Green Mountain (Huntsville) (attorney, townhomes, neighborhood)

[zenjenn]

Would it be crazy to live up on Green Mountain?

It seems remote but really, it's only 5 minutes to the bottom of the mountain, 10 minutes to shopping and school, maybe 20 minutes to work. It doesn't seem to be very popular to live there though, I'm wondering why? Is the traffic bad coming down the mountain in the morning?

[harry chickpea]

Don't know about Green Mountain in particular, but there are some goat lots around Huntsville that realtors try to sell. Some of them won't do for septic, and all of them are inaccessable after an ice storm. Ice storms can last for a few days and if you slip on the ice, your choice may be limited to helicopter rescue after the weather clears.

[rnc76]

I don't think it would be crazy, it is really beautiful up there. But personally I would only live there if I had a view, which I don't think I can afford. Otherwise, it seems like it would just be a hassle. I love the nature trail though. A developer has been really interested in putting an upscale subdivision and some townhomes up there on the ridge. The residents seem pretty resistant to it because they like it how it is right now. I'm not sure what the status of that plan is.

[Reactionary]

Green Mountain was one of the areas I suggested to you early on...
It may not seem 'popular' because there aren't as many homes as say, Hampton Cove'. People who live there, love it.

Pros - beautiful area, some homes have incredible views, quiet, not much traffic, lots of kids, Nature Trail, good school districts (IIRC Mtn Gap, Mtn Gap, Grissom?), upscale neighborhood, large lots, fairly convenient, IIRC city water / sewerage, HSV Hospital has Life Flight helos ;-)

Note - SNAKES!!! just kidding! but not really kidding... It's no more snaky than any other rural mountain developed in the past few years... hehe...

Cons - ice / snow - but you wanted the day off anyway, kinda pricy, fairly inconvenient, IIRC volunteer fire dept (not city?) - need to check fire coverage.

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Note - SNAKES!!! just kidding! but not really kidding... It's no more snaky than any other rural mountain developed in the past few years...

hehehe...I know I am threadjacking here but I just can't help it.

In the summer of 1976, while still in college at the U of A, I traveled up to Burlington, Vermont and worked at K-Mart. Wanted to see a different part of America. I had a ton of fun but the 'stereotypes' of Alabama/Deep South facinated me.

The single question I was asked the most was: "How many people do you know who have died from being bitten by a snake?"!!!

At first, I'd answer truthfully and say, "None, I don't even know anyone personally whose even been bitten" and then try to educate them about the realities.

But one night, I had an epiphany and decided from then on to have some fun with the question.

When I was asked about it the next time I said,

"Well it's really tough. When I get up in the morning to go out and get the paper, I make certain that the chain is still on the door and I just crack it open just a peep, to see if any snakes are going to fly through before I can stop them....then, if there's no snakes in the house, I unchain the door and get out my Jed Clampett shotgun - just like the one in the show".

They'd say, "You had one just like in the show?!?!?!?"

I'd reply: "Yup, best shotgun in the South...everybody gets one when they're 12 years old"...

They'd say, "Well what would you do then?"

I'd answer: "Well first, I'd put on my snakeboots...go all the way up to my knees. Then, I'd unchain the door and open the door verrrry slowly...looking for snakes in the bushes...they were always lurking in the bushes".

"They were????"

"YUP in the bushes....then I'd tiptoe out making sure my gun was loaded, with safety off and ready to fire.

"How many times did you get bitten?"

"I've been bitten dozens of times..."

"YOU HAVE????"

"Yup over and over and over. One time I got bitten eight times trying to fetch the paper from behind a bush"

"Oh My God, did you almost die from that?"

"Nope. Immune system, tough immune system, built up from all those snake bites over the years".

At that point, they'd ask to see the scars. I have a few from playing sports and they would marvel at my snake adventures......

[NicoleC]

Yeah, well, there are snakes and there are snakes.


Wait... you mean buying a shotgun when I got here wasn't required?!

[Reactionary]

LOL!

Doesn't everybody get their first shotgun at 12? I know I did... pellet gun at age 8, .22 at age 10, shotgun at 12, 30-06 rifle at 14, pistol at 16... yep, threadjacked...

The HSV City Attorney (I think he lives off Big Cove Rd - up from Blossomwood) was recently bitten by a copperhead in his garage (he reached for something on a shelf - the snake got him twice).

[harry chickpea]

"In the summer of 1976, while still in college at the U of A, I traveled up to Burlington, Vermont and worked at K-Mart."

Small world. Know the theatre that was in the same shopping center showing Star Wars that summer? I was running it. Had to shoo the Holsteins out of the auditoriums before the first shows of the day, but us country folk is used to that. I forget who the K-Mart manager was at that time. I think he was a fairly short 30ish fellow who had been rotated in. Mickey? Or was that the card shop manager next door?

You should have come over to the theatre and visited. For employees, we had two UVM students that were studying physics, a UVM assistant professor, a Puerto Rican college student selling memorabilia, a Buddhist projectionist, a folk singer cashier and a biker chick cashier that you would have taken for a schoolmarm, a mountain of a doorman, and a whole other cast of interesting characters.

FWIW, I was whomping dump rats with my brother using his 22 when I was eight. My other brother had the shotgun (he never could shoot that well and the shotgun made up for some of it). Snakes are no big deal. Dump rats try to nibble at your toes. As for the people scared of snakes, we have neighbors here in north Alabama that are as scared of them as anyone else.

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

"In the summer of 1976, while still in college at the U of A, I traveled up to Burlington, Vermont and worked at K-Mart."

Small world. Know the theatre that was in the same shopping center showing Star Wars that summer? I was running it. Had to shoo the Holsteins out of the auditoriums before the first shows of the day, but us country folk is used to that. I forget who the K-Mart manager was at that time. I think he was a fairly short 30ish fellow who had been rotated in. Mickey? Or was that the card shop manager next door?

You should have come over to the theatre and visited. For employees, we had two UVM students that were studying physics, a UVM assistant professor, a Puerto Rican college student selling memorabilia, a Buddhist projectionist, a folk singer cashier and a biker chick cashier that you would have taken for a schoolmarm, a mountain of a doorman, and a whole other cast of interesting characters.

FWIW, I was whomping dump rats with my brother using his 22 when I was eight. My other brother had the shotgun (he never could shoot that well and the shotgun made up for some of it). Snakes are no big deal. Dump rats try to nibble at your toes. As for the people scared of snakes, we have neighbors here in north Alabama that are as scared of them as anyone else.

Incredible coincidence!!! Simply amazing...I had so much fun that summer...went to the Olympics in Montreal etc. I remember the theatre but never went there...I was too busy loving the Vermont outdoors to stay inside much after work.

Yes the snake threat is real in Alabama and I have shot them in my own yard here with my gun. I must confess though that I shot first and tried to ID later and have always shot the good ones and never a bad guy...

I did indeed have a rattlesnake fully uncoil and strike at me when hunting in Texas about ten years ago. I saw him a split second before he uncoiled and I turned on my heel and leaped out of harms way....I hyperventilated for only about two hours after that....

It is indeed prudent for folks to understand about snakes and I am not minimizing that...its just that I had so many questions about it in Vermont, I could see them coming....so I made up my own comedy schtick that went on for the rest of the summer....bigger and bigger....I could hardly contain my laughter by the time August came around and it was time to come home.....

[Reactionary]

harry - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't skeered of snakes. My pride requests that I call it 'healthy respect'...