I have lived in Idaho now for 3 months. I realized last week that I have now been away from AZ longer than I have ever been before in my life. We have been residents of Idaho since the second week of July and so right now we are at 12 weeks. We did go back to AZ at the beginning of August so that reset the clock, right? So that means it has now been 9 weeks without being in AZ. That is a new record for me. The longest before was during one of the sabbatical trips with my wife and 8 weeks. So, not a lot longer, but still. This is new.
So what do I have to say so far:
It isn’t that bad. It is cold in the mornings already. I am not ready for that at all. I have enjoyed the fact that I can go for a bike ride at even 3:00 in the afternoon and it isn’t so hot that I come home crazy sweaty. I like the bike ride I have found as well. There isn’t a lot of traffic overall since it is a lot of farmland, and where there is traffic there is a huge side area so I don’t have to worry about cars getting too close to me. I have gotten more flat tires in 12 weeks than I ever had in 5 years of riding in AZ. There is just more weeds along the road and as a result I get flats more often. I have learned how to replace and inflate a tire on the side of the road. Grass and weeds grow really fast here. I could easily mow both my front and back yard weekly if I had the trash can space for it. I alternate at the moment. Utilities seem to be less expensive (so far). We aren’t using the heat yet so our gas bill will certainly go up once we do that, but I get the impression that the cost still won’t be that high. We are on irrigation for yard water, and so we don’t have that extra cost for water. Well, we do have an irrigation fee, but my understanding is that the entire year is around $50. That is certainly cheaper than watering in AZ. Groceries seem to be a bit more expensive here. Of course I am not buying potatoes, I never did before so I would have no comparison.
I am generally happy. I can’t complain overall. I like teaching part time in some ways, because I don’t have to worry about the extra stuff. The pay sucks for the amount of work I am doing, but I have more time to get other things done as well. At least that is what I am telling myself. There are days I wish I could get a full time job, but at the same time I know that having the time I have at home is a good thing for our family. I can help out with things without feeling like I don’t have enough time to get things done.
Where things are going will continue to be fun. I will certainly have things to write about. Snow and ice. Irrigation getting turned off and having to blow out my water lines for winter. Spring thaw. Learning to ride a motorcycle in the snow. And I am sure a lot more.
I do miss AZ. I realize it has been very hot recently in AZ and so the cooler weather here is nice in some ways. I miss seeing family regularly. But I will get to go back on occasion and so I will get to see family/friends, and enjoy the warmer weather.