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Things to know beforehand:
Mail delivery.
Who plows your road.
Who supplies your utilities, especially electricity.
Who provides emergency services like ambulance and fire department and if you have to subscribe to them.
Source of water, what type of septic.
I wonder, do people routinely say you can move to any big city or ANYWHERE and every resident there is equally warm, welcoming and honest? Is there ANY such place?
Is there some city or town somewhere where there is no need to be careful and check out contractors or get second bids?
Maybe the problem is that people for some reason hold rural folks and small towns to some a higher expectation that when you move in, neighbors will come over with a pie and the town will hold a parade? Is that because of TV? Do people think we're all supposed to be Mayberry? Is that really a fair expectation?
I'm really curious about this.
On edit... in case my point is lost because I'm not writing clearly... I think I know the answer: no one expects people to be all welcoming, nonjudgmental and nice in the city. Yet they for some reason expect this of country people. Is that fair? Are you holding yourselves to the same standard?
Answers to both the bolded questions: No and No.
All I expect from contractors in any kind of location is that they be professionals in both skills and behavior, and that they be fair.
I couldn’t care less about Welcome Wagon or other stereotyped niceties.
And to clear up any possible confusion, the many negative experiences we had with contractors did not happen in WA. They happened in rural CO. If anything, my impression of the western WA contractors for our house was one of pride in their work, and attention to detail. There were a couple who were not so good, but the overall experience was positive.
I wonder, do people routinely say you can move to any big city or ANYWHERE and every resident there is equally warm, welcoming and honest? Is there ANY such place?
Is there some city or town somewhere where there is no need to be careful and check out contractors or get second bids?
Maybe the problem is that people for some reason hold rural folks and small towns to some a higher expectation that when you move in, neighbors will come over with a pie and the town will hold a parade? Is that because of TV? Do people think we're all supposed to be Mayberry? Is that really a fair expectation?
I'm really curious about this.
On edit... in case my point is lost because I'm not writing clearly... I think I know the answer: no one expects people to be all welcoming, nonjudgmental and nice in the city. Yet they for some reason expect this of country people. Is that fair? Are you holding yourselves to the same standard?
I'm going to answer and then put a disclaimer at the bottom, because I've been reading CD for years
In general I think that when moving to a more populated area, there is the assumption that one can easily fit in because there is a bigger pool of people. You've got a reasonable shot of finding friends in a town of 50,000 people, but maybe not so easily if there are 127 people (all whose families have lived there for 7 generations)
FYI that is not a concern of mine. I am fairly confident we'd fit in - for the most part. There will always be someone you're not going to be best friends with. The basic hope is that one doesn't find themselves back in 2nd grade.
I haven't worried about contractors simply because we do a lot of work ourselves. Septic would be new for us, tall trees - well, we don't have the equipment. Tall roof, same thing. Short roof, no problem.
My disclaimer: many on CD are worried about fitting in, it seems no matter what type of area or size of town they are headed to.
I wonder, do people routinely say you can move to any big city or ANYWHERE and every resident there is equally warm, welcoming and honest? Is there ANY such place?
Is there some city or town somewhere where there is no need to be careful and check out contractors or get second bids?
Maybe the problem is that people for some reason hold rural folks and small towns to some a higher expectation that when you move in, neighbors will come over with a pie and the town will hold a parade? Is that because of TV? Do people think we're all supposed to be Mayberry? Is that really a fair expectation?
I'm really curious about this.
On edit... in case my point is lost because I'm not writing clearly... I think I know the answer: no one expects people to be all welcoming, nonjudgmental and nice in the city. Yet they for some reason expect this of country people. Is that fair? Are you holding yourselves to the same standard?
To answer the question I think you actually asked... I think this is the outcome of years of propaganda (sorry that's a loaded term, but the next level down word is not coming to me) that rural people are the salt of the earth, real Americans, community-minded folks that take care of each other. In contrast to city slickers, who are somehow less "legitimate" or representative of a typical American, don't know or care to know their neighbors, have high crime rates, are rude, etc. And rural folks have not really stepped up to counter this perception.
I grew up in a small town neighborhood, have lived in the city and currently suburbia, and used to dream of living in a more rural area in hopes of quiet, but as I've read this forum (etc) over the years there's no place that's really guaranteed to be quiet so you have to enjoy it where you find it, wherever you are. I have relatives who live or own property in the country, and their traffic noise is worse than mine (and I live near a freeway).
I have relatives who live or own property in the country, and their traffic noise is worse than mine (and I live near a freeway).
Why is their area so loud? I also live near a freeway and it drives me crazy. They are working on it right now so beep beep beep all night long (and that's on a good night)
Why is their area so loud? I also live near a freeway and it drives me crazy. They are working on it right now so beep beep beep all night long (and that's on a good night)
One relative (well, relatives) lives on a few acres right on one of the state highways, just outside of a very small town. It's one lane in each direction but well travelled. Lots of semis and motorcycles that always sound really loud to me when they drive by.
Another set has a second house in the country, as it turns out also on a road that (unbeknownst to them before they bought it) is more heavily travelled by semis than they realized. I think this is another case of assuming it was going to be almost dead quiet.
I can sort of hear the highway rumbling sometimes from our house, but I've probably just gotten used to it over the years and just don't notice it as much. There's been a fair amount of development since we moved in, so I suspect that all the new buildings are also absorbing/blocking some of that sound.
There's been a fair amount of development since we moved in, so I suspect that all the new buildings are also absorbing/blocking some of that sound.
Yeah, you can definitely hear sounds a lot further in wide open countryside than in a developed area. I think the ambient sound of developed area also obscures distinctive sounds like a semi zooming by.
One relative (well, relatives) lives on a few acres right on one of the state highways, just outside of a very small town. It's one lane in each direction but well travelled. Lots of semis and motorcycles that always sound really loud to me when they drive by.
Another set has a second house in the country, as it turns out also on a road that (unbeknownst to them before they bought it) is more heavily travelled by semis than they realized. I think this is another case of assuming it was going to be almost dead quiet.
I can sort of hear the highway rumbling sometimes from our house, but I've probably just gotten used to it over the years and just don't notice it as much. There's been a fair amount of development since we moved in, so I suspect that all the new buildings are also absorbing/blocking some of that sound.
There were no highways where I stayed last year but the main backroads were 55mph. Way louder than I remembered from other trips which leads me to believe I will not be happy on a 55mph road even with less traffic!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostnip
Yeah, you can definitely hear sounds a lot further in wide open countryside than in a developed area. I think the ambient sound of developed area also obscures distinctive sounds like a semi zooming by.
That is very true! I think I am more sensitive to highway noise than I used to be
There were no highways where I stayed last year but the main backroads were 55mph. Way louder than I remembered from other trips which leads me to believe I will not be happy on a 55mph road even with less traffic!
That is very true! I think I am more sensitive to highway noise than I used to be
I wonder, the people that are used to having noise while they sleep, are they "disturbed" by the lack of it, when they move out to a rural area?
There were no highways where I stayed last year but the main backroads were 55mph. Way louder than I remembered from other trips which leads me to believe I will not be happy on a 55mph road even with less traffic!
... I think I am more sensitive to highway noise than I used to be
In my area I see some houses that are situated very close to the pavement.
I do not prefer living so close to pavement. My house is a bit over 100-yards set in away from the pavement with dense trees between us and the roadway.
Obviously by being a semi-rural area only around one-third of the homes in our town have direct access to pavement. Most homes are out in the woods accessed by a series of dirt roads.
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