Getting hot

It was up to 30 Centigrade as they say here (getting really close to 90 for Americans) You could tell how hot it was outside because Maxim was wearing shorts. Maxim is our hired man- he has worked for us for a year now, and we have discovered that like most Ukrainians - it has to get really hot before they think its hot- You can see in this photo I took ten days ago, Maxim was welding the wagon- Garry was wearing shorts when Max was wearing his coveralls still.

Maxim has been a very busy guy with Garry gone to Ontario this week for his Dad's 80th birthday party. He has been getting some of his friends in the village to help feed the cows, and he has hired them to work on digging a septic system for the house he is buying up the street (across from the second store- near the road to the highway for people who have been to see us.) It will be a while before its ready to move in- and I assume Max will still be eating here once or twice a day.

Maxim and Garry have their own language- a mixture of Russian and English they use to communicate. Even people who know both languages have trouble understanding them, but I think that has to do with all the farming terms they use! Max did not know any English when he came to work on the barn last year. He was a welder with the crew that built the barn last spring, and got his friend to teach him to say "I want to work for you." Of course Garry knew just a little Russian then, and used to mix up his ya (I) and ti (you) because it just seemed right, he doesn't do it as much now, but Max got to know which he meant quickly. Garry says they are teaching each other theier language and both havve made a lot of progress. Max was 20 when he came to work- he is the middle son is a large family for Ukraine- he has two older and two younger brothers. His family lives in village about 2 hours away from here.

















Yesterday morning I took a couple pictures in the barn- the cows were resting as you can see, and so were the ducks (momma duck is still setting on that pile of eggs.)Then I was pulling a few weeds out in the garden - things are coming up even with the lack of rain- when I noticed a cow on the loose- she had gotten off her snap on her chain in the barn and went exploring. I got Seth and Jonah from the house to help put her back inside -they were working away on schoolwork- they hope to finish in the next two weeks. Jonah is even working on something right now (its midnight.)





Today I even found some tiny carrots up while I was weeding, seemed like the little rain on Tuesday got more stuff up- some just planted and some that was in weeks ago! and I think I'll water the garden a little on Sunday- the forecast is for 30 and no rain for the next 5 days. The water is high in minerals- leaves a white residue on top of the ground, but they will be



Today is the big party in Exeter Ontario, and I am sure Garry is having a great time with his family- I haven't even recieved an "I miss you" email today. We will all be glad to see him when he gets back to the village sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning.