Windows to Russia

Terrible image; Taken with cell phone and still dark. So washed out, but it caught my attention as I walked Boza this morning and the rain was about to start. I snapped it and it shows Fall is here…

I am looking at the baby maples growing in the field next to it and looking to find a maple for our yard. It is a Sugar Maple and Russians seem oblivious to the Sugar Maple and her delights. They instead love their White Birch tree and use the sap from that. I need to find a field and grow a crop of Sugar Maples and get rich one day with syrup…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Boza is the boss and as such he gets to watch me work. He cracks the whip and sleeps as I get the job done. Then he wants to be feed and scratched behind the ears. Sounds good to me and when I get all grown up, I want to be a straw boss… 😉

Oh my the fish is so good. Above in the image it is bagged up, I eat a little at a time, for it is salty and I want to watch the salt intake, sometimes…

There has been field trip after field trip with kids from the schools all around the area. Father Pavel (main monk) talked with me yesterday and he showed me a whole bunch of pictures of the monastery. We were interrupted by the bus coming and he hopped on with the kids and up the hill they went. The kids all waved at Boza and I and Father Pavel said that we could continue later (like in future,) with the discussion. I would like to get the pictures he has. I saw images of the original monks and monarchy. The original monks are female and he showed me images of the one who ran the place when it first opened. Maybe just maybe, so cross your fingers…

I have started the forth pile of wood at the back fence line. The third is done and ready for winter. The fourth at the back fence line will be the newest wood and wood that needs to season a year at least. I am hoping to get a truck load of wood free or pay minimal price for it. The locals all get the wood and I hope Sveta can help in that area. I have Vova working on it, but Vova is in love and love overrides many things… 🙂

Don’t worry, I have enough wood for this winter, I am just a greedy gobbler and want more. The more I have the better for emergencies…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Boza and I take lots of walks, but this one I took the camera. I just grabbed four of the 74 images I took and put them here. I only worked only half the time yesterday and walked only four times. Boza was grouchy because I did not walk him as much. I was grouchy because I only got half of what I feel like I should get done, done!

Strange how Boza has a big yard and he can do what he wants in the yard. I do not chain him up and even at times I leave the gate open. He never leaves the yard, unless I tell him to. He is a good dog and he gets so excited when I say the word, “Walk!”

Short article today. I am going to lay back down and rest. The weather is changing and it will warm up for a week or so. That is what I am feeling, the change in the weather and it is really getting me down right now…

Going to go finish reading the number four book of the Jack Reacher series. 100 pages to go and I will know, “Whodunit!”

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I am letting the jerked fish cool and then will pack in zip lock bags. I have tried a few small pieces and it is really good. So when I get more fish, I will clean and jerky them. That way I have fish into the winter…

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I got a stuffy nose and even though I feel better today; I am trying to decide, do I rest a little more or do I get out and work on the village home?

I can hear Sveta, “Don’t work to hard and rest!”

She knows me and she knows I will be going until I get very sick. Sometimes, I work harder as I get sicker and that just makes things worse. In the old days, when I was young, I would just work my way through any sickness and it is a habit of mine. I ignored sick and tried to kill myself, it seems… 🙁

Thus, I have to change my habits and that trying to change makes me feel guilty, that I am not getting enough done. Yet, I know that I am getting things done. It is all psychological…

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I have been reading the Jack Reacher series of books. I have found them interesting and will probably read them all. They remind me of Doc Savage books, Hardy Boys and such. A series to appease the mental mind, something that you know how it ends as you even begin to read. Jack Reacher is always going to prevail, good or bad, he will prevail…

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Boza is sleeping after his long walk this morning and I took my pills and had a wonderful cup of coffee. I now am going to have a cup of tea. I find that life is extra perfect with sipping both coffee and tea. It seems to fill in all the empty gaps and smooths over the rough bumps…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

What is as big as the room and does more than just heat the room. A huge monster of a heater, stove and oven and whatever…

It is a beast and is so cool. I am now seriously thinking of learning how to build something like this. The one that is real fancy is too much in my eyes, but the one that is kinda tiled, very attainable and still in my eyes looks perfect…

There is a stove, oven, sleeping hearth and several other goodies. There is many dampeners and from looking at broken fireplaces, there is a network of runners for the smoke and heat to wander through, then up and outside…

I myself would not tile it, but it is tradition to tile the Russian fireplaces. I think brick is the best. This is the real McCoy and I know of several readers that should find this interesting…

