Differences

I'm trying to get creative with this blog instead of just reporting what we're doing all the time so I thought I would discuss some of the differences between life here and life in Alabama.....

SNOW-
I'll start out by admitting that we are pretty spoiled and blessed compared to many people around here. I knew we'd have to deal with snow here but I never knew how much work snow is for people. People have to get up several hours early on days that it snows and shovel their way out to their car, around their car, up their driveway, etc. Some have snowplows which are great but also require work. It is a lot of work for some. The church hires someone to plow the church yard but Mike does have to shovel/plow the deck and the walkway to the cars and around the cars. Then some have to worry about the heavyness of the snow on top of their roofs. Many people have to get on top of their roofs and shovel the snow off also. One of my friend's had a huge warehouse in Bayfield that crumpled in from the snow and ruined their boat and several vehicles stored inside. Our home is out in the open so the sunshine melts our snow or helps it to slide right off (by the way, because of that, we can no longer see out of the right side of our house!). Also, the skiing/snowboarding community is fascinating to me. It's a part of life that I had never been exposed to. It is a very expensive hobby but looks very fun. I don't really have to tell you the difference in CO and AL when it comes to snow.....you Alabamaians just be thankful the snow melts by lunchtime when it does snow!

DOGS-
Ok let me first say that you in Alabama love your dogs....I know you do BUT....here, the dogs are more of an active part of people's lives. What do I mean? Well, let's just say that if you went to Wal-Mart, 8 out of 10 cars that you look in will have a dog in it, year-around. Lots of people take their dogs with them wherever they go and I mean BIG dogs too. All dogs have to live inside here also because of the snow. The Humane Society is big here and they have dog parks you can take the dogs to. In AL, many have dogs but they are left at home most of the time. Course in the summer, you can't leave the dogs in your car in AL or they will suffocate! Those of you that know me well, know that I am not a big fan of dogs but I love our Lucee and I can see how dogs bring joy to people and help fight lonliness. She is always so happy to see us and longs to sit in our laps or snuggle up to you to sleep. Lucee got spayed on Monday and has done well this week recovering from her surgery. In CO, you don't have to worry with fleas because of the altitude and they don't have to be on heartworm medicine (don't know why though). It definitely blew our minds to see so many big dogs in every car you pass when we first moved here!!

COATS-
You can't just have one coat here, especially if you are a woman! You have to have a big warm coat for times you are outside working or playing. And you have to have a waterproof coat if you are going to play in the snow. Then you need a lightweight coat when you are exercising outside or in the evening in summertime. And then, you need a somewhat dressy looking coat for times you are dressed up and have to go out. So, can you imagine between the 5 of us, how many coats we have? And the sad part about it all is that we are from Alabama and none of us like to even wear coats so we only wear them when we absolutely have to!!

FOOD-
Ok..we all know that the South is known for it's fried food, right? The difference in food here is that people do not cook with as much fat which is a good thing I guess. Why haven't we all lost weight then? You can take the family out of Alabama but you can't take Alabama out of the family!!! They are very consumed with eating organic here also. We have 4 grocery stores here besides Wal-Mart and 2 of those 4 are all natural, organic stores. I'm not knocking eating organic, it's just too expensive for us to buy many organic foods. I'll throw in here how much we miss Arby's, Cici's Pizza, Olive Garden, and Chick-fil-a here!