1. SO MANY MEN, SO FEW WHO CAN AFFORD ME.
2. GOD MADE US SISTERS, PROZAC MADE US FRIENDS.
3. IF THEY DON'T HAVE CHOCOLATE IN HEAVEN, I AIN'T GOING.
4. MY MOTHER IS A TRAVEL AGENT FOR GUILT TRIPS.
5. PRINCESS, HAVING HAD SUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE WITH PRINCES, SEEKS FROG.
6. COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN ... SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH.
7. DON'T TREAT ME ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU WOULD THE QUEEN
8. IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST IN BED, SLEEP IN THE KITCHEN.
9. DINNER IS READY WHEN THE SMOKE ALARM GOES OFF.
10. I'M OUT OF ESTROGEN - AND I HAVE A GUN.
11. GUYS HAVE FEELINGS TOO. BUT LIKE...WHO CARES?
12. NEXT MOOD SWING: 6 MINUTES
13. AND YOUR POINT IS?
14. WARNING: I HAVE AN ATTITUDE AND I KNOW HOW TO USE IT.
15. OF COURSE I DON'T LOOK BUSY...I DID IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.
16. DO NOT START WITH ME. YOU WILL NOT WIN.
17. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT, SO PLEASE SHUT UP
18. ALL STRESSED OUT AND NO ONE TO CHOKE.
19. I'M ONE OF THOSE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.
20. HOW CAN I MISS YOU IF YOU WON'T GO AWAY?
21. SORRY IF I LOOKED INTERESTED. I'M NOT.
22. IF WE ARE WHAT WE EAT, I'M FAST, CHEAP AND EASY.
23. DON'T UPSET ME! I'M RUNNING OUT OF PLACES TO HIDE THE BODIES.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
One convert at a time
There is a certain streak of fatalism in Slavic males that if it is their time to die, they will die anyway. So they drink in excess, drive like fools, and of course, don't wear seatbelts.
Two of Andrei's friends, husband and wife, were in a terrible accident, rolled and demolished their car. . . and are unhurt because they were wearing their seatbelts.
Andrei is now a believer, at least on the highway, and was nagging his mother to buckle up.
Two of Andrei's friends, husband and wife, were in a terrible accident, rolled and demolished their car. . . and are unhurt because they were wearing their seatbelts.
Andrei is now a believer, at least on the highway, and was nagging his mother to buckle up.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
10 Signs It is Fall Time in Marianivka
10. The temperatures are going down to +10 at night and reach +20 in the day.
9. We put a blanket on the bed.
8. We packed away our summer clothes and dug through our storage to find our winter clothes.
7. Apples are almost ready to pick and crows are eating them off the trees.
6. I was cold all day.
5. Kuchma thinks he should be in the house all day.
4. Tanya is yelling at me to wear slippers in the house.
3. Hot soup at lunch tastes really good and warms me up.
2. I put away my cream coloured summer shoes and got out my black winter shoes.
1. Tanya has begun planting fall bulbs and transplanting perennials which will keep her busy until winter.
9. We put a blanket on the bed.
8. We packed away our summer clothes and dug through our storage to find our winter clothes.
7. Apples are almost ready to pick and crows are eating them off the trees.
6. I was cold all day.
5. Kuchma thinks he should be in the house all day.
4. Tanya is yelling at me to wear slippers in the house.
3. Hot soup at lunch tastes really good and warms me up.
2. I put away my cream coloured summer shoes and got out my black winter shoes.
1. Tanya has begun planting fall bulbs and transplanting perennials which will keep her busy until winter.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Ancient and Historical Khakasia
The Asian grasslands, which includes much of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and central Siberia were settled long ago and have a very rich archaeological history. Khakasia is no exception. I always maintain the reason that the Asian steppes were the progenitors of so many modern peoples is that there was nothing to do there but fight and flirt and in winter it was too cold to fight.
When Tanya and I were there in 2006, we did a one day tour of sites with the head of the Archaeology Department from the University, a native Khakasian. Igor Tashtandinov had been born in Tanya's village of Kalyagino and his mother was best friends with Tanya's mother, though he and Tanya had never met.
Archaeological sites go back 10,000 years at least. The most recent peoples were the Kyrgyz who were over run by the Mongolians some 800 years ago and most drifted to modern Kyrgyzstan. Today's Khkasians are decendants of the Kyrgiz who stayed behind.
I'll post some landscape pictures next time.
When Tanya and I were there in 2006, we did a one day tour of sites with the head of the Archaeology Department from the University, a native Khakasian. Igor Tashtandinov had been born in Tanya's village of Kalyagino and his mother was best friends with Tanya's mother, though he and Tanya had never met.
