Filling the bunk

 

Excitement and some dust in the air as as many as ten tractor/wagon and trucks raced up and down the street hauling corn silage from the field to the bunk yesterday. A couple of students are opening the gates on wagons, so the drivers don't have to get out. One wagon tipped over in the bunk (they dump from the side, and someone didn't have the front and back wheels square) which slowed things down for a bit in the morning but they got a chain and pulled it back upright so the others could get back to dumping loads in the bunk.

Of course other things broke, Garry had a flat tire on the skid steer first thing, so it took a while to make the cows' breakfast in the TMR. After they got things going smoothly with the silage, I rode along to Zaporosia with him around eleven am to get the tire fixed (new valve stem). The first shinomontage didn't have the right one, the second could do it but was busy changing tires on a big truck! We went to McDonald's to kill some time, they had told Garry maybe an hour, it was just finished when we returned. Garry insisted he was too dirty to pay at the counter, so we ordered on the screen and he sat down while I got in line to pay cash. 

It was nearly one when we got home and Garry saw a new tractor/ wagon combo going past, that was when they got up to ten. They had a couple KAMAZ trucks, a couple wagons from the last farm they had done silage at in Molozaharina, we are paying them by tons hauled. Garry says they drive slower. One wagon was actually a giant manure spreader! Our own guys speed along with tractors and wagons, plus I  think they have hired anybody who has a tractor and usable wagon in the village and borrowed some big yellow wagons from the big Petropol farm, too.

By the time they finished last night around dark they were down to six, three broken wagons and one guy went home. One of our wagons had hit the tractor pulling it, but Max said he would have it running again by morning. Which was good, because the custom chopper guys said last night that they would stay until lunchtime today after all, so we should be able to finish up and not go for a couple days with ours to finish filling the bunk.

I took a photo of the bunker while Bear and I were walking this morning, and the loads started going by around 8:30. Hopefully, all will go well, they started with six vehicles, including two KAMAZ trucks, but by ten Max said they were up to eight. Yesterday Max ordered lunch and dinner for the crew from a restaurant for 100 grivna per person (about four dollars US)  including soup and meat, I'm told.

The milk truck came this morning, and Garry was fixing a broken water pipe when we walked by the barn. We did 2 1/4 miles this morning, saw the ducks on the pond.

Chopping corn and other crop stuff

 So for the last couple years, Garry and Max have talked about hiring a custom chopper instead of doing it themselves with the old chopper that needs parts from Canada -every year it seems. However, the only farmer that hires it done nearby doesn't use irrigation, so his corn is ready to turn into silage long before ours. Not this year, since everyone has good corn because of all the rain this summer, so this would be the year.

Last week, while  Max was at the sea with his family, he found out the custom guy would be at Vitaly's farm in two days, and they started there Monday. Max came back Tuesday, Wednesday morning there was a bit of excitement when the chopper didn't want to come here because it was so slow there. We'd have the same trucks hired from that farm and wagons with tractors to chop into, so they could make more money elsewhere. 

No one has gotten our chopper ready to work yet, it chopped some hay this year, but it needs to be set up for corn to use it. Max went off to offer them more money, and they agreed to come here for a day and a half. They arrived after lunch for the half day, unfortunately, shortly after getting the headlands chopped, their ten year old machine broke down (something to do with the automatic greasers) and yesterday evening when we got back from picking Julia and Dima's washing machine (we left for Zaporosia after the breakdown) they'd sent all the drivers home while they waited for a service man to come from Dnepro.

So we'll see what gets done today, this year they plan on filling the entire bunker, since they didn't make enough last year and really had to cut back on feeding silage. It looks like the old chopper may have to go to work but we'll see what happens today with the custom guy. The driver was very impressed by our cornfield. He said he thought he'd seen good corn this year, but nothing like this.

Tuesday around noon I went with  Garry to breed a cow in the village across the highway, which means we drove past our sunflower field over there. Even though it was only planted the day before the field on this side of the highway, it's so dry it looks ready to combine. Garry thinks it may be a different variety, maybe seed leftover from last year.

 There was a lot of people sitting outside the house where he went to breed the cow, and most of them followed Garry to watch. 

It was a holiday, the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence after the Soviet Union, so I think they had visitors.

There's a lot of billboards on the highway commemorating the event, they cleverly incorporated the Ukrainian trident symbol into the flower design. 

PS, the custom guy chopper is ready to go this morning...

We moved!

 That's right, we moved again. Last year we moved into the Crawford's house after they left, leaving the girls in Victor's house where we had lived for ten years. One year later and we are back in our old bedroom. Last week I painted the repaired wall and we slept in our airconditioned room the next night. We will miss the bedroom with the ensuite and jacuzzi tub, and privacy, but we have a dishwasher and A/C!. 

