OT Rant about posts

Yep - stuck in the 1950s we are! Only problem is that we are a bit of a tourist attraction, so we keep out of the town after 10a.m. in July and August. Full of people in trendy 'I am a fisherman' clothes - pristine stripey jumpers and little captains hats! Can spot a local from a mile - we dress like normal people! This means (so the visitors can buy their uniforms) we also getting a few trendy clothes shops who can pay the ever increasing price of shop premises, so we have lost one or two useful-to-the-local-community type of shops.

Our vegs come from a small market garden rather than a farmers market which seen to cater for more touristy custom, and stick extra prices on accordingly. Ours just has a garden shed as a shop in a corner of the field!

But, horror or horrors, we are starting to lock our doors when we are out, and a friend has decided that perhaps she should lock her car when she parks it to shop. So the 21st century is catching up on us a bit, and believe it or not we had an armed robbery on the local Building Society Bank a couple of weeks ago. I think it must be the first real crime our policeman has had to deal with, usually its just people 'borrowing a bike'. So there's no escaping the real world.

-- Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~

-- Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~

When we moved to this house, we were far from everything. Thirty years later - everything has moved close to us!

rotflmaopimp!! You go girl!!

And that's the best discription of being a grown up that I have heard in a long time.

The tomatoes that I buy at the farmers' market are much, much better than any I have ever found in any grocery store. That's the main reason I go to the farmers' market. I also believe that it is important to support local businesses, including the local farmers. Most grocery stores around here don't carry much locally grown produce.

Julia in MN

It's the same here, Roberta. Any farmer's market is at least as expensive -- probably more so -- than the local grocery store. :S

When My son lived in Wyoming it was 40 miles to the nearest grocery store. They made a list and made sure that they took it with them, didn't dare forget anything.

I have a couple of lady friends who raise and show Llamas. They have the most gorgeous long eyelashes and their babies are so cute.

I grocery shop once a month and own a big freezer. I only live 4 blocks from a WM Supercenter.

I run out of TP because I've got 4 kids and two bathrooms.

Want to see my plumber's bill?

: >

: > My DH says that when we move to the country it is going to be cheaper to : > have our groceries delivered. If I cook 2 meals in one day, that means at : > least 3 trips to the store. We live in a small town which means the store : > is only 5 blocks away, which is good. OTOH, everyone in the store knows : > that I am cooking that day. And they make fun of me. : >

: > I need to start practicing shopping once a week and NOT running to Walmart : > for every little thing. DH and I sat down today and discussed moving. : > Where we want to be is an hour a way from the closest Walmart and 30 minutes : > away from the grocery store. : >

: > Cindy : >

: >

:

How did you know I wanted a goat??

Cindy

I live on the busiest road in my small town. We have a beautiful little house and everyone in town is used to the lawn being perfect, flowers in the pots and Holiday decorations that are unique. Everyone tells me all the time, "Oh, we love your house, it is so darling".

We're sick of it. I want to be able to walk out and get the paper in my pajamas EVEN IT IF IS 10:00 in the morning.. I want to be able to let the yard go if I don't feel like cutting it. Better yet, we will live in a meadow. I don't want to be awaked by all the neighbor dogs and kids. I don't want to be forced to listen to the guy behind me try to mow his lawn with a mower that emits the most god awful whine because he is clueless about how to fix it. I WANT SOME QUIET!

There. I feel better.

Cindy

I plan to sell my house in a few months. Are you serious? Nobody tells me my yard looks good.

: > We've never regretted our big move to sleepy rural Suffolk - best : > thing we've ever done. People have time for one another in the : > country. - I haven't got time for shopping! : > -- : : I live on the busiest road in my small town. We have a beautiful little : house and everyone in town is used to the lawn being perfect, flowers in the : pots and Holiday decorations that are unique. Everyone tells me all the : time, "Oh, we love your house, it is so darling". : : We're sick of it. I want to be able to walk out and get the paper in my : pajamas EVEN IT IF IS 10:00 in the morning.. I want to be able to let the : yard go if I don't feel like cutting it. Better yet, we will live in a : meadow. I don't want to be awaked by all the neighbor dogs and kids. I : don't want to be forced to listen to the guy behind me try to mow his lawn : with a mower that emits the most god awful whine because he is clueless : about how to fix it. I WANT SOME QUIET! : : There. I feel better. : : Cindy : :

Well, I can plan, but I've never learned to make do. If I need something for a recipe, then I am going to go get it. And when you plan a mean, how do you know you are going to feel like pot roast a week from Tuesday? I wait till something strikes me, or I browse online cookbooks and make a list and go to the store. My mom shopped everyday too. We will get a freezer and buy meat.. even though I am not crazy about previously frozen meat, I guess I can get used to it.

