Some things don't turn out the way you plan- like this orange lily that was blooming the day the tree fell down- it only lost a couple petals in the crash, but I was a little disappointed- if you look closely the label from the package is there where I planted the bulb this spring and promised a lovely pink one- similiar to one I have at home in Canada.
Garry and I were waiting for the cows to come back on Saturday evening around 7 pm- the beds were all made in preparation for Victor's Mennonite roots tour group and Stacy to return and spend the night- when we were surprized by the arrival of Sasha from Dnepro- he had biked all the way to the village- he said it took 2 1/2 hours- and he was very thirsty. After the heifers (and Micah the dry cow) were back in the barn, Garry sat out under the trees with him, until he had to leave because someone from the village needed to have a cow artifially inseminated (the Russian sounds much like the English inseminate.) Victor phoned to say that they would arrive in half an hour, so Sasha decided to wait to say hello (he met her last year during the English Institute) before going out to the highway (with his bicycle- velosepet in Russian) to catch a marshuhka back to the city.
The tour group had been in Kiva Rog working with the orphanage team there, and were taking a day tour before flying back to Canada on Sunday. After they arrived they got a tour of the barn just before the ladies began the evening milking, and then enjoyed cold drinks and pie (cherry and strawberry- some people tried bath to see which was better.) Then we got a phone call- Sasha was still out on the highway- he had not gotten a ride after waiting a hour or so. Since Maxim was back from going to church in Zaparosia, Garry went to take him in the car, and the group started getting ready for bed (once we realized no one was in the locked bathroom (door locks turn the opposite way here- it's happened before) they were going to get up at 3:30 am to leave for the airport by 4 am.
Everyone was in bed except Maxim around midnight when Garry arrived back home (I was still awake because I had noticed he had forgotten his wallet when I went in the bedroom- he had lost his cellphone the day before- we had hunted for it in the house and car unsucessfully Saturday morning.) He said he realized he had no wallet when he was going to buy a coffee at McDonald's (home of the biggest cups in Ukraine- think the small at home in Canada) before leaving the city- he was glad he had not been stopped by the police. He said it looked like there was quite the party going on in the village centre at midnight (maybe that's when Maxim was- there is a disco in one of the village buildings Saturday night.)
In no time the group was up and on the way at 4 am exactly - I heard that they were at the airport in Borispol (where the Kiev airport is) in plenty of time for the flight to Heathrow. Since I was up I spent almost an hour chatting on Facebook with my little brother in NJ.
Garry and Maxim had some problems on Sunday morning- the milk in the bottom of the tank had frozen on Saturday evening when the ladies milked,(the milk truck had come Saturday afternoon) so it was not cooling the milk properly for taking to church (they couldn't get as much as Victor's church had ordered because some of it was still frozen.) Turned out to not be a problem as they did not sell all the milk we did bring!
Then as they went to chase the heifers and dry cow out to the road for the day with the village herd, one of the heifers, a red one seven months pregnant (cows are like people= 9 months)was having trouble walking out of the pen, so they tried to put her in a stall, where she went down and couldn't get up. Garry discovered she was unable to pass any manure and they called the vet and doctored her with a couple of remedies (including motor oil- which was supposed to keep more gas from forming in her stomach as she was bloated.) They also got someone to open the the vet-aptenka in the village a purchased a drench for stomach problems.
We left around 9 am with Stacy and delivered milk, and went for lunch after church at Puzata Hata. I found out Garry remembers most of the words for the praise songs in Russian as the projector was not there this week- I could do some of the chorus- but he was singing the verses too. Then Stacy and I went to help Marina with the testing for English Institute- this week we had two sittings - another 62 people wrote the placement test- add that to the 84 already and however many show up next Sunday (and the last day is normally the busiest) Some people will not test high enough to get in- the students need to understand the Canadian teachers- but it looks like will will be full!
Garry did some errands while we were busy- including getting my plants for my hollow tree project which I did in the evening. Unfortunately we had to hurry back to the village Garry had received a phone call from Victor (whom Maxim had called since Garry had my phone with his missing) to say that the heifer had died. Now Garry had a new problem- how to dipose of a dead cow. With no backhoe to bury her, he decided to compost her in the manure pile in the field (this is how we do it in Canada too.) So he took care of that before the herd came home. No one knows if she ate something poisonous while out with the herd or it was something that just happened like a twisted intestine. Most sick cows in Ukraine get eaten (no down cow legislation here) so it was a problem most farmers do not deal with here.
Since Garry was unable to get the semen last week Monday when he wanted it (the guy who gets it out was off last week) he went to Dnepro this morning with the tank to get some- Sunday he did not have any left for one of our cows who was in heat or a cow in the village that the owner wanted bred (you need to breed cows with the little frozen sperm at the correct point in the cycle- so it will be 21 days befroe they will be ready again.) He has a heifer in heat today- she aborted last month while out with the herd. He is also supposed to get a cell phone to replace his missing one.
So I have been washing the sheets so they are ready for our next visitors (or the boys when they return in August) and planted the rest of the flowers Garry bought yesterday at the market. Stacy picked more cherries so I may need to bake another pie. I did have a surprise while weeding the flower beds- the seeds I planted in the beginning of May have come up with the rain we had recently- you can see the white kitten checking them out.
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