[Mattie Jo]

I have seen two large cockroaches in the year I have been here. Both were on sticky traps meant for brown recluse. I have not seen them running around nor in the yard. I have also caught brown recluse on them. But worse of all I just found two dead mice in them, and I didn't know we had mice. I threw out all of the sticky traps because I can't stand the thought that those mice suffered. I guess I will have to find live mouse traps. I probably brought the roaches here from CA. We had them there.

Good pasture, That as a funny chicken joke. Now if you tell me that the chickens will eat the brown recluse maybe I will get one for my house.

What I want in my house is lightning bugs. They would make good nightlights.

[Mattie Jo]

P.S. I hate big cities too. So another good point for living in those mountains south of here is that Ft. Smith is a smaller city than OKC and Tulsa. But if you lived near Grove, Fayetteville, AR is also pretty small compared.

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by Schousse

IRC gave me a nasty virus once. I prefer Yahoo or Skype.

With the proper protection in place IRC is harmless.
It's also relatively harmless if you use Linux. (I do!)
I have a Yahoo account.
Oh... and I could tell you things about Skype that would make your head spin.

M.

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

CG, here's a link to a post of mine about Tulsa. Maybe it will give you a better feel of the area.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/1119187-post2.html

Thanks VERY much Synopsis!

M.

[Mattie Jo]

OK... Would you care to elaborate on that? You have my full attention.

Okay, where is Synopsis when I need him. He loves Tulsa.

I have only been there a few times, and I hated the northern freeway that blows through town. I hated OKC for all of it's freeways. But you don't have to be on that big freeway. The streets are small, not big blvd. like in CA. Well, maybe they have them, but all I remember is hwy 71 that goes from Broken Arrow to Tulsa. At least I didn't see any. A river runs along side of Tulsa. They have some neat neighborhoods and shopping. To me it just feels more compact than OKC. They have some nice museums and a little park that I didn't really care for after having lived near San Francisco's Golden Gate and San Diego's Balboa, which by the way is all that San Diego had going for it unless you like the ocean, but we won't talk about that. They also have nice restaurants in Tulsa.

Out of all of the big cities though, I liked Fayetteville, AR. I also loved Guthrie for its nice historic homes and district, which is pretty large. It is also easy to get around in.

One other reason why I chose Tahlequah was because it was almost the same distance to Muskogee, Fayetteville, Tulsa, and Ft. Smith. But we won't talk about Muskogee. At least it is one city that I don't mind driving to, and I can find things there that are not in Tahlequah. I am afraid to drive myself to these other cities after having been in an LA accident that totaled our truck. Maybe someday. Plus, an hour and a half or so drive there and back with shopping inbetween sounds too tiring to me anymore.

Now remember mountains, and I know I have said this, are not tall like some. I think the highest ones in AR are 4,000 feet, and so I don't know if they are that tall in those Quechita mountains. I used to call those foothills in CA. as compared to those in the Sierras or Yosemite. Still, they are mountains, so they say.

[Synopsis]

Ya, the Ouachitas in Oklahoma only get up to almost 3 thousand feet, but I like them all that much better. I guess they seem a little more "accessible" than the formidable Sierra Nevadas or even the mountains in New Hampshire. Technically, they are mountains and not hills.

I'm a huge fan of Tulsa. I lived there once and would like to move back. That's if I were to live in another city. I prefer the country myself.

[Goodpasture]

CG, we are real estate appraisers, so we HAVE to have good internet. We haven't printed a paper report in over a year....everything goes out pdf, and 100% of our research is done online.....and we subscribe to data sources that have large files.....MLS's, county records, google, National geographic maps, county mapping programs, etc. We use HughesNet for our service, as the local dial up is really dirty and fails every time it gets wet.......not just rained on, but from a heavy dew. We finally dropped our land line completely.....$35 a month we don't need to spend if it fails when you need it most. We lose signal on the satellite only in the heaviest of rains.....maybe 6 times this year so far. Last winter we had to brush snow off once in a while (we got 4" one day....and I couldn't wait the three days for it to melt). At those times we just kick back, pour some ice tea and sit on the porch and enjoy the country. There isn't a job in the world that can't wait another hour before they get it.....and we have more power outages than down time on the satellite anyway.

