Russia.. Finally

Well I finally arrived in Russia. I have been here for about a week and a half. We will be going home again around Dec 8th but we are stopping for a brief long due honeymoon in Vegas for the NFR. After finally getting over the jet lag (it was bad- it takes about a week for your body to adjust to the almost 12 hour difference) I have been out with Gary several times riding through the cattle. It is amazing the vast amount of untouched land here. You would really have to be here to believe the beauty of the land. This area was completely flattened by a tank battle during WWII so everything that is now here has been rebuild. There are massive "forests" and in these forests the trees are all in straight rows as they had to be replanted after the war. Also, the villages and the village people seem to have never changed after they were re-established in the late 1940's. The old "Babuskas" (grandmas) still wear the same attire as they did in 1945. There are no cars in the small villages. Everyone walks, rides bikes or rides some sort of contraption that motates them from one place to the next. I would like to get some pics of these "vehicles"... some are rototillers with a seat and wagon hooked on. Some are old side car motorcycles but you usually see 3 to 4 people on these. The horse and cart is still a major mode of transportation in many villages. Below are some pics I took in the last few days riding through cattle.

This pic is of the frost and fog we had this morning. It still hasnt let up. It has actually gotten worse as the day wore on. I thought this line of trees in the middle of the pasture looked beautiful in the fog and frost.

This is gate opens up into a pasture where Gary has about 2000 head of bred heifers and a few bulls.

This "pond" is actually a crater left by a bomb explosion in WWII. Beautiful but you feel a sense of reverence as huge battles were fought on this land we are now ranching on and you know that lives were lost on the very ground you stand upon.

The village of Uzha. These people live very simply. A comminity well and they still have the collective or community gardens. You will see the Babuskas walking at night and in the morning with their pail on their way to get their water for the day.