Underestimated the Russian reaction. War comes to Ukraine. Our back 40.

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Yesterday I wrote that there had been something for everybody in the Donbas resolution, but that Russia's benefit was the least, and would be realized only in the long term. Putin obviously thinks it was not enough.

There have been a few explosions in Kyiv this morning. I'm kind of deaf – I've only heard two of them. There are no aircraft in the skies. My guess is that it is missiles hitting the obvious first targets in any conflict: command and control centers, antiaircraft radar, and antiaircraft missile/gun emplacements. This is a good time to repeat that there are no military installations anywhere near our house, nor any obvious military targets. Nobody will hit us on purpose, but when lead starts to fly accidents happen.

The bus driver, who like me didn't think there would be a war, says it will only last two or three days. Famous last words. That's what the Sunday sightseers said as they went to watch the fireworks at the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861.

But things move quicker in the 21st century than the 19th. Russia's war with Georgia was indeed over in only a couple of days. Provoked by a Georgian incursion into Russian protectorates, the Russians came in, broke all of the fancy new armaments in which the Georgians had such faith, and left.

The issues this time are not so clear. The two sides have been exchanging artillery fire along the provisional border ever since the armistice in 2014. It has reportedly been significant a more intense over the past few months. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) Ukraine has received a lot of armaments over this period. The Russians claim that the People's Republics were most often the victims in these artillery exchanges. Simple geography gives credence to that claim. The Peoples Republics aren't that big and are largely urban, whereas the Ukrainian side is more open country.

At any rate, Russia seems to have concluded that it does not have much more to lose and it needed to forcefully express its unwillingness to accept NATO on its borders. I do not approve of this gamble, but I understand it.

A few Russian commentators will offer opinions that you don't see in American news. Russia Today (RT) and Tass give you the Russian party line.  Russians lie, of course, but not always. And others don't always tell the truth. It's good to see both sides of an argument.

Anatoly Karlin in Powerful Takes has an altogether different perspective. I have mentioned Edward Slavsquat several times before. None of these guys agree with each other, which means you can't conclude that I agree with any of them. I only offer that they have unique perspectives.  Moreover, when a resident of Russia tells you Russia is lying, you can probably believe it.

You need to read what these other voices say about Russia's dealing with Covid 19. They are absolutely savage. The Russian people don't want the shots that are being forced on them by Putin and the oligarchs.

I went to the corner store first thing this morning to stock up before the shelves become empty. There were quite a few customers and the store was out of milk, but the other staples were there. I returned home and collected Eddie to go to the bigger Yunost market a couple of miles away.

There were lots of people on the streets at 10:00. The buses were running. The market was active, though only half the stalls were open and they seemed to be closing as we stood there. We got about 30 pounds of groceries, including eight liters of milk in foil packages that doesn't require refrigeration.  Also a goodly supply of fresh vegetables.

Probably as a consequence of martial law, the Metro didn't collect a fare as Eddie and I went in. Ridership was more or less normal for 11:00. I was happy to see that people were ignoring the mask mandates. With a real war going on, we can give up the pretenses of the fake one.

On the bus down to the Metro we sat opposite a maskless, chatty lady who said that it was a terrible shame that Slavic people had been set to killing each other. "One people" she said several times. After she had told me that Texas and Colorado were both venerable Russian names. The bus driver on the way home had some choice invective for Joe Biden, who he sees as responsible for all of this. This is the same guy who told me it will only last three days. We will see.

The currency exchanges don't know how to play this. In the center of town it was 25:1 buying hryvnya, 35:1 selling. The last exchange I saw from the bus window had it at 29:1 and 32:1. Not good, but not a total panic.

On the home front, the exercise bike repairman Andrei came by just as I was finishing half an hour on my beautifully running machine. As I finished my workout he got Eddie's machine working as well as he can, though he didn't have replacement ball bearings for the pedals.

Not content with just machine exercise, I took another hour to turn the dirt in the 10x20 foot plastic greenhouse out back yesterday so Grandma Nadia can put in some vegetables. It felt good to use my body. I shared with Nadia at the reflection that the last farmer in my ancestry had been born in 1824. She is a whole lot closer to the earth than I am.

That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong men are doing what men have to do in a war zone, the women weep, gnash their teeth and curse the Russians, Zoriana is atwitter, sensing the tension in the household but not understanding it, and Eddie is piecing together what he knows of war from having read Up Front last year and what he hears from me and from the news.

Graham