[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by hotchildinthecitiy

Every one is excited when they see their fist winter. After about 4 you will shake your fist at the sky and curse god you ever moved there. When your car wont start because the oil is to thick, or the wiper motor burns out because the ice has frozen it down, or the ice dam in spring backs up and you get a river in your home. Maybe your pipes freeze, You are out shoveling snow and it is filling in faster then you can pitch it. Your car does cart wheels in the ice and you burry it in the snow bank. You get the high tax bill along with a pink slip that your job is gone [unless you are retired] Yep give it a few years and you will be looking at Craig’s list to see what property is going for in Florida. I have seen it so many times before.
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

A few suggestions will help you with a lot of these problems.

1. Use multi viscosity oil. It was invented about 40 - 50 years ago. It contains agents that keep it from getting thinner as it heats up. Thus, you can use a much thinner base oil (i.e. 5w30 or 10w30) and it will not thicken up enough in the cold to make any difference at all.

2. Buy a snowblower; or hire your local high school enterpurneur to clear your driveway.

3. Find a different car; or slow down and stay off the brakes when it is icy or snowy on the road.

4. Taxes here about about average for the country as a whole. Property taxes are higher, income and sales taxes are lower. When the total tax burden is compared we come out in the middle. So if you get a huge property tax bill that shocks you, go buy something. The low sales tax will make you feel better.

5. If you lose your job, spend all of your time going onto CD and complaining about Michigan rather than going out and finding another job. Remember, even with 10% unemployment, 90% are employed. There are jobs, they are just hard to find and take a lot of effort. My brother lost his job, and found another at better pay in less than ten days in a field where he had no expereince or skills. Everyone that I know who has lost their job found another if they looked and remained flexible. If you have to find a new job, you might be forced to move or commute a long way. That will be hard if you own a house. Real estate simply does not sell here.

Probably some people will be unable to find any job at all,even with great effort, I just have not run into any such person. I feel sorry for the people who find that they are forced to leave to find work. Too many find out that the jobs in other states are hard ot get, hard to keep and often substantially lower paying. Couple that with a complete loss on their home and they have a disaster in hand. No idea what the answer is for those people.


This is my 29th winter here (with an 18 year hiatus in So Cal. in the middle). I have never had the problems identified in the post quoted above (although our van does get stuck in the driveway a lot). I never curse the sky, nor winter, nor the decision to move here. I like winter. I do dislike the short days, days with extremely high wind, and weeks with no sunshine, but overall it is a good place to live. Great people here and lots of beautiful places. No crowds, not much traffic. Aside from the economic problems, it is a great place to be.

[mostie]

My suggestion, get a vehicle that has 4-wheel drive, lol- we're still looking for work (we're probably 50 miles or so from you, sunshine)-one day last week, it actually got down to 18 below...yesterday, we had darn near a blizzard, and the electricity went out for a few hours...a week ago, our hot water pipes froze up for several days (after the 18 below, lol)-

But today, as I sit here and type this, I'm looking out over a beautiful frozen lake to the other side, and the sun is coming up, with no clouds in the sky- the hot water is back, the electricity is on (obviously, haha)-and I realize that if you have a good attitude (which it sounds as if you do), you can be happy just about anywhere!

[mostie]

One other thing I forgot to add...someone mentioned the fall, etc. being beautiful here- they weren't kidding, especially the fall- absolutely breathtaking!

[Mamama Mia]

I love Traverse City and Grand Traverse Bay. Welcome to Michigan, our second home state!

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

This is my 29th winter here (with an 18 year hiatus in So Cal. in the middle). I have never had the problems identified in the post quoted above (although our van does get stuck in the driveway a lot). I never curse the sky, nor winter, nor the decision to move here. I like winter. I do dislike the short days, days with extremely high wind, and weeks with no sunshine, but overall it is a good place to live. Great people here and lots of beautiful places. No crowds, not much traffic. Aside from the economic problems, it is a great place to be.

I have to agree 100% with this. 35 winters in Michigan, 2 in Texas, and 18 winters in Northern Maine. The last time I ended up stuck in a ditch was in the winter of 1980 when they plowed the banks back and went over the edge of the ditch. I went to turn around and the right front tire sunk into the snow in the ditch. Vehicles always start because I maintain them properly, and make sure they have the right fluids.
Times are tough all over right now, and if you can find work here, there is no better place to live and enjoy the 4 seasons. Might as well be poor in a beautiful area with things to do and see, than be poor in a crowded hot desert. If you are lucky enough to have skills that are needed, you can make a very good living here, even in this economy, as well as enjoy all that MI has to offer.

[sunshineann]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

[michmoldman]

Welcome! As much beauty as there is in lower Michigan, don't forget...when you cross the bridge it gets even better!