"Where I Live"

[AlSymerz]

Having given up the rat race 20 odd years ago my wife and I moved to the boonies of Victoria in Australia, not really to get away from people but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of the reason. Now we are hours from the city, close enough to get there if we need it but far enough that it doesn't come to us. We don't need high paying jobs to pay off overpriced McMansions, while at the same time we can still have a property big enough that I can turn the 25m B double truck and trailers in the driveway and still barely get wet between the door of the truck and the door of the house when it rains. As much as we've been in lockdown 7 times over the last 18 months covid really hasn't effected us, there has been about 4 local cases in the entire time. These days I can happily spend my days chasing cows around the paddocks, home schooling kids and generally not being worried about the wider world and what's going on out there.

[Sheol]

10 hours ago, KillaKukumba said:

Having given up the rat race 20 odd years ago my wife and I moved to the boonies of Victoria in Australia, not really to get away from people but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of the reason. Now we are hours from the city, close enough to get there if we need it but far enough that it doesn't come to us. We don't need high paying jobs to pay off overpriced McMansions, while at the same time we can still have a property big enough that I can turn the 25m B double truck and trailers in the driveway and still barely get wet between the door of the truck and the door of the house when it rains. As much as we've been in lockdown 7 times over the last 18 months covid really hasn't effected us, there has been about 4 local cases in the entire time. These days I can happily spend my days chasing cows around the paddocks, home schooling kids and generally not being worried about the wider world and what's going on out there.

So out of curiosity, how do you survive? Do you have to commute to work, or are you a farmer?

[GoatmasterGeneral]

I believe he has said that his wife goes out to work and he's a full time childminder/putterer. I get the impression that the cows and tractors are more of a hobby. Or else maybe having some cows loose in the top paddock is merely being used as a euphemism for losing his marbles. Of course with him living in rural Victoria with tractors 'n shit I now have a mental picture of Kuke being Ross Knight basically.

[AlSymerz]

My wife works part time in an office when we aren't in lock down and I still drive trucks if someone asks, but I also do web design and computer repairs for selected clients (i.e. I don't seek work I do what interests me). Our primary income these days comes from 5 farms, we own one, part own another, and run agistments for three others where we move cattle depending on the season. We've got between 300 and 500 head on nearly 900 acres depending on the time of year. The cows pretty much run themselves, we feed out once a day during Autumn and Winter, we spend a few weekends a year weighing and injecting etc, but the rest of the time they pretty much just roam the paddocks, eating, getting fatter and the most one of us has to do it open a gate to let them in a new paddock. Sale days can be busy but mostly these days we just put the cows on a truck, wave good bye to them and let an agent handle the sale.

[NokturnalBoredom]

Where I live is quickly becoming over-developed and the amount of traffic even during the non-Snowbird season is starting to get ridiculous. Too many old people who run to the doctor every time they sneeze, so it's also somewhat difficult to get health & medical care when you need it as a result. The old people think that the working & family-raising age people exist specifically to serve them, and there are a lot of them that cop attitudes when you let it be known that you don't care about giving them what they want 24/7/365.

Having said that, where I live is traditionally seen as the "home" of Death Metal in the United States but despite that, we don't have anywhere near as many good shows as we used to in the 00s and even the 10s. Most of the shows now are gentle indie rock or hipster mumble rap shows. The area where I specifically live is only about twenty minutes from the beach when there is no traffic, but I don't get to go a lot anymore because of the constant red tide that has been happening more and more frequently and for longer periods throughout the year. We also get some pretty fantastic thunderstorms and a good portion of the year, it rains every afternoon (although I think that we're out of that season for the year now).

Truth be told, I won't be living down here that much longer. God willing, I'll be moving to upstate NY in another year or two to be closer to family (aunt & uncle, sister & brother in law) and it will be a refreshing change from the almost thirty years that I've been living down here. Not terribly excited about having to shovel snow again, because that shit is physically difficult and driving in snow is not a terrible lot of fun as driving already makes me nervous enough down here. Hoping that when we do move, that there will be come better hardcore and metal shows in the area, but barring that I'll just take the bus into the city to see the shows I want to see if NYC ever opens back up and life ever gets back to normal (which I'm honestly not counting on for other reasons & think that we're entering a new, remarkably shitty phase of life in the formerly awesome US&A that's going to make everyone pine for the George W. Bush years as a "better time" which let's be honest, is not something I used to think about when W was in office)

[Dead1]

On 9/21/2021 at 7:22 AM, KillaKukumba said:

Having given up the rat race 20 odd years ago my wife and I moved to the boonies of Victoria in Australia, not really to get away from people but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of the reason. Now we are hours from the city, close enough to get there if we need it but far enough that it doesn't come to us. We don't need high paying jobs to pay off overpriced McMansions, while at the same time we can still have a property big enough that I can turn the 25m B double truck and trailers in the driveway and still barely get wet between the door of the truck and the door of the house when it rains. As much as we've been in lockdown 7 times over the last 18 months covid really hasn't effected us, there has been about 4 local cases in the entire time. These days I can happily spend my days chasing cows around the paddocks, home schooling kids and generally not being worried about the wider world and what's going on out there.