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| Igor and Tanya 2006 |
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| 10,000 year old rock drawings |
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| More 10,000 year old drawings |
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| Sketches of rock drawings in Abakan Museum |
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| 3,000 years old. Food offerings were poked into the hole in the rock. |
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| Over 200,000 kurgans dot the plains and hills of Khakasia |
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| A large mound kurgan |
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| Kurgan cross section, Abakan museum |
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| Early people of the Steppes |
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| Female fertility stele |
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| Male strength stele |
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| Archaeological dig of a palace, possibly of a Chinese general from the Han dynasty era who defected to the Xiongnu |
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| Model of the 2000 year old palace, Abakan museum |
I Gotta Quit Reading this Stuff
BBC rotate reporters through different countries, including USA. Part of their job is to blog about what they see and hear from a Brit's perspective to play to the folks back home. Mark Mardell is the current BBC correspondent. He picked up on the Vanity Fair op-ed about Sarah Palin that I linked to yesterday and questioned whether she would run in 2012.
One of the comments on Mardell's blog reads:
Well, now we know where Teabaggers and Palin supporters come from. If there are enough of them to elect her, JD Rockefeller who famously said "I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers", will see his vision fulfilled. He almost made it with Bush but not quite. They had to fudge a bit in Florida in 2000 and again in Florida and Ohio in 2004
Palin is releasing her second book soon. As Pierre said about Margaret, "Well, that is one more than she has read".
Now to go take a blood pressure pill. Demeur, why do I do this? I don't know. American politics is a gigantic sit-com, if as you said, I don't have to live there. Other than it has devastated so many people in USA and around the world and has the potential to destroy us all.
One of the comments on Mardell's blog reads:
The sad truth is that America is becoming a nation of ill-educated reactionaries. That IS the demographic that candidates will need to consider in the next election.
I work at a public high school where students told me yesterday that the Declaration of Independence was a 'peace treaty' and that of the two men who traveled east to west and 'discovered' much of the territory, one was Christopher Columbus. Oh, and the students also told me that multiplication is the opposite of addition, and that they had never seen a Roman numeral before.
These are the kind of people who don't vote at all, or who will vote for a Tea Party ticket based on emotional spin and no facts whatsoever.
I work at a public high school where students told me yesterday that the Declaration of Independence was a 'peace treaty' and that of the two men who traveled east to west and 'discovered' much of the territory, one was Christopher Columbus. Oh, and the students also told me that multiplication is the opposite of addition, and that they had never seen a Roman numeral before.
These are the kind of people who don't vote at all, or who will vote for a Tea Party ticket based on emotional spin and no facts whatsoever.
Well, now we know where Teabaggers and Palin supporters come from. If there are enough of them to elect her, JD Rockefeller who famously said "I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers", will see his vision fulfilled. He almost made it with Bush but not quite. They had to fudge a bit in Florida in 2000 and again in Florida and Ohio in 2004
Palin is releasing her second book soon. As Pierre said about Margaret, "Well, that is one more than she has read".
Now to go take a blood pressure pill. Demeur, why do I do this? I don't know. American politics is a gigantic sit-com, if as you said, I don't have to live there. Other than it has devastated so many people in USA and around the world and has the potential to destroy us all.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Today's Headlines
It is after 9:00 and I know I have to blog something today as I did not yesterday. Not much has happened around here worth noting. "The stupid dogs chased the cat up a tree again" is hardly news. They do it every day. And circle. And yap. Masha did not have a good day at school yesterday, refusing to listen to her mother or the teacher. If she didn't want to do it, she didn't. Her Babushka had a little chat with her last night and today went better. She was all smiles tonight and talking about starting to learn English and her new friends and so forth.
I've been working on preparing a possible beef cattle consulting project that will take Tanya and I to Khakasia, which we are looking forward to, though it is certainly not without challenges.
At the same time I have been trying to catch up on the news. One headline leads to another and my Idiot Meter and Blood Pressure both keep Red Lining. I'm just plain tired.
I've been working on preparing a possible beef cattle consulting project that will take Tanya and I to Khakasia, which we are looking forward to, though it is certainly not without challenges.
At the same time I have been trying to catch up on the news. One headline leads to another and my Idiot Meter and Blood Pressure both keep Red Lining. I'm just plain tired.
Here are a few for your consideration:
Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury
Yes, and one last thing. Right wing churches in the USA are warning people not to have anything to do with churches which promote social justice as "it is just another word for communism".
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Masha Begins Second Class
Today was the first day of school here in Zhovti Vody. The ceremony was pretty much the same as last year, welcoming the First Class, other than it was cut a few minutes short by rain which is still falling as I write. There were three rooms of First Class and judging from the Preg-os and the Preschoolers, there will be lots of First Classes in the years ahead. Masha was with her Second Class group over on one side and not nearly as excited as she was last year.
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| Somebody just shoot us, please. |
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| "Why should I smile", Masha said. |
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| Dad, Mom and Masha |
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| Proud grandparents |
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| Please, Mom, can I go to school too? Can I, huh? Please, can I? |
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| First Class Moms |
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