- We noticed all the advertisements that appeared in the newspapers after the January windstorm for tree removal. At home, it would be (a) not much of an issue, as we don't have 70-ft tall trees that (b) lack the roots to withstand 35 mph winds. And (c) if you don't have your own chain saw, your next door neighbour or brother-in-law certainly does. Other services of much greater prominence here than at home include income tax debt relief and women's pistol lessons (okay, I only saw it once, but couldn't resist mentioning it).
- One difference I love is that the outdoor toilets are operational year-round. In a park or on a trail, you don't have to go to the bushes, not even in January. Of course, the warmer climate brings a host of differences -- that's why we're here -- that are so obvious they don't count.
- Then there are the white trucks. We are driving a white truck, a Chevy pick-up with cap. It seems most of the trucks on the roads are white. There are fleets and fleets of them -- vans, pick-ups, SUVs, you name it. As we pull onto any street or highway, the last words out of my mouth are usually "After this white truck." Perhaps white is favoured because of the summer heat. Whatever the reason, it's truly remarkable. Thousands and thousands of them.
- Bail bonds. How common can the need be, you wonder, so that adverts on radio are as common as promos for fast food? This week we got the answer: 1 in 100 American adults are incarcerated. Not 1/100 has ever been in jail; that's how many are there at this moment. Note the figure includes both genders, so how high would it be for men only? For African-Americans, the incarcerated figure is a staggering 1 out of 15 adults.
- Drugs, the legal kind. We don't watch a lot of American TV at home, so it's been news, especially to Jim, who is convinced that everyone in this country must be taking a dozen prescriptions. The sense of a medicated society is made even more amazing when you consider that many of the newest drugs being promoted are for novel problems. The restless leg medication is getting heavy exposure right now.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Random differences (ongoing tally)
Virtually idle? Not quite.
I took on a couple of small computer tasks, which were fun because they involved learning new things. Jim's little company website (the little applying to both the site and the business) needed an update, so that took a day or two. It now has an improved name: http://www.seaschoolnfld.com/ We debated the name briefly. The full Sea School of Newfoundland was too unwieldy. Someone already has http://www.seaschool.com/ . Jim wouldn't use nl, the official abbreviation of the province's name as he contends it would be too likely to be confused with the Netherlands in a marine context. So we did the old nfld, which could just as easy be Newfoundland and Labrador anyway.
My other computer project was to learn how to put together a DVD slideshow that Mother could watch on TV. Last summer I scanned ~500 family photos in preparation for our reunion. With Brittany's help, we got together a show of about 150 images that we used at Mother's official 80th birthday party. I noticed at Christmas that Mother was looking at them on the Scaplens' digital picture viewer and decided I'd try to get them into a format she could use at home.
I enjoyed the challenge of doing it -- finding the software on line, learning how to use it and generally making it work. I added music from the exceedingly slim collection I had on the computer. I haven't done any downloading, free or otherwise, so just went with what I had copied from a few CDs a couple of days before leaving home. (So it's heavy into Ron Hynes). The biggest problem was replaying it over and over while making revisions. Every time Sarah Maclaughlin sang "I Will Remember You", I'd burst into tears.
This week we have stirred ourselves to write more sailing articles to go into The Navigator and be posted at SeaRoom, http://www.searoom.com/
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Can we be of help?
It's intriguing to see which shelves are in disarray, presumably indicating heavy use. The gardening and bird-watching sections were the two messiest I have seen to date. I was dismayed to note that the shelves of books about social activism and working for societal change seemed untouched, while the many publications of Ann Coulter, darling of right-wing conservatives, had clearly been off the shelf and out the door.
Today I browsed a hefty section on what to do in your older years. One book, called Still Making Waves promised ideas about all the wonderful things you can still contribute, even on the wrong side of 60. It was a bit of a mixed message, though. A big sticker on the spine indicated that this was a Large Print Edition. Another book I shifted this morning was called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fasting. Yeah, like there would be some other kind of person who would want to fast.
One fringe benefit: the library sells used magazines for $1 or less, so each week I pick up a handful, and bring them back next time.
Our other voluntary spot is a thrift shop operated by the Snowline Hospice. We stopped in during our first week here to pick up a few household items. The store was bright, clean and well-stocked. Their publications and high profile community sponsors convinced us that they provided an excellent hospice service. We now go to their Cameron Park store on Friday mornings. I help with stocking and display while Jim goes to the back room and tests small appliances and electronics with the other old guys.