What a cool device…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The dehydrator is full of fish and now it will take better than 24 hours to finish my jerky. This is after about four days soaking in super heavy salt brine, the outer room smells like the sea side by the way. Like that salty ocean… 😉

I started it yesterday afternoon, thus maybe by tomorrow morning it will be done. It is salty…

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Yesterday; the monk was busy helping a crane truck driver from the Fish Farm and they moved the huge chunks of loose brick building sections of the church, to a better spot. The interior of the church is next to be dug out, then they will follow the tunnels, to the end of those tunnels exits. I see what has happened, they have found a much more elaborate underground system than they thought. I like it…

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Thought you might like a picture of the local police car from the Big Village. LADA Niva 4X4. He knocked on our door as I was trying to work on some websites of ours and Boza was barking to beat the band. We went out to see what he wanted and he was worried about Boza and if he was a killer or not. 🙂 I assured him that Boza was cool and then since I understood only part of what he wanted, due to terms I have never heard, I sent him to Vova…

He looked at me and shook his head at the thought of bothering Vova, he puttered around looking at twenty other things and then went up to see Vova. I realized that Vova can be a pain at times and watching the cop, made me think of the old days in America. When cops had to use finesse to deal with people and not use a gun as first line interrogation…

Vova is what you call a born and raised villager and lives in the house his parents built. Vova can also be a pain in the you know what to deal with. I know how to deal with Vova, but people like a Big Village cop does not want to deal with him unless necessary. The whole thing with the cop is about something was stolen from a home near the bottom of our village and they were out looking to talk to the owners, who reported the recent crime? I shook my head, for the owners have not been here for over a month now…

The cop was nice by the way and I think we have an insurance scam going, but; What do I know? Much more; What do I care?

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Going to the Big Village today. I have to pick up Boza’s food. I feed Boza Chappi (not British Chappie) or Pedigree, both have a plant in Russia and thus they are able to continue to sell product in Russia. Chappi is winning the battle for Russian dogs hearts and Pedigree is becoming hard to get. Chappi is cheaper and better, Pedigree is finding itself sliding downhill in the battle for dog food dominance…

Besides, the Chappi is almost 5 rubles a hundred grams cheaper now than Pedigree and when you have a dog that eats a kilo a day, that adds up…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This morning was wonderful. Boza and I got up at 4:30 a.m. and after a cup of coffee, pills, a banana for me and some dog food for Boza. We went walking…

It was crystal clear, the sky was still full of stars and the air was so fresh, that you could feel the cleansing as you breathed in and out. It was crisp, clear and perfect. Then the sun came up and the world changed…

Boza and I were at the monastery and we were looking at the church foundation. Then I noticed that the sun was kissing the bell tower at the top and within a few seconds, my eyes seemed to blur, then I realized that fog was developing around us as we stood there. The world became a scary movie…

Boza stood next to me and we both looked around at what was happening, transformation from pellucid to opaque!

It was the most beautiful thing I have seen. The mist swirled and danced like it had little fairies playing within it as it developed. The world became a twirling visual illusion that seemed to suggest that a blending of two different worlds was happening. Clarity was there and then gone, just as obscurity was there and then wisped away. Obscurity won in the end and the world became blanketed in a moist envelope of mist…

Both worlds were perfect and it was an experience of a lifetime to see Mother Nature dancing as she did her work. We should all embrace nature, for it is what will save us in the end…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have moved all the precut wood that I am going to move. The rest is so bad that it is crumbling to dust, thus I will let it finish tuning to dust…

Next I start stacking the wood that I am going to cut, then I will start a fourth stack on the back fence line of fresh cut wood. It will season for a year and next winter will be perfect for burning…

I have enough old wood that needs to be cut up to fill in the last gap on the third stack of wood. Then it is fresh stuff to the back fence…

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I am also stacking planks that are still good and will save them to rebuild the back lean-to on the house. I have to first remove everything from the back of the house and then start over again, after I have sprayed for termites…

The image is the last major war zone I have to deal with on this home. It also is the biggest battle to win. The back wall is weak, it has had tons of boards laying against it for years. The boards are rotted and then today I found that someone had piled a huge mound of sawdust against the back wall. Wet, moldy and rotted sawdust… 🙁

What can be used will be saved and stacked under covers and what can be used for firewood will be cut and what is crumbling to dust will be dug up and hauled off. There is much more bad than good…

That is my blue barrel in the image that I will fill with wood chips in a few minutes. Then I have to find what I will do with that barrel to keep it dry and usable…

