Alexandria questions (Boyce, Forest Hill, Forest: rent, houses, neighborhood)

[Sweetlady71]

wow!!! thanks soooo much for all the info so far from everyone!!!! i will be busy writing this all down for future referances, and look forward to hearing more!!! wow....aint a joke...LA people are downright friendly!!! ok....storm is a coming...best shut down puter for now...will check back tomarrow to see if anymore post are made. thanks all and good night!!!

[BlueyedCat]

I lived at Cotile Lake in Boyce. It's off of 28 west going out of Alexandria. It was a very nice/clean area. There are some bad areas of Boyce but I never had a problem. My boys done great in the schools. It only took me 20 to 30 minutes to get into town. There are so many places to fish so you'll fall in love living in Louisiana. I'm in TN also right now and can't wait to move out, and I've only been here a year and a half. You are really going to enjoy the friendliness in Louisiana. AND the FOOD!!! My youngest son is still living in Alexandria waiting to get on with the Fire Department. He won't even think of living any where else.

[abayle]

We just moved to Alex. from Florida (home) last year. We found a house to rent in Boyce (really Gardner out by the lake, but the post office calls it Boyce.) I really like it. We are big on outdoor stuff too. We have a 17 yr old son and a 14 yr. old daughter. Daughter is homeschooled and son goes to oakhill. My husb. and I do the youth group at the little country bapt. church down the street. Everyone is super friendly. Our neighbors are awesome, clean, hardworking, fun, friendly, inviting, goal oriented people. I love them. We do lots of crawfish parties, fishing, hunting, etc... Let me know if you make it over this way. Tracy

[Sweetlady71]

hmmm....now looken at LA alot more...from bouncen around the LA forum, i can see why folks like it there so much!! hubby is a truck driver now, thou he wants away from it, its steady work for time being, so now were talken that if other job falls thru, and since he goes in and out of LA alot anyways, we may just make the move and call it home...between the crawfish, fishing and all the great folks who have posted/welcomed the idea of moven there....i think we will love it.....thank you everyone!!! will keep you posted...in meantime, think i will float around here while and get to know folks!!!
ok....daughter asked this question.....critters??? i mean, snakes, bugs, etc...whats the story on them there?? anything we would have to look out for beyond the typical skeeters????
we are used to snakes/bugs, but every place has their own type that folks watch out for.
ok....time to go bail out the drive again...(kidding)....if it dont stop raining soon...i may have to thou....lol have a great day all!!

[abayle]

Ok, I won't lie to you. i've been here six mos and have killed a scorpion in the house and a tarantula outside.

[Sweetlady71]

OMG abayle!!! sounds like it will be like my life growen up in oklahoma.....lol, delt with scorpions and tarantulas daily!!! i reckon LA with all its water is bound to have my other childhood friend to....cotten mouths???? well...hmmm....been away from all that for awhile...im a scardy cat now...lol, but if i must deal with them again...sounds like LA will be worth it!!!
our daughter is almost 14...if we do get out that way, will for sure let ya know...will have to do a bbq....oops...over there its crawfish boils....ok..(smiles), im still bring'n the sweet tea thou...lol, anyways...maybe they will go to school together, or better yet friends...as well as us...sounds like we will love it there, im getten to like LA so much already, almost hope the other job falls thru just so we can go ahead and go to LA....lol
your daughter ya said is homeschooled, and son goes to regular school, our son is almost 15, and very strong in academics, constant honor roll, already got scholorship award, etc, how do you, and your son also, feel about the schools?? our youngest son(7) has some troubles, as well as our daughter, but they get help as needed here and then do just fine, are they good about that there do ya think?? up in michigan, teachers didnt care if child got behind and it drove me nuts, we worry about that happening again. feel free to DM if ya want, kids would like to hear more about schools there to. so anyone want to give their thoughts on schools to? their bug stories???
every one have a great day!!!!!!

[abayle]

I'm not sure how the schools do with special needs...I homeschool Abby, so I don't know....Sloan is a jr. this year. He wants to go to college next year to be a game warden. His main loves are hunting and fishing. He is a huge outdoorsman, (always welding, fishing, working on his boat, building something, always something!!!)
Abby loves the Jonas Bros. and takes a hip hop dance class. Typical Teen I guess, but probably a little more innocent from being home with me... She needs more friends here becuase all we do is neighborhood stuff, youth group and school at home -not a lot of oppty. for tons of friendships. Where did you say your husband would be working? Mine is re-building the military housing at Ft. Polk. Good luck in your move. I have found everyone to be super friendly-now I am a southerner so I guess I fit right in. It's like we've been here forever now...

[TexasMama]

Just wanted to put my two cents in....

We moved to the Alexandria area in September. We live about 25 minutes outside of town in Boyce, near Cotile lake. LOVE it out here! There are a lot of bugs, but we lived in TX so we're used to it. Never seen a scorpion, tarantula, or big snake. My kids are homeschooled so I can't say anything about the public schools here. Utility bills here are extremely low compared to what we paid in TX. I think this place is about 1600sf - electric is usually around $150 except for "winter" and the last few months of summer, but it's never been more than $260. Water is about $17 a month. I'm trying to think of everything I wanted to know before we moved......oh, cell phones! We have AT&T and have never had a reception issue. Our car insurance did go up quite a bit. I haven't seen any racial problems, though it took us a long time to get used to it pretty much being black and white.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by TexasMama

I haven't seen any racial problems, though it took us a long time to get used to it pretty much being black and white.

I've heard that since the early/mid 90s, Forest Hill (SW of Alex on US 165) has a large Hispanic community brought in to work the numerous plant nurseries that are in the area.

[TexasMama]

Originally Posted by BRMan

I've heard that since the early/mid 90s, Forest Hill (SW of Alex on US 165) has a large Hispanic community brought in to work the numerous plant nurseries that are in the area.

I have no idea where that is! There are other races besides black and white, but it's not a huge mix like what I'm used to in Fort Worth. There was a part of town I had to drive in on my way to work that had every other billboard in spanish. Haven't seen anything like that in Alex!