Well, it’s that time of year again. No, not time for another blog epistle…OK, that too…, but farm-baby time. Our neighborhood is crawling with little cows and sheep. Something about little animals seems to bring out some kind of unexplained tendency to ooh and ahh that is if one doesn’t ponder their likely fate as veal cutlets and legs of lamb. But like so many other realities in our lives, it’s nicer just to revert to our Happy Place.
And speaking of animals, there was a story in the news this week about a young hoodlum somewhere on the North Island, on the lam(b) from the police, who took to hiding in a tree-line at the edge of a cow pasture. Seemed like a pretty good idea except for the fact that when the cops arrived, the entire herd of cows were staring directly at him.
As seems to have become a pattern, it’s been a few months since my last entry here; partly due to the fact that I, myself, have actually been working; partly due to my inherent nature to procrastinate on any tasks that require the least real effort or thought; and partly because our lives have come to feel pretty normal. Our first several months here, everything was new and different…the sights, sounds, our house, the people, and the side of the car that has the steering wheel. Now, I don’t even give a conscious thought to which side of the road to drive on or have to wonder what kind of bird is making that cool sound. Not that this is a bad thing but, I suppose, just a natural progression of adjustment. Rather than try to outline our lives and activities of the last few months, I’ll try to keep this entry to a manageable length and do another one sooner than later.
I’ve also become a little more lackadaisical about snapping photos of everything as I did the first many months, but I will throw in a few photos, here, even though they may be totally unrelated to these ramblings….If you’re like me, you’ll only look at the pictures anyway. (For me, the worst part of moving on from elementary school to Jr. High and beyond was there weren’t pictures in the books anymore).
So it’s a bit like limbo…or is it purgatory? I tend to confuse my Catholic concepts. However you define it, it’s still a pretty unsettling, and bound to become more-so as October, 2010 gets closer…that’s when Chris’ job commitment ends. I don’t think people my age are supposed to be unsettled are they? But since we still have a year to come up with a plan, why worry about it, now? And since our house in Homer is still unsold, we don’t have to even think about what we’d do with the proceeds if we had them. There’s a lot to be said about having a limited number of options for someone who struggles with decisions as I do. It seems like every possible option has as many drawbacks as every other one. New Zealand: Good environment, climate and health care but far from everywhere & everything. Alaska: Good friends, free fish but seriously crappy weather. Oregon: Family; family & fairly crappy weather. Snowbirding between NZ and somewhere else: Good weather; never permanent and need 2 of everything; crappy commute. Other options will be entertained. Any suggestions?
Of course, thinking of living back in the US brings up a lot of unpleasantness related to the politics of hate and polarization that seems to enter into everything these days. And remind me again, what exactly is wrong with The Government providing health care for everyone? The US spends more on health than any developed country, but ranks somewhere around 56th in quality and effectiveness of care. I can’t make any sense of how trying to improve the dismal situation in any way makes Obama a Fascist? People here just roll their eyes at the US health care system. For comparison sake, here’s a summary of our 2009 health care expenses in both the US and New Zealand (converted to US $).
New Zealand: Cost this year: $72. What we’ve gotten: Eight or nine doctor visits, two blood tests, two flu shots, one colonoscopy, one arterial ultrasound and ninety days of meds for two separate prescriptions.
US: Cost: $10,510 (for a $10,000 deductible health insurance policy and 2 U.S. Dr. visits applied toward deductible.) What we’ve gotten: Poorer and more pissed off.
Stay tuned. Oh, and is anybody reading this?