Windows to Russia

I have twenty new bites on my arms and they itch like crazy, looks like Benadryl time, for I am starting to swell now also. The little devils are baby horseflies and probably deer flies also. For the conditions are right and they have been born to eat people alive. It will be only a day or so (birds love eating these demons) that they will be at their worst, but, today as I walked Boza, they swarmed me and after about smashing ten of them and a thousand more replaced them, Boza and I ran, not walked back to the house. Thank goodness that the birds are having a good meal and I give my blessings to the birds to eat heartily all day and night…

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The woodpecker above has a nest in our yard or very close to our yard. It has been stealing our cherries, or I should say the monster birds cherries. There is a male and female woodpecker and they look to be soon to have babies also. For now they sneak around and eat our cherries and they love them. Today the baby monster birds swarmed the woodpecker as he tried to eat his fill of cherries. I was shaving and caught the attack of the baby birds as the woodpecker had landed gracefully on top of the cherry tree, in my mirror. I turned to get a better look and about twelve baby monster birds had come from all directions, almost like the demon flies this morning, they screamed, yelled, cussed and told woodpecker to leave… He left…

I guess that is their cherry tree…

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Well Sveta’s old camera and the one that is easiest to carry as I walk, finally died. It looks to be unserviceable, but I will continue to try. I think I will try to reinstall the software and see if that will allow it to boot back up again. Though after yesterday, I am not sure that will work. I got over a thousand images from it after I fixed the battery issue and for that alone it was worth it…

Here is the very last picture and it died after processing this image… 🙂 Maybe the camera felt sorry and went to sleep also…

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The peony is in full bloom and the last couple of roses are in bloom. That ends that cycle and the roses will bloom again in the fall. The peony’s are magnificent and as the roses were also…

I bet your peony’s were done a long time ago?

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I could say a bunch about how stupid the world is, but for most of you, you realize that. If you surf the internet, then you have the capability to see for yourself how bad the situation is right now. My grandma told me a saying a long time ago and what she told me fits what is happening in our world. It is called the snowball effect; push a snowball down a hill and as it rolls it gathers more snow and gets big and fat, as it smashes everything in the way to the bottom of the hill. The bigger the hill, the fatter the snowball. I look around me and we seem to be pushing snowballs off of mountains lately and when they hit bottom, you better be out of the way…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Boza and I walk and we walk a lot. I have to walk, because of my heart attacks. It helps keep me going and I feel the good of walking inside of me. Boza just associates walking with fun and happiness, walking is good for him to. Well, Boza has been watching me take pictures of birds and those birds are always up in the air most of the time. Either flying around or sitting on roofs, telephone lines and limbs of trees. This morning Boza took to pointing birds out for me to look at…

He spent the walk staring at the trees, power lines and roofs. When he saw a bird, he would stop and point at it, which meant that he did nothing but try to point at birds. At least until we got into the fields and there were many less birds. That did not stop the pointing, for in the fields are birds also and they were usually pointing at Boza to, as they tried to lead him away from their nests in the grass. So that was a treat for my eyes to watch Boza pointing at a bird and the bird hovering right above his head, trying to entice him to chase it as it flew away from the nesting sight, but Boza was doing his new job and stood there. The birds would get upset at the two of us, so we moved on quickly…

This bird watching by Boza is a mimic of me and it has been interesting to see such actions in play as Boza and I live together with very little outside interference. Boza is watching me and what makes me happy is what he tries to do also. Just as in the yard this morning, Boza ran around for 20 minutes trying to gather the baby birds and make sure they are all there. It is not possible for him to corral them, but being a part German Shepard, he can not help doing just that. They are his flock to watch and protect. Boza finally gave up and laid down to sleep, as the little monster birds, danced in the trees above him, occasionally dropping twigs and leaves on him. Boza would just look up and see his little friends and I swear he would smile at them… 🙂

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It really is a miracle here in the Russian Village, I watch today as people walk up the hill to the monastery, at last count about 78 people have shown up. It must be “another” Orthodox holiday and believe you me there are a bunch of church holidays in Russia. Though that is not the miracle; the miracle is how I am healing! My feet have become complete healed and they were in bad shape. I had deep splits and many times fought with bleeding soles. Now my skin on my feet is smooth and normal. The transformation is just stunning and for this diabetic, that is great news. The feeling has actually begun to come back in the shins of my legs as I heal. My legs are not nearly as numb from diabetes as they have been in the past. I also am breathing better and I do not have stomach issues, nor fever, as I had in Moscow…

In Moscow, I ran a terrible fever many times and had sever gastric issues. It was a continual cycle and never ended, except when I cam to the village, but then it was only short lived cure in the old days. Now that I am here in the village for a length of time, all that I have dealt with and suffered from has left me, except…

