Upgrades

 They are doing an upgrade to the electric in the village, well moving the meters so they are easier to read, ours was inside the porch, now it's outside on the front of the house. They also put a new wire from the road to the house. The electric was off around 12:30 Tuesday until 3:30. We were having staff meeting that morning when Box hissed at the man tapping on the window she was sitting in. If you don't know, tapping on the window is a perfectly normal way to get people out to talk to you here.

It was one of the crew, Victor and Garry stepped out to talk to them. Yana knew all about it, I think she had her house done already, apparently they are working their way down the street. There was a search for a recent bill. Victor had one over at the little house. So they were all set to do their thing after they turned the power off.

So I made stir fry  and rice for lunch before the power went off, and hey, with a gas stove we can even cook when the power is off. Garry and Victor went over to barn, so after the first group got the wire up, the guy to move the box came.

He knocked on the door, and was a little disappointed in my sketchy Russian, but I understood what he wanted since Yana had explained it, a different guy would move the box. He did ask to see the the electric bill which took me a while to figure out what he wanted (I was like lights?) until he made a rectangle with his hands. I hunted for the one they had given the first group, he got excited when I picked one up, but it was for next door. I did find the right one and gave it to him.

A little later he came back with the lady in charge of paperwork and asked me to phone someone who speaks Russian. I had to tell him- my phone- no money- and I could not call, they were at the barn if he wanted them. So the two of them tried to explain the problem to me. Turns out our bill is still in the babushka's name, he was asking why the names didin't match. I said 'we buy three years' (I told you my Russian is pretty simple) and gas bill has our name, I don't know why. They decided if I signed our last name it was fine, so I signed four times, twice on each copy, after she took out the carbon paper. I haven't seen carbon paper in years. She gave me one copy. Victor says it's about the seal on the meter so we should keep it.

Wednesday the power was out after lunch for about an hour, so I guess they were doing more houses. Maybe they will put a coated wire up this year. Apparently the people across the street who have been throwing a wire up on the bare wire to steal electricity for years are trying to sell their house because they have a huge bill/fine to pay.

Pizza with peas

 

So Friday was the new guy Gosha's birthday and last week the other students told me he wanted to make pizza, so we did. I had made a chocolate cake Thursday afternoon while Garry was in Dnepro teaching English. We had three teams of three people, not counting kids, until Valentina  came in with Angelina, then one group was four. Her parents took turns holding her. Danil rrand around.

Most of the pizzas were pretty thick with sauce, meat and cheese. No one wanted onion, at least not the whole group,so they didn't use any. The girls' pizza was prettier than the ones made by the other two groups. Both guy groups wanted an egg to put on theirs but I refused. I'm not sure exactly what they were going to do with them but they insisted they always put egg on pizza. Sasha was ready to go check the hen house for one.


They all got a regular piece of the pizza their team made to eat, and a small sample size of all of them, they reminded me to get out the bedarick (gift) sneakers and socks. He doesn't want to be in photos, so just the cake. The students left around eleven. 

 

d raced off to the dentist's with two students around eight thirty, just before I started feeling unwell, however I made it through class and birthday cake time without running to the bathroom. I was feeling better by late afternoon.

Garry wasn't back with the two students mid afternoon (I'd saved a sample piece of pizza and  a piece of cake for them)  After that,  the other students came back to get paid. 

Apparently inspired by cooking class student's were making pizza this weekend. Alona came over to borrow a few things and then couldn't get her oven to work, so came over and cooked her pizza, She offered us some but we'd already eaten pasta. Luckily, since it was thick with toppings.

Yes, those are peas, she didn't have or didn't want corn, which is a pretty common topping here. First time I've seen peas on pizza.

Is it cold/new neighbors

The snow started melting and disappearing on Monday, and Garry started working on his greenhouse again, after last week's cold and snow. Seems like it's a couple inches bigger than I thought. However, the weather has  been below freezing, windy and feeling damp (no rain or snow) the last two days so it feels colder than it is.

