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.