This afternoon Tanya, Lena and I drove to Erastivka Research Station, about 50 km from here, to get three big plastic bags full of well rotted horse manure for Tanya's flowers and tomatoes. That is not what Tanya calls it but we are working on that. Apparently some English words are easier to remember than others.
Erastivka, which also includes an agricultural technical school, is located by the village of Lozuvatka about 15 km east of P'yatikhatki. It is a satellite of the Plant Breeding Institute located in Dnipropetrovs'k where Tanya was working when we first met. There are 7 satellite research stations of the central Institute and in those days they all had dairy cattle and pigs along with supporting feed production to provide milk, beef and pork to the staff at the research stations. Tanya was in charge of all the livestock operations on the farms. She did the annual production and financial budgets and oversaw the livestock specialists in charge at the various farms.
Which is why she has an in with the livestock specialist at Erastivka who supervises the horse herd. The station breeds horses to sell to local villagers as light draught animals. We got three bags of black top soil from a manure pile that was at least 10 or 15 years old.
We had to stop in P'yatikhatki at the flower market (of course) and Tanya bought 9 big double petunias in colours she had not seen before. When she got in the car she commented "Maxim will just die". Apparently he phones his grandmother two or three times in the week to see if Tanya has any new flowers. Tonight after school he and his mom came out on the minibus and he by-passed his grandmother to come to see what Tanya had done this week. It grates on him that Tanya now has better flower beds than his Babushka so Tanya loves to rub it in.
I threatened to give him three of the petunias. Tanya threatened to kill me.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Road Show
Left town at 7:00 am Tuesday morning, arrived in Kyiv at 12:30, found our rented flat which was near the railway station and only $50 (down from $100 a couple years back) and set out to meet with our friend Sveta at 2:00 pm. We had coffee and then set out for the Magnolia Botanical Gardens. Not being a Southern boy, I had never seen magnolia blossoms before, though they are everywhere in Crimea this time of year, Tanya says.
The white magnolias had been blooming for three weeks already and filled the air with a wonderful scent. The red blossoms were just beginning to open. No camera of course as this was an impromptu tour. Sveta had her camera, the bag being nearly as big as she and shot picture after picture with her humongous Nikon SLR digital. She is supposed to send us some so must remind her. And remind her not to send the 12 or 15 mb versions.
We headed for TGI Fridays to meet my friend John Jackson from Great Bend Kansas at 6:30 for supper. He is a tall gentle cowboy, at home on a horse, managing cattle ranches on Indian Reservations or in the FSU, managing logistics for other companies. I met him years back, though our respective Agricultural Consultants Associations. He brought me a package of farm magazines and we talked cows for a couple hours while devouring Jack Daniel's Steaks. His logisitcs man Hriday Gupta and Tanya conversed in Russian as we were boring them. John and I could have talked cows for another week or two before I would need a break.
Wednesday morning, Tanya went home on the Dnipropetrovsk express and I took the Kharkiv Express to deliver my presentation at the scientific conference organized by Dr Rodenko head of the Animal Science Institute. My train left at 6:30 and I arrived in Kharkiv at 12:30. One of his Post-Docs (they call them Junior Scientists), Victoria met the train and we took a taxi to the Hotel Mir (Peace) where the conference was located. Her area of research is factors affecting milk fatty acid composition.
We walked in just as a speaker was finishing. They broke for coffee and I was the next speaker. I had 30 minutes (15 in English and 15 for translation - done by Dr Rodenko). I crowded in another 15 minutes of questions and could have gone longer. Then Victoria and I had a quick lunch and the Vice Director took us, again by taxi, to their Institute for a tour of their laboratories. I met four Post-Docs all told and they all spoke poor to fair English and, I expect, read it fair to good. Augurs well for them to keep up with scientific research published in English. I was impressed.
Victoria then took me on a quick tour of the city, including an old monastery, the main Cathedral of which was undergoing renovations and repairs. Inside was just stunningly beautiful. A service was in session so we did not stay long. We then went to the bus station, where she bought me some sandwiches and water for the trip back to Dnipropetrovs'k. Victoria was glad to escape the conference I think and looked after me like I was her own father.
