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Old 04-19-2011, 01:53 PM
 
Location: K-Town Germany
18 posts, read 49,463 times
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BTW, does anyone have some good sites for homes that I can be looking over?
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Old 04-19-2011, 02:23 PM
 
Location: E ND & NW MN
4,818 posts, read 10,970,262 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moonpie70 View Post
DaninEGF,

Thanks again for the links! I look around earlier at the school site and found the Thompson district. I have already looked at the Cannon area and even if they could meet the SPED needs, the environment is not to my liking. So ND it is if the AF will see things my way. So I plan on contacting the schools to get a feel of what they can provide or what info they can give to me.

I will be looking around on google map to get a better idea of the area around Thompson.

So I gather no indoor running tracks huh? Good thing that I do like to watch hockey. Honestly, I have never given cross country skiing much thought before. Then again I have never given much thought to any winter sports.

Hopefully we will know somthing within the next 2 weeks. Then I will be able to make some concrete plans.
Indoor running tracks....the YMCA has one.... and the city is building a new rec center on the south end with a running track. It hasnt broken ground yet but will this summer.

Dan
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Old 04-19-2011, 03:57 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,932,772 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moonpie70 View Post
Thank you Elkhunter! Happy to be here.

Umm...where do I find such layering clothing? I have a Jack Wolfskin coat and that is it. Oh..and the hubby said the 500 hoodies as well. LOL Really though, what do you suggest or some place to find this stuff??
Last winter I was feeding horses at -20F. I wore:

t-shirt
Long underwear
denim shirt
denim pants
sweatshirt
bigger sweatshirt
insulated hoodie
Jean jacket

Nothing fancy, can all be picked up at Wally World or K-mart.

When it got colder I wore the same thing, but added insulated bib-overalls.

Don't purchase gloves, boots, or hats until you get there. The stuff they sell where you are at, are completely different material. Lighter, thinner type stuff.
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Old 04-19-2011, 04:42 PM
 
Location: E ND & NW MN
4,818 posts, read 10,970,262 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moonpie70 View Post
BTW, does anyone have some good sites for homes that I can be looking over?
Yes, the easiest one to use and one which you can view the MLS listings is through Greenberg Realty. Greenberg and Prudential Crary are the main ones in the area...though there are others such as Century 21 Red River Realty, Oxford Realty, ReMax and other smaller ones.

The Grand Forks area realtors MLS has listings for the entire region surrounding Grand Forks. In the menu options on locations you can adjust as needed....

Greenberg Realty Flex MLS Search

though the above is a greenberg site you are looking at all MLS listings regardless of real estate company.

also Find Real Estate Listings, School and Neighborhood Information and More - Realtor.com® is good...but I prefer the above link for MLS as I dont know if realtor.com lists them all.


Also you can check some for sale by owner homes....
Grand Forks Homes For Sale By Owner
Grand Forks For Sale By Owner | Homes For Sale By Owner in Grand Forks

I have helped some Air Force folks move to the area. One couple arrived in February from California....another arrived last fall and got a rental single family home via air force listings in East Grand Forks. About rental single family homes, they are in short supply as this is mainly a home buying market. Homes for rent tend to be the older ones.... Rental homes and apartments are often listed on craiglist for grand forks. But be aware there are posts there which lead to national sites, and most national sites for rentals are very poor for Grand Forks and surrounding areas and are not worthwhile.

Grand Forks is a pretty nice community. A mix of white/blue colllar. Generally north end of town (north of DeMers Ave is more industrial and older) with the newer development on the south end, esp south of 32nd Ave S. 32nd Ave S is the main shopping strip in the city...esp the part near the Interstate (I-29). We have a superTarget, superWalmart, a typical mall with Macy's, Penney's, Sears, a Lowes, Menards, we are getting an Olive Garden this year (which is big news for us). We have Buffalo Wild Wings, Applebees, etc with some locally owned places more so downtown. There is a farmer's market later half of summer into the fall where a lot of the Mennonite community comes to town to sell veggies, etc.

Crime in town is generally related to minor property stuff. Murders and violent crime is very rare and I consider all parts of the town safe to walk around. Fortunately, like most of the local area, we have avoided the gang problems prevelent in other areas of the country. The Greenway located along the Red River has many walking/running paths and two pedestrian bridges connect the Minnesota and North Dakota side at the north and south ends of the Greenway.

