Moving to Missouri from California (St. Louis, Pacific: fit in, attorneys, home)

[rhorses]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Where do you think he got that idea? Sheeesh! Maybe it's because there isn't much recycling goin' on and we'uns burn our leaves, trimmings and grass clippings whenever we want and can use fire places without restriction. Biscuits an' gravy and pork tenderloin sandwiches are popular and pick-em-up trucks are all over. Plastic bags are allowed in stores, guvmint doesn't try to regulate thermostats and hound dogs can proliferate.
Oh, yea. We can carry guns, too!

Hasta be tough on them tree-huggin', PETA supportin', drum circle thumpin', ommm chantin' kumbaya types from the left coast, dontcha know! And we don't have no whales ta save!

[ozarksboy]

Originally Posted by shash

My friend and I are moving to Liberty Missouri from Los Angeles California. We have never been to Mo before and want to know what to expect.

Lord, please deliver us from foolishness. Amen.

[SpanielGirl]

You all are just frightful!! (Notice I can't say ya'll yet cuz I am still in Northern Schwarzenegger-soon to be Northern Whitman, if we can beat the heathens back.) Please do not MOVE until you have at least stuck a big toe across the state line. Visit some areas, check out the jobs, press the local flesh (no hanky panky), admire the stores, ride a Missouri Foxtrotter, and generally get to know local money. You need to go to something, not escape something. The old saying-LA's a big place- is true. You may think that you want that small town-mebbe not. There is a world of difference. I moved to a community (Swansboro) above Placerville 11 years ago from the LA. I had an hour commute to Placerville-before I got on the freeway for my job in downtown Sacramento. It was a huge adjustment-and there wasn't the lack of traffic that I thought there's be. I had wonderful neighbors, a perfect house, a great community. But I finally folded under that commute. You need to know what you are getting into.

[SpanielGirl]

This came in an email from my friends Margie and George in Theodosia. Pretty much sums up most of Missouri.




THINGS I LEARNED FROM BEING RAISED IN MISSOURI


Armadillos sleep in the middle of the road
with their feet in the air.

There are 5,000 types of snakes on earth and 4,998 live in Missouri

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Missouri , plus a couple no one's seen before.

If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

'Twiced' is a word.

People actually grow and eat okra

'Fixinto' is one word.

There is no such thing as 'lunch.'
There is only dinner and then supper.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!

'Backwards and forwards' means I know
everything about you!

Djeet is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'

You don't have to wear a watch because it
doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them..

You measure distance in hours. Like its 3 hours from Springfield to St. Louis .

You'll probably have to switch from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day.

'Fix' is a verb. Example: 'I'm fixing to go to
the store.'

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

Yes, Friday night high school football games is serious football!

You carry jumper cables in your car . . .
for your OWN car.

There are only four spices: salt, pepper,Miracle
Whip and ketchup.

The local papers cover national and
international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.

100 degrees Fahrenheit is 'a little warm.'

We have four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.

Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time
known as 'goin' to Wally-World.'

A cool snap (below 70 degrees) is good
pinto-bean weather.

A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop. .. . . it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: 'What kind a coke you want?'

Fried catfish is the other white meat.

We don't need no stinking driver's Ed . .. .
if our mama says we can drive, we can drive.

If you understand these jokes please forward them to your friends from Missouri (and those who just wish they were).

EVERYONE can't be from Missouri .
You might say it's a gift from God!

And the most important thing we learned growing up in Missouri is...

IN GOD WE TRUST

[Steve_perchance]

Hello all. This is my second post. I was born in Callaway County, central Missouri. During the Civil War they called themselves the Kingdom of Callaway- they seceded from the Union on their very own. Not much has changed out in those parts. Still can be a scary place. But where I live is far from scary.

I live in Jefferson City. I went to high school here, graduated, moved to Florida, then to West Virginia, then back to Columbia, MO, 30 mins. from Jeff City, where I went to college, then worked and lived there for 25 years. Got married, we wanted to buy a house but the local real estate bubble was still growing; moved back to Jeff City to work for the state and to buy a house for half the price for an equivalent place in CoMo. I'm glad I moved here because people in Jeff are uncommonly nice. Didn't expect that.

My boss is from San Fran. He LOVES it here. I think it's the people mostly. It's certainly not the weather.

The weather here can get pretty crazy. Dangerous too. On the upside, the weather portion of the news broadcast is usually of just as great interest to us as the news.. and meteorologists consider Missouri a plum position, right in the belly of the beast, so to speak.

I've become a bit of a storm fan, if there is such a thing. I don't like lethal storms of course, and I'm not a fan of human suffering, obviously!, but there is something kinda thrilling about a wall cloud moving in quickly, the breeze picks up, temps drop ten or twenty degrees, a brief, heavy downpour, some wild winds, maybe some hail... then it moves out and half an hour later it's sunny again. Muggy as all getout, but the earth moved, you know?

Californians, that was an unintentional pun.. but enjoy nonethless!

