Recommendations please! (Seattle: best city, college, earthquake)

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by 509

Hey, we just got a place outside of Tucson.

Other than it rains more in Tucson than Wenatchee the weather isn't too bad and much nicer in winter.

Nice thing about Tucson when it comes to light pollution and other environmental issues they walk the talk as opposed to Seattle which believes "it is better to talk GREEN than to be green".

Some friends of mine in Seattle got a winter place there a couple of years ago. They like to escape the Seattle gloom for a few months, and soak up the sun. But by April, the heat gets to them, and they have to leave. But then, April in Seattle can be glorious, so it's just as well. Tucson seems to be a popular escape for sunlight-deprived Washingtonians, especially Western WA.

[PanapolicRiddle]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The middle of the Sonoran desert, with some of the highest temperatures on Earth, where life is impossible without nearly year-round air-conditioning, is not a practical place to build a city. It's like saying, "Hey, let's build a city in the middle of the Kalahari!", or, "I hear real estate is cheap in the Gobi! Let's build a city there, and they will come!"

Completely hyperbolic. Tucson is beautiful Nov-April. May and October are also nice most of the time. It's only intolerably hot during summer.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by PanapolicRiddle

Completely hyperbolic. Tucson is beautiful Nov-April. May and October are also nice most of the time. It's only intolerably hot during summer.

That's my point. That intolerably hot summer lasts 6 months. May is uncomfortable enough for some people to head north already. It just doesn't make sense. But there are a lot of places in the SW like that; the towns bordering the Mojave Desert, for example. Palm Desert. The south of New Mexico. Etc.

I kind of see your point, though; you're saying--the glass is half full, because almost half the year the place is tolerable. And I'm saying the glass is half empty. Either way, it takes a heck of a lot of electrical power to keep that much air conditioning going for 6 months. And where does that power come from? Coal, at the Navajo station? That's phasing out. Hydroelectric? Water is drying up. A lot of these desert locations simply aren't going to be practical anymore.

[elkotronics]

It does cool off at night in the SW desert, though. And if you pick a place near the mountains like Alamogordo, you can escape the heat by driving up the mountains. I prefer the desert SW but you do have to have a line on some serious A/C!

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by 509

Hey, we just got a place outside of Tucson.

Other than it rains more in Tucson than Wenatchee the weather isn't too bad and much nicer in winter.

Nice thing about Tucson when it comes to light pollution and other environmental issues they walk the talk as opposed to Seattle which believes "it is better to talk GREEN than to be green".

Yep, western WA towns generally have horrible light pollution and nobody even seems to care. It's as though they are scared of the dark. Seattle crime obviously factors into this, but even in fairly safe areas there is a superabundance of lights that STAY ON ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. Why not just get timers or motion detectors instead? That would be kinder to wild critters and conserve energy.

Tucson is one of the few cities I like to visit. It's not glitzy or hip. Good!

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Yep, western WA towns generally have horrible light pollution and nobody even seems to care. It's as though they are scared of the dark. Seattle crime obviously factors into this, but even in fairly safe areas there is a superabundance of lights that STAY ON ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. Why not just get timers or motion detectors instead? That would be kinder to wild critters and conserve energy.

I guess you're right! I'm in rural WA, and I have a large mercury vapor light, and several other porch lights that are on all night, and I love them! Well worth the energy used, which I pay for.

Light is not pollution. I want to be able to look out and see what's out there.

Is this really a problem for you? Do we need another thread to hash this out?

[pikabike]

Light on all the time is not pollution? You must be joking.

Motion detectors would let you see what has entered your property. Whether you pay for leaving lights on all night has nothing to do with the subject.

I am not starting another thread or taking this any further in here. The purpose of these threads is to let both good and bad be aired about a prospective home area.

[Diana Holbrook]

Not joking at all. I don't like motion lights. Personal preference. I don't need to talk about it... just didn't want to drag the thread off topic talking about it here.

Have a good night.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Light on all the time is not pollution? You must be joking.

Motion detectors would let you see what has entered your property. Whether you pay for leaving lights on all night has nothing to do with the subject.

I am not starting another thread or taking this any further in here. The purpose of these threads is to let both good and bad be aired about a prospective home area.

I know that this is off-topic, but I completely agree.

I've lived in rural Washington all my life, and I hate those damn mercury or sodium lights on the telephone pole next to their house, that people insist on having on all night long. What's the point?

[Diana Holbrook]

Sorry! I think we should have a thread about it. I'm as surprised to see nightlight-hate as you are to see nightlight-love. I'll play if you make one.

My point is to see look out and see and deter predators (two or four legged) around my property and barn. I have pets and small and large livestock I keep safe. I like being able to see out and know if there is something there. Motion lights going on and off with every passing cat and wind in the branches would make me crazy. That's all.