Arthritis; I have found that the alleviation of all else that was wrong with me, allowed my arthritis to come forefront and focal pointed to the detriment. In fact it has worsened and I see that others here have the same issue. While we have a lack of many illnesses, arthritis rules the roost and that sucks at times…

I know that it is no worse than in the past, but since other pains have left, arthritis has demanded more attention. An example is my thumbs, they are both equal in sever pain and as I use them, I have found myself almost dropping items as the pain cripples my hold on tools. I have compensated and started to adjust how I use tools and such, but that is not a good answer to the issue…

It is my fault for in my past, I have broken my hands up badly from fights to accidents. We live with the bed we make…

But as far as issues that I have dealt with for years in Moscow, I do not have those issues in the village; and that my friend is a miracle to me, for when arthritis is my main complaint, then things have gotten a thousand times better and life is a breeze on a summer day…

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In the images above; I would like to draw attention to the image of the Russian family above and below…

They are Russia and Russia is a wonderful family orientated society…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. –  Russia’s upper house of parliament adopted on Wednesday a petition to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Foreign and Justice Ministry asking them to consider the patriotic stop list of foreign NGOs for possibly including them to the list of undesirable organizations.

The petition, backed unanimously by a total of 156 senators, reads that Russia “has faced the greatest attack on its national interests, values and institutions over the past quarter of the century.”

Its key goal is to influence the domestic political environment in Russia as well as to “undermine the patriotic unity” of people and also disrupt integration processes involving Russia on space Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

“The unprecedented involvement in this activity of nonprofit organizations, which are also funded by the state budgets of foreign countries, allows speaking about a “soft aggression” against Russia,” the text of the petition obtained by TASS says.

The upper house says the Foreign and Justice Ministries and also the Prosecutor General’s Office should “consider the patriotic stop list” which includes a range of well-known anti-Russian foreign and international non-governmental organizations.

This measure is aimed at possibly making them a subject of the existing norms of the country’s law on undesirable organizations, it says.

The “stop list” includes 12 organizations, among them the Soros Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the MacArthur Foundation, the Freedom House and the East European Democratic Center.

My thought today is short sweet and simple…

People who hate are the losers in life; many years ago as I crossed the Moldovan border, by car and with Sveta and one of the lessor border guards almost lost it when he found out I was American. I am lucky that he was just a guard and he had many bosses above him. For I am sure that he would have liked to toss the key away after confining me…

Well yesterday, I met a woman who worked in the local pharmacy store, to put it short and sweet, she acted like the guy at the Moldavian border, many years ago and would have had me shot on sight if it was not illegal to do so. She even reached through the cashier window and grabbed the sack of pills I was trying to buy and screamed at me, from which “NET!” was the only nice thing I will repeat…

The other customers were not looking at me, they were staring at the woman as if she had some third eye growing out of her forehead. I simply said, “Thank you!” and left. Then went to the next pharmacy and got most of what I needed…

It saddened me, for I had looked into her eyes and the hate was so terrible, that a wave of black washed over me from this woman’s feelings. She hated Americans and wished that I was dead. Sad is all I can say…

Then later in the day, after I told Sveta what happened and got it out of my system; Vova, bless his heart, came down and grabbed me and took me to his house. There he had a friend named Nikolai (he prefers Kolai) and we had rabbit stew, black bread, fresh salad and deer sausage (that Vova claims he killed and processed!)

Then Vova announced; Kolai is his bestest Russian friend and I am his bestest American friend…

That was when the world congealed together as Vova hugged Kolai and I at the same time. I thought Vova was going to cry, but instead, he grabbed his playing spoons, turned the volume up on his stereo and danced and played his spoons, as his heart sang with the freedom of life and friends…

Kolai and I grinned at each other and I realized that I just acquired another good friend in Russia and Russia has many many more good eggs in the basket than bad eggs…

That is why I love Russia…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It is Tuesday and that means I go to town today. According to my mood; I will get benzine, pick up two pills – for I am out of (one for blood sugar and one for swelling feet and blood pressure,) more dog food, people food and whatever else floats my boat. I really do not want to go (to town,) but I need to get the pills and I know that Sveta will be waiting to hear if I got them…

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I am going to make a birdbath today, for after I set out a bowl of water yesterday, I saw an instant need for such a treasure and pleasure. Then I am going to look at making bird feeders and as the Summer ends, bird houses. I am serious about these monster birds and the need for the earth to be taken over by such deadly creatures as a baby monster bird… 🙂

Last night in the above image, a woodpecker stopped long enough to allow me to catch a shot of him. I thought that was rather nice and after I looked at the image this morning, I loved it. Just look at his beak and crest. Now that is a cool bird…

