Halloween Parties

Since today is Halloween, I thought I'd write something scary.  The last time I posted a Halloween themed picture, I was severely chastized for inappropriate behaviour.

There has been some discussion in bloggerville about the need for more than two political parties in America.  I agree.  I think two more parties would help considerably to separate the sheep from the goats (or something).  Two new parties, one on the extreme right and one one the extreme left. 

We'll start with the extreme right as it is closer to reality than you think.  Lets call it the National Socialist Party.  The NSP vision for America is to turn the clock back a couple hundred years to the days when men were men and women were glad of it.  They want the Constitution enforced as it was written by the Founding Fathers.  Which is to say, only males of white northern European extraction with property can vote.  Women are not considered persons.  What law there is is carried on one's hip.  Anyone who is not white northern European is either a slave or to be killed or run off.

Their economic platform is borrowed word for word from the American Bankers' Association.  Regulations will be eliminated so that huge corporations can rape and pillage both the environment  and the populace at will.  There will be two classes of people; the super rich and the serfs.  This is known as FREE Enterprise.

NSP's social platform is based on THEIR literal interpretation of King James' Little Black Book and is similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.  All the forces of a totalitarian police state will be used to enforce a strict moral code and create a "Godly" society.

Then we go to the extreme left.  This is the Socialist National Party.  The SNP is a bit of a problem to define as it is made up of dozens of single issue groups dedicated to stamping out various and sundry activities that they deem bad for environment.  Or animals.  Or trees. It is hard to say what its vision of America is but it will be GREEN with few if any people and lots and lots of horses which are not allowed to be killed or eaten.   

Their economic policy is simple.  Destroy the economy to save the environment.  ALL coal, oil, gas consumption must be stopped immediately as the sky is falling uh, sorry, the earth is warming  and WE caused it with all our CO2 production in the last 60 years.  Only the evil rich are opposed to this as they became rich exploiting carbon based energy.  The fact that all the rest of us depend on carbon based energy, for which there is no real substitute, for our jobs, such as they still are and for our lifestyle, such as it still is, is irrelevant.  They are even more oblivious to science and reason than the extreme right, if it were possible.

They have no social program.  People's welfare are not the concern of this party.  People are maggots, to quote Dr.  Suzuki, leader of the Canadian affiliate. There are too many of them and they should all leave (except members of the SNP, of course).  This party will be as totalitarian as the right only their Gestapo will look for anyone burning anything to keep warm or keeping an animal even as a pet.  We will all live in caves as cutting trees to make houses will be forbidden.  However the usual animal skins as seen on Clan of the Cave Bear will be forgone in deference to the animals, our equals, and we will wear leaves (or grow more hair, or something).

With either group in power, democracy, even such as it is, will cease to exist as any populace stupid enough to elect them obviously cannot be trusted to govern themselves.

Happy Halloween.

Sunday is Election Day in Ukraine

Tomorrow Ukraine will vote in Oblast, Raion, City, Town and Village elections.  Since I can't vote, nor understand the campaigning, I have ignored it pretty much; just enjoyed the billboards, promoting this one or that one.  The Governor (and therefore the Executive) of the Oblast is appointed by the president anyhow so how much good the local councils do, I am not sure.

THE power position as I may have mentioned before is the Chief Prosecutor for the Oblast (equivalent to province). He decides who is investigated for what crimes by the criminal police or the tax police.  Any business person of any note MUST have this man as a "Roof" in teh local vernacular.

Some time back, I blogged about the adventures of one of Tanya's "friends", Nadia, who, in the chaos of privatization in the 90's, ended up with the local grain terminal in P'yatikhatki.  She apparently skimmed $20,000,000 of farmer's money and about a year ago, lit a shuck for Greece with her face on a wanted poster.  The charges have since been dropped (see paragraph above), the elevator turned over to her family and the lady returned to Ukraine.

She is running on behalf of the Party of the Regions (President Yanukovych's party) for a Deputy's post in the Dnipropetrovs'k Oblast Rada.  In that party, she will be in good company.

Fall Flowers

The last rose of summer

Blooming Idiots

Another week of warm weather and this one will be covered in blossoms

The Constant Gardener

These survived the dogs' diggings

Ronald looks on while Tanya works

Still a few bravely blooming

Windfall apples

Lots more where they came from

Two more dog stories

When Tanya and I were at the train station to go to Kyiv on our way to Turkey we noticed a dog lying on the walk, just resting.  We stopped top talk to her, a two to five year old Beagle-German Shepherd cross of some kind with a beautiful intelligent head.  She was quite friendly. What we didn't notice until we walked on and she followed us, walking on her two front legs only, was that she had lost both back legs about half way up.  Perils of living in a rail yard, I guess. 

