Agreed. But,.....Jacksonville is only a city which claims to be a part of Florida but in all actuality it’s nothing more than S. Georgia on steroids. And, since I vehemently dislike Georgia, it would only follow that I also dislike Jacksonville for the same reasons I apply to Georgia. Ft. Worth, Lantana, Ft. Pierce and Vero Beach areas are pretty nice. Somewhere in Japan, Germany or even Jolly old England, there are a couple of kids watching some contemporary American western themed movie or a crime show from New York and believe that what they see is real. Believe it or not, there are still some folks out there who believe that the Apaches are still on the war path and lifting scalps! Kind of like the good folks in the U.S. who somehow believe that everyone who comes from some Oriental country is a Kung Fu or Karate master of some sorts. And yup, there are even some folks who should absolutely know better than to believe that Sylvester Stallone is a Green Beret who later in life became a pro fighter and out boxed a Russian. ( I do so love to hear him yell..ADRIAN!) hmmmm………...I wonder if Sylvester met Adrian after his forth trip to the Nam or before his third? Naw….probably when he was protecting the president as a secret service agent.
I think I know what Cody is talking about when he talks about the cowboy and ranching lifestyle. We didn't dress Western in the Midwest so, although I grew up on a farm, that was never my lifestyle. However, there is a whole lifestyle that goes with it, complete with Cowboy churches and everything. More importantly, that is their life and I suppose it's not unrealistic to suspect that many of them (not just Cody) have very little interest in anything else. At least, they're not wishing they could live in New York City or London. I get that, but then the move to Florida was a mistake since there are other warm weather places where there are more people dressing Western and where there are rodeos and such things, including Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. No, it's not the same thing as Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana, but from what I have heard, Colorado isn't much like Colorado used to be anymore anyhow. I'm sure Cody knows that the move to Florida might not have been the best thing for him but that's not the fault of anyone here. If my employment prospects didn't look so bleak, I think I could have lived my life in the UP of Michigan and not feel as if I had been deprived, given that there are pros and cons to most everything we might do. However, when I moved to California, I wasn't surprised to find that people seldom wore bib overalls and that everything didn't close at 4:00 pm. Given that I was only seventeen at the time, I can't say that I was entirely free of peer pressure, but I don't think I went too far out of my way to fit in. I did quit calling soft drinks "pop" but that wasn't because I was embarrassed to use the term that I had grown up with; it was because too many people didn't know what I was talking about when I called it "pop." Likewise, on the border between Texas and Mexico, it became necessary for me to learn to communicate in Spanish, at least to some extent, but that was because it was sometimes necessary to know what the hell other people were saying to or about me. I didn't start dressing as if I had just crossed the border, and I wasn't afraid to tell people that chorizo sucked, although I did come to appreciate a lot of border Mexican foods. Wherever I have lived, I have tried to take an interest in learning the history of the area and to be able to appreciate the things around me. Here in Millinocket, I can tell people who grew up here things about Maine history that they didn't know about, and many of their issues became my issues, not in order that I might fit in, but because I can get so much more out of living in a place when I take an interest in it. I think that, for most of the people in this forum, online discussions are a bit like that. It is highly unlikely that I will ever visit, let alone live in England or anywhere in Europe, but that doesn't mean that I have no interest in it or that people who live in other countries are of no interest to me. Maybe Cody has a hard time with that. If so, I am sorry because I think he'd get a whole lot more out of what he has if he did. Florida would be on a list of places that I am not interested in moving to but if I found myself there, I'd try to make the best of it, and I have no doubt that I'd find something that makes it worthwhile.
I think that romantic west in Cody's mind never existed. Maybe there is a few hard edged young ones who would rather try their hand at rodeoing a few years or until they get busted up so they can't handle it anymore, but basally the people in the western states are like people everywhere else, trying to make a living, figure out how to send their kids to college and save a few bucks for retirement. For most people out west they don't care what kind of hat you wear, most of them wear baseball caps or something similar, or where ther boots have pointed or round toes. Most of them probably wear sandals around the house or on a quick run to Walmart. Colorado is not the same as it was. All the western states are seeing more squatters moving there, fed up with life somewhere else, some of them have rings in their noses and lips. It is a changing world and as we age it gets harder to pull up roots and settle somewhere else. It is expensive to do such resettling and it's hard on weary bones. I hope you don't back yourself in a corner. Settle in and enjoy it in the here and now. We're all different and most of us are trying to make the best of what we've got. Hope you make the right decisions. I'm pulling for you.
