Martin: sheep eat grass, goats eat brush.

Unimogbert: "It seemed that the family members pretty much just continued as before"... only because they were allowed to do so.

Thseng: Why spend money on private school when your wife isn't working? There are about 3 million families in America who are homeschooling. It is legal in all 50 states. If your wife can read, she can teach. There are all kinds of programs that can help... Health care billing errors? What's wrong, do you hate being charged for baby paraphenalia (bassinette, diapers, mobile, etc) when you go in for a cracked wrist?

BigDaddyTX: "My only beef with Goodwill is that I feel like they mark some things up too much." That's no joke! My local one tends to have used stuff priced double that of the exact same stuff new. The only time you get a real deal there is if you find something that they don't know what it is or what it's for.

Taurus: You're funny! No earthquakes?
...June 23, 1946.....Vancouver Island...............7.3
...August 22, 1949...Near Queen Charlotte Islands...8.1
...July 10, 1958.....Alaska/B.C. border.............7.9
...June 24, 1970.....So.of Queen Charlotte Islands..7.4
...Dec. 20, 1976.....West of Vancouver Island.......6.7
...Feb. 28, 1979.....Yukon/Alaska border............7.2
...Dec. 17, 1980.....West of Vancouver Island.......6.8
...Dec. 23, 1985.....Mackenzie region, NWT..........6.9
...Nov. 12, 1988.....Saguenay region, Quebec........6.0

"Very few dangerous animal species"?
Well, let's see... you've got people (#1 for dangerous), grizzly bears, people, wolverines, and people.

One of the first rules of survival: be [more] aware of your surroundings.

But you certainly do have a BEAUTIFUL country!

BobS: "...but for a real emergency you will get very high grade medical help regardless of coverage." Not always. I was in shock and on my way to bleeding to death, and the doctor was seeing broken wrists and dog bites first. 'Wait your turn, Sweetie!' My neighbor recently had surgery and nearly DID bleed to death, all because they couldn't put the staples in properly and they couldn't be bothered to do proper monitoring. A young woman who weighed about 90 lbs was accidentally given a double dose of morphine meant for the dying man in the next room.

Piece of advice to all: Anytime you are billed for medical care (hospital esp), immediately request an itemized list of charges they are asking you to pay and the codes to decipher them. You will probably be charged for things that had nothing to do with your problem. And it annoys them incredibly!

Sue

Can you be a little more specific there?

Thanks for the tips. The windows are old wooden ones but they have aluminum storm windows that help a lot. Replacing them would be a good idea but a lot of these window companies smell like a ripoff.

The main problem is the "balloon" construction w/ no insulation in most of the walls.

It is more often being billed for the right thing but submitted the wrong way. About 20% of the time they even send it to the wrong insurance company!

Ha! we shut my mouth I guess. I have NEVER heard tell of a quake here except off the coast. As far as being aware of my surroundings I have never heard tell of a Quake in my area, never seen a live wolverine, and the only bears I have seen were through the sights of my rife mostly. I have never felt endangered by one. Like ace said, give them their respect and they will(mostly) do the same. As for people, they are dangerous by default.

You still get stuck with Celine Dion though. ha