Off-line for days

Garry has been unable to get on the internet since he got back to Ukraine. His laptop, which we had left in Ukraine, has a on/off button that has been causing me problems for the last two years. Sometimes you had to push it five, ten, fifty times to get it to turn on. Last spring when the boys were using it for their schoolwork, one day it must have been about a hundred- with a twist down and to the right which Jonah discovered worked better the summer before. That day we printed out the grade reports just in case, since the boys were almost done with homeschooling for the year! I have just been leaving it on, with the exception of power shortages, although it seemed to work better lately, when I had to turn it back on.

Maxim was always turning the computer off with the button when he used it to check his Russian facebook, and I guess he was still doing it, because when Garry got back, he couldn't get it to turn on. He took it into Dnepro and got it fixed for 50 dollars he told me on the phone. However, since Maxim went home to his parents that same day- Wednesday, Garry was unable to go pick it up when it was fixed on Thursday, so he was still unable to check his email.

I called Garry Saturday morning (today) afternoon there, and discovered he was in Dnepropetroesk, waiting at Dafi (one of the malls) for Victor to pick him up to go back to the village. He had his computer, but the battery had gone dead about the time he had gotten into hotmail. It only lasts about an hour normally.

This morning Garry said he woke up at 3 am- he says he thought he heard someone knock on the door and he couldn't get back to sleep, so he drank coffee, watched TV, and then feed the cows at 5:30. At 7:30 he walked out to the highway and caught a marchutka van into the city around 8 am. He went to Victor's church for a Ukrainian Christmas service, which he said was like regular church with more singing, and lasted two and a half hours. Garry said he enjoyed hearing Daniel (Victor's 17 year-old son who visited Manitoba this summer) sing, and Dasha, his 11 year-old daughter, also sang and recited a poem. Victor had to drive some older ladies home after church, which is why he was at the mall, waiting for Victor to pick him up.

Garry knew he had a ride back, since Victor was planning to come out to the farm this afternoon, because the empty milk jugs were at his house from when he sold milk on Thursday, and needed to go back to be refilled for Sunday's church milk. Garry tells me that we are selling milk for 4.5 grivna per liter and I think 6 or 7 on the church and Thursday milk. The people in the village with milk to sell are getting 5 grivna now, so it must be selling for at least 10 in the markets.

Yana is back at work this week, her face infection she had just before we left had put her in hospital, so her parents had been milking the cows. Garry says the cows are doing well and Maxim found and fixed (welded) up and old cattle trailer during the time we were gone. He also told me that it snowed about two inches on Tuesday, but it melted away and it rained/drizzled all day Thursday, so it was muddy outdoors.


In other exciting news, Box had three kittens while we were gone. Maxim is trying to convince Garry that Needles is catching mice and is happy outdoors, so four cats are plenty in the house (like three little kitten count as cats!) Look at the photo at the beginning of this post, where Needles is trying out the Box we made for Box to have the kittens in, and tell me, does that look like a cat who is planning on staying outside? He does like to go outside and that's fine, but I don't believe he wants to stay there. I am putting my foot down on this one, since Garry mentioned that the cat tried to come in on Wednesday but Max chased Needles away from the door. I'll tell Maxim when I get back if I see him doing that it won't be the cat outside the house!