Ideas are welcome

[Buana]

@irena:

Hi Kim,

I think it is a great you can and do realize your dreams :).
I am dreaming about similar life you live (any office, lot of animals, wild nature etc…:D )
I and my sister are thinking about moving abroad in a few years. And we are thinking about New Zealand (maybe England, Scotland...). I also like Scandinavia very much but want to live in a country where I apply english.

Good luck with choosing your future home :).

We also thought about New- Zealand, you can start a mixed farm there with cows, ostrich and horses. New-Zealand is a beautiful country..

@NerdyDogOwner:

Spain is great, I go to Gran Canari every now and then. Looking forward to taking Gizmo one day, I bet he would love the warmth down there.

Highly suggest that area. The people are VERY kind, and the food is amazing. Lots of fun there. However, they don't know much English.

But I would also do some reading on healthcare etc to wherever you are thinking of moving. France is supposed to be great (but no as warm), as is my country Norway….but it's pretty cold here most of the time, although summers are nice.

Spain is a bit to close for us, and as you say: They don't speak English..
When we are going to move in a short time (I don't know at this moment) we can't speak the language at all haha

For health care, we sure look very closely. It's different in each country so you have to know all before you move..

@Petra:

Oh, can I go with you, please:D:D:D:D

hahaha Sure you can.. we don't mind sharing a buisness with other people

@Basenjimamma:

Hi Kim and Kas..What a wonderful dream…go grab it and reign it in...

Texas would be great, lots of land, very big state, extremely friendly people (remember I came as a foreigner, from Sweden and texans have by far met my friendly european needs:)), economy has been better here in the south, more so then in the north...
the weather is warm, especially along the coast, vs towards Dallas or way inland..BUT along the coast you have the issues of potential hurricanes, inland you have tornadoes..they are very rare, but something you might want to keep in mind.

I looked up some sites on Ostrich farming in Tx, check them out..
http://www.rm-ostrich.com/
http://www.wildcanyonostrich.com/ostrich_ranch_contact.htm
http://www.ostriches.org/

We would love to have you here..

Thank you so much, Kas is sitting next to me (sailing) and he is so happy about the information he can't hardly wait to read this tread himselfe
Texas sounds great, we will go find some more information about Texas.
Am I correct, that you also moved there from an other country?
I love to hear about that!

@Quercus:

Among your list, I vote for Canada!! That way I could meet you in person Although, Canada is NOT known for a warm climate BC is about as warm as you get through winter (I think…some friendly Canadian can correct me, I am sure).

Canada is great, it's high on the list but we don't know if we can choose it because of the climate.. (I have a illness with my blood vessels,is that correct english? and the best thing to do for it is to move to a warm climate… )

@Rita:

Kim, I went looking online at all kinds of ostrich info. Says there are 2,000 caloreis in a egg and the eggs are 6 to 7 inches long, 15 -16 round poor mom. Eggs are giant!!!!
Get more money raising ostrich's than horses. Geat News. Reading California, Arizona great places in U.S. but bird is native to Africa also says Australia of course.
Go to http://www.buzzle.com when comes up go to top right in search and type in ostrich and click on first one that comes up has Ostrich Facts. I also went into you tube and watched some funny videos I can just see your puppies under there feet looking up like what and were did you come from. This sounds like so much fun I wish you both the best on this journey.

Rita Jean

Thanks so much for the website
Yes, the Ostrich has giant eggs! But they are huge themselfse!

[AJs Human]

For now, the US has very advanced health care with some of the best hospitals and specialists in the world. We'll see what we end up with after they're done fiddling with it. Again, Ms. Basenjimamma can tell you better what's in Texas.

You are welcome on these shores! That goes for you, too, Ms. Petra from Slovakia.

[Basenjimamma]

Kim, I am from Sweden, came over here in 1991 as a 19 yr old (oops, I just gave away my age…) to stay with a family and work as an Au-Pair, never went home again..Got a green card (that took forever, apparently my lawyer thought I should've been hispanic,much easier to get a green card for them...it took, with mail problems and reapplying, all of 11 years, yes 11 years to get it.) and the rest is history..
As far as medical and all that , here in Houston, we have one of the most advanced and forward going medical centers in the world, specifically cancer related and heart related. I once worked for the Debakey family, Dr Debakey is the one who invented the Mash units in war settings, and he also did one of the first heart transplants..

