More photos

 Sunday Garry went to church in the village where they were celebrating Easter, he said church was two hours long with a guest sermon and lots of singing. He counted 85 people there, it was less crowded when the 25 children went outside to play. He forgot his phone, so no pictures.

In the afternoon Garry drove the van into Dnepro to talk at Lena's English class. The van didn't want the start when he went to leave so he called Max to come get him, however he did find the problem and phoned him back- the fuel pump needed to be primed. In the fall the van wasn't working but they have done a lot of work on it over the winter. 

He did stop at McDonalds before going home so he could get on the weekly chat he has with his father and siblings and took one photo of his dinner, he was excited about getting a jalapeno cheeseburger. Unfortunately there was an air raid and the restaurant closed, so he finished his food and call in the parking lot.

Monday he took some photos after a run into the city with Max for parts. The first photo is of the heat system they are working on for the remodeled chicken barn (it used to be the tent barn).

 A short spring bee video

Last fall Garry was very worried about feeding the cows over the winter, and that the heifers and dry cows were too thin. However, he is pleased with their condition now. He says the heifers could almost be called fat. They have been able to get beet pulp, brewers grains and today a 26 ton load of brewers grains from making Kavas drink came to the farm. You can see it going over the scale that was installed at the farm in the winter four years ago.

Apparently people already know Garry is there, because he said he drove 21 kilometers this evening to breed the cow in the photo. This is the only photo I've gotten of him, but you may be able to tell he got his hair cut on Saturday afternoon.

Photos from Saturday

Garry said the apricot trees are blooming although they're worried there may be freezing weather next week and no apricots this year.

 

Spring is so green 

I crocheted gifts for some of the girls, Leila enjoyed introducing her new dog to the other Muktars.

In the village

 

Garry made it to the village on Saturday before noon. Max picked him up around 8 in the morning, Friday night he slept on a cot at the ministry center in Kirvoy. He told me even though most of Ukraine is celebrating  Easter next week according to the Orthodox calendar the village church is celebrating this weekend with us. 

Hopefully I can add some of his photos and publish this post, I thought I got the last one up Friday, but the internet at the farmhouse is having problems. I did get one photo uploaded of what we called "the upside down flowers" which were always the first to bloom in the village.

On the way

 Garry flew out of Winnipeg around 8 am Tuesday, I only had to drive back home from the airport. We had light snow overnight, so there was some snow on the roads, but were there around 6:20. He ended up with only one suitcase, and carrying that ultrasound machine box through all the airports (he says it got heavy) and his little backpack. He got hot, and managed somehow to stuff his hoodie in the backpack and just wear his jacket.

He met up with Daryl in Montreal, they had five hours between flights, and Garry got to go to the lounge with Daryl and filled up on free food. He had an exit row seat on the seven and a half hour flight to Vienna. He got a two hour nap on a bench there before their flight to Moldova. They were checked into their hotel room to shower before dinner. I know his bag arrived because he was wearing the one Tshirt that was in it when he video chatted with me. He wished he'd worn one for the plane, I think.

Thursday was their slightly unplanned rest day, there was a mix-up on which day Adam would be there, and a second night at the hotel was much cheaper than rebooking the flights. In the morning they had a leisurely breakfast and took a walk down to the market. Garry said he bought Alona a new beaded picture kit to make. 

Tomorrow morning they'll be on the road to Ukraine. Two hours to the border and how ever long to go through and then seven or eight to Kirvoy Rog. He wasn't sure if he'd get to the village on Friday or Saturday. They actually had to wait for Adam's suitcase to arrive so didn't leave until four in the afternoon, so he won't get to the village until Saturday. It looked like the border crossing was going well when he called me.

Leaving soon

 Just two more days to get ready to send Garry off to Ukraine. Last week he found out Max needed parts for the mixer wagon, and the company is from BC, so they shipped them to Steinbach Wednesday morning and hopefully they arrive by Monday afternoon. They weigh 20 pounds (20 at one pound each) so he may be taking a second suitcase if they get here, because he already has parts for the mower and the John Deere corn planter to go... and a few gifts from me for everyone. 

The donated mixer wagon came in the shipping container that Jack put together years ago, and it gets used everyday. It's the second time they needed new knives for it (they will weld them into the tub to turn and chop the feed around to mix it). They eventually wear away so much they are ineffective. 

Hopefully how to get them in a suitcase will be my only problem!

Getting ready

 

Well I had my heart ablation on the 10th and it went well, although they aren't sure the problem is solved. Time will tell, and so for now I stay on the meds. I'm starting to feel normal again, it was a slower recovery than the first one.

Meanwhile we are gathering stuff for Garry's trip, we'll see what I get in the suitcase around those things Garry is packing- he's bringing some parts to repair the corn planter. Just think, he'll be there for corn planting this year. Hopefully the snow will melt while he's gone! For now, he's here for another 8 days. 

This week he went fishing on Lake Winnipeg Thursday with a friend from church and caught a pickerel too big to keep. By the time he's back home, hopefully the ice will be out of the lake and we will be able to get out in the boat.

Dates are set

 Tomorrow morning I'm having my heart procedure, so I thought I'd update the blog. Garry and Daryl leave March 31st for Moldova. They arrive there on April first and will have a day to recover and maybe see the sights before Adam arrives late on the second and they drive to Kirvoy Rog the next morning. 

So Garry won't get to the village until the third, and he flies back April 30th, but he'll still have a few weeks there. He says it's ten degrees Celsius in the village today (he was talking with Max Rudei's brother Roman, who's here at the farm in Manitoba.) He also found out Max was able to order the part to fix the payloader from China, but it won't get there for two months. It broke a couple weeks ago and fixing it was going to be very expensive, now it's less money but more time. 

So three weeks to get his bag packed with gifts and parts for the farm, and his toothbrush and a change of clothes. One of the Yulias had her birthday recently and they had a celebration for her.