So it’s a beautiful day in Kyiv. Well, maybe I can say that because I like the snow. But the trees aren’t very happy. On my short walk into work, around and between the brick an mortar domiciles which represent older Kyiv (as opposed to the new fancy storefronts that line many of the streets downtown), there were 2 trees that fell. The Kyiv Post story is here.

Sure it was windy, and we got about 6-8 inches of heavy snow. But trees falling down? Yes, sure, I know it goes hand in hand with precarious weather… but I never thought the trees right out in front of our building would be falling down. Shows you what I know…

The snow was apparently really heavy (wet). As it piled higher and heavier onto the leafless branches, and in combination with the soggy ground surrounding the unseen part of the tree, gravity and wind took caused havoc. I’ll try to post some pictures later, if I can get them off of my phone.

Of course, this didn’t stop the now 2-day tradition taking place in the small “parklet” (a wanna be park in front of our building). There were 5-6 individuals today (only 3 yesterday) partaking in breakfast. It was difficult to tell if they were eating anything, but the [first] bottle of vodka was about 2/3 empty. Ahhhh…. the holidays.

* * *

That reminds me of another little story that took place a couple of weeks ago. We had a little get-together at our house for my wife’s birthday on a Saturday evening. A boyfriend (who is a driver) of one of my wife’s grade school friends tagged along. I will focus on him, as it was his behavior was most captivating. He strolled in, in his mild-mannered demeanor, and made himself at home – playing with Mikey at every opportunity. It was a welcome reprieve for my wife and I, and Mikey seemed to like him too. Within 5 minutes he (let’s call him Alex) asked “do you have any vodka?” I said “sure,” pulled an ever-so-slightly acquainted bottle out of the freezer, and offered a shot glass in tow. To make a long story short, over the next 3 hours Alex drank 2/3 of a bottle of vodka. NO problem. His girlfriend said “oh, he really likes vodka.”

What?

How can anyone “really like vodka?”

I’m guessing he likes getting pissed as a sailor on leave (every night he’s not driving, and some nights when he is) more than he likes “vodka.” Anyhow, the only scary part was the fact that he was playing with Mikey more and more as the vodka took effect. Granted, the effect was not as dramatic as it would have been for those of use not constantly maintaining upregulated alcohol dehydrogenase levels, but it was still apparent. He was getting drunk. And the more he did so, the more he wanted to play with Mikey, and the less he wanted to talk to adults.

It was one of those bizarre, somewhat socially uncomfortable situations where you want to interrupt and take your child back – but it would be incredibly insulting, potentially damaging to a very long-standing relationship, and potentially unnecessary (as long as Mikey is not being lofted around the room as if he were manning his own private aircraft – which he did, occasionally). Nevertheless, after several glances with the wife, I chose to hold Mikey for a while. Then she did – and then I did again.

The [not so] funny part is that this is normal behavior for lots of Russians. They drink a LOT… and it is totally normal to drink whole bottles. Crazy.

Woke up today and Dr. Winter definitely prescribed some cold. Approaching the solstice, we have our low temperature for the season thus far, for sure. The thermometer said approximately -11 to -12 °C. And for you math wizards out there, that’s approximately the same temperature in Fahrenheit, without the minus sign (somewhere around -11.428°C = 11.428°F).  There’s your trivia for the day.

It’s crisp and cool, and the sun is hanging quite low on the horizon. Looking out at the construction zone from our windows, the brave crew seem to be uninfluenced by the conditions: cranes a swinging, trucks are hauling, workers are welding, and the winterized dogs are meandering around the site begging for scraps to get them through the (now harsh) winter.

Definitely time to don the hats, gloves, and scarves. The recent snow on the ground isn’t melting, only swirling and landing in a new, temporary resting place, until the wind changes direction once again. The 10-day forecast shows much of the same – so I think we’re officially in Winter. That’s OK, it will make the Spring oh so wonderful – in about 5 months!

Break out the sweaters again, plug in the electric/oil radiators, stoke those wood burning stoves (not really).

The heat is off. It happens around Easter each year. There’s governmental control, if you didn’t know, over a vast majority of the heating supply to the city. Gas powers boilers, which heat water, which run through radiators in most every part of every building. I’m sure you can imagine how large an operation this is. And it’s all powered by natural gas. You remember, don’t you? — the gas that “we” weren’t paying for, that caused parts of countries to our West to go without heat for a few weeks in January? The gas “we” were being accused of stealing from Russian pipelines? Yep – the very same gas has been turned off to the big boiler rooms.