The guys did spread that fertilizer on the wheat fields yesterday, Max used the New Holland tractor because the pto is more reliable to keep the rate steady than the Belarus tractors. The frozen ground doesn't look like it will last, warmer temperatures and rain in the forecast for next week should get that fertilizer in the ground for the wheat to grow this spring. 

Yesterday Garry did some work on the greenhouse roof, reusing the big porch windows that were replaced when the Crawfords were here. He'd priced out plastic panels and decided that recycling was the way to go. He was pretty cold when he came back inside. Vlad was giving him a hand (his greenhouse job has not started yet.)

This morning he was back from checking for cows in heat at the barn (none today, but three yesterday morning) and I was just putting his brown sugar biscuit breakfast in the oven when Alona came in with little Danil. We'd forgotten she'd asked about taking him to a free children's dental clinic in Zaporosia she'd found out about when she dropped in yestrday afternoon. With her and Nikolai next door this week we seem to see her more often so far, mostly about things for the house- cleaning supplies, moving their washing machine (they bought their own at the apartment, so it moved over, Kolya didn't get one before moving, although their new house has one).

 She also asked about having a picnic, but it's still too cold for that! 

Danil played with the magnetic puzzle on the fridge while Garry changed his clothes and waited to eat some breakfast before leaving. Then they were off. Garry is teaching English this afternoon, so they had to go this morning, Alona said she knows where it is on Khortista Island. Hopefully the line isn't too long.

Alona just finished another bead picture (we buy the kits and then pay her for doing them, so I get ones I want now). Going to have to frame these now that there are two (and more flower ones at the store, but she's working on a pheasant one now). It took her a couple months to do the sunflower one she just finished it has thousands of beads sewn on, I had to pick up more nitki (thread) in the city for her on Saturday because she'd run out.

Meanwhile, our other neighbors (our old house) has been hosting Larissa's classes since it was so cold in the classroom last week Wednesday. Baby Angelina weighs more than nine kilos at nine months, according to her mother at the last village baby check this week. 

Garry's back and he's released hurricane Danil in the house. At two and half he's into everything. Apparently all looks good with his teeth, they are coming in straight, I'm told. Garry's having problems keeping him out of his 1500 piece puzzle he started yesterday. Alona went to the rest of Larissa's class.

Friday

Every Friday morning is cooking class this year (unless I'm gone, Garry usually takes over if he's here). It works well, Garry has started giving out the students their weekly cash near the end of class. Almost everyone comes, except the babies with moms now that its cold. This morning it was -19 C.

They enjoy the eating as much as the cooking, almost everyone gets to chop, brown, and stir. Today it was mix, scoop and mold, or beat egg whites and powdered sugar for frosting and dip the hot cookies in it. We made the Ukrainian gingerbread cookies that I had made for Monday night's dinner, except without a mixer (I adapt so they can try it at home.) Next week it's the new guy's birthday and he wants to make pizza, so I don't have to choose what to make.

Can you tell some of the guys don't like being in photos? They agreed that their hands were okay to be in pictures though.

The students were fed (we had tea with the cookies) had had their take home jars of honey and package of frozen ground beef in hand by ten thirty. Garry had to take students to Dnepro this afternoon, Vika and Nikolai had dentist appointments and Max and him were meeting up with Victor and the business manager to change the business registration from the city to the local government so they get our tax money to use locally. 

They planned to leave at 12:30 but Garry wasn't back. At 11:20 he went to breed a cow in another village, but it turned out his two calls weren't about the same cow and someone was waiting by our gate for him to breed their cow as he was coming back from breeding the first cow. He raced back after following the guy there, changed and took his lunch on a plate at 12:45 and headed to the city. As you can see, we got a little more than the predicted centimeter of snow yesterday. At least three inches. 

Changes

 Garry was happy to report that this morning someone came to get him to breed a cow in another village when his phone rang while he was there. Someone in the same wanted their cow bred. Right now he is off with Max picking up a ton of fertilizer in Kamskoya (former Dneprapajisk) with the truck. Not so much fertilizer as cattle feed, it's urea and a small amount- a couple pails go in every batch of feed they make for the cows. One of the boys came looking for him an hour ago. I assume it was about the construction project they are working on.