I was thinking about how I would set up a business, and where, with your parameters and wants, and I would look at the Osage Hills area southwest of Bartlesville. Nice hill country, some spectacular views, 30 minutes from Bartlesville, 30 minutes from Tulsa.

Bartlesville is a very impressive small city. It has all the civilization you have to have.....wal-mart, car dealers, accountants, architects, engineers, etc. It has a one company economic base: Conoco-Phillips. If C-P decides to move totally to Houston, the refinery there will still be operational and with oil hitting $100 a barrel all the old stripper wells are being brought back on line providing long term service industry prospects. Bartlesville is home of the Price Tower....the only high rise office building by Frank Lloyd Wright; it offers free wifi throughout the downtown area; it has a really good historic sense, so the old downtown buildings are maintained really well; Wal-Mart has built a distribution center 12 miles south of town which lends itself to economic stability and, as it is new, will continue making a positive impact for a long time to come; there are a couple of private Universities there as well as a campus of Rogers State University; the OKMozart festival is awesome.....in short, it has a lot of things going for it.

The area I am talking about are the Osage Hills that can be found east and south of Pawhuska, around Barnsdall and Avant. Land is relatively inexpensive, taxes are low, building codes are almost non-existent, people are willing to help out, but otherwise leave you alone.

Bartlesville is 45 minutes from Tulsa with the usual excellent shopping, parks, etc. East of Tulsa is the Port of Catoosa...the most inland ocean access port in the US; Tulsa has an incredible cultural offerings, having both a philharmonic and an opera. The Jazz Festival is of national importance, the Dfest is one of the best adult alternate rock festivals around, the Octoberfest brings visitors from around the world; Tulsa even has the worlds largest gun show, with 2500 booths on 10 acres INDOORS of nothing but guns, twice a year. It is home to the Palomino Horse Association, it has an arena football team, it has ice rinks and a hockey team, There is noise about getting another soccer team there, it is home to music legends like JJ Cale, Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Leon Russell, actors like Gary Busey and Gaillard Sartain. There are 7 private degree granting Universities (University of Tulsa, whose football team just beat Army; Oral Roberts; Wesleyan, Southern Nazarene, St Gregory's University, Spartan College of Aeronautics, Phoenix University), five state University campuses (OU, OSU, Rogers State U, Northeastern State U, and Langston U), countless private tech and business schools, Vo-Tech and Tulsa Community Junior College.

If you lived near us, you would be in more of the plains, and would be about halfway between Tulsa and Stillwater, home of Oklahoma State.

Frankly, a person could do a lot worse than the Tulsa/Green Country area..........us curmudgeons are frequently conflicted......we have a desire to keep this area off the map so to speak....we don't want M*******s finding out about it......and that desire conflicts with our natural (and justifiable) need to brag........

[TheComputerGuy]

Jessaka,
Those were EXCELLENT posts and I'm really glad you took the time to do all that typing on our behalf. We really appreciate it. You seem like a VERY nice lady.

The things you spoke of are very much what we're looking for in a new place.

And speaking of being a volunteer...
Every Thanksgiving over in the next town, they have something called Project Homebound, where volunteers pack boxes of dinner items and deliver them to those less fortunate. We've been partaking in that since we discovered it.
On top of feeling good, you tend to meet really decent folk in a setting like that.
It's also a good way for the kids to learn a lot of things that some kids never get to.

RE: Making friends:
For whatever reason, I never seem to have much trouble making friends wherever I live... Don't ask me why, because I've never been the type to seek people out, it just sort of happens, and I'm one of the shyest guys you'll meet... Guess I'm just lucky like that.

RE: bugs and mice:
I assume there are rodents everywhere...
If you get a cat, you won't tend to see them unless said kitty brings it to you as a gift. (At least I didn't tell you to free range a few chickens! )
But... I hear that mice eat roaches. BTW... One of our cats eats spiders!
A lady like you might appreciate a cat if your dogs don't object too strenuously.

Looks like you've found your true home there. I hope we get that fortunate also.

Thanks SO much for your posts!

In fact, I'd like to thank everyone for all the great info...
I NEVER expected the kind of response I got.
You guys are great!
I've looked at other state forums that don't even come close... Including my own state, I'm ashamed to say.

M.
(Future Okie?)

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by TheComputerGuy

(Future Okie?)

We hope so ComputerGuy!

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

We hope so ComputerGuy!

Lets hold off on that till we find out how he waves when you drive by, ok?