Well, gee, I didn't mean to be away from the 'puter for so long, wow! I've had internet access through my iPad, but my chubby fingers can't type long passages on that device, and my desktop computer wasn't hooked up to cable because the damn cable guy installed the outlet in the wrong room. Okay, I know I shoulda been watchin him, but he came out to the house at the same time the appliance guys showed up and my attention was deeply divided - I really, really wanted the refrigerator and washer/dryer to be up and running and quite simply forgot about the cable guy so a new cable guy came to the house yesterday and fixed us right up, thank goodness, 'cause I was gettin mighty frustrated with not havin my 'puter.
Obviously we've made it into our new home. My hubby picked the house while I was still back in the DC area, and while I saw the interior shots, I had no idea what the home was really like. It's beautiful, no doubt, and plenty roomy, but each time we leave the house it inspires me to sing "Little Boxes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs heh heh. This is a newish development with a diverse community in the Heart of Dixie, so woohoo to diversity but boohoo to non-diversity in the choice of homes in the 'hood.
We're close but not right next to one of the boundaries of Redstone Arsenal, which is not too uncommon since Redstone is huge. We've discovered that Redstone likes to blow stuff up. Not sure what exactly they blow up but every day for the last three weeks two to three times a day explosion(s) shake the house and a loud "boom" is heard. And this doesn't even include all the shootin they do over there. Not sure what they're shootin at either, come to think of it. Anyway, we apparently live in a war zone and it ain't too peaceful. Welcome to Alabama, yeehaw!
Since our priorities at first were to find Costco and a holistic pet food place and an organic grocery store (hey! Costco has lots of organics, much to our delight), we scoped those out first and everything else will be on an as-needed basis. In other words I'm still shoppin out of the internet for things like coconut milk which I use in place of regular milk and cream and by "use" I mean for baking and making cream sauces and using in my morning coffee and making yogurt with and ice cream in the summer. And it can't be any kind of coconut milk, it's got to be Aroy-D, which is a Thai milk that comes in boxes and has absolutely no additives whatsoever. Just 100% coconut milk. We found one Asian grocer so far (google lists three in this area) but it didn't sell Aroy-D. Our hunt continues....
Southern hospitality: I gotta admit that we continue to be blown away by the courtesy of all those peeps we've encountered here. Beyond nice and compassionate - they've all gone the extra mile to ensure we found what we needed. And if not found, the apologies came in droves. I had forgotten about this part of Southernness; Jeff told me they're all like me: chat chat chat with everybody, always sayin "thank you" and "please" and "let me get that for you" and "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" and, well, you get the picture. They also love the elderly. While I don't really, truly, think of Jeff and I as elderly - we're just older than dirt thankyouverymuch - we are, um, a hell of a lot older than the young peeps who are clerkin in the stores. They bend over backwards to make sure we're doin okay, and I happen to enjoy that. A lot. Like, a whole buncha lot. We also get senior discounts automatically (note: most senior discounts start at age 65, which we haven't reached...yet) because all old people look old, and they all ask if we have a military id so we can get that discount, too. I have an expired military card, and they accept it because "if you've served our country, you get a discount!" Well, alrighty then, who am I to argue?! The reason I mention the discounts is because in the DC area even if you looked like you were 100 yrs old and even if you were in a military uniform, you still wouldn't get a discount unless you asked for it. Oh, the signs announcing the discounts were on the establishment's wall next to the cash register, but the clerks wouldn't give it to you unless you got down on your knees and begged and pleaded and cried. And sometimes not even then. Yeah, life is different down here.
One thing that has really irked the shit out of me, though, has been the sales tax. It's 9% here. Nine percent! In Virginia it's 4%, and considering we've had to buy some major purchases, 9% is a huge chunk of money. I'm pretty certain that the reason for the high sales tax is that property taxes are low, so the state's gotta recoup that money somehow and sales tax seems to be the way. Personally I'm thinkin that seniors need to get a discount on the sales tax, too; after all, haven't we paid enough in taxes over the course of our lives? Must make a note to lobby the state legislature re this....
Speaking of the state legislature, the elections were horrifying last week. Ain't nobody bein elected here but the conservatives. Now, if I thought any of 'em had a plan, I wouldn't be bitchin 'bout it, but no plan except to privatize everything in sight and open up the wilderness to loggin and minin and drillin. Not a peep as to renewable energy (in this election), but every campaign ad did use the word "liberal" as a slur and claimed that the conservatives were saving the state from all the damage the liberals had done. So I'm sittin there watchin, thinkin, "Wait, what?" You mean like civil rights? or LGBT equal rights? or Clean Air & Water regs? or, well, what?" I shouted at the tv that Alabama had to be forced by court order to do the right thing and liberals had nothin' to do with it since the courts determined that each law was Constitutionally valid but conservatives had everything to do with noncompliance. I fully expect to be screamin at the tv a lot in the coming days. And writing my duly elected politicians short, sweet letters 'splain' 'bout leading Alabama into the 21st century and beyond. And callin' 'em all up on the phone and 'splainin' even further. Or, hell, I may just visit 'em and 'splain in person. Sweetly and gently, don'tyouknow.