Once I have removed the back lean-to, I will assess the wall and repair as necessary the strength of the wall. I then will rebuild the lean-to, but will not attach it to the wall. It will be a freestanding structure and I may even move it to the back fence line and leave a walkway between the home and the lean-to. This use to be a chicken coop and a storage building all together. The chicken coop will be rebuilt separately and I plan on having chickens next year…

The good thing is that the wall is still straight and fixable…

Have a nice day and come back tomorrow…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

+2 this morning…

So far this is the only tunnel that I did not know about and I have a feeling that there are more. The earth under the monastery is laced with tunnels. This one goes into the yard of the Blue House and I see where the entrance or exit is. There is a hump of dirt at would be outlet, with a partial collapse of a chamber halfway through the yard. Never saw it before, but it is there…

There are tunnels between the two big buildings, tunnels from the bell tower to the big buildings, tunnels from bell tower to church and tunnels from church to all buildings, plus tunnels down to two homes near us and now a tunnel to the Blue Home…

The tunnels are built way before any village homes and the monastery was here before a village was. Thus the village was built on top of the old monastery…

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I have been watching the babushkas who grow tons of potatoes. It amazed me about how many plants they plant, and the amount of potatoes has to be in the over a ton range easily…

One lady has her son here and he is hauling by two wheeler every morning, to one of the two nearby villages, about 100 pounds equivalent sacks of potatoes. Fresh garden potatoes. The man is my age and he is just here to sell the potatoes for her. This is something she use to do herself, but at mid eighties years old, she just can not do it anymore…

The other babushka, has a better deal going. The people drive up to the village and get their bags of fresh potatoes. She digs them up as they call for them and sets them out near the road all bagged up…

Strange, you would think that they would get together and set up a central base to sell these potatoes?

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First frost this morning; only on a few plants and those plants had hair like structures and very thin leaves. Winter is coming and Father Frost is waking up from his short nap. Hope he is not grouchy… 🙂

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The best thing I did was to stop the beta blockers. I am starting to lose weight again and feel a whole bunch better. The beta blockers made my feet swell and caused me to retain water, very much water, in my body. I am leaning out again and feel better about myself. taking medication is sometimes a two sided situation and you really have to weigh and measure the benefits against the issues…

Now, I am watching my blood sugar levels. Sveta brought me a new meter and if the numbers stay low, as I lose weight, I will be able to reduce the anti- sugar pills as I call them. I have already woke up twice and had to go eat a sweet in the middle of the night. This issue has not happened to me for many years and I know my sugar levels are getting better…

I also watch my blood pressure daily several times a day. It is all good right now and I want it to stay that way…

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Well folks, it is time to finish hauling the last of the cut up wood. Then I start cutting up the trashy wood around the place and finish the third stack of firewood.  Today I fill the blue barrel that I just bought, with wood chips and put it inside for dry storage. They make it so that I do not even need paper to start a fire in the stove. A handful of wood chips and off she goes in a wonderful blaze of glory…

I also have to touch the wood stove up and make sure it is all good to go for the winter. For as soon as Sveta comes back down, she will need to have the stove going to stay warm, for a warm Sveta is a happy Sveta and not a grouchy Sveta… 😉

Have a nice day and if you want to say “Hi!” Hit the Guestbook link in the menu at the top of the website. Let me know who you are, not who you want to kill… 🙁

Comments are history, but saying hello is a good thing…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I said I had to remember the camera and…. I forgot it. Never fear, I have my cellphone and it takes terrible images, but that is what we get…

The market has clothes, food, tools and well; you name it. But they did not have winter clothes yet, thus the market was not what I needed today. Though I saw several people I knew and saw lots of stuff I would like to buy. Then after the big market failed me, I went to babushka land (a little side market in the main town,) there I found everything I needed…

I found sandpaper, new pants and new socks…

I found the deal of a lifetime; two pair of pants and three pair of socks, plus sandpaper, plus a knife sharpener! All for less than a thousand rubles and with the money left over from that thousand rubles, I bought two Sasiskas (pig in the blanket) and munched away. A very happy bear, was I… 😉

The socks were Lama Wool and they are so wonderful, that next weekend, I am going back and pick up three more pair. I also am going to get two more pants, for these pants are perfect. They, like the socks are warm and comfy. Besides the price is right and the pants are Russian made…

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The bell in the bell tower is ringing right now as I write this, Boza is hiding and I will finish this article and take him for a walk. Boza is scared of the big bell and so will not bug me to take him out for awhile. The bell simply scares him…

Therefore, I am drinking my hot tea, writing an article and listening to the beautiful bell tower talk to the countryside as she calls for worship tonight…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…