Since it will just be DH and myself, I think we will do better than when DD was young. She needed real food according to her dad. Me? I can get by with a scrambled egg or a bowl of cereal for supper. DH can scrounge for food too. So it may work out.

Now that most places even in the country around here have high speed internet, our office can be just about anywhere. That's why we have held off.

Cindy

When we were house hunting main roads were instantly ruled out, and we wanted a good sized garden. Our previous house backed onto farmland).We looked at houses with lots of land that stood on their own, but then tried to imagine a little old couple living there, and opted for a quiet cul-de-sac tucked away in the corner of the town, where the gardens are slightly bigger than average, but not too big that the little old lady who will be doing the gardening will be completely swamped!. Our neighbours are of a similar age, some of them, sadly, now on their own.

One of my criterias was somewhere where there was a WI (shades of Calendar Girls) because I knew this meant it would be a friendly place, and I would have a means of meeting people. Also if there is a WI it usually means that there are other social activities too, because people want to go out and do things and keep active. DH's hobbies of birdwatching and conservation are more than well covered here - he thinks he is in heaven!

No goats allowed - they would eat my flowers - but when I garden I can hear the birds, and I know more people here than I did after 30 years where we lived before.

-- Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~

Darn right!

Both DH and I grew up a ways away from anything like a big store. Drivng an hour once a week to go to the store was no big deal.

Then when we lived In Colorado there was the local store, corner store sized place. There was an IGA 30 miles away, about the same size as a good sized 7-11. The closest actual factual grocery store was the Safeway 70 miles away in Lamar. Driving an hour and a half or 2 hours wouldn't have been so bad if either of us _could_ drive. We used to spend a week's worth of evenings planning the shopping list when we could get a ride to Lamar.

The whole trick to it Cindy, is to plan some nice meals down to the tea and biscuits, and then in addition get things that you make when you don't feel like fussing, or that are often asked for spur of the moment. Spaghetti, noodle casserole, soups and stews, pot pie, things like that that you can pull out of a hat at the last minute if you have to. The endless soup or bean pot can work wonders as well. More than one winter I have kept one going. A good back burner hot pot can make you a reputation as a cook that you will never live up to! (G)

NightMist

Uh - huh!! Here deary - have a snickerdoodle.

I lived for 2 1/2 years on 80 acres at the end of a dead end road, in Powell, MO. You had to squint your eyes to see the nearest neighbor. I bought it when I moved here from the west coast. It was wonderful until my neighbor to the northeast found out that I had an African American sister-in-law who was going to spend the summer with me while my career Army brother did his tour in Germany. Bear in mind this was 1979!! Turns out Colonel Schmidt (yes he insisted on the "Colonel" part) was a member in the local Klu Klux Klan. He called me and told me he would start with my barns and then my house and would burn them down if she came to my house. I called my SIL and cried when I told her that I was afraid she and the children would be harmed if she came to see me. I sold my cattle and my beautiful little farm and by the next school year moved into town (Neosho, MO).

This is the same SIL that lived in Hammond, LA and I still haven't learned if she got out before the Lake Flooded. I have a friend who has a son who is a student of the U of LA there and he drove to her address and could find no one home. He said there was no damage in the area where she lived so I am hoping that she is just busy with her life.

People are just awful, aren't they? I'm not familiar with Powell, but I love Neosho. What a pretty little town. You can really tell you are in the Ozarks, can't you? The place we are looking at is near Sheldon. It's about

14 miles from Lamar. You probably don't know the area, but it's nice. Not as hilly as Neosho or where you are now, but still more terrain than I'm used to. I'm a flatlander.

Cindy >let me know when the trees start turning down there, Snig. I need to go to Fayetteville, and I always try to time it for a pretty drive. Looks like it's going to be a late fall this year.