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I have questions about Bend and the surrounding area:
1) What months are included in each season?
2) Are there any swimable lakes to live on or near? (Not necessarily in Bend proper, but general area.)
3) Are strip clubs prevalent? (There is a stat claiming Oregon has the highest # of strip clubs per capita.)
4) The PNW always gets sited for having the fewest bugs in the USA. Tell me what nuisnace wildlife you encounter around Bend, with a focus on insects in particular. Do you find black widows on your property? Are ticks an issue? Fleas? Mosquitoes? Venomous snakes? Any other dangerous wildlife for a dog owner to be concerned about?
5) Does it make sense to have a swimming pool in Bend? Or is the swimming season too short? Is it rare to find housing inventory with inground pools?
6) Is everyone there in amazing shape? I live in Buffalo now, and I have the "hot in Cleveland" effect going on here. If I move to Bend will I be surrounded by models? I kind of picture you all that way...
I have questions about Bend and the surrounding area:
1) What months are included in each season?
3 months of summer (July-September), <2 months of Fall (October-November), >4 months of Winter (December-March), and <3 of Spring (April-June).
Often our Springs are still VERY much like winter till about May/June. If you don't like winter this place can be tough....they can be very long.
2) Are there any swimable lakes to live on or near? (Not necessarily in Bend proper, but general area.)
Many. We have a road called Cascade Lakes Highway that runs from town to our mountains. There is literally lake, after lake, after lake and they continually get larger and larger. At the end you can take motorized boats on them even:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Lakes]Cascade Lakes
I definitely disagree with Steve Pickering, but I suppose this depends what you're use to......
3) Are strip clubs prevalent? (There is a stat claiming Oregon has the highest # of strip clubs per capita.)
One in Bend. Again, no clue what Steve Pickering is talking about here.
I think you read an article talking about Portland having the most strip clubs per capita:
4) The PNW always gets sited for having the fewest bugs in the USA. Tell me what nuisnace wildlife you encounter around Bend, with a focus on insects in particular. Do you find black widows on your property? Are ticks an issue? Fleas? Mosquitoes? Venomous snakes? Any other dangerous wildlife for a dog owner to be concerned about?
Again, I have a hard time believing Steve Pickering lives in Bend because we have almost no insects (noticeable) in town. Unless you are near a river you won't notice many. We have spiders, but that's normal, no? Mostly Brown Reclus, not black widows so much, but they are there.
Ticks are not an issue. Too dry of a climate. Not sure about fleas. Snakes...I'm sure, but I only see them out on rocks at Smith Rock and the like and mostly they're Rattlers.
This is a HUGE dog town (named dog town USA/every one owns one and a subarua), but if you live on the skirts of town you need to be weary of coyotes, mountain lions, etc. Coyotes especially on the east of town.
5) Does it make sense to have a swimming pool in Bend? Or is the swimming season too short? Is it rare to find housing inventory with inground pools?
No. It's very short. It is rare to find a house with a pool, yes.
6) Is everyone there in amazing shape? I live in Buffalo now, and I have the "hot in Cleveland" effect going on here. If I move to Bend will I be surrounded by models? I kind of picture you all that way...
I have no idea what "hot in Cleveland" effect is, but yes the town as a whole is in better shape than most places in the USA by far. Friends often visit and are astounded and it is fairly rare to run into a truly obese person here. Many pro athletes and healthy living.
Oh, and I have no idea why k9coach's questions are at all laughable?
Last edited by Room to Stand; 03-03-2013 at 06:37 PM..
Regarding which months are included in each season: winter in Buffalo could be said to encompass all of December, January, February, and March (some people would include November and April as well depending on the year or one's definition of winter weather.) On the other hand winter in Georgia or Florida might be said to include mainly January and February. Spring and Fall in Buffalo seem to last only 3 weeks or a month, whereas in Missouri or Virginia for examples these seasons are more drawn out. So that's what I'm asking about the seasons in Bend: which months would be considered winter, spring, summer, and fall. I've heard that your spring extends longer than in most places, so maybe your May and June are springlike while May and June somewhere else would be decidedly summery.
