Country living vs city living.....

[briansol]

One problem living in a college town is that local politics is skewed by the under 21 crowd.

yup. surviving college without becoming ridiculously liberal is becoming less and less possible.

BAAHAHAHAHA....our taxes are over $35 per 1k (school, town and county). Yours are cheap. And we don't have a general store either Or closets. And we also have one bathroom. But our house isn't nearly as old or large as yours!

yeah, $33 here. 18 is DIRT cheap

 

[shoot-straight]

i live in the least populated county in MD. we love it. i grew up in the suburbs, it had its merits as well. especially if you have kids. we do not.

perhaps best thing is that when the zombiepocolypse happens, we will be fine. everyone has guns here, and we arent afraid to use them. and given our low population density, there really shouldnt be many running around anyway.

 

[jharkin]

Wow I feel for you guys property taxes. Here in MA average towns are more like 10-12. My 18 is close to a state high. "Taxachusetts" yet another myth.....

I'll resist the opening to touch the college = liberal comment, rather not 'can this one.

 

[woodgeek]

Wow I feel for you guys property taxes. Here in MA average towns are more like 10-12. My 18 is close to a state high. "Taxachusetts" yet another myth.....

I'll resist the opening to touch the college = liberal comment, rather not 'can this one.

There is still state income tax to consider.....

 

[jharkin]

There is still state income tax to consider.....

5.2% not the lowest out there, but on the lower side of average. No local income taxes.

Sales tax got a big bump from 5 to 6.25% lst year. Again not the lowest but far from the highest as well.

 

[bassJAM]

But whatever you do, if you get a rooster, kill the rooster, or drop him off someplace, just get rid of him. Besides being a royal pita, he will turn the other chickens against you if you let him stay too long.

Mmmmm, I miss back when I lived at my parent's and they had chickens. They started off with about 6 roosters, and one of those was always the "top dog" and would attack anyone who walked in the pen, my Mom has scars on her ankle to prove it. So we'd eat him, and then the next rooster would step into that position, and we'd eat him too. Fresh chicken is WAY better than anything you get in the store. Eventually when we got to the last rooster, I think he figured out what was going on because he became as docile as any of the hens!

 

[Swedishchef]

Personally I find people who have kids and isolate themselves (no neighbors, etc etc) kind of a bummer. What do you do at Halloween? Kids playing together on evenings or weekends? If the kids involved in extra curricular activities at school are you ready to drive to and from regularly? I see people where I live say "my kids don't play sports, play musical instruments or go to town with friends: it's just too far to bother". Yet they are the ones who decided to live where they chose to live; don't blame your kids.

Personally I think like webbie: I live in the country and within 15 minutes I have my services.

Andrew

 

[bmblank]

I lived in the country and Halloween was far better out there than here. We used to hitch up the three axle trailer to the tractor and head out. We'd stop at the first house get some candy then we'd all get back on. Repeat until we've been all over the neighborhood. Adults enjoyed adult beverages and kids enjoyed candy.

 

[Swedishchef]

I guess it all comes down to what you're used to (how you grew up) and what you want in life. Pros and Cons either way. My memories of Halloween have nothing to do with getting on a three axle trailer. however, it sounds damn fun! I live in the country in a fairly isolated area and miss having services (better hardware stores, kids clothing stores, etc) closer to me.

 

[bassJAM]

I never played sports until I was old enough to drive myself to practice. And halloween was often for us going to a friend's house who lived next to a neighborhood or my parents would just buy some candy for us. And often going to a friends house to play meant I'd stay the entire weekend. But that also meant when I'd have friends over, we could camp out out of eyesight (and earshot) of the house. We could spend the whole weekend swimming or fishing in the river that bordered the property. We could build forts in the woods or bridges over creeks. We could have bon-fires as large as we wanted. Even 20 years later my friends brag about the camp-outs they went to at my house through jr and high school. One of the last campouts I remember was when we were 16-17 and we set up a race track around the bottom field (about a 3/4 mile loop) and ran our cars all night. 3 cars got totaled (I hit a tree, another broke his suspension, and a third didn't have an air filter and sucked too much stuff into the engine). Our parents where MAD and we all got grounded, but we learned our lessons. All of the cars were worth about $500 each, and we were forced to fix them or replace them ourselves. Luckily all the farmers needed kids to bale hay and straw, so there was always summer work for anyone who didn't mind sweating.

I'll take growing up like over being able to walk to the mall and hang out or walk to a buddy's house to play Nintendo.

 

[Swedishchef]

See, it's all a matter of perspective and your own experiences. I have no doubt your childhood was fun. As was mine (I live out in the country). But once I was involved in competitive sports, working in public areas, etc it became more tiresome. I enjoyed going into the city for ethnic foods, diversity and culture. I didn't grow up on a nintendo or in a mall. In fact I remember telling my father I wanted to go and I wasn't allowed to go to the mall unless there was a purpose (something needed to be bought).

I currently live in one of the most isolated places I have seen in my life. I don't mind it but miss the services of a bigger population: it's what I am used to.

