The Good and the Bad

I should just follow Lisa B.'s approach toward positive attitudes and such but I think that grousing and kevetching is too much my personality to give up. But I have many goods to counterbalance the bads about Town Named after a Post on which to Hang Something.

The Bads:

1. The street our house is located on is a highway. It has double solid lines in the middle of it. 5 cars drive down a minute (to be fair, there are many minutes when there are no cars). Still, it gets in the way of my peace and tranquility as well as adds stress to the kid/dog/cat running in the street factor.
2. This car (really truck), fast driving problem is compounded by the fact that the area we live in does not allow fences. We had to buy an electronic fence for Cleo and it makes me wonder if how humane it is, although it does give off a warning beep. Cleo only got shocked once and it was my fault since I didn't think it was working and called her over to the neighbors'. (Lisa B.--that possessive is for you!) It was traumatic but she seems to acknowledge her boundaries.
3. The house is far from school. 12 minutes but I hate to use any gas at all any more. I'm going to try riding my bike although the hill we live up is a big one.
4. It's hotter than they say. It's about 10 degrees hotter everyday than Yahoo weather predicts. This means that living without air-conditioning is a test of one's commitment to use less energy.
5. The sales tax is 8.2%
6. The kitchen in our house has cabinets with shelves but 4 inches high, an ELECTRIC stove with a malfunctioning burner and strange wood-laminate countertops.
7. You have to import dirt to grow anything. I plan to bring in enough to at least grow an herb garden.
   

OK. Enough grousing even for me.
The goods

1. The street behind ours opens up into state trust forest land. You can run for miles under ponderosa pines.
2. There are many more kinds of birds than I thought. When I first visited, I saw only ravens but now I've seen hummingbirds and vultures, blue birds and flickers.
3. The sunsets are amazing and you can see them from any of the three balconies, including the one off the bedroom.
4. The bathtub is round and big.
5. The people are the nicest people I've ever met.
6. It gets good and cold at night.
7. The mountains are flush with ferns and aspens, as well as pines.
8. The grill is up and working (to offset my lack of working burner).
9. The likelihood that people will come visit on their way to Phoenix or elsewhere is high.

In the end, I think the speeding cars down the interstate will always drive me crazy but that everything else will work out fine. I'm taking my boxes of books to the University tomorrow. May my office window (I do think I have an office window) be automobile traffic free!