Weekend update- here and there

That's right I (Teresa in case you don't know who writes this) am back in Manitoba, playing with the grandkids and getting ready for our son Luke's wedding in two weeks. Garry, as I am writing this, is in Dnepro teaching one of those English conversation classes he enjoys so much.

Took this photo Thursday afternoon 

It's definitely browner and a little colder (although the sandhill cranes are back) here than in Ukraine, where the apple trees are in full bloom and the crops are all planted.

On Tuesday Garry told me all the sunflower seed was in the planter, but later he told me Max had to go buy four more bags to finish planting, and then a final two more bags to finish. Everything went very smoothly with more tractors, Garry did a lot of cultivating, Anton spread fertilizer ahead of Garry and Max sprayed for weeds, while Artom ran the corn/sunflower seed planter.

It's four am here in Manitoba, which is noon in Ukraine, and since it takes me about a week to not wake up at 3:30 am, I decided to borrow a computer. I left mine behind this trip, mostly because the security guys at at least one airport on the trip will frown and look it over and complain about the bolts Noah fixed the broken hinge with. I had a decent trip here, in spite of my changed flights from my original booking, I had to fly to Edmonton from Amsterdam and then wait three hours to arrive in Winnipeg at 11 pm. I think I was awake for all but three or four hours of the 36 from the time Garry dropped me at the train station for my midnight train (about three hours were in 45 minutes pieces on that train).after a busy day finishing things- I grouted tile in the new house. Wednesday morning I got up at six am after going to bed after one am, when Seth and I got home from the airport.

Garry had to get our translator Nellie on a bus Thursday afternoon to Odessa, her mother had a stroke. I have not heard any further news.

Garry will take the train Monday morning, visit the Canadian embassy, where he has an appointment with a ag liaison, I think, and will stay in a hotel and get a 6 am flight out of Kiev that gets him to Winnipeg much earlier. The boys might have a tractor for him to drive when he gets here, as they are just getting started with pre-planting things. We are hoping to see some of you while we are here in Canada, Garry will go back to Ukraine after two weeks here.

Planted and packed

Yesterday the guys finished planting 100 acres of corn, all of which will be irrigated. They are going like crazy getting the ground ready and planting sunflower seed now, because there is rain the forecast.

I am almost all packed for the midnight train to Kiev, I have finished all the things I planned, I just finished grouting the big bathroom next door as planned.










The alfalfa and winter wheat are looking good.

Tractor time

Monday they took the loader off the third Belarus tractor so they could get all three tractors in the the field working. One tractor was spreading fertilizer,  one was cultivating the fertilizer in and working the plowed ground up, the last Belarus Max was using to spray pre-planting weed killer. They were getting ready to plant corn.


There is lots to do in the spring and so all the tractors are sometimes put into service. Since we have such a dry climate, especially during the hot summers, it is important to get the land worked up and planted as quickly as possible to take advantage of the moisture in the ground from winter snow.

This year the snow fell and melted later, slowing spring down from the norm, so the guys were anxious to get started. For several years, Garry and Max have talked about the possibility of buying a heavy duty tractor- even one not made in Ukraine, and when we were home this winter, the boys on the farm thought they could swing buying one for us, since here in Ukraine we make enough profit to buy some new equipment, like the nice new sprayer purchased this winter, but never enough to get the tractor of Max's dreams.

 Of course, then the guys bought themselves a number of new pieces of equipment in Manitoba, and we have been figuring how to get that much money transferred here to pay for it. Garry and Max finally decided on a New Holland (although Max liked the Case) and with the money getting hung up in  international transfer - we have tried a trial 500 several times- Max and Victor and Garry had been working on a money down, pay the rest in 60 days plan that came to fruition this week.

The guys are excited to have the tractor to work with before all the spring work was finished, Garry got to drive it back form Dnepro on Wednesday morning in the rain. We didn't get that much rain, and on Thursday morning the mechanic came out to show them how to care for it. Thursday afternoon we got a good rain that continued into the evening, so the tractor got washed and won't be doing much today I think.