When there’s a certain number of days (10, I believe) in a row above an average specified temperature, they close the valves. Don’t quote me on this. My wife just said she thought it was governed by a specific date, irrespective of the temperature. Either way, I guess it makes sense… why heat when it is generally warming up anyway. And practically speaking, it has been warming up to the point where I’ve was beginning to wonder when it was going to happen. I doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the heat coming from the radiators is unnecessary. The transition is a rolling one, meaning that they can’t just shut off the entire city by flicking a switch. Different areas (suburbs) are switched off at different times. Our apartment is now off, but the family home is still on – supposedly until 19 April.

I also noticed, for the first time, this year, another sure sign that Spring was officially considered to have arrived. Sure, sure, the blooming plants are a dead giveaway that greenery is right around the corner. But another indication that the Ukrainian Government also recognizes the fact that it’s getting warmer is the storage of the inner set of doors at the Metro Stations. Normally there are 2 sets of (heavy) swinging doors that one must pass through in order to enter or exit the stations. As I walked out of Luk’yanivska yesterday, I was surprised that the entire set of inner doors were removed and apparently stored for the summer. Probably ~24 doors, although I was told that there would be no math.

Let’s hope for warm weather ahead, and no freak snowstorms –> which are known to happen every now and again.

Now if I could only figure out how I can manage to go to the office in shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops, I would be truly stoked for Summer!

It has been a very snowy Holiday Season!

We went for a walk on Orthodox Christmas Eve, and there was high pressure in the air. It was cold and crisp, and we enjoyed the briskness of it all.

Unfortunately, not all of the creatures like the cold so much.

On our walk from the Metro we caught some varmints finding refuge on the ground over some heated pipes (below the surface). Obviously the heat was significant, as it melted all of the snow in a 2-3 meter patch. Actually, there are lots of these spots around apartment buildings — It’s fairly common to see a group of 4 manholes oriented in a square. I guess there’s a room down there, with valves and stuff, to regulate the flow of water, etc… Anyway, we could see the steam spewing from the crack around a manhole cover. The pooches actually seemed pretty happy there – as they should – because there are many dogs (and other animals) out in the cold (especially outside of the city) that aren’t as lucky, and don’t make it through the winter. They first barked. But their defensiveness quickly turned to curiosity when we stopped walking. They were obviously just hoping we’d give them something to eat. No luck, and no love, as we had nothing to offer, and didn’t want to touch their [potentially] nappy fur.

We were on our way to pay our buddy for storing my Dnepr 11 (motorcycle) for the winter. As we walked through the park adjacent to the Metro, we snapped a couple of wintery pictures. Here’s a great view of Kiev’s “TV” tower – although everything has gone the way of digital cable now.

I also became a treehugger for about 10 seconds.

Incidentally, I think I represent the 1% of the Kiev population that wears a colorful jacket. Everyone else — BLACK, GREY, DARK, DRAB, or Big-Cat patterns.

On our way to pay, we also caught a presumed grandfather playing with his grandson on a sleigh in the snow. There were small hills all over this park – where people sled and play in the winter. Actually, and very sadly, it’s a Jewish Memorial) – read the Wikipedia page and you’ll learn why there are hills here.

It’s a bit fuzzy (sorry), but you get the idea.

Immediately ahead, we saw the “grown-up” version, and you didn’t need your own vehicle. Frozen tires were awaiting anyone stupid enough to attempt a ride down the icy luge. The main issue was the waviness of the descent. It’s hard to see, but by midway down the hill, you were going to be catching air for sure. Helen said it’s a common way for kids to lose teeth and break collar bones (clavicles) in the winter, when they go head-first. Which is what you do, when you TOUGH!

We chose not to test fate. I like my smile the way it is, and a good dentist is extremely hard to find here in Kiev

After paying the dude, we walked on sidewalks covered in ice for most of the way back home. Kinda sketchy, but you do what ya gotta do. Helen still doesn’t have satisfactory winter boots, and they’ve stopped re-stocking the shelves with winter apparel. Go figure.

We passed by the front side of the Dnepr Motorcycle factory. This is fairly close to what my motorcycle looks like, though mine is (somewhat) warmly tucked away in the back of a garage at the moment.

