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Old 09-25-2009, 03:55 PM
 
Location: las vegas
23 posts, read 75,904 times
Reputation: 25

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Hi Folks,
My family and I are moving. Depend on whether it's to West NE or East WY.
Can anyone give us info on those areas of the states?
We lived in FL for 25 yrs, now in Vegas for 3yrs, We have 4 children 5, 8, 9, 10. 1 boy and three girls, The boy is the youngest.
We both like the simple living. I am into the Survivalist methods of living and would LOVE to have a garden again.
(I grew up outside of Philly and my parents had a garden I helped in ALL summer long)
Info needed, State income taxes, Sales taxes, Smaller towns that would be recommended to live in or near.
How are the schools out there?
any any other infor that might help in our decision for NE Or WY.

Thank you in advance.

John in Vegas
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Old 09-25-2009, 11:28 PM
 
Location: Looking over your shoulder
31,304 posts, read 32,745,361 times
Reputation: 84477
If you’ve lived in Florida and Vegas you might want to think about the harsh winter weather of these two picks if you want a move there. The winters can get very difficult for those who are not adapted to them.
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Old 09-26-2009, 02:04 AM
 
Location: las vegas
23 posts, read 75,904 times
Reputation: 25
I grew up in Philly for 16 yrs. so the cold does not really bother me, I know how to keep warm. My Mom used to tell us to get out and play Snow or hot weather so it ok for me.
My wife and the kids were born and raised in FL but don't mind the cold too much here in the winter. It does get cold here in Vegas. Much colder here than in FL and She doesn't mind it.
We have talked about the cold so she's aware of it.
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Old 09-26-2009, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Nebraska
4,176 posts, read 10,649,204 times
Reputation: 9644
LOL being aware isn't like being in it! My son has lived in Vegas for 8 years, and his "cold" is NOTHING like what we have here. When you talk about 'survivalist' are you talking about being fairly isolated? -because here that can mean having your road washed out or being snowed in for days at a time. If the wind is blowing from the north at 40 mph for several hours or days, and the fire is blowing smoke back into the room instead of up the chimney, there is no power to run your water pump, your trough de-icer, or your electric or propane heater (most propane heaters come with electric pilots now) and the snow has blocked your road, how will you cook or keep warm? Or even flush your toilet or get water to your animals? These are all things that you need to think about if you are thinking about a survivalist, or even quasi-survivalist, lifestyle.

Growing vegetables on which to survive is no picnic either. Last year everyone's gardens were bountiful - this year, with 65 degree days in the middle of summer, and several late frosts, not so much. The hailstorm last week stripped many of my friends' cornstalks so badly that they had to harvest what they could before the plants died. How will you preserve your food - canning, dehydrating, freezing? - because each involves a lot of hard work and either electricity or MORE planning and hard work. Can you plant enough of everything, keep the grasshoppers, rabbits, deer, and gophers out of it, and still have enough for 6 months of winter?

Are you vegetarians or meat eaters? If you want meat, yes, wildlife is abundant - but poaching is frowned upon. What sort of animals have you raised, are willing to raise - and kill on your own? Will the soil support them? My rancher neighbor tells me that, in our area, it requires 12 acres for one cow to raise to full growth - and that does not consider the hay that must be fed in the winter. There are formulae for everything; range management is essential and you can determine what you need to know from local extension agents or local farmers/ranchers. But what you will be able to raise or hunt for meat will be determined by the type of soil and amount of property you purchase.

What I've seen of Wyoming is pretty rocky, hilly, and not conducive to growing large quantities of vegetables or grains; even terrace gardening would be difficult. The smaller and more gradual hills of NE are more tenable, but the soil needs amendments (for anything other than grasses)and nourishing and especially water. It is very dry here - not as dry as Vegas, but still not optimum for a flourishing and productive garden without a lot of work. I would strongly suggest that you examine your abilities, your requirements, your desires, and your capabilities very carefully, explore the places you are considering (especially in January or February), check soil consistency (it varies), explore access to and availability of water, and determine what you will and will not be able to create on your own on any given piece of property.