The forecast has more rain in the next week, which may delay planting a few days, but rain is never a bad thing for farmers in Ukraine, since we get so little rain. Garry tells me that they got the headlands planted in the corn field. All of this year's corn will be irrigated, the rest of the land that is not in wheat or alfalfa will be planted in sunflowers after the corn is planted. I noticed on Wednesday that the ground was already starting to crack while walking in the village, so we are happy whenever it is raining, no matter how long it lasts!

Spring has sprung

Normally when our building teams come it is warm and we can picnic at some point and the trees are getting leaves and flowers are blooming. This year the snow was coming down when they came to Ukraine and the crocuses were just starting to bloom and the winter wheat was finally turning green as the team was leaving!


However, while we were in Egypt, spring really came. I expect to see the village cows coming down the street some morning soon. As soon as we arrived in the village Sunday afternoon, Garry was more interested in a tour of his wheat fields than going home to check out the crime scene.







He is really pleased with how the wheat is looking, after worrying about it looking yellowish or brown for weeks. He thought it might have fungus, but it looks great.






This morning we saw a pair of cranes near the barn. I had gone out to the field to find Garry, since Yana had come to the house looking for him at 6:15. There was a first calf heifer having a large calf and she wanted Garry's help to pull it out.

Garry had gone out with the tractor to cultivate at 3 am, so I tried phoning him but he must not have heard it ringing.  I drove out to the field (the irrigated corn field) we had seen someone cultivating in yesterday afternoon, and there he was.



Unfortunately the bull calf did not make it, but they got it out without hurting the little cow who had it, so that was a good thing. Garry went back to work until Artom started for the day, he was home around eight am. 












We will have to get back to work on the house for the Crawfords to live in. They hope to be here in September. Right now one of the students is finishing the drywall smooth and nice. Valera did this kind of work before.



Garry and the guys are busy getting ready to plant the fields.








Max has been spraying the corn ground with the new sprayer, he is really happy with the real sprayer they bought this winter. It is more accurate and has a bigger water tank so he does not have to fill it up as often.



On Monday Garry took the students out to look at the fields and Doug and Marcie went along. So I have some photos to show you.

As you can see the kids are really into field tour on Mondays. Victor has often been out this spring to check on the bees. We only lost one hive over the winter, better than last year, but the weather has them behind about a month from last year. They are really busy now that the apricots are in bloom.

Catching up

After a week in Egypt at a Red Sea resort in the Sinai with us, Doug and Marcie are off to Canada. Hopefully the winter storm does not cause problems with their flights as they will be going through Minneapolis. We had a relaxing time with lots of snorkeling and went on a day bus trip to see St Catherine monastery.

Unfortunately while we were away, our house was broken into - they broke our bedroom window and tossed our room- literally everything was thrown from one end to the other. Luckily they did not take our computers, they got some cash they found and my camera and a few other things. I guess I should have taken it to Egypt with us, or left my card in my computer.  Sadly, two of our guys disappeared early in the morning after the robbery, so it was doubly disappointing.

You'll be seeing how good my phone camera is for a while.

However, I have some nice photos from Doug for this post and the next one.

Good bye

The team got their Mc Muffins and to the airport in plenty of time to get on their first plane of the day, right now they should be somewhere in the air between Amsterdam and Minneapolis I believe.

Garry and Doug spent much of the day tiling the small bathroom, Doug cut while Garry mortared them on the wall. I spent a couple hours wiping tile and cleaning out the grout lines so it will be easier to grout. We have to buy more tile to finish it next week.





Tonight we took 8 students (including all four Sashas) and one village kid to Just Youth in Zaporosia. Doug, Marcie and Nellie came along. There was a band tonight. Plus a pictionary game and Steve talking about Easter and refreshments of course.









We will be offline for the next week, we'll catch up with all of the news when we get back. Things are greening up quickly here. We saw about 5 or 6 small tractors spreading fertilizer with grain drills on one big wheat field along the highway on the way to Zap at 5 pm.


The bees have been active this week, checking out my crocuses in bloom. Temperatures have risen to more normal levels, spring is finally here.