As we walked, we saw a sign with the time and temperature. Yep it was cold, at only 4:30 in the afternoon:

But as the night passed, the pressure dropped. Consequently, the clouds returned, along with their associated moisture, and we woke up to a beautiful white Orthodox Christmas (Jan 7).

snowy

Russian New Year is this coming Wednesday (Jan 14). Just one more reason to celebrate in Soviet Style

So I have to confess something. My BIL (brother in law) is a very sweet guy. Considerate and caring, simple and genuine, and he possesses many endearing qualities. However, note that BRAINPOWER is NOT one of his strong-points alluded to in the aforementioned list. Nor is vision, insight, understanding, logic, comprehension, aptitude, intelligence, cleverness, awareness, wisdom, ability, forethought, or knowledge.

My wife told me this story, and I could NOT believe it. Really… I was stupefied. In truth, I could believe it, but I didn’t really want to — and I had to see it for myself before accepting it as reality. To me, it’s something you might see on a reality TV show: real, but surreal.

Now as I tell you about this little Home Improvement episode (it really does remind me a bit of the TV show), I’m sure you will undoubtedly say “I know someone like that.” So it’s not as if this is a uniquely Ukrainian quality (or deficiency). It definitely happens elsewhere on the planet. After all, he had to have acquired the ability to perform such fixit feats from experiences in his past (parenting, childhood, teenage years, work (furniture design), etc…. and YES, he does design furniture, which makes this EVEN HARDER TO BELIEVE.

However, this is a true story, it DID happen to our family, and it DID HAPPEN AT OUR FAMILY SUMMER HOUSE (Dacha). For me, this is like “hitting below the belt,” and strikes a bit too close to home than I’d like to admit. But then again, I’m submitting this family secret to the entire internet-connected world through my weblog.

This being said, I’d like to state, for the record, that Andre is a brother-IN-LAW. And there is no, lest I repeat, NO SHARED BLOOD between us. Alrighty then…

Here’s how the story goes…

The summer house outer door (there are two doors at the entrance) tends to expand and contract with changing seasonal influences. In the fall/winter, it absorbs moisture from the surrounds (air) and, consequently, expands a bit. Sure, sure, the door was never hung quite perfectly anyway (many years ago), so when it expands a bit, the door swells to the point where it begins to bind in the door jamb. Initially just a little snug, it did seem to be getting worse as the Fall progressed. No BIG deal, but it did become more and more difficult to close the door completely – and subsequently, opening it became less easy as time wore on.

So one solution is to fix the hinge(s) so that the door hangs properly! What a concept!! But that would require WAY too much effort. Removing the door, unscrewing the hinges, re-surfacing the jamb and/or chiseling away a bit of wood (if needed), re-attaching the hinges, and re-hanging the door. Whoa — soooooo much effort (not)! Incidentally, this was done without my knowledge or supervision, when I was on holiday back in the USA.

Another solution –> you can see below. Simply shave off the offending edge of the door so that it doesn’t bind in the frame anymore. I think he pulled off about 2-3 mm.

Well, that worked for a little while, but of course the door continued to expand with the onslaught of moisture included in the Ukrainian weather.

So the next idea is the real shocker. Shaving the door, though not elegant or pretty, seems like a logical approach, right? Especially if it’s just a “summer house,” and the cosmetic appearances of most everything out in the Ukrainian countryside is a bit “rough around the edges.”

Anyhow, the door is fabricated from several pieces of wood, needless to say. It appeared that the joints between the peripheral boards were the primary culprits of the expanding problem. So BIL reckoned that putting brackets on the door might prevent further expansion. Plus, if we squeezed the door together before installing the brackets, we may, quite possibly, eliminate the the door’s unshapely inadequacies altogether.

Of course, we didn’t have the proper brackets — which is why I balked at the idea when I was asked to fix the door before my trip to San Diego. But, that didn’s stop BIL.

So from the outside, this is what our door looks like. Pretty standard, I suppose.

From the inside, it looks like this:

So you can already see the finished product: Brackets (8) have been installed on the inner surface of the door in an attempt to hold the door “together,” preventing further expansion.

Now I have to say, it even looks OK. Perhaps it’s not the most attractive solution, but remember, we are at our summer shack, I mean house. It’s still a work in progress, big time, and someday if we need to buy a new door we can do it. But for the time being, perhaps slapping on some brackets (however flimsy they may be — and trust me, they aren’t made of the thickest steel I’ve ever seen.

