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Metalcat

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #50 on: December 28, 2019, 06:27:42 AM »
OMIGOD YES!!! You absolutely nailed one of the things I can't stand about my parents' town. You have to TALK to people at the GROCERY STORE.

This made me chuckle. When we lived in a smaller town, I had a friend that would only go grocery shopping after 9pm so he wouldn't run into people he knew.

This doesn't work when every female staff member at the grocery store has dated one of your 4 brothers, and it didn't end well with any of them.

Chris@TTL

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #51 on: July 10, 2020, 09:54:05 AM »
Seems like the urban vs rural debate has become a hotter topic with the pandemic raging. Early on, it seemed like cities were at a higher risk (and they may still be, since people are closer together).
That said, rural areas of the US are struggling now as healthcare capacities are lower.

Frugalwoods just wrote a big post, though pretty balanced, naturally favoring the rural life.
They're in Vermont.

I really enjoyed the perspective as an urban dweller (and ended up writing a retort from the city POV here in Virginia).

What do you all think about this age-old urban vs rural living debate in light of the crisis (crises) in the US right now?
« Last Edit: September 02, 2020, 11:55:43 PM by Chris@TTL »

FINate

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #52 on: July 10, 2020, 10:29:47 AM »
Seems like the urban vs rural debate has become a hotter topic with the pandemic raging. Early on, it seemed like cities were at a higher risk (and they may still be, since people are closer together).
That said, rural areas of the US are struggling now as healthcare capacities are lower.

Frugalwoods just wrote a big post, though pretty balanced, naturally favoring the rural life.
They're in Vermont -- which isn't quite Canada, but pretty close. :)

I really enjoyed the perspective as an urban dweller (and ended up writing a retort from the city POV).

What do you all think about this age-old urban vs rural living debate in light of the crisis (crises) in the US right now?

I think most people in rural areas of the US no longer live a traditional rural lifestyle. Instead, it's more quasi-urban/suburban, with sporting events, eating out, shopping, etc. So in this regard it's not really any safer from COVID than most urban areas.

BUT, I can understand why a family of 4 that's been in lock down for months in a small 2 bedroom apartment with no yard suddenly wants a 3/2 with land for the kids to roam. Though I think many are in for a surprise when they realize they don't have access to fast reliable internet, and the amount of work that goes into maintaining land (fences, trimming trees, clearing brush, private wells, private roads, and so on).

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #53 on: July 10, 2020, 07:50:41 PM »
Livid in a rural area pre-Covid and am urban in FiRE.  It’s so much easier here.  Options for shopping, city parks and green spaces, health care...everything is better.  I like being able to get carry out,  I like having options for grocery shopping that are safe.  The small town library in our old town closed.  Here we can do curbside pickup.  I don’t get stir crazy.  Urban life is much better.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #54 on: July 11, 2020, 12:30:16 AM »
Seems like the urban vs rural debate has become a hotter topic with the pandemic raging. Early on, it seemed like cities were at a higher risk (and they may still be, since people are closer together).
That said, rural areas of the US are struggling now as healthcare capacities are lower.

Frugalwoods just wrote a big post, though pretty balanced, naturally favoring the rural life.
They're in Vermont.

I really enjoyed the perspective as an urban dweller (and ended up writing a retort from the city POV here in Virginia).

What do you all think about this age-old urban vs rural living debate in light of the crisis (crises) in the US right now?

I just finished reading the frugalwoods part and realized that I have been living like that for 15 years. I thought that area was suburban, but maybe it was more frugal. We had our own well, electrically driven. A wood stove and own small forest. Bigger forest on walking distance. Bigger town on driving distance, almost nothing on walking distance. Difficult road, so no service or delivery in winter. Private road that flushes away with heavy rainfall, lots or work to maintain ditches and potholes. Removing wasp nests from the attic. But we did have a train station on walking distance, with a 35 min commute to the capital. Only when that station was closed down, we bought a second car.

Our cabin is even more remote, with no water and no road up to the door. We now have an almost new refrigerator (I had to ask a neighbour for snow scooter sledge transportation), but in the vegetable drawer it freezes. Normally you would bring it back to the shop and ask for a replacement. But that is just too much fuss.