Last days

Tonight (Friday) the bags are packed and everyone has gone to bed except me. Garry will drive the final five to the airport around 4:30 am, like he did on Tuesday. If the drive goes well (there are a lot of big holes on the part of the highway closer to Dnepro where they did not pave last year) they will have time to get some egg mcmuffins before getting to the airport and their 7 am flight to Kiev, from there they will go to Amsterdam before getting to Winnipeg before midnight if all goes according to schedule.

There was more progress on the house in the last two days. After spreading fertilizer on the wheat fields until 4 am Max got the rest of the roof on Thursday morning. He slept from 4- 8:30. Artom took over at 4 am and finished the last field about two and a half hours later. Max had to cut the last piece smaller to make it fit.

Doug spent the morning in the attic, replacing the windows that had been removed when the students started cleaning the attic for insulation. Doug finished the vapor barrier and insulation in the half of the attic that did not have a floor built on for storage. Leila did some dust moving, I mean sweeping, up there Thursday morning also.

Meanwhile Peter and James were hanging more doors on Thursday. Peter wanted to have doors hung and the handles on before he left. It's done! However, he says the pre-hung doors we paid extra for in previous years was worth it. They had to notch places and attach the hinges and drill holes for the locks. Since Peter needed less help today James replaced Roy as Ray's helper in the morning.

Ray was continuing Friday with what he started the day before- bricking the ends of the porch roof. Earlier in the week he had been working of drywall taping and filling nail holes, and he was back on sanding it in the afternoon.

Thursday several students and Garry were sanding drywall and Garry put a second coat on (maybe third some places). Today he moved on to starting the shower tiling in the small bathroom, which he's been wanting to start since he finished the en-suite bathroom.

There's still more to do, since he plans to tile the entire room. I did clean up the tile after taking this photo,  he did this in the morning and did not get back to it as he and James changed the brakes on our van.

The ladies have been busy. Besides cleaning up after me... I love cooking when someone else is washing dishes!  Earlier in the week they were helping at the worksite and on Thursday and Friday they did more organization of the storage closet and the clothing in it at our classroom.

That included washing a bunch of clothing and putting it on the shelves that were built last week.It finally got warm and dry enough to hang laundry outside!
 Carol reconnected with some of the ladies she has met in the the village in previous years, and has been my bread buyer at the store and sandwich maker for lunch, when we feed students who are working with the team.This means 15 or 16 this week, last week it was 22 or more some days.

Today the students got their donated new shoes, it was mass confusion as everyone was trying on shoes.

Once again Carol and Marcie did most of the work of organizing shoes again this year, with Nelly's help translating so that we everyone into shoes that fit, not just the cool ones they wanted to wear.

Before dinner most of the team went into Zaporosia with Garry for some last minute souvenir and candy shopping, after Peter got the last door knob on. Carol had gone for a very long walk with Nellie to pick up a letter for Max Boradin, and I stayed home to finish up cooking dinner.

It has been a busy three weeks, especially the last two weeks. The VBS week was crazy busy, but well worth it, as 40 kids took Ukrainian New Testaments home with them. Garry said at the closing program two ladies had tears in their eyes as they thanked him for the team coming to teach their kids.

Almost finished

Today the guys were hard at work trying to finish the roof.  They had a couple students helping including Sergey, (with the Cossack ponytail) who was up there all day.

By noon they had almost finished the porch roof, which they had raised a little so rain will it will run off it better.

 Inside Marcie, Nellie and Valera (another new student) were plastering walls and Peter and James got more doors hung, they are up to five finished now, they plan to get the rest done and drill holes and put on the handles by the end of the day on Friday... almost everyone will be flying out Saturday morning.

After lunch, which was chili soup and sandwiches today, everyone headed out. Garry skipped lunch for the second day in a row to drive to the city or more screws to put the roof on with. Marcie went back out to plaster, but found she was alone, so eventually she joined Carol in cleaning out the classroom storage room, they plan to have the clothing all organized neatly on the new shelves by Friday night.

There was one last sheet to go on at the end of the day, it will wait until the morning because they need Max to climb up and do his magic since there is no place to stand and work anymore. Max had spent the day getting the fertilizer spreading going on the wheat fields, since it was dry enough to get out on them finally.

Tonight it was just the team for dinner, and they couldn't eat all the lasagna and dessert, so I guess there was enough.