August 1, 2024
Thursday Open Comments
Depending on what the US presidential election confronts us with, and the degree to which that clashes with your personal political preferences, you might also be in the market for going to the opposite end of the world and considering New Zealand.
Here, Daniella tells her earlier self about all the benefits of moving to New Zealand long enough to attain citizenship. It sounds exotic, romantic for the welfare-state fans, and it (New Zealand) speaks English. It gets chilly and heating is expensive after you’ve paid for all the welfare state via taxes, but there’s something notable about a country that pays for its welfare state bennies up front, rather than using the modern American method of putting them all on the national charge card for payment by Lord-knows-who at an imaginary unscheduled date in the future.
Oh well. Urban home prices are high, apple production is great, and merino wool might be a source of new pride for an expat in New Zealand. At the other end of the world, you should be a safe distance in case anything atomic goes POP!, for instance like the national debt…
Good morning. They gave us an extra half hour to sleep this morning, but that's for the weak. I carried half my stuff to the car already, with some trepidation: we saw bears in the parking lot yesterday morning 🌄.
We won't get on the bus today, which will be good for my equilibrium. I was not the only one feeling very queasy by yesterday afternoon.
New Zealand is very pretty and has interesting animals. My brother and sister-in-law have been there.
Answer to Biker Chick's question about tree replanting:
The time lapse between harvest and replanting is about 6 to 18 months. It depends on the time of year of the harvest and how much site prep is needed. If there has been a disease or pest, it might need to sit over a year before any action.
If they cut later in the year, they might do site prep the following summer and plant the spring of the second year.
The point is to give the new seedlings the best chance of succeeding.