I agree with Elk Hunter, wait til you arrive to purchase clothing for the cold season. What you want varies greatly on what you will do outside. A good coat, gloves, scarf, and hat are a must. Dont go overboard, as you dont want to dress too heavily if all you do is walk from the car to the store and back. I like the cold weather, and can easily adjust to cold. It is the heat I dont like....I much rather have below zero than 80 degrees....

You may read about flooding along the Red River. In 1997 the town was heavily damaged near the river due to a record flood. The downtown was flooded severely and some areas had to be torn down. Since 97, a flood control wall and earthen levee system was completed to protect both Grand Forks and EGF to a 60 ft flood. So for us, the flooding in the early spring doesnt bother us. The Red River flows north and freezes over in the winter. When the snow melts and river unfreezes, lots of water heads into the river and causes it to flood. The area is very flat in the valley. There are no natural hills in town....one man made sledding hill along the levee (Lincoln Park).

Any ? please ask. I do hope you find some info in regards to your kids education. That is something I know little to nothing about. good luck

Dan
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Old 04-19-2011, 08:44 PM
 
Location: E ND & NW MN
4,818 posts, read 10,970,262 times
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Hi again

Grand Forks is home to the University of North Dakota a school with about 13,000 undergrads...

There is a department below which possibly may be of some interest to you.... I read your description of your kids....but I am sorry I dont know enough to know if something like the below is useful to you or not. So if not I apologize.


University of North Dakota
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Montgomery Hall Room 101
290 Centennial Dr Stop 8040
Grand Forks, ND 58202-8040
(701) 777-3232
Fax: (701) 777-4578

http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/speced/general/directory.pdf

Dan
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Old 04-21-2011, 09:44 AM
 
Location: K-Town Germany
18 posts, read 49,463 times
Reputation: 11
Thank you Dan and Elkhunter for your information. As funny as some would see it, the example of what you layered was vital for my understanding of the proper layering. I felt like a stuff pita after reading your example.

Dan, I looked at your links and yes, the school ones do have valuable information that I will be using over the next few weeks. My hubby, had a bite for a assignment to GA but it would not be good for his career so he is not taking it. As long as I get Cannon knocked off our list due to the lack of education services, I will be pumping you guys for more information as time goes by.

Hubby is now open to on base living due to concerns over the housing market and the newness of me driving in that weather. (He is from the mountains of PA so he is a tad bit more experienced than I am.)

OH how I love BWW!! I will be sooo glad to live near one again! Olive Garden is okay but after spending time in Italy...it is gonna be hard to think of it as Italian ever again. LOL But I promise to try. The farmers markets sound wonderful as well. So, I am finding good things from you all everyday that gives me something to be thankful for and to look forward too. Heck, I even read on here that hubby does not have to get rid of his rear wheel drive truck... We just have to invest in sand and innertubes.

I did look up the college and was thrilled to find that they have Political Science as a degree so I can finish up there if I decide to move from online classes to in-class classes. Once I get a handle on the cold, I think that this can be a good move for us in the end.
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Old 04-21-2011, 04:28 PM
 
Location: E ND & NW MN
4,818 posts, read 10,970,262 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moonpie70 View Post
Thank you Dan and Elkhunter for your information. As funny as some would see it, the example of what you layered was vital for my understanding of the proper layering. I felt like a stuff pita after reading your example.

Dan, I looked at your links and yes, the school ones do have valuable information that I will be using over the next few weeks. My hubby, had a bite for a assignment to GA but it would not be good for his career so he is not taking it. As long as I get Cannon knocked off our list due to the lack of education services, I will be pumping you guys for more information as time goes by.

Hubby is now open to on base living due to concerns over the housing market and the newness of me driving in that weather. (He is from the mountains of PA so he is a tad bit more experienced than I am.)

OH how I love BWW!! I will be sooo glad to live near one again! Olive Garden is okay but after spending time in Italy...it is gonna be hard to think of it as Italian ever again. LOL But I promise to try. The farmers markets sound wonderful as well. So, I am finding good things from you all everyday that gives me something to be thankful for and to look forward too. Heck, I even read on here that hubby does not have to get rid of his rear wheel drive truck... We just have to invest in sand and innertubes.

