Windows to Russia

Yesterday was another, chasing the duck and deer day. Except this time it involved a small bird and her babies. I laughed so hard, that I still have sore ribs this morning and Boza, bless his heart, was back outside looking for his new friend this morning…

Then we decided to leave the little family alone and work in other parts of the yard until the babies learn to fly…

But along came the early baby bird and decided to have a conversation with Boza and I…

Now that you have the characters, lets start the story…

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Little bird decided to say hi and tell me that I should not bother them as they sleep everyday. Boza saw the little guy at the same time, then Boza laid down and rolled over. He was happy to see the little guy and I proceeded to tell Boza to stay and I grabbed a cup and cardboard piece, scooped the guy up into the cup and tried to take him home to his nest…

That worked great and momma bird let me do it. Then all hell broke loose. Boza could not resist and curiosity not only gets the cat. Boza was too curious and stuck his nose into the nest of five baby birds. That was when momma bird lost it. For she was sure that I was going to help, but no four legged creature can be trusted at all. She attacked Boza…

Now Boza thinks life is a wonderful game and now he had a momma bird that wanted to play, at least according to Boza. I was distracted by attack momma bird and Boza playing, that all of a sudden, baby bird decided to “flew the coop” again. He leaped like a skydiver with no parachute from a plane and hit the ground. Gravity has that effect…

He scooted under the brush pile I was cleaning up and I have not seen him since. But Boza and momma bird were playing…

Momma bird can fly (Oh really?,) and Boza tried to fly. As with the duck last year, Boza leaped and leaped and leaped. Momma bird swooped at Boza and as she climbed up into the air again, Boza tried to fly with her. I have to say Boza got really air born a few times. I am not sure how long and or many times Boza can jump six feet into the air, but it all ended for him after about twelve jumps, when he flew so high, he landed in middle of the brush pile I was cleaning up and got stuck fast…

I could only do one thing and that was to laugh. Boza was not hurt, he was just suspended off the ground and his legs were tangled in tree limbs. He looked at me as if to say, “Help!” Then with two more swoops, mamma bird was satisfied that Boza the mean dog was reprimanded properly and good and stuck. She went back to the nest to check on her young’ums…

Now I do not know what to do about the escape artist, but it looks like he is staying hidden now. I hope he is safe…

I am here to tell you, Boza wants to fly like a bird and yes I saved Boza, but maybe I should have taken a picture of him first… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I seem to be blessed with a yard full of song birds, morning, noon and night… Thank the Lord for wonderful music everyday…

The image above is what has been discovered on the monastery property. One of the main tunnels under the church. This tunnel interconnects with three other tunnels visible as you look over what they are digging up. Some small tunnels and some big. The main chamber is still undiscovered by the church, but I can tell they are on the track and will find it soon…

Below is what I wrote in the past…

Now I am going to tell you a story that only I am able to verify and most who can verify it now are dead…

24 people died in the destruction of the church and the church was destroyed for the hidden gold that it had been able to evade confiscation by the Soviet government. But the local government had a man who being typical greedy sick politician, plotted and schemed to gather this gold. He succeeded after gaining the confidence of the locals and discovering that the gold was hidden in the tunnels under the monastery. There is a tunnel network that connects all the buildings together under ground and it also included several homes built later for the school…

There was a common chamber that was basically in the center of the compound and the room held the treasure for the politician, after he stole it from another part of the complex. The church was blown up with the people who were made to help him. The church collapsing buried the evidence and people who could tell on him, but alas the man who stole and killed, met his demise before he could utilize the gold several years later and the gold stays buried in the main chamber under the ground. The chamber has collapse many years ago and has sealed itself sufficiently, but the monks have discovered one of the entrances to the tunnels and I have discovered three of the entrances, myself…

How do I know this?

That is for me to know and you to wonder about…

The quote above is from a past article I did last summer. I have been investigating this monastery for almost 9 years now, It has taken time, but the spirits are settling now and peace has come back to the monastery in our village. I only hope one thing, treat the dead they find with respect and bury them properly…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This is what Boza and I look at while we walk around and crawl around under buildings…

Shhhhh…. Don’t tell anyone that we sneak around and look at things we should not…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

So Russians are aggressive and now China is aggressive! They both have world control issue and the “White Knight,” the USA needs to ride in and save the day… (~Sarc~)

I have to say us Americans are a ignorant lot of people and we need to stop our country /government from trying to declare war on the world…

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter declared. (There is that, “We number one! We number one!”)

