I keep forgetting where I am . . . not the actual physical location but all the "rules" that go with a particular place. It's like when you were a kid and mom and dad took you to Grand ma's house for the day. There was a whole different set of rules at grand ma's than those rules set by your parents. My grand kids always know that what happens at grand ma's stays at grand ma's. At home you couldn't eat a cookie before or FOR lunch. At grand ma's you can not only have a cookie for lunch but you can also have ice cream for dessert. Different set of rules.
I forget that the same principal applies to Michigan residence and Florida residence. Most "Snow Birds" keep two separate residences where they have complete wardrobes at each so very little needs to be moved when going from one place to the other. It's a bit different for The Man and me because I consider Florida MY home and Michigan is HIS home. Two entirely separate households that work in two totally separate ways.
First and foremost is the water situation in MI. The water is from a well so it is very different from Florida water. MI water is "slimy" and "smelly". I can never remember the differences between "hard" and "soft" water but which ever this is up here it is the complete opposite of the water I am used to from both New York and Florida. When showering in either of those places your skin feels clean after a shower. You know the term "Squeaky Clean" ? Well that is how Florida and New York water makes you feel. Michigan well water makes you feel like you can't get the soap off your skin. I know it has to do with the one water not stripping the natural oils from your skin but it creeps me out. I don't like that "slimy" feel no less the faint sulphur smell that goes along with well water. Up here I wind up standing in the shower twice as long trying to wash off the soap that I know really isn't what is making me feel slimy. That causes a problem because in Michigan there are no things as sewers . . . all the wash water goes into a cesspool out in the yard so there is the constant concern that flushing too many times, taking long showers or washing dishes with more than a dribble of water are all going to fill up the cesspool. In Florida I have a dish washer and I don't give a damn how many times a day I have to run it to keep my dishes and pots and pans clean. Showers can last 20 minutes and I can run all the water in the sink that I want. YES, I do pay for water and sewer services and I am more than happy to spend my entire stimulus check on both if it makes my life simpler and happier. In Michigan the dish washer is named Cathie and I have learned how to wash dinner dishes in 2 inches or less of water. It may be disgusting but it keeps the man happy. (As a result of this we use paper plates ALL the time which I hate!) In Florida I can do twenty seven loads of laundry in a day if I choose but here I have to keep laundry to a minimum. I totally refuse to wear my underwear more than once in a week but there are things that I do want to throw into the wash every so often. The bath mats are in desperate need of washing. Towels and wash cloths and the comforter on the bed all need a good bath but I have to choose carefully what the priorities are.
Trash up here also is an issue that is a pain in the butt. We have a "burn bag" for anything and everything that can be burned in the fire pit in the yard. Trash is only picked up twice a MONTH so in order to keep from overflowing the garbage can that is all the way out by the road anything burnable is put in a separate bag that is then taken out on a not so windy day to burn.
I'm thinking that Laura Ingalls in her Little House On The Prairie had it easier ! I guess I should be grateful that I don't have wild Indians running through the property.
BUT I can work with all of the above . . . it is the constant monitoring of what I can and can not post on Facebook that annoys me the most. I don't care for Facebook these days because of all the political nonsense they are pulling but I do understand that it is a nice means of keeping in touch with people. I have my circle of friends whom I speak with on a regular basis but then there are the bunches of nice people I have met over the years who enjoy following my adventures. (I only know this because they have told me so.) I have a friend in Windsor, England who I met many years ago when Husband and I were staying there for several months. I enjoy seeing her posts and she feels the same way about me. All the women from NY that I met through Girl Scouts, teaching, the church and neighborhood will comment on my posts. It's a nice way to keep in touch. And so I DO post pictures along the way to keep everyone appraised of where I am and what I'm doing. THAT IS A "NO NO" in Michigan. It seems that there are people The Man doesn't want to know what "we" are doing. (As if I were posting hot and steamy porn.) Today he mentioned that he saw I had posted a picture of the eagles out by the pond welcoming us home. One of the neighbors commented on it saying that they were glad we were home and they would stop by one of these days. If it were me in Florida I would say, "wonderful !", but The Man is not happy. Admittedly he is still under the weather from the fast and furious drive from Florida to Michigan and it will probably take him another week or more to regain his energy. (That is a whole other story . . . ). He doesn't want anyone coming over to "bother" him because he is under the weather. Totally understandable so you send the neighbor a text and say exactly that. Don't ask me to not post something because the "wrong" people may see it. Last I checked I was not in witness protection program and I could tell the world where I was and what I was doing. Within reason. Last year I couldn't post pictures of the deer because the fish and game warden might see them and know we were feeding the deer.
Maybe then we would have to go into witness protection.
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