I love the west coast: California (especially San Diego and the forest around), the Rockies, Seattle, Port Angeles, Victoria BC, Mt. St. Helens, the gorgeous trip from Washington to Oregon along the coast... love it and the terrain. But if you like caves, canoes, deciduous forest, rivers, cold springs and trout streams, Missouri has some things to offer you. Not the lake of the Ozarks. Muddy, e.coli ridden, crowded, touristy, blech.

Shopping-wise, Columbia has some surprising offerings for a small city. Plus, most of Missouri is a couple hours drive from St. Louis and Kansas City, who are right down I-70 from each other. Just about the only chain we don't have in-state is Ikea. Which drives me nuts.

Not that shopping has to be fancy. Within half an hour's drive we have not one but two fully stocked, totally authentic country stores. One makes the best fried chicken I've ever had. The other sells root beer barrels, black licorice and overalls.

There is more diversity here than meets the eye. Rural Missouri, sure, it's very set in its ways and really wants nothing to do with outsiders. But even humble Jeff City, pop 40k, is becoming more ethnically diverse all the time. OK, we only have one (excellent!) sushi bar, and now a Thai restaurant, but judging from the crowd I see at Target, we ought to have a couple Indian places any year now. Not bad for mid-Missouri.

It's also true that Missourians generally don't ignore each other, except in the cities, and I love that about Missouri. I can be friendly (non-aggressively, of course) with anyone and it doesn't seem weird to them, or to me. Be too friendly, though, and we know you're trying to sell us something.

Our labor rates are low, there's no doubt about it, but so are costs. Especially if you have a degree and some experience, you'll probably find a good enough salary here. Jobs aren't falling out of the sky, but just as an example, IBM just expanded its Columbia operations and are currently hiring. But yeah, one of my friends has been unemployed for some time. Although he's a herpetologist!

[Steve_perchance]

Originally Posted by SpanielGirl

THINGS I LEARNED FROM BEING RAISED IN MISSOURI

yep! This totally describes my grandparents and other relatives who live in the country.

The snakes and spiders bit made me laugh- it's so true. As is the heat and AC in the same day- that happened just today, in fact! lol

[SW Missouri Dave]

Originally Posted by Steve_perchance

The weather here can get pretty crazy. Dangerous too. On the upside, the weather portion of the news broadcast is usually of just as great interest to us as the news.. and meteorologists consider Missouri a plum position, right in the belly of the beast, so to speak.

I've become a bit of a storm fan, if there is such a thing. I don't like lethal storms of course, and I'm not a fan of human suffering, obviously!, but there is something kinda thrilling about a wall cloud moving in quickly, the breeze picks up, temps drop ten or twenty degrees, a brief, heavy downpour, some wild winds, maybe some hail... then it moves out and half an hour later it's sunny again. Muggy as all getout, but the earth moved, you know?

Californians, that was an unintentional pun.. but enjoy nonethless!

I love the west coast: California (especially San Diego and the forest around), the Rockies, Seattle, Port Angeles, Victoria BC, Mt. St. Helens, the gorgeous trip from Washington to Oregon along the coast... love it and the terrain. But if you like caves, canoes, deciduous forest, rivers, cold springs and trout streams, Missouri has some things to offer you. Not the lake of the Ozarks. Muddy, e.coli ridden, crowded, touristy, blech.....

Although he's a herpetologist!

Steve - well said and I agree with what you said about storms and the west coast. Storms get the blood pumping and reminds us we aren't in as much control as we would like to believe we are. Nothing like watching a wall cloud knowing it's a roll of the dice whether it holds destruction or just a mean stare. And the west coast is a glorious place to visit - although you have to drive so blooming far from one pretty place to the next. I still remember my first trip into Yosemite - coming out of that cave into the valley - it took my breath away. Obviously I wasn't the only one - there was a Ranger parked there who's job it was to work rear-ender accidents from people slamming on their brakes to take in the view. I was very fond of the northern California coast as well - the redwoods, the ocean, the mountains, all in one place - just stunning.

As to your friend - you might want to tell him they figured out what causes herpes a long time ago so he might want to check out a new career. (Excuse me - what did you say honey? A herpetologist studies what? Frogs and salamanders! Well why don't they call him a slimy-tologist or something?")

My apologies to your friend. Herpetologist!! What will they think of next?

[Frieda K.]

Much luck to the soon to be CA transplant. I'm considering moving to Slater myself and would certainly welcome any feedback on the area, etc. I'm from the South, live in AZ and totally hate it!

[doubtingdreams]

Basically what it boils down to is. . . Don't come here expecting poeple to act, see, and sound the same. We see a Deer we think backstraps, we see a opposum we think target, on and on. Be nice don't ask whats wrong with us. Look us in the eyes and don't constantly ask us for help with something we've shone u a million times stand on your own too feet. Don't get on a animals protection act thing because we don't waste our food, we kill it we eat it. Sometimes it's all that keeps a family from starving.

[misplaced1]

I think we'd all benefit if we didn't have preconceived notions when we meet others.