On August 3rd, my grandson Grayden Hingston was born in Edmonton and on August 16th I finally got to meet him. The feeling is hard to explain to someone not a grandparent for the first time. I got to hold him lots, read Green Eggs and Ham to him and sing Willie and Waylon songs to him. He did like Willie and Waylon so I think he is off to a good start.
His brother Tristhanh (15) and sister Matalinh (14) are quite happy to have someone take the pressure off them and sure do love their little brother. The feeling is returned as he likes them to hold him too.
His three Aunties, Bronwyn, Kylee-Anne, and Lynmara, arrived Saturday morning which was the first time the five of us had been together in three years. They took turns holding him which Grayden didn't mind at all. In the afternoon Mishel's family arrived and the house was full of noise, laughter and energy. I had not met any of them before. Grandpa Hai and Grandma Cassie are going to be excellent grandparents, will spoil him rotten and not teach him any bad things. His Uncle Hoang is so good with him too. His Aunt Chau and Uncle Dz drove up from Calgary. They are full of fun and will be the ones to get him in trouble in years to come.
We all stuffed ourselves with Vietnamese food while Grayden got passed around like a hot potato and took it all in stride. Noise doesn't bother him. Quiet does. Not used to that. He is growing and no wonder he loves to eat so Mishel is supplementing him with formula. He was 7 lbs 3 oz (3.260 kg) at birth and 9 lbs 2 oz (4.140 kg) at 3 weeks. He has stretched out a couple inches (5 cm) in length too.
Bus fare to Calgary from Regina, return, is $230 so I will go and see him again in September is possible.
A few days ago, Ukraine destroyed couple of ammunition dumps deep in Kherson Oblast, well over 150 km which surprised everyone as their missiles were not supposed to reach that far. On the 10th, Ukraine "using their own weapons" hit a Russian airbase deep in Crimea, destroying 8 or 9 fighter/bombers, pilots, ground crew, ammunition and fuel. Russians claim it was a smoking accident, no one was hurt and no planes were destroyed. They are such careless smokers, having sunk their top battleship the same way.
There was still a 100 km lineup at the Kerch bridge yesterday to flee Crimea and the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted the most awesome troll video ever.
Also yesterday there were a number of explosions on a Russian airport in Belarus, mainly taking out S300 and S400 rocket launchers as I understand. And a fire destroyed the wooden barracks in Moscow housing conscripts. No one was hurt.
Partisans in Mariupol and Melitopol make the night dangerous for Russians and traitors. A couple of officials named by the Russians as in charge of towns or cities have been knifed, shot, or poisoned.
Russia has been rushing troops and equipment to defend Kherson City. There are supposedly some 25,000 troops on the west side of the Dnipro River. Ukraine has destroyed or damaged the bridges so they are trapped with no retreat and can only resupply by pontoon boat. All the bridges are under Ukrainian fire control. Russians have been launching artillery and rockets at Mykolaiv, Nikopol and Krivii Rih and are threatening an offensive but are having no luck taking the initiative.
Even though Russia prioritized taking Lugansk and Donbas, since taking Lysychansk, in two months they have only gained 10 km mostly in villages around it. By moving troops from the Donbass area they have weakened their forces there enough that they have only one point they are still putting pressure on the AFU, around Pisky which they are destroying with thermobaric weapons. It is hilarious to read day after day that Russia attacked various and sundry communities and after heavy losses. Ukraine is taking losses but far fewer than they were before HIMARS. They have been destroying Russian ammunition dumps and control centres with pinpoint accuracy ever since.
Ukraine is pushing the Russians back, liberating several small villages in the NE and should liberate Izium soon. They are definitely following Sun Tsu, Clausewitz, Wellington and Patton. There is a major counter offensive coming but no one knows when or where, which is how it is done! The armchair generals on Twitter are going crazy.
On Wednesday my wife left me and my son and his partner presented me with my first grandchild with my name.
Tanya has gone back to Ukraine for maybe three months. She will find someone she knows to rent the house just for the utilities or she will close it down for the winter. We hope she can bring our German Shepherd back with her but it will be difficult as he is a big dog. She flew into Warsaw and took a bus to L'viv. Three hours at the Polish Immigration and at least three hours at Ukrainian Immigration. She was still there when I talked to her at 3 am my time. She said there were buses and cars from all over Europe lined up at the border filled with Ukrainians going home. From L'viv to home by train but which one?
