Small Towns/Villages vs Big Cities
Our grocery store (20 miles from my community) has been closed for more than a month. It should reopen in two or three weeks after an extensive renovation. Fortunately, there is another about that distance in another direction. The nearest hospital is twenty miles away but that doesn't normally cause much problems. The local dentist is only in town once or twice a month, but the dental technician who cleans teeth is here one day a week.
One thing I would like is a turtle pond just for the turtles. What we do have, though, is turtles/tortoises that don't live in the water. You don't see them very often.
We have a pond by the house (about 600 feet away) and a creek that runs south of the house (about 200 feet away) but both are dry most of the year. When I was a kid, they always had water that was runoff from irrigating local fields. Now days people use sprinkler systems instead of flood irrigation and the runoff is minimal.
When I was a kid, I played by the pond very often. Ducks and geese in the fall. Turtles. We could fish for catfish in the pond. Skunks (I like skunks -- if it weren't for the danger of rabies, I'd love to catch one for a pet). One day just sitting by it doing nothing, I watched a wild ferret for a minute or two until it saw me and ran off. I've also seen foxes, too, on occasion. Now that it is dry, it isn't near as fun.
By the way, this afternoon I was over at someone's house for a half hour doing some work when the owner mentioned that he keeps the gate closed to keep the cattle and the deer out of the yard. The deer! I had never seen a deer get that closed to a house. When I was leaving, there was a young deer by the front gate! I guess they must have thrown some feed out for him when he was younger and he decided to hang around. He wasn't a pet, he just didn't have any fear at all of humans. I reached over and pet him on his head while I closed the gate.
What was amazing to me was the days immediately after 9/11. With the prohibition on all but military aircraft over the U.S., the skies were empty and had none of the usual jet trails across it. While I normally don't even notice air traffic (except when the Air Force regularly flew B-52s 300 feet above the ground in their training exercises), the difference for those few days was quite noticeable.
auntblabby
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Joined: 12 Feb 2010
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Location: the island of defective toy santas
i've gotten used to no amenities living in a tiny wide spot in the road 40 minutes from the county seat. no museums or anything arty, a greasy spoon and a tavern that sells killer fried chicken and jojos [killer amount of salt as well ] and a dominos and a westside pizza, and a wally world. for those who sniff disdainfully at the wal marché, there is a safeway also, where the rich folk shop. it is relatively quiet out here when the yahoos are asleep, just nature sounds and the wind rustling through the tall trees.
The place I've most enjoyed living was a city of about 100,000 people. It was big enough to have a few restaurants, jobs, etc., but wasn't so big you had the big city nightmare traffic and so on. Funny though is that I didn't think I liked it when I lived there (this was about 20 years ago, and I've moved between several different cities since then), but looking back and compared to everything else I've lived in, I would move back if I could.
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auntblabby
Veteran
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,740
Location: the island of defective toy santas