The nice thing about this is that someday I will live in a place where I can gambol with unrestricted freedom. Right now, my pasture is about the size of two 20x40 meter small dressage courts, and my gamboling must be done with delicate tact. The other nice thing about this is that you, lucky reader, can buy Bent Barrow Farm if you want it. It's nearly outgrown for us, but it might be good for you! The OTHER other nice thing about this is that FarmHusband can build a house himself, and a barn as well, because he is talented with things like that. There is one more nice thing, which is that if we had a hay field we would need a draft team to hay it and then I'd have more friends.
FarmWife wants this imaginary someday farm to be on the west coast. FarmHusband wants it to be on the east coast. They're both willing to compromise. They both agree that it must be temperate, and it must be beautiful, and it must be affordable and out of the path of things like tornados and hurricanes. Tell me, reader, where would YOU go?
Ears,
FenBar
Well, Fenway, it depends on which of those requirements was most important to the humans. The PNW is best to avoid storms (hurricanes and tornadoes)and it's fairly temperate except for the summer drought and the two-weeks-in-December monsoon. Those who live in a place like Ohio (like me!) laugh at the amount of rain many east Puget Sounders think is "a lot". We've had a third of their annual rain fall just in these 26 days of April (12" and counting).
ReplyDeleteOf course, if you really want to live East (or just west) of the Mississippi but still fear animal hurling storms, you could just build a trench for the animals to shelter in. Kinda like a WWI Bunker.
Let us know what you decide, Fenway!!
Oh you must come east!!! No ferocious weather at all. And no earthquakes. Lots of wonderful ocean...lots of wonderful long ears...save your ass rescue...it does snow in the winter but if you are little more north like us (Belfast, Maine) and close to the ocean, then it's a little more temperate. And the prices right now for houses and land are AMAZING!!! Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine...all lovely...
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Bif, I was born and raised in the buckeye state. I could see going back, if only to find my long lost mother! (And to meet you, of course—my horse counterpart, if I may be so bold as to draw a comparison between us.)
ReplyDeleteLindsey—New England has, on the plus side, my Grammy and Grampa and also Save Your Ass Longears Rescue. It also has, on the negative side, snow. Would you say that this is a thing that a mule would learn to live with?
Ears,
FenBar
Having had years to contemplate a full escape from the PNW esp. Oregon (weather not THAT bad just endlessly gloomy, but we are awaiting THE BIG ONE subduction zone earthquake and it is long overdue-now can someone bring up the Jaws theme now? Appropriate!) my vote would be one of the New England states particularly Vermont. I say that because there is so much open land for driving and riding. In the PNW and CA you do have to be either really resourceful, have a truck and trailer, or live right next to a national forest or something like it, to be able to trail ride a lot and safe horse/mule driving areas are pretty scarce. My second choice would be Maine despite the cold winters and occasional really bad ice storms - imho, those take a back seat to the spectacular coast. Fenway would need a whole wardrobe of ear-socks, though!
ReplyDeleteActually I can't imagine living life without some snow...you will get to roll in it, eat it and it will paint your lovely brown back with white speckles...quite magical actually. And all you need is a nice shelter from the wind, a roof over your head and a full hay net and you will be one happy long ear!! Oh and for winter exercise you can pull the kids along on a sled.
ReplyDeleteAnd the short ears can go cross country skiing...it's the best!
Skagit County. Moving cross country costs so much. Being near helpful family members is a plus, and the moving money could be put into the new land purchase price. You could pretend it was the east coast if you drove slow enough. PNW attitude is hard to beat.
ReplyDeleteEast Coast Fenway, that's a no-brainer! After all, you're not named Safeco. C'mon go back to where you belong.... go Sox!
ReplyDeleteSkagit Valley expat here! Every April I get so homesick for tulips, tulips, tulips....every summer I get so homesick for outdoor dining near the water...every fall I get so homesick for driving Chuckanut Drive for fall colors....only problem with Skagit Valley there are so few jobs. If there WERE I would be back there in a heartbeat. Are real estate prices any better now than when I lived there 15 years ago? If so I second that idea, because the cost of moving across country is almost incomprehensibly huge. Plus unless you have corporate relo money or family help, if you have to rent, remember that few landlords will rent to you if you aren't employed and few employers will actually interview you if you aren't living locally! That Catch-22 is what stops a lot of folks from relocating. It's surely a brain teaser and a wallet challenge to figure it all out!
ReplyDeleteNot recommending Missouri at the moment, although no, THANK GOD, I live clear across the state from Joplin. I have moved quite a bit in my near half-century (a few years coming, but I'm working my way up to it) so can comment on weather, terrain, equestrian community, real estate etc. in several states. Childhood: Suburban New Jersey. Snow, humidity, HIDEOUS real estate prices, BUT - lots and lots of horses (no, the whole place is not a parking lot or an oil refinery), grass, mountains and The Ocean. #1 drawback = insanely expensive. College & after: Columbus, Ohio. Not a bad place at all. Affordable, less risk of any bad weather events, decent equestrian scene around the cities. #1 drawback = NO large bodies of water (and it's really flat). Early marriage: Nashville, TN. Also affordable, very pretty, lakes abound, but a tornado went through while we lived there. #1 drawback = it's definitely in the South, and also the buckle of the Bible Belt. If you're not into organized religion that can definitely grate. Currently: St. Louis, MO. Affordable, nice people, nice countryside and we live on the only lake around (there's a couple rivers you might have heard of). Really GREAT equestrian scene with virtually all disciplines available. #1 drawback = Guess. Kinda sick of sirens this spring.
ReplyDelete