Nevertheless, from a birdseye view, all is OK. Good job Bro!

Upon closer inspection, below is a close-up photograph of the bracket (top right one).

Note how the door doesn’t even look like it’s coming apart, but what the hell — let’s mount some brackets anyway. We have them, and we have the screws, so why not.

Well, how do I say this ?????….

Above is a screw on the left, and a nail on the right. Right?

Sure, it’s obvious.

And don’t you know…

… you use a screwdriver (above, left) to install screws, and a hammer (above, right) to install (hammer in) nails.

I think this is pretty straightforward, and something we learn in kindergarden (or earlier). Am I right?

Well on this day, the day the brackets were installed, BIL was running a bit short on time. Plus, it was a bit cold, and he couldn’t be bother to find the screwdriver. And, it was tooooo far to walk the 10 meters to look for the drill, and way too difficult to try to find an extension cord.

Soooo, have you guessed it yet?

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

Tick,

Tock,

* * * * * * * * *

That’s it,

Time’s up!

* * * * * * * * *

I SHIT YOU NOT…

Andre HAMMERED IN THE SCREWS TO MOUNT THE BRACKETS

He couldn’t be troubled to extend the energy required to find/use a screwdriver, and he was too lazy to get the right electric tools for installing the brackets properly.

So, I have to say it again, with my eyes closed, hands covering my face in despair, head lowered in front of me…

HE HAMMERED THE SCREWS

I don’t even know what else to say. I am completely dumbfounded, and even though he’s not a blood-brother, I’m ashamed. What in God’s name was he thinking? Does he NOT know that threads on a screw are intended to SLICE their way through the wood — and that is the ONLY way that they would/could function as a screw? Holy-moly.

Am I alone on this one? What is going on? Where am I? What am I doing here? Somebody help!!!!

Get me OUTTA HERE!!!!!   Mommy!

If he would have killed himself while installing the brackets, somehow, he just might have won a 1st place Darwin Award.

So I still haven’t put together all of the images I’d like to show you regarding my trip to the USA. So, for the time being, I thought I’d just catch you up on my life in the last week.

We pretty much go out every day to the market. Do the usual — buy food, pick up any household items on our list, and get the blood circulating a bit.

Christmas was WHITE this year. Yep, it’s been hovering around -5°C, and it snowed a couple of inches (5cm) on Christmas Day (December 25). We can see a chapel out of our window. It is for the hospital immediately behind it — and I suppose that’s where services are performed when someone passes away in the hospital.

I grabbed a bit of snow from the window sill, and made a snowball for Whitey. Yes, it was his first snowball ever. Put it in the tub, and he batted it around for about a minute – and then got bored.

We went for a walk, and I had to snap this picture of the snow sweeper. Basically it is a modified tractor. I guess most snow sweepers are… but this really looks like it was rigged from something that used to be in the potato field somewhere.

On Christmas day, I finally got all the ingredients together for the banana bread I’ve been talking about. I hopped on the net and found what looked like a damn good recipe. Indeed, it turned out great.

The bananas were COMPLETELY BLACK. I thawed them from the freezer for a day, and they were perfect.

Yes, we had to even go out and buy the pans for the bread. We really don’t have very much in the house, but it’s getting there, slowly but surely.

The final product:

We also put up some “Christmas” lights. They are BLUE LED’s. Pretty cool… and kind of expensive… but they have 8 modes, are 21 meters long (the string of 400), and criss-cross around the house. It makes for a nice atmosphere, I think.

Just after Christmas, I busted out all the makings for one of my favorite foods: Burritos. Yep, I brought all the necessities for making good burritos back with me from the USA. Well… I forgot (very unfortunately) the Jalapeno peppers — but everything else I got. Tortillas, refried beans, taco seasoning — all of which cannot be found here.

Here I was about half way through my 3rd burrito

And then today, NEW YEAR’S EVE 2008 (to be 2009), we had the outer door to our apartment fixed! Wooo-hoooo. That’s great news. We have a magnetic door to the building that keeps out the unwanted, most of the time. But in fact, it would be relatively easy to sneak in if you really tried. Then, when you get up to our floor, there is a door that separates the elevator from the 4 apartments on our side of the building. It has been broken since we moved in at the end of October.

Why today? Why would it get fixed on NYE?

I’ll tell you. It’s because of all the days of the year, NYE is the day with the HIGHEST AMOUNT OF HOME BURGLARIES!

No shit!

