Closer to "home"

A couple of days ago, Garry went to breed a cow in a nearby village. He said that there was a babushka, a younger lady and small child there at the house where the cow needed to to bred. They had an old tractor and a little equipment but the grandmother said that "she did not know how she would get the crops planted this year, because her son was sleeping in a tank." He had been called up to the army and was working on fixing tanks north of Dnepropetroesk.

One of our next door neighbor has been called up, he is married and about forty years old, he says "how can I go, who will feed my pigs and what if his wife leaves him if he goes?"  Some of the troops near stationed near here have been moved over to eastern Ukraine, as you can see in the news.

Near Dnepropetroesk

When Garry drove to his class in Dnepropetjisk on Wednesday evening he discovered that the police and soldiers have set up new checkpoints on the big highways near the cities. We assume this is for added security in this area with what has been happening in the east, at one place they stopped him and opened the back of the van to see what was inside.

When they drove back (one of our guests and Maria had gone with him) they had to stop and buy gas so Garry bought a big bag full of semki (sunflower seeds) and Snickers bars and they left them with the guys at the Dnepropetjisk checkpoint, and then they drove through Mc Donalds in Dnepropetroesk and bought 25 cheeseburgers and gave them to the soldiers at the checkpoint in the photo around nine pm. Our guest is very good in Russian  and told them that we were Canadian and wanted to thank them for being there serving Ukraine. Maria said she watched from the car and all the guys were smiling and shaking hands with them.

Many cars have flags now

 One thing we have noticed in the last months is that we see so many Ukrainian flags in both Dnepro and Zaporosia, here are some photos I took yesterday evening when we drove to Zap for Bible study.

Someone has turned this Lenin profile Ukrainian on the city sign

There are billboards that say Zaporosia is Ukraine

Even this old van has one, and there is one on the pole at a bridge

 day is ending as the sun starts to set over the Dniper River as we drive over the dam