Most of the volunteers are older women who have been doing this work together for many years. They are funny and fiesty. The store is a social outlet and an important part of their lives. Jim notes that their are several Mecedes in the parking lot when we arrive. I'm not sure where the ladies get their cars, but I know where they get their clothes -- and they look great in them!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The taste I've been missing
The other side of being in a new environment is discovering which familiar things you simply can't do without. Coffee has turned out to be a problem. I'm no addict but perhaps what I'm recognizing is that coffee is one of those things I rely on having in predictable ways. In the morning, the coffee has to be hot and strong. Outside the house, it ought to be under $2.00 a cup and, well, hot and tasting like coffee. In the evening at home I sure do enjoy the decaf lattes Jim churns out of the cappo machine. The home-produced lattes were a bit much to expect when away from home, so I kissed that idea good-bye as one of the acknowledged hardships of the travelling life.
Now, I submit that getting a reasonable cup of coffee is not a lot to ask. Maybe I was wrong. First, we found ourselves in the coffee aisle at the supermarket having to get past the huge display of flavoured coffees in order to find the regular stuff. Back at the house the bad news is that the coffeemaker doesn't get hot enough, so whenever you pour a cup it has to go straight into the microwave. Just plain annoying. If we buy an RV, the first thing I'm going to do is get a French press coffee pot that we can use now, and leave in the RV. (Actually, there's a whole list of such items. The kitchen is not equipped with everything we'd like.)
When we're on the go, we truly do miss Tim Horton's. The thing is, there's always one nearby and you know what you're getting. Here there is no equivalent. We haven't seen a Dunkin' Donuts, or any chain that would have coffee as its feature product. Gas station coffee is always a last resort. Some of the fast-food chains whose coffee we have tried include: In-N-Out (not bad and only 80 cents a cup); Carl's Jr.: (better quality, cost more but we got the >55 discount); TCBY (huge, expensive and good). Small size has so far always been at least 12 ounces, same as a Tim's medium, and generally in a tall, slim cup that won't sit safely in the pickup's coffee holder. Don't even think of asking for milk -- if you can't take it with cream you don't get it.
The final part of the great coffee search is the workplace offerings. At both of our volunteer sites the quantity and quality of the coffee is fine (free at the thrift shop, drop in your coins at the library). BUT -- the only creamer is the plastic powder. The compensation is that each place often has high-class sweets to take away the bad taste.
In truth, the hunt for decent bread has been just as big a challenge. The term 'whole wheat' is not generally used; they call it 'wheat bread', as opposed to that other bread which is made of . . . what???? It costs $3.50 a loaf, is sliced wafer-thin and is dry and tasteless.
Anyone's heart would bleed for the hardships we endure.
Monday, January 21, 2008
More El Dorado delights -- Jan 19
Walking in front of some of these women gave us insight into prevailing customs for baby showers: scheduled for after the delivery so as not to tempt fate; given by the grandmother even for a third child; complete with mandatory diaper cake, whatever that may be. We also learned more than we ever needed to know about the sex lives of potters. Apparently this is a vocation best practiced in couples, who share a home and a kiln. If the relationship fails, the person who is turfed out of the house must immediately take up with another potter.
Apart from the people-watching and evesdropping, the hike took us a couple of miles up a lovely big hill, on a trail under great Ponderosa pines. (Speaking of which, the TV show Bonanza was filmed not far from here, in the area of the Ponderosa River.)
We attended the Placerville Art Walk. Every month on the 3rd Saturday, the art galleries along the old main street open late into the evening. They offer wine and hors d'ouvres and a chance to meet the artists. There was quite an array of work -- paintings, photography, jewellry, wooden objects, with a wide range of skill and subject matter. I didn't see the same sense of local influence (i.e. the land and sea) that we often get at home.
Placerville is a small, kind of funky, town. Most galleries offered snacks which were either made by the owners or friends of the artists or came out of a supermarket bag. You couldn't accuse them of being pretentious. One tiny gallery was a single rented room. The artist's buddy from across the hall, a massage therapist, gave free neck massages.
