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…

Yes, that is the moon…

Moon at 63X zoom…

Moon at 126X zoom…

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…

Success is measured in Yumminess…

I eat onions twice a day, beet greens daily and I toss carrot greens in with them now. I ate one carrot and it was three inches long and so sweet, like almost candy. The beets are very sweet on the left side (picture wise) of the garden and on the right so so sweet. They are two different types of beets by the way. I weeded the garden today and made a salad for lunch…

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I figured out what is wrong with me and it simply is; I ate too many cherries and currant…

I am diabetic type 2 and sugar is sugar to me. My body reacts to many and all sugars, I just worked too hard and ate too many cherries yesterday, plus I ate a big bowl of currant with milk last night and that milk was even sweet to the taste. Blood sugar this morning is off the scale and I mean off the scale…

Plus to top off the bad, I ate those sasiska pies yesterday and they were deep fried. I just messed myself up all the way yesterday… 🙂

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I need to mow the grass and I need to watch out for the little monster birds…

See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil…

The little ones above are in the very top of the cherry trees, They just scream bloody murder and tell mom and dad to hurry up. We are hungry!!

I call them, “See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil!”

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I call this next image, “Bouquet of flowers!”

They are just weeds you know?

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This next one is in the river and it is so white, I mean over powering pure white…

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This next one is called, “Life is a flower garden!”

Our Roads are flowers…

End it with how our roads look; they are flowers and they are everywhere. The ground is in bloom and it is beautiful…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

It is cold out this morning, I suspect that for the next week it will be fairly cool. I am on my second cup of coffee and will most likely work inside today. I am simply worn out, but I feel good and want to stay that way. It has been nothing but work, work and more work. Though, I am having the urge to build my bench at my future park today… 🙂 (Maybe tomorrow?)

See the two cut off telephone pole stubs? Between them from outer edge to outer edge is 335 centimeters and I have a heavy plank that will reach from point A to point B and I am going to make a park bench for me and anyone to sit on. I will paint it and then start on the rest of the little park…

Many people going to the monastery go right by this point and they are on foot and many of them are babushkas, while tougher than I am, they still need a place to stop. There also is tons of kids walking with the parents or babushkas and maybe they could have a place to play and parents to sit awhile…

You can see a path in the grass (I am standing on the road.) and that is where Boza and I go to sit. This is a main stopping point of ours and I have taken many pictures of the hawks and eagles from right here. It was interesting this morning, Boza got after me, because I was waving my stick at some little birds on the power lines. They were doing their normal and bird droppings were just too close, to falling on me. I tried to shoo them away and Boza got really upset with me for bothering the little guys. Boza loves nature; well except cats that is and he tolerates them…

Boza the bird protector…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Boza at the park… (He hiding!)

Vova came down and we had lunch. I had bought some pies from the pie shop and Vova and I shared them. He was happy and he even just drank water today. Then he was looking at our table and benches as he always does, then he grunted and grumbled and said he would be right back. I finished the laundry I was working on, while he went up to his home and after a few choice words, a chainsaw running and a few more choice words he appeared with his homemade wheelbarrow and we went to work…

Boza of course supervised and he does a fine job at that. So in the end, we had something that resembled a picnic table and two benches The table is twice the size of the other one and Vova was acting like he was playing cards to see if it was the right height and size. He seemed satisfied, if I was in America, we would play either Pitch or Poker where I am from, but here in Russia, I do not know what they play…

Have a nice day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Well it is official, this morning at 3:00 a.m., Bozo and I started to count little squawking monsters in our yard. We have officially found six nests, a mixture of what looks like, three Song Thrush nests, Two Nightingale nests and one Sparrow nest. All of them healthy, wealthy and wise…

The pattern is like this all over the yard; babies sit quietly on a limb, mom or dad gathers worms and bugs, mom or dad flies to the limb, babies start squawking like little monsters, mom or dad knows who was fed last time and who is next and feed next in line, mom or dad fly away and babies shut up, then it all starts over again… 🙂

Last brush pile and it is full of baby birds all the time…

These monsters as I call them, are in the lilac trees, the cherry trees, the raspberry bushes, the brush pile, the apple trees and lined up on the roof top; all waiting for worms and bugs. My what a life and really I find myself singing that song about birds in the wilderness…

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Birds in the Wilderness!