“China’s actions are bringing countries in the region together in new ways.”

Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, he added, was “out of step” with international norms and the regional consensus in favor of a non-coercive approach to settling claimant disputes.

“They’re increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific, and we’re going to meet it.”

He warned China not to militarize the South China Sea by building bases on disputed island territories that China has claimed are within its territorial rights.

Carter underlined that the United States would use its right to operate in the Asia-Pacific regardless of China’s actions.

“The United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world.”

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150528/1022637942.html#ixzz3bOpAWkxv

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay,
We are the bully-ay,
We don’t care what you say,
We are the ignorant-ay…

Stop it now! America and her cronies need to grow up and act mature. For we have regressed into early childhood and act like the bully on a playground. Time for the parents to put their children to bed, with a spanking if need be…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Кролик (krolik) or as we call it rabbit; My village buddy as Sveta and I call him, was making rabbit stew today. He raises rabbits for barter and eating and I happened along at the best time today. I was taking a blood pressure monitor device to him. He has problems with high blood pressure, but like most guys my age, we are stubborn. I have mine under control and if anything it is low, but his is borderline okay, pushing easily to the high side at the drop of a pin…

I worry about him, for he is the life blood of the village and I have written about how he keeps the electricity going when all else fails. He needs to take better care of himself. He, like me is stubborn. So this summer I am going to try to make him take his blood pressure everyday…

Therefore, lets get back on track, I just had a huge bowl of rabbit stew and was given the blessing of the liver. The memories stumbled back into my mind, for as I grew up, rabbit was a priority of a food source and the liver was one part that grandpa and I fought over…

Grandpa and I fought over all internal meats that no one else liked…

Vova as I call him was outside at his special made cooker. It is like a wood stove, but has a hole big enough for a huge pot to sit inside of it. You build a fire in it, then set the pot full of water inside of it and the top of the pot is level with the top of the stove. Then when the water boils, add your ingredients. Reminds me of doing a country boil back home in the states…

Boza has a girlfriend called Miya who is Vova’s dog. She is one huge dog and makes about three of Boza. She just loves Boza and Boza just loves her. I would be afraid for Miya to love Boza, for she might squish him like a bug. He thinks he is a big boy, but she is really a big girl and beautiful to boot. Muscles and beauty, worse combination for all guys to deal with… 🙂

Poor Vova just talks and talks and talks, he does not understand that if he talked slower, I would understand more, but then who really cares, he is my buddy and I agree with all he wants in the first place, so it all works out. He literally danced a jig when I gave him the blood pressure monitor and hugged me ten times at least. It is strange for a westerner like me in Russia, as I have talked about before, men hug each other and kiss each others cheeks all the time. I live in a society now with men unafraid of showing emotions. Such as crying, hugging, kissing cheeks and even holding the others hand as they explain things to you. Russians have a very small space that they allow when they know you and it has taken me a long time to grasp such concepts…

Well this is the second article today, I just wanted to express what happened and it is a good thing, I feel lucky that I am accepted in the village society. While not always equal in everything, at least accepted as a viable person to associate with. The equal part will come in time…

Now that is why I love Russia…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It was with sweet and sourness that I saw the windows go up in the bell tower. I knew that they would be soon in coming, but I had dreams of stained glass and beautiful old style windows. Therefore, when they started to install them yesterday, I was saddened by the window installed…

I guess we take what we can get, but my granddad would have said, “If you can’t do it right, then don’t do it at all!”

Modernization takes its toll on everything it seems…

They open at the bottom and top main panel. They are not terrible, but I just had a different image of what a church window should be and that means it is my issue not theirs. I do know that they are weather tight and will be good against the Russian winter. We have them on our flat back in Moscow…

What it all does mean is that the renovation of the bell tower is progressing and I hope that this summer the roof gets but on the top and they start to rebuild the wings on the tower. They also have to get a real bricklayer up here to repair the brick work. I hope they do not skimp in that territory…

Now that I have griped a little bit about them, they really are okay and I am glad they got them done. This monastery is looking better all the time…

By golly, I think they are serious about this place…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I woke up and felt like I had stepped out in front of a truck as it drove by and after killing several big fat blood filled mosquitoes, females of course, I knew that the next few days would be hiding time…

If I get bit too many times by these Russian mosquitoes, then I have to take Cetrine, a antihistamine, for I swell and get sick. That is what happened and now I have all mosquito safeguards in operation. I have the burning repellent rings out in the mud room, I have spray at the door to use before I step out and I wear long sleeve shirts, plus long underwear. Yes I know it is 30 degrees Celsius, but hot is one thing, demon mosquitoes are another… 🙂