I'm NOT trying to discourage you, I just want you to understand before you make that leap that there are a lot of questions that need to be answered before you do. I moved from SC to NE last year and am enjoying every minute of it still - but I have lived in TX, NM, OH, NC, as well as traveled extensively throughout the country. I love the snow and (sometimes 0 to -40 degree) cold and actually prefer it to the moist heat of the deep South or the desert heat of Vegas. We are creating our own niche here with readily-available water and working with soil amendments and getting ready to buy our own milk cows. (I HATE milk but am passionate about making my own butter, yogurt, and cheese - and have done so before.) We just butchered half of the chicken flock we started in May, and the other half will produce the big brown free-range eggs we love. We are both experienced in animal husbandry and plant propagation, fire building, open range living and cooking, preserving, slaughtering, and butchering, building and construction, medical applications for animals and humans, and are now using all that we've learned to our advantage. But it is STILL a learning process in a new area with new challenges. Please, research, explore personally, and study the areas you're looking at, and make informed decisions. Two years before we moved, we made up a One Year, Three-Year, and Five Year plan for approaching sustainability. Then we looked for a property that would meet or at least come close to our wants, needs, and abilities. The plans have been altered and rewritten several times in the past three years - but never altering the ultimate goals and premises. I'd suggest if you haven't done so already to do so now, and set goals that are achievable and abilities that are not enhanced or exaggerated - be brutally honest with yourself and about yourself, what you and your family will or won't ever do, and go from there.

Last edited by SCGranny; 09-26-2009 at 08:54 AM..
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Old 09-26-2009, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Nebraska
4,176 posts, read 10,649,204 times
Reputation: 9644
BTW, the schools here are INCREDIBLE, at least in the smaller towns. The kids are heavily involved in FFA and sports, and the instruction is second-to-none, mostly because the schools are so small, and the teachers are all parents or grandparents, and direct the education along necessary lines. The kids learn everything from Business Law to Welding, learn how to look at a field and determine if it will sustain cattle, learn all about basic farming and ranching as well as hands-on applicable machinery maintenance. There are huge bands, chorale groups, and drama clubs in which they participate and even compete. I am sooo comfortable discussing Shakespeare or making puns on literary figures that the teens actually get. The education here is multifaceted - the kids have the opportunity to even take long-distance learning college courses in Geometry, Calculus, and English, and are totally prepared for college if that is their goal.

Property taxes in NE are pretty high and are a main deterrent to growth right now; most folks complain about them with good reason. However, by comparison to SC, the taxes are equitable; there are no State sponsored day-care centers in the schools for the students' children, no massive community addictions to Welfare and WIC and other tax-draining, unsustainable supports, and the roads are constantly in repair, sanded and plowed, and kept as clean and wide and drivable as possible. So at least here you DO get much of what you pay for.
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Old 09-26-2009, 10:16 AM
 
1,995 posts, read 3,364,135 times
Reputation: 15838
I've lived in both states. The wind in Wyoming is really bad but the taxes and colleges are cheaper.
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Old 10-06-2009, 09:24 PM
 
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
1,837 posts, read 4,132,049 times
Reputation: 575
I agree and I admire your honesty to lay it all out for the OP.. Great job here!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny View Post
LOL being aware isn't like being in it! My son has lived in Vegas for 8 years, and his "cold" is NOTHING like what we have here. When you talk about 'survivalist' are you talking about being fairly isolated? -because here that can mean having your road washed out or being snowed in for days at a time. If the wind is blowing from the north at 40 mph for several hours or days, and the fire is blowing smoke back into the room instead of up the chimney, there is no power to run your water pump, your trough de-icer, or your electric or propane heater (most propane heaters come with electric pilots now) and the snow has blocked your road, how will you cook or keep warm? Or even flush your toilet or get water to your animals? These are all things that you need to think about if you are thinking about a survivalist, or even quasi-survivalist, lifestyle.

Growing vegetables on which to survive is no picnic either. Last year everyone's gardens were bountiful - this year, with 65 degree days in the middle of summer, and several late frosts, not so much. The hailstorm last week stripped many of my friends' cornstalks so badly that they had to harvest what they could before the plants died. How will you preserve your food - canning, dehydrating, freezing? - because each involves a lot of hard work and either electricity or MORE planning and hard work. Can you plant enough of everything, keep the grasshoppers, rabbits, deer, and gophers out of it, and still have enough for 6 months of winter?

