Sunday morning, March 27th, 2022. Week number 12

Good morning. It’s about 7 and I guess it is about time to get up and head over to the kitchen. Coffee and toast. Maybe beans and corn. It’s going to be a big day. Today we plant beans. Time to get up. 

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https://t.me/SBUkr

I like the one where the guy tells his wife how he’s bringing back a 70” tv for her Yes the Ukrainian nazis must be stopped before they invade Belarus.

This was a recommendation from an American friend whose parents are first generation immigrants from Ukraine. I think that’s how we became friends actually. He found me on the internet and thought I was an interesting character.

You might have to download the telegram app and use a translator for this. Telegram has been the go-to for off-grid/underground transmissions in the region. People believe it has something to do with the encoding. At my friend is in the business of cybersecurity by the way. I have no doubt why he is a fan of telegram.

They are saying that Belarus is days away from becoming an active participant. They are saying that the plan is to join the Russians and use Belarusian forces. We’ve got military guys all over the place here. There is no particular military camp exactly here but we are pretty close to the border. I would say that there is a really good chance that Belarus joins the war. There’s a line in The Godfather where Clemenza talks about how Europe allowed Hitler to grow and progress. He says they should have stopped him in ‘32. They should have stopped Putin a long time ago. They think they can get away with anything. 

The president here is giving an interview with the Japanese press and being more than mildly embarrassing. Sometimes it’s not a matter of hiding your racial contempt, it’s a matter of not even understanding what racism is except as a part of your culture. I’m sure he meant well.

Meanwhile, Zelinski is talking to everyone who will listen to him including a summit of Arab energy suppliers in Qatar.

I basically just have two points of view on all of this. Well, maybe it would be better to say three.

If Belarus does actually join the war, my personal situation could get pretty dicey pretty quickly. On the one hand, maybe they like me. I’m not talking about my chicken neighbors. I will get to them in a minute when I get back to Mr Zelenski. But I could see being held responsible for the misery on two fronts. If you listen to Mr Lukashenko’s speech, he pretty much blames the Americans for everything. This I already understand but if we are going to war, I could see stray bullets flying around. Pretty dicey.

The second point to consider is why, if the obvious understanding that this war is about oil and the countries of the world are universally against the Russians in this, why can’t anyone come up with the idea to simply cut them off.

In speeches, both the president of the United States and his press secretary have mentioned that the United States uses Russia for almost 10% of their oil “needs”. In most of these press conferences, the conservative press continually asks the president to allow for more drilling as a means of putting more hurt on the Russians. It does seem a bit hypocritical to put sanctions against them, against the non-voting people really, and yet still supply them with money for oil. Why don’t they just turn off the tap?

And really, I understand that there is this brain disorder that says we could not possibly live without oil. But at the same time, the hypocrisy of that statement is otherworldly in size. Of course we can live without oil. It would make modern Life a bit more difficult but, we could manage by simply putting all of our resources, energies, materials and intellect towards creating a green and sustainable energy. We could legislate away internal combustion engines for private use. Truthfully, we could just print more money to pay people for any business and convenience because it doesn’t make any damn difference anyway what the value of anyone’s currency is. And that this would be the most beneficial decision in the history of the planet ecologically speaking is no small part of it.

I saw another protesting video from a Belarusian source but I don’t seem to be able to find it right now. Basically the speaker echoed the president of Ukraine in asking for protests. People should wear the colors of the Ukrainian flag and go to the street and March and go on the social networks and make a meme and other such useless efforts. I don’t understand why the only thing that the general population can do as an act of sheer voting is to make dumb shows and Instagram posts.

This is not to say that protests are without meaning. But it does seem to be a meaningless act in a voteless world. I watched the 2020 American elections very closely and truthfully, I don’t really remember where idealism or the thoughts of any of the candidates made a damn bit of difference in the actual vote. The media placed the people they wanted us to look at in front of us and everybody had to go in secret to place their vote. And this was a voting day in the middle of the week, there was all of the intimidation and problems caused by people trying to limit particular types of voting. Even I myself got negated by the state of Florida of all people. Not that it mattered, it was expected.