Now Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovs'k are 210 km apart, outskirts to outskirts. The bus trip took 5 hours. It was the milk run bus from Kharkiv to Mikolaiv. We arrived in Dnipro at 11:00 pm. My seat mate would arrive in Mikolaiv at 6:00 am. Andrei was waiting for me at the bus depot, with our car and his friend Sasha from Krivii Rih. We had to return Sasha to home so we did not arrive home until 2:00 am.
A long day for a 15 minute presentation. But...more on that later.
The white magnolias had been blooming for three weeks already and filled the air with a wonderful scent. The red blossoms were just beginning to open. No camera of course as this was an impromptu tour. Sveta had her camera, the bag being nearly as big as she and shot picture after picture with her humongous Nikon SLR digital. She is supposed to send us some so must remind her. And remind her not to send the 12 or 15 mb versions.
We headed for TGI Fridays to meet my friend John Jackson from Great Bend Kansas at 6:30 for supper. He is a tall gentle cowboy, at home on a horse, managing cattle ranches on Indian Reservations or in the FSU, managing logistics for other companies. I met him years back, though our respective Agricultural Consultants Associations. He brought me a package of farm magazines and we talked cows for a couple hours while devouring Jack Daniel's Steaks. His logisitcs man Hriday Gupta and Tanya conversed in Russian as we were boring them. John and I could have talked cows for another week or two before I would need a break.
Wednesday morning, Tanya went home on the Dnipropetrovsk express and I took the Kharkiv Express to deliver my presentation at the scientific conference organized by Dr Rodenko head of the Animal Science Institute. My train left at 6:30 and I arrived in Kharkiv at 12:30. One of his Post-Docs (they call them Junior Scientists), Victoria met the train and we took a taxi to the Hotel Mir (Peace) where the conference was located. Her area of research is factors affecting milk fatty acid composition.
We walked in just as a speaker was finishing. They broke for coffee and I was the next speaker. I had 30 minutes (15 in English and 15 for translation - done by Dr Rodenko). I crowded in another 15 minutes of questions and could have gone longer. Then Victoria and I had a quick lunch and the Vice Director took us, again by taxi, to their Institute for a tour of their laboratories. I met four Post-Docs all told and they all spoke poor to fair English and, I expect, read it fair to good. Augurs well for them to keep up with scientific research published in English. I was impressed.
Victoria then took me on a quick tour of the city, including an old monastery, the main Cathedral of which was undergoing renovations and repairs. Inside was just stunningly beautiful. A service was in session so we did not stay long. We then went to the bus station, where she bought me some sandwiches and water for the trip back to Dnipropetrovs'k. Victoria was glad to escape the conference I think and looked after me like I was her own father.
Now Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovs'k are 210 km apart, outskirts to outskirts. The bus trip took 5 hours. It was the milk run bus from Kharkiv to Mikolaiv. We arrived in Dnipro at 11:00 pm. My seat mate would arrive in Mikolaiv at 6:00 am. Andrei was waiting for me at the bus depot, with our car and his friend Sasha from Krivii Rih. We had to return Sasha to home so we did not arrive home until 2:00 am.
A long day for a 15 minute presentation. But...more on that later.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Truly too tired to Blog
Finished my paper for the conference on Wednesday. I sent it to my friend, mentor and former professor at U of S and he gave me some good ideas for improvements. So it is done and sent to Kharkiv. Not sure they want 6 pages or if they will translate it, but they have it.
Then I abstracted it down to 15 PowerPoint slides using PROMT on-line translator. If every one bursts out laughing, I'll know it was not exactly correct.
Yesterday's three hour Russian lesson near finished me. One on one concentrated learning. Three or four dozen new vocabulary plus writing plus verb conjugation. This is lesson two but we are on chapter 7 in the elementary text book. Natalie is marvelous. She has years of instruction experience with students from all over but especially North Africa and the Middle East, so she KNOWS how to teach adults. This next week is a write off so my next lesson will be in two weeks. I have much work to do on my own in the meantime. Tanya helps me study.
