Alone now....well, almost

Thursday night we drove past the circus and crossed the bridge over to the Left bank of Dnepropetroesk in the dark (again- we'd gone the same way coming home 24 hours before!) to visit Marina's discussion club, it's a follow-up to the Summer English Institute I taught at in the summer. Garry said afterwards how much he enjoyed talking in English with people for a change. We stopped by Victor's to pick up the empty milk jugs. Maxim had brought Victor's Thursday milk in earlier in the day.

Maxim got back at 5 pm, about the time we needed to take off for Marina and Jenya's apartment. He had gotten several things fixed on the car, two new tire rims, and the blower for the heat; on the way to Kramatorsk we'd have to crack the windows to defrost the windshield. It has been like that all summer, I think, but it is getting a little cold to have the windows open.

Maxim left at 6 am Friday morning with the car, he is taking his girlfriend Yulia to meet his family this weekend. He is supposed to be back Sunday morning so we can go to church. While we were gone this week, the red heifer finally calved, Maxim delivered a large, backwards bull calf alive. He's keeping this one, as he has decided he will need three for the big wedding dinner next September.


Max told Garry a story yesterday- a family in the village had a fire in their attic on Wednesday. Apparently they had hung clothes in the attic and they were too close to the electric wire that brings power into the house, and the clothing caught on fire. They carried buckets of water upstairs to throw on the fire, and everytime they threw one on the flames, they recieved a shock! Luckily they got the fire out, just have a blackened roof. I am sure it is an asbestos sheet roof, since most of the roofs in the village are made of this material.

So Garry is doing all the chores until Max gets back. This morning a man came to the door, and Garry thought he wanted his cow bred, but he didn't need the straw of semen he took, because it turned out he wanted Garry to preg check his cow that Garry had bred in July. The cow was pregnant, and Garry says the man has remaodeled his little barn, he is expanding from milking one cow to three now. He is one of the people buying corn silage from us.

Last week when we were shopping, I bought the wrong box of tissues, I should have spent the extra grivna for Kleenex brand, it turns out the lemons on the box means that they smell like lemon furniture polish. It is so strong that I have to remember not to inhale when blowing my nose, and there are 150 in the box.

Garry told the guy who banged on the locked door several (like seven) times at noon today that he couldn't buy brewers grain until 2 or 3 o'clock. It seems like the Monday- Wednesday- Friday afternoon sales have become whenever people show up lately, like in the spring. Can't get a nap!