Wandering Wahls

During several years of our assignments overseas, our kids often asked about getting a dog. We always answered: “when we get back to America.” We saw too many hassles of traveling and PCS’ing with dogs in tow. But when we did get back to America, our 41-foot RV just felt too tight to share with pets. (Although that did not stop our kids’ constant pleas.)

So when we finally settled in to our home on five acres with deer grazing occasionally and hawks soaring overhead, we saw it only fitting to have not one but two dogs to make up for lost time. Our newest members of the family have quickly adapted to the Wahl lifestyle—but have taken “Wandering Wahls” to a new level.

Why is it that 5 acres is not enough for them? They have managed to escape our fully fenced property at least a dozen times. They visit neighbors (even the ones we haven’t met yet), and follow us any time we dare to leave them alone. We have patched the gaps, placed boulders in the holes, tried chicken wire below the fence—but “Houdini” and his sidekick still manage to wander.

Our neighbors suggested cayenne pepper along the fence-line. I guess we’d better make a trip to Costco.

Other than the $1200 estimate from the Invisible Fence company, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Yes, you read that right.

We recently had a bit of experience with the local non-military medical system – you know, the one that is in disarray. This was new to us. Living in Germany, we had all medical appointments and such on base. Well, let me add that we did experience one medical appointment on the German economy – and it was a great experience. We were visiting Garmisch, Germany and my mother-in-law needed a doctor’s appointment. The British hostess of our B&B called the local doctor and we had an appointment within an hour, and only a two block walk.

We saw the doctor; didn’t have a wait; he did some tests; and, we walked away with the prescription: all for about 30 euros. The best thing though – the doctor’s name was Dr. Seuss (insert Green Eggs and Ham jokes here: would you like your shots in house, would you like them with a mouse…).

Back in Colorado, my father is visiting and we had to go the local ER due to an eye problem he had. The doc was nice but couldn’t see behind my dad’s retina, so he sent us to one of their specialists. In the military clinics, I’m used to walking down the hall to see the specialist. Here, I have to drive five miles to see the specialist.

At specialist #1, we fill out the same forms we did at the ER and the doc takes the same initial tests as at the ER. Finally, we get to the “behind the retina” exam – he can’t see anything, so we are referred to specialist #2. (Isn’t this the reason we were sent to specialist #1 – are these people in cahoots?)

After a six mile drive, we arrive to more of the same forms and the same tests. Finally though, specialist #2 gets behind the retina and prescribes a blood test, and suggests bed rest and a follow up appointment.

We drive five more miles to the blood test (forgive me Landstuhl Medical Center for complaining about long walks down your corridors) and we’re done.

While the docs were all nice, the experience made me thankful for our military medical system – even if just for the electronic records system that eliminates filling out redundant forms and allows the specialists to know what has been done previously.

Oh, and my dad is fine.

We adopted two puppies to roam our 5 acres and because we promised the kids. I also thought they would be good to chase the voles away. However, they’ve only succeeded in nabbing 2 Magpies and 1 ground squirrel. The vole holes are still popping up.

This is a new experience for us because we withheld from obtaining pets during MC’s career due to the moves and being stationed overseas. There were too many stories about the hassles of PCSing with pets. So, now that we have settled and found ample land, we adopted the puppies.

One thing I never expected was to feel like we had toddlers again – the similarities are amazing. For one, we’re talking baby talk – “Aach, aach” or “Did you go potty? Number 1? Number 2?” (As if they would answer – it was the same with our kids as well, and they never answered either.) Along these potty lines, our trip took me back to toddler days as I walked through the campground with the dogs with poop scoop bags in my back pocket, just like I used to carry diapers around.

And the training takes me back to when the kids were toddlers – positive reinforcement (“Good boy, Rocky!”); everybody has a different opinion on training; they want to play when I want to relax, etc. And sometimes, they want to talk, talk, talk (well, bark, bark, bark).

Even still, all is good – every home needs a good dog or two. The kids love the two pups, they’re training them well (the kids are even training the puppies sometimes), and we have an inexpensive burglar alarm.

We have friends in Colorado Springs who are getting ready to retire in a couple of months. It’s interesting watching from the outside as they go through the house cleaning, garage sales, landlord dealings, planning the retirement ceremony – as well as planning for the new location: schools, house, etc. In a few months, I’ll be interested to watch as they experience post-retirement.

Post-retirement, for us, has been frustratingly interesting.

For one thing, buying the house has brought “joyful” moments dealing with large organizations regarding our loan, particularly with the bank’s 800 numbers. Dialing a bank’s 800 number and waiting on hold reminded me that when I was in Germany, I used to wonder how much of my life was wasted at the Shoppette’s gas pumps waiting for the inside clerk to clear the pump so I could fill my car. I have now found a new and greater source of wasteful moments – phoning our bank regarding our loan.

We weren’t informed when we signed the loan documents that calling the 800 number would result in forty-five minutes of hold time, only to be transferred among three agents and end up back with the original. The only thing worse though is having the 800 number labyrinth bring one to the patronizingly sweet female computer voice responding with replies such as: “ookkaayyy, that was banking, right?” She does not help calm the frustration of an 800 number.