Why don’t we ask people as a matter of solidarity with Ukraine or even absolute patriotism, not only to our individual countries but to the planet Earth as a whole to simply abstain from oil use as a way of making our personal voices heard. It’s a great vote really. 

I can see a propaganda ad run nationally:

“You may wonder why a businessman like me is riding a bicycle to town. You may wonder why I’m not driving my brand new car. Well, the reason is simple. We are fighting fascism. America is all about freedom and freedom from oppression and freedom from dictators. Right now, there is a man in Russia who is holding an entire country hostage just to secure his own place at the oil table. As a patriotic American, I vote no. I vote to turn off the tap. I vote not to send one penny to fascist dictators.

One of our greatest presidents said that we do not pay terrorists. I say we take that message to heart.”

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Not only do we get to do our part in this fight against terrorism, we also get to do our part in our fight against heart disease, diabetes, Nationwide obesity as well as the class structure. Take the rich people out of their cars and suddenly we all become people again.

The last point I want to make concerns a weird thought I had watching Zelinsky talk to the UAE. What if this whole thing was nothing more than anti-semitism?

In all honesty, I would not say that it was too much that the decision to create the first European land war since World War II was caused by a Jewish guy sitting first chair in Ukraine.

In a lot of ways, my friends have been saying since his election that it is a lot more progressive down in Ukraine. That Maiden Revolution a few years ago got put down pretty easily.

The Revolution of Dignity (Ukrainian: Революція гідності, romanized: Revoliutsiia hidnosti), also known as the Maidan Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014[2][1] at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych and the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Wiki

Really, this entire issue has been about Ukraine trying to choose its own individual direction. Of course, they bought into the possibility of being European. They recognize neighbor States showing at least the outward signs of affluence and upward mobility because of their participation in a European economy. I personally have my doubts about this but this is what they saw and this was their leaning, hence all of the Russian intervention. Again, one can look at this as a drunken husband refusing to allow his ex-wife her opportunities out on the market by beating her every time he gets drunk and jealous over his own ineptness.

My position on all of this has never strayed. I am completely in favor of an independent Belarus and an independent Ukraine worrying about our own food security, food, shelter, basic practical education and medicine. If Belarus has the natural resources to make our own golf carts and electric bicycles to help us get around, and we do, Ukraine definitely does because they are four or five times our size. Plus they’ve got a beach or had one before the war and definitely before the oil business made the place disgusting and the Russians made the women prostitutes.

Truthfully, we don’t need Europe or the Russians. What we need is to have Europe and their needs to establish their businesses that suck our resources away and the Russians who established their businesses and suck our resources away to leave us alone and to go suck themselves for a while. Also a good thing to say to the drunken ex husband.

Maybe the truth is we are tired of being sucked dry by parasitic and overbearing political and industrial movements and all people really want is a reasonable environment and enough food to eat to be happy.

Which brings me back to the anti-semitism. Maybe this is a Freudian slip in a way. 

A Freudian slip, or parapraxis, is a verbal or memory mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind. These slips supposedly reveal secret thoughts and feelings that people hold.

I’m talking about this business of supposedly hunting Nazis in Ukraine as the reason for the Russian invasion. What if what Putin was saying about hunting Nazis was really betraying what was on his mind which was something like, we can’t let a Jew show us that they are better than us.

Yeah, that’s a hard thought to sit on just after breakfast. But the point of it is, none of this stuff is really just conspiracy theory. Nobody’s making up stuff just for the sake of causing distress. I’m just one guy expressing his right to free speech and saying what he sees. But if what I’m saying makes sense, it’s not that far-fetched. And please, just go have another look at the lukashenka video and then tell me that racism doesn’t exist here.

***

It’s about 6:10 and I’m sitting on the floor in the warm room just getting everything ready. My ex partner is coming up in about an hour. And we are either going to make a team effort at this or I am just going to be too crippled to help and she’s going to do all the work. I’m okay with it either way and my guess is she is too.

In fact, she just made a call asking me to build a fire in the kitchen. My ex partner is from Belarus but she’s from a place in Belarus that is very close to the Russian border. I’ve always had my doubts about a lot of my friends and exactly how close to the KGB they are. Or it’s just natural for Belarusian women to attempt to dictate policy from a distance.