The Bennett Gallery had mainly sculpture. I noticed that several of the featured artists had versions of the Bennett surname and asked the woman hosting the evening to tell us the story. Her late husband and his brother, Tom and Bob Bennett, started it all and several of their children and other relatives have shown similar talent. Most of the work was very pricey, but I was intrigued by their wedding cake toppers. They are handcrafted sculptures that sit on top of the wedding cake, and are later mounted as permanent keepsakes. http://www.bennettgallery.net/
Taking it all in
The high ceilings and marble floors reminded me a little of the parliament buildings in Ottawa. The capitol was constructed in the late 1860s. It looks as if there must have been gold rush money to spend. The assembly chamber is spacious and grand, marred only by a hideous green carpet in the gallery. Each member's desk was equipped with a laptop -- I wonder if our provincial or federal members have that? The senate chamber was closed that day so we couldn't look. Original offices for the governor, state treasurer and others were open for viewing as museum pieces. We cringed at the portrait of former governor Ronald Reagan. Got as far as the door of Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. Several displays referred to initiatives of First Lady Maria Shriver, who was credited with starting two museums, the California Hall of Fame and the museum for History, Women and the Arts. We had lunch in the historic downtown amid goldrush-era buildings and tourist-trap shops. At least the city has a riverfront, so that makes it alright in our book. No water, no heart.
[Aside: Just read a rant in a freebie newspaper that referred to Governor 'Arnold Kennedy' and the RINO contingent, i.e. Republicans in Name Only. Gotta love the politics.]
Also this week we drove up the mountains to Lake Tahoe. The highest elevation is about 7500 feet, a height which guarantees some extraordinary views. In an hour's drive we went from 60F/15C weather to freezing temps and mounds of snow remaining from the storm of two weeks previous. The lake must offer great recreational opportunties in summer, but during our visit a frigid wind blew on shore. We tried to appreciate the attractive blue-green shades of the waters. There was some large-vessel traffic at a distance. A few sailboats were moored close to shore and a couple of paddle-wheelers appeared to be in service as floating restaurants or tour boats. The California side of the town of South Lake Tahoe caters to those coming for the snow sports, while the second you cross into Nevada you are confronted by gigantic hotel/casino complexes.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Living in the Sierra Foothills.
Location: We're in ranch country, half an hour east of Sacramento. Grocery shopping is easiest in Cameron Park. Clothes and housewares we can get in Placerville, major shopping is available in Flosom, thoughwe have not checked this out as yet. None of these places requires more than a 20-minute drive. For exercise, we can go down the driveway and walk for 30-40 minutes without leaving our non-county-maintained back road. A scenic walk/hike probably requires going north to the American River again, but we have also parked the pick-up on a side road and walked around various upscale neighbourhoods. In many cases each house is surrounded by 5-10 acres of land. Houses range from ordinary-looking bungalows to sprawling ranch styles and every sort of pretentious design you could imagine, from colonial to tudor to mediterranean to alpine lodge. As we search for places to walk, we are constantly reminded how fortunate we are at home to have access to so much crown land.
Nest building: It's funny to discover what you can't live without. I looked around half a dozen stores before finding the right kind of plastic dish scrubber. One big need was for a barbecue. Three months in a place with decent weather was too long to go without access to a grill. We were trying to decide whether to go propane or charcoal. Which would be safer and create less mess? Charcoal is a nuisance to work with, but propane canisters are environmentally wasteful. At the end of our stay, would we donate the BBQ to a thrift store or just leave it? We dropped into a thrift store one day to look for something else (port glasses), and I found an outdoor electric barbeque complete with lava rocks for $5.50. We were allowed to test it to prove that it worked. Then the woman at the cash noticed it had a yellow sticker so was half price. Oh yes, we were given 10 days to return it if it didn't work out okay.
Things to do: We are enjoying the geocaching and have taken our doggie friend Jessie along a couple of times. She enjoys the concept -- a short drive along a country road, followed by sniffing under rocks and fallen trees to find hidden treasure. One night a week we take dance lessons -- East Coast Swing -- in Folsom. On Tuesday mornings we will be volunteering at the Placerville library, doing unskilled chores. We attended an RV seminar one day and then an RV show in Vallejo (saw waters of the Pacific Ocean, but not a real ocean view). We've given some thought to the idea of buying an RV here and it might be a reasonable way to go. If we bought one in the next month, we could bring it to the house and spend some time equipping it with basic supplies. Finding a storage facility should be fairly straightforward. The cost of flying here would not be a lot more than flying to somewhere other prime spots for buying RVs, i.e Florida or Arizona. We could depart this area in the fall to drive south, spending time in Nevada, Arizona , New Mexico, Texas. Later on we could decide whether to continue to Mexico. Jim belives he has figured out how to register and insure an RV in the U.S.