Anyhow, she was pretty mobile on two legs, with massive chest and shoulder development.  Tanya immediately worried about who would look after her in winter, but she was obviously well fed and must have had a warm place to sleep.  Not a great life but a life;  making the best of it.

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About three Februaries ago, I was sitting in the car at the insurance office, waiting for some documents.  Nearby, an old babushka was cutting the small flexible branches from a weeping birch, maybe to weave something, I don't know.  Five or six dogs were playing nearby and one came over to see what she was doing.  She yelled at it and swiped at it with her twigs.  The dog ran off.

A few minutes later it was back with another dog.  the two of them stopped a safe distance from the old lady and proceeded to bark a strip off her hide.  They barked and barked and barked at her.  When they were satisfied that they had told her off sufficiently, they then went about their business.  What sort of names do dogs call people?  "You spawn of a cat"?  "You Mail Delivery Person"?

The Old Bag with the New Bag

And you expected a picture of what?

Not leather, by the way.

Kids, Cats and Horticultural Hounds

There have been a few families here with preschoolers.  They are always fun to watch. In one family, the boy, about 5 thinks he is so cool and his sister about 3 agrees totally. He swims pretty good and the girl tags after her mom using water wings to help.  No fear.  She found an friend - another three year old and the two of them had a most wonderful time running, shrieking and splashing around. I love the sound of children laughing.

There were a couple of boys maybe 18 months old. Sun hats and sandals mandatory, swimsuits optional.  Neither had any fear of the water, cold as it was, until you got used to it.  One of the boys loved to wander down the beach with his mom and collect rocks.  Last week there was a maybe 9 month old in an inflatable version of the Walker (remember them when they had wheels and your kids rode them down the basement steps?).  This version was like a life buoy with a seat that allowed the kid's legs to stick out underneath.  This little guy loved the water and would paddle like crazy to reach his mom or his babushka.

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The hotel seems to support a number of beggar cats.  I counted at least 10 different cats and kittens that show up at meal time and beg food from the guests. They are very friendly and playful and very accomplished at winning hearts and free food.  Not sure how they will fare this winter when the place shuts down.  Maybe they just move down the street to the big hotels that stay open and cater to Germans who come for the winter.

The dog that hangs around the beach can live off its fat for a few months at least.  And the big orange tom I think mooches from the fishing boats as I never saw him at the hotel.  He was up a tree one day stretched out in the sun sleeping peacefully until he was seen by the guests who all stopped to pat him. Two meters up is not enough to avoid being annoyed.

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A week or so before we left, Tanya bought four perennials at the market, took them home and transplanted them.  The dogs promptly dug them up.  Tanya had a bucket 2/3 full of manure which she then  filled with water and left for a few days.  She mixed the manure in the soil around the plants and watered them with water from the pail.  The dogs must have figured anything that smelled that good on top must have buried treasure underneath.  Maybe even a dead goat? Hence the digging.

Tanya tore a verbal strip off their hides.  Half an hour later she found all her shoes and slippers from around the front door in the middle of the street.  I expect it was Volk, He never touched mine, just hers. And you think dogs can't give you the finger?

Red Shoes

Written Thursday:

Tanya’s cold was much better today.  The sun was shining and the sky clear so we went to the beach.  Tanya didn’t go swimming which nearly killed her but she soaked up the sun for a couple hours before noon.  I went swimming then tried to get a bit of colour.  I didn’t want to sunburn my tummy – imagine a giraffe with a sore throat and you get the picture.

After lunch we went shopping.  With Valya and Elena gone home, I had to go along.  Bleah.  Tanya was closing deals she had been working on all week.  She bought a leather “Prada” handbag for $25, that she had been eyeing, then went looking for (more) shoes.  The sandals that were $8 yesterday were $10 today so she kept on going.  Found another store with these red shoes that she fell in love with.  She tried on every pair of shoes in the store but always went back to the red.  Did I mention I hate shopping?

She decided $35 was too much.  $25.  No way.  We left and got about four stores away when the salesman called out $30.  Done.

Written Friday:

Another beautiful day.  We spent an hour swimming this morning and an hour in the sun. Tanya is still coughing but couldn't stay out of the sea.  It was like glass this morning and the water is so clear you can see bottom at almost any depth.