Hello Folks !!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Back..............Here it is July 2010. I have not written anything for almost two years... so, what has been going on ? Well a lot.. The family is fine. Geno has graduated HS. He is working with me for a while and then US Navy bound...Babygirl is still being babygirl.. She has grown up . Babushka is doing well. This summer we have 2 more family members from Ukraine here with us...Dima and Yulia....I will post Photos later...
I just wanted to say hello and I will be back soon.............Cheers The Ranger........

Wow !!!!!!!

Nothing like coming back and seeing nothing. Last post was May. It is now Nov, hell almost Dec. The crazy thing is, Nothing has happened. I figure if I hang around long enough something will.

English Russia » Miss Russian Army

English Russia » Miss Russian Army
This is what I would call a very good contest. I do love a woman in uniform. When she is shooting a AK also.

Facebook | My Posted Items

Facebook | My Posted Items

This will make you feel a whole bunch better. Just listen and be happy. Go to the site and click on Facebook/ My Posted Items. Then click on Andre Bocelli Damn what a man!!!

April What !!!!!

14th and I have not posted anything in almost two months. What the hell, I have nothing to post that makes any sense . Why start now ?
I am getting my travel face on. For some reason those far away places with strange sounding names are calling me again. I should have learned to spell and write better when I was younger. I am going to call my pal Dave in Toronto and see if he wants to make a Cuban run soon.I miss the club Monserrate near El Floridita in La Habana. The Monserrate is where my pals let me sit in and play with them. The music and drinks are calling me. Can you hear it? Mojito's ? Hell no!! A nice cold Bucanero and Cristal.
The weather in Cuba is great now. Hot days and warm breeze of off the ocean as you walk the Malecón. Habana Vieja is alive with every thing and every type of person you can imagine. You can find your soul at the Plaza De La Cathedral a 18th-century Cathedral that is breath taking.
Food ? Oh yeah, great places like El Aijibe in Miramar. Chicken and black beans with fried bananas . El Floridita serves better food than drinks. It is know for the famous Ernest Hemingway who, if you believe all of the stories told was a daily visitor there.To me it looks like a fancy whore house all decked out in red.We pass it a lot on our way to the Monserrate for some real music and drinks. Barrio Chino is another place to get a good meal. The Tien-Tan Restaurante is great. Lobster meal for $5.00 to $6.00 . Seafood and Italian? Hell Yes !!!A Prado y Neptuno 100% real deal . The best food that you will eat in La Habana. Good service and outstanding surroundings . Not very expensive and worth every penny that you will spend. A real Italian owns and operates it. He is our pal as well.
I have photos of these places , well at least some of them I will post later. I also have photos of a rowdy Patrick and my pal Dave setting in some of them.
I will leave you with the same words my good friend Fidel said to me as I was leaving last time. Recherd Ya'll come back now , you hear..

Happy Birthday Babushka !!!

Today is Babushka's real birthday. She is happy with flowers and having her family around her. Not to mention her favorite son-in -law making her day as special as he can. I bought her some flowers and 10 lbs of green grapes. She is very easy to please..

More Photos !!!!!

Time Goes On ?

Saturday night I had the honor of being inducted in to the VA. Shag Hall Of Fame. I had a great time. It was go good because it was two first. It was the fist time Maryna and I had been anywhere this year and also the first time Maryna had seen me dance.
Our pals Larry and his wife Irina went to Va Beach with us for the party. Good times were had by all.
The fat guy you see in the white shirt is me. I had no idea how bad I look. The lovely lady dancing with me is my pal and long time friend Janis Grimes Booth. It was Janis and her husband Steve Booth that were the driving force behind my being selected this year. I want to thank them for their support and my wife Maryna for being there for me on this special night.Man o man I love this woman..
Like I said before time goes on .Don't it ?
PS. I will post more photos later..

More Jana....

Jana As We Know Her

So Far In The Year 2008

We have lost a family member in Ukraine. Had to call 911 for Babushka. Spend many hours in the ER and that is just in the first month.
I wonder at times just what in the world is going on. Why do such bad things happen to such good people. I just don't have the will to do this any more. It seems that every time I have something good to post about something comes along and well, just screws it up.
Why do such good young people die so early in life. We have lost a very good young person. The world is one good person short. When you have lived to be my age anyone under 40 is young. Not that I'm so old, it's just that most of the people that I'm around are younger. Does this keep me young ? Hell no !! It just makes me understand how old I really am compared to them.
Maryna was raised in Uzhgorod Ukraine. She has first cousins that were raised with her like sisters. They spend all their time together and shared everything just as most sisters do. They all had dreams of what life would be like . They all had their own wants, needs and desires. Sasha the youngest of the three sisters is now a beautiful blond woman with a son living in UK. Maryna the middle sister, beautiful as well, is now my wife living here in the US with me and our children. Jana the oldest , just as beautiful as the other two. A business woman working on her PHD from Uzhgorod National University has just turned 37 years old and 5 months pregnant with her first child. Fluent in Russyn English, Russian, Slovakian , Hungarian and Ukrainian . Smart is not quite the word I would use for her. She is off the charts as far as her IQ goes. She clocked in at over 180. Now in my book that is a little above being smart. My friend, my translator and my keeper when I am in Ukraine. Just an all around good person and human being that the world needs more of as is Sasha and Maryna.
Maryna got a phone call from Sasha . Sasha was on the way to Ukraine to see Jana. Sasha had received a phone call from her family that Jana was in the hospital. This beautiful woman, Sasha and Marynas sister, my friend and soon to be mother had suffered a stroke. She was in the hospital and that was all anyone knew at the present time. Maryna made phone calls to her brother to try to find out what was going on and what if any news he had. The news was worse than anyone expected. Jana was in a coma. She had not recovered from the stroke and would not. This hurt my heart. She was brain dead. She was on life support. She remained on life support for two weeks when finally her big loving heart gave out. My friends we have lost Jana. Sasha has lost her older sister and best friend. Maryna has lost her older sister and someone she could always count on. My good friend Vissa and his wife have lost their oldest daughter and the world has lost one great person. Me,I have lost part of my soul that I will never have back. Our hearts hurt and all we can do is not like it.
I can leave you with the exact words Jana said to me as Babushka I were leaving her house in September on the way back to the US. Patrick please be careful take care of auntie and please come back now, you hear me..
I am through. Thanks to everyone who had read what I have written over the past few years. My heart hurts and I can;t do this any longer. Warm regards Patrick