 After two days of me carrying boxes and bags over and getting some of the boys to carry over a few pieces of furniture we moved over (the Mennonite couch, trading it for the black clickclack couch, the recliner Garry bought from Steve and my bureau- the upright freezer hasn't been moved yet, but it's coming back) I have been figuring out how to get it all organized back into mostly our bedroom, with some stuff in cupboards in the arch room and kitchen/living room. Baby Angelina is now toddler Angelina, so most things need to be up or locked somehow. She loves pulling open the spice rack and taking the big plastic jars out! Valentina and Angelina walked to the village church with us on Sunday morning. 

Well Angelina got a ride, and hung onto Garry's hair tight. Did I ever mention that a lot of Garry's hair fell out after we had covid? He's hair was so thick before and it was about half as thick but it seems to be coming back some now.

Our new neighbors, Oleg and Elena and family, arrived on Thursday, we are really excited about them working with the students (he is also taking over the business manager job form his brother in Dnepro). They have rearranged the house, changing the former spare room into the office and the sitting room next to the master bedroom into the children's bedroom. Grandpa has the bedroom we finished last month. He's been keeping busy mowing lawns. The one over here and the back piece by the garden had gotten four feet tall.

Friday was Danil's third birthday and  his mother Alonya cooked and invited us to a late night (8:30) dinner  at their house. We brought Angelina since her mother had to milk the cows and Papa Andrey had not made it back to watch her. Ever since he came back to work in the village last year, he does most of the baby watching when she's working.

Monday was our usual student dinner night and I made salads and we cooked hotdogs over the fire with cake for dessert. Victor, Oleg, Lena and their sons were all there (it was in their yard) this week, but all the Mahzara's were gone to Kirvoy Rog for another brother's birthday party.

Me too

 

You may have noticed I forgot to add the photo of the hayfield in the last post. I also didn't talk much about what I've been doing to stay busy. Almost every morning Bear and I go for a half hour walk. He tends to trot along, so I can keep a brisk pace, except for when he slams to a stop to check out a smell and decides to try eating or peeing on something in the grass. Most of the time we are undisturbed, occasionally saying hello or good morning in Russian or Ukrainian in reply to other people on the street. It's quiet and cooler early, so I try to go around seven; well quiet, except for small dogs who come out on the street (the braver ones nipping at Bear's heels) and bigger barking dogs on chains in yards, unless those dogs break free. One morning we carefully backed up and went on a different route!

On Friday and Monday I missed my walk because I had to leave early to drive into Dnepro to Victor's house. Friday morning we went downtown to pick up my Ukrainian resident card, which didn't take too long, and then to second office to register it and/or our address, I'm never sure. That one took more than an hour to get done. By the time I picked up some groceries and drove home it was nearly time for us to drive back for the SEI event.

Saturday Garry said something about needing to buy more liquid nitrogen after breeding a cow. Monday morning I discovered he wanted me to go get it, so I drove into the city again. Victor drove from his place to the place on the other side of the river, taking the old bridge across. I was so nice I even brought Garry a KFC spicy chicken sandwich, which he ate when I got back around eleven am,  since he has been working so much he's been skipping meals. I found him working on his concrete forms for the last walls, the doors of the new Quonset will face the pond. 

A couple times in the last weeks I've been babysitting because both of Danil and or Angelina"s parents were working. That means I don't get much done otherwise. Angelina is adorable at 16 months, Danil will be three tomorrow and is in constant motion, so you can't take your eyes off them.  The otherwise things I could get done, like packing up and moving things next door, or freezing tomatoes and peppers from the garden, are slowly getting done.

Yesterday morning we found out that our new people might be arriving very soon, so I paintrd the bedroom wall next door. You might remember the plumbing problems, and holes in the wall to fix a leak. A new piece of drywall went in last year, but no one wasin a hurry to tape and mud it until we were needing to move back. We rescued a bucket of half used paint with some green tint. Half way through painting I realised it was sanded, so it's a fancy textured wall! Anyway we should be able to move there for Friday night. We finally bought a mattress and frame on Saturday.

We have been busy

 I hadn't realised it had been so long since I posted!  It's been crazy busy since our trip to the sea. Max picked grain storage over a new tractor for what to do with the profits this summer. The last week and a half they've been working on making the foundation and four foot concrete walls so the company can start building the new Quonset barn as soon as possible. They poured cement everyday, last week Tuesday through Friday, in this effort. 

Last Tuesday evening they finished the foundation pour in the dark, by vehicle headlight light, since the truck was late. The cement trucks come from Zaparosia, and when they arrive depends on if they get over the bridge before four pm. The dam bridge is completely closed to truck traffic and the other bridge over the Dniper River is closed to truck traffic during rush hours in the morning and afternoon, so from four until seven pm, the cement trucks are on hold. Luckily the other days they came earlier. However, twice they weren't sure if it was going to be here or they'd be pouring after supper. 

Of course we made a few speedy lunch (gas station hotdogs) trips to Zaparosia to buy wire and nails for form setups. Wednesday we bought a small cement vibrator to make sure the walls were smoother than the ones for the heifer barn. By the way, on the Saturday before, Max got some guys working on putting steel on the roof of the heifer barn after it rained in the morning. They finished on that Monday, which is why they started  cement on Tuesday so the heifer barn is getting closer to completion. Of course the priority is the storage with the sunflowers getting closer to harvest every week, so it's on the back burner again.