Grayden Hingston was born in Edmonton about 7 pm Wednesday night, 7 lbs 3 oz 49 cm. Tanya was in Calgary long enough to get the pictures and details. He has two middle names after his grandfathers which is always good politics. He has a sister and brother in early teens and his other grandparents live nearby so they can spoil him regularly. My plan is to teach him to drink beer, swear, and eat pickles.
Three days old and happy he kept his mother awake all night his first night home
I am cleaning house today and doing laundry as my youngest arrives on Sunday. Haven't seen her for three years. She is in Canada for three weeks so am glad to spend a couple days with her.
A few days ago the Russians posted a video of the castration and subsequent shooting of a Ukrainian POW. It went viral and drew huge condemnation on Russian from all over the world. They also posted a video of the head and hands of a Ukrainian POW impaled on a fence.
Yesterday 53 POWs from Mariupol were murdered and 75 injured by the Russians in Olenivka DNR. A new prison was constructed and prisoners moved into it. The guards and other Russians all withdrew from the area. That night a thermobaric bomb they had hidden inside the building exploded and burned to death the prisoners. The Russians fired three salvos of grad rockets to cover the noise of the explosion.
The last holdouts in the siege of Mariupol were ordered to surrender to save their lives. These were the Azov Battalion, the so-called Nazis. The expectation was that they would be traded for Russian POWs. There was no intention to do so. The prisoners were taken to Donbas and have been tortured since their surrender. To return them alive would destroy the Russian story of the Nazi Battalion.
A few days ago Russian "war correspondents" began circulating their "interviews" with these prisoners. They confessed to every horrible crime imaginable all carried out under the direct orders of Zelensky.
On the morning of July 29th, the story was that the POWs had been destroyed by Ukraine with a HIMAR strike on the orders of Zelensky for telling the truth.
There was no missile strike, no one heard any incoming sound at all. The small amount of damage to the building, burn marks on the building and victims were all indicative of a thermobaric weapon.
The result of the castration video and the murder of the POWs will mean that surrender is now out of the question for both sides. The no quarter flag has been flown, and it is war to the knife.
It has been a busy couple weeks around here. Last week Tanya finished her English class for the summer. I went to Saskatoon to visit my daughters and friends and relatives. Friday was a general reunion of Agriculture Graduates at the University of Saskatchewan. I got to visit with dozens of people I had not seen in years. Mostly grads from the 60s and 70s, some from the 80s. All retired of course. The younger grads are all gainfully employed.
This week both Tanya and I are doctoring, making use of our good Canadian medical system to catch up on long time problems that go with age. We both have good doctors. Tanya's speaks fluent Russian.
On the Ukrainian front not much movement since the Russians took Lysychansk. Russians have no success in taking Bakhmut, Sloviansk or Siversk. Attacks are repeatedly driven back with high losses. In fact reports are that 25 Battalion Tactical Groups have been pulled back into Russia because they are no longer able to operate with any effectiveness. Ukraine is making good use of the HIMARS and 155 mm artillery to hit ammunition dumps and command centres. This has dramatically slowed the Russian ability to use WWI tactics of carpet shelling an area to oblivion then moving in.
In response to Ukrainian pinpoint targeting, the Russians have retaliated by increasing attacks on civilian targets, including those far from the front. They have admitted that if they do not bomb schools, hospitals, malls, and residential areas they cannot win the war. The terror bombing is intended to force the Ukrainians to sue of peace. Won't happen.
On the southern front, Ukraine has been slowly moving forward and are preparing for a major counter offensive, likely Kherson. Russians have reportedly moved 15,000 troops from Melitopal to Kherson. HIMAR rockets have hit the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnepr River which is now closed to traffic. It is the only retreat for Russians on the west side of the river including Kherson. If Kherson can be taken then the way is open to take Crimea. For that they need 300 km range rockets which I hear they are getting from America.
The logistics of maintaining supply and repair of the wide assortment of Equipment supplied by various countries to Ukraine is overwhelming when I think about it. More HIMARS are useless unless the rocket pods can keep up. All the countries are trying out their new equipment. I have not kept track of all the different artillery platforms provided.
One sour note. Canada has been blackmailed by Germany to return a repaired turbine for Nord Stream I. Germany says either return it or we will no longer support Ukraine. I wish Trudeau had told them GFY.
