And We Shall Call This Our Home..

 

This is our home is Russia. Gary said they just barely got the fence in and planted some trees in our yard.

My amazing husband saddling a Russian horse

 

 

Hay in the field. They do both round and square bales there as well. Our ranch is more industrialized than many places in Russia where they still gather up their hay with a horse, wagon and pitch fork.

 

 

 This is a roping dummy that the Russians made so that Gary can help them to learn to rope. This wasn't quite the design he had drawn up for them but it will work to start out.

A Helping Hand

Gary said the other night, he and two other Americans were headed home. The two others were ahead of him in the road a ways and as he came around a corner, he saw them carrying what appeared to be an unconscious older gentleman. Behind him was an older woman screaming wildly, carring a bicycle wheel. One could only assume that the man had been hit while on his bicycle. Gary said that there are zero traffic laws there and most people just drive, ride, walk wherever they feel like. Anyway, Gary stopped to help. Turns out that the man had NOT been hit on his bike. He was extremely drunk and had passed out in the middle of the road. The screaming woman behind him was his wife, angry at him for being drunk and not getting himself home. The bicycle wheel? Apparently some treasure she had found on the walk home.  They did eventually get the drunk man and his screaming wife home. Turns out, the Veterinarian had seen the man earlier and had moved him from the middle of the road and propped him up against a road sign as he wasn't quite sure what to do with him. Gary has stories like this every day.. There is most definatley not a lack of excitement in Mglin, Russia.

A little bit the same, alot different..

Gary is doing very well in Russia. He is loving it. He says its as close to the cowboy way of life as it existed 150 years as we will ever get. Alot of things are different there and he says there are a few things from home that he is really missing - like his Coors beer. While there are several Russian beers there, the only thing "American" he has been able to locate is Budweiser. He says they do not sell it in cans, only big bottles and that it is not kept cold. Just sits out in the heat. Below are a few things he has been purchasing and using --

One of the staples of bachelor cooking... chicken nuggets. When he got them, he said they LOOKED like chicken nuggets (and there is that cute little chicken on the box) and he really hoped that is what they tasted like!!

 

I thought this was bread but he says it is a YUMMY smoked cheese!

 

Bottled water and something familiar - LAYS Sour Cream and Onion Chips

 

The middle one is Toilet Cleaner. He said its the best ever.. he squirted it in before he went to bed and in the morning it was so clean and he didnt have to scrub!

 

I think he has probably been living on these more than he is willing to admit :)