I see both perspectives on that. Like Molie said, just thinking about how many hardships there were for settlers before all our modern conveniences, is very sobering. I have always found that lifestyle appealing and in younger days would not have considered it so far fetched to live that way. As I get older and see how much harder it is to take care of every need even with modern conveniences, I can see why their life expectancy was so much younger. (g) But I also agree with the point you've made, Dee. They didn't know any better. They were used to living that way and of necessity had to constantly be in a state of readiness and self sufficiency. And I think that families and neighbors and communities had a greater awareness of their dependence upon one another and expected to help each other out in times of crisis, to a much greater extent than we do. I wonder if people on GW, who I assume have a deeper connection to the natural world, would have a higher percentage of people who would prefer the pioneer lifestyle over the modern day lifestyle, than the general public? Or at least imagine they would?

Thanks Happy.... anyone have anymore? Amber 3:28 311 From Chaos Alternative 1 5/23/2007 2:33 PM Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) 2:55 Looking Glass AM Gold - Radio Gems Pop 2 5/23/2007 2:36 PM Mr. Blue Sky 5:05 Electric Light Orchestra Greatest Hits Rock 8 5/23/2007 2:41 PM Five O'Clock Somewhere 3:56 AJ & JB & GS Live At Texas Stadium Country 3 5/23/2007 2:45 PM Lionel Ritchie - All Night Long 4:19 3 5/23/2007 2:49 PM Seagull 4:03 Bad Company Bad Company Rock 12 5/23/2007 2:53 PM Sail Away Sweet Sister 3:32 Queen The Game Rock 7 5/23/2007 2:57 PM Tequila Sunrise 2:51 Eagles Their Greatest Hits Rock 6 5/23/2007 3:00 PM Harry Belefonte - The Banana Boat Song 3:05 6 5/23/2007 3:03 PM Come Sail Away 6:08 Styx The Grand Illusion Rock 4 5/23/2007 3:09 PM Hot Fun in The Summertime 2:36 Sly And The Family Stone 1 5/23/2007 3:12 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM Van Halen - Beautiful Girls 3:55 Van Hallen Rock 1 5/23/2007 3:16 PM The Beaches Of Cheyenne 3:49 Garth Brooks Double Live Country 19 5/23/2007 3:19 PM Sheryl Crow - Soak Up The Sun 4:52 6 5/23/2007 3:24 PM In The Summertime 3:31 Mungo Jerry 3 5/23/2007 3:32 PM It's A Beautiful Day 2:32 Queen Made In Heaven Rock 7 5/23/2007 3:34 PM Dive 3:57 Steven Curtis Chapman Speechless Rock 1 5/23/2007 3:38 PM Margaritaville 4:11 Jimmy Buffett Pop 3 5/23/2007 3:42 PM Summer Breeze 3:25 Seals & Crofts 1 5/23/2007 3:45 PM Cheeseburger In Paradise 2:51 Jimmy Buffett Songs You Know By Heart-Jimmy Pop 5 5/23/2007 3:48 PM Summertime.mp3 3:31 Sundays Classic Rock 1 5/23/2007 3:52 PM Easy Shanking 2:56 Bob Marley Bob Marley Reggae 8 5/23/2007 3:55 PM seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM Summertime 3:26 Kenny Chesney Country CD Country 2 5/23/2007 3:58 PM Tomorrow people 3:38 Ziggy Marley Reggae 3 5/23/2007 4:02 PM Jimmy Buffett - Jamaica Farewell 3:33 Jimmy Buffet Classic Rock 8 5/23/2007 4:05 PM 80 Sitting on the Dock of the Bay 2:45 Otis Redding no title Unknown 4 5/23/2007 4:08 PM You And I 3:27 Queen A Day At The Races Rock 24 5/23/2007 4:12 PM Down By The Seaside 5:16 Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti Rock 9 5/23/2007 4:17 PM Put the Lime in the Coconut 3:51 Harry Nilsson 5 5/23/2007 4:21 PM Len - Don't Steal My Sunshine(1) 4:08 1 5/23/2007 4:25 PM Caribbean Island Music Steel Drums - Tropical Summer Party - Carribean Sound - Soca dance 1:31 Other 4 5/23/2007 4:26 PM seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM California Dreaming 2:41 Mamas & Papas 2 5/23/2007 4:29 PM Jersey Girl 6:31 Bruce Springsteen Live 1975-1985 (3CD) 6 5/23/2007 4:36 PM Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First) 4:54 John Mellencamp Mr. Happy Go Lucky Rock 13 5/23/2007 4:41 PM Beyond The Sea 2:53 Bobby Darin A Life Less Ordinary 9 5/23/2007 4:43 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM Summertime 4:04 Janis Joplin Greatest Hits Rock 4 5/20/2007 4:27 PM That