I was worried that our future post FIRE house would be to remote. But as long as it is not worse to what I have been living with, it is okay.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2020, 08:32:17 AM by Linea_Norway »

Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #55 on: July 11, 2020, 11:13:44 AM »
Last summer, we stayed for a month in a SFH on 1/2 acre, in a neighborhood with probably 100 other similar homes. CC&Rs required that all houses be >3Ksqft, yet most homes were only occupied by 1-4 people. It was August, so most people in the neighborhood never even came outside their houses, except when they had to mow the lawn and weedwack. The rest of the time, they were sitting inside with the AC cranked up. Except for people who hired professionals to maintain their properties, every family in that neighborhood had to have a duplicate set of lawn and home maintenance equipment: lawnmower, weedwacker, trimmer, rakes, shovels, ladders, hand tools, etc. And every house in that subdivision had to have its own central AC unit, furnace, etc., that require constant maintenance. I just kept thinking to myself how much more efficient it would be if those 100 families all lived in one nice-sized apartment building, with one big central AC unit and furnace, with 100 acres of forest around it, some hiking/jogging trails, a nice playground for the kids, and maybe a pool. A maintenance guy, or a few of them, could easily keep the grounds around the apartment building and parking lots looking good, and all the HVAC infrastructure professionally maintained, for a tiny fraction of the time, energy and expense those 100 families currently have to put into maintaining their properties themselves.

I've already been there, done that, with maintaining a big property out in the country. Happy to be living in FIRE in a small-size city with lots to do, all withing easy walking distance from our home. It's great having a "yard" with not one blade of grass to cut. We've got lots of pots full of herbs and veggies and flowers, but no lawns for us anymore.

Imma

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #56 on: July 12, 2020, 12:22:05 AM »
That's so sad @Shane. That's not my experience at all, living in a terraced neighbourhood. On summer days like today people open up windows and doors early in the morning. After breakfast kids are starting to play outside. The whole day there's a background hum of playing kids, paddle pools, BBQ, people who take their radio's outside, older people who get together to sit in their chairs, mothers hanging laundry, fathers gardening. Sometimes the noise drives me crazy and I wish for a rural property, but noise is much better than everyone staying indoors!

Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #57 on: July 12, 2020, 04:23:07 AM »
That's so sad @Shane. That's not my experience at all, living in a terraced neighbourhood. On summer days like today people open up windows and doors early in the morning. After breakfast kids are starting to play outside. The whole day there's a background hum of playing kids, paddle pools, BBQ, people who take their radio's outside, older people who get together to sit in their chairs, mothers hanging laundry, fathers gardening. Sometimes the noise drives me crazy and I wish for a rural property, but noise is much better than everyone staying indoors!

In the US, cheap energy prices has led to almost everyone having central AC in their single family homes. It didn't used to be this way. Even in the city where we live now, almost no one comes outside, except when they have to walk their dogs, or else to hop into their air-conditioned cars to drive off to some big box store. Most people prefer to stay inside to keep cool. I agree, it's sad that community in the US has disintegrated to the point where most people seem to prefer to sit alone inside their houses, ranting at each other over FB or Nextdoor, rather than getting outside, meeting their neighbors in person, getting physical exercise, and experiencing the real physical world. Unfortunately, things are being made even worse by Covid this summer.

FINate

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #58 on: July 12, 2020, 12:32:34 PM »
That's so sad @Shane. That's not my experience at all, living in a terraced neighbourhood. On summer days like today people open up windows and doors early in the morning. After breakfast kids are starting to play outside. The whole day there's a background hum of playing kids, paddle pools, BBQ, people who take their radio's outside, older people who get together to sit in their chairs, mothers hanging laundry, fathers gardening. Sometimes the noise drives me crazy and I wish for a rural property, but noise is much better than everyone staying indoors!

In the US, cheap energy prices has led to almost everyone having central AC in their single family homes. It didn't used to be this way. Even in the city where we live now, almost no one comes outside, except when they have to walk their dogs, or else to hop into their air-conditioned cars to drive off to some big box store. Most people prefer to stay inside to keep cool. I agree, it's sad that community in the US has disintegrated to the point where most people seem to prefer to sit alone inside their houses, ranting at each other over FB or Nextdoor, rather than getting outside, meeting their neighbors in person, getting physical exercise, and experiencing the real physical world. Unfortunately, things are being made even worse by Covid this summer.

This is a good reminder to me to appreciate the neighborhood that I have, which sounds a lot more like Imma's than the one that Shane describes. We walk our dogs together, chat as we garden, stroll to the shops, and yes - listen to the constant squeals of children playing outside. There are some who have kept to themselves more since COVID, but we wave at a distance, and after I put some cloth face masks in their mailboxes, I got a slew of baked goods left in mine. As a community, we're doing fine.

