Busy again

 Wednesday's snow was sliding off the roof by 8 am Thursday morning, and became and lot of mud, especially in our yard as you can see.
Good news, the grivna seems to have stabilized a bit this week, around 24-25 to a US dollar if you are selling, people buying are getting them at 28 now. Gasoline prices have even dropped just a tiny bit.

corn seed under the shed

Garry has been busy spending, buying all his crop inputs, corn seed and even spray (herbicide), and more fertilizer, before they go up more in price or become unavailable. Right now the plants that make fertilizer in Ukraine are shut down because of the gas being more expensive.

Speaking of gas, this week the gas company has been in the village, handing out new bills to people. People that have been paying their bills all winter- they go to the post office with their meter reading that they take themselves and pay what they believe they owe- have been hit with big bills, some for 2 or 3 thousand grivna. Our Maxim Rudei went into the city and had them recalculate his bill for 2500. Apparently this was based on the meter reading from three years ago, around the time he bought the house, and now. They did and told him he now owed 3000 grivna, which he paid.

 Apparently no one realized that they had eliminated a program that rewarded people who used less gas with a lower rate. If you were under a certain amount per month, you paid 1.7 instead of 3 for a (cubic) meter. The boys group home owes 1800 by Monday or they will turn off the gas. Of course we can help pay it, but their next door neighbors, a retired couple owe 2000 and how will they be able to pay? Good thing spring is around the corner in Ukraine.

Click on the birds to see the start of the house renovation for the school.