Windows to Russia

Strawberries everywhere. I am the first, because they are ripe early…

Millions, billions and maybe trillions! 🙂 Yummy…

Just miles of them, I mean just miles of them. I guess I will leave some for the rest of the people… 🙂

Just carefully move the leaves aside and you find the image above…

Delicious and Boza and I will make one last run tomorrow morning early and get a two day supply. That will be enough to make me happy…

They just melt in the mouth and I ate as many as I picked. My grandma use to shake her head and tell me to put at least one or two in the basket for grandpa. I would just smile that red strawberry smile and keep sneaking strawberries…

Sunshine in a berry…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Boza just could not get excited about the strawberries, he went a slept under a tree. He just does not know what he is missing out on…

I rebuilt the roof on the outhouse and the mud and storage room of the village home. Then I wondered if they would leak or not? I got my answer after two days or torrential downpour, I do not have any leaks. That is a good thing and sets my mind at ease about the confidence in my work. Now I have one more building section to re-roof and it is as big as the others all together. I am studying what and how to do it and then decided what to use for roofing material. I originally thought about just using tar paper, but half of this section of building is going to be turned back into the buildings original purpose and become a chicken coop again. So I think I will contemplate about a better roof material and more permanent solution. I would like to have chickens year around…

Then as a side thought; goats! I want to have goats milk to drink and use for coffee, Therefore, I am planning a outer small barn building to use for goats away from the house. Chickens are fine next door, goats are not!

Thus, the weather which has stopped my forward momentum in getting things done around the house, has also shown me areas to make better and whether I accomplished anything the first time I repaired something. I have had to remember to relearn how to live, for city life is totally different than country life and I am lucky to have grown up in the country…

Some of my thoughts are based on the concept to acquirer the small field behind our home. I need that field for a large garden, a goat barn, and moving the outhouse farther away from the main home. I also have enough room on that land to build a small cabin for family or rental purposes in the summer. These are the thoughts of a person who wants to live the rest of his life in the Russian Village…

I also have laid out the process and plan for getting a small generator that can supply electricity for long term power outages. That way I can have a freezer and store meat and veggies safely for long term. But I am getting too far down the road right this second and need to come back to the now time…

The sun has come out this morning and it will be about 15 degrees Celsius today. Then it looks as if we will get back up to the mid 20’s Celsius and dry up around here. Then I can get back to cleaning the yard again and burning all the piles of what I call, “Snake homes!” Piles of old wood and brush just left for years in every corner of the village home land. I have killed two Vipera berus, adders or a common European snake, but poisonous. That is a main reason I am cleaning up everything this summer, no need for snakes in the house or killing someone by a bite…

I have saved two apple trees over the last few years and finally got them back to the healthy, if not abused, standards. They are going to have a bumper crop of apples this year and we have four trees of apples in all. I will have way more apples than I will be able to keep up with. I am going to dehydrate all the apples that I can, most likely when the time is right, I will run a dehydrator 24 hours a day and pack apples most of the summer. Probably should buy another dehydrator and if the budget can support it, I will…

Well I need to get going, for Boza is staring through the window at me and trying to use his exceedingly powerful brain waves to convince me to walk him again. I guess it works, for I have an urge to walk him right now and then get back to work on the homestead here in the Russian Village…

Have a nice day, for we sure will… 🙂

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Lunch was great and unexpected. Vova came down and got me to eat lunch with him. He was in the mood to have company and I was in the mood to oblige. Rabbit stew, fresh salad from his garden and salt mushrooms that he did himself. I have to say that it was perfect…

Vova loves to play the spoons and being inside, his moving parts blurred, but that is okay and I got a picture of him sitting still… 🙂

Boza and I did have a good day,even with the rain and all. Vova is a good buddy and I am lucky to have him as a friend in Russia…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Way back into the woods, behind the village I live in, is the original source of water. I chose today to go check it out because the wind was blowing strong and it was only slightly raining. This meant that I could endure the mosquitoes from hell for an hour or so. The wind would be my protector, for in the woods near the source, the devil rules and his name is mosquito…

It was so bad even with the wind, that I could kill three or four of the devils with one smack, and smack I did, in-between pictures…

Above is the start of the path, below is the path to and from the actual source. It is way down in a gully…

This is the source below! It runs year around and there seems to be plenty of water…

This is the actual water source that created the conditions to build the monastery. For without water, fresh drinkable water, you can not have a village or monastery. This is the reason we have what we have on this hill and the spring is on top the hill, so it is under pressure of some sort to allow it to flow up this high above the horizon…

This fall when the mosquitoes are gone, I will dig the source back out. It has a wooden box to hold water for people to did it out, but it has rained so much and no one cares anymore, it has filled with sediment. (You can see the edge of wood if you look carefully in the water.) I will do that…

I have no idea where the water goes and due to so many mosquitoes, I really do not care at this point. I will deal with that when the devils are gone…

So there is two sources of water, fresh water, that are within a few kilometers of the village. One of them is blessed and this one may be for all I know, but I just know it is vital to have, in case our well dies, that is why I will clean it up…

I have an article from many years ago about this, but my favorite government in America, destroyed most of the years ago images, with cyber attacks. Really sad, but I am able to redo such things and will… (Think about why they would do that and when I filed grievances, I was told to go away, for there is nothing I can do about it!)

