Country Life
I know I haven’t whined about this in a while, but it is now official, I no longer live in the country. When I first moved out there I couldn’t see another neighboring house. Now it seems that I can see 13 houses. Oddly when people move to what was once the country it is necessary to bring with them at least one barking dog and three children with motorcycles. You also have to be afraid of the dark and leave your lights on 24 hours a day.
On Thursday we were out with the horses and realized that we couldn’t hear one another talking over the sound of no less than three motorcycles, two lawn mowers, several barking dogs and a couple weed whackers.
I am hoping for rain; heavy rain.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 5:57 AM
10 Comments:
Sounds like trouble in green acres. That must really suck. Have many barking dogs out there too?
My folks moved out so far, if civilization ever encroaches, they will be long gone. Six miles to the nearest paved road--if you are lucky, you can see a house over the hills. But, I think you have to go to northeast Iowa to find that anymore.
The local rag there does indeed have a readily accessible on-line version, including editorial comment and whiny J's diatribe over his lack of ability to drain the local tax coffers to a greater degree. He'd love it here, as we have very tiny compensation packages for town and county attorneys. We live in town, but at the edge of a forest that runs into the town and has deer, bear, moose, and a host of other critters. The little paper mill, river, and some traffic noise exists, but generaly the winds mask almost all of it. Harleys and trucks using jake brakes are the only things above the wind as a rule. Many of our friends live "off the grid". We would as well, but being old, decrepit, and extremely lazy, we now prefer the convenience of being close to things. Of course, this town of 5k-6k and its Siamese twin of 6k-7k cover many square miles and seem fairly uncrowded. The "dreaded city" closest to us is about an hour's drive summer & almost 2 hours winter. It's government is closer to Astoria's in disfunction as far as I can see. Lotsa egos and little consensus on anything, another reason we live in the hills & mountain area.
Don't get me started on the dogs...
Lori, it was so nice here for the last 19 years. I'll have to move or go deaf.
Mike, I haven't been up in your neck of the woods since 1977. It usre is beautiful up there. Actually it looks a lot like here without the cold and snow and black flies...
Yeah, sorry about getting you going on the dogs....I know how you feel about them..Hell, I think everyone in DSC knows by now.
And your new friend Mike S. ? Can I refer to him as Black-Fly-Guy? You think he will care?
God, I know what you mean. I (metaphorically) shit a brick, every time I see land being cleared for a possible building sight around here.
We live in a low density area, with GREAT neighbors that all lok out for each other and the community.
Several mos back we were awakened by the loudest barking dog immaginable. This barking was a baritone, LOUD, bark from over 1/2 mile away.
Sometimes, it would go from 1 or 2 in the am and for 2 or 3 hours.
Finally Ms. Gearhead and I would get up, get in our car at 2 or 3 in the am and try to locate where this dog resided.
The dog stopped barking every single time we got in the car.
Luckily, one of our good neighbors informed us that the dog belonges to a city-slickin-panzy-ass stock broker that purchaced a 10 acre spot recently.
With the address in hand, we called the county:
http://www.co.marion.or.us/PW/DogControl/doglicenseinfo.htm
Lo and behold, the dog had no lic and with the fine, late penalties, lic fees and barking fines, they got a ticket for around $600.00.
Have not heard a peep since.
If it were a normal human being, I would have knocked on their door and asked them to resove the problem.
But anyone that will allow a dog to bark at full volume for 3 or 4 hours in the middle of the night right outside their bedroom window deserves no courtesy, rather, correction.
Auntie, been called worse. hehehe I actually have a friend who wrote a little book called "Dances With Black-flies".
Guy...I'd miss all those fun things. They're the reason I moved back, got bored with all the sameness where I was living most of the time. I've been to your neck of the woods a number of times & loved every visit:)
Auntie, those of us who have experienced the black fly are proud to have survived.
Syd, thankfully you seem to have a better buffer. My property is 300 feet wide and a 1/4 mile long so there is no where to hide.
Gearhead, I take the problem is no more?
Mike, I do hope you get to see that black fly film sometime.
Cliff and I visited the great state of Kansas yesterday. You can find places with true isolation there. I like it a little better every time we visit.
Post a Comment
<< Home