I also grew up on a farm, and most of my family are still farming in south Georgia. Now I live in a semi-rural suburb; a subdivision surrounded by woods on the San Jacinto River. We get plenty of birds, squirrels, raccoons, possums, etc. but no domestic livestock allowed. Yesterday we saw an eagle sitting in a neighbor's pine tree... what an awesome sight. OT, but did you hear about the paper mill closing in Canton NC? It used to be a Champion plant IIRC. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/ch...nton-paper-mill-closure-impacts-mountain-town
I have to laugh Ken-- huge city of 4,000? Our town in Texas had over 150,000. Present town 800 at best - seems tiny here to us.
New on this forum but thought I would share this on this thread..... The following was written 15 years ago when I started a personal blog, very little has changed in the passing years.... “I am a Canadian by choice not chance. I am a country boy not a city slicker. I have a dog not a doorbell, a collie not a rottweiler, a friend not a pet. I walk in the woods not the streets. I have a truck not a car, a barn not a garage, a septic system not a sewer. I live on a gravel road not a paved road. I have dial up not high speed, a mailbox not a letterbox, a yard light not a street light. I shoot photo’s not trophies. I am old not young, married not single, poor not rich, over taxed not over sexed. I heat with wood not gas, I respect my neighbors not numb-sculls, police not politicians , hikers not hunters. I am a RURAL Canadian.” Widowed for several years, I now have a garage to put my car in addition to the barn and have a startling 5Mbps internet connection, on a good day, via direct line of sight connection from the top of a 68' tower installed to get above the trees. I am gradually heating more and more with propane as the effort to cut, split and stack wood removed from my bush becomes harder and harder on the old bones but apart from that little has changed and it still outlines my general thoughts on rural living.
I can identify with all that, @Don Roles. We had an Australian shepherd until last November. We once heated with wood, then propane until a school up the road paid for natural gas to be run nearby. We live on a dirt road, and have DSL (not sure the speed). We still use wood to heat our shed and greenhouse. We have very similar lives, but, thankfully, I am not a widower. I don't know what I would do if she died....
Yes Don, give your wife an extra hug this morning, we sometimes dont recognize what these ladies bring to our lives until they are no longer there. I suspect many on this forum are in the same boat as I but thats fodder for a whole new thread.
I took a short cut the other day across a field full of cow-poo. I'd swear I was 4" taller when I came out the other side.