A most bubbly, bouncy, well-mannered and concisely-bound up discussion was made here. As I sees it, each respondent seems compelled to maintain, and rely heavily upon, a stand both supporting @Cody Fousnaugh and at the same time contradicting his efforts at explaining his feelings. The bottom line is, however, disagreement with a point cannot be "polished" into agreement with it, not even partial agreement, IMO. Ya got it or ya don't. Ya like it or ya don't. Why must this ceaseless banter be so greatly extended, when every single thing said here so far could have been said in far less verbose fashion! Frank
@Ken Anderson Some of the technically-oriented forums I've membered likely did not fit that frame. But yes, those not involving technical jargon to continue on probably are quite needfully "wordy". Frank
@Shirley Martin and @Frank Sanoica (post 45 and 50) 2 great posts I actually enjoyed reading - sensible and to the point
“A man convinced against his will, Is of the same opinion still”- Dale Carnegie, How to win friends and influence people.
I don't know too many ranchers, but after living and working in Nebraska for over 18 years, I am good friends with many 'real' farmers. They have families just like anyone else. Families that like to take vacations together. They have satellite dishes so their families can be connected to the world. Most have GPS guided farm equipment. After all, it is 2018. Not many there still plow with horses. Each and every one of them that I know, has taken their families to Disney World in Florida, at least once, if not more times. Again, it's called a family vacation. Nebraska might be an exception, but I doubt it. ( what you will see from a plane as you fly over Nebraska, on your way to Colorado...)
Ok, you are right here, Ken (in red). I grew up in a farming area, not ranching or rodeo. I didn't get interested in the sport until I went to my first rodeo, The Pacific Indoor Rodeo, at the Long Beach Arena in the mid 80's. That rodeo got me hooked and I knew I wanted to be a part of the sport. We had the wrong "thinking" when we left Colorado. I had fallen in ice/snow, that required a rotator cuff surgery. Not thinking that ether of us could fall anywhere, not only in ice/snow, we decided to sell our house and leave Colorado. So, what happened, both of us have fallen since we moved here to Jacksonville. My wife fell going to an job interview and while shopping at Kohl's and I fell in the middle of summer in the parking lot by our apartment. It can be hard for country folks, as well as farming and ranch families to understand, or even care, about what goes on in big cities. For one thing, city folks don't care, or want to know, where the meat comes from in their grocery store. They just want to buy it. Heck, I can go to a steakhouse here, called Longhorn Steakhouse, and I know the name of all of the Western décor that is on the walls. I love going there. Others that go there just go there to eat, not look at the décor or even know what it is. Spurs, saddles, Western pictures...…..they don't care about that stuff, they just care how their food is cooked. Anyway, Ken, glad YOU understand what I'm talking about.
Sorry to break the news to you, Holly, but no 15 year old here! I do act younger than 69, but definitely NOT that young. My wife loves that I can act younger than 69, and, after using a men's hair color on my mustache and temples, look younger than 69.
The farm families that I knew of, didn't take vacations, let alone go to Disneyland or Disney World. Now, the people that live in the city of Lincoln may have, but they aren't farmers. When a farmer or rancher has livestock, they have to find a neighbor or someone to feed/water that livestock when they are gone for a few days. Not saying that there aren't any farmers and ranchers that don't go to amusement parks, but I've never met or seen any. The family will go to the County or State Fair, but generally the kids are showing, and possibly selling, livestock there. I worked as a Show Ring Stewart at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, Calif. I know what I'm talking about. I know this is 2018, but, as the old saying goes, "farmers will be farmers" and ranchers the same way.