Weekend update

 Garry had a disappointing Saturday. He said it was another drizzling wet day. He'd like real rain for the crops. In the morning, they tried to build the trusses but the new nails were defective and would not work in the nailer. They are returning them and have once again, ordered new ones that will hopefully work, on Monday when they try building trusses again. 

Garry wasn't feeling well, so he went back to the house to lay down. He was telling me maybe it was his stomach and maybe he's getting a cold because his head is stuffy. Leila was telling the little girls not to disturb him when I was talking with him. She has also put herself in charge of washing his dishes and clothes. 

He was going to go to Dnepro to Morningstar church with Margo again this Sunday if he was feeling better in the morning. Garry laughed when I said I'd go to church in Steinbach if I felt better. I was a little dizzy yesterday for the first time in weeks. Maybe I'm overdoing my new diet and exercise regimen to get back into shape now that my heart is hopefully fixed. So far it goes back to normal after I exercise and get my heart rate up. 

As you can see, it's definitely warmer over there. He took that picture today, so maybe they did go to the city. For sure, he's walking around somewhere. 

He did go to church. Margo drove because his backup car,Victor's old brown mission van had a flat tire this morning. Daryl was preaching at Morningstar. Adam's van will be fixed sometime Monday, so they will come out to the village after breakfast tomorrow. They are staying at Victor's house in Dnepro, Dasha, his grownup daughter is still living in Ukraine. Victor, his wife and mother in-law are living in BC near his sons and their families.

I found photos

 I found some photos from the Reimer Center, where Garry spoke to a group of young people on Tuesday evening. He had a translator because their English level was varied. Garry said most of the people working there at the Mennonite Center speak English.

 I see they called him an interesting speaker, a businessman from Canada who talked about how success in life is not just how much money you make but responsibility and impacting others. A life is a terrible thing to waste- the original slogan of the trade school. 

You can even see the haircut Garry got the first Saturday in the village. Garry insists he can only get a haircut in Ukraine now. Here's the before, with the big bass he caught last month at the lake. 

He says there have been no power outages the last couple days, and has gotten so warm out that he is wearing shorts. 

Today (Friday) Garry got some of his boards cut, he found a helper to measure the long pieces but had to stop because Daryl and Adam arrived for a visit. Unfortunately, Adam's vehicle broke down just by the village on the highway. Max ended up towing it to Zaporosia so the mechanic could take a look at it and Garry lent them our van (he tells me it hasn't done the not started thing since they changed the fuel filter) because they have a number of meetings in Dnepro over the weekend. Hopefully their ride will be fixed by Sunday. 

Building trusses

 

I did hear from Garry before I slept Tuesday night as he was getting up, having toast and coffee and then walking to the barn... the call dropped right after he showed me a yard full of spring flowers as he walked up the street. He said he had a great time at the English class at the Mennonite Center. 

Every morning he walks over to the barn to see what's going on. 

Wednesday he worked on making trusses, with the boards he'd already cut, because his wood he ordered wasn't delivered until the end of the day. He also made a trip to Dnepro to Nova Lenya for the glue for the gussets before starting. You can get there in half an hour from the village. Or I could, Garry may be faster. 

He said they got five trusses done, they ordered new (hopefully better- slightly bigger) nails for the nailer- the ones they bought online were too thin and kept getting jammed in the device. At least they didn't get too many of the bad ones, because he was complaining in the morning that there weren't as many in the roll as what they bought last year. It only takes a day for them to come. He also stepped on a headless nail while putting the fifth truss together, when Max went to pay the lumber delivery guy. Hopefully it's not too sore today, he said he soaked his foot in salt water before I talked to him around 11 am in Manitoba- eight hours later there. 

Thursday Garry was cutting up boards, there's 21 more trusses to build before he leaves Ukraine. He thought he'd finish cutting boards today. He was hoping to have some help again today. Evening update- he got all the angled board cuts done, he still has some straight cuts to do Friday.

They were spraying fungicide on the winter wheat fields today.

Hopefully it will be a good crop this year and they will be filling that empty Quonset barn Garry's building trusses in.  Garry's still hoping for a really good rain, instead of the drizzle they have been getting since he arrived. However the ponds are full again in the village, so it's not as dry as last year. Garry tells me that people there think the war caused last year's drought. 

Sashas

 Garry sent photos he called one Sasha, two Sasha -we have as many Sashas as Yulias in our group. 

Here's one Sasha cutting plywood for the gussets for the trusses. The table saw is one of the things that came in the famous container with the mixer wagon and skid steer, I believe. 

And the Sasha who's been with us the longest, Sasha Borchuk, grinding grain, which is his normal job. This Sasha has been picked up for the army more than once and returned to our program. 