It's still too cold for working on the heifer barn or any of the other projects Garry has planned for the spring or summer. Every week he says they will be spreading fertilzer on the winter wheat fields, but that's still maybe next week as we have snow and it was -14 when we got up this morning. My phone said 3 degrees F for Americans. Looks like another week of cold weather is coming. We have to grab any eggs the hens lay before they freeze now. Yesterday the sun had the snow melting off the roof, making a very icy patch in front of the door. I discovered it when I was taking Bear out for the day. We decided to bring him onto the back porch at night because of the weather, he's about twelve years old. He liked exploring the house for a few minutes, but couldn't settle down until he got a blanket on the porch for the night.

The boys are working next door, fixing the ceiling that didn't quite stay up when it was installed last spring when they built the house. They took it down and have screwed on more wood strapping and are reinstalling the plastic strips, with a few new pieces to fix problem areas. There's a few more things to do, like finish installing the flooring that finally came in last summer, but it is all easier to do with no one living in the house.

If you are wondering why no one is there, Oksana, Kolya and little Matfew have moved into a house on the first street as you come into the village. Ukrainian orphans are supposed to be able to get a free house or apartment from the government, you might remember years ago Max Boradin looked at some broken down houses to choose from, but someone got the one he picked (with a roof on) in the village he grew up in. We don't know any orphans that got a house until now.

That program has evolved into one where they can buy a house that they have to live in (not rent to someone or sell) for ten years and then it's theirs, free and clear. Its only for orphans under 23 and somehow last summer the people in charge of the program in the place where Oksana was from had money left and if she could get all the paperwork done in a week, she could have a house. They knew she was married with a baby now and living here. Our former group home parents wanted to sell their house in the village to move to the city, it was inspected and passed. Max drove her all over a couple of days in the summer and fall and again this last week getting paperwork done in different places, and now they have moved in. The summer kitchen is fixed up pretty nice and they will live there until spring, the big house needs a little work done to modernize it. 

As soon as the house next door is finished Nikolai, Alona and little Danil will move in. the students decided this, by the way.  He's already bought a chain saw to cut wood for the woodstove. They did a good job of keeping the apartment tidy, and the yard  (he bought a weedwacker to trim the grass) so I think the yard will look nice next summer. Garry plans to do some work in the bathroom at that apartment  before anyone moves in there. 

I just finished baking bread and a couple dozen oatmeal cookies, Garry is getting spoiled with us having the house to ourselves. Monday night's Chinese food was a hit, the guyys who like spicy food enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken, and everyone liked stir fry, beef lo mein and potstickers. We had mandarins and cookies for dessert. 

As you can see Angelina is growing fast, she's starting to crawl and stand in her crib. You might not notice but Garry fixed the saggy kichen table last week. It may not be able to shink anymore, but it is flat!

Monday the guys moved big calves here from the farm and biggest heifers from here back to the heifer barn over there, where they will be the little heifers. They waited a few days for the weather to improve.

Maybe

 That's what I told Vika at one thirty when she came in to ask if we'd go to Ashawn this evening. Garry told the students we might go tonight since it was stormy yesterday, but in spite of the 20% chance of snow in the forecast, it's been snowing and blowing much of the day.

We'll find out when Garry returns from Dnepro (remember I said he was going back to teaching English) since he left this morning shortly after nine and I don't expect him back until after four, and we usually leave for shopping around five. That was why we were planning to go yesterday, he's kind of tired after teaching and driving.

I'm thinking the highway won't be great with the wind gusts out there, it's really cold (not Canadian prairies cold, but minus 17 is cold here) and we won't go. Hopefully I can get what I need for Monday's student dinner in the village or the freezer, I'm planning Chinese for Lunar New Year.