Have a nice day, for Boza and I sure have and will…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Since it is pouring down rain and colder than a witches (Well you know what?) I am going to write an article and enjoy a cup or two of delicious coffee. Today looks like a rain, but no thunderstorm day and Boza has just eaten four packs of his dog food and is sleeping, actually even snoring slightly, under the bed. He just had one of his dreams, that he growls and runs with his legs as he lays on his side. Then it hit me: What is important?

What is important is a good question, for it seems that everyone has a different idea of what is important?

Therefore, I am only able to expound upon what I feel is important and if you feel the same way, then more power to you, if you don’t, then more power to you…

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The images below are weeds. They are all weeds, a weed that most people in the western world has been programmed to destroy. That weed and many many more are destroyed continually day in and day out. I came to Russia and found a world of flowering weeds. weeds that are not weeds, but actually flowers, beautiful and gorgeous flowers, just like any you grow in your garden…

Everyday I Boza and I walk fields of weeds flowers and I have taken hundreds of pictures of these weeds…

After a few years in Russia, I developed a whole new idea of what is a weed. Really there is no such things as a weed, just a plant that you desire or not desire…

It is the little things that matter and one little flower in a field is all it takes to make life wonderful…

Little flowers, big importance, to me…

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Little birds in the yard and not able to find them. That is important to me…

After the storm yesterday, I could not find the birds. The baby birds that are almost grown up and this morning I found them. All of them and happy as could be and they chirped and told Boza all about their new home. Boza and I walked our usual path and as we passed by an old farm home, I heard a chatter of birds that seemed to be saying, “Look here we are!”

I looked up at the roof of the house, barn and sauna and found all my little birds chirping and singing away. They all came out to say high and several flew down to say high to Boza. They had found themselves a perfect home. No humans live there and a huge barn that is open on all sides to live in. They had plenty of fields nearby for worms and bugs, plus they get to see Boza and I everyday as we walk… 🙂

I counted ten little birds on the building tops and that was just right, for the mom and dads are still in our yard and I am sure that they insisted that the babies had to go. It was time…

It is the little things that count…

Have a nice day, for Boza and I sure will…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I woke up and found myself lost and confused. This happens when the weather changes so drastically, I become sick. I never had this issue until I had all the heart attacks and brain tumor, many years ago. After trying to die a bunch of times, I have become very sensitive to weather changes. It gets scary sometimes and this morning was one of those times…

Boza is tuned into these things and he never pushes to go outside or walk very far when he knows that I am sick like this. This morning he was that way and I am thankful. I still managed to get to the Big Village and now that I am back to normal, I am not sure how I did it but I did. I ended up sleeping the day away and feel okay to kinda good now, but the power was off for most of the day, internet was down until just a few minutes ago and it stormed and stormed and stormed. That is the weather change that knocked me down and it was a terrible storm. It was so bad that Boza, being the bravest dog in the world, had to sit in my lap and shake like a leaf…

What a brave dog!

I use to never have issues with weather changes and I thought that to feel bad when the weather changes is old wives tales. Then one day, I thought I was having a heart attack (after six, you get paranoid) and found myself in really bad shape. It took several of these instances to figure out what was happening and with that realization, I am able to keep it under some control. Today though, it took me out of the equation…

Believe you me, it is no old wives tale. It is a reality and no matter the cause and effect, sometimes it gets rough and is equated to being drunk. It effects my blood sugar levels, my heart rate, my blood pressure and many other things…

The storm today was just short of a hurricane, as Russians call these storms. Better yet, to call it a almost tornado and I truly wondered if the roof that I installed and the one on the house would stay put? It did and I am thankful and not a leak anywhere inside…

I am getting ready to cook some chicken gizzards and red peppers. I decided that Boza and I will watch a movie tonight after walking one last time. Sometimes you have to stop and smell the coffee and I did just that; drank a cup of coffee and it was so good…

I hope tomorrow is better weather wise than today, but we did get tons of water for the gardens…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Boza and I check on the strawberry fields daily now. In a few days I will be able to start picking strawberries and I will be ahead of the rest of the crowd. People sneak around and try to steal all the berries near this village and they try to sell them. I will eat them, for they are good for my health and I am in the village to get healthy. They shoot horse strawberry thieves don’t they?