This also still exists in the US. Our neighborhood is alive with the sounds of children roaming the streets on foot/bike/scooter, families on cargo bikes, people walking their dogs, and neighbors greeting one another. Young kids walk on their own to the local park to play, and teens setup hammocks and slack lines and hang out together.

And yet everyone has AC and it's predominately single family housing. The difference, I think, is that it's an older historic neighborhood with small lots and small blocks laid out in a grid pattern. There are lots of mature shade trees and everything is in walking/biking distance. And, importantly, the neighborhood is safe with very low crime.

Our previous neighborhood in coastal California was very walkable with a mild climate. No one had AC, but few families roamed the neighborhood due to extremely high crime. Not just property crime, but scary crazy people out of their minds with addiction and/or mental illness. Drug needles and human feces were a regular sight on the street and at the park, along with super sketchy and aggressive dudes who would harass moms with kids. The school district even hired private security for the bus stop for the safety of parents and students.

IMO, it's less about AC and more about the philosophy that goes into designing a neighborhood/city. The modern track housing layout is very car centric: large high-traffic high-speed boulevards, large suburban lots, and twisting neighborhood streets with lots of dead-ends to discourage through traffic. You may have a restaurant or park near your house, but you'll have to walk a circuitous ~1 mile route to get there because the layout is intentionally disconnected.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2020, 12:57:20 PM by FINate »

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #59 on: July 12, 2020, 03:12:36 PM »


IMO, it's less about AC and more about the philosophy that goes into designing a neighborhood/city. The modern track housing layout is very car centric: large high-traffic high-speed boulevards, large suburban lots, and twisting neighborhood streets with lots of dead-ends to discourage through traffic. You may have a restaurant or park near your house, but you'll have to walk a circuitous ~1 mile route to get there because the layout is intentionally disconnected.

This is how I grew up, in the exurbs and suburbs of Southern California. Really discouraged walking anywhere.  I moved to NorCal and there are a lot of less twisty streets, but they have a great way of still discouraging car traffic while encouraging bikers and walkers with direct access instead of blocking them with lots of cul de sacs - there are just tons of side streets, all the streets with homes and sometimes smaller shops, that will suddenly have large planters blocking access to cars to go past an intersection (you can only turn left or right), so cars can never drive straight through on side streets for more than like a quarter mile or so, only on main streets.  Bikers and walkers can keep going. It really keeps traffic lighter there.

Chris@TTL

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #60 on: July 12, 2020, 03:23:16 PM »
Seems like the urban vs rural debate has become a hotter topic with the pandemic raging. Early on, it seemed like cities were at a higher risk (and they may still be, since people are closer together).
That said, rural areas of the US are struggling now as healthcare capacities are lower.

Frugalwoods just wrote a big post, though pretty balanced, naturally favoring the rural life.
They're in Vermont.

I really enjoyed the perspective as an urban dweller (and ended up writing a retort from the city life point of view here in Virginia).

What do you all think about this age-old urban vs rural living debate in light of the crisis (crises) in the US right now?

I just finished reading the frugalwoods part and realized that I have been living like that for 15 years. I thought that area was suburban, but maybe it was more frugal. We had our own well, electrically driven. A wood stove and own small forest. Bigger forest on walking distance. Bigger town on driving distance, almost nothing on walking distance. Difficult road, so no service or delivery in winter. Private road that flushes away with heavy rainfall, lots or work to maintain ditches and potholes. Removing wasp nests from the attic. But we did have a train station on walking distance, with a 35 min commute to the capital. Only when that station was closed down, we bought a second car.

Our cabin is even more remote, with no water and no road up to the door. We now have an almost new refrigerator (I had to ask a neighbour for snow scooter sledge transportation), but in the vegetable drawer it freezes. Normally you would bring it back to the shop and ask for a replacement. But that is just too much fuss.

I was worried that our future post FIRE house would be to remote. But as long as it is not worse to what I have been living with, it is okay.

Haha, I'm pretty sure that is rural! Any time you make a claim to have a forest (even "small"), I don't think you're in suburbia anymore. Sounds like a very different life from us city slickers!

As to the other comments from @Shane and all, I'd have to lean towards my experience (pretty mixed across the US) being similar to Shane's in suburbia. It's not that folks aren't nice, that the houses aren't well maintained (or the yards for that matter); it's just that everyone kind of hides inside. And at least in my experience, that wasn't due to crime.

