about life. More power to Olga…

The last image is a place that I want to play. I would have when little and this image holds many memories of what I ran around as a little tyke. Everyone should have a small work barn to play around. Young or old, my grandpa and I had one…

Well that is it for today. Boza has to walk and I have to walk, even if it is raining…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Yesterday after a long walk with Boza, I came home and found a cute little window open on my computer, it gave me words of wisdom about how Windows 10 was already downloaded and ready to install???

3 gigs of my precious data used up without my permission. Interesting, who said Windows could do this?

My computer did…

The laptop that I bought last year was a version of Russian laptop that had no OS installed when I bought it. It had a version of Windows 8.1 that was not official. To keep that version, I had to buy it. Well I installed my Windows 7 and was happy about what I had to work with. Then yesterday, Microsoft decided to install Windows 10 and it was perfectly legal because my computer has a special spot in the boot sector that tells MS to go ahead…

It said, “Hey this guy needs a free OS and MS is the one to do it!”

Lucky for me it did not install, but just downloaded. Now with all that data wasted, I decided to install it and see what the hoopla is all about. But first, I backed everything up and saved all files to my external hard drive, then I burned a ISO of my original OS so that when everything crashes and dies, I still have my photos and such and I can reinstall back to original and be happy. Plus as the holy grail of protection, I have a flash drive with Windows 7 to start fresh if need be…

I did some more reading about the Windows 10, which I have been reading about for many months. For you see I am a developer with the Windows programs and have been for many years, but I never saw the collaboration at this level between a Russian/Chinese made laptop and a future MS OS release before and just now, I am seeing issues about this. Sneaky little crappolas if you ask me…

Nevertheless, I am game for any and all comeuppance and I jumped on the bandwagon, with keyboard in one hand and mouse in the other…

* * * * * * * * * *

Hours later: I had tamed Windows 10 and changed everything to suit my needs. I turned off all the obvious privacy issues and all the hidden privacy issues that I know about, due to Insider Developer status. But obvious after what happened earlier, we in the Insider Program are not told everything!

Therefore, I am reasonably happy with what I see;  anyone who worked with the beta versions of Windows 10, are seeing some changes with the final issuance of the OS. The one complaint that I had was the color white and no options to get rid of 95% white screen, on everything, white, white and more white, or light grey at times. Going blind white… (It can be changed, to black, but that is beyond most peoples realm. I changed mine…)

I was ready for this ignored suggestion of mine (give us some color) and I have a hacked theme that overrides the original themes and tells Windows 10 to become purple borders and other whatnot’s, with a flare of the basic Aero design…

Then I hacked the start menu and told it to be good and get rid of all the Metro crap. I brought back the Windows 7 menu and became happy at that point. Not ecstatic, but happy…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am on my second cup of coffee as I think about Windows 10. As you see I am functioning and everything is working good. I still have a few things to work the bugs out of, such as the Windows 10 Explorer File manager. The new one just sucks. I will have the old one in its original format back and I had to hack the calculator to even get a link to use it. Now that is sad when the simple wonderful, used everyday calculator is removed and a trashy piece of huge junk Metro Style is implemented in place of it… Uggggrrrr!

MS gives us 30 days to think about how much we love Windows 10, if we fall out of love within 30 days of installation, there is a simple click button to revert. After 30 days, Sorry Charley…

* * * * * * * * * *

Will I keep it?

Most likely, since I already spent many hours working with a virtual version of the same OS. I like it, but it has to be tamed. It will tell on you, it will invade your privacy and it will try to do everything for you. Now that part I do not like, but, 95% of people installing this new Windows 10 will love it to death till they part. It is taking the work out of computing and allowing the humans to go brain dead, as everything is being set up to make decisions based on your past excursions on the web and within your own computer system. Soon you will just become a data blip in the masses who are online. No thinking and no imagination. You will be told what to do and you will do it…

Now that is the serious issue at hand…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I told Sveta not to install it! I told her to leave updates turned off at home. What works works and at home she is happy. If this is allowed to install at our home in Moscow, Sveta will be a grouchy girl…

That I do not want…

Sveta is going to be grouchy with me over this, but we do what we have to do and that I will do…

I told no one and fought it with no one! That is the only way to break addictions for me and sometimes, it gets lonely when you break them. For if you do not do it for yourself, then you will never break the addiction…

For 12 years I have taken beta-blockers for my heart. It has caused weight gain, sluggishness and many other issues. Including dizziness, tiredness, blurred vision, cold hands and feet, slow heartbeat, diarrhea and nausea and that is not all the effects…

I took them and never complained, I took them, then I kept reading about them and I read about what is now being said and found out about the beta-blockers. I broke them and walked away; regardless of right and wrong…

The village helped me in all this. The village I live in is a healing village and I am going to take full advantage of that fact…

I can attest for withdrawal symptoms, such as sweating, shaking and mood alteration. I also found a peaking of anxiety and it even entered dreams at night. Such as dreams of death and dying. I will tell you that with my past, dreams of death are common, but not of your own death and that is what I dealt with for weeks…

