Move to Maine??? every passing day you will find this to be true: (Portland: 2014, rentals)

[animalcrazy]

Thanks Maineah I miss shooting my 22. What does fiddlehead mean? I agree that your neighbors were ignorant. My inlaws lived in rural Wis. on a lake and had a similar problem with snowmobilers using their driveway to get to the lake. My mother inlaw being the delicate creature she is marched out there and told them to get off her property. I think I would have done the same in a nice way to your neighbors. People do stupid things without realizing. Your place sounds like heaven. I was born and raised in the Chicago area but have always been a country girl at heart. I had two Chinese silky roosters in my yard (much to my husbands dismay) and a potbelly pig that lived with us for 14 years. Our yard is private enough to run around naked in after 10pm except for the time we had just got out of the spa and our neighbor was standing on her porch and I realized I was just holding my towel. OOPS. We never talked about it. I would love to live in the country but I don't think I could handle the loneliness. We have no kids and no family, so having some social life would be important. I would like to explore Auburn, Belfast, and maybe Camden. We like to ski and love the ocean. Any ideas thoughts would be appreciated. I can't wait to see Maine in the summer.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by animalcrazy

Thanks Maineah I miss shooting my 22. What does fiddlehead mean? I agree that your neighbors were ignorant. My inlaws lived in rural Wis. on a lake and had a similar problem with snowmobilers using their driveway to get to the lake. My mother inlaw being the delicate creature she is marched out there and told them to get off her property. I think I would have done the same in a nice way to your neighbors. People do stupid things without realizing. Your place sounds like heaven. I was born and raised in the Chicago area but have always been a country girl at heart. I had two Chinese silky roosters in my yard (much to my husbands dismay) and a potbelly pig that lived with us for 14 years. Our yard is private enough to run around naked in after 10pm except for the time we had just got out of the spa and our neighbor was standing on her porch and I realized I was just holding my towel. OOPS. We never talked about it. I would love to live in the country but I don't think I could handle the loneliness. We have no kids and no family, so having some social life would be important. I would like to explore Auburn, Belfast, and maybe Camden. We like to ski and love the ocean. Any ideas thoughts would be appreciated. I can't wait to see Maine in the summer.

Fiddleheads are a spring green that grows along the banks of rivers and streams. They are kind of a delicacy in Maine. They are the coiled up shoots of the ostrich fern and resemble the tuning head of a fiddle thus the name fiddlehead. We pick them, steam or boil them until tender, put the butter and malt vinegar to them and enjoy them. Some of the places where I pick them I cross a friend's land to get to them. I always make sure it's OK to go every spring.
It's hard for me to suggest a place in Maine for you to try as your needs are exactly 180 degrees opposed from mine. I'd just as soon be down a half mile long dirt driveway smack in the middle of 50 acres with no one anywhere near me. To me that would be ideal.

[animalcrazy]

Wow I have those growing all over my backyard. They start in early April here. If I pick the bloom will it destroy the look of the plant. They are so beautiful. They produce these beautiful brown plums in the fall that are gorgeous with what little snow we get here. I understand the attraction of rural living and I am torn. (I always wanted a goat and a horse) I would live rural if we stayed in IL. as we have a good social network, but there just isn't enough snow here. Illinois is not even half as beautiful as Maine, and you have to drive forever to go fishing. We will find what we are looking for and have fun doing it.Thanks Maineah who knows maybe someday we will target practice together.

[denverian]

Hmmm.... now I'm wondering if I ever want to visit Maine, the only state I've never been to. I'd never move there, but always thought I'd like to visit. Is the hostility to outsiders that common, or just on CD? I live in a neighborhood where we have block parties, pop in to our neighbors' homes, meet with our kids in parks, and the houses are 10' apart... and I love that!

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by denverian

Hmmm.... now I'm wondering if I ever want to visit Maine, the only state I've never been to. I'd never move there, but always thought I'd like to visit. Is the hostility to outsiders that common, or just on CD? I live in a neighborhood where we have block parties, pop in to our neighbors' homes, meet with our kids in parks, and the houses are 10' apart... and I love that!

Hostility is in the eyes of the ranter, actually. At times we get folks on here that, for whatever reason, cannot stand to be here. They rant on here and generally spew venom at anyone; kind of like a shotgun pattern. There have been a few who do it on different state forums so Maine's is not alone. Some even move here, move away in disgust, then move back in chagrin, only to spew more venom and leave again. We're dealing with human nature. Maine is not all it is cracked up to be, bad or good. We're, for the most part, just normal people who are generally friendly and easy to get along with. Barring condescension or insults, that is.

