10-15-2015, 02:09 AM
Good luck on your new endeavor, Nancy. Sad to hear though.
Regarding the civil beat article, Graham is spot on about Puna's cons (but ignores the pros completely) though I suspect the move had as much to do with Belly Acres' hassles as with the more Puna-wide downers.
Back during the lava threat days, I started to research where we could move to on the mainland if, say, we got completely covered and lost everything, even though that wasn't likely at all. Strangely, I continue to Zillow favored areas almost as a guilty pleasure. Even checking out the non-US places like Ecuador, Panama, etc.
The coquis have become part of the white noise one blocks out for me, but we are reminded of how obnoxious they are when visitors come. The fire ants certainly make the reality of orchard work into retirement less than paradisiacal. The relentless TMT, geothermal, GMO, (zoo?), controversies are downers to me--as much as I let them be, I guess. I hope the roundabout doesn't lessen the quality of Puna life--time will tell.
All levels of government and the associated corruption and ability to screw everything they touch seem especially over-ripe from a Puna point of view.
But then you sit on the lanai and realize that it would be nearly impossible to reproduce that pleasure by bailing.
Yet after 18 years here, the idea of the frog in the slowly boiling water (even if an untrue metaphor) does scratch in the back of my mind. Are the glory days of Puna (which were apparently before my time anyway) gone? Is it going slowly to hell in a hand basket? How much do we unconsciously defend against the negatives?
Only in the last year or so have I ever thought about bailing, and though I'm no where near doing so, I can't shake that Zillow habit.
Perhaps the empty nest has something to do with it, dunno. Still, I always thought we had found our slice of paradise and dug in forever.
Not sure what my point is exactly, but wondering if anyone else has been surprised by a growing ambivalence lately...?
Cheers,
Kirt
Regarding the civil beat article, Graham is spot on about Puna's cons (but ignores the pros completely) though I suspect the move had as much to do with Belly Acres' hassles as with the more Puna-wide downers.
Back during the lava threat days, I started to research where we could move to on the mainland if, say, we got completely covered and lost everything, even though that wasn't likely at all. Strangely, I continue to Zillow favored areas almost as a guilty pleasure. Even checking out the non-US places like Ecuador, Panama, etc.
The coquis have become part of the white noise one blocks out for me, but we are reminded of how obnoxious they are when visitors come. The fire ants certainly make the reality of orchard work into retirement less than paradisiacal. The relentless TMT, geothermal, GMO, (zoo?), controversies are downers to me--as much as I let them be, I guess. I hope the roundabout doesn't lessen the quality of Puna life--time will tell.
All levels of government and the associated corruption and ability to screw everything they touch seem especially over-ripe from a Puna point of view.
But then you sit on the lanai and realize that it would be nearly impossible to reproduce that pleasure by bailing.
Yet after 18 years here, the idea of the frog in the slowly boiling water (even if an untrue metaphor) does scratch in the back of my mind. Are the glory days of Puna (which were apparently before my time anyway) gone? Is it going slowly to hell in a hand basket? How much do we unconsciously defend against the negatives?
Only in the last year or so have I ever thought about bailing, and though I'm no where near doing so, I can't shake that Zillow habit.
Perhaps the empty nest has something to do with it, dunno. Still, I always thought we had found our slice of paradise and dug in forever.Not sure what my point is exactly, but wondering if anyone else has been surprised by a growing ambivalence lately...?
Cheers,
Kirt