I did look up the college and was thrilled to find that they have Political Science as a degree so I can finish up there if I decide to move from online classes to in-class classes. Once I get a handle on the cold, I think that this can be a good move for us in the end.

You have the right attitude. I have moved around some myself working up the career ladder...and one thing I realize is that attitude makes all the difference in the move. Yes, it is colder and snowier than you are used to, but that will open up additional opportunities to explore that maybe you havent been able to. Grand Forks and the whole area is in the middle of a booming agricultural area as the red river valley was once the bottom of a glacial lake. The result is it is very flat and the soil right in the immediate valley is very dark and rich. Life here is not flashy, it is pretty slow paced for the most part, but with the univerisity here there are many things going on that a similar town of 55k may not have. One draw back is that it is a bit far from a larger metro area....twin cities is about 5-6 hours away and Winnipeg is 2 1/2 hours north. On the Minnesota forum there was a discussion about "Minnesota nice" and that applies here too. Most of the original settlers of the area were Norwegian, Swedish, and Germans (mostly Germans from Russia) and are pretty reserved and mind their own business. Thus they are not apt to run you down to welcome you, but they will help you out if asked for.

If you do go with base housing, I do know they have rennovated the housing there a lot. On the positive you do have the company of other air force families. The downside you will have to travel the 10-12 miles to town for most shopping as the area right off the base is pretty sparse. There has always been great support for the base here in the area, so you will not be moving to an area where you have to hide the fact that your husband works at the base.

Oh, there is a nice real Italian food restaurant downtown....
http://www.giuseppesingrandforks.com/#link1


There is an art's festival downtown Grand Forks in June
http://www.novac.org/

Park district website
http://www.gfparks.org/

If your family enjoys fishing there is Devils Lake about 1 1/2 hours west which is a huge fishing resort area....and there are many lakes just east of us in Minnesota....Lake of the Woods is very popular with ice fishing in the winter. Hunting is also popular.... There is Cabela's store in downtown East Grand Forks, which is a nationwide chain focusing on the outdoors.


shoot me on this forum or direct message me if you have any questions along the way....

Dan

Last edited by Kamsack; 04-21-2011 at 04:36 PM..
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Old 04-21-2011, 11:17 PM
 
Location: Northern WI
4 posts, read 9,757 times
Reputation: 15
moonpie -

to help with your lack of sunlight, you could always tan a couple of times each week. It would help your body produce more suitable levels of vitamin D which could be supplemented with the liquid vit D that WM sells for just over $6, one-month supply (for one person).

I am relocating to ND over the summer but not certain yet which city will be my landing spot.
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Old 04-21-2011, 11:54 PM
 
26 posts, read 59,045 times
Reputation: 21
It sounds like you are no longer considering an acreage so this may be a moot point, but I'd like to gently suggest a lot of research before aquiring a backyard horse. I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that you do not have extensive horse experience. I don't either. I have just enough horse experience to know that I don't know nearly enough! If you are interested in a horse, I would recommend boarding somewhere with a community of helpful boarders before going it on your own. Or even leasing a horse or just taking lessons at a training or boarding barn to start. Other boarders are a wealth of useful (and not useful!) advice.
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Old 04-29-2011, 08:17 AM
 
3 posts, read 10,542 times
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I don't know if this is an option for your husband but you guys may want to try to look into the bases in Colorado Springs. From what you have posted that maybe the best place. It gets the cold and snow but like this week we had snow on Tuesday and its 70's today and snow tomorrow. The snow doesn't hang around. The education system is really good too.

As for Grand Forks you may have a hard time finding a realtor (we are moving in Aug there) who will work with you especially if you can't go house hunting ahead of time or you don't find anything when you are there. We have so far gone through three so far. Also finding a realtor who understand that you are willing to commute is going to be hard as well. Commute it seems like is a four letter word there. We have looked at different areas and I have had realtors tell me that we really don't want to live in x town. When we went house hunting we figured out why most people live on base. In reality at least from what we have seen with the houses that are on the market right now base housing is actually nicer (they are saying it will be privatised within the next year). From what we have seen people don't seem to take pride in their houses and don't really keep their houses in a good condition. The ones that are priced right and look nice really do sell within a short time.

There is a GFAFB spouses group on facebook that you can join and ask questions and get some more information.
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