So that's it for now. Lovin' the people, hatin' the politics. Not too shabby for a returning ex-pat.
Obviously we've made it into our new home. My hubby picked the house while I was still back in the DC area, and while I saw the interior shots, I had no idea what the home was really like. It's beautiful, no doubt, and plenty roomy, but each time we leave the house it inspires me to sing "Little Boxes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs heh heh. This is a newish development with a diverse community in the Heart of Dixie, so woohoo to diversity but boohoo to non-diversity in the choice of homes in the 'hood.
We're close but not right next to one of the boundaries of Redstone Arsenal, which is not too uncommon since Redstone is huge. We've discovered that Redstone likes to blow stuff up. Not sure what exactly they blow up but every day for the last three weeks two to three times a day explosion(s) shake the house and a loud "boom" is heard. And this doesn't even include all the shootin they do over there. Not sure what they're shootin at either, come to think of it. Anyway, we apparently live in a war zone and it ain't too peaceful. Welcome to Alabama, yeehaw!
Since our priorities at first were to find Costco and a holistic pet food place and an organic grocery store (hey! Costco has lots of organics, much to our delight), we scoped those out first and everything else will be on an as-needed basis. In other words I'm still shoppin out of the internet for things like coconut milk which I use in place of regular milk and cream and by "use" I mean for baking and making cream sauces and using in my morning coffee and making yogurt with and ice cream in the summer. And it can't be any kind of coconut milk, it's got to be Aroy-D, which is a Thai milk that comes in boxes and has absolutely no additives whatsoever. Just 100% coconut milk. We found one Asian grocer so far (google lists three in this area) but it didn't sell Aroy-D. Our hunt continues....
Southern hospitality: I gotta admit that we continue to be blown away by the courtesy of all those peeps we've encountered here. Beyond nice and compassionate - they've all gone the extra mile to ensure we found what we needed. And if not found, the apologies came in droves. I had forgotten about this part of Southernness; Jeff told me they're all like me: chat chat chat with everybody, always sayin "thank you" and "please" and "let me get that for you" and "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" and, well, you get the picture. They also love the elderly. While I don't really, truly, think of Jeff and I as elderly - we're just older than dirt thankyouverymuch - we are, um, a hell of a lot older than the young peeps who are clerkin in the stores. They bend over backwards to make sure we're doin okay, and I happen to enjoy that. A lot. Like, a whole buncha lot. We also get senior discounts automatically (note: most senior discounts start at age 65, which we haven't reached...yet) because all old people look old, and they all ask if we have a military id so we can get that discount, too. I have an expired military card, and they accept it because "if you've served our country, you get a discount!" Well, alrighty then, who am I to argue?! The reason I mention the discounts is because in the DC area even if you looked like you were 100 yrs old and even if you were in a military uniform, you still wouldn't get a discount unless you asked for it. Oh, the signs announcing the discounts were on the establishment's wall next to the cash register, but the clerks wouldn't give it to you unless you got down on your knees and begged and pleaded and cried. And sometimes not even then. Yeah, life is different down here.
One thing that has really irked the shit out of me, though, has been the sales tax. It's 9% here. Nine percent! In Virginia it's 4%, and considering we've had to buy some major purchases, 9% is a huge chunk of money. I'm pretty certain that the reason for the high sales tax is that property taxes are low, so the state's gotta recoup that money somehow and sales tax seems to be the way. Personally I'm thinkin that seniors need to get a discount on the sales tax, too; after all, haven't we paid enough in taxes over the course of our lives? Must make a note to lobby the state legislature re this....
Speaking of the state legislature, the elections were horrifying last week. Ain't nobody bein elected here but the conservatives. Now, if I thought any of 'em had a plan, I wouldn't be bitchin 'bout it, but no plan except to privatize everything in sight and open up the wilderness to loggin and minin and drillin. Not a peep as to renewable energy (in this election), but every campaign ad did use the word "liberal" as a slur and claimed that the conservatives were saving the state from all the damage the liberals had done. So I'm sittin there watchin, thinkin, "Wait, what?" You mean like civil rights? or LGBT equal rights? or Clean Air & Water regs? or, well, what?" I shouted at the tv that Alabama had to be forced by court order to do the right thing and liberals had nothin' to do with it since the courts determined that each law was Constitutionally valid but conservatives had everything to do with noncompliance. I fully expect to be screamin at the tv a lot in the coming days. And writing my duly elected politicians short, sweet letters 'splain' 'bout leading Alabama into the 21st century and beyond. And callin' 'em all up on the phone and 'splainin' even further. Or, hell, I may just visit 'em and 'splain in person. Sweetly and gently, don'tyouknow.
So that's it for now. Lovin' the people, hatin' the politics. Not too shabby for a returning ex-pat.
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