And to clarify about the "hot in Cleveland" effect, I mean that here in Buffalo I find it easy to be considered one of the more attractive people around by virtue of the fact that most people here are overweight and just not vain at all. They don't dress to impress, they don't watch their weight, etc. (These are generalizations in comparison with other areas of the country.) A person in decent shape that is reasonably attractive could come to Buffalo and be considered drop dead gorgeous; they'd really stand out in a crowd for their superior attractiveness. That same person could go to certain areas of California and blend in as average. The term comes from the title of that t.v. show I have never watched (but think the premise is cute).
Last edited by k9coach; 03-03-2013 at 05:48 PM..
Reason: hot in cleveland defined
Just adding a few answers from a gal's point of view.
Quote:
Originally Posted by k9coach
I have questions about Bend and the surrounding area:
1) What months are included in each season?
2) Are there any swimable lakes to live on or near? (Not necessarily in Bend proper, but general area.)
3) Are strip clubs prevalent? (There is a stat claiming Oregon has the highest # of strip clubs per capita.)
No. They exist, but they're just there.
4) The PNW always gets sited for having the fewest bugs in the USA. Tell me what nuisnace wildlife you encounter around Bend, with a focus on insects in particular. Do you find black widows on your property? Are ticks an issue? Fleas? Mosquitoes? Venomous snakes? Any other dangerous wildlife for a dog owner to be concerned about?
The insects are few and far between in my experience (and from this Maryland native's point of view). I'm one of those people who mosquitoes love, and I get immediate swelling and redness from bites, and I was thrilled with how few of the critters found me in Bend. Didn't see any black widows or snakes (they do exist in Bend, though). One of our dogs did have a tick once, but we'd been hiking.
5) Does it make sense to have a swimming pool in Bend? Or is the swimming season too short? Is it rare to find housing inventory with inground pools?
6) Is everyone there in amazing shape? I live in Buffalo now, and I have the "hot in Cleveland" effect going on here. If I move to Bend will I be surrounded by models? I kind of picture you all that way...
People are people. Maybe it's because I've been married since the Big Bang, but I didn't notice that there were gangs of gorgeous people taking over the town.
Someone mentioned brown recluses. My degrees are in entomology and when I worked at a museum in California we used to get calls all the time from people who thought they had brown recluses. The true brown recluse only lives in parts of the central/southeastern US. There are other "recluse" spiders in parts of the southwestern US, but their venoms don't have the same necrotizing effect. And even those don't occur in Oregon or California. Spiders don't bite humans on purpose - in fact, most reported "spider bites" aren't from spiders at all. Here are a couple helpful links:
Someone mentioned brown recluses. My degrees are in entomology and when I worked at a museum in California we used to get calls all the time from people who thought they had brown recluses. The true brown recluse only lives in parts of the central/southeastern US. There are other "recluse" spiders in parts of the southwestern US, but their venoms don't have the same necrotizing effect. And even those don't occur in Oregon or California. Spiders don't bite humans on purpose - in fact, most reported "spider bites" aren't from spiders at all. Here are a couple helpful links:
I can't comment on other insects and spiders in Bend because I've only visited there.
Oh I love getting input from entomologists! Just to be clear, my wildlife concerns mainly pertain to my dogs. I do have one that goes after insects and critters. I'd hate for her to disturb a dangerous snake or spider as she is small and the venom would do her a lot more harm than if the spider or snake bit a person. If it was just me and no dogs I would not be as worried about such things. I've read that Oregon does have black widows as well as a couple other spider species whose bites are dangerous.
I have this one spider that I've let live in my house for a long time... I know it's weird but she's up in a corner upstairs where I never spend any time, she's not bothering anyone and I figure she'll eat any bugs that come through.. at this point she's like a pet in a way, I don't have the heart to get rid of her! I was even thinking "what am I going to do with her when we have to show the house for sale?" I want to let her stay!