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I had a lot of damage to clean up and I used all the rest of my tree paint. I will try to find more, for I am a believer in painting cuts and wounds on trees. The front birch trees in the yard have been treated well and they are healing perfect after many years of neglect. The apples look to be fine and we should have a bunch of delicious apples this year…

Close up of two of the trees, I had to wrap several spots temporarily and allow them to strengthen. The storm tore down our fence in several spots and I propped it back up with lean to sticks. Then after many hours of clearing the twisted apple trees, I was able to see the full damage. Damage report; Trees will live…

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Well, It is almost 8 a.m. here and I need to get ready to go to town. Boza will stay under the bed and sleep and I will force myself to make the trip. I could go another week easily, for Boza & I are well stocked with food, but these pills are very important and one I have been out of for over two weeks now. The blood sugar pill is causing me issues without it, for I check my blood sugar twice a day now. Oh yes and I am almost out of test strips. Thanks for reminding me… 🙂

I also need to buy more chain link; for I will be stretching the back fence line these next few weeks and I only have one roll of fence left…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Shredded our apple trees, like a small cyclone tore through them. The roof and front birch trees are doing good, but the garden area, got literally twisted into a mess. Therefore, today I will be cleaning the side yard and trimming up the damage. I will see what I can save and repair. I already had to do major surgery to one apple tree a month ago (it weathered the storm just fine) and it looks like another apple tree is needing help today. The baby birds were all out early and chattering in my window. They seemed to be upset and I found out why, some of their nests have been blown away to the ground. I guess, I will see what I can do about putting the nests back… (I need to build birdhouses and put them all over the yard!)

Speaking of baby birds; Boza keeps an eye and or an ear on the little guys. I also notice he keeps his nose in action also. Last night before the storm hit, Boza got upset, sniffed the air and wanted outside. He kept growling and doing what I call, “Oof oof oof oof!” So I went out with him and in about two minutes he tracked something under the cherry trees. Then as Boza went under the trees, boom and screech out comes a cat, running for its life. Boza caught the cat trying to stalk our little birds. That just will not do, for these are Boza’s birds and no one will bother them… 🙂

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Another Story: About the Duck…

Speaking of birds; Boza and I last year had a special duck that Boza loved to chase and they became actual friends in a way. (Duck) Well the duck is back and I know you are asking how I can tell?

Number one, the duck always swooped at Boza as we walk along the lake, they actually played. Number two, the duck is male and has no mate either last year or this year. Number three, he quacks when he sees Boza…

I call him “Gay Duck” and Boza knows the name and will be on the alert for him. (Dual purpose name, I guess you could say.) Gay Duck watches for Boza and when he sees Boza, he quacks and quacks and quacks. Boza knows the sound he makes, for he ignores other ducks quacking…

Well to make a long story short; Gay Duck has not shown himself this year, until a few days ago!

Down the middle of the lake swam a duck, a mallard and he was all by himself. Boza stood upon the highest spot looking over the lake and was watching the duck. I did not think anything about it, for I really figured that Gay Duck was killed during hunting season last year. 🙁

Therefore, I was trying to take pictures of eagles, when all of a sudden Boza took off straight toward the lake and I heard a quaking to beat the band. I saw a duck flying straight across the surface of the water and coming right at Boza. It shot upwards as it reached the shore and Boza started to jump and jump and jump. The duck came up the hill just above Boza’s head and the two crested the hill at full speed. Boza tried to fly and it looked like the duck tried to run and betwixt them both they succeeded in a hilarious dance as they ran in circles…

Then it hit me; It was “Gay Duck” and he is back and alive… 🙂

Now Boza runs to the edge of the lake in the morning and looks for his buddy…

It is strange actually, this duck is always alone and all over the lake is pairs of ducks and actually I am seeing baby ducks now in most lakes around. This duck swims the middle of the lake and always alone; he just goes back and forth for hours…

But I do know one thing, he has a friend in Boza and Boza likes to run and play with his duck buddy…

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Well I have just too much to do, thus I will leave you with an image I took. It is the best so far of my eagle images, not good but my best…

They are magnificent birds and I am very lucky to have the ability to watch them. Yesterday, I saw five huge eagles flying together and then five smaller birds flying with them. It did not dawn on me what the smaller birds were, but as they got closer, I realized that the five smaller birds were full grown hawks… 😐

The contrast was significant, I have images of these hawks and now I had a comparison to associate with in my mind. The eagles were twice as big as the hawks and these hawks are twice as big as a raven and ravens are actually a huge bird. Especially our ravens…

It has to be mating season, for twice now, I have seen groups of these predator birds, which are very territorial and one such group, the other day, had over twenty hawks flying together…

Life and nature is just amazing and I thank God everyday for being able to enjoy it…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Oops, let me grab my second cup of coffee! There, that is better and now I will start writing…

