This is a "billboard" not far from the shore of Lake Issy Kul. The announcement says "Eternal Glory to Heroes" Below is a closeup of the mighty hero on the left.

Kyrgyzstan

30 October 2006

Dear Family,

We are eagerly dreading the onset of winter here. It should be coming soon. We usually have snow during the first week of November. This weekend was nice; I borrowed a lawn mower and wheel barrel from school and mowed the whole lawn for the last time this year. It was actually the only time the lawn has been mowed since we returned from the summer. In August, all the grass was brown. The people who own the house were quite worried about the fact that the people who lived here over the summer didn’t run the sprinkler to water the grass. They needn’t have worried, though, because it is quite lush now.
Our house guests this summer didn’t do much watering of the pumpkins, either, so we didn’t get a good crop this fall. A lot of little ones and many of the few big ones were attacked by slugs. We did have an excellent harvest of plums, though. There were many days when I took a pile of plums to school and didn’t eat anything else. The apples this year were also excellent. I made several bottles of apple sauce. We are now using the apple sauce to give Oskar medicine. The doctor prescribed amoxicillin for him and he doesn’t like the taste. Most children’s medicine tastes great.
Today I had a very hard time going to school. Actually, going to school was fine when I left early and walked to school, pushing the wheel barrel. I forgot my flash drive in the computer at home. When I came home to get it, Oskar practically climbed up in my arms and played with my collar and patted my shoulder with a huge smile on his face. Since he has been sick, he hasn’t been so happy lately. To see him so happy was a great bonus, but then I had to leave right away, and he wailed. This, coupled with the fact that I spend three nights per week away at play practice, made me somewhat seriously consider calling in sick to school. I’d already been there, though, so I don’t think I could pull it off. I don’t think Maxim was ever distressed at our leaving for school.
One big event in the boys’ lives was the arrival of a package from grandma. It contained a floppy bear-like animal for Oskar, which he loves to dive into with his nose, and a great big bunch of hot wheel-type cars—made in China. There were two trays of 30 cars! Maxim could hardly breathe when he saw them. Not only cars, but there is a steam-roller (he has seen many of these on the street because of all the work around here. He also saw them this summer when they resurfaced the road by his grandparents’ house in Pennsylvania while we were there), two boats, three pickups, a fire truck, and a John Deere-green wagon. He loves them.
This past weekend, we went to Kyrgyzstan to visit a mountain lake. On the road, we would often see combines. Maxim is very good at picking them out. He will yell, “Papa, there’s a combine!” long before I see anything. He has a good eye because the machines he sees look nothing like the pictures in his books or his little model combines—the ones here are probably 40 years old, covered in rust, with pieces falling off. On the way to Kyrgyzstan, I was thinking that the last three combines that we used on the farm could be brought over here and they would still be the best equipment in the country. Then, on the way home, we passed a genuine John Deere combine—a 5640 or something. It wasn’t brand new, but I looked solid. I wanted to take a picture. About 80 miles later, we saw a truck carrying a John Deere bean head, so I bet there are two in the area.
I found some information about the election that said we could fax or even email our ballots. We are registered in Sac County. I called a woman in the Sac County Auditor’s office who said she would call the Secretary of State and find out what I need to do.


Vote early and often!
James