In the summer months I frequently swim at Elk Lake, otherwise I lap swim at the Bend Athletic Club year round. They have both indoor and outdoor lap pools. Bugs or snakes have never been a problem.
p.s. I am 5'11" and weigh 160#. Lots of fit folks in Bend especially on the West Side where out door recreation is so common.
If you type any of your questions or key words in the search tab you can see all post related to your questions. For instance I started and thread last summer about bugs. Good luck and hope you get to move to Bend. Start a company there and hire lots of people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by k9coach
I have questions about Bend and the surrounding area:
1) What months are included in each season?
2) Are there any swimable lakes to live on or near? (Not necessarily in Bend proper, but general area.)
3) Are strip clubs prevalent? (There is a stat claiming Oregon has the highest # of strip clubs per capita.)
4) The PNW always gets sited for having the fewest bugs in the USA. Tell me what nuisnace wildlife you encounter around Bend, with a focus on insects in particular. Do you find black widows on your property? Are ticks an issue? Fleas? Mosquitoes? Venomous snakes? Any other dangerous wildlife for a dog owner to be concerned about?
5) Does it make sense to have a swimming pool in Bend? Or is the swimming season too short? Is it rare to find housing inventory with inground pools?
6) Is everyone there in amazing shape? I live in Buffalo now, and I have the "hot in Cleveland" effect going on here. If I move to Bend will I be surrounded by models? I kind of picture you all that way...
The joke is that we have 2 seasons: winter and August.
Summers and falls are very nice weather, sunny and cool for the most part. We get a couple of weeks in the summer where temperatures go slightly above 90 and we all think we are going to die.
Lake Billy Chinook and Prineville Reservoir have nice swim areas, protected from the boats and with swim docks, so I am just guessing that people swim there. Floating down the Deschutes river is a popular sport inside the city of Bend. There are nice swimming holes at various places in Tumalo (in the river). Bend has very nice aquatic centers.
I am just north in Crooked river Ranch and we have an enormous pool that we use for free, paid for by our rather low association/ road maintenance fees.
There is swimming available.
Strip clubs are out of my area of expertise. If there are any, they are discrete.
I have lived in this area off and on for over 60 years. I have seen exactly one tick. There is no lyme disease. There are no fleas unless you drive over to the valley and pick up hitchhikers. If I go to a dog show in the valley, I flea powder my dogs before I put them back into the car, just in case.
Black widows are a recent introduction, so we have them now, but still very rare. I've seen 3 of them. The only other poisonous spider is the Hobo, and they are very shy. They give a very nasty bite that is not fatal.
Snakes in Bend are harmless and tend to be small and not seen very often. There are rattlesnakes in the lava cliffs of the Crooked River, but again, very shy. I think they are an endangered variety (not sure), but it would be very unusual to see one and it is most likely to run from you. The Crooked River does not run through Bend.
Mosquitoes are thick around the high mountain lakes in the summer. Very recently, there has been a mosquito issue right in Bend, in some neighborhoods. Too many incomers who aren't careful with their water, I would guess. We didn't use to have them in town.
Almost every summer, there is 1 rabid bat. So vaccinate.
Coyotes are the biggest danger to dogs. The overly tame deer could possibly hurt a dog. There are at least 2 cougars living inside the Bend city limits. The only dog they have ever hurt was a pitbull that the owner sic'ed on the cougar when it was in his backyard. The dog wasn't killed, but ended up with a bunch of stitches.
People don't have swimming pools, because they are hard to maintain when the ground freezes and thaws over and over, all winter. People swim all year, but in the winter, use the aquatic center.
Bend is for athletes, but not necessarily fashion models. We have lots of active retirees who bike and run. Olympic athletes train here. There are all sorts of national level sports competitions.
There are regular people of all shapes and sizes. It is not a place where people dress up trying to attract attention. There are pudgy people as well as extremely fit people. People just look like normal people.
Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 03-04-2013 at 11:28 AM..
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I kind of picture you all that way...
