Well, in northeastern FL, we had lots of Geico lizards running around during the summer months, as well as squirrels playing and wasps. Still have the wasps here, but instead of Geico lizards, we have white-tail rabbits, a few squirrels and sometimes in the fall/winter a few Bull Elk come down from the mountains and graze. We are only a couple of miles from the foothills that lead into Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park. Another thing we have here that we didn't in either NC (area we lived in) or Jacksonville, FL.............fields of corn, John Deere tractors in fields and cattle grazing.
Ten years ago this month my roommate and I made the decision to move to Oklahoma. Due to my health we decided to move closer to one of our children. Our daughter lived in Austin, our son in Oklahoma. Both asked us to move to their town. We discussed the pros and cons of a move to each place. I didn't care for Austin, having lived there once, but wanted to live near my daughter. Roommate wanted to live near our son. My health was deteriorating and I thought my roommate was taking care of me, so the decision should be hers. We all agree now it was the best move. I didn't think I'd live this long but one can not always know the future. It was a good move.
The struggle always is that you can't really tell how it might be to live in a place until you've lived there for a while. Places that seem nice when you're on vacation are mostly pleasing because they're "not home." Unless you've had an opportunity for extended visits (and that's still not experiencing your own normal daily living), you're always rolling the dice. And places change. Trevalius Guyus saw Austin become a place he might not have moved to had it been what it is now. I experienced the same thing after so many years (over 45) in Northern Virginia. There are things I miss, but there's no way I would ever go back. It's an interesting question that Lon asks. The flip side of the coin might be "What changes have you made because of where you live?", or even "How has your current location changed you?" because there's always compromise and adapting.
Can be very true, John. There are those that either have to take a job transfer to a different state or hit the unemployment line. In taking a job transfer, it could definitely be to a city that they wouldn't have ever thought about moving to. Way before the decision to transfer, a person would say "no way would I ever live there", but to keep their job, that they've been on for years, they take the transfer. At our last apartment complex, in Jacksonville, FL, there was a 40 'ish single lady that took a transfer to Jacksonville from Portland, Oregon. Her family lives in Portland, but to keep her seniority/years on the job, she took the transfer. She told wife and I "if it weren't for the transfer, I would never have lived here. Where I lived in Portland, there was very little crime, but here there is much more than "very little". There are those that move to Denver metro that have never lived in snow before. Not necessarily a job transfer, but also many just wanted to get out of So California. Either during their first winter here or shortly after, some moved back. I've heard, "I didn't think Denver got this cold and/or this much snow!". Going into the mountains of So. California, for a day of snow skiing, is much, much different that living in "Old Man Winter". There are those that complain about the winters here, but due to job salary, they won't leave. Actually, wife and I are the only ones, out of both sides of family, that live in "Old Man Winter". We can't be "Snowbirds", so, must live here all year long to enjoy the summers.
@Cody Fousnaugh You reminded me of all the folks I worked with who moved to the DC area with work. I lived in that area for so long because I was able to get established early, and it has always been the strongest job market in the nation. My house was convenient to just about every major commuting artery, regardless of which direction I might need to go, so I stayed in it for over 30 years...and this is in a town I had lived in for 15 years beforehand (as a kid, I delivered the newspaper to the house I ended up buying as an adult.) I hear people tell of all the places they have lived in their lives, and it's foreign to me.
I could not adapt or change my situation, noise is a health issue for me, if its ongoing and loud, so I will eventually move to a quieter place, unfortunately!
I lived in apartments for 2 years. My wife and I bought a home one September, then split up that December. I was only making $5/hour, but was determined to do what I had to do in order to not go back into the chaos of apartment life. While it's not technically a health issue, being that way is one reason I live here: I forget why I tagged my "neighbors" as O.B., but those are the nearest homes to me, other than a house on the other side of my woods.
@John Brunner Oh no, likewise, I will not be able to go back to apt living. As long as I am physically able to live in a house, maybe more rural and quieter. Better weather too. You do live in a quiet area, don't you feel too secluded?
Yeh, there are times it can be isolating. But I've always been a loner. Until 2018, I had a couple of non-profits I was very active in for many years (I was treasurer, general business guy and did work in the field), but those went away and I've not found a compatible replacement. I was also part of some Meetup.com groups that also went by the wayside. So my life is more isolated than I want it to be right now. And COVID is repressing the availability of options. But living closer to other people does not necessarily mean you got friends, or that it's a net-good. I'd rather be here than near barking dogs or loud music I can do nothing about...and I've lived with that before. The upside is that the main town in the county and the Walmart/Lowes shopping complex are each less than a 10 mile/15 minute drive from home. So I'm not a mountain man...I'm just on a secluded lot in a rural county.
We stay just north of Durango. This year, we're heading to Woodland Park, just a bit northwest of Colorado Springs.
Totally agree with u John. I definitely do not wish to listen to someone else's blaring music, which I do hear in my backyard. I am a loner by nature too and if I need company, I go to the senior center play some Carrom, TT, or bingo, come back home and lonely again. Of course covid has put some restrictions on us now. Gotten used to this exercise, would not want it any other way. However, we do not know what the future holds for us. Life changes can happen in a blink and one has to be prepared for the inevitable, like it did me last nov.
We've had our problems in both areas............living in an apartment and living in a house we were buying. Seems like there are neighbors, in both housing developments and apartment complexes that don't care how much noise they make and/or respect neighbors quiet/sleep time. Living in the house we had, next door neighbor had a couple of dogs. Wife was told, by her husband, to put both dogs into the garage before she went to bed. The husband worked as a security guard, on a night-shift patrol, driving around different schools. He did not know, until we talked to him, that his wife wasn't putting their dogs in the garage when she went to bed. The dogs were in the backyard barking until almost midnight. I had to get up at 5:15AM to get to work at 7AM. Then came the two big woods owls. Each would perch themselves on each end of the roof of the house behind ours and "hoot" around 1AM. I ended up getting our portable boat light, turned it on (facing the sky) and bring down to the body of one owl. It would fly off and the other would follow. So, not only have we had noisy upstairs and next-door neighbors, buying a house obviously didn't solve our noise problem much either. Now, what does it all boil down to.............being respectful of neighbors when either living in an apartment or even a housing development. There are those that care about their neighbors and those that definitely don't.
@Susan Paynter My current lot is over 50 acres. Folks around me have several hundred. This is where I lived for so long, where most people had 1/4 acre. I was lucky to have 1/3 acre that backed up to the end of a 1 acre lot, so I had some backyard "privacy." My current county has under 35,000 residents. The one I left had over 1,000,000. I look at these photos and it makes me shudder. There is no way I could return to that, even if I could afford to (and I can't.) Your admonition that you never know what's around the corner is well-taken.
Tough question Lon. Perhaps I regret not buying a place with a small level yard, but for years I enjoyed the bigger yard. Now, the smaller yard would be ideal and the reason I might sell someday. As far as location it is ideal because we don't have any major disasters other than a super strong wind, but those are usually many years apart. I live far enough away from the Pacific Northwest big cities to avoid problems, but just a 3 to 6-hour drive for specialized medical. The day is coming I will have to look into an independent living senior community and probably in the area I now live.
JUST a 3 to 6-hour drive? I guess I'm spoiled by my town, which I still have a love/hate relationship with. I'm no more than ten minutes from excellent medical facilities. I would never buy a house that's more than fifteen minutes from top-notch medical care.