These were very low crime neighborhoods. Rather, it's because of car culture, and suburbia not having much to do within it. You couldn't really walk *to* anything aside from a neighbor's house or if you're lucky to have sidewalks, maybe to a path that snakes around a lightly wooded area.

Like some other posters mentioned, this wasn't grid suburbia just outside of the city. This is suburban communities that are many miles from any real city or where the people that live there, work. They're based on cul-de-sacs and confusing, round, winding roads. They're practically hostile to walking. However, my experience has all been in modern suburbs (I think the oldest I've lived in was built in the late 80s).

But, nonetheless, different strokes for different folks. People should live where they are happy.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2020, 11:55:05 PM by Chris@TTL »

Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #61 on: July 13, 2020, 06:04:53 AM »
The place I mentioned where we lived for a month last summer was a relatively recently developed suburb, about 5 miles from the city center. Granted, it was hot when we stayed there, as it was mid-August, but we never saw anyone, besides ourselves, walking around that neighborhood, and the only people we saw outside their houses were about to get into their air conditioned cars, or else, operating lawnmowers or some other type of landscaping equipment. The fact that that neighborhood was designed and built without any sidewalks seemed like a pretty clear sign that walking wasn't really imagined as a way people living there would get around. The nearest stores were a couple of miles away and would've required crossing some pretty major (8 lane) roads to get to, anyway. After spending a month living there, we were grateful to be able to move on to a more urban neighborhood.

Where we live, now, in the city is very different. There are sidewalks everywhere, so there are people walking around the neighborhood everyday. Just looked at my Ring doorbell log, and ~25 groups of people passed by the front of my house in the past 24 hours, around 3/4 of them walking dogs. Neighbors who have dogs seem relatively more approachable. While riding my bike, I'll often stop when I see a neighbor I recognize walking their dog(s) and talk with them for a few minutes. After living in the country for 20+ years, where we let all of our pets roam freely, it's hard to imagine wanting to have a dog in the city. It seems kind of cruel for the animals and a nuisance for the humans to have to walk them around multiple times every day and to have to, literally, pick up their shit for them. It's hard for me to imagine anyone voluntarily doing that everyday. The upside of having a dog in the city, though, seems to be an opportunity for a bit more social interaction with neighbors, and it also forces people who might otherwise be completely sedentary to get out of the house and get some exercise. For now, anyway, I'll just stick to my bike for exercise. Days when it's raining or I don't feel like going out, I can just leave my bike parked in my living room.

There's an interesting dichotomy on our city block. One end of the block is mostly rentals, 3 units to a house, and the other end of the block is mostly owner-occupied SFHs. We and our immediate neighbors all own our homes, so have all 3 floors + basement to ourselves. Whereas, people at the other end of the block are mostly renters, who are just inhabiting either a first, second, or third floor apartment in the same type of 120 year old city row house. The mostly poorer, mostly browner people living in rentals at one end of our block tend to not have central AC in their apartments. Maybe because of a lack of AC, or maybe because of cultural differences, many of those renters can often be seen sitting outside on their porches or stoops, as their kids play on the sidewalk and street in front of their houses. When I ride by on my bicycle, I always wave and say hello to those neighbors who are sitting outside on summer evenings. The whiter, richer, homeowners on our end of the block all have central AC and, therefore, rarely come outside of their houses, especially during these hot summer days, except when they are about to hop into their air conditioned cars to head off somewhere.

Imma

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #62 on: July 13, 2020, 08:58:58 AM »
I'm glad to read that there are still lively neighbourhoods in the US :)  From an American perspective my area is probably a historic  neighbourhood (interbellum) - lots are small (100 - 250 m2) and there's a highstreet with shops in the middle. The area was designed before cars became mainstream, but even new developments are generally designed with shops within walking distance and within city limits sidewalks are mandatory. In my country people don't want to live in a location which requires a car for every errand. In the past no one in here had A/C but as our summers are warmer now, many people have bought A/C (usually portable devices). But that doesn't seem to cause them to stay indoors. On the contrary, porches and large semi-permanent swimming pools have become popular in the same period. Now people have more spare time during the pandemic, they are spending more time outdoors than ever.

Many people actually like walking their dogs! It's an opportunity to make social contact, an excuse to go for a walk, a companion and an excuse to go to the park on your own.


FINate

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #63 on: July 13, 2020, 09:37:52 AM »
Good summary of how the automobile influenced convoluted streets in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vDcfH03gs
And also, the systemic racism aspect of this design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWhYlu7ZfYM

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #64 on: July 14, 2020, 04:09:17 PM »

Definitely have been grateful to be so rural during this lockdown. We would have gone absolutely stir crazy in the city. Instead, we can go hiking every day and still go weeks without seeing another human being (yes, even through the windshield of a vehicle).


