Yuck, but wonderful…

When I was a little kid, grandpa handed me a small shovel and bucket. He then pointed at the outhouse and told me to clean out the pit…

I was fascinated and scared at the same time. I had visions of monsters that lived in the bowls of an outhouse and ate all given to it. Or something like that. Never crossed my mind that we had to clean it out once in awhile. Those kind of things as a kid, just seem to be ignored and many people grow up in this world and never even think about the care of waste facilities…

I thank my family for raising me right. They might wonder about me at times, but I was taught the basics of life and those basics were on a earthy level. The earth (water and or soil) is life and life should respect that earth. From the dirt comes food, be it animal, plant and or insects. Life all comes from the earth itself…

Yesterday, I tore the seat out from inside the outhouse. The man who built it originally never put a back door to dig out the waste. I had to repair the seat anyway and took the time yesterday to reinforce the outhouse and I cleaned the pit out. Memories of being a kid washed over my mind and after a few minutes of work. I found I enjoyed myself and for the next few hours, I kept at the task. Soon I was done and realized that there are things that seem terrible in life, but things still have to get done…

For inquiring minds…. I fill a wheelbarrow twice, mounded high to the sky, with waste. Yummy…

I realized yesterday that the outhouse has about maybe two more years of usable life span and then it has to be rebuilt. Torn down and rebuilt. The next outhouse will be much bigger and the pit much deeper and lined with bricks, plus a back door to clean the pit out. You see, I am making plans as I work repairing things as to the lifespan and need to replace. Just like, this week, I will finish tearing the old chicken coop down and finish cleaning the back yard, at least enough to rebuild the back wall on the home. Thus, you have to constantly plan and prioritize…

Why do I talk about such tasteless issues?

Because, you should and must know how to deal with basics of life. We may not always have such a perfect unappreciated existence, as some of us do now. I am thankful for such a usable place to use facilities and care for it is very important…

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The monsoon rains have uncovered the roof to a tunnel section. The monastery is undermined with most likely a dozen tunnels. Some are just utility tunnels, but at least four of them are huge walk-able brick lined tunnels, that connected all the buildings together at one time. Monasteries are good about that… 😉

My issue is that now they will start to collapse, they have removed so much earth from the top of the landscape, that we will have future issues. I will watch and point it out to Father Pavel when I can…

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Last few things….The pear trees are alive and growing. They survived and it surprised me. I never gave up on them, but it still surprised me. I thought they had bit the dust…

We are uptown at our village. We have an actual set of stairs at the river. Can you believe that? WE have a solid set of stairs. It is really nice and the bridge is more solid than I have ever see here. I know why! Father Pavel is making sure his flock can get here. It is not because of us few measly villagers living here. We don’t count. But I take what I can get and one day there will be a car bridge built across this river. I see it coming…

Svetochka will be happy to see her strawberries doing good and I moved the hand wash station and made it very easy to work with. It is now solid and usable for all. That should make a happy girl when she comes to the village…

WtR