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I'm out in the high desert where it's flat as a board! (Tho the view is almost identical to what I saw from my place near Belgrade!) Normally we get our last freeze in January!! Got about 6" of snow last December -- that's a once-a-decade event here!
If you could pack up a few million lizards and send them my way, maybe it'll help discourage our grasshoppers... they've stripped everything, even stuff that's not really edible like pine needles and iceplant, and have started eating each other (no kidding!) The quail eat 'em but it was cold enough this year that they didn't raise a good spring clutch, so we've got only a couple dozen quail here instead of the usual flocks of a couple hundred.
Come to think of it.. I've killed two rattlesnakes already, but haven't seen any lizards at all.
In the high desert you probably don't even know what June goom is then huh? I wish I could pack up the lizards and send them to you. My wife and I walk everyday and I practically have to carry her because she is jumping into my arms the whole way and screaming from the lizards running across our feet. That is a bummer about the locus though. No quail hunting for you this season ey?
Terry is a super little town, Be prepared for isolation as it is a long way from anywhere!! If you are looking for life not so different from how it was in the early 20th century, small town values with a lot of heart, you would like Terry.
There was a turn of the century photographer who lived there, Evelyn Cameron, (sp?) who moved to Terry from England. Her Husband wanted to raise horses to send back to England. That scheme went bust, but Evelyn took up photography and has some of the most spectacular images of early Montana available.
My favorite is the "Wolfer".
Roundup is a nice place. I hunt antelope in the area. I don't know exactly what the definition of "cowboy" feel is, but it is a great little town to live in. My parents lived there for a while and loved it.
I must admit I was impressed with your earlier dissertations. Well written with easy to follow points backed with facts.
I know you would probably fit in well in either place.
Wyoming is good too. They don't pay much attention to the rabid greens and pretty much do what they want. Water is harder to find in Wyoming, but the land is cheaper. They do have a sales tax which Montana doesn't have, but most of the values you espoused are personified in a large segement of the Montana and Wyoming populations as long as you stay away from the greens nesting sites. Many here say they are democrats, but when you talk to them, they sound a lot like Ronald Reagan.
Pay no attention to the far left fringe who come on these boards only to stir up trouble.
In the high desert you probably don't even know what June goom is then huh? I wish I could pack up the lizards and send them to you. My wife and I walk everyday and I practically have to carry her because she is jumping into my arms the whole way and screaming from the lizards running across our feet. That is a bummer about the locus though. No quail hunting for you this season ey?
Sounds like my mom... she literally screams and jumps onto the nearest chair if she sees a snake or lizard!
We don't have gloom here at all, other than a few days during the rainy season -- clouds are a novelty! I do miss thunderstorms -- we don't get many. My tenant thinks I'm crazy -- I go out on the porch to watch the lightning!
The quail will probably set another batch in midsummer. I get a lot here cuz I'm the only source of water for a couple miles in any direction -- they come drink out of the soaker hose or from the cat bucket, along with the coyotes. During the hot season (we can hit 122F here) sometimes I find a couple dozen quail camped on my front porch, each with a passel of chicks. The chicks are really tiny -- you could stuff 'em into a thimble! They like living UNDER stuff, so later in the year they'll be swarming under my dead tree pile. My dog clients (I breed working Labradors) come over here to hunt, but I don't bother, cuz there's not enough meat on a quail to justify a shotgun shell... well, probably more than on the tiny desert doves, but that ain't sayin' much (they're about the same size as a meadowlark at best). Kinda like crawdad fishin' -- fun to do but you ain't gonna get much dinner from it.
hi bill. about central mt, and finding a wide variety of folks with different ideas...on both sides....i think central mt would be a happy medium...it still leans towards conservative, but you will find a few more liberals there! i'm just thinking you might like it more because it offers closer ammenities...should you start craving a mcdonalds burger!!! but, if you want to "go all the way" EM is the place to be. Terry is nice, it's almost smack dab between glendive and milescity (for your geographical reference!). It's much, much smaller than glendive...you'd pretty much be driveing the 40 or so miles to glendive just for a gallon of milk (okay, you could probably find some milk there, but not much else) i've heard there's a pretty cool museum there...keep meaning to stop but haven't yet. they also have a pretty good rodeo and parade once year too! as for Roundup...i've never been...but it is A LOT closer to Billings than the rest of these places. Also, if regards to your wyoming question.....i really don't know if you'd be happier there...it really depends on what your wanting to take up for hobby...wyoming has some great antelope and mule deer hunting...i know that! and of course you have the sales tax there, and the oil booms and busts (but you will get that in glendive and sydney too). in the northwest you do get yellowstone park...that would be a big plus. and if you're in, say...powell area, you get the closeness of the parks (teton and yellowstone) without the liberal...expensive...not so cowboy..bozeman area! from my experience, no matter where you go in wyoming, it's gonna be a lot like eastern montana...politically and socially!...if that makes sense at all. my one other piece of advice: don't move near an indian reservation, I can speak on this subject with knowledge because both my husband and i grew up on a reservation....it's not about a race, it's just that life is tough on and nears rez's you get some shady things going on... quite a lot of poverty, and most of all...it's just hard to be near an area where so many people live in poverty and hopelessness....not to mention...i can pretty much guarantee you won't be welcomed. (once again..i don't want anyone to chew me out for "racism"...my husband is native amarican, and i was raised on the flathead indian reservation). once again...my advice is to take a summer and travel both states!