The neighbors finally ponied up to get the door fixed. Everyone knows that half (or more) of the apartments in the City are vacated on this night. PLUS, everyone is drinking and could care less about what else is going on around them. Thus — this leads to the highest crime rate of the year.

Unbelievably, when we asked the neighbor that was fixing the door, he said: “yeah, it’s because it’s NYE.” Damn… crazy!

Anyway, I’ve got to go eat some dinner and begin my drinking for the night. The family came to our house tonight, so we don’t have to worry about our stuff — but the family’s stuff is subject to a raid. Hopefully the neighbors will keep an eye out for the rest of the family jewels in Troeschina.

So here are pictures of our doors:

The fixed door:

The outer door lock — not that looks matter at all, but damn it looks bad.

And then you get to our door, which has two dead-bolts. Hopefully I don’t have to stand inside the door with my butcher knife in my hand. Actually… I think I’d prefer my 9-iron. That would hurt!!!

OK, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We close the door on 2008 –>

… And open all of the doors (actual and metaphorically speaking) to 2009:

Cheers!

Love and Happiness to Everyone in the New Year

* 2009 *

Well, I’m back home. It’s been a week now, and I’m enjoying the new apartment. It started snowing a bit yesterday, and more is expected. Hopefully it’ll be a white Christmas when we wake up tomorrow.

Our cat is growing and causing trouble.

Helen is growing and causing trouble too

Anyhow, I have a bunch to tell you about my trip to the USA. Had a fabulous time. Played a bunch of golf, saw a whole lotta friends, and traveled quite a bit. I’ll write about it in the next post, and put in a bunch of pictures.

It’s kinda funny how after you don’t write for a while, you (I) become reluctant to do it again. I have ideas that I want to write, but I just don’t get around to it… and/or I don’t think it’s worthwhile. Nevertheless, once I write once or twice, I get back into it. Stay tuned…

OK, Fall is unofficial again. It’s back to Summer-Fall.

It is supposed to rain a bit today, but it has been beautiful recently. Beautiful enough for some FANTASTIC Mushroom hunting –> keep an eye out for a post coming to a nearby blog sometime soon.

But today I wanted to touch on a fact of life around here. Everyone is bracing for winter. Evil, cold, blustery, bitter, winter (зима). You can see it on the faces of the people wandering around the market.

But perhaps more obvious than peoples expressions, which clearly reflect their discontent with the disappearance of Summer/Fall and the arrival of the looming winter, is the characteristic clothing that people are now wearing. A few weeks ago we had a cold snap (less than 10°C for almost 2 weeks). The winter jackets came out; the rain gear came out; the umbrellas, boots, and dark and heavy clothing. In a fortuitous twist of weather fate, for the last week it has been beautiful –> touching 21°C or more on the Centigrade thermometer (70°F on Fahrenheit, for you English Types). Hell… that’s practically summertime!!!

Yet, people are still wearing their heavy clothing. Sure, maybe the summer clothing has been put in a box in the closet or something… but dude — bust that shit out again, I say. I was thinking to myself that if this were July (and 21°C or higher), people would be outside shirtless, meandering around the liquor stands in flip-flops and shorts, drinking beers and smoking cancer-sticks, and pretending to be loving the summer life in Kiev. The fact that it’s 21°C in July doesn’t make a difference — they are enjoying the temperature.

So what IS the difference?

O’ –> for October.

Crazy, but I think it’s true. Just because it’s October nobody even thinks about wearing shorts! No, it’s not windy. No, it’s not cold. Very interesting Daniel-san – the psychology of living in a place with real seasons. People interpret the weather differently depending on what month of the year it is!!!

This being said, I think I’m gonna wear some shorts today — and everyone can mock the crazy American (if I actually leave the apartment). What’s the difference between July and October if the weather is the same? Why not try to re-invigorate that fading tan on those arms and legs? I’m pretty sure I’d be wearing shorts in Santa Barbara right now.

Funny how the knowledge of the impending cold has the capacity to influence attitudes and behaviors

OK, so fires this week probably won’t catch. The fall weather has reared it’s rainy face. All week. Ugh!

The picture below was taken last week, but it makes the point, regardless of our current weather situation.

Fires are everywhere during the summer.

The picture is taken FROM our balcony. The charred area was undoubtedly begun by a lit cigarette butt. (Remember — approximately 75% of people smoke here. OK, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but it is extremely high). My wife even suggested that some people start them on purpose. Why? I mean… Why?