But then we have a forest, too. :-)


Also virtually no Internet and no hospital.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #65 on: July 14, 2020, 06:11:58 PM »

Definitely have been grateful to be so rural during this lockdown.

There's no comprehensive  lockdown in my rural county; it's partial.

The remove of living where I do boosts my confidence that I have a very low probability of getting infected by the virus.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #66 on: July 14, 2020, 06:20:19 PM »
Okay, yes, self imposed lockdown here because we don't want to die. There was never much of one here either.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #67 on: July 14, 2020, 06:29:32 PM »


Where we live, now, in the city is very different. There are sidewalks everywhere, so there are people walking around the neighborhood everyday. Just looked at my Ring doorbell log, and ~25 groups of people passed by the front of my house in the past 24 hours, around 3/4 of them walking dogs.

My rural locale is the polar opposite.

During morning "rush hour" my neighbor passes by on his way to work.

During evening "rush hour" he passes by on his way home.

Typically, he is the only in-the-flesh person I see on a daily basis.


Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #68 on: July 14, 2020, 08:45:07 PM »
Good summary of how the automobile influenced convoluted streets in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vDcfH03gs
And also, the systemic racism aspect of this design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWhYlu7ZfYM

Thanks. Watched both those videos. Interesting.

Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #69 on: July 14, 2020, 08:52:27 PM »


Where we live, now, in the city is very different. There are sidewalks everywhere, so there are people walking around the neighborhood everyday. Just looked at my Ring doorbell log, and ~25 groups of people passed by the front of my house in the past 24 hours, around 3/4 of them walking dogs.

My rural locale is the polar opposite.

During morning "rush hour" my neighbor passes by on his way to work.

During evening "rush hour" he passes by on his way home.

Typically, he is the only in-the-flesh person I see on a daily basis.

Where we lived for almost 20 years before moving here was at the top of a hill, at the end of a long gravel road. Literally nobody "passed by" our place. Either they were intentionally coming to visit us, or they were lost.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #70 on: July 17, 2020, 08:51:03 AM »
I do believe it doesn't have to be one or the other.  We live within six miles of a primarily agricultural town (population 155,000) but we live on 22 acres.  We are 60 miles from San Francisco.  We have all of the animals on the property you could imagine and could easily homestead if we choose to - we don't choose to.  It is the best of both worlds - can't see another house from where we live but all of the comforts of living near a city that is economically driven on agriculture and small business.  We do live on a well/septic but there is a home depot less than two miles away.  We have little ambient light so the stars are incredible but it also dark as hell at night.  Decent schools with a few high-end private schools.  It feels like a small town and acts like a small town without feeling limited to resources.  Some places/services will deliver here but not all of them but I can uber to small rural airport and get to just about anywhere I need to go for work.  Worst case scenario I have to drive 75 miles to SFO.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #71 on: July 20, 2020, 01:31:34 PM »
We have little ambient light so the stars are incredible but it also dark as hell at night.


+1


Though I like  the absence  of light pollution at my rural location if I did live in a city I would enjoy  its splendorous,  nighttime cityscape.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #72 on: July 20, 2020, 01:45:25 PM »
Yes it’s definitely a different mindset.  Here, people get lost every year doing things like hunting and berry picking - even people who should know better.  The further north you go, the denser the bush and you certainly don’t want to be lost there, where there are a bunch of wild animals, especially bears and wolves.  No fun.  Rural is one thing; wilderness is another.

Once in a while a black bear or cougar is seen in my neighborhood.

About a year ago I saw a large cougar strolling down the road right in front of my house.




Monkey Uncle

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #73 on: July 20, 2020, 02:02:32 PM »
Yes it’s definitely a different mindset.  Here, people get lost every year doing things like hunting and berry picking - even people who should know better.  The further north you go, the denser the bush and you certainly don’t want to be lost there, where there are a bunch of wild animals, especially bears and wolves.  No fun.  Rural is one thing; wilderness is another.

Once in a while a black bear or cougar is seen in my neighborhood.

About a year ago I saw a large cougar strolling down the road right in front of my house.

Yeah, you don't need to go to the wilderness to find bears.  I live in the edge of town, and one particular bear has gotten so bad this year that I finally had to give up and take down my bird feeders, probably for the rest of the summer.  I spend a lot of time in the woods, and I've seen more bears in my yard than anywhere else.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #74 on: July 20, 2020, 03:12:48 PM »
We have little ambient light so the stars are incredible but it also dark as hell at night.


