Snow's melting... and Garry has cows to breed

The snow has been melting for the last week or so, and except for the big snow banks- like the one on the way out to the highway, it's mostly gone. It means that the field roads are impassable still, however because of the mud. Garry is anxious to go out to see his wheat field, but he can't yet. All those many beautiful feet of black soil is a sticky, muddy mess when it's really wet!

Luckily, he can't go for a few days anyway as we are down in Crimea. There was still some snow in the ditches until we got a ways down into Crimea, but the grass is turning green along the highway, and the wheat fields. As soon as we crossed the border, (there is a border, you don't stop but Crimea is kind of like the Quebec of Ukraine) There were cows out grazing, and goats and sheep (a big flock right beside the road, white, brown and mixed colored sheep there would be a photo but my camera battery went dead and needs charging) everywhere we looked! Back in the village the only animals we have seen out was on Sunday morning, when lots of chickens and even geese were out (most people in the village have a backyard flock). You have probably seen the palm trees in Sochi, well there are some here in Yalta, too (we are also on the Black Sea.)

So Saturday, Max came to the door to get Garry around 6 pm. He had to go breed a cow just as I started making sauce for the pizza. He asked if it was in the village and Max laughed and said 20 kilometers in Russian. By the time he returned I was just getting the first pizza out of the oven, the one with kolbasa on- we pretend it's pepperoni, it's close and much cheaper. The tiny meatball one, which was a first time trial, and every liked, so I'll do it again, was out in a couple minutes so he called Max and Andrey and they devoured the first two so fast I was lucky to grab two slices while the next two were in the oven! The fifth one ended up uneaten and in the fridge for Sunday, the guys will eat it for breakfast lunch or dinner, they love my pizza to eat.

Garry had to tell me a story about the village he went to, it was the same one that he had to breed a cow in the week before, when they were almost there, but had to take the long way around when they were just a mile before the village because the snow was not cleared (I wrote about it last week). It was actually the same man's cow, well this time his heifer, which was definitely in heat, mucus falling right to the ground, a great sign for her getting pregnant. Just a few days before, Garry had to go breed a cow for a second time... the first time was six months ago! (they cycle about every 21 days) He told the farmer to get her checked after a couple months this time by a veterinarian to make sure she is pregnant, even if they do not see her in heat.

Anyway, last week when they went to the village and got to the place where the snow was too deep, they saw an old LADA car sitting there with no tires on it. This week Max heard the story from the farmer about why the car was sitting there....

The owners of the car had driven home to the village in the snow, and were not too far from their home when they got to the impassible part of the road, so they decided to walk home. To prevent anyone from stealing  their car, they removed the battery and wrote a note on placed it on the dash. Please do not steal anything from this car, it doesn't work, the battery is gone. When they returned they discovered the tires gone, and an addition to the note..... since the car doesn't work it does not need tires....