It Is The Night Before

Christmas!!!!!
Nothing has gone right. One of the gifts that was bought for Maryna came today. Guess what ? I don't have to tell you what happened. I had a feeling that things were going to smooth. I bought this on line two weeks ago. It arrived today. Wrong stuff. Phony Perfume. I don't mean a little phony. It is the real deal phony, 100% to the bone phony.
What the hell has happened to people these days, selling phony stuff. I also must ask what in the hell is wrong with me buying phony stuff that these people sell ?
I am use to buying real products. I don't mind paying a little more for the real deal so to speak. This time I was taken in by a lady that said she bought it as a gift for her and she did not like it. I took what I thought was a good deal and ran with it. I do understand that you always get what you pay for. In this case I sure did.
So as I head out for the mall for some late shopping, I can hear the phony lady saying , Ya'll come back now, Ya hear...

My Pal's....

This trip to Uzhgorod was the best yet. I had dental work done, saw some old pals and met some new ones. I have found one of the best Biker Bars in Eastern Europe. My pal Sasha is the owner and chief Biker. He has collected bikes from all over the world and has them on display in his bar. I saw bikes that I had only heard about. They were right in front of my eyes in living color. I could actually touch them. Man o man what a rush. Here are some of the photos that I took while there. I hope that you like them.

Does Anyone Have Any

Idea. What in the blue hell this is?

Here Come's The Bride !!!

My first Saturday night in Uzhgorod on this trip I thought I would spend a quiet night having dinner and drinks with my brother Sergei and his wife Maryanna. I show up in jeans , tee shirt and slip on ratty ass ed shoes. I should have known that some thing was up when they were dressed to the 10's. As a rule much don't get by me. This time it did.
Patrick we are going to a wedding !! Say what ? Da, we will go to wedding. Sergei I am not dressed to go to a wedding. No problem , we go to your flat and dress you. So, Off to the flat we go. I get dressed in the finest dress clothes that I had with me and off we went.
Another rule that I have is when I go to a wedding I like to know at least one of the people getting married. This was one that I had no idea who was who. All I knew is that I had a wedding to attend and with no gift.
I was introduced to everyone and all seemed to be in a good mood with one exception. There was one man that seemed ho have a problem with Americans. The more he drank the bigger the problem got. I like problems. I truly do. I have always had a thing for people with problems in general, and people that have a problem with me in specific. He would take a drink of vodka look at me and slam the shot glass on the table. Sergei said , Patrick that young man seems to have a problem with you being here. Yeah, I know.. Watch this. I walk over about 10 feet, pour a large shot glass full of vodka, down it and slam the glass down. He did not know what to do. Is this big American crazy ? I could see his small brain having this thought.It was showing through his small pointed eye's. To add insult to this, I went over to his table , poured him a drink and just smiled.
To make a very long story short, the war was on. I have a few photos of the wedding that I will share. I hope that you like them.
I will leave you with the same words that I had for the crazy young man as they carried him out of the building. Ya'll come back now, Ye Hear !!

Can Ya'll Say

Party ? Man o man. I went to one hell of a good one the first weekend that I was in Ukraine. Our pal's Irina her husband Andre along with pal's Eugene his wife Yulia and the rest of the family had a "welcome to our house, we are glad to see you" party.
I was blown away by the amount of food and drink at the cookout. I met Irina's Mom and Dad. Her Babushka came by later on so I got to see 4 generations of family all at one setting. It was a honor to be at this party. I have new pal's. Her father Viktor who is a retired Soviet Union Army Officer and who can consume large amounts of Vodka when toasting his friends was my new best friend and yes I did get drunk. Way too drunk. It was not the amount of Vodka that I drank. It was the short time that I drank it in. The Vodka, beer, wine and of course my favorite Soviet bubbly drink of all time and yes we had several bottles of that as well, along with some home made Vodka that I would not wish on anyone.
I will attempt to post a few photos. I have to go. I have a tax audit tomorrow and I have to try to find some kind of proof that I did not make up all of my tax deductions
I will leave you with the same words my new best friend Viktor said to me as I was passing out.. Ya'll come back now Ya Hear !!!

What A Month..

I have had !! Only two days left in September and I have only spent 10 day's in the good old US.
It started on a Wednesday and I have been back 3 day's now. Dulles to Amsterdam. Amsterdam to Budapest and then off to Ukraina for what seemed like a month.
The trip over was great. No long layovers. No traffic on the road. No back up at customs. No drunk customs officer. Just great people and great times. I have about 192 photos. I brought back plenty of cheap Marlboro's and very good Vodka.
I went to a real nice wedding. Outstanding party's and even the only biker bar in Western Europe. Stories and photos soon to follow. I am still veddy,veddy tired..