The funny thing is that people walk right by the flames without flinching. I’m not sure if they even notice it. Kinda like a passing butterfly… it’s just part of the scenery.  I’ve seen countless fires along the sides of the road while driving out to our dacha. Smoldering, spreading, creeping and crawling fires that simply consume the dryness.

No firemen. No trucks. No water. No concern.

Weird!

I guess Ukrainians know that 99% of the time the fires will simply burn themselves out, as long as they aren’t proximate to forests, houses, oil tankers, etc. Who cares about individual little trees or structures without four walls, right?

It’s weird… to watch open fires burn without seeing anyone concerned, in the slightest. I guess it probably happens in other third world countries. Oops, I guess Ukraine is technically considered 2nd world, but you get the idea.

Damn…

Last weekend it was 30°C. This weekend, 10°C.

Here were the first clouds, yielding the first rain (although not much) since the Spring, rolling in from the West/Northwest. The cold front behind it chilled everyone to the bones. People were caught off-guard for the first couple of days… but now (5 days later) everyone had begun dawning their leather coats, fleeces, long pants, and hats — and it’s still early in September. Ugh!

No more flip-flops

Incidentally, there’s my motorcycle under the silver cover, locked to the lamp post.

I have a feeling it’ll be in the blue part of the thermometer at least once before even October. Nevertheless, I’m still hoping for an “Indian Summer”

We live in the city. But in the summer months we spend quite a bit of time at our summer house. It’s about 45 km from our apartment, and serves many purposes, not the least of which is sanity and a sense of grounding with mother Earth.Needless to say, the summer house is a virtual bounty of life. Everything grows, lives, dies, wilts, withers, blows, ages, wears, blossoms, suckles, spreads, and passes. It’s the circle of life, and it is everywhere at our dacha. Of course we (as “man”) are attempting to control our environment as best we can to make life “comfortable,” but when it comes down to it, we are visitors here just like all the other plants and animals. It feels inherently different in the City.

So as you might guess, we have snakes. Yes, some are poisonous, but many are not. I can never remember – do the small yellow dots mean they are deadly, or harmless? Anyhow, we were peacefully eating breakfast a couple of months ago (early June), and I glanced over at the sunlight beaming through the glowing lilys – right onto the belly of a green, slithering, legless, sniffing-tongue, scaly varmant. It didn’t scare me so much as it surprised me. I rubbed my eyes, opened my pupils a bit, and refocused my aging lenses. Nothing changed. It WAS a snake. We hopped up, took a closer look, and deemed the snake to be “harmless.” It was not like it’s highly poisonous counterpart (without the dots, I believe) – the meadow viper??? Not sure. Damn, just the viper attached to the name gives me the willeeees.

Here’s a picture: Sneaky, isn’t he?

So we got some sticks and a fishing net, and tried to corral it so that we could get a better look. Unfortunately, he was sort of deep in the flowerbed, and we couldn’t easily capture it. After about 15 minutes, and playing “catch me if you can” as it slithered between the bases of several bushes, we lost it. Great. Gone. Just what I wanted – to be thinking about the slithering reptile casing our gazebo while my back is turned towards the table, peacefully eating my oatmeal. I bet it’s hungry. I bet it likes human.

Then, another episode -

It was nightfall. The wolves were howling, the wind was blowing, the lightning striking. Not really, that was just for effect. But… The first star was peering through the stratosphere. We were starting our evening fire in our Russian standard outdoor iron oven (sort of a BBQ). We hear a croak. Several times. And then a whine. And then a croak, and a whine. And another.

The cats became equally interested and were moving about. It was emanating from the corner of the serai (our shed), which is connected to our old (but still functional) outside kitchen. It was near the steps, and coming from under the woodpile. Surprise, surprise.

It was dark and we couldn’t see, so we fetched our headlamp and double-A Mag-lite. Carefully inspecting the area we expected to see a toad or two. The chornie-belie (black-white) cat, a demonstrated hunter, had helped focus our inspection. We couldn’t place the sound, as it was definitely unusual for a toad to squalk like that. Anyhow, under the illumination of our flashlights, we lifted a small piece of plywood – and there it was.