If I could only reach into the phone and shake her – or better yet, talk to the financial institution and ask who approved this? As with all big organizations though, I’ll bet the people who approve these procedures are high enough that they never have to use them.

Returning to the states has presented transitions for us, such as: MC going from active duty to retirement (and not working); the childrens’ schooling; and, my switch from hausmann (as the Germans called me) to being the spouse going to work (I keep wondering though if I’m technically the “breadwinner” of the family when MC’s retirement pay as a LtCol of 23 years is greater than that of an adjunct professor at a state university).

Another transition we’re making is cultural. For instance, we’ve noticed the green movement in the states and the efforts to lessen everyone’s footprint. Heck, I’m thinking of looking into a wind turbine for our 5 acres if we’re able to sell excess energy back to the utility. First, though we have to decide on a dog, then I’ll address wind issues.

Coming from Germany, where green has been a way of life for decades, we got used to and appreciating the benefit of things like sorting our garbage, watching our neighbors collect rain water, hanging our laundry out to dry, and walking or riding our bikes to the store (or pub). The lifestyle appealed to my utilitarian Scotch-Irish heritage. Thus, we decided we wanted to continue as many habits as we could upon our return to the states. So, what do we do first, we buy a 41-foot RV – no footprints, just 6 wheel tracks. Granted, an RV trip does sound like a big footprint, but if you consider that the RV was our house, and that we got the same mileage as a Hummer, our footprint was smaller than a typical household with 3 kids and 2 cars.

The other trend we’ve noticed here, but happens to be the opposite of Europe, is the cleanliness issue. We went from Europe, where food workers don’t wear hats or gloves, and there are sugar bees flying over the pastries, to being asked to use hand sanitizer on grocery carts, kids being told not to reach for candy during Trick-or-Treat, and business execs “fist-bumping” instead of shaking hands.

America seems a bit “germaphobic” to me (if you’re over 40, you can appreciate that feeling remembering your childhood), but I realize that the two issues are confusing Americans, or, at least, me. I was using a public restroom and as I washed my hands (lifelong habit), a sign instructed me to keep the water running, go dry my hands, then come back and turn the water off.

I’m torn by the do-gooder issues: Am I supposed to be green? Or clean? Should I waste water or be wary of germs? Did people really get that sick in the past by turning off the water first? Don’t germs stick to dry hands as well as to wet hands?

Don’t the green and clean groups ever talk to each other about these conflicting issues?

Our Air Force days led us to a variety of school experiences for our kids. In Japan, they went to a Japanese Montessori pre-school. The teachers spoke very little English, but they loved our children anyway. The kids traded PB&J sandwiches for rice balls and fish…and loved it! In Germany we elected to put them in the local village elementary school. Talk about learning a language by immersion! In 6 months they were fluent in German, and translating for us (which came in quite handy).

So after retirement, when we set out on our year long RV trip across America, we ventured in to the world of home schooling (or “road schooling”). We were blessed to have several friends who home school, and gave us so much great advice. The best advice given was not to worry—that even if we didn’t teach them anything formally, they would be better off having had this experience. We diligently kept up with daily math and writing, but we really let the trip direct the rest. They studied US history based on what region or state we were in. They learned science hands on at National Parks, science centers, and on our morning bird walks.

So now as we “settle down”, the kids are fully immersed in their public school– and loving it! We decided on a charter school, K-8 so that all three kids would be in the same school. They have proudly shared our adventure with their classmates. The teachers embraced the kids mid-year, and they quickly caught up with subjects that they were behind in. (Mainly grammar—oops!) They are already involved in book clubs, sports teams, and scouts. They’ve all been invited to birthday parties—a keen indicator of settling in socially.

I think military kids have an exceptional skill at adapting to their new school and environment. Somewhere in their little brains they must remember eating sushi for lunch and singing Momotaro. Perhaps that’s why all this change is no big deal for them.

We have had a couple of people ask how we chose Colorado Springs and where the city ranked in the listing of cities developed from our RV trip. First, just to recap what we did (for any new readers), we were blessed upon Mary Claire’s retirement from the Air Force with immediate retirement pay, as well having the military store our household goods for a year. Those two items gave us the flexibility to show our kids the country the mom served and visit areas of the country to decide where to settle down.

Around Christmas, I was contacted by the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and offered a full-time adjunct teaching position in their Professional Writing Program (teaching Business Writing). At that point, we were excitedly planning to head toward Green Valley, CA; and the Bend and Ashland, OR areas to check out those spots (along with possible excursions to Alaska and a hop to Okinawa). So, this offer created quite the dilemma.

After a lot of thought, we decided that the timing and opportunity was right to accept the offer. First, we thought about the job. UCCS was a strong school with expanding enrollment, and my future boss was terribly nice and personable on our phone interviews (and still is both these things in person).