Come visit. You'll probably like it. Who knows, you may grab a real estate book on the way out.

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by denverian

Hmmm.... now I'm wondering if I ever want to visit Maine, the only state I've never been to. I'd never move there, but always thought I'd like to visit. Is the hostility to outsiders that common, or just on CD? I live in a neighborhood where we have block parties, pop in to our neighbors' homes, meet with our kids in parks, and the houses are 10' apart... and I love that!

Come on up. When you find a guy with a tin hat measuring Dano's back yard, you'll know you found the right place.

[RMoore007]

Originally Posted by denverian

Hmmm.... now I'm wondering if I ever want to visit Maine, the only state I've never been to. I'd never move there, but always thought I'd like to visit. Is the hostility to outsiders that common, or just on CD? I live in a neighborhood where we have block parties, pop in to our neighbors' homes, meet with our kids in parks, and the houses are 10' apart... and I love that!

Wecome to virtual Maine. Maine is no different than Colorado except for the Coloradan's. Maine has 10' apart houses and block parties too. As far as people hostile to outsiders in Maine, I believe it's more brutal honesty than hostility. And it's funny that so many people want to come here because of the Maine CDers friendliness and openness, not hostility. If you haven't been to Vacationland yet, you haven't been to where "you can't get there from here".

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by denverian

Hmmm.... now I'm wondering if I ever want to visit Maine, the only state I've never been to. I'd never move there, but always thought I'd like to visit. Is the hostility to outsiders that common, or just on CD? I live in a neighborhood where we have block parties, pop in to our neighbors' homes, meet with our kids in parks, and the houses are 10' apart... and I love that!

It's not really so much 'hostility' as that, outside of the larger cities you don't have big neighborhoods of 'ticky tacky' houses like you would find in the suburbs of Boston or New York or whatever. Instead, you have bigger open spaces, farms and ranches and whatnot. It's a different mindset and way of life. Some folks value their privacy and others are simply too busy making their living to be concerned with things like block parties and 'neighborhood' get-togethers.

I grew up with open spaces and woods and such, then later I lived in a suburb where I could look out my kitchen window and see what the next-door neighbor was having for dinner, hear them fighting, hear the %$#& parrot screeching all the time and the dog they ignored barking 'til 3AM, the under-age **** daughter coming around making suggestive comments etc. etc. No thanks.

I like coming home from work, smelling the fresh air redolent with the scent of pine trees- like going camping, except I *live* here all the time. Some times I can hear some noises from other houses around but it's not bad. There are no cars whizzing by 10 feet from the front door with gigantic am.plifiers pounding out noise so loud that I can't hear the TV inside my house. I can watch the deer grazing in the field and the turkeys wandering through, peepers and bullfrogs in chorus in the evenings and the robins singing in the morning.

It's a lot less stressful, more relaxing.

Go ahead and visit, enjoy nature, visit the coastal towns or party in Portland. You don't have to live here if you don't want to. If you did, though, and were near me you could get a cup of coffee and chat on the porch or whatever and, one of these days, I might even throw a little party here.

[animalcrazy]

To Denverian Maine was wonderful and the best vacation we had in awhile. We had no plans other than to see a house for sale in Bangor. We landed in Manchester NH and rented a car to just drive around. The people were wonderful friendly and helpful. We have traveled all over the world but there is something about Maine. Go see you won't be disappointed. We can't wait to go back and eat more lobsters.

[animalcrazy]

Hi Mollysmiles and Maineah, I just finished reading some old posts about the Yarmouth Clam festival and thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm new to the forum as you know, and still exploring it. You guys make my day and thanks for that. Your life is so rich there. Chicago has the Taste but it's overcrowded, overpriced, and not on the ocean. I stopped going years ago. I believe there was a shooting there last year. There seems to be a shooting somewhere in and around Chicago that's far to common for my taste, and probably 2 or 3 a month would show up in the ER where I used to work. I watched a 16 year old die in front of my eyes about 20 years ago and I never forgot how horrible that was. (They are usually doa.) We both have intense jobs and can't wait for a change to a slower way of life. Maine just felt like home when we were there. I know a lot of you are finding it difficult to make a living and that is true of everyone everywhere now, however, you live in paradise and we live in a polluted, overcrowded town. I'm soooo jealous! Time to get ready for work. (Thank God I have a job to go to.) But I wish I was there in Maine.


Mod Note: Sounds like Maine would be quite a change of pace -- Mollysmiles and Maineah are certainly good resources when it comes to info on the state.

That said, in order to help keep the thread on topic, please use either the Off Topic thread or the Direct Message system for personal-type conversations.

Thanks.