Summer 4:46 Garth Brooks The Chase Country 6 5/22/2007 4:23 PM 4th Of July Ashbury Park 5:36 Bruce Springsteen The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle Rock 9 5/20/2007 3:56 PM Last Rose Of Summer 5:39 Judas Priest Sin After Sin Metal 11 5/22/2007 6:25 PM Seasons in the Sun 2:15 Mamas and Papas 3 5/22/2007 6:10 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM Friends In Low Places 8:57 Garth Brooks Double Live Country 12 5/22/2007 6:34 PM Key Lime Pie 4:40 Kenny Chesney Be As You Are Country 2 5/22/2007 7:03 PM One Love/People Get Ready 3:21 Bob Marley Songs Of Freedom Reggae 10 5/22/2007 6:41 PM seagulls_ambient4 0:02 41 5/23/2007 4:44 PM What A Day For A Daydream 2:21 The Lovin' Spoonful Classic Rock The Drifters - Under The Boardwalk 2:41 4 5/22/2007 4:05 PM seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM Jimmy Buffett - Mexico 4:08 Jimmy Buffett Mexico 1 5/23/2007 6:55 AM Sailing 4:39 Rod Stewart Atlantic Crossing Rock 9 5/21/2007 5:44 AM Sound Effects - Sounds Of Nature - Peaceful Ocean Surf (With Seagulls)(No Music) 2:50 SLEEPYTIME Other 8 5/22/2007 5:09 PM Island In The Sun 3:30 Weezer The Green Album 1 5/22/2007 5:17 PM One Love/People Get Ready 3:21 Bob Marley Songs Of Freedom Reggae 10 5/22/2007 6:41 PM Seaside Rendezvous 2:15 Queen A Night At The Opera Rock 20 5/22/2007 4:25 PM Summer Wind 2:53 Frank Sinatra Greatest Hits Classical 6 5/22/2007 5:19 PM seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM Is This Love 3:52 Bob Marley & The Wailers Legend - The Best Of Reggae 1 5/22/2007 4:37 PM Feeling Hot Hot Hot 4:11 Island Music Carribean 1 5/22/2007 4:32 PM It's Five O'Clock Somewhere 3:53 Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett Country 2 5/22/2007 5:13 PM Under The Boardwalk 3:56 John Mellencamp The Rough Harvest Sessions Other seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM seagulls_ambient2 0:06 29 5/23/2007 4:26 PM Kokomo 3:38 Beach Boys Cocktail Soundtrack Rock 3 5/10/2007 8:47 PM Under The Sea 3:11 Little Mermaid Disney Soundtracks No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems 3:31 Kenny Chesney No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems 3 5/22/2007 5:52 PM Two Pina Coladas 4:28 Garth Brooks Double Live Country 16 5/21/2007 3:31 PM Summer Nights [Original Version] 3:36 John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John Grease [Original Soundtrack] Soundtrack 1 5/22/2007 4:59 PM

Update on my advice above to actually visit the country(ies) you are thinking of moving to, and our friends' advice that establishing foreign bank accounts BEFORE moving was something they should have done to avoid six months' worth of delays: The IRS is cracking down hard on ALL foreign investments, whether real estate, investment accounts, checking/savings. The penalties are huge, and although you can try to wrangle them down, it is a fact that taxpayers with smaller balance accounts are proportionately paying LARGER penalty fees than multi-millionaires who are deliberately hiding assets. The WSJournal had an article on this issue June 2014, but as it's subscriber only, I'll just post some excerpts: Expatriate Americans Break Up With Uncle Sam to Escape Tax Rules Record Numbers Living Abroad Renounce U.S. Citizenship over IRS Reporting Requirements WSJournal June 2014 U.S. offices abroad reported that 1,001 U.S. citizens and green-card holders had renounced their allegiance in the first three months of the year, according to Andrew Mitchel, a lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who analyzes Treasury Department data. That figure puts 2014 on track to top last year's total of 2,999 renunciations, he said, which was the most since the government began disclosing the data. Helping boost the exodus, experts say, is a five-year-old U.S. campaign to hunt for undeclared accounts held by Americans abroad….The tax dragnet has also swept up many middle-income Americans living abroad, prompting some to give up their U.S. citizenship. While people who renounce are NOT freed of taxes