Shit. A snake. I lifted it again and took a picture (so that I wouldn’t have to get too close). I’ve never heard a snake make those sounds before = “no way!”
Let’s look at the picture and see if it’s a viper. If not, we can catch it. Looking at the picture, the situation became far clearer. It was a toad… and a snake. But the toad was getting the wrong end of this deal — it was being eaten by the snake. Either the toad was bigger than the snake had anticipated, or the attack had just literally (5 minutes before) taken place and the deal had not quite been consummated yet.

Have a look at the picture: I didn’t want to disturb mother nature, so this is the best picture I got.

I guess that’s what they do around here… but I’d never quite seen it before. The snake was incapacitated by its appetite. We proceeded to go back and look several times, re-lifting the wood, and the animals hadn’t moved an inch. Caught in the throws of death, the frog was muttering its last sounds.

We returned in the morning, and (not surprisingly) no trace was left. But it goes to show that life is all around us.

Oh, I almost forgot. There was another snake I almost forgot to mention. It was INSIDE one of our bags of concrete, INSIDE our fourier, on the way into our main house. Yikes!  What am I doing here???
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I wrote this above post a little while ago, and between writing and physically attaching the pictures/posting the text, I came across a few other snakes during my brief trip back to California! All at my Dad’s house: first, a black racer (basically harmless, cool looking snakes) that was exiting the tomato patch – he was about 4 feet long; second a rattlesnake hanging out in a small culvert used for water drainage – it rattled at us and returned to its shelter; lastly, a rattlesnake relaxing next to the water tank right near the tub used to offer a bit of water relief from the desert heat.

The last example has particular relevance because it is very possibly the SAME snake that BIT my father about 6 weeks ago. Yep, he was walking by the tanks and stepped on the damn thing. If you know my father, you know he’s blind (or, for all intents and purposes, blind – he sees very, very little out of only one eye). Anyhow, rattlesnakes are supposed to rattle before biting, right? In fact, they are supposed to rattle before you even get anywhere close enough to step on them, RIGHT??? But this little bastard bit first and rattled afterward (admittedly, after being stepped on ). Anyway, thanks buddy. Thanks for the warning.

In the end, Dad had something on the order of 13 anti-venom treatments over the course of the next ~36 hours at 2 different hospitals. He is fine, and all is well — just a bit scary if you ask me.

Here’s my tribute picture:  Modified from a blind veteran’s golf tournament held in Iowa each year!

I’ve had more snake adventures, but those are either private, or for another post…

I have to say, Russians love their flowers. Sure, sure… every culture (that I’ve experienced) around the world appreciates the simple beauty of Spring flowers. They represent the essence of life in the plant kingdom and beyond.

All around Kiev they are planted, nurtured, and cared for in places that you wouldn’t (per se) expect them. There are plenty of places where where there’s nothing but concrete, rubbish, detritus, garbage, junk, trash… it looks as if nobody cares about the spot, and nothing is going to get cared for there — but then, then you see a beautiful patch of Lilies in the middle of nowhere. And right then, you look over, and see a shortened and old brooded grandmother on her hands and knees, watering and tilling the soil that supports these phenomenal expressions of natural beauty.

I can’t say that I’ve taken many pictures of those flowers in the middle of nowhere, but I have taken quite a few at and around our summer house.

Here’s a selection:

These are from our potatoes:

And the rest of the pics below are from the field. In just a small area were I busted out the camera, I saw several small and very beautiful flowers as part of the ground cover.  There are many more, but here are a few pics.

Ahhhhh — I wish you could smell them all too. Maybe someday

Well… they turned off the hot water. Yep. OFF. Like none, non-existent, nothing comes out, nada. And in typical Russian (Ukrainian) style, there was NO NOTICE. Where we live, there are no hot water heaters. It is all centralized, and gets pumped into the buildings. Sure, a few people may have heaters (electric, on-demand water heaters) hooked up to their cold water just for situations like this, but not many have this — and we certainly don’t.

As I said, in typical Russian style, two days after the water was turned off there was a piece of paper taped to the space above the mailboxes saying that the hot water will be off until July 8. That’s another 2 weeks. Which if you can read between the lines, and again, knowing how inefficiently things actually get done around here — I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s off for another week past that, at least.

The worst part –> It’s not even that warm (outside air temperature) in Kiev yet. The Summer hasn’t “hit.” Some days, perhaps late in the afternoons, it does get warm — but it definitely isn’t July/August-type warmth. I think that there are still a few communities on the Left Bank that have hot water — maybe we should just go and raid their homes — They do the maintenance in a few phases.