oh, and one more thing...thank you for defending us "po, uneducated folk here in mt"...people would be surprised to know how many quite educated people live here....many of us have gone to college....(and not just for a few months!!) and have then decided to come back to the area because we love montana, and it's way of living. i have a college degree (i actually have 3...don't ask!!)and my husband and i moved here because he was offered a great paying job in a place we could purchase a 5 bedroom house for $65,000 (that was 6 years ago...prices have doubled, almost trippled since then).....and we could do the things we love (hunting, fishing, etc), giving our kids many lessons in common sense...while still being able to afford to save for their "book education" later in life. i'm sorry, but that doesn't sound all that "ignorant", or "dumb" to me. dumb to me is people living in huge cities in homes they can't afford just so they can impress all their green, snobby friends...that's why this country is in the state that it's in...people with their noses in the air, living a lie, and snubbing us "po ignorant fok" in EM! reminds me of a man who rides his bike by my house all the time...carrying a snow shovel in the winter and pushing a lawnmower next to him in the summer...somebody who doesn't know him would think he was a poor 40 year old man on food stamps...the reality? he has a masters degree...he just makes TONS of money shoveling people's driveways and mowing their lawns (and riding his bike instead of driving a car)!!!....may look dumb to some, but in reality...he's probably living a much more stress -free, care- free life than the rest of us.....and lets face it, he probably has more money in the bank than the snobby folk in the "city" driving those audi's!
I just don't think you can beat EM for the "just leave me the heck alone" factor. You will get the stink eye on occasion, but I think that the spirit of the make your own way still lives here. Jobs are sprouting in Wyoming and with lots of influx, well you know what that means. I moved here from Portland Or, it doesn't get more lefty leaning than that and I am happy as a clam. Nice not to have the gang bangers waiting for their girlfriends after you get off shift. Nice not to have to pay taxes to a city with an admitted pedophile. Sorry I digress.
The cowboy here is mixed in with farmers, and there is a difference. You drive a pick-up, not a truck, and yes going to Walmart is a treat On the EM side I vote for Miles City. Good luck.
I'm back. My computer refused to start for a few days. Now that that problem is solved, I'm finally getting back to the boards.
I think the farming aspect would be good. As I grew up in a town that still had some farms (before it suddenly grew and became another suburbia clone) it would bring back memories.
I visited Miles City last year very briefly. I enjoyed seeing the Range Riders museum. In Miles City (or other places in EM, for that matter), what are things like for singles? I'm in my early thirties. From what I've read in the Wyoming board, they were saying that most people in WY are married by their early 20s. Would the same be true in EM?
Very interesting posts. I didn't know that about Pres.Harrison -- I'm sure it would have fascinated my 11th grade American History teacher (at Great Falls H.S.) who kept our attention very well with numerous, uh, lesser-known anecdotes of similar stripe. (In other words, digging up dirt.
(At the time, "yellow dog" was a colloquialism for "coward".)
I like studying those lesser known things, especially from some of the more obscure political figures in powerful positions. Ultimately, those who came before the "giants" in history exerted influence (even if they ultimately did nothing) on the decisions of the "giants."
Yes, Yellow Dog Democrat fits perfectly, thanks!
And. that's one of the reasons that MT is attractive to me. It does not seem to be overrun with Yellow Dog Democrats....unlike NY and the entire Northeast.
Hi Bill!
As soon as you find this Western town that is mostly conservative, PLEASE let me know because I have yet to find such a place. Unfortunately this country is NOT what it used to be and even the small conservative towns have been infected with a liberal way of thinking. I live in California, one of the most liberal states in the country and I'm surrounded by liberals who constantly want to redefine our Constitution and change the conservative way of thinking. I am blessed though to have a second home and lots of friends and family in the Flathead Valley, MT to escape to. Although the area majority leans more right it does have more liberals these days than I would like. In my opinion one is too many but it doesn't even come close to compare to California. I absolutely love the people in the Kalispell area though. Some of the friendliest people you have ever met are here. I have found that some people on this forum don't always represent the true Montanans. Some of them can seem very bitter about people moving in and may seem unfriendly so take what you read with a grain of salt and be careful not to believe everything you read. One thing I don't think some Montanans understand is the degree of what conservative people like us have to put up with day to day in the predominantly liberal places that we live. I actually envy them for that but wish they would understand. Like others have wisely said though you really do need to go visit for yourself and meet the people and live among them a while if you can. A lot of the people here in the Flathead Valley are Californians trying to find a better, more conservative place to live just like us. Unfortunately there are those who want to come in and change things to.
