Originally Posted by
Hypoman
I concur with everything everyone said and only have a couple things to add.
1) Invest in an outside cat! I know it sounds silly, but you will NEVER Get mice if you have a cat. Only feed it once a day and not enough o fill it. It will find its own food i.e. mice
2) Riding lawn mower. The bigger the better. Zero turn turn if possible.
3) There is definitely the concern of increased fuel consumption. Things we do to help this is do all our errands all at once, once a week. Try to either grow as much of your own food as possible or find a source for bulk food. We used to live close enough to a store owned by Mennonites. It was the cheapest store we ever shopped at. Was a shame we moved too far away from them. I also got a diesel truck and it was way better on fuel than my gas truck.
4) Make sure you have a 4x4 vehicle. When moved into our current house we had a front wheel drive van. We are so BFE out here we are the one of the last roads to get plowed. Also our first year here, even if it was plowed we couldn't make it up the two hills on our road to get home. We'd have to leave it for the next day and walk home with 2 small girls and a newborn.....up those two hills then up our long driveway as we live on a hill also haha. Wifey doesn't like that!!!
5)invest in motion activated outdoor cameras. Someone has let my cows out several times. Once by ramming into a gate post that is NOT accessible from the road!! Then we have to go find them.....usually they stayed home but a couple times they went into the woods and into the fields behind our property.....hope you know how to follow tracks and can tell the difference between a calf hoof and a deer hoof! Just the other day I noticed more tire tracks up through my yard.....I have no idea who it was.
6) if you do raise animals, make sure you are as prepared as possible. Type of fencing is crucial!! Lol!
I love living out here though! I get to do whatever I want. It's great. I can take a deer in my back yard and two years ago I watched a doe give birth in my pasture. It was a nice thing to see. Now I did go on a crow shoot a couple of weeks ago and we started on my property. I heard crow just a few trees in the woods and headed that way. I was almost there when I spotted a doe about 50 feet away. I stopped walking and she took off into the woods so I continued stalking this crow. I got about twenty feet to the woods when all of a sudden I hear this loud SNORT, STOMP, CRASH as a buck charged at me outta the woods..... He stopped just the edge but I about crapped myself I'll tell you what!! Lol!
God made the country, and man made the town. ~William Cowper
It is not easy to walk alone in the country without musing upon something. ~Charles D1ckens
Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds,
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid nature.- William Cowper
Hypo, you didn't punch the buck in the nose?! Dude...my faith has been shaken!
I said I'd comment so here goes...
I was born an raised in DC an South of it in Northern Va. My county alone had 1 million people. I hated it. Soon as I could get away..I did. First to Az..where yes, while I was in Tucson, I was far enough outside the city, that I was basically out in the sticks. 15 minute ride into the city, 10 minute ride to further out into nowhere! I loved it. When I finally came back east, I of course came back to Va, an promptly moved away again to my Sandbar.
Now you say.."but oh Great Sirscrapalot...a sandbar isn't country!" But it is! Lest mine is. We have 30k total year round residents spread out over a hundred or so miles of sandbar. My sandbar becomes the sticks come winter time. After 7 hardly any cars on the hwy, things close down super early except the Grocery Store, an a couple bars. Streets are so dark, due to a lack of street lights, you can see walking down the road, or beach by star or moon light! Just over the bridge on the mainland, is the County of Currituck. Lots of farms, and old school homes on 5 or more acres of land. Used be lots of cotton, tobacco, etc type farms back in the day. That's where folks go to get away from the livelier areas on the sandbar. Hell..I've driven that road many times coming back from Va or a scrap run in that area, an I'm lucky to see another car passing me or going in my direction after 6 if it's not summer time.
For me this works...I get a lot of.."city/town" life during the summer. The rest of the year I might as will live in BFE. Some of you recall me speaking of my time in Kansas working for
Amazon. If I had to move off my sandbar somewhere else..I would seek a town like that. 7 to 10k at the most population wise. A hour or two from the big city, but otherwise could get what I need nearby. Hell in Coffeyville Ks, a evening out is grabbing the kids an wife an going to walmart! lol! Even the bars closed early! For me the goal isn't to move to the country but to travel in a rv around the country! Ha ha! If not able to do my traveling then I'd take a home in the country.
I got an Aunt who lives down in Ga, just outside of Atlanta in Douglasville. When she first moved down there, their home was considered country. 10 to 15 minute drive to the stores an shopping, an her neighbors were far enough to not bother her, but close enough if she or her family ever needed help. They are on well water, an no tractor as their 5 acres are wooded. All the lots by her are 5 acre lots. So there is distance between them, but again..close enough for the socializing an help if needed.
Guess I'm saying..you can live in the country an still be close to things if you so desire. Trick is finding that kind of area where you are now without relocating. I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to get be where you are with neighbors on top of you and all up in your business. My neighbor..I only see 3 months out of the year. They only come an stay during the summer, rest of the time..my street is literally..my street.
Every day I wake up on my sandbar, I'm thankful I don't have prying neighbors, HOA's, or anyone else telling me how to live, or operate at my house. I use common sense running my business out of my house. I keep it clean an orderly outside..the inside..pure chaos in my shop..LOL! So like Joon Ree Karate...nobody bothers me!
As one whose knees are getting worse with age, an who climbs stairs every day just to get to the front door..I wish ya the best of luck finding that..sweet spot. You, the wife, an the kids deserve to be as happy as you can be in your home and neighborhood.
Ahh..another novel by yours truly. I'm glad I didn't type all that out on my freaking cell phone!
I will leave you with these wise words from Hank Williams jr.
The preacher man says it's the end of time
And the Mississippi River, she's a going dry
The interest is up and the stock markets down
And you only get mugged if you go downtown
I live back in the woods, you see
My woman and the kids and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun and a rifle and a four wheel drive
And a countryboy can survive, country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long, I can catch catfish from dusk 'til dawn
Make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain't too many things these boys can't do
We grow good old tomatoes and homemade wine
And countryboy can survive, country folk can survive
Because you can't starve us out and you can't make us run
'Cause we're them ol' boys raised on shotguns
We say grace and we say ma'am
And if you ain't into that, we don't give a ****
We came from the West Virginia coal mines
And the Rocky Mountains and the Western skies
And we can skin a buck, we can run a trout line
And a countryboy can survive, country folks can survive
There's more, but you can google the Video..or I'll add it to the music thread.
Sirscrapalot - A country boy can survive...
- Let's talk about Country Living
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Standing water isn't to bad unless it's been very rainy, or a big storm passed through like a hurricane or tropical storm. Sound side they might argue otherwise due to the water there. I'm ocean side so..yea, the candle's work.
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