Yes I took Cetrine and after a walk with Boza, I am feeling much better. In fact I took pictures and finished updating the Village Homes article… (Here)

This will last a few days, as the mosquitoes gather against the window screens at night and make that hum so loud that you would think that every mosquito on earth was trying to eat you. They get so thick at times that they literally stop the airflow through the screens. All you can do is wait, watch, listen and go outside only at certain times of the day. Otherwise it is time to write, read and keep the fan going…

This happens with the hatching’s and will be repeated several times during the summer and I have to stay in tune with the flow, or suffer badly…

They, them damn demon mosquitoes, will thin out and no, I hear nothing about malaria…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Update: I have to add an update to this article. I went back to bed and except for one phone call from Sveta, I did not move for many hours. Boza left me alone and in fact he wanted to stay sleeping. He always seems to know when I am very sick and need to rest. I feel much better again and Boza and I are going to take a walk. I think about half the walk we normally do… 🙂

This article is simply a data post. I am going to put all the village homes that I can find in a gallery here. Even if they are burned or collapsed, I will try to get a picture of them and post it. It will take me a few days to get them all, but I am going to try, before they all collapse…

Five or six more to be posted, as soon as the weather gets better…

I have to get an image of a couple of last homes. They are the farthest back and most secretive of all the homes. I am not sure if someone is in them or not, but Boza and I will make a trip soon to see…

Last update to this post. I have now recorded all village homes that are more than just a crumbled foundation. Most are not lived in anymore, but many are used just in the summer time. The last three were just added at this update…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Here is a shorty but goodie:

Rosselkhoznadzor; Russia’s food inspector division is approving Iran for meat and dairy deliveries to Russia. This is replacement for some of the items that are banned indefinitely against EU, US, Canada, Australia and Japan. The ban on poultry has shown itself as hurting the U.S. poultry industry, which has become virtually crushed for life due to Bird Flu, and with this move by Russia to secure its food supply, insures that the U.S. will never get back into the Russian poultry business now…

This is great and I hope that we see many Iranian food products on our shelves in the future…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The other day at the store, I got grouchy and looked for bigger buckets to carry water with. I found them and now it takes only two buckets or one trip to wash the clothes and one trip to get water to rinse the clothes. Before, it took twice that in trips to the well. makes a happier bear to say the least…

Therefore, those are my big water buckets, you can have the normal size ones…

Then yesterday I said I bought a broom, a girly broom to be exact and that was the only broom I could find. It works good…

What! You ask why that was the only broom I could find?

Well because most Russians make their brooms from tree saplings and sweep with that. I have cut down and destroyed all my sweeper saplings (That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!), so I had to buy a broom. So I bought a pretty broom and swept the house with it…

Otherwise I could make one of these…

Then taking Boza for a walk is always interesting. Here is an image of what Boza does best as we walk. He simply lays around on all the roads that we walk on. It gets interesting for he just lays there as I walk past and does not move until I am way ahead, then he gets up and runs like the wind to catch me and pass me by. Then he gets way ahead of me and lays down to sleep. Sorta like the turtle and the hare story. Except Boza wins all the time… 🙂

After I left Boza snoozing in the byway, I went to the cemetery and found at the gate a left over Easter Egg. The Russian Easter Eggs are beautifully done and many are left at cemeteries for the dead ones. Plus there is drinks, bread, foods, water and many other items left for the deceased…

Then Boza and I walked to the Fish Farm lake pump (Yes Boza finally got up and decided to join me!) It is a brand new one (pump) this year, I guess they got tired of repairing the old one, with band aids and duct tape…

This pump is powerful and quiet. I use to be able to tell when they started it up and you could hear the hum for miles away. Now it sneaks up on you and you only hear the water splashing from the outlet pipe…

I wonder how much something like that cost?

.

That is always cool to see how well the Fish Farm is doing and with all the new equipment I am seeing, they are doing well indeed…

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Well it is time to go to town and pick up Boza food. I buy him Pedigree in a pouch, it is his favorite and it comes in many flavors. It seems to suit him well, for he is kinda persnickety, like a cat over food. Human food gives him issues and dry food, well that is for peasant dogs, you know…

The store call “Number 5” has his food, buy three and get one free. Now that is a deal…

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Hope that your day is good for I know ours will be. Boza is staying home and resting, for I walk him too much as you can tell and I will go join the natives and see what they are up too…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…