This conversation reminds me of a conversation I had in Georgia about 20 years ago. I was installing a dyno system in a Yamaha plant just south of Atlanta. The engineer was a young from upper Michigan and two electricians, good old southern boys, came up to me and wanted to ask me a question about living in the north. They said, "Timmy told us you all buy a special tool to scrape the ice off of your windshields. Is that true?" I told them, "Yes, we do". They were incredulous, they again repeated their question, "You mean you all really buy a special tool just to scrape the ice off of your windshield?!" I asked, "You guys get frost down here don't you? What do you use?" They answered, "We used a Dixie cup or a credit card." I told them that most time that wouldn't do up here. So, the true test is to buy a windshield ice scrapper and pull it out at every stop and ask one of the locals if they know what it is and when you find someone who doesn't then that's the place you want to be. An ice scraper is a lot cheaper than a snow plow.

 

I already hate snow and highly dislike cold. I traveled for work for 37 years in the western states with occasional Chicago and New Jersey trips. The winters were always fun.

 

I actually don't mind the snow......it's the sub zero temps I can't take anymore.
Joe, your plan with the acreage and the big shop is a good one! My closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away.....still too close.

 

Yeah Scott, I know you live in a beautiful place with much fewer people. I love Big Sky Country and the Kalispell / Flathead Lake area. I shot my only elk up in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in 1969. But I couldn't handle the winters. I drove from Helena to Billings one night many years ago in a blizzard. I'm lucky to have made it.

I've lived with 25 million people for too long. I need some space. It should never take an hour and a half to drive 40 miles on a freeway. Or, 45 minutes to go the first 10 miles of that trip. One should not have to plan his departure time to miss work traffic. It bothers me so much, it was ruining my health.

But now I can make some positive changes. And there may be slight amounts of snow involved. The weather can't be like SoCal everywhere.

 

get everything inside that shop, and you won't have to worry about snow.... no reason to leave.

 

Well, that's the whole idea about building the shop first. But we haven't found the property yet, haven't built the shop yet, haven't built the house yet.

What I want to do when it snows, is stay inside the house or the shop and let it snow. I did that a few weeks ago in Virginia. I didn't have to go anywhere, and I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was beautiful, like a postcard or a painting. Because I didn't have to leave the nice, warm house.

And that's why I started this thread... what if I HAD to leave the house? What if someone HAD to go to the hospital? That's the only thing I can think of that would MAKE me leave the house before the snow melted. Unless I ran out of beer. There's always that possibility.

 

We were obviously typing over each other, so I missed this completely.

I think I will use that ice scraper search method. Only problem is... they don't sell them around here!

 

If you want I can send you mine. I haven't needed it yet this season. Don't overlook the weather at my house. The summers are similar to Cali, yet sheltered from the rain of the west and frigidity of the east in the winter. We rarely get measurable precip in large doses, wet or frozen.

 

A 4x4 truck or SUV with some good aggressive tires! Or better yet buy a snowmobile!!

 

Just a little information , for you Joe . I left a 1.8 acre lot with a 3 bed room ranch , 30x30 shop with 4 post lift , and a 60x28 horse barn . That I paid $4.000 a year in taxes . Located in up state NY , for 3 acres , with a 3 bed room brick home , 37x28 garage , and a 28x30 shop with 4 post lift . Located in northeast Georgia . It is in a lake community , 250 yards from Lake Hartwell . My total property taxes are $400 a year , gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper than NY. Electric is less and yesterday I paid $8.00 pair for new wrangler jeans , and $3.00 for good tee shirts . In the 7 winters we have been here , there has been twice that we had 4-6 inches of snow . The county we live in is a rural area and property prices are low as we are still in a recession here . Lots of land for sale . Being retired this is a great place to live . I am sure if you look you can find many places in this country, to fit your wants and needs.

 

Yes, we've already started looking and have discovered what you're talking about.

We own 15 acres of trees located 1 mile from Lake Barkley in N.W.Tennessee. At one time (30 years ago) I thought we'd retire there. It's a beautiful area, as most of Tennessee is. But as we've aged, we see that it is too far removed from doctors and hospitals to make it our home. Nice place to visit and go fishing, but not to live in our old age.

Hopefully we'll find a place that suits our needs and wants. I'm waiting for our property value to go up some more before we make our move.

 

Wayne is right. My son lives in Seattle and the weather is great everytime we visit him. I want to move next door to GB Sisson on Orca Island.

 

Find your little piece of heaven and move. Waiting for the Cali housing market is a fool's mission IMO, cash out and stop dreaming. Tick tock.

 

Well, I'm fairly certain that the weather in Seattle is vastly different from that of Kennewick. I have been to Seattle many times. Its reputation for raining all the time is a gross overstatement. But it does rain there more than probably anywhere on the eastern side of the state.

And, by the way, as everyone probably realizes, that rain is why Washington and Oregon are such beautiful states.

 

Totally agree (not just true for Cali either) In general, when your house goes up, so do the replacement houses, even across the country. I got caught up in that spiral in the 80's / early 90's. Talking with a friend in CO whose farm has gone up 20% in 3 years, he'd like to cash out but all the replacements have gone up a similar amount.

If you've lived in a house for more than 5 years, I'd wager it will take you a solid 3 months to get packed. I've been in my house for 15 years and shudder to think of moving. If I did, I'd be sorely tempted to call the movers and tell them to just make it happen, damn the cost.