The heavy weapons that Ukraine needed, 155 mm howitzers and HIMARS (Hi Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) (now 9), are arriving and being put to good use on the various fronts. In the past two weeks over 20 Russian ammunition dumps and command headquarters have been taken out with pinpoint accuracy. Russians have plenty of 152 mm howitzers and ammunition from Soviet times and are using WWI tactics of complete destruction, Ukrainians are using intelligence from various locations to destroy Russian logistics including deep in Russian held territory.
Location of targeted ammunition dumps. More added since this map
Ukrainian army has withdrawn from Lysychansk to previously prepared defense areas. Their tactics in the Donbas are to delay and destroy the Rashists, then withdraw and do it again. The Donbas front has advanced very little in the past two months at great cost in Russian lives and equipment. Ukrainian losses have also been high.
Heavy shelling continues and all Russian attacks are repulsed. Russia is taking an operational break to regroup and strategize after recent advances
Russia is running out of soldiers and has raised the recruitment age to 65 and is press ganging citizens of occupied territory. The Duma is subtly creating a war state by passing laws requiring firms to meet military demands. Russia is trying to reach total militarization without declaring it.
It is July and the winter crop harvest is in full swing. Russians are mining the fields and dropping flares to set the wheat on fire (https://twitter.com/i/status/1543212713177976833) (https://twitter.com/i/status/1544719391283109889). Scorched earth tactics are as old as warfare and starvation as a weapon also. They are destroying grain in storage and stealing the rest for export. At the request of Ukraine, Turkey held a ship of stolen grain but recently released it. Erdogan is playing both sides with impunity as Turkey controls the only access to and from the Black Sea.
Burning fields
Harvest is under way in the blue areas of which 20+ percent are in Russian controlled areas
The southern and western front is where Ukraine is concentrating its counterattacks. It is a long front in open country so advances must be all along it and incremental. Russia is moving troops from one location to another to shore up weak spots but in doing so they create opportunities for Ukraine.
Ukraine is attacking all along the front and slowly [pushing the Russians back. They are close enough to make a major push to free Kherson at some point soon.
The MSM are ignoring this front completely. Do not trust anything in the New York Times or Washington Post. They focus only on Donbas and spin everything into bad news to turn Americans from supporting Ukraine. Ukraine is not beaten, is not discouraged, and is not running out of soldiers. As more heavy equipment arrives from America and other allies, they are in position to take the war to the Russians
Canada and United States celebrate their independence on either end of a four day weekend.
American's didn't have much to celebrate since half the population lost their independence thanks to SCOTUS and the other half are rapidly losing theirs. Sadly about 1/3 of Americans think that is a good thing. And of course yesterday was celebrated in typical American fashion with several mass shootings. Reading the Twitter threads is heartbreaking. The gun nuts were out in full force with the usual nonsense arguments that AR15s are not military weapons and the carnage could have been carried out with a deer rifle. Except it never is. I am sure the dead and wounded destroyed by AR15 bullets appreciate the difference. And of course police put 60 bullets into an unarmed black man but captured the White shooter alive. Canada has the same problem, maybe not as deadly but just as racist.
One of my readers suggested that Tibit Taliban was incorrect as Tim Horton's is no linger Canadian owned. I think it is still accurate as the Free Dumb Convoys are not Canadian owned either. They spout the same lines as the American pretend Patriots yelling about freedoms they never lost. The Federal investigation into the February occupation of Ottawa, and the border crossings is revealing that the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) and all the provincial conservative parties were in it up to their eyebrows. The purpose of the occupation was to over throw a duly elected government. Isn't it fun?
The Ottawa police had their act together this time and the Timbit Taliban never got a vehicle near the downtown. They had to do their protesting on foot. Two of the leaders of the February occupation (Lich and King) could not attend as they were in jail, Lich for breaking her parole conditions. But wannabe leader of the CPC Pierre Poilievre (aka PP, Pierre Polysporin, Peter Polliwog and many more) marched with them in style. But their protests got virtually zero traction and PMJT returned from Europe in time to make a very good speech reclaiming the Canadian Flag for the rest of us (https://youtu.be/53bSV1n2XUQ). PP made a creepy video of himself stroking his wood and telling white Canadians to reclaim that which had always been theirs (https://twitter.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1543585267403014145).
Canadians laugh at this at their own peril. Americans laughed until it was too late. The racism in this country is far stronger than you think and once it is given mainstream credibility will grow rapidly.
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