Actually, I think my brother in law has the right idea. He, without notifying any of us, went out to the summer house with his girlfriend after work, and spent the night –> where there’s warm water now! The little snake, rat, varmint, gopher — menace to the golfing community.

The Reason for this turn-off:

The Government turns off all the hot water in order to do yearly maintenance on the pipes, filters, valves, heaters, etc… Fair enough, because I’d like the water to stay warm all winter long, and without interruption. In fact, our buildings are heated using water running through radiators in all the rooms… so it’s quite important that the whole system works properly — but damn, 3 weeks (or more) of cold showers –> Ugh?

I think they also like to save money (and not have to pay for the gas to heat the water). Who knows, really.

Either way, I’ve only been averaging a shower every 3-4 days (or more) anyhow — so what’s the big deal if I miss a half a dozen showers, and wait for the warm water again?

It took a while, but finally the snow is falling. It has been quite a bit colder, and has snowed on and off for about a week now. At least for now, the snow is staying on the ground. It’s starting to feel like winter.

There’s a serene beauty to it. Cold, crisp, fresh. And life goes on as usual… gotta go to the store to pick up the daily/weekly fresh foods.

I tell you,

GLOBAL WARMING is happening.

Not that I have any personal, historical basis for wintery assessments in Ukraine — but I’m told that what we are currently experiencing is more like spring, than winter. The first picture shows the thick snow coming down. I was very excited! I put down my oatmeal and grabbed my camera.

I have been here all winter, and it’s FAR from the prototypical propaganda positing prolonged precipitation periods, periodically prohibiting pleasant pastimes from polluting post-soviet puppet-states.

I don’t get it. Very little snow has fallen. And the temperature has been quite acceptable; ranging from -2°C to +8°C. Yesterday I almost went outside with a T-shirt on — luckily the little bit of wind reminded me that although it’s clear outside, the cold can pierce the skin very fast indeed.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that it hasn’t really snowed very much. I just checked the almanac to see what the record high temperature was = 51°F (10.5°C). Well, two days ago it was 8°C on outside on my balcony’s thermometer, albeit absolutely unofficial (but it is outside, and not in the sun).

Though the almanac doesn’t have average snowfall outside the US, it does have the Kyiv average number of days with precipitation (19) and of those, snow (16). Honestly, I don’t think we have reached half of that, at best. Very strange…

Funny enough… not more that 5 minutes after the top picture was taken, I snapped the bottom one. Seriously… not more than 5 minutes!!! It is supposedly very much like spring weather, where storms are patchy, dropping some rain/snow and then moving away leaving blue skies in their place.

I guess we can thank greedy corporations and governments for not giving a shit about our environment, and only about the bottom line. Oops, I probably shouldn’t say that kind of stuff, huh?

Yaey! It snowed last night. Woo-hoo. There are a few moments when our global warming (thanks W for all your help here… not) allows for some chilled precipitation to settle on the ground. In a hundred years, you will have to go to at least 10,000 feet to see the white stuff.

Anyway… guess what? Weather-Underground calls for “freezing fog” today. What? What in the hell is freezing fog? Can you walk through it? Is it like freezing rain that floats in the air? Can you cut it with a knife? I guess I’ll have to go outside and see!

As much as I’d like to say I’m buried in snow, I cannot. It has been sort of a let down. Yep — weather gods, are you listening? I’m tempting you to reap your wrath on us. Just try it. I don’t think you can do it anymore — we humans have warmed up the atmosphere so much, I’m not sure if you have it in you.

There… temptation.

You see, I’m thinking that Global Warming is a reality. Can it be that we only receive one or two real storms this year? Can all that historical babble (dare I say propaganda) about the frozen Russian tundra be a bunch of crap? Alright, fine, Ukraine is not Russia, and I know it is much colder in Moscow. Nevertheless, it gets colder and snowier in Nevada for Crissakes.
I guess we will see.

Currently: This is a report for Kyiv, Ukraine. The report was made 35 minutes ago, at 23:00 UTC. The wind was blowing at a speed of 4 meters per second (8.9 miles per hour) from east (080°). The temperature was -9 °C (16 °F), with a dew-point at -13 °C (9 °F). The temperature felt like -15 °C (5 °F). The atmospheric pressure was 1032 hPa (30.47 inHg). The relative humidity was 72.6%. There were no clouds below 1500 meter (5000 feet) and no cumulonimbus clouds. The overall visibility was greater than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).