I was taking two pills a day and I went to one pill a day at night. That alleviated the dreams and most symptoms during the first week. Then after one week of one pill, I dropped them completely and spent two weeks struggling. The fourth week I am in now, is going good and I am done…

I kicked beta-blockers out of my life and the side effects are gone…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It is like a roller coaster, we go from 3 hours of darkness to 8 hours in just a few weeks. The tilt of the earth does that and for us summer is done. There will still be a few days of warmer weather, but with the night galloping upon us at a furious pace; cold will settle soon and its icy grip is already starting to enter into the nights…

Last night I had to actually use a blanket and I saw that the temperature reach down to 10 degrees Celsius above zero. I also see that we have a few days of about 30 plus coming, though in Russia, they joke about how the weather man is the only person who can keep his job and be wrong all the time… 🙂

I am going to talk to Sveta about me getting a weather station to install at the village home. They are not that expensive from China and I know that they work good, I have used them before. Accuracy is not perfect, but for basics they work very good. I want to be able to keep tabs on the weather fluctuations, even if the internet stops working…

Sveta surprised me yesterday; she called me and told me that, “I need to pick red or black!”

“Red or black what?”, I asked..

Then she said that she is buying a camera for me. A compact Olympus with 24X optical zoom. It is small enough to fit in my pocket and it cost less than $80 American money, or 5000 rubles. She bought the camera I wanted for almost three times less (12900 rubles) than what I can buy it for in the Big Village. Cameras are expensive down here; that proves my point…

I answered, “Black please!”

* * * * * * * * * *

The above news also means something else for me! It means Sveta is coming to see me soon! Yippy and yippy yea. I miss my girl…

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

Time to go! I am going to the Big Village and see what is up!

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Paris transferred over 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to a Russian bank as compensation for terminating the deal to deliver two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to the Russian Navy…

Glad that is done and if you remember correctly, I expressed dissatisfaction about the deal back in 2010. They are total junk and worthless for Russian needs…

Junk, I say, Junk…

* * * * * * * * * *

The Russian Navy will receive 17 warships and cutters, as well as 52 support vessels by the end of 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday… (Sputnik)

Now for fact that I have said a dozen times. Russia just verified that they are building warships as fast as they can. Every shipyard is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Between submarines and warships, Russia is building its naval fleet big time. Russia and China are getting ready for war and they are going to take it to the west, when the west starts its shenanigans…

Do not say, “But you never told us!”

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was gonna go to town, I was gonna rest and goof off, I was gonna cut the grass and I was gonna clear some more brush. Instead, I am gonna putty and paint the windows today. That is what I am gonna do…

* * * * * * * * * *

This is a new crop duster to the valley. It is one noisy little thing and it gets the job done. But at 5 a.m., I think a few neighbors are going to be grouchy today. I took pictures, a neighbor who is 76 years old; jump up and down for joy at the little craft and my other neighbor stood mesmerized as the craft went back and forth weaving a pattern over the local field. I decided to grab the camera and take some images before it disappeared and a hundred shots later, he left…

I was jumping up and down also, for flying is to be a bird in the sky and that my friend, is freedom…

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

Introducing, Momma Eagle:

Boza and I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Momma Eagle this morning. We walked to our favorite spot to sit and we came within 5 meters of Momma Eagle. She saw us and we saw her at the same time, we all froze and no one moved. Boza who delights in chasing ravens and smaller birds, just froze…

She did not move and run, but she expanded her wings and I swear to all that I have sworn to before. She has at least a 7 foot wingspan. This is a monstrous bird and we stood there looking at each other, for we have seen each other all summer long and we know each other, just not so close, until now…

I wish I could record what I was seeing and the day we can have an implant to record exactly what we see is here, I will think seriously about such a implant. As it was, I was able to get the camera going fast enough, when she decided to leave, and got two images…

Mamma Eagle just stared at us, as if curious and we the same back, then after what seemed like an eternity that lasted seconds and I could see into her golden eyes with tiny black centers pinpointed as she looked into the sun at us. She let out a skrill noise as I call it. That was when Boza answered back…

Boza barks very little and in this case he barked once and only once, as Momma Eagle skrilled at us, Boza let out the biggest bark he has ever done. He told Momma Eagle that him and his daddy are no push overs. 🙂

He stood on the hill behind me looking down at her and had a perfect point at the eagle. She skrilled again and in an effortless movement of her wings, she lifted up and out over the lake. I was hitting the on button on the camera and all I got was two images of an encounter that was originally 5 meters, images at 100 meters, but I know Boza and I will never forget Momma Eagle as she talked to us at our favorite sitting spot…

Boza then came to me after she left and wiggled and wiggled and wiggled, as I told him what a good boy he is…

* * * * * * * * * *

Well that is our morning here in the village. It simply is as good as it gets and now I am going to paint…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree starting on August 6, 2015 – the destruction of agricultural products prohibited from being imported into the country implemented in retaliation against illegal western sanctions!