I don’t know why she’s worrying about such things. I’m not worried about them. I live here. I’m not a tourist. I’m up here all the time.

I’ve said this before but there are three ways to keep warm in the cold weather. You can eat or drink something hot and this helps. You can move around or work a little bit and this really helps. Or you can burn resources. I’m not opposed to all three of these things. It just seems that whenever she comes up to help, it costs me so, so, so much more money than when I live here without her. Not saying anything misogynistic here and if you cut me some slack, I’m not even being particularly Jewish. I just don’t like people making decisions about my house from a distance. If you don’t live here and you don’t have a vested interest in things, don’t try to make policy.

These should be rules to live by everywhere, really. We can talk about imperialism or colonization. The ukrainians refer to the Russians as occupiers. This is all true and interesting use of language. I just wish my ex partner understood how to be a better guest. I’m glad she’s coming up to help with the planting. Technically, the idea to plant legumes in the field was hers. I agreed wholeheartedly because it was a very good idea unless of course we go back to my original plan which was just to let the field go wild and plant nothing but trees. She is creating a significantly large amount of work for us.

I think the correct answer at this moment is to be patient. It is unfortunate that she will not have similar thoughts. Women do not have thoughts like being patient. I also know like knowledge that there is no placation I can offer to create calm.

My plan is to have all of my work done and out of the way, some light cleaning taken care of so that there is some visual aesthetic to the place and then I’m going to go out and go once around the fields that we’re going to plant with some tools to make the ground smooth and level for planting. I figure if we put in an hour or so of set up and even do a bit of a burn with some of the dry remains of last year, we’ll be ready to go and we will be warm enough.

Come to think of it, that is the best way to handle this. This is my home. I live here. I am the captain of this ship and I say what our energy policy should be. How about we ask our guests to help out and in doing so, they will have a vested interest in the place. Maybe we can have warm relations if it’s possible to convince our guests to stop thinking of how to solve our problems and just kick in a little help with what needs to get done.

***

It’s about 4:00 in the afternoon and I am sitting on a stool watching my ex partner go about the process of planting the last seeds. We have executed a reasonably accurate day. I started by doing some hoeing before my ex made her appearance. She followed me with some cultivation. After this we called some of last year’s dry grass and spread it out and executed a pretty good burn. Then we both grabbed rakes to smooth out the ground, made marks where our rows would be and then started to drop seeds into the ground.

I’m not going to talk shit. It hasn’t been a perfect day but eventually we worked out the kinks and I’m looking at a very orderly field where hopefully we are going to get quite a few lentils and even some chickpeas.

Even if this planting is a failure for food, we will still be putting some good fertilizer here and I’m pleased with the garden beds I’ve created down here. There are more to create here next to me. I have another section that needs to be brought into order. And I still have quite a bit of land to work with as well as the garden boxes. Space is not my problem right now. Strength and balance are the problems.

Those were the key factors in the only problem between myself and my ex partner. Again, I’m not going to say anything terrible about anybody but it took us a while to get our communication down. By communication, I mean that she should not automatically contradict everything I say. I have enough problems negotiating the world physically right now without giving away all my energy to natural confrontitiveness. I’m not going to call anybody any names but culturally, she is from here and I prefer to have things my own way.

She did bring some bread though which was as always, ridiculously tasty. It is a shame that we never really got started in that business at the market last year. She has thrown herself into bread making and has definitely made great strides. Everything she bakes is extremely tasty and healthy. You can tell immediately that you’re eating something real the moment you put it in your mouth. I am saying blessings of gratitude for her help today.

After this, we really have a month before the vegetable planting goes into the ground. I don’t believe in the weather service anymore but they are predicting even several more days of Frost. The almanac has us as zone 6A and April fool’s Day is supposed to be last frost. But then again, if you could bet against the weather reports, I would get rich this year. This is especially true when they predict rain. I am cynical and I am aware of global warming and I am in no way a climate denier. We are probably looking at the 15th year in a row of record temperatures and if we don’t get the hottest year ever, we are going to be in the top 15 as sure as the sun comes up in the morning.

