the 1. picnic in 2008

it is amazing how humans are getting used to the surroundings. the first colder day in oktober made me shiver so much , yesterday i was sitting outside on the bench with my dear Jon and we had a picnic with a 100% vegetarian german leek/pepper quiche and tea, the sun was out and made it up to 4 degree C. and i was so thrilled about spring to come- especially after this week of very icy temperatures down to -30C. our little stove was glowing and kept us and the house warm. the snow is now melting and i watch the temperature in gualdo - it is never down to real cold, just around freezing and over 10 in the day.

there is another article in the nyt about the waist of energy through meat consumption. this is getting really scary. it says there that just in iowa hog factories and farms produce more than 50 million tons of excrement annually.) and the news about poisoned rivers and groundwater are regular in the media. they do not have to pay for soiling the environment.
another quote:"A study last year estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days."

nothing new on the moving front - except - our realtor had wrong informations about the contract signing on his website, it said we do not have to come to italia to sign, now this is a min. 2000$ spend or not on an extra flight before easter. we try not to go - even we would LOVE to be there in early spring.......naja werden sehen.

strange noises - komische geraeusche

there is a difference between the noises in a house in germany and here in iowa. in deutschland hoert man die nachbarn, was ganz schoen nervig sein kann, aber man ist auch nicht allein. here in iowa in the country you hear only your own noises, or the ones in your house. and even in germany it is kinda nice hearing this little noises from the hallway, or from the water pipes running through the apartment building. the noises here you learn very soon to differentiate. you do not hear the loud compressure from the too big refrigerators, you get used to the fan and the fizzling air when the heater starts blowing. but that little clicking noise in the middle of the night when the mouse trap was successful - again - that is one what wakes me up. especially if there are more after the first hard click. than Jon has to get the mighty hunter out and has to make sure we do not have an ongoing mouse torture. there were noises like when the raccoon tripped over the flowerpots. or when the wood chunk in the stove rumbles through the hot burning. but the noise we had last week was the worst, it took slowly place in my consciousness, i spitzt the ears - yes it IS from downstairs and it sounds WET! splashing dripping water was my interpretation. i run down the stairs - yes there is no question WATER running noises out of the bathroom, i just screamed WATER, WATER and my mighty plumber run downstairs jumped in pants flew in the basement and shut the line. the floor covered with water, but the good thing was it was all running down in the air-duct and - yes - flooded the basement - but better than our beautiful maple floor in the living room. so there is always something with an old house. the good thing is: no mice in stonewalls, sneaking out at night and step in traps. - this is our hope....
and we got the originals allll signed-- on every page and on the end 2x and 5 copies and both of us! the place shown on the website has now a big verkauft on top of the page, jippidippi doooohhhh!!!!

Jon's Freedom

friday was Jon's last day in the cubicle. he kept his promise - he worked 2 years in des moines - driving everyday the 25 miles for and back - sat in this so unnatural environment between all this people just happy to be there in such a secure job, with a affordable health insurance, with a cafeteria where everybody could get a non vegetarian meal for some $. where the young mothers brought their tiny babies in the morning in the company's day care and picked them up in the evening. where the huge parking lot is filled with cars what use the highest amount of gas to the mile, where our little honda was all the time lost because of the huge vehicles were covering it up. the little dusty honda will not be seen anymore in this place. Jon is now working at home, on our old home, our little house in prairie. so we can sell it to someone, how want to live away from malls and traffic jams, where the most cutest little opossums come visiting and 10 bright red cardinals
flocking in. this is a good place - but - even if we get a black president!!! it is still not like italy!!! today it got so cold that an olive tree would have died - so -----

i am very busy with my new business: selling on ebay. i got my pettiest piece out to the post office today: it was hard to separate with it, it is so much america and what it symbols for me. but wrong voltage! i have to get rid of much more......but the next thing is - to get a container. this will be a lot of research. but with Jon around me it will be much easier.

Caucuses ........ OBAMA!!!!

Jon and i were at the caucuses here in iowa, an interesting, strange way of voting. of course I did not vote, as a german - i felt more like an international watcher. i was surprised how many democrats in woodward are. we were over 180 people in this crowded school lunch room. it feels so good to be between people who have a similar idea about live. i cannot handle people driven by extremest (evangelicals) ideas. now - there is a chance for the usa to become a place for all the citizen, a black president - what a fantastic possibility. let us hope for this!!!!!!!!!