Next, the location: Colorado Springs had not made our “A” list, but was at the top of the “B” list. The city itself was too sprawling for our tastes – lots of malls and housing developments (kind of like a miniature Phoenix or Southern California). But, there were three strong military bases there, including the Air Force Academy. Plus, it was in Colorado, one of our favorite states. Outdoor activities abound in the area and the entire state. Finally, good friends assured us we could find pockets where we felt like we were in a smaller town.

It turns out that they were correct. We found a house in Monument, CO on 5 acres with 360-degree views (and a spot for our RV until it is sold). Monument has only 5,000 people and good schools – plus it is 15 minutes from work and even less time to the Air Force Academy where Joe has joined a Boy Scout troop and we now attend church.

All the signs directed us to Colorado Springs, and we feel we made the right decision about where to live. We found a house and area suited to us, and I found a job working with great people.

Now on to my next dilemma: Sear’s Craftsmen tools or Home Depot’s house brand, Husky? This is tough.

Tom doesn’t remember this, but I certainly do: We were warned by other RVers that when we moved back into a “stick house” (home without wheels) we would have some misgivings.

I really did not believe that, especially after we had hit our one-year mark living in the RV. After all, five people sharing 400 sq feet is cozy to say the least. At times I couldn’t wait to get back in to a regular house—to have more than one bathroom, kitchen space to cook, and my own closet!

Well, here we are now living in a 4,300 sq ft house with 5 bathrooms (yes, 5!). It was way more than we wanted, but that’s for another blog. When we moved in from the RV, we still did not have all our household goods, so we dragged in our RV mattresses and set up camp in our bedrooms.

It didn’t take long before the kids were dragging their mattresses into the master bedroom. (A little loneliness blamed on strange noises.) Soon it came time to do a little house cleaning. Oh, how I miss having only one bathroom!

Now that the household goods have arrived we are in more chaos just trying to find places for all these things. Yes, life was more simple living in an RV. But we are determined to take our RV way of living with us to our stick house.

I realize I don’t need so many clothes just because the closet is bigger. And we’re already in the habit of taking shorter showers.

My dilemma now is  how to clean this monster house as quickly as I cleaned the RV. Any suggestions?

We apologize for being a little late in posting, but, last week was Spring Break for the kids, and our household goods arrived. We had one shipment that had been in storage for about 20 months (the shipment of our items from Germany). We also had a shipment of items that had been in storage for almost 6 years. These items were put in storage as we left DC in 2004 for Germany.

As a result of these shipments, opening the boxes was a bit like Christmas and being at a flea market. First, we were happy to rediscover forgotten treasures and mementos. Conversely though, we looked at some items and had the same thought as at a flea market – why would anyone save these things?! Did we really think we’d need a broken weed eater 6 years down the road? The same thought goes for the ¾-used box of saran wrap we found. I’m reminded of that old song refrain, “things that make you go hmmm.”

However, the week ended very well. The snow in the Rockies has been great, so our friends, Ben and Susan Paganelli, treated us to a day of skiing. The crowds were low, the sun out, and the snow was nice and soft, much to my happiness – at 6’4,” age 48, and only having learned to ski 4 years ago (16 months of which were spent driving an RV), the combination of height, years living, and inexperience usually make the falls hurt.

Oh well, back to transitioning.

Our most recent transition experience arrived in the form of the need to wash clothes. We had a nice washer and dryer in the RV. Unfortunately, we can’t use them in the new house because we don’t know how the W/D could physically be taken out of the RV. So off Mary Claire went to research the brands, energy efficiency, etc.

There were so many questions with this purchase:

• Do we get top loaders or front loaders?
• Why don’t the front loaders just come with the pedestals vs. charging the consumer another $200 to avoid broken backs? (I’d like to thank manufacturers for looking out for consumers with that development: build a newly designed, energy efficient consumer appliance but make it 10 inches too short and charge $200 for the necessary pedestal.)
• Are the utility savings from the energy-rated units worth the extra cost?
• How does the Base Exchange system stay in business?

I know that last item came out of the blue, but the thought did occur to us as we shopped. As both of my readers know, one factor my wife and I took into account in considering where to settle was to be able to take advantage of base benefits, such as tax-free shopping at the commissary and BX. However, that experience does come at a cost. Frustration.

Mary Claire found good buys on a Whirlpool washer and dryer at the local BX. We traveled there ready to announce: “We want these,” thinking that spending $1,000+ would make us valuable customers. However, we couldn’t find anyone to listen to us. When we did find someone, they did take our money but then informed us that the units were on back order at the manufacturer and delivery was 2 months away.

It was explained that the sales promotions are done 6 months out so they aren’t always sure that the sale items will be in stock when the sale occurs. On top of that, the washer could be delivered sooner than the dryer. But, the manager didn’t want to allow that because the two are “one unit.” We pointed out that a washer could operate without the dryer, so hopefully we’re getting the washer delivered early. We aren’t too sure about this point though, because we can’t get our calls returned.

But, you can’t deny the savings and lack of sales tax, so we’ll be washing our clothes in an energy efficient frontloading washer, and doing our part to help the environment by hanging the washed clothes out to dry until our dryer arrives.

We actually prefer clothes hung to dry anyway.