Anyhow, here is your laugh from me for the day, from our local paper.
(*Lenin's wife was named Nadia)
Then I abstracted it down to 15 PowerPoint slides using PROMT on-line translator. If every one bursts out laughing, I'll know it was not exactly correct.
Yesterday's three hour Russian lesson near finished me. One on one concentrated learning. Three or four dozen new vocabulary plus writing plus verb conjugation. This is lesson two but we are on chapter 7 in the elementary text book. Natalie is marvelous. She has years of instruction experience with students from all over but especially North Africa and the Middle East, so she KNOWS how to teach adults. This next week is a write off so my next lesson will be in two weeks. I have much work to do on my own in the meantime. Tanya helps me study.
Anyhow, here is your laugh from me for the day, from our local paper.
Wife: And why did you call me NADIA all night?!
Husband: Ducia, I was dreaming that I was Lenin*...
(*Lenin's wife was named Nadia)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Remains of the Day
Not much remains of this day, at any rate.
Finished my paper that I will give at the Institute of Animal Science conference in Kharkiv next Wednesday. Now I need to pull the PowerPoint presentation together and translate it.
Roman and a friend are going to put a cement floor in one room in our outbuilding as the first step in turning it into a woodworking shop. This is part of a larger project improving the sidewalks and paths so we don't wade in mud when (if?) it rains.
That paper collar Masha made for Bobik two weeks ago lasted for seven days before it fell off.
Our elderly neighbour two doors down moved here after Chernobyl. She has maybe two months to live as the radiation she received finally caught up with her. Her son is here looking after her. Her daughter who lives in town here is not helping.
I'm still waiting to get my medical certificate signed for my driver's permit. All the required tests are done (X-Ray, blood work, ECG, etc) BUT, get this, the government "economized" and did not print enough forms so the doctor is unable to proceed. They can economize on forms but drive $100,000 cars at head office.
My Russian lessons resume tomorrow. My teacher will be here at 9:30. Her husband is driving her so he will get a taste of the road conditions and understand why I don't want to drive to Krivii Rih. I have the alphabet down semi-cold in printing (upper and lower case) and in writing (upper case and most of lower case). Tomorrow we will work on vocabulary again and I hope work on joining up these fancy written letters to form words. Once I can write fairly fast, learning will speed up for me as I can write out words and sentences a few times to remember them.
My friend John from Kansas is in Kyiv and Tanya and I are going to meet him for dinner next Tuesday. He gave me a hard time for my blog about Kansas. I told him I could see his big grin all the way to Ukraine while he was reading it. We will also meet my friend Sveta from Regina who is here visiting her mom and next day I will catch the train to Kharkiv to the conference.
Finished my paper that I will give at the Institute of Animal Science conference in Kharkiv next Wednesday. Now I need to pull the PowerPoint presentation together and translate it.
Roman and a friend are going to put a cement floor in one room in our outbuilding as the first step in turning it into a woodworking shop. This is part of a larger project improving the sidewalks and paths so we don't wade in mud when (if?) it rains.
That paper collar Masha made for Bobik two weeks ago lasted for seven days before it fell off.
Our elderly neighbour two doors down moved here after Chernobyl. She has maybe two months to live as the radiation she received finally caught up with her. Her son is here looking after her. Her daughter who lives in town here is not helping.
I'm still waiting to get my medical certificate signed for my driver's permit. All the required tests are done (X-Ray, blood work, ECG, etc) BUT, get this, the government "economized" and did not print enough forms so the doctor is unable to proceed. They can economize on forms but drive $100,000 cars at head office.
My Russian lessons resume tomorrow. My teacher will be here at 9:30. Her husband is driving her so he will get a taste of the road conditions and understand why I don't want to drive to Krivii Rih. I have the alphabet down semi-cold in printing (upper and lower case) and in writing (upper case and most of lower case). Tomorrow we will work on vocabulary again and I hope work on joining up these fancy written letters to form words. Once I can write fairly fast, learning will speed up for me as I can write out words and sentences a few times to remember them.