 

[ChipTam]

I guess it all comes down to what you're used to (how you grew up) and what you want in life. Pros and Cons either way. My memories of Halloween have nothing to do with getting on a three axle trailer. however, it sounds damn fun! I live in the country in a fairly isolated area and miss having services (better hardware stores, kids clothing stores, etc) closer to me.

I guess it does come down to what you're used to. I've lived in three cities most of my life. All were right around 100,000. Seems to me that size is still manageable and has most of the conveniences we take for granted these days.

More recently, I now spend about 6 months a year in a very rural area of Canada. About 50 folks live in the village in the summer and only a few hundred in the entire county. I love my neighbors. They're warm, friendly folks and right there if you have a problem. The scenery is just spectacular and the pace of life suits a 68 year-old retiree. However, there are some down sides. Employment opportunities are limited. The all-grade school graduated seven students last June and has a total enrollment of about 70. If that school closes, students could spend 2-3 hours on buses each day. The nearest hospital is 1 hour away in the summer (make that 3 hours in the winter with black ice). For all of these reasons, a number of my neighbors have moved away in the last few years. It's sad but probably inevitable.

ChipTam

 

[Swedishchef]

I guess it does come down to what you're used to. I've lived in three cities most of my life. All were right around 100,000. Seems to me that size is still manageable and has most of the conveniences we take for granted these days.

More recently, I now spend about 6 months a year in a very rural area of Canada. About 50 folks live in the village in the summer and only a few hundred in the entire county. I love my neighbors. They're warm, friendly folks and right there if you have a problem. The scenery is just spectacular and the pace of life suits a 68 year-old retiree. However, there are some down sides. Employment opportunities are limited. The all-grade school graduated seven students last June and has a total enrollment of about 70. If that school closes, students could spend 2-3 hours on buses each day. The nearest hospital is 1 hour away in the summer (make that 3 hours in the winter with black ice). For all of these reasons, a number of my neighbors have moved away in the last few years. It's sad but probably inevitable.

ChipTam

Newfoundland is a great spot Chip. NIcest people in the world. But as you said, it's what you're used to. I haven't been in a town with more than 8000 people in over 10 years. And the nearest urban area is over 5 hours away. With no clothing stores for kids it makes it tough. I can't by a stroller and try it out first, etc etc. When you have 2 young kids those services become nice when available....

Regarding your comment about health services: we have a small hospital. It's basic...and I can tell you from experience it is not pleasant when a loved one gets sent via Jet to a urban hospital in an emergency while you have to drive 550 miles to get there...

 

[bassJAM]

And the nearest urban area is over 5 hours away. With no clothing stores for kids it makes it tough. I can't by a stroller and try it out first, etc etc. When you have 2 young kids those services become nice when available....

I do tend to forget everyone's situation is different. I consider where I grew up pretty rural, we lived on 36 acres of farmland, and most of the neighbors had well over 100 acres or more. A lot of my closest friends were farmers who raised crops or had cattle farms. But I could also get into downtown Cincinnati (300,000 strong) in an hour, or the closest decent town with just about any store you could imagine in 30 minutes. So I guess some areas are more rural than others

 

[Swedishchef]

Pffft...you live in the suburbs! My nearest city of 30 000 people is 5 hours away. The next step up is 7.5 hours away.

Canada is rural...LOL. Imagine: the US has about the same surface area as Canada (we have a little bit more) and we have 1/10th the population.

A

 

[eclecticcottage]

I HATED living in the burbs/cities as a kid. I had family members who were rural and summers at their places were the BEST. My aunt and uncle lived out in the country, and my uncles sister (I'm not sure what I'd call her, he was uncle by marriage, my aunt is my moms' sister) owned the farm next door. I used to hang out down there in the barns, chase the geese, feed the chickens. During the winter we'd sled on the back hill, my uncle would tow me back up with his snowmobile. My cousins and I would raide around in the back of his truck when he drove around in the fields (my gram would get sooo mad)...my grandparents had friends with a farm, so when I was down there I'd hang out with them and the horses. Both my grandparents and aunt and uncle had great woods to go exploring in, trees to climb. I learned to ride my bike at my grandparents riding down their little hill. I used to collect monarch caterpillers and raise them on the milkweed that grew at my grandparents house. The burbs were so crowded and noisy and people were so uppity. I was sooo mad when I found out my great grandparents used to own a farm up near Millers Mills, NY. I would SO have wanted to be there all the time. (actually, they had a dairy and my great grandpa's brother grew popcorn. how cool is that?) I wanted to do 4H but there wasn't any way, living where i did.

We aren't really "rural" here. Big cities like Rochester, Niagara Falls and Buffalo are all close enough (too close, imo). Suburbia and the cookie cutter developments are inching closer. I love our cottage and where we live, but, I would also have loved acreage (not that we probably could have afforded the taxes, lol).

Kids out here grow up riding dirt bikes, atvs and snowmobiles. They can drive tractors and know where food actually comes from.

I think it's more than situation, it's personality. My BIL *HATES* where we live. We're backwards bumpkins to him. It's all city, all the time. ICK.