Yes you are right, there is a lot of traffic in Kalispell in the summer but hopefully they will go forward with the plan to put a new highway west of town to ease the congestion. There has been a lot of growth there in the past 10 years. My wife does love having more places to shop of course but when do you start calling a small town a city??? I don't think it's that big yet. Good luck on your search!
Hi Brad! Thanks very much for the well wishes! You have my condolences living in CA. As bad as NY is, my guess is that CA is even more liberal.
I know what you mean about the small towns. My guess is that nothing is going to be perfect, though I would think a smaller city/town is going to be more conservative relative to a larger metropolitan area. And, I would bet that compared to NY or CA, most small cities/towns in MT would be like a breath of fresh air. Of course, I definitely want to find the place with as much "fresh air" as I can get though I definitely don't expect perfection.
In terms of Kalispell, I definitely had a dose of the friendliness there. After visiting Glacier National Park, as I was driving back to Kalispell, I hit a deer. That's the first and hopefully only time I will ever experience that. Anyway, obviously I was a bit shocked, etc. I pulled to the side and just tried to calm down. I noticed my driver's side mirror was gone (and was getting pummelled in the road as other vehicles went by) but didn't realize the extent of damage to the rest of the car. A police officer noticed and pulled over to see if I was okay. I then realized I could not open the door to get out of the car. He pulled hard on the door to help me out. He was quite friendly in helping me to get over the shock. He apparently was out of his jurisdiction so he had to call another one to do the paperwork. The second officer was equally friendly, commenting that I was likely the first in what he expected would be several more accidents that night. He gave me his cell number in case I had problems with the car on the way back to the hotel. (He strongly urged me to get a tow, but I just wanted to get back to the hotel and rest, rather than waiting.) Thankfully, this was a rental car and I paid for the optional insurance. So, I just swapped it out the next day.
You're right that things aren't what they used to be. I have to say that though I love technology (and obviously, it's where my marketable skills are), I think it's also a double-edged sword. It spreads information but also spreads liberal ideas. (On the other hand, with the mainstream media being so liberal, technology at least allows some alternatives to develop.)
For people trying to escape the liberal mindset on either coast, there are not that many places left. I for one would like to go to MT to become part of it; I definitely don't want to see it changed, and I'd like to see it remain as a refuge where conservatives from more liberal places can go to escape ---- provided they too want to preserve MT as it is. But, I can understand the apprehension on the part of the people who have lived there all their life, particularly in light of the stories I've heard about out of state people flipping properties and such. As I mentioned in one of my other long-winded notes, I recall such a situation happening in a once nice town where I grew up. It was originally a conservative Republican stronghold. It's now just a clone of suburbia and is totally controlled by liberals. Generally, Democrats now "own" the town and have strangled it with high taxes. But when a Republican occasionally wins, even they are generally liberal.
Well, it's great to hear from another person living in an extreme liberal state trying to find a better life in Montana and escaping the intense liberalism of the coastal states.
I'm really liking Billings so far. I've only lived here since the beginning of April though.
I'm originally from Bemidji, MN (Northern MN) and almost anywhere in the continental US is warmer than that area, so that is a plus. I think my impression of MT so far is that people are a bit more friendly than what I am used to and Billings is nice because there are so many different places to visit nearby and there are all the conveniences as well.
I also enjoy that many Montanans are anti-government involvement in every aspect of our personal lives.
That's my 2 cents.
Hi Danimarie! Thanks! Billings unfortunately was one spot I didn't get to visit on my trip to MT last year. (I drove past it.) It's definitely a place I'd want to check out once I got to MT. Glad you're enjoying it. I do like the location. (For myself, I'd probably lean towards a smaller area, but I definitely think the location can't be beat in order to get to various other parts of Montana.)
The fact that Montanans are against the government sticking its nose in every aspect of people's lives is definitely why I'm interested in the state. Here in NY, we don't have that luxury. The state wants to regulate everything....and is always running out of money because of too much graft. Their answer? Raise taxes, of course (but do so in "hidden" places such as insurance premiums).
Pursuant to request from others about this topic I have placed my response to your political rant on the "Politics and Other Controversies" thread. It doesn't belong here.
Yup, saw it and replied. Oh and just to save you a few keystrokes: "It's all Bush's fault!!!!" You're welcome. (Oh, and as a little preview, note that in my response I blamed Bush for something that happened in 1908...before he was even born! See, I'm learning from you!)
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but, if you want to "go all the way" EM is the place to be. Terry is nice, it's almost smack dab between glendive and milescity (for your geographical reference!). It's much, much smaller than glendive...you'd pretty much be driveing the 40 or so miles to glendive just for a gallon of milk (okay, you could probably find some milk there, but not much else) i've heard there's a pretty cool museum there...keep meaning to stop but haven't yet. they also have a pretty good rodeo and parade once year too!
On the EM side I vote for Miles City. Good luck.
(Oh, and as a little preview, note that in my response I blamed Bush for something that happened in 1908...before he was even born! See, I'm learning from you!)