due for past years, they don't want to risk sizable taxes and penalties for them and their children in the years ahead, experts say. Nearly 8,000 taxpayers have renounced U.S. citizenship in the past five years, Mr. Mitchel found, compared with fewer than 5,000 in the preceding decade. ….U.S. officials launched their campaign after Swiss banking giant UBS AG admitted in 2009 that it helped wealthy American taxpayers hide money overseas. To avoid criminal charges, the bank paid $780 million to the U.S. and turned over information on more than 4,400 accounts, ending decades of Swiss bank secrecy. In May, Credit Suisse Group pleaded guilty to similar charges and agreed to pay $2.6 billion. Dozens of other Swiss banks are currently negotiating penalties with the U.S. Department of Justice, officials said. Following the UBS revelations, U.S. officials announced they would begin vigorously enforcing both new and long-dormant tax rules. Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. government taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world. … The most common mistakes usually involved Americans failing to submit a form called the Foreign Bank Account Report, or Fbar. Since 1970, U.S. taxpayers have been required to file if they held one or more foreign accounts totaling more than $10,000 over the course of a year. Until the enforcement push, many Americans never filed an Fbar. The law is more than 40 years old, but "no one ever heard of it" before the crackdown, said Edward Kleinbard, a former chief of staff on Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, and an expert in international tax law at the University of Southern California. Fbar penalties are as steep as 50% of the highest value of the account for each year no report was filed. The IRS fined one taxpayer for Fbar violations in four separate years, and a settlement reached this month in the case yielded $1.7 million in penalties, which was more than the account held at the time. …The typical taxpayer with less than $45,000 in undeclared accounts paid nearly six times the back taxes owed, while the typical taxpayer with more than $7 million in such accounts paid closer to three times their back taxes, Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, an IRS ombudsman, found. … Scrutiny of Americans abroad will intensify, however, under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, which Congress passed in 2010. The law's main provisions, which take effect in July, will require foreign financial institutions to report income of their U.S. customers to the IRS, much as U.S. banks and brokers file 1099 forms. Middle-class Americans "face overwhelming problems when they try to engage in standard financial practices, such as having a small business, saving for retirement, investing, buying life insurance, and making wills and trusts," because of the laws governing assets abroad, said David Kuenzi, a financial planner with Thun Financial Advisors in Madison, Wis., who works with expatriates. The U.S. tax code, for example, doesn't recognize Australia's version of an individual retirement account, Mr. Kuenzi said. American taxpayers with these accounts must file at least two forms a year declaring the account a "foreign trust," and paying taxes on annual appreciation. The penalty for failing to file can be as much as 35% of both contributions and withdrawals each year, plus 5% of the assets, said Mr. Hodgen, the Pasadena tax lawyer. *********** Hope this info is of use to others.

We are supplied and sitting high watching the rain come down in a fairly gentle fashion. Huntsville is about an hour north of Houston. Water drains quickly when it rains here because we are supposedly the highest point between Dallas and Houston. But, if you are caught out in a heavy rain, you have to deal with flooded roads and streets. Flash flood conditions are dangerous because the water moves so fast. So, even in the short time we've lived here, I've figured out that it's safer at home than out and about during a storm.