I have crossed almost everything off my to do list, potted up seedlings, did a load of laundry and put away what what I hung on the drying rack two days ago, fed Bear a nice hot dinner (one of the girls had filled his dish with dry food today, but he likes some people food too) and gave the chickens some water and grain and collected one egg. I just put away a batch of cookies - with pink icing that I baked for Monday's dinner. I haven't finished crocheting my Bernie mitt I started last night, maybe I will finish if we stay home tonight. 

Garry was hurrying when he left this morning, he'd already been over to the barn, bred a couple cows there and gone to Morosnika (neighboring village) to breed a cow. The lady phoned last night to say she needed her cow bred at ten o'clock, according to the vet, who'd given her a needle to bring her in heat. Since Garry needed to be in Dnepro at 10:40, he told her it would be eight when he came. She wasn't sure it would work, but when he got to the village at eight, he was just reaching for his phone to call and get the house number when he saw a lady waving him down. 

He came home and jumped in the shower to clean up for teaching, when Max came in, someone in Nikolipolia needed their cow bred this morning, so Garry put his barn clothes back on and was off to the far end of the village before coming home and cleaning up again to go to the city. At the time the sun was shining a bit, but it didn't last.

Change in the weather

 

Today was cooking class, we made soda bread, it wasn't great but they covered it with butter and jam. It was pouring rain when I went to get everybody a package of farce (ground beef) from the freezer in the cheese room. If you come to class, you get a package every week to take home. This morning it was about eight C. but when the first boy came to class, he said that it was supposed to freeze and snow, and before eleven o'clock, it was freezing on Garry's car windshield.

We had told the students that we were going to go to the grocery store in Zaporosia tonight, but that didn't happen. By twelve thirty it was snowing hard outside, Garry ran outside to let the white hen that escapes every day back in the pen before we ate lunch, she was looking pretty sad outside in the blowing snow.

Garry went to get a haircut at 1:30 (the girl who has cut his hair since we moved here was in the village) and said the temperature had dropped to minus six. Unfortunately there's a layer of ice and mud under the snow. 

Needles had come in with the students when it was raining and around two he was yowling because he thought he wanted to go out. He went out into the porch with me, and jumped back six inches as he started out the front door and discovered the snow. 

Mud to cold

 

It only took a month, but I am sleeping better now. Strangely, Garry and I have switched our body clocks from the norm, with me waking up early and him 'sleeping in' until seven most days. 

Last week's mud and warmer weather became below freezing weather on Friday, giving the guys a chance to clean up manure behind the barn. Garry said they couldn't clean the aisles on Thursday because there was no place to push the manure out of the barn. They couldn't get to the pad to move the pile to the field because of the deep mud around it. This year they need to pour more cement to increase space to pile manure in bad weather. There's just more to move since we are milking more cows.

Friday morning we had cooking class. I was wondering what to make and Garry suggested pasta, so I had thawed ground beef the night before. I discovered in facebook that we'd done one pot spagetti a year ago, but it never hurts to make it again. We also made shells in a cheese sauce, and everyone had a plateful to eat. Garry usually pays the students during my class, but no one got paid this time because they hadn't taken their garbage away as requested the week before. 

Garry had a dentist appointment to get his teeth cleaned (no cavities!) and one of the students had an appointment at the dentist like the Friday before. Since cooking class was over, I went along this week and picked up a few groceries and walked to the yarn store, which was open (masks required.) I was running low on yarn, since I've been making things for next Christmas already. 

Garry was worried that it might snow before the ground froze and make a big muddy mess, but that didn't happen. The students all got paid upon our return, Garry had been getting messages for an hour that everything was cleaned up at the houses.

Garry finished another 1000 piece puzzle, he plans to glue this one onto cardboard to hang up, because it reminds him of snorkling in Sharm El-Shiehk. We also have played a lot of Sequence since he's around the house more when it's cold outside. It will be a few weeks before they can start building that heifer shed. He's planning on putting a small greenhouse on the south side of the house, he's already started some seeds. 

