Gaining Perspective From Afar

by | Mar 23, 2019 | Memoirs | 2 comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

A trio of sheep on the highway

I was recently fortunate enough to be able to travel to Iceland. A beautiful Scandinavian country at 66Degrees north, that is 22 degrees North of Idaho and 7 time zones away from us too. Why Iceland you ask, well it’s a long story for another day.

The homes are different there, concrete mostly 18″ – 24″ walls with thick doors and beefy windows most have a small awning window in one corner. the plumbing fixtures were cool, T traps instead of P traps, small hand washing sinks everywhere. Tiny bathrooms and barrier free showers. All Grohe with the temperature set all you need to do is turn on the pressure and it is set. How sensible is that? The hardware all Assa Abloy strong mortise locks with thumb turns.

Lots of geothermal heat and everything is solid. Sound does not travel through these walls. Peaceful night rest. No sound of the city, What a relaxing time. around every corner another waterfall, adventure opportunities at every turnoff.

Cool Rock Wall

No commercialism. What the hell have we done to ourselves? This is a country for active people that like to hike and do stuff. Towns are small lots of museums, tourism is one of the largest industries but that is where it stops. Are you going clockwise or counterclockwise is the big question.

Lots of sheep and horses some cows and a rare goat. lots of birds not many trees but they are planting more.

I want to build more solid stuff, more beefy doors and windows, SIP walls will be my signature thing and I am looking at doing more Grohe plumbing fixtures. Although geothermal is reserved for a small part of our town the hydronic heat and radiators with boilers is going to be my thing with ductless mini splits for cooling and light air heating.

Coffee machines are great, far and away advanced from ours. These people are tough they are sweet and kind they love their country and are proud of it. They are appreciative of the travelers and are opening up their homes to travelers from all over. This is my kind of place.

The weather in late summer reminds me of San Francisco. The ocean economy is second to tourism now. Cod and small lobsters are the big thing here. Sheep are too hard to make a living with and beef is not a big deal either. One weird thing is that they love their hot dogs. bland food is king to be sure.

There is art in simplicity, far less materialism. Less people and the two lane around the island is a joy. very few stop signs mostly yield and some traffic lights in the bigger cities.

 

Disclaimer: Some of these images came from the WEB. If they are yours, and you object to them being used, please claim them and I will gladly remove and replace them at once.

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2 Comments

  1. Tony Day

    What a great trip! Thanks for sharing! I have seen some amazing deals on flights to Reykjavik in the past few years. I learned recently that Geothermal power in Iceland provides over 60% of the nation’s primary energy. While the Treasure Valley is limited geographically in Geothermal supply, I think that boiler systems are a great area for Levco to expand to!

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      Thanks Tony, I can’t sneak a thing past you. It was a great trip and you are right about their geothermal energy use. Very interesting. I am impressed that we have access to any here in Boise.

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