Houston is huge though, but the country around is very spacious and with freeways you can get to places quickly, even though you live let's say a few hours out..in the middle of Texas nowhere.

Good luck in your dream indevours...you got me thinking too...maybe Emu's or Ostriches is in our future...

[Quercus]

@Basenjimamma:

Hi Kim and Kas..What a wonderful dream…go grab it and reign it in...

Texas would be great, lots of land, very big state, extremely friendly people (remember I came as a foreigner, from Sweden and texans have by far met my friendly european needs:)), economy has been better here in the south, more so then in the north...
the weather is warm, especially along the coast, vs towards Dallas or way inland..BUT along the coast you have the issues of potential hurricanes, inland you have tornadoes..they are very rare, but something you might want to keep in mind.

I looked up some sites on Ostrich farming in Tx, check them out..
http://www.rm-ostrich.com/
http://www.wildcanyonostrich.com/ostrich_ranch_contact.htm
http://www.ostriches.org/

We would love to have you here..

Except…they don't speak English in Texas..... JUST kidding!

[Quercus]

@AJs:

]For now, the US has very advanced health care with some of the best hospitals and specialists in the world. We'll see what we end up with after they're done fiddling with it. Again, Ms. Basenjimamma can tell you better what's in Texas.

You are welcome on these shores! That goes for you, too, Ms. Petra from Slovakia.

Ha, ha….if you can afford it!!!

[renaultf1]

@Quercus:

Ha, ha….if you can afford it!!!

+1.

We might have an advanced healthcare sysem, but it is one that functions very poorly. Too many people are uninsured/underinsured because of the costs.

And that's all I'll say about that.

[AJs Human]

I don't want to get too far into this debate. I will only say that for those who think the federal government has a right to get involved in individual mandates needs to read the Constitution again. It's up to the States individually to do this. I won't address this again because I don't want to get an argument started.

[Basenjimamma]

and as a foreigner I've got to say…as the biggest and best country in the world(that is what the ad says right?), I think it sucks, that it is what it is, but meddling..no thanks.

[AJs Human]

The medical care doesn't "suck." We have some of the best in the world. The way we pay for it does. However, if we didn't pay for it the way we do, advances wouldn't have come as quickly or as efficiently.

[renaultf1]

@AJs:

However, if we didn't pay for it the way we do, advances wouldn't have come as quickly or as efficiently.

:rolleyes:

That's my last comment on this subject.

[Quercus]

@Basenjimamma:

and as a foreigner I've got to say…as the biggest and best country in the world(that is what the ad says right?), I think it sucks, that it is what it is, but meddling..no thanks.

He, he…funny I LOVE my country...I don't want anybody to have any confusion about that. And we have the potential to be among the best in every aspect of life on earth...but we are far from perfect; and for some reason we have a hard time admitting that other countries just might be onto something, if they conduct business in a way differently than we do.

I think Americans, as a whole, need to take a seriously hard look at ourselves, change the things than need fixed, and try to live up to the reputation we 'think' we have in the rest of the world.

And with that, I will get down off my soap box

[Basenjimamma]

No, no..the medical service doesn't suck, the fact that so many don't have insurance suck, the fact that it costs an arm and a leg to get insurance suck and the fact that we might not have a choice come soon, suck..sorry about my wording..
I am very happy to live here in the states, but yes, some things could be made better for many people..

[AJs Human]

Alas, we are imperfect…the state of humanity. There is no perfect answer because there are no perfect people.

But back to the original subject, I would be happy to welcome Buana (and Petra from Slovakia) to my home. We're like a large family over here. We say what we want about each other, but let someone else get into the mix and look out! Once someone is part of the family, it applies to them as well.

[Vicki]

Politics aside, I made the big move five years ago. I decided I wasn't a tree and didn't have roots in the ground so I could go wherever I pleased. I'm so happy I did.

Of course, I'm going to suggest to you to visit the North Georgia Mountains or somewhere in the mountains in TN or NC. The weather is never extreme and the land is quite cheap these days, not to mention the scenery is lovely. There are lots of horse and cattle ranches, farms, and people raise Llamas and Ostrich in the area, too.

