A windstorm knocked down several large Eucalyptus tree branches this morning that covered our main driveway. Luckily my son-in-law immediately came over to clean up the mess. In the meantime, I sat on the telephone to hire a plumber to change the gas valve to which our new gas range can be hooked up. Those valve prices ranged from $189 to $417 installed, for a ten-minute job. My wife bought the oven with her own money ($1K that includes a 8.75% sales tax, delivery, hook-up, and disposing the old oven.)
Left: The wind damaged our chicken coop and destroyed two umbrellas giving shade.
Right: The tree branches blown down by the storm knocked over a light pole on our driveway. I'll try to repair it myself but may have to hire an electrician.
The windstorm flattened our 6 - 7 feet tall Canna flowers. They were in full bloom (red, yellow, orange) but they will come back.
Left: We will give away the larger fallen Eucalyptus tree branch pieces. That saves money rather than bringing them to the Dump 20 miles away.
Right: While working in China for 13 years, my older daughter (half my age) made many friends in the expat community. Some invited her to visit Australia. Minutes ago, she sent me a picture of the Sydney Opera House behind herself. In 1995 I had taken my family for a camping trip to Australia. At that time, we saw Rossini's opera, "The Barber of Seville," at that opera house.
After coming home, my daughter will fly a week later to Panama City / Central America. Another expat friend pays for everything for watching her children while being in Europe. That friend trusts my daughter more than a local baby sitter. And for November, my daughter has already booked a flight back to Zhuhai / China to celebrate something with her old expat friends.
I don't care what she does with her own money, but I am very concerned that she neglects her online studies at
www.nu.edu for her M.Ed degree and teaching credential for which I am paying. My younger wife already paid for a pilgrimage to Italy in December. Again, I can't say anything what she does with her own money. But I stay at home because I travelled enough and am now too old for more "exhaustion," especially the long intercontinental flights. In 1959 I sailed with the Italian SS "Castle Felice" from Germany to Australia in 40 days; in 1965 with the English SS "Canberra" from Sydney to San Francisco in 3 weeks, and in 1970 by plane from Los Angeles back to Germany in 12 hours.
On the SS "Canberra" in 1965 also sailed the Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies. He stood two people ahead of me in line at the purser's office to exchange US currency before landing in Honolulu. And in the foggy "Strait of Juan de Fuca," he stood by himself at the railing. While passing him, I briefly talked with him about the foggy weather, but I didn't dare to involve him in a conversation because I figured he had more important things on his mind. If you hadn't known who he was, you would have thought he is just a normal traveler like I myself.
If I couldn't stand politics in the U.S. any longer, then rather going back to Germany, I would live again in Australia. I am staying here for economic reasons. Nowhere else in the world would I have the same standard of living as in California.
Funny: in English I still have a German accent while in German I have now also an English accent. I still remember how mad my first wife got when she realized that she started speaking with a German accent, Her dad was an US Air Force Colonel who tried to convince me that during WWII he never bombed Germany. BTW, our 1970 wedding reception had been at the officer's club on March Air Force Base (now a reserve base.) Up to 1996, 3 B52 bombers loaded with atom bombs and an observer plane from March AFB (a total of 28 jet engines) flew so low near our house that I could see the pilots. That's when my hearing got shot and I started needing hearing aids. Well, sort of......LOL.
BTW, both my wife and I have our pensions voluntarily lowered. In my case, after my death our daughters will obtain lifelong and inflation adjusted a small part of my pension as extra income. My wife did so for our grandson.
Since 1970 I, and since our marriage my wife as well, have been continuously employer paid members of Kaiser Permanente and Delta Dental. Because my wife retired from work, we had to switch to government Medicare paid Kaiser and Delta plans. Today we received our new membership cards while keeping our previous doctors and dentists. Well, Kaiser includes us for dental care. So, Medicare indirectly pays for our dental benefits.
day....