And of course all of this is false hope because even before we get past April fool’s Day, our glorious leader might use this well-known idiots holiday to declare war on our brothers to the South. Why would he do this? Because Vladimir Putin told him to obviously. The next time he’s on tv, I’m going to make sure to count how many fingers he has left. If he no longer has a nub on one of his pinkies, you know he has signed up in blood.

Other than this, I have no complaints about today. I kind of get the feeling that my ex partner is enjoying herself in a way. I know she likes to get exercise on the weekends and I have no thought process inside of me that would turn down help. Generally it’s been nice having her around and I cannot argue with what it feels like and looks like to have these rows of plants going into the ground.

I don’t know who is reading these words but it’s a good question. Do you like planting and watching things grow? I do understand that not everybody does it and the activity is probably way too slow for most people these days. The world is suffering from ADD and the people who actually get diagnosed or literally like the flash inside their head. Agriculture is its own thing and living through the life cycle of plants takes a great deal of patience and calm. You have to be calm. You have to know that things take their own time.

I do not claim to be an expert. Every year when I start these damned blogs, the first words are always that I don’t know what I’m doing. And I don’t. I couldn’t even pretend any expertise on this subject. But every day I learn a little bit more and I do a little more and I understand a little more. Everyday, I try to get a little bit better.

And for what it’s worth Ghenna never showed up. He might come tomorrow or he might not. His incredibly unhealthy girlfriend might be talking in his ear. I get the feeling she does a lot of talking in his ear. Who knows, maybe he likes it. Maybe he’s the kind of guy who likes being bothered.

Excuse me, I have to make a planting plan for row number 5. Basically, we are planting one type of plant for nine rows and then changing it and staggering the planting. We are only planting four varieties but we are not grouping them all together. The idea is to limit damage from pests if at all possible. To be honest with you, all of these things require about the same cooking time so truthfully, I’d be happy to throw everything together on a rainy day. Well, I’m at least about that. We are being orderly and we’re trying to be scientific about things.

***

It’s 7:00 p.m. straight up and I’m sitting in the kitchen waiting for this evening’s dinner. Nothing special. Basically it’s three types of beans. For sure, the three types of beans that we planted today plus little Forest mushroom action, some really inexpensive macaroni and whatever vegetables were lying around. Nothing special but tasty and filling.

My ex partner refused my invitation for a taxi ride home. She decided to make the walk to the train which is a bit of a trek but it was what she wanted so there was no argument. Tonight of course is the end of the weekend so everything is quiet here in town. Of course it could be quiet because people are expecting the country to go to war this week. It’s in all the papers, don’t you know.

I don’t know why we need to go to war. I don’t know why anyone needs to go to war. I don’t know why it is so ridiculous and possible just to figure out the differences and take care of things. Of course, we are arguing about resources and people cannot live without their cars. Because of this, we have to completely ruin the Black Sea and all of Ukraine just for being uppity. How dare they think that they can vote the way they like. How dare they say that they want deeper connections to Europe.

Probably the real thing that has everybody on edge is that if we go to war, though we would sort of be on Russia’s side, should NATO or anyone in Europe really decide to fight back, what happened to Kharkov could just as easily happen to Pinsk. And if there is a significant pushback, you could bet dollars to donuts that they’re going to beat the living shit out of Minsk. It makes me feel warm inside to know that our president is ready to die for the Russians as he said before. He has said a lot of things. He really has said so many things.

Dying would suck. Getting bombed and wounded and suffering the last few minutes of Life would suck. For me, I’m dead. I can’t run anywhere. I don’t have enough athleticism to get away from anything. If they start lobbing bombs and rockets, I’m going to go outside, take a seat on my bench and hope it makes a beautiful picture for me. There ain’t nothing else I can do about it. There ain’t no place else to go, there ain’t nobody who gives a shit and there ain’t nothing going to stop that bullet when it comes.

If I can add any wisdom to this rather depressing picture it is that even if you are American, put it in the back of your head that this could happen to you. I mean, should we reach critical mass and absolutely nobody really wants to fight for the environment or give up any drugs, if it can happen to us, it can happen to you. And if so, just hope you go stylishly.