+1


Though I like  the absence  of light pollution at my rural location if I did live in a city I would enjoy  its splendorous,  nighttime cityscape.

While I have no desire whatsoever to live in the country, it would be really nice to live in a place with less light pollution.  The stars always surprise me when I'm somewhere with a dark sky. 

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #75 on: July 21, 2020, 09:43:29 AM »
Kind of a pet peeve of mine living rural is those stupid farm and home security lights that burn all night.
It's not like this is a high crime area where we need lights on all the time to protect our stuff.   

Seems like a terrible waste of energy, plus the added light pollution.
Put the dang thing on a switch and only use it when needed.


Shane

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #76 on: July 21, 2020, 01:43:59 PM »
Apparently, a not insignificant number of adults are actually scared of the dark. It never would've occurred to me, but people who visited our farm regularly asked us if we weren't scared at night, because there were no street lights...

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #77 on: July 21, 2020, 02:11:56 PM »
Yes it’s definitely a different mindset.  Here, people get lost every year doing things like hunting and berry picking - even people who should know better.  The further north you go, the denser the bush and you certainly don’t want to be lost there, where there are a bunch of wild animals, especially bears and wolves.  No fun.  Rural is one thing; wilderness is another.

Once in a while a black bear or cougar is seen in my neighborhood.

About a year ago I saw a large cougar strolling down the road right in front of my house.

They're often hanging around in bars too.  Be careful.

GreenSheep

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #78 on: July 21, 2020, 02:53:07 PM »
Apparently, a not insignificant number of adults are actually scared of the dark. It never would've occurred to me, but people who visited our farm regularly asked us if we weren't scared at night, because there were no street lights...

Yes! I grew up in a suburban neighborhood with no sidewalks or streetlights, and my college friends were nervous about going there at night. Those houses sell for upwards of half a million these days, and the only crimes they have are teenagers-smashing-pumpkins types of things.

My husband and I moved a few years ago to a rural location from a large city, and non-rural people ask me all the time if I feel safe here at night when my husband isn't home. They also ask if I feel safer now that we have a fence around the property. The fence is to keep out deer. This, on a gravel road where our neighbors drive over to give us eggs, have helped push my Mustache-mobile up the hill when the new gravel was too deep for it, or brushed snow off my car (unasked) while I was out of town so I wouldn't come home to a big icy mess. I feel much less safe in many brightly-lit urban areas than I do here.

And finally, my MIL calls my beloved mossy, ferny PNW hiking trails "spooky" because they're not bright and sunny like her Florida beaches.

John Galt incarnate!

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #79 on: July 22, 2020, 05:51:59 PM »
We have little ambient light so the stars are incredible but it also dark as hell at night.


+1


Though I like  the absence  of light pollution at my rural location if I did live in a city I would enjoy  its splendorous,  nighttime cityscape.

While I have no desire whatsoever to live in the country, it would be really nice to live in a place with less light pollution.  The stars always surprise me when I'm somewhere with a dark sky.

A friend of mine dated a young woman who had never been away from Los Angeles where she was born and reared.

As most people know, Los Angeles is smoggy.

And lights are everywhere.

When they visited  me  my friend's SO was amazed by all the stars she'd  never seen before.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2020, 06:23:35 PM by John Galt incarnate! »

John Galt incarnate!

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #80 on: July 22, 2020, 06:08:30 PM »

 This, on a gravel road where our neighbors drive over to give us eggs, have helped push my Mustache-mobile up the hill when the new gravel was too deep for it, or brushed snow off my car (unasked) while I was out of town so I wouldn't come home to a big icy mess..



A "neighbor" (I don't know who they were)  received a misdelivered package   in their mailbox.

Since my address was on the package they drove to my house and placed it on my front porch with a note explaining that "it was put in our mailbox by mistake."


GuitarStv

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #81 on: July 22, 2020, 09:22:27 PM »

 This, on a gravel road where our neighbors drive over to give us eggs, have helped push my Mustache-mobile up the hill when the new gravel was too deep for it, or brushed snow off my car (unasked) while I was out of town so I wouldn't come home to a big icy mess..



A "neighbor" (I don't know who they were)  received a misdelivered package   in their mailbox.

Since my address was on the package they drove to my house and placed it on my front porch with a note explaining that "it was put in our mailbox by mistake."

