[okie1962]

Not only is the heat something to deal with but so are the ticks, chiggers and scary bugs. In the summer near Crowder,OK the tarantula spiders start crawling all over the roads in and around that area just before sunset. I have seen the same thing just east of Tahlequah and down in Pushmataha county.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by okie1962

Not only is the heat something to deal with but so are the ticks, chiggers and scary bugs. In the summer near Crowder,OK the tarantula spiders start crawling all over the roads in and around that area just before sunset. I have seen the same thing just east of Tahlequah and down in Pushmataha county.

Your right about the ticks and chiggers. I sometimes tell people my ranch raises ticks, chiggers and cows on the side.

[_redbird_]

We have a family member who is allergic to chigger bites. They get red and puss - y (OMG, cant' believe that got deleted). They don't bother me nearly that bad. Just buy "Chiggarid".

We had to use 7 Dust inside our house on the carpet. We had an infestation inside the house of baby seed ticks. The morkie is a tick magnet, while the GSD rarely picks them up.

Another pet concern is herlichiosys (sp?) which our GSDs are prone to due to the mosquitoes. I still sit outside at night in the summer, but you can bet your bottom dollar it is with heavy duty DEET. The kind hunters use.

Oddly enough, I like all those horrible country inconveniences. It's hard to explain, but it makes it home.

[Goodpasture]

sheesh guys, just burn off your yard and get rid of most of them. just be careful and only burn a few feet at a time and it will be fine.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

sheesh guys, just burn off your yard and get rid of most of them. just be careful and only burn a few feet at a time and it will be fine.

I roam around on 300 acres. Mostly forested so that wouldn't be a too good of an idea. I hate all the spray I have to use on me not alone on my poor dogs.

[flintysooner]

We've been feeding the dogs black walnut hull powder for ticks with some pretty good success. Not perfect but not any worse than the poisons.

[okie1962]

Originally Posted by flintysooner

We've been feeding the dogs black walnut hull powder for ticks with some pretty good success. Not perfect but not any worse than the poisons.

Where do you get black walnut hull powder?

[Annemieke Roell]

Originally Posted by debbie at bouontiful

I roam around on 300 acres. Mostly forested so that wouldn't be a too good of an idea. I hate all the spray I have to use on me not alone on my poor dogs.

Get a bunch of guinneas to roam around your house.

[Mattie Jo]

diversity, night life, cultural sort of things.

These things are never important to people in the big cities until after they get here, and then all they do is complain that there is no where to shop. I do most of my shopping online, and I really miss walking into a store and seeing all the goodies, touching them, seeing the views around a city. sitting in a cafe with friends. before you move here try shopping at walmart for a month and see how that feels. if it feels good then by all means you will love small town oklahoma. well, try it for a few months. (In a month i get to go shopping in eureka springs. I can't wait.)

doctors. in small towns you may not find good doctors, so you will end up having to drive to okc and tulsa for important things, like anything other than the cold for flu. and this is especially true when you are old, because you will get sent to tulsa or okc when you least feel like traveling. so whatever you do, move within an hour of a big city, but then if you do you may end up in traffic and in a city anyway.

we have a lot of diversity, but i really miss not seeing many asians, east indians, etc. and i really miss having good ethnic restaurants outside of mexican and chinese, which is really nothing like real mexican and chinese food. and i know the restaurants here are not good, because i have traveled thoughout mexico and been to china town s.f. often enough. but if you like steaks, barbecue, etc. then you will like it here.

schools. the teachers are more than likely good. i know a few of them. very intelligent. just can't get some, many, or a lot of the kids to stay in them, to even read books.

meth is big here. that is higher education for some kids.

good old boys politics. for sure. if you don't have money, that means, if you are not a doctor or a lawyer or even a realtor, and you have problems with any of the above people in those professions, just eat it. and if you are an outsider never get into a fight with your neighbor. i know of one woman that did. she moved into town from the country after they got even with her. so always be friendly to everyone.

oh, yes, the roads. we on city data talked one guy into moving here. he came; he saw; he wants to leave, and maybe he has. he hated our trashy neighborhoods, our very poor roads and freeways and wanted out. oh, well.

we have a lot of tornadoes. rather scary, and i got away from california because of the earthquakes. but there is no where to hide here because most places don't have storm cellars because it is too rocky to dig. speaking of which, if you love to garden, think twice, for every speck of dirt you dig up you will find rocks and boulders. and when you get all of those rocks out make sure you have lots of soil to fill in the hole.

if you don't care for culture, then you will be okay here, but that depends upon your idea of what culture is. i never went to the art galleries, plays, etc. in the cities i lived in.

very few jobs here too unless you live in the city.

but what we have plenty of is, ticks that cause tick fever (my dh and i have had it twice, and it never really goes away. if you get ill from something else it can pop up again.) poisonous snakes that kill, mosquitoes that are now bringing in nile fever, and if you want to walk in the woods, do it before it gets really hot because then you will have chiggers, and a chigger bite can itch for weeks on end, and you will think that you are going insane, and if you do go insane they will have to send you to tulsa or okc to a shrink. and if you wait longer than sat august, you will end up with stick tights (stickers) all over you, and, oh, if you walk into the woods it is best to spray yourself with that poisonous bug spray, the one that could damage your nerves. i think it has damaged mind because i am getting rather squirrely since moving here.

and the heat. it you travel here come in the hot summer months and see if you like this humidity. if you don't, then it is best to find another area.

but if you move to texas you will have to deal with fire ants. same in southern oklahoma. check off arizona, new mexico, and florida too. now fire ants are really ugly. i lived throughout texas, and i can tell you that if you live in the country you have to keep walking, because if you stand still for one second you are covered with those mean creatures. read up on fire ants before you move anywhere and see where they live, see what they do to animals and especially to people.

and texas has tornadoes, humidity, and in some areas people who do not accept outsiders. we tried a few small towns, all unfriendly. it also has a lot of diversity.

if you can afford to stay where you are, stay. or try oregon or northern california. but i will tell you now, you will never find a perfect place in the entire world to live. if you spent your life in washington you will not like the humidity and the bugs here or the tornadoes.

but what we have here is real friendly people and pretty country. when a tornado warning comes i just pretend it is not coming my way. when i dig in my garden, i end up in the chiropractor's office. we have a lot of good chiropractors here; we need them. right now my neck is winched from digging in our garden.

but if you are really brave, then come here, and you will be welcomed, but only if you don't talk about how you wish there was good shopping and good restaurants.

and last of all, remember, you have to live where it is cold to keep fire ants away. Here is a fire ant map:

Google

Beware of the Bugs: Fire Ants Can Kill Americans - ABC News

and this above is what fire ants can do to people.

enjoy. and i hope you find where you want to live.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by Annemieke Roell

Get a bunch of guinneas to roam around your house.

Just cleaning out the chicken coop in the middle of the day coyotes took down 5 chickens while I was cleaning the coop. I sure learned a lesson about those coyotes.