Garry messaged he was in Nova Lena to buy more plywood and there was an air raid siren, but they kept working, but KFC would be closed so he wouldn't be able to get lunch. That means he was in Dnepro for the wood, because there's a KFC near that Nova Lena on the outskirts of the city. 

At 5 o'clock today he is guest teaching a teenager English class at the Reimer Center (Mennonite Center) in Zaporosia. He was recruited for it when he stopped in there last week Wednesday. Everyone loves getting a native speaker for their class. 

Here's that skid steer, like the mixer wagon it's been used almost everyday since it arrived, maybe eight or nine years ago, I would have to look back on the blog. Max was doing regular maintenance last week at the farm shop. 

 

More Stories from Week 1

 You may remember that some of our guys are trying to avoid being in the army and some were in the army. Andrey is supposed to be back in the village at the end of the month on leave and is going to marry Valentina, his longtime sweetheart and the mother of his two kids, so that if something happens to him, she would get a pension. He decided this in the fall and it is scheduled for April 28th (about the day Garry will need to leave). We were surprised that Andrey was accepted to serve in the army, as he is officially and actually "slow" but we think he's more using his muscles than carrying a gun. 

Garry was happy to hear that it appears Misha, who disappeared after going in the army two years ago, has apparently been reported as a POW by someone who was released. His twin Vasili, told Garry about it the first time he saw him at the farm this week. This is the first his siblings have heard any news since he was in basic training. Some of the photos of prisoners released by the Russians are showing very thin people, so we will pray he's doing okay there. I found a photo from a few years ago when we made sushi in cooking class. Misha told everyone that I taught him to make pizza when he cooked it. 

There are often guys in the village looking for draft dodgers and deserters , so they are hiding out from them. Garry said one of the village guys who helps out in the shop (he was the one who was hiding from them in the fall in a story in the blog)  can't go to the dentist because of this (the draft includes all men over 25 to 55 I think). 

Apparently, Vlad (who used to be our very young tractor driver, now a married man with a child) was at the local bar and got punched and this other guy jumped in to help, it ended up being 3 on 2 and he has a couple of broken teeth.  I guess Vlad was okay. 

Garry says they have been harrowing the fields where they will be planting sunflowers and corn, but it may be two weeks before planting happens. They have had a bit of rain, mostly damp drizzle weather that happens overnight and dries up during the day, so that harrowing to level the ground can happen. Mostly our guys are getting the equipment ready for planting. One of the things in Garry's suitcase was parts for the corn planter. 

Garry says that when he was checking fields with Max - they need to fertilize the hayfields -  they found a part of a drone. 

Garry says he often finds one of Leila's stuffed dogs Muktar (named for a Russian TV dog) in the kitchen so he puts pieces of meat sticks in his mouth when she isn't looking and she's delighted by this and laughs and then eats them.

I tried to pack Garry a pair of jeans, but he said he had lots of them there. He wore his favorite dress pants on the plane. Turns out he has two pairs of jeans there, one he was wearing to the barn to preg check cows (so very dirty). The girls are happy to wash them for him, but then they are hung outside to dry and the weather has been drizzly. So he's happy when he has a clean (and dry) pair to wear. He said Sunday the barn jeans got washed and were almost dry when he got home so he hung them in his bedroom to finish drying. 

Easter again

 Garry got to celebrate Easter again Sunday in Dnepro at Morningstar. He took this photo when the service was starting. He said it was full a half hour later. Marguerita went with him. There was a lunch at church afterwards. Since it was Orthodox Easter, he said he saw people carrying their baskets to be blessed at the churches in the city.

Unfortunately, the van wouldn't start again when they were ready to leave, so he called Max and once again, it started when he got there. When he got back to the village, Alona had made a special meal for Easter with pork and potatoes, so he had to eat some, although he was very full from church. He said it was very tasty. She also baked paska bread for the first time. Garry says it was very moist, the best he's tasted. Very pretty, also.

Monday he was busy cutting more wood, his additional 2 by 4's won't come until Wednesday now, but he drove into Nova Lena to get some plywood that he'll cut up tomorrow for the trusses. He said on Sunday they'd try to fix the van, but they didn't and he drove it in to buy the plywood with no problems this time. 

Pizza party

 I complained Garry doesn't send photos of people so he sent some from the pizza party! He made it back in time. There's Elena getting out pizza and Oleg with his guitar. 

Their oldest son David

Hello Julia! 

If like me, you say what's on that pizza? 

Garry says chicken and lettuce on that pizza. Looks like they bought it, too.

That's Valentina with her son Nazar. Looks like it was mostly people who live in our house. Garry says its pretty noisy. They had cake too, for Nikolai's birthday earlier this week. 

Garry plans to go to church in Dnepro at Morningstar on Sunday, Marguerita is going to go with him. We'll see if he takes any photos. Garry still hasn't sent any photos of himself so you can see his haircut.