My friend John from Kansas is in Kyiv and Tanya and I are going to meet him for dinner next Tuesday. He gave me a hard time for my blog about Kansas. I told him I could see his big grin all the way to Ukraine while he was reading it. We will also meet my friend Sveta from Regina who is here visiting her mom and next day I will catch the train to Kharkiv to the conference.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Spring Flowers
It is finally late spring. The trees are leafing out all over town and the apricot and cherry trees are all in bloom. Not in our yard of course. Because we are low down by the river (creek, swamp, marsh) it is cooler here and we'll be another week at least.
The vegetable garden is almost all planted. Beets, carrots, peas (already a couple inches high), 10 cabbage plants, a great many onions and about 1/3 in corn. More peas and beets will go in later, along with cucs and melons. The umpteen dozen tomato plants in the windows will be transplanted in a couple of weeks, likely the first week in May.
Tanya's flowers are bursting colour all over her flower garden. The daffodils and crocuses are done but hyacinths, tulips and lilies, oh, my! She went out to take pictures for you.
The vegetable garden is almost all planted. Beets, carrots, peas (already a couple inches high), 10 cabbage plants, a great many onions and about 1/3 in corn. More peas and beets will go in later, along with cucs and melons. The umpteen dozen tomato plants in the windows will be transplanted in a couple of weeks, likely the first week in May.
Tanya's flowers are bursting colour all over her flower garden. The daffodils and crocuses are done but hyacinths, tulips and lilies, oh, my! She went out to take pictures for you.
More later. Figured you needed a break from the previous themed blogs. Great for picking up readership but hard on friendship, it would seem. but I'll come back to it in future.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
WHO and HOW
I got some email feedback on yesterday's blog. Two positive and one accusing me of propagating "atheist opinion". That puzzled me greatly as Weingarten's column was anything but. Irreverent perhaps but certainly not atheistic.
Then it hit me - it contained the dreaded "E" word. Evolution was described in a positive light. Obviously since Atheists believe in evolution, Christians MUST not. So therefore the article was atheist.
This is logic of the Middle Ages. Muslims were scrupulously clean, with bath houses, regular bathing, etc. Since they were wicked infidels, obviously this was also wicked and sinful so "Christians" washed as little and as seldom as possible. There is the story of an elderly nun on her death bed who was proud that in her entire life she had never washed so much as her little finger*. (Read James A Mitchener's Hawaii for a more modern version of the same logic in 19th century New England Missionaries to the Islands).
Some people look at evolution as proof God does not exist and we are all accidents of genetic randomness. I look at evolution and conclude that the same God who created the Universe and all the laws governing it also created the laws governing life and living organisms. How life first appeared on this planet, I don't know, nor in what form. but I suspect that, like the universe, it was not and then it was. And from whatever beginnings, living organisms have progressed or changed over the eons until we reach today.
Was it all random or was there a plan behind the seeming randomness. I believe there was a plan but of course, that cannot be proven.. Nor disproven.
Evolution is a science and as such, it's theories and hypotheses are only as good as today's knowledge. But at least evolutionists are looking to learn. Does evolution square with a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis? No, of course not. Nor should it.
The Bible is Holy Scripture. It is not a history text book, though it contains much history. It is not biology/genetics/geology or any other kind of science text book either. The Bible teaches us how to live, how to treat our fellow humans and our world. For believers, it teaches us God's plan and purpose for us, how to build a close relationship with God and what God has in store for us. Why people insist on making the Bible into something it is not, is beyond me.
*She wouldn't have had much trouble keeping her vow of chastity at that rate, anyhow.
Then it hit me - it contained the dreaded "E" word. Evolution was described in a positive light. Obviously since Atheists believe in evolution, Christians MUST not. So therefore the article was atheist.
This is logic of the Middle Ages. Muslims were scrupulously clean, with bath houses, regular bathing, etc. Since they were wicked infidels, obviously this was also wicked and sinful so "Christians" washed as little and as seldom as possible. There is the story of an elderly nun on her death bed who was proud that in her entire life she had never washed so much as her little finger*. (Read James A Mitchener's Hawaii for a more modern version of the same logic in 19th century New England Missionaries to the Islands).