Garry and I were at the SEI (summer English institute) picnic on that August 7th morning in Dnepro. We were just getting started when the thunder boomed and shortly after took refuge in a cafe in the park as the rain poured down with Maryna and the brave former and future students who turned out. A few even found us later. Hopefully next summer we will be able to return to having the three weeks of English teaching with our fellow Canadian teachers.

 The forms (some of which are maybe six years old and very heavy) held well except Friday evening. Apparently Garry was tightening wires with a pliers when he discovered that more cement was coming than he'd realised so he took some of the boys up to the barn to clean out holes in the concrete pad of the silage bunker to put the extra cement to good use. They were pouring walls when Garry and I had to leave for Dnepro, and everything was going well. However, a wall blew out as they were filling it because Garry hadn't tightened that section and no one else had either. By the time we got home and Garry checked it in the dark, it all looked fine. 

Where did we go, you may be wondering, and the answer is another SEI event with Maryna! She's visiting from Canada, where she moved in march 2020. This one was like one of the closing parties hosted by the left bank church, with the theme viseversa. 

They have been baling straw since our return from the sea, except for when it was too wet, as we've had a few showers. They couldn't rake it, they tried last week Monday,  so they just raised the pick up and are leaving some straw in the windrows, but leaving the weeds growing up throught them in the fields also. The guys have started discing up the wheat fields that are baled up. Some years it's too dry to plow them, this year it's too wet, which is why they are using the disc to work up the land. 

Last week Monday morning I drove the little car into Zaparosia to buy groceries since it was student dinner week. I planned on hotdogs to go with the planned salads, sweet corn and watermelon. However I bought chicken thighs and baked them. We had so much to eat we didn't get out the watermelon. 

Friday night we also had to look at the alfalfa field in the dark to see if it had all been mowed. I took a photo Sunday morning while Bear and I were on our morning walk. They baled it up this  Monday and Tuesday. There's still about three more days of baling straw to do... And yes, I'm sure I've said that for weeks, but they are determined not to run out of baled to bed up the cows next spring.

Rain and a trip to the sea

 

Last Thursday we drove down to reserve  a place to stay with all the students for our long anticipated four nights at seaside. We had packed a bag and left early in the morning in case it took all day to find a place to stay. However, we went to the place we stayed last year first, and they had lots of space, so we paid a deposit, and we were set.  Garry went for a quick swim in the sea, we bought some chiburecki (kind of a big flat fried pie with filling, we got cheese) for an early lunch and before noon we were on the four hour drive back. 

We drove through some rain on the way home, but it hadn't rained much in the village, just enough to stop baling straw. I was busy making final plans for meals, deciding what I needed to buy when I went shopping. A couple hours later, we had about two and a half inches of rain, and Max showed up just before dark to tell Garry that we should just go tommorow, since they wouldn't be able to bale straw for a couple days. 


So they told the students to be ready at six am and I spent a frantic night getting ready to feed twenty people (with three kids, us, 14 students and Yana's 12 year old niece) three times a day for four days without buying more groceries, except for bread and stuff available in a corner store! I didn't get much sleep, but we were off in a caravan of cars at six am, with Victor, Garry and Max driving. We arrived around ten am, with two cars of students getting a traditional photo with the golden deer at the turn off the highway. We had lost Victor in Zaporosia when one of the students in his are needed to buy something. We had an unscheduled stop at a gas station when little Angelina threw up in Max's station wagon, so Victor caught up as we arrived at our little hotel and we relieved to hear that they had places available for the weekend!

Before long everyone was  settled in and headed to the beach, except Max, who headed right back to Nikolaipolia, and me, getting lunch ready ( subs). Victor stayed just Friday night, and drove home on Saturday. I ended up serving all the meals in bowls, since I didn't pack the plastic plates. 


Everyone had a good time in spite of sunburns and jellyfish. It turns out the reason it's easy to get rooms is because it's on the news about how there are so many jellyfish in the sea of Asov. It sounds worse in Russian, they are called medusa. Everyone learned to watch out for them in the water, after the first sting. The students also played a lot of volleyball, and played uno and board games under the shelter at the hotel where we had meals. Leila volunteered to wash dishes, so Garry gave her extra money. Even the little ones had fun.

They were all wishing we had come for a week, but Tuesday morning they went for a last swim after breakfast and group photos, when they discovered the beach was covered with dead jellyfish! So maybe it was time to go.

Max came and we packed everything and everyone into two cars and drove home. We drove through some thundershowers, in Zaporosia the water was running down the streets, but it was dry in the village, so they're baling straw, the mow is full now (Friday afternoon). I've been watching Danil so Alona can work too. Yesterday afternoon I had him and Angelina for a couple hours while canning salsa and the power went out for a couple hours! No Netflix cartoons! 

That's Garry throwing off more bales!

They might even finish before mowing fourth cut alfalfa.