We're getting use to our new home.

It took a while for G to get use to the idea that he can go outside in his underwear an no one would see him. Once he became fully aware my laundry days got much easier.


Three or 4 times a day we'll hear a car go by. But not often. A neighbor has dogs but since he's on 8 acres I rarely hear him or them. Sometimes he walks them and I'll hear an excited bark. Mostly I hear birds and bugs. Every few days or so I might hear a small airplane.


But mainly I hear the wind. I've never lived where you could hear the wind rushing a ways off and wait for it to get to you. When the wind dies down it's frightening somehow. Like if you were at the ocean and could hear the waves and suddenly didn't. The silence is alarming. I've also learned it happens right before a storm.

One night we went out to eat as a storm rolled into town. The thunder roared. I'd never heard it so loud and booming. Maybe it's the flatness of this place. The people in the resturant became alarmed. My first thought was I need to change my location for storm alerts on my phone, could it be a tornado? Everyone looked alarmed. Later I read it was just a thunderstorm.

I couldn't believe the reaction over a thunderstorm. 2.5 inches of water fell and one local home had a section of the foundation wash out. People were staring out the windows and murmuring.

These people have no hid in a basement during a flash flood/tornado and prayed the wind would die down.

Of course come winter they'll be wondering why I'm so nervous driving in the snow. Amazing what can become our normal.


A few things I haven't quite adjusted too:

1) People staring when they hear my accent.
2) "Bag" being pronounced "Baeg". Like almost saying bagle.
3) "Root Beer" being pronounced "Rut Beer". Like what deer do. Ew.
4) The fact that my address list us as living in Eagle River but when I tell people that they ask what town. I passed a sign down the road that says "Town of Lincoln" but I don't understand how I live in Lincoln AND Eagle River. It's very confusing to me.
5) The deer being larger than life and completely unafraid. Completely. I need them to be just a teeny bit afraid.

Oh yum. Fi just brought me a raspberry she picked in our side yard. Ok that's another thing I'm not quite use too. It's bitter cold here in the winter but we have lots of raspberry, daylillies, roses and a few others I don't know. The undergrowth is filled with ferns and young birch and fir trees.


I know the winter will change my mind but for now this is the most beautiful place I've ever visited. Rural, yes. But I've sat outside in a chair typing this entire post and had exactly one mosquito bite, watched 3 butterflies, a dragonfly, eaten a fresh raspberry and never even broken a sweat.

It's fantastic.