I am keeping tabs on the little birds closer this time. They really grow fast and from just a week ago to barely flying, mother bird has them all flying and to eat they have to fly once, now twice, to get any food. Example; baby is sitting in the cherry trees and acting like a brat, demanding food. Mother or father bird flies up to the demanding baby and they act like they will feed it. Then they fly away to the next tree, in this case an apple tree and the baby which is really upset at this point, has to fly to the apple tree to get food and today they started to make them fly from cherry tree, to apple tree and to the fence. Or equivalent of all the above. What a mess and it would take two air traffic control towers to work with this group… They even use our car as a landing spot to eat now and bird droppings are all over it… 😐

They (baby birds) are really slowing down some of my projects, but that is okay, for I will get them done. Today I noticed they have moved out of one of my project areas and I am going to clear it. Unless they decide to move back real quick…

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I have been filling holes in the road and really I mean ravines, actually. I told you the other day about everyone getting stuck, so yesterday, I fill the worse spots. I was up and at it by 5 a.m. after walking Boza and today I feel it. I borrowed a wheel barrel that was at a home of the monastery and will use it a few more days. Then I thought I would clean it up and paint it for them. It has been useful and moves a lot of dirt at one time for me. But, I am moving slow today…

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I will end today with an image of a flower that is so beautiful, but I can not get an image to justify the beauty. When you see this weed/flower, it is chemiluminescence at its finest. What ever chemical reactions are at bay within the plant, belie the fact that it should be hot (in a blue star sorta way) to the touch and it is just a essence of beautiful periwinkle cool shimmering light, that only the physical eyes seem to be able to discern and decipher…

I am stunned by the beauty of this plant and will follow its life path as I walk the village. I have a desire to create a patch of these delights and next year have a bouquet of them. They are few and far between…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Vova my buddy came down and said, “Give me your phone number!”

I said, “I don’t know it!”

I handed him my phone and said call your number from my phone. He said, “I don’t know it!”

We looked at each other and as our brains tried to figure out how to get our phone numbers to each other, I quickly text Sveta and asked for my phone number, please!

Sveta, who has both our numbers and knows them. She sent me mine, I punched my number into Vova’s phone, called myself and he has my number. Vova called me and I have his number. We then had both our numbers and we felt good about that, but… then, I realized and Vova realized, that without a “woman,” we were not able to do something as simple as trade phone numbers…

Without a woman! Ouch…

I’m just a guy, you know?

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Then the guy in the house across the way came over. His phone was dead, I had a terrible time understanding what he wanted. His Russian is 100 times more mumbler than Vova’s Russian. His phone is dead, he has a face like his favorite puppy just died, he is mumbling at a hundred miles per hour in Russian at me and I had to pick up the phone and call Sveta. Sveta got what he wanted and I finally understood when he handed me a paper with a phone number on it. I called his wife for him and he talked to her and all was happy after he got instructions how to proceed with life. He forgot to charge his phone and it was dead and actually unsurvivable dead. He has another phone now, he showed it too me today…

But then again the point is, sadly, the women straightened everything out, Sveta could understand his mumblings, his wife told him when to get her and what to do at what time and place and once again, us guys were happy to get a issue solved, but it dawned on me as with Vova…

Without a woman! Ouch…

I’m just a guy, you know?

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But, we repair windows, repair roofs, build fences, repair cars and trucks, grumble, cuss, spit, repair roads, clean fish, pluck chickens, skin rabbits, scare foxes away and a million more things we do, whether smart to do them or not. We do a ton of things that most women dislike doing and or dislike us guys doing and we do things that make no sense to women 99% of the time, but we get things done and make it look easy; except when it comes to knowing our own phone number, your phone number, your birthday, our anniversary and just about anything important to a woman…

I’m just a guy, you know?

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was up early and still behind today, but I did build my bench out in the field yesterday. The bell is ringing right now and Boza is scared of that bell, so I decided to let him hide, while I write a post. The bell is one of the moist beautiful sounds in the world and it makes my heart feel good when I hear it ring, but Boza has different thoughts about that… 🙂

I used parts of the old telephone posts that they cut down, when they put in the concrete ones you see in the images. I am going to paint it, cut the grass around it and first thing is to install a teeter totter near by. After that, I will think about what is next…

This next image is one of our little monster birds and he followed us all the way down the hill, when we built the bench. I had two bosses; the little bird told Boza what to do and Boza passed it on to me, to do it. Needless to say, I am on the low end of the totem pole…

Well the bell is done ringing, Boza has come out from under the bed, two little birds are singing in the window and I guess it is time to go sit on the bench; for I ate too much and am feeling lethargic and bloated…

Grab the camera, grab the walking stick, grab the hat and time to take some birds and Boza for a walk…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…