Shortly after we got here, I bought a chainsaw. I did not think that this was an absolutely necessary tool for what I was supposed to be doing, but we did have some ground to clear in preparation for the garden and greenhouse projects. Some people from our churches back home had given us a little money for “personal use.” The macho part of me has always been attached to chainsaws, so I just had to convince Laura that this was what they had in mind when they had called it “personal” money.
I used the saw a bit then, and have used it several times since then to prepare wood for campfires and “shashliks,” which are the traditional Ukrainian barbeque (very tasty). But I never anticipated that others would get so much use out of it.
In the past month, people have been repeatedly borrowing it after work and on weekends to “help a babushka from church get ready for winter.” It has gotten plenty of use.
Before this, I hadn’t given it much thought, but last week I had an informative conversation with Valentina Chernova, the director at the Good Shepherd Center. We were talking about the rise in gas prices. I told her that my dad was paying about 20 percent more for propane this winter in Minnesota. She trumped that, saying that natural gas cost 147 percent more this winter than it did last winter. She said that the average pensioner receives $60-80 per month and, if winter temperatures are similar to last year’s, it will cost around $70 per month just to heat one of the small houses pensioners typically live in. Taras Dyatlik, the academic dean, told me that his in-laws have figured out that after both receiving their pensions, they will have $40 per month to live on.
I now understand why so many people are cutting wood.
Dave