Some people look at evolution as proof God does not exist and we are all accidents of genetic randomness. I look at evolution and conclude that the same God who created the Universe and all the laws governing it also created the laws governing life and living organisms. How life first appeared on this planet, I don't know, nor in what form. but I suspect that, like the universe, it was not and then it was. And from whatever beginnings, living organisms have progressed or changed over the eons until we reach today.
Was it all random or was there a plan behind the seeming randomness. I believe there was a plan but of course, that cannot be proven.. Nor disproven.
Evolution is a science and as such, it's theories and hypotheses are only as good as today's knowledge. But at least evolutionists are looking to learn. Does evolution square with a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis? No, of course not. Nor should it.
The Bible is Holy Scripture. It is not a history text book, though it contains much history. It is not biology/genetics/geology or any other kind of science text book either. The Bible teaches us how to live, how to treat our fellow humans and our world. For believers, it teaches us God's plan and purpose for us, how to build a close relationship with God and what God has in store for us. Why people insist on making the Bible into something it is not, is beyond me.
*She wouldn't have had much trouble keeping her vow of chastity at that rate, anyhow.
Monday, April 19, 2010
And God Said, Let There Be Light in Kansas
Memo to: The members of the Kansas Board of Education
From: God
Re: Your decision to eliminate the teaching of evolution as science.
Thank you for your support. Much obliged.
Now, go forth and multiply. Beget many children. And yea, your children shall beget children. And their children shall beget children, and their children’s children after them. And in time the genes that have made you such pinheads will be eliminated through natural selection. Because that is how it works.
Listen, I love all my creatures equally, and gave each his own special qualities to help him on Earth. The horse I gave great strength. The antelope I gave great grace and speed. The dung beetle I gave great stupidity, so he doesn’t realize he is a dung beetle. Man I gave a brain. Use it, okay?
I admit I am not perfect. I’ve made errors. (Armpit hair—what was I thinking?) But do you Kansans seriously believe that I dropped half-a-billion-year-old trilobite skeletons all over my great green Earth by mistake? What, I had a few lying around some previous creation in the Andromeda galaxy, and they fell through a hole in my pocket?
You were supposed to find them. And once you found them, you were supposed to draw the appropriate, intelligent conclusions. That’s what I made you for. To think.
The folks who wrote the Bible were smart and good people. Mostly, they got it right. But there were glitches. Imprecisions. For one thing, they said that Adam and Eve begat Cain and Abel, and then Cain begat Enoch. How was that supposed to have happened? They left out Tiffany entirely!
Well, they also were a little off on certain elements of timing and sequence. So what?
You guys were supposed to figure it all out for yourselves, anyway. When you stumble over the truth, you are not supposed to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and proceed on as though nothing had happened. If you find a dinosaur’s toe, you’re not supposed to look for reasons to call it a croissant. You’re not big, drooling idiots. For that, I made dogs.
Why do you think there are no fossilized human toes dating from a hundred million years ago? Think about it. It’s okay if you think. In fact, I prefer it. That’s why I like Charlie Darwin. He was always a thinker. Still is. He and I chat frequently.
I know a lot of people figure that if man evolved from other organisms, it means I don’t exist. I have to admit this is a reasonable assumption and a valid line of thought. I am in favor of thought. I encourage you to pursue this concept with an open mind, and see where it leads you.
That’s all I have to say right now, except that I’m really cheesed off at laugh tracks on sitcoms, and the NRA.
Oh, wait. There’s one more thing.
Did you read in the newspapers yesterday how scientists in Australia dug up some rocks and found fossilized remains of life dating back further than ever before? Primitive, multicelled animals on Earth nearly 3 billion years ago, when the planet was nothing but roiling muck and ice and fire.
And inside those cells was . . . DNA. Incredibly complex strands of chemicals, laced together in a scheme so sophisticated no one yet understands exactly how it works.
I wonder who could have thought of something like that, back then.
Just something to gnaw on.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 14, 1999;
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