 

[Swedishchef]

I guess it's once again, all relative. In the country you likely won't see the Nutcracker or any other broadway plays. Nor will you get a chance to see a display of Picasso's paintings, eat multicultural food within a block, etc.

I grew up on a dirtbike, riding in the back of a pickup truck, etc. All I am saying is you can be 45 minutes from town and do that. you don't need to isolate yourself from humanity

 

[eclecticcottage]

I guess it's once again, all relative. In the country you likely won't see the Nutcracker or any other broadway plays. Nor will you get a chance to see a display of Picasso's paintings, eat multicultural food within a block, etc.

I grew up on a dirtbike, riding in the back of a pickup truck, etc. All I am saying is you can be 45 minutes from town and do that. you don't need to isolate yourself from humanity

I'd be ok with never seeing/eating any of that. The multicultural food I eat is Italian and sometimes orange chicken (Chinese). I have absolutely NO interest in trying Indian, Greek, etc. Museums bore me. I'd rather see nature in person than in a painting.

I don't think there's anywhere in NY state that could truly be considered that rural. Even the "rural" areas in the southtowns here aren't that far from "cities" (Even if it's Olean or Hornell). Even the the Adirondacks, you can get to Saranac or Tupper or even Lake Placid for some shopping. My aunt and uncles place wasn't too far from Utica.

 

[Jags]

As I tell my Chicago location manager after he calls me a country boy:
The country can live without the city but the city can't live without the country.

To each their own. If everybody thought the same way this big blue marble would be one boring place.

 

[FanMan]

I grew up in the NYC suburbs, my wife in a larger town near Newark, NJ. We now live out in the woods (2 acre lots) on the edge of a smallish town (13,000 people on 19 square miles). It's a 5 minute drive or a 30 minute walk (through the woods) to the neighborhood grocery store, package store, pizza, or haircut, 10 minute drive to the hardware store, supermarket, or center of town. My wife would prefer having "town" be around the block like where she grew up, I'd be happy farther out in the stix, so this is the compromise. But we don't lock our doors at night or when we go away, and we never worried when our young daughters wandered around the neighborhood. Yeah, the kids ride their dirt bikes and party in the woods out back, but that's normal adolescent behavior as far as I'm concerned. Most of our neighbors have guns, and and I can go out my back door to go hunting or plinking. When we hear something go "bump" in the night we know it's a critter of the four legged, not two legged, kind.

I seriously doubt the risk of car accidents is higher in rural areas. If that was so, insurance rates would be higher, and insurance companies know.

P.S. to whoever mentioned it: Our daughters got through college without becoming liberals. I guess we brought 'em up right; my younger daughter got a shotgun for her 12th birthday.

 

[Wooderson]

Live literally on the edge of a town of 10,000. Have 10 acres of woods just to the east for the kids to play in. 2 minute commute for wife and I. Creature comforts within 5 minute drive. Traffic jams consist of 4 cars at a stoplight". In-laws have 160 acres 6 miles out, but the last three miles are caliche road. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Both kids (11 boy,7 girl) can shoot and drive. Love the farm garden of a full acre and run their own farm stand in the summer months. Plant, pick, and weed. Haul wood. Love the farm and woods. Hope they grow to love the places we have like we do...

 

[Swedishchef]

I guess I am simply too isolated from a larger area. A city of 10 000 is 3.5 hours away. No place to get a pizza after 7PM where I live (in the winter time..). Sigh.

 

[eclecticcottage]

I guess I am simply too isolated from a larger area. A city of 10 000 is 3.5 hours away. No place to get a pizza after 7PM where I live (in the winter time..). Sigh.

I can't imagine what that would be like. I don't know if I would like it or not.

We can get pizza, wings or go to a bar. I do wish at least ONE of the ice cream places would be open during the winter though. There are ice cream flavors that are ice cream shop only and I miss them during the winter, lol. Maybe we'll make some ice cream this weekend now that I'm thinking about it...still not the same, but good in it's own way!

One good thing about being so far from an urban center, is the criminal element from those places won't drive out to you, it's too far. That's a problem here. There have been numerous home break ins (mostly vacant, several were for sale with photos showing they were obviously vacant-those were for copper, one was "lived in" but not really, and that was for guns, and some were cottages) and a pharmacy break in over the past few years that were attributed to urban criminals driving out to the "country" where people are less used to dealing with that. Not to say there aren't problems in the country, but with "easy" access from the city as well, it can add a different element. It's probably a bit more pronounced where I am specifically because of the number of cottages which aren't full time homes. However, that is becoming less common, with more being replaced by year round homes or folks like us converting exisiting cottages, so it's not as "easy" of pickings as it used to be.

 

[woodsman23]

come on down to franklinville and live country and live quiet... i can't even imagine what taxes you pay in amherst ny

 

[mass_burner]

Also, in new england (and many other areas) people tend to leave you alone (the old Yankee mentality), while some other rural areas your neighbors can be nosy even if they are not close....

Amen! A polite wave, some chit-chat now and again...if you want.