Are you vegetarians or meat eaters? If you want meat, yes, wildlife is abundant - but poaching is frowned upon. What sort of animals have you raised, are willing to raise - and kill on your own? Will the soil support them? My rancher neighbor tells me that, in our area, it requires 12 acres for one cow to raise to full growth - and that does not consider the hay that must be fed in the winter. There are formulae for everything; range management is essential and you can determine what you need to know from local extension agents or local farmers/ranchers. But what you will be able to raise or hunt for meat will be determined by the type of soil and amount of property you purchase.

What I've seen of Wyoming is pretty rocky, hilly, and not conducive to growing large quantities of vegetables or grains; even terrace gardening would be difficult. The smaller and more gradual hills of NE are more tenable, but the soil needs amendments (for anything other than grasses)and nourishing and especially water. It is very dry here - not as dry as Vegas, but still not optimum for a flourishing and productive garden without a lot of work. I would strongly suggest that you examine your abilities, your requirements, your desires, and your capabilities very carefully, explore the places you are considering (especially in January or February), check soil consistency (it varies), explore access to and availability of water, and determine what you will and will not be able to create on your own on any given piece of property.

I'm NOT trying to discourage you, I just want you to understand before you make that leap that there are a lot of questions that need to be answered before you do. I moved from SC to NE last year and am enjoying every minute of it still - but I have lived in TX, NM, OH, NC, as well as traveled extensively throughout the country. I love the snow and (sometimes 0 to -40 degree) cold and actually prefer it to the moist heat of the deep South or the desert heat of Vegas. We are creating our own niche here with readily-available water and working with soil amendments and getting ready to buy our own milk cows. (I HATE milk but am passionate about making my own butter, yogurt, and cheese - and have done so before.) We just butchered half of the chicken flock we started in May, and the other half will produce the big brown free-range eggs we love. We are both experienced in animal husbandry and plant propagation, fire building, open range living and cooking, preserving, slaughtering, and butchering, building and construction, medical applications for animals and humans, and are now using all that we've learned to our advantage. But it is STILL a learning process in a new area with new challenges. Please, research, explore personally, and study the areas you're looking at, and make informed decisions. Two years before we moved, we made up a One Year, Three-Year, and Five Year plan for approaching sustainability. Then we looked for a property that would meet or at least come close to our wants, needs, and abilities. The plans have been altered and rewritten several times in the past three years - but never altering the ultimate goals and premises. I'd suggest if you haven't done so already to do so now, and set goals that are achievable and abilities that are not enhanced or exaggerated - be brutally honest with yourself and about yourself, what you and your family will or won't ever do, and go from there.
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Old 10-09-2009, 10:27 AM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,932 posts, read 12,178,264 times
Reputation: 16097
there are plenty of warm areas in the western nebraska panhandle, and southern wyoming.. the warm areas will be the windy areas though, since it's the downsloping winds that create the warmth. Any snow that falls in these areas won't stay long, and although it does get cold, it's not the neverending cold that occurs in say Eastern SD where I am, MN, northern IA, northern WI, and places like that.

Rock springs, WY is an example of a reasonably warm area where bitter cold is broken up by temps in the 50s and 60s pretty much all the time.... and the winds really aren't all that high there either. Lots of sweet spots, just gotta look.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Rock-Springs-Wyoming.html
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Old 11-28-2009, 12:53 AM
 
8 posts, read 29,760 times
Reputation: 12
hey there! Moving to Nebraska next week from Michigan, I was reading your comment and became interested in the "warm areas"!! We are hoping to relocate to the Scottsbluff area as we will be working in Torrington, WY. So my question, is Scottsbluff considered a "warm area" and if not, are there any in a close range to Scottsbluff?? Thank you!
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Old 12-03-2009, 04:48 PM
 
163 posts, read 212,746 times
Reputation: 61
Warm is a relative term. I have a dau. near Torrington. It seems winters there are always warmer than what we get here.
As for "used to cold" and being from Philadelphia. Friend, there's one HUGE difference in winter in PA and winter out here. In Philly it's "cool" even "damp" In the western part of NE and Eastern WY it's cold, snowy, windy, but not as bad as some places like eastern SD or North Dakota, heaven forbid.
We joke about being snowbirds to Nebraska. We go down to see daughter in the winter to enjoy the nice warm weather because as a rule the weather there is warmer and not as snowy as eastern South Dakota.
To hseymour, you're in the "warm" area out there. Enjoy!!!!!
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