Oops, wait a minute Putin: Russians overwhelmingly support the prospect of dealing with illegal food substances at the Russian border, but with giving the food to the people in the world that are needy. Now I see that the Russian government is looking at the wishes of what the people say and decisions are changing as you read this…

This is becoming a serious issue and Russia is looking to be done with what is now akin to simply just turning it away, they are looking at destroying the food or giving it to the needy. Russians do not agree with destruction, they agree with taking illegal food and confiscating it…

This is a serious issue. The countries from the west that are sanctioning Russia and Russia countered sanctioned, are trying every way they can to illegally get food products into Russia. They forge illegal paperwork, they bribe border guards of countries that do not sanction Russia and in some cases they are trying to drive across the Russian border at a non-checkpoint spot…

So far the food being caught is simply turned away, but Russia started out recently, by saying should we destroy the food we capture. The Russians jumped on the bandwagon and said, “Конфисковывать в пользу нуждающихся“, (Confiscated in favor of the needy!)

We are talking about a whole bunch of food people. These western countries who are sanctioning Russia over a lie, are all trying to push their food products into Russia, for they have found that they are in deep hurt with their farmers. Russia was a huge market for farm raised products, before the illegal sanctions against Russia, issue. Russia simply stopped buying western food products in retaliation…

That was genius and the west never saw it coming…

Now since the west is so desperate to move their food products and the Russian border is the stopping place of literally hundreds of thousands of tons of such food products. Russia should and I hope they do; Give the food that is confiscated to the needy. Be it inside Russia or be it in East Ukraine or be it anyone who is hungry. Take it free of charge, for they sent it free of charge and feed someone…

Slap the face of the accusers as they try to skirt the legalities of the rule of law…

My how the world is changing directions and for the better…

This is another stroke of genius and the west never saw it coming…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This is borscht done my way and I call it “Bear’s Borscht,” I know a certain young lady named Sveta in Moscow, who is going to see this and start wishing she was here right now. The ingredients are all from our garden and I will eat this borscht without meat, maybe tomorrow (?), I will add a chicken breast, but tonight, it is veggy borscht. Also to the above images, salt and pepper according to your taste…

I bought smetana (sour cream,) for it is not borscht without sour cream…

So you need potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, salt, pepper and whatever else you like. This is not an official recipe from Russians, but a recipe from Bear and it is his version of borscht. 😉

Put the pot on a low flame or heat and ignore for awhile. Let it cook and watch just to keep from boiling over. I will explain something; I peel my beets before I cook them, Russians do not. I like the purple to saturate the water and I use the same water to cook beets as the soup. Russians will cook their beets, chill them, peel them and make soup from the peeled and chopped up beets in fresh water. Russians also, dice everything into small bits, I am a grouchy bear and just cut things up to make me happy. You do it the way you like, but I like my beet soup…

Oh, see that carrot? That is the small one in the garden and it is so sweet to eat. I am stunned at the carrots we grew this year…

Will update after the soup is done…

Soup is a mainstay in Russia. A meal without soup is virtually not a meal and many meals are nothing but soup. I make my soups with much more ingredients than a Russian would use and your soups are just that, a thin runny food, with small pieces of products. Real soup, not more veggies than water…

Cook until the biggest chunks slide back off a sharp knife. This pot was done in about an hour…

I am going to eat two bowls of this soup. It is so good and sweet. I really had to salt it heavy to keep the soup from being a candy taste. The beets and carrots are very sweet from this garden and the beets would be incredible pickled. That may just be a great idea, pickled beats for the winter time!

By the way, it does not need any meat in anyway what so ever and if you do not like sour cream, then maybe do not make the soup. It has to have sour cream to make it Russian… 😉

Have a nice day, for I will, you see my dinner tonight…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: The garden has produced the most wonderful vegetables. The beets are sweet, huge and not woody at all. The carrots are like eating a sugar cube and they just keep growing, the onions are just right and do not seem to be hot, even after drying and the potatoes are perfect for any dish…

When I was young, before the war, before the marriages, before the grinding work load, before the kids, before my soul was hurt and torn twenty times by various effects of life; I listened to Classical Music and in that remembrance I have downloaded thousands and thousands of wondrous songs, of shear sense delights…

Then I found the song of my soul; written in 1680 by Johann Pachelbel it is a German Baroque of one of the greatest composers, in my mind, in history. This in not the hour and one minute version, it is about four minutes long, do not worry…

Just listen and enjoy…

Sometimes I wonder what we do to ourselves and why?

I want to thank Svetochka and God for allowing me to full circle back to catch my soul before it left forever. I read once that women are the way to heaven and lately, I have discovered that a good woman is heaven, heaven for your soul, heaven for your mind and heaven for your body…

I have been allowed to gather and still gathering pieces that had fallen off as life took its toll. These pieces are not all easy to find; in fact many are damaged beyond repair, but with a little love and care, the pieces fit back and it seems that other more substantial pieces fill in the gaps left by time…

Many call Johann Pachelbel a one hit wonder of the German Baroque’s, but if true or not, in their eyes, I find the one hit to be enough to settle my soul and allow me to sigh in peace. In my eyes it is perfect to listen to…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…