I've had the same thing happen to me . . . and we live in Toronto, not in the middle of nowhere.

dang1

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #82 on: July 22, 2020, 10:42:27 PM »
We have little ambient light so the stars are incredible but it also dark as hell at night.
+1
Though I like  the absence  of light pollution at my rural location if I did live in a city I would enjoy  its splendorous,  nighttime cityscape.

While I have no desire whatsoever to live in the country, it would be really nice to live in a place with less light pollution.  The stars always surprise me when I'm somewhere with a dark sky.

A friend of mine dated a young woman who had never been away from Los Angeles where she was born and reared.

As most people know, Los Angeles is smoggy.

And lights are everywhere.

When they visited  me  my friend's SO was amazed by all the stars she'd  never seen before.

that's terrible- a little road trip up 395, owens valley, east to nevada, down to baja- and no man-made lights at all, all moon and starlight.  https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/ eastern half of the US has fewer places not light polluted

Mighty Eyebrows

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #83 on: August 01, 2020, 10:51:42 AM »
Haha, I'm pretty sure that is rural! Any time you make a claim to have a forest (even "small"), I don't think you're in suburbia anymore.
Don't be so sure about the "forest = not-city" idea:
https://fh-sites.imgix.net/sites/3492/2019/11/02235119/October-Ice-Cave-Adventures-3.jpg

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #84 on: August 01, 2020, 12:45:59 PM »
Haha, I'm pretty sure that is rural! Any time you make a claim to have a forest (even "small"), I don't think you're in suburbia anymore.
Don't be so sure about the "forest = not-city" idea:
https://fh-sites.imgix.net/sites/3492/2019/11/02235119/October-Ice-Cave-Adventures-3.jpg

Haha, yes, Vancouver is green. Where we are in Virginia, the city's central park is a 550-acre wetland covered in forest.

The point though was that the OP *owns* a small forest.

I'd think, in Vancouver, you'd have to be quite an exceptionlly wealthy person to "own a small forest" within the city limits.

Mighty Eyebrows

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #85 on: August 01, 2020, 01:07:17 PM »
The point though was that the OP *owns* a small forest.

I'd think, in Vancouver, you'd have to be quite an exceptionlly wealthy person to "own a small forest" within the city limits.
Ah yes, I missed the ownership part.

You are right about Vancouver. However, there are many Canadian cities where you can own 5 or 10 acres of forest within a 30 minute drive of a major shopping area.


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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #86 on: August 01, 2020, 01:12:47 PM »
The point though was that the OP *owns* a small forest.

I'd think, in Vancouver, you'd have to be quite an exceptionlly wealthy person to "own a small forest" within the city limits.
Ah yes, I missed the ownership part.

You are right about Vancouver. However, there are many Canadian cities where you can own 5 or 10 acres of forest within a 30 minute drive of a major shopping area.

True. I live in the urban core of a major Canadian city and my family owns a significant chunk of hill forest about the size of a small ski hill a 25 minute drive from my door.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #87 on: August 03, 2020, 11:00:54 AM »
The idea of living in a small town/rural area really appeals to me. What worries me is that I am a gay woman in an interracial relationship. That's not weird at all in the city, but small town folks aren't exactly the most open minded. We live in the Houston suburbs now and the gawking is enraging. We aren't even a particularly touchy couple. Last week just a "Hey bae should we get the regular mac n'cheese or the low sodium?" at the grocery store got a huffy grunt and look of horror from the old lady a couple feet away.


I guess I'm worried that moving to a rural area will get us a cross burning on our front lawn or the word "faggot" painted on the garage door.


It's unfortunate that open minded nearly always means high cost of living.

Metalcat

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #88 on: August 03, 2020, 11:56:55 AM »
The idea of living in a small town/rural area really appeals to me. What worries me is that I am a gay woman in an interracial relationship. That's not weird at all in the city, but small town folks aren't exactly the most open minded. We live in the Houston suburbs now and the gawking is enraging. We aren't even a particularly touchy couple. Last week just a "Hey bae should we get the regular mac n'cheese or the low sodium?" at the grocery store got a huffy grunt and look of horror from the old lady a couple feet away.


I guess I'm worried that moving to a rural area will get us a cross burning on our front lawn or the word "faggot" painted on the garage door.


It's unfortunate that open minded nearly always means high cost of living.

My hometown is an ultra progressive community which very openly welcomes everyone; but it isn't at all LCOL, so you might be onto something there.

