Back home again

 Garry landed safely back in Winnipeg after about 36 hours after he woke up Saturday morning. The other guys had an early flight, so they were up around 4:30 am, then he went to breakfast with Cezary, who was in Warsaw for meetings. 

He went to the airport early to retrieve his carry-on that had been waiting for him (he had checked it and it did not get on his plane from Warsaw to Toronto, it didn't arrive until he was already on the train and they don't send them into Ukraine.) He then checked it again.

He had to pick up his carry-on and big bag in Toronto while going through customs, and put them on a belt to somewhere. Apparently in the next five hours they did not get on the plane to Winnipeg, because he landed about 12:15, we left the airport about 1 am, after he didn't see his bags, and filed a report. (They were delivered to the house Monday afternoon.) I saw a rabbit while I was waiting.

So we made it home just before 3 am, and went to bed. We did not make it to church in the morning, Garry slept until 11:30. He's doing okay with jetlag. It's not quite as warm as it was in Ukraine. The apricot trees were blooming when he left the village, and the storks had babies in their nest at the farm. The last spring before the war was the first year the storks made a nest on the water tower, but they didn't have babies that year.

Finished

 

Garry is, as I write this, on the train, waiting to cross the border into Poland (it is scheduled to take three hours). About ten hours ago, there was a half hour stop in Kyiv and former student Karina came to say hello at the train station. 

Eventually they will end up in Warsaw, where they have flights from on Saturday. Garry arrives in Winnipeg after midnight.

 I'm really busy so you'll have to just look at some photos of the successful morning on Thursday moving the roof sections off the heifer barn. Garry sent them to me as it was happening between 1 am and 3:30 our time. Max hopes to have the crane back in a week to put them back up on a reinforced barn. 

 

Monday

 Monday was April first and I thought the message I got from Garry Monday morning had to be an April Fool prank, but there were photos.

At first, I thought it was a problem with the new shed they were building, but it was the second heifer barn that was built five years ago. Monday was windy, and Garry was on the other side of the cow barn when he heard a big boom sound. Luckily the roof landed on the center cement wall and no heifers were hurt. They think the dry cow shed they took down last week may have been a windbreak for the barn, but who knows why it fell down this week. 

Since then, they have most worked on fixing the mess it made. By Tuesday morning, they had taken all the steel off the barn, and were working on fixing broken sections. Thursday morning the wind is supposed to be minimal, and they have a crane coming to pick the sections off the wall. Max has a plan on reinforcing the structure. They actually added some reinforcement to the first heifer barn, just in case, although it looks like that one had a slightly better design on the footings. 

Garry leaves on the train Thursday evening with the guys. He thought they might be about 75% done with the new dry cow shed by then, but they haven't done much on it since Monday's accident. They will hopefully get lots done before he has to leaving tomorrow evening. 

Friday, Saturday

 Garry sent me two photos while I was sleeping Friday morning (he's seven hours ahead in Ukraine, eight Sunday morning) and messaged 25 meters done, 60 to go. He was supposed to go to the dentist Friday, but his "tooth" did not come in, they hope to have it Tuesday.

Today we chatted a number of times, and he sent a bunch of photos. Friday around four pm a thunderstorm came up, didn't even rain on the other side of the village, he said. They had started spreading fertilizer on the winter wheat fields, and didn't get much done. However, they were back at it today. 

Exciting news, they finished the septic tank, so they don't have to go out to the summer kitchen for the bathroom anymore. I had been teasing him that it wouldn't be fixed until he leaves next week.

They got more done on the shed building, they have to put more posts in the ground to continue on Monday. They have used all the old steel, more new roofing is coming Monday. The students were taking down the last old shed today. Not sure what mode Garry had his phone on, there were a couple like this.

He said Max is 4 meters up here. Garry isn't allowed up there.

Even though Easter in Ukraine is in May, the church in the village is celebrating tomorrow. He tells me there's a dinner after the service. It's officially changing next year to the western calendar, but I guess some of the churches are starting this year. I thought Garry would miss Easter, so we're having dinner next Sunday with the family after he gets home.  

Building and other things

 I was away for a few days, but been video chatting with Garry everyday. He said they got a lot of work done in the last two days. Yesterday he was so tired, he fell asleep about 7 pm, still dressed. He said he woke up sometime in the night, changed for bed, put on YouTube and fell back to sleep. He woke up when he heard the girls in the kitchen and thought it was 6 am, but it was 8! He says he tried to take it easier today. 

He hasn't sent any photos from today's work (he says he left his phone at the house) but I think he said they have about 50% to build yet. They took apart the second of the three small dry cow sheds on Wednesday, and started removing steel off the third today. They are reusing the wood and steel off the old sheds in the new building. I do have some photos from Wednesday and earlier in the week. Garry bought a second ladder for the guys, it's too muddy to use the tractor in the barnyard.

The only things they can't use are the posts, they are rotting off. We are unable to get pressure treated lumber, they painted them with something, but it didn't help much. That's why they bought old cement utility poles for the posts, and put them two meters into the ground. They hope to eventually get more for the hay shed, because the posts are having the same problem there. Andrey is welding a framework to the tops of the posts, so they can attach the lumber, he can get five finished in a day. 

Their load of lumber arrived on Wednesday, since the new building will be much bigger than the three old ones combined. The plan is that the water will run off the roof outside the barn yard. They have had a bad problem with mastitis in the fresh cows during the rainy winters and even cows not eating enough when the mud is belly deep in the colder months.  They also plan to pour more concrete in the barnyard between  this new shed and the feed bunk. 

Friday is supposed to be rainy and Garry is going to dentist for his final appointment. He meets up with the guys for the train back to Poland on Wednesday I believe.

 Last Sunday he went into Dnepro for church and afterwards spoke with the students at our friend Lena's English school. Of course he forgot the Canada buttons I sent for them, but he plans to see Lena at church on Sunday and give them to her for the students.

You might notice some green grass under that lumber. While here in Manitoba, I've been shoveling a bit of snow, Garry sent me this video of the bees. Spring will come here, too, never fear. 

Photos!

 Garry is still doing fine in Ukraine, I have gotten a bunch of photos to share. They are working hard on getting the septic done, everyone is getting tired of going out to the toilet and shower in the summer kitchen (also known as Victor's little house).

The weather has turned drier, and they have started working on the cattle shed Max designed. His brother Andrey has been busy welding for it. 

The guys from Kirvoy came out to the village on Wednesday, and took lots of photos.

Garry has complained about dogs barking keeping him awake at night. He says there was frost on the car this morning, but next week the forecast is for nice warm weather.

That is a lot of little dogs hanging out next door.

Tuesday

 Garry had an interesting day. He started the day digging in the new septic pit before anyone else showed up and said it was muddy everywhere with Monday's rain, so he couldn't climb out. Luckily one of the girls came by and found him a ladder. 

He had a dentist appointment in Dnipro in the afternoon, they are sill working on the implant they started last year, since they can only work on it when he comes back to Ukraine. This time it will get finished, in about ten days. 

While he was in the city, he checked out the repaired Apollo Mall, which was hit by a missile a couple months ago and had a fire. He says you'd never know anything had happened to it. Max says it was fixed in about 6 weeks.  

He also discovered that there is still a movie shown in English at the other mall on Tuesdays, and they were showing the Oscar winning 20 days in Mariupol. Unfortunately, they were about halfway through the movie when there was an air raid siren, which closed down the mall. I talked to him after he got back to the village, he says the film was stopped around day 11, and it is very sad.

Well I'm off to babysit for a couple days, so don't worry if there isn't a post until the weekend!