Garry thought we'd go to church in the village this week. We haven't been since fall, mostly because the virus had come to the village, but he seems determined to 'get back to normal' . He started teaching English in the city and said he had seen the gate open at the church since our return, and we should connect with the members again. However, this Sunday everything was locked up when we arrived at ten, so he watched a live feed from an English speaking church in Kyiv. Later in the day we watched our son's church from Canada, before Garry's weekly zoom call with his dad and siblings. 

It didn't actually snow until Sunday night, Monday morning there was about an inch on the ground, and later in the afternoon the wind picked up and it started snowing again. Luckily I had already fed Bear and Garry brought in two eggs from the chickens. There weren't any when I gave them water in the morning.

It's supposed to warm up to above freezing today (Tuesday) a couple times during the night it sounded like it might be raining or sleeting outside. Still 5 below C at seven am. Nothing like Manitoba where cold and windchills below -40 closed schools yesterday. 

Max had stopped in Sunday afternoon, the axle had broken on the bobcat. It had been welded last summer and apparently that made it snap when they were moving straw bales around and hit a frozen rut. The skid steer is the most important piece of equipment that came in the container, since it's used to make feed, and clean the manure from the barn everyday. They really wanted to buy a new axle, but couldn't find one to buy, so it was welded again on Monday and the bobcat was back in action.

Max also had to get cash for a woman in the village we rent land from, she had gotten paid two year's rent for an operation in the fall, I think to repair a stomach ulcer, but is back in the hospital, needing another year's cash advance to pay for treatment (15,000 Grivna). 

In other news, the price of a loaf of bread in the village is up to 19 grivna this week. The students are hoping for another raise, they got one in November, but bread is a big part of their diet. It is cheaper in the cities than at the village store. 

Gathering?

 We weren't able to find N95 masks so I decided to try double masking for visiting Lena's class on Sunday. She also asked the students to wear masks and some of the time they had them on properly. 

Monday I was busy cooking for our student dinner that evening. Garry had driven a small group of students into Zaporosia to shop at Ashawn on Saturday night, since we could shop at Metro Sunday. He came home with one of the items on my list for Monday's dinner that was on sale, hamburger rolls. Giant hamburger rolls, so I had to make 20 huge hamburger patties. We also had baked beans- pinto beans since they were the only dry beans I could find at Metro- in the crockpot and a huge pot of baked macoroni and cheese. 

 I was still frying up hamburgers when the students started arriving, I counted heads and stopped with two left to cook, but Kolya and Oksana arrived late, so I cooked the last hamburgers for them as some were starting on dessert. I had made ambrosia salad and put it in little bowls but they all thought it was dessert, so I only handed out one chocolate chip cookie each. Garry's been feasting on chocolate crinkles and chocolate chip cookies all week, and they enjoyed some for Tuesday staff meeting.

Garry always helps wash the dishes after everyone leaves. Monday night his devotion was about priorities. 

I will confess I am still not sleeping that well, and it's nearly four weeks since we left Canada. Yesterday morning I was awake for a couple hours before getting up at 4:30 and making bagels and bread. This morning after the best night of sleep for a month we had bagel BLT (and egg) for breakfast. The hens have started laying again. We were going to get the lights on in the coop, but I guess the days are long enough now anyway.

Garry started a new 1000 piece puzzle yesterday, so he has something to do when he's not at the barn. He has been busy preg checking cows this week. Right now he is off to an English class of Tanya's. I was going to go but had a migraine this afternoon so I stayed home. Right now I am listening to the rain pouring down as I type, hopefully it stays rain until he gets home. Sunday night we had some freezing rain, and it's supposed to be getting back below freezing for the weekend. 

Former student Vlad was in earlier today with bags of candy and cookies he was handing out in memory of Valera, his brother, it's customary a month (and also a year) after the funeral. Vlad is in the process of getting a job working in the greenhouse on the way to Dnepro, they have a bus that picks up workers in the village. 

Still raining pretty hard out, I guess I will figure out what we'll be making tomorrow morning for cooking class. Today Larissa was here to teach at the classroom and had them writing about who they are. Here's Leila.