ETA: sorry, that wasn't at all clear, they are hostile to outsiders to a degree that a lot of small towns are, but they are extremely accepting of LGBTQ, actively fundraised to sponsor a refugee family to join the community, and is populated by a large proportion of artists, so no amount of personal flair is ever blinked at. Most of the business owners have posed for a nude calendar to raise money.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2020, 01:14:42 PM by Malcat »

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #89 on: August 03, 2020, 12:32:13 PM »
The idea of living in a small town/rural area really appeals to me. What worries me is that I am a gay woman in an interracial relationship. That's not weird at all in the city, but small town folks aren't exactly the most open minded. We live in the Houston suburbs now and the gawking is enraging. We aren't even a particularly touchy couple. Last week just a "Hey bae should we get the regular mac n'cheese or the low sodium?" at the grocery store got a huffy grunt and look of horror from the old lady a couple feet away.


I guess I'm worried that moving to a rural area will get us a cross burning on our front lawn or the word "faggot" painted on the garage door.


It's unfortunate that open minded nearly always means high cost of living.

You just need to find the right small town in the right area of the country. Try looking at some of the smaller college towns - they tend to be pretty liberal and more diverse.

I live in a rural area in central New York state. It is very non-diverse racially.  My wife and I are an interracial couple with a multi-racial child and we haven't had any racial issues at all.

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #90 on: August 16, 2020, 01:27:40 PM »
The idea of living in a small town/rural area really appeals to me. What worries me is that I am a gay woman in an interracial relationship. That's not weird at all in the city, but small town folks aren't exactly the most open minded. We live in the Houston suburbs now and the gawking is enraging. We aren't even a particularly touchy couple. Last week just a "Hey bae should we get the regular mac n'cheese or the low sodium?" at the grocery store got a huffy grunt and look of horror from the old lady a couple feet away.


I guess I'm worried that moving to a rural area will get us a cross burning on our front lawn or the word "faggot" painted on the garage door.


It's unfortunate that open minded nearly always means high cost of living.

You just need to find the right small town in the right area of the country. Try looking at some of the smaller college towns - they tend to be pretty liberal and more diverse.

I live in a rural area in central New York state. It is very non-diverse racially.  My wife and I are an interracial couple with a multi-racial child and we haven't had any racial issues at all.

I’d agree with this. We’re pretty familiar with the Charlottesville, VA area for example which is home to UVA. Charlottesville isn’t a big town (pop 48K). But it’s quite progressive for being in a rural area of a southern state. That said, it’s still surrounded in quite conservative rural country, which while pretty inexpensive in some areas (yet still has access to advanced medicine, forward thinking startups due to UVA, etc), has also been home to some very aggressive protesting around mostly conservative topics. It’s been in the news for some violent outbreaks around those topics, sadly, too.

You could make the argument that’s largely because of the growing diversity of the area.

Reddleman

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #91 on: November 28, 2020, 08:59:59 AM »

It's unfortunate that open minded nearly always means high cost of living.

You just need to find the right small town in the right area of the country. Try looking at some of the smaller college towns - they tend to be pretty liberal and more diverse.

I live in a rural area in central New York state. It is very non-diverse racially.  My wife and I are an interracial couple with a multi-racial child and we haven't had any racial issues at all.

So true.  I grew up in upstate NY (Between Albany area and Adirondacks).  Pretty conservative and not very accepting of difference.  Of course, it's much better on average now than it was in the 80s.  I moved a bunch of different places but settled in a village (just a bank, convenience store and library) just outside of a college town.  Still in upstate NY, but I can live on an acre, still have fast internet and town water/sewer but a 10 min drive ( I can even take the bus!) into an actual diverse college town. Our 3br/2ba early 1900s craftsman would probably sell for ~$250k right now. 

It's pricey compared to my home town, taxes are definitely pretty high, but it's sooooo reasonable compared to any metro area in the country.  To be honest, it's a pretty sweet spot to be.  If anyone seriously wants to live a country life and is used to "city" diversity/identity/politics/norms, this is probably the best option.  I'd consider staying here permanently if I wanted to live in the U.S. when retired- but that's another story. 

Maybe I should post our house on MMM when we move. . . 

« Last Edit: November 28, 2020, 09:01:53 AM by Reddleman »

MissPeach

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Re: Talk to me about living in a rural area
« Reply #92 on: December 10, 2020, 03:05:02 PM »
I don't have much practical experience but there is a blog called the Frugalwoods where they are in rural Vermont. I think they've done a good job highlighting the pros and cons of rural living on their blog.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!