Impressions of Oregon, Our New Home

There was nothing that was essentially keeping us in Oklahoma.  Our youngest son and his wife are still there, but they don’t need us nearby.

Alice and I used to wonder where a good place would be to live in retirement.  We had our eyes on the southwest.  It seemed that the southwest was more likely to be an intersection for our family.  My hometown is in California, Alice’s in Texas, and possibly our grown kids would be in the middle somewhere.  Oregon was not on our radar.  But here we are. 

We are in a suburb of Portland called Sherwood.  And yes, it has connections to the Sherwood Forest of the Robin Hood story. 

It’s beautiful out here.  Lots of hills and trees.  To say that the city is ‘leafy’ would be an understatement.  There are nature trails tucked into the city.  Just a few minutes’ walk from our house and you feel like you are in the middle of a forest.  A short drive will put you out in the country.    

I’m still trying to figure out what animates the economy in this area.  Of course there are the usual things–retail, medical, education–but what are the base-line industries?  One would think logging would be big, but I don’t see logging trucks.  Maybe that was a generation ago.  Today, the best answer we can come up with is wineries.  There are a lot of wineries. 

We like the climate.  Not as sticky as Oklahoma.  Over the years I realized that I could live without heat and humidity.  They say it rains here, but it’s only rained twice in two months.  They say it can get cloudy for days on end.  I wonder how we’ll like that.  We’ll see. 

Prices?  Almost everything is higher that Oklahoma.  Gas probably costs $1.50 a gallon more here.  Food is higher.  And, of course, housing.  I’d say a comparable house probably goes for 2x to 2.5x over what it would be in Oklahoma.

State income tax is higher, but there is no sales tax here. 

But we do get one break: house insurance.  In Oklahoma, because of the weather, especially hail, house insurance premiums were skyrocketing.  Our annual premiums had risen as high as our property taxes.  Here, our house insurance is about 25% of what it was in Oklahoma.  Nice to have that reduction to balance out some of the increases in other areas.   

One thing surprised us: people seem just as friendly here as in Oklahoma. 

Politics.  Now, here is a big difference.  Oregon, particularly Portland, is famously liberal.  But Sherwood, though a suburb, seems pretty far away from Portland in spirit.  Yes, we’ve seen some pride flags on some houses, but there are a lot more American flags.  Sherwood is a family place, with a lot of kids.  Parents with kids don’t like to mess around.  They are interested in schools and parks and activities.  The lefty antics of Portland, I would imagine, would elicit disdain or at least disinterest from them. 

We have seen a few of those ‘No Kings’ protests.  A small group of people, mainly (it seemed) middle-aged white women, were holding up signs that protested Trump’s policies.  I cannot imagine these people convincing anyone of anything.  I doubt if it entered their minds that their last presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, was essentially coronated, giving the democratic nomination a monarchy-type of feel.  Where was the democracy in that?  She didn’t have to win a single state in the primaries; indeed, she has never won a single primary vote in her entire life.  Yet the nomination was handed to her on a silver platter.  While Trump, the one they accuse of acting like a king, won his nomination the hard way by campaigning and winning votes state by state.  Which one, Harris or Trump, was more emblematic of democracy?  I doubt that those people holding up signs and yelling on street corners would take the time to ponder the thought.  In any case, there’s going to be some Portland vibe to endure, though it gets diluted by the distance out to Sherwood. 

Yes, we know we were going from a very red state to a very blue state.  Maybe that’s good.  We can make more of a difference here with our conservative Republican votes.  Oklahoma, which is already very conservative, doesn’t need us.

This brings to mind a bigger-picture issue.  As already noted, Oregon is beautiful and desirable…then why is it liberal?  Why does it seem that a lot of the more desirable parts of the country, particularly the coasts, are liberal?  Shouldn’t those people be praising God and thanking God for the beauty?  People do not appreciate God enough.  Ease and comfort can make them slack. 

There is a saying attributed to G. Michael Hopf: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”  I’ve seen some of the old, abandoned, factories in the Portland area.  They speak of older times of hard work and long hours of physical labor.  Has it been replaced by the wine and cheese crowd who vote left and disdain conservative values?  I wonder if we are in the “good times create weak men” phase.   I think that what afflicts Oregon (especially in the Portland area) is what afflicts much of western nations–that the hard-working, God-fearing, pioneer generation is replaced by descendants who have an attraction to ease and leftist politics. 

It is sad and ironic that those who enjoy more ease (food security, health care, security) should be less likely to praise and thank God.  God knew this tendency and gave a warning to Israel: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day,” (Deuteronomy 8:10-11).  The temptation is timeless; it is a warning for us too.