You know your neighbor's visitors are from the city when...

[STx]

No fire hydrants is a problem here in South Texas for insurance also. I just happen to live on the very last road serviced by the local water purveyor and have one not far from the gate. Being more than a few miles from a fire department disqualifies us for some insurance companies.

 

[ultrarunner]

With the yearly California wildfires in the news fire-hydrants are the new demarcation line...

My friend and agent of 30 years said the property could have it's own fire department and it wouldn't make a difference... he has actually had to place fire customers with Lloyds of London at tripple the premium or more just to close escrow.

 

[the old grind]

There's a 20 ac field directly across from us and a bluff on it close to the road that obscures the view of civilization beyond. In 15 yrs there have been several signs posted offering the two 10 ac lots for sale. From the road it looks like a nice place to build a quiet country home. From any of our yards you're lucky to see more than the houses on either side of you.

Over the years we've seen dozens of cars pull up & park across the road and folks walking over the bluff to see the rest of the lot(s). We're on pretty high ground, and once past the bluff the view is slightly downhill 1/4 mi to an adjacent elementary school, a senior care facility, and rooftops of a neighbor in the town we're just outside of. I guess folks looking to move 'out here' here want a view that doesn't remind them of wherever they want to leave. :laughing:

btw, one neighbor and I have ac+ ponds with beaches, docks, paddle boats, canoes, etc but even our kids/g-kids (theirs, .. mine only by osmosis) have cel phones and swim in pools instead. Despite living in a residential/ag-zoned area we seem to be raising 'city kids' anyway. :confused3:

 

[Creamer]

We are just minutes from schools, fast food, chain drug & grocery stores, banks, auto parts, HD etc, but to look around from our mailboxes you'd think we were ten miles from any of these.

18 YO kid comes to visit his aunt, as he has done for most of his life. Her house is in front of mine in a row of six or so on both sides of the road surrounded by fields and woods. (btw, A great place to 'dump' unwanted animals in front of the orchard next door. )

Auntie's 'guest house' is the camper she & fiance sleep in most summer nights. (TV, AC, Running water) It's in the back of her yard ~1/3 of the way down/along the driveway toward my house.

"T__, would you like to sleep in the camper tonight?"

"Uh no, Jason or somebody might find me and ... (mumble) ... " (IMO, he really should get out more.)

In my generation, a guy like T__ who grew up where I did would expect the first nuclear bomb to hit our town.

When my wife and I moved out of San Diego she went from a tank of gas a week just doing errands and such to a tank every three weeks even though she usually has to drive to the next town which is twelve miles away. People do not realize how much they do drive in cities because it is all built up.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Our youngest son (28), and girlfriend just spent the holiday weekend with us. They live in Greenville, SC, a nice, little city growing very fast. We are quite rural SW Virginia, and apparently, according to them, probably home to Sasquatch, Zombies, killer bears, and the walking dead. Every little noise in the woods at night would send them jumping. Finally, I said, " What? Don't you have noises in the city? " And my son replies, " Sure we do, but not this much silience in between...".

 

[California]

Don't you have noises in the city? " And my son replies, " Sure we do, but not this much silence in between...".

I asked my niece from the city why she looked confused. "I've never heard silence like this!"

Her home is on the far side of a 10 lane freeway, plus the frontage boulevards, across from SFO. (San Francisco International Airport).

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Sharn Jean and I spent our honeymoon (1963) at my Grand dad's lake home in Delaware County. No electricity, no running water. When I say it was dark there, I mean dark...and when I say it was quiet there, I mean quiet! It was 10 or 12 miles from the closest community, which had a small store, filling station and a few houses. Got stung by a Velvet ant and picked up a few ticks, but otherwise a great week. Lot of fishing and other stuff...

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I asked my niece from the city why she looked confused. "I've never heard silence like this!"

Her home is on the far side of a 10 lane freeway, plus the frontage boulevards, across from SFO. (San Francisco International Airport).

BTW, I love your part of the country. I told my wife if I ever disappear without a trace, she can find me somewhere between Petaluma and Bodega Bay.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

No Street Lights and Starbucks top the list of disqualifiers.

Not to be overlooked in California is lack of fire hydrants means insurance may not be available or at a price that makes sense.

In Riverside County that's not a problem at all. You don't even get an occupancy permit unless you have the required amount of water storage on your property, plumbed so the FD can access it. How much is required depends on where you are. A friend of mine in the hills south of Hemet was required to have 10,000 gallons on hand.

 

[California]

BTW, I love your part of the country. I told my wife if I ever disappear without a trace, she can find me somewhere between Petaluma and Bodega Bay.

Thanks.

I'm inland east of Bodega Bay, mostly beyond the fog belt.

Grandpa worked all over the west as a degreed gold mining engineer. Death Valley, Alaska, Costa Rica, Leadville Colorado, later mostly in the northern Sierras. He was familiar with pretty much every region of the west and chose this orchard as his final retirement home. (There's a photo above with the peacock).

I feel incredibly fortunate to have ended up with it. I spent years saving to buy the other half of Dad's estate and it was well worth it.