Windows to Russia

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…

Constantly Ukraine, constantly murders and constantly abuses the Donbass area of Ukraine…

Ukraine is sick!

WtR

I was crouched under a limb of a pine tree out in the fields this morning, Boza was rolling in the grass next to me and I was snapping images of swallows, snapping bugs out of the air. It was a ballet of life and death right in front of my eyes and with a true light bulb going off over my head moment. It dawned on me why I went to all the issues and troubles to get a Biology degree. Then Mother Nature iced the cake, with a little unknown to me bird, as it hovered right in front of me in the grass. The bird floated like a silent helicopter and dipped grabbed a bug and flew off to go to its nest…

I felt good trying to catch and record images of nature and birds are high on that desire. Birds, from the tiny hummingbirds to the great eagle in the sky. With all of nature being included; what wonderment nature is and how out of tune we literally all are with nature…

For some reason I went back to school as a late blooming adult, after many years of trying to decide what life was about and gathered up a degree in Biology. It was, as I like to say, “Strong in Genetics!” Then I grabbed an associate degree in History and Psychology, as I progressed toward getting a degree in Biology. My grades sucked, my grade point average was pathetic, but it was high enough to pass. Barely, but passing. I had kids, married, worked full time plus, went to school with a full load and ran 24 hours a day nonstop for years, chasing that degree. Then never used it and I continued on the same path that I was always on and following…

Today; it slapped me in the face and I realized that biology is in my blood and nature is the see all of existence around me. Call things and who you want, but life is important and nature is everything from a microbe to God. It is all under the same umbrella and unless we attach ourselves back to nature and become unified with it; then we are going to become extinct in a world of perfection…

I also realized today, that I want to build a park bench in the fields because, I want to sit and watch, record and absorb nature in its finest. If I build a bench and the bench becomes part of the surroundings and I sit on that bench several times a day; I become part of the surrounds and nature accepts me as part of it. Then I can snap pictures and record data as I see fit…

Now that sounds like a winning proposition…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Last night was a full moon. Now here the sky is bright until very late and I tried out my camera; 1st picture no zoom, 2nd picture 63X zoom and last picture 126X zoom. Just wow is all I can say and it is like looking at the moon with a telescope as I use to do when young. Just wow oh wow…

Click at get full size image; warning they are big…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

What do you do with more cherries than even the birds can eat? Why, you eat them right along with the birds, that is what you do…

Next year, I decided to start canning, but this year, I am just going to eat the cherries and allow the little monsters to eat all they can and they do. Mom bird has shown them how and it is helping mother to slow down. I just love my little monster birds and when you have a yard full of the devils, life is perfect. They tell me what to do, where to go and how far. It is so interesting, I will be working away and all of sudden, I feel these eyes on the back of my head. I turn and there is a little bird and as soon as he makes eye contact, he starts screaming and yelling at me, like I am suppose to take care of his wishes, right then and now…

See, little hungry monster baby birds…

I was working on the brush cutter and I heard a squawk almost in my ear. I looked to the right and on the bench next to me is a terrifying monster bird and he was hungry. One more foot and I would be dinner, so I stayed calm and tried to call Boza to save me. 🙂 Boza simply came over and sniffed the bird and then walked away to lay in the grass. Boza left me to my own destiny and to live or die in the hands of that baby bird…

Lucky for me, mother bird called baby bird and after a couple more squawks, he flew away like a wobbly weeble and landed in the lilac trees. I was then safely able to continue my work unhindered and not at all under the fear of monster attack. But I noticed that the little guy kept an evil eye on me, I guess he still wanted to make sure that I was not up to no good or something…

So what do you do?

You enjoy the little tykes and watch then grow, that is what you do… 🙂

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Yesterday was interesting, it must have been a minor holiday for the Orthodox, for there were cars all over the place. Problem was the cars were all Ryazan city people, not village people, thus they had cars that just should not be in a village like ours. We have had tons of rain and the roads are seriously washed out. Serious to foreign made cars with no ground clearance. I watched the chaos for a few minutes and it seemed we had two roads blocked at that point with cars high grounded on the frame. We then had cars backing up and then they started to get stuck and one even backed off into the ditch…

I mumbled something about, “City People!” and found that the Head Monk was here by now. I did my best to communicate with him and basically said, “Ya Volga!” That made my point and in a few minutes with tow cable in hand, Sammy the Volga crawled around all the vehicles stuck and started to pull them back down the hill. Then we were able to push a few out and finally cleared the roads…

Now I have to say something; the Head Monk is a great guy and he worked and worked and worked. I man he dug, pushed, gathered bricks for traction, and took incentive on everything. He really worked at helping and got filthy as he was in his best Monk clothes, with all the bling and even his special hat. He did not care and I was impressed, he did try to be the boss and that is normal from his position, these were his flock you realize, I acted real ignorant, just ignored him and handed him the tow cable and pointed, while I kept the Sammy the Volga pulling cars out. He worked with me perfect and he was very thankful. For his flock, were lame ducks, but they worked at what they were told to do, that showed me that people anywhere are too reliant upon others and or things, are then weak and need more guidance…

I have found working with Russians is a 100 times easier than what I put up with back in the states. America has fallen on its face with the quality of working people…

So what do you do?

You pull cars out with a Volga, for Volga’s are damn tough cars…

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Yesterday, I realized that I understand Russian much better than I can speak it. Vova and I communicate, but he speaks much more than I do and I listen. Then yesterday, I realized that my communication is very basic and even the words I speak, do not relay the message correct, for intonation is everything in the Russian language and while we in the west think we are smart, we say Moscow and in reality is is Москва, (Moskva)! Therefore we westerners say literally everything incorrect…

A term such as vodka said with my accent is unrecognizable to a village Russian. The term voda, means water, and they say it totally different than I pronounce it. Even Vova is pronounced different than what I say, but he likes me calling his name the way I do. It is special for him… (Notice something; voda and vodka – water and alcohol…)

So what do you do?

I must learn to speak Russian better and learn to obtain a better accent and intonations in the correct place…

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What do you do?

You live life to its fullest, help people, learn everyday, read everyday, ask God for help & guidance, eat carefully, speak kindly, rest enough, work hard, build your dreams, care for nature and most of all allow little monster birds to take over your yard and have a dog to protect them…

That is what you do and a bunch more…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…