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Waiting for our food

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Waiting for our soup

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Waiting for our bread

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Waiting for our meat

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Birds in the wilderness
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness
Waiting for dessert

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Now that sums up our yard real well…

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Now I am watching these little monsters fly all over the place, but mom and dad just keep catering to the monsters and the monsters keep getting fatter and happier. Time to make them get their own food!

I am thinking about installing a air traffic control tower; it is dangerous out there at times…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Sorry about all the bird stuff, but they really are wonderful and life is grand with all the little tykes running all over…

Updated article on the Holy Spring near our village; In 2010 this was an article with a huge gallery of images. This is one of thousands of articles that was attacked and destroyed by the DOS/web attacks from DHS and TSA and several other governmental organizations. I went back today and took a bunch of new images and now I will update this post…

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Today while drinking a cup of coffee, the thoughts centered around our Holy Water source nearby…

Near (2 kilometers) our little village in Russia, deep into the woods, is a special place that touches my soul every time that I go there…

It is a Blessed water source (by the Orthodox Church) and the people that come there use a towel soaked in the blessed water and wipe their face. Then they hang the towel in the trees near the source. This is to wipe away their sins and leave them behind…

They also drink the water and it is said to cure illnesses. many people fill jugs with this water and take it home. Some will drink nothing but Holy water from this spring…

This last time that we went there someone had built a building to protect the source better. It is a hard dangerous walk to this blessed water. But it is worth it and the thought that someone or someone’s carried a ton of lumber into the woods up a very steep incline is incredible…

Take it how you may, but the energy is so strong at this site deep in the woods. That even a non believer in God would have second thoughts about his beliefs…

That is my thoughts over my cup of coffee today…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

• Coffee Thinking’s in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Sveta Drinks Tea and I Drink Coffee… (windowstorussia.com)
• Seasons of Contrast Mark Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Cup of Coffee Today Was Delicious and Other Thoughts… (windowstorussia.com)
• Shoe Shopping in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Let The Sunshine In… (windowstorussia.com)
• Our Village in Russia Survived the Fires…… (windowstorussia.com)
• Our Village in Russia is a Wonderful Dream… (windowstorussia.com)

Evil Eye: One held still long enough for me to get a picture…

Now I know why the original horde of little birds had to move on. Mom and poppa birds are busy as little bees in our yard. Gives confirmation to the term, “The birds and the bees!” Those basic facts about sex that we use to?, maybe still use?, to pass on one version of the story of sexual reproduction, to our children…

Now that video made me feel a tidbit old…

Our yard has so many little chirping, hopping and hungry ankle biters in it, that I have to be seriously careful, doing anything in the yard. Especially the apple trees side. Somewhere in our four apple trees are at least two dozen Song Thrushes and Nightingales. This morning they chewed me out for disturbing them and they are scattered all over the apple trees. I watched momma birds, grab bugs and feed the monsters one at a time. These monsters can not fly yet, but they are eating worms and bugs whole and mom does not have to regurgitate the food. The apple trees are the nest right now and it is incredible…

Then as we walked down the hill and met the old set of monsters, it dawned on me why these were pushed away from our yard and thus, I studied about how many broods of birds we could have, with all the happy moms and dads in our village yard. We could have four this summer if the weather and conditions are correct…

The garden I planted has been well cared for and bugs are not an issue. Even stink bugs are being snapped up for the hungry monsters. Now the cherry trees are being worked over therefore, I have to get some picked today, before they eat them all. Looks like I have competition for the berries growing in the yard… 🙂

It sounds like a barroom brawl in the apple tress at dinner time. The little ones are all demanding and the moms are all wore out. Sometimes dad helps, but most of the time he plays guard and sings about what a super manly bird he is…

Papa and he is upset at me for taking pictures…

Therefore, I have given up cutting the grass for now and going to let it grow again. For there are little monsters in the grass, in the trees, in the weeds, and I want them all to be safe…

Have a nice day and try to soar in something, just once today, like a bird does everyday…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Addition for bird lovers. Here we sit like birds in the wilderness waiting to be fed…