Our currant is the best I have ever seen. I am watering daily and it shows. Currant is my favorite berry and nothing is better when they have milk poured over them…

The onions are starting to bulb out and the beets are doing the same. Sixteen carrots is all I see growing and tomorrow, I will try to find some garlic bulbs. Watering the garden twice a day now, for it is getting hot at the peak of the day and our soil is super sandy here. The whole village is on an old desert of sand dunes…

Those purple flowers are so beautiful and a pure white moth is so cool…

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While sipping a cup of coffee this morning, I was looking at a picture Sveta sent me. She bought a bike and it is beautiful…

She has big plans to ride a bunch and get in shape. I even suspect that she may take a trip on the bike. I know her very well and I sense that she wants to travel for several weeks on a bike trip. I hope she does and I hope she is happy doing that. Nice bike, I want one, but only a single speed to get to the medium size village and back. That is about 4 kilometers, actually that would be easy to walk, because Boza and I walk much farther than that everyday now. So really I do not need a bike…

Tomorrow I am taking the weekly trip to the Big Village. I pick up four dog foods every Tuesday and restock my foods staples. I am going to stock big bottles of water and drink more. I am not drinking enough and I have to solve that issue. I like drinking from big glasses and Russian just do not have big glasses to drink from, so I improvised. The image to the right is my new water glass…

Sveta bought it thinking that I would use it to store fluid in the refrigerator. I found a better use for it, a drinking glass for a big bear. It is hot and I need lots of fluids, now during the winter, it will be great for keeping cold water and juice. I bet Sveta is shaking her head at the sight of what I use that pitcher for… 🙂

You see my coffee cup and my water cup…

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Time to get other things done, but I have a last thought. It is a thought about people from the USA. I feel sorry for them, they find Windows to Russia and then they either try to befriend, but all of a sudden they realize that to befriend something about Russia, puts them in a terrible way back hone in America…

Everyone, whether they will admit it out loud, understands that they live in a society of being spied on and repercussions will and have happened. Some do not care and they still talk to me and they understand that they are marked, for they were marked as soon as they decided to surf the net and find alternate life in media…

Windows to Russia has people from all over the world who come here and comment. They communicate with me and they enjoy the communications. But, people from America are scared to death of getting in trouble and the second they realize that they have put themselves in possible black listing by NSA, they run and whimper and cry. It really is very – very sad and very – very wrong…

Happened three times last week…

Have a nice day, for Boza and I sure will…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I thought about going to the Big Village, nope; don’t want to…
Thought about how deplorable the U.S. is, nope; just very glad I am not there…
Thought about getting water from the well, yup; water is needed for life…

Then I thought about writing an article, nope; so this is it…

Boza in thought…

This (above) is what Boza and I are going to do. Too many people around the village and too many people driving around the Big Village. I am going to drink three cups of coffee, eat two thick slices of black bread and Boza and I are going to watch the eagles and the hawks fly, play and hunt…

To fly would be the freedom of your soul into the heavens…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

A sack of lies to mold the minds of the masses and if it is true, then it is a good thing and not a bad thing. So lets hope that they did crack it and lets hope the world reads what they cracked…

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Russian and Chinese specialists have successfully cracked the encryption of files stolen by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, a report says.

The secret files’ decryption has forced British intelligence agency MI6 and US intelligence services to recall a number of its agents from active operations, said a report by the Sunday Times.

“Agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we operate has stopped us getting vital information,” the report to be published on Sunday quoted an unnamed Downing Street source as saying.

“Russians and Chinese have information,” the source added.

Snowden, a former CIA contractor, left the US in 2013 after leaking classified intelligence documents, stored on encrypted files, revealing the extent of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) spying activities and was granted asylum by Russia in August 2013.

According to the report, British intelligence now believes Russia and China have hacked the files, gaining access to sensitive information within.

A British intelligence source is also quoted in the report as saying that “Snowden has done incalculable damage.”

“In some cases, the agencies have been forced to intervene and lift their agents from operations to prevent them from being identified and killed,” the source added.

He went on to say that Russian and Chinese authorities would be examining the leaked material for “years to come.”

SRK/NN/AS

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The sky is falling little bird and we must point fingers…

Kyle

This is George the baby bird or probably now an equivalent to a teenage bird. My they grow fast and George was born this spring and was one of the little guys that swarmed our yard for days. George the Bird Brain is what I call him and he follows Boza and I as far as the outskirts of the village. He tries to keep an eye on what Boza and I do and is always there watching us…

I started walking this morning with Boza and found the little guy on a barn, just watching us from afar. As soon as I zoomed on him, I knew it was our little Bird Brain. Boza knows him and George allows Boza to come right up to a fence post he sits on and they seem to understand each other. George is interesting, for he seriously follows us all over the village, but when we leave the last fence posts or building behind, he stays and watches until we are out of sight. Then as we come back, I find him waiting for us…

It kinda makes me sad that we can not just pick him up and put him in my pocket to take him on a walk. He wants to go, that is obvious. Maybe when he gets bigger/older, he will fly with us. Though I do not want anything to happen to him. You can tell he is still a young bird and he is still developing his markings and such…

Just thought that you might want to meet “George the Bird Brain,” he is our “watch bird” as we travel the village roads…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

See; there he is again…