If you don't want to live in the USA, Chile is wonderful. Have you traveled there? Before I moved to GA, I was looking at vineyards in San Rafael - Mendoza, Argentina. Also, Chile was an option as the climate is lovely and the government much more sound than Argentina's. The fear of unstable governments in SA made me decide to stay in the USA. I picked out Blairsville, GA, on a map and moved, sight unseen. This is home and I love it.

Now, my dream is to buy a place with more land so I can raise chickens, rescue burros/donkeys (so many people have them here), horses, goats, and, of course, a few more dogs.

Today's temp at 2 pm EST is 68 degrees in November.

There is a Gorilla rescue about 20 miles from here. http://www.gorilla-haven.org/ Also, another nearby ranch has rescued Buffalo.

Whatever you decide, please tell us about it.

[Quercus]

@Vicki:

Politics aside, I made the big move five years ago. I decided I wasn't a tree and didn't have roots in the ground so I could go wherever I pleased. I'm so happy I did.

Of course, I'm going to suggest to you to visit the North Georgia Mountains or somewhere in the mountains in TN or NC. The weather is never extreme and the land is quite cheap these days, not to mention the scenery is lovely. There are lots of horse and cattle ranches, farms, and people raise Llama's and Ostrich in the area, too.

If you don't want to live in the USA, Chile is wonderful. Have you traveled there? Before I moved to GA, I was looking at vineyards in San Rafael - Mendoza, Argentina. Also, Chile was an option as the climate is lovely and the government much more sound than Argentina's. The fear of unstable governments in SA made me decide to stay in the USA. I picked out Blairsville, GA, on a map and moved, sight unseen. This is home and I love it.

Now, my dream is to buy a place with more land so I can raise chickens, rescue burros/donkeys (so many people have them here), horses, goats, and, of course, a few more dogs.

Today's temp at 2 pm EST is 68 degrees in November.

There is a Gorilla rescue about 20 miles from here. http://www.gorilla-haven.org/ Also, another nearby ranch has rescued Buffalo.

Whatever you decide, please tell us about it.

I am really good friends with the woman that runs Gorilla Haven. Jane Dewar…she is having a rough time trying to keep enough support of her facility. There really aren't THAT many gorillas that need 'rescued'...and the establishment isn't taking her project very seriously, sadly. Chimps...now that is another story...this country could probably support about a billion chimp and monkey rescues...

[lvoss]

Depending on where you look in California there are some nice warm places where they have ostrich and emu farms. The down side is the cost of living in California is higher than in other states.

[tanza]

@lvoss:

Depending on where you look in California there are some nice warm places where they have ostrich and emu farms. The down side is the cost of living in California is higher than in other states.

I would agree… there are lots of ostrich and emu farms here, especially in No California where the climate is moderate year round... the most problems we have are that rain season is November to March and then NO rain at all.. makes B's a bit difficult in the winter season.. but the temp is pretty mild year round... personally I love it... no humidity...

[Quercus]

@tanza:

I would agree… there are lots of ostrich and emu farms here, especially in No California where the climate is moderate year round... the most problems we have are that rain season is November to March and then NO rain at all.. makes B's a bit difficult in the winter season.. but the temp is pretty mild year round... personally I love it... no humidity...

It really is, perhaps the most perfect climate in the world and one of the most beautiful places as well. Whenever I visit my sister in Northern Cal…I wonder 'why the he!! don't I live here???"

[tanza]

@Quercus:

It really is, perhaps the most perfect climate in the world and one of the most beautiful places as well. Whenever I visit my sister in Northern Cal…I wonder 'why the he!! don't I live here???"

EXACTLY…. of course the cost of living is terrible.... and the state is ready for bankruptcy... but hey.. the weather is super!!!! Coming from the East Coast for the first 32 yrs of my life.. I have decided there is no place else I would rather live

[Quercus]

@tanza:

EXACTLY…. of course the cost of living is terrible.... and the state is ready for bankruptcy... but hey.. the weather is super!!!! Coming from the East Coast for the first 32 yrs of my life.. I have decided there is no place else I would rather live

Yeah, and me growing up in Seattle (but originating elsewhere)…I love having the ocean, mountains and forest so close...yet it rarely rains there. Now, my sister was BORN in Seattle...she complains about it being too hot, and not enough rain and clouds in NorCal....crazy!