Sarah the squirrel (the tame squirrel who lives on our porch) attempting to sneak up on the cat; August 2004.

Our living room; July 2004. Note the open beer on the hearth; a frequent occurence. The large newspaper to the right on the stand indicates it was also a Sunday.

The lovely & gracious Ariane; August 2004. Obviously a surprise shot.

JD & his new Taurus wagon circa July 2004. Note the spiffy white shorts!

Tweaking the Gringos

It's that time of year when I like to make the point as to exactly why I moved so darn far south for the Northerners who are reading this blog. Nothing mean-spirited in it; just the facts, ma'am. These are just some of the reasons I moved to Texas:


1.) It's the last day of September. I'm still wearing shorts, golf shirt, and sandals as I write this.

2.) Current temperature (at 10am): 75 degrees. Forecast today is 90 degrees, partly-cloudy sky. (Later note: Make that 94 degrees.)

3.) Forecast for tomorrow; the same (90 hi/ 70 low). If it rains this weekend, it'll be 80 hi/ 60 low. In Texas, 80 hi/ 60 low is what they call a "cold front coming through--break out your winter coats (I kid you not!)

4.) Not one single leaf has turned color here yet, so I'm not raking anything.

5.) They just finished repainting the pool, so I'm going swimming this afternoon.

6.) Burger King has **6** different varieties of Whopper down here; including your standard Whopper, Double Whopper, Whopper w/cheese, and Chicken Whopper; but also with the **Texas ONLY** variants of the Texas Whopper (with Barbecue Sauce and Jalapenos) and Double Texas Whopper (which literally has double everything except the bun; plus BBQ sauce and jalapenos, which makes it some kind of tragic yet delicious food accident disaster.

7.) Gas is still $ 1.74/gallon.

You just gotta love a state with this much self-confidence (that's "chutzpah" in New York!)

Deep in the Heart of Texas!!!!!!!!

I wanna talk about the great state of Texas for just a moment. This post in particular is aimed directly at those family members and friends who wondered why the heck we moved to Texas. There were some personal reasons revolving around the bankruptcy of my business in Indiana, of course, but we could’ve just as easily moved to the next town and still be close to family. (Portage IN or Chesterton IN – or, for that matter, Westville IN, North Judson IN, or even Aurora IL or LaGrange IL; they were all contenders for relocation.

Two things shaped our decision, though. The first was the realization that even if we were still close to MY family, my wife was still going to be 3500 mile plus from HER family. Her brother lives in Paris; her sister lives in Brussels; her best friend lives in London, and most of the rest of the family live in Mauritius (a tiny island just off the east coast of Africa, for crying out loud!) When I began to realize that she had adapted quite well to living that far from her family all the years we’ve been married, it broadened out horizons quite a bit.

The second thing is something you have to have been in the U.S. Army Medical Corps to understand. In all the world, of all the army bases I’ve ever been to, there’s only one I truly wanted to go back to – and anyone who’s ever been there knows what I’m talking about. The one place everyone who’s ever been a medic has to pass through for training. The one place we all spent trying to get back to again.

Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Beautiful downtown San Antonio.

It’s like nowhere else; I mean that without a trace of hyperbole. The sky is blue, the air is warm, the sun shines almost every day. The birds sing in the trees, and the entire city is geared towards tourism and making the outsider feel right at home. Even in the winter the temperature rarely gets below 50 degrees, and the heat of the summer is dry, with little humidity to ruin the moment. People smile at you and ask “How you Doin’?�, and you truly believe they’d like to know! Everyone smiles–a lot.

The cost of living is lower, too. As I write this, gasoline here is $1.70/gallon. In Chicago, it’s closer to $1.95/gallon at Ernie’s Shell today (Thanks, http://www.gasbuddy.com). In Indiana we had a 900 square foot apartment (2BR/2 bath) with free parking for $750.00/month. Here we have an 1100 square foot apartment (2BR/2 bath) with 2 swimming pools. Tennis courts, laundry facilities, and security officers for $632.00/month. My utility bills in Indiana were approximately $150 – $225 per month. Here they’re $75 – $120.00 month, even running the A/C all the time. And nursing pay is much higher. I was lucky to earn $12 – 13.00/hour at Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso. Here LVN’s in Nursing Homes ear $14 – 15.00/hour plus $2-3,000.00 sign on bonuses. Hospital LVNs earn $17.00 – $23.00/hour.

Big, big difference.

I think the moment we decided to move to Texas is illustrative of the whole process. Ariane & I were outside shoveling snow. It was 2am, and we were shoveling wet, goopy snow out of our driveway because (a) the snowplows had just re-deposited it in the driveway again, and (b) if we waited until 6am when we got up for work, the snow would freeze in place, locking us into the driveway indefinitely. So, you get up and shovel every time the plow goes by. Makes for difficult sleeping.

As we’re shoveling, we discussing where we should move to when our lease is up in August, being vaguely dissatisfied with the place we had. Ariane says, “we don’t have to stay in Valpo, you know. We could move to Chesterton. Or Portage. We could even move to Westville or North Judson.�

And, of course, I wisecracked (being cold, tired, and exhausted), “We could move to Texas!�

So, while it was my idea, I don’t regret a bit of it. I’m immensely sorry I missed my Aunt Marilyn’s funeral, certainly. Had we known she was going to be sick so soon, we probably wouldn’t have moved quite so far.

But I haven’t missed any Popcorn Festivals, Wizard of Oz Festivals, Tastes of Chicago, or even Porter County Fairs. (Well, okay, **I** miss the animal barns at the Fair – Ariane is grateful we don’t have to smell those stinky cows again!)

And if I do, I just drive downtown to the Riverwalk, take a tour on the River Cruise Boats, and drink a Strawberry Daiquiri at the Joe’s Crab Shack or Hard Rock Café overlooking the river.

So – when y’all coming down?