 

 

You sound like a very busy man!  I know people in farming including cattle and dairy and it's a lot of work!

 

---

I live in the kind of mindless treeless soulless cookie cutter modern suburbia that the mainstream media, government and vested property interests markets as the Australian dream.   The house would have looked good in a magazine when it was new but it probably started to fall apart 5 minutes after the first owner moved in 7-8 years ago.  Building quality is only one step away from a tin slum in Rio de Janeiro or Mumbai.  Even the electrical systems are shonky and constantly shorting out.

I used to live in a slightly older very tree lined suburb full of nature reserves (established 1950s though house was a solid 1987 build) next to some amazing natural scenery but house wasn't big enough or had enough bathrooms for the women in my life (daughter is 9 going on 21).

https://www.launcestoncataractgorge.com.au/

 

Tasmania is beautiful but you don't get to see nearly enough of it when you work 8:30 - 5:00 in an office and then spend your weekend cleaning your oversized, decaying, crumbling near brand new house and the weather is often shit especially on weekends (weather gods think they are funny fuckers)!

 

[navybsn]

NW Florida right on the coast/Alabama border here. Lived within 150 miles of here for the majority of my life. I like it fine. A little too redneck, a little too conservative, and getting a bit crowded but I have a good job and make good money. Not near enough shows for my liking, but it is what it is. The weather suits me fine too. Probably die here although I wouldn't be opposed to moving elsewhere should the right opportunity come along. I hate fucking moving though. Did more than my fair share of that during my military career. Probably take an act of Congress to pry my wife out of here anyway. 

[zackflag]

I live in the place where this godawful, gold mining reality show was filmed...

 

[AlSymerz]

3 hours ago, Dead1 said:

 

 

You sound like a very busy man!  I know people in farming including cattle and dairy and it's a lot of work!

 

---

I live in the kind of mindless treeless soulless cookie cutter modern suburbia that the mainstream media, government and vested property interests markets as the Australian dream.   The house would have looked good in a magazine when it was new but it probably started to fall apart 5 minutes after the first owner moved in 7-8 years ago.  Building quality is only one step away from a tin slum in Rio de Janeiro or Mumbai.  Even the electrical systems are shonky and constantly shorting out.

I used to live in a slightly older very tree lined suburb full of nature reserves (established 1950s though house was a solid 1987 build) next to some amazing natural scenery but house wasn't big enough or had enough bathrooms for the women in my life (daughter is 9 going on 21).

https://www.launcestoncataractgorge.com.au/

 

Tasmania is beautiful but you don't get to see nearly enough of it when you work 8:30 - 5:00 in an office and then spend your weekend cleaning your oversized, decaying, crumbling near brand new house and the weather is often shit especially on weekends (weather gods think they are funny fuckers)!

 

I am busy, but I don't spend all day every day working. I did that for 25 years then decided it was time to slow things down, I didn't retire, I just chose a different lifestyle. Farming can be a lot of work, some days it can go on forever. It's the sort of job where you can't ignore maintenance. But I happily admit we don't have it like diary farmers, even some of the beef farmers in this area work a hell of a lot harder than we do.

I think anywhere you live or work is more beautiful to others than it is to yourself. I live in an area of rolling hills, we've got bush all around us, there is national parks not far away, there is ski fields maybe three or four hours away and there is beaches less than an hour away. But waking up to it every morning I don't see the same beauty as something visiting the area, I know this because I've been told time and time again when someone visiting says "Wow, how lucky are you to wake up to this scenery every day!"

The current weather is fucking terrible, every day lately the weather man is telling us about El Nina, El Nino, or maybe the old lady El Nanno. The latest report last night is saying that we can expect the first month of summer to be wet and windy with below average temps. It's times like this I'm glad I'm not a crop farmer!!

 

[FatherAlabaster]

I've lived in either the Southeast or the Northeast of the USA for my entire life, and I prefer the weather/climate in the Northeast, but I feel like I could handle living somewhere cooler and drier. I dislike the heat. Every time it rains anymore, my whole body aches and I feel like I'm getting sick. I'm thinking maybe the surface of Mars. No coffee there though, that would be tough.

[AlSymerz]

Weather is such a weird thing. 2019-2020 summer Australia's east coast suffered through something like 270 days of bushfires across three states. Those same three states are now at the point were they have had so much rain that the ground is too wet to soak it up. Many of the areas, and more inland areas, are currently flooded or recently been flooded and it's predicted that anything more than showers in the next two months will again result in flood because the ground just can't take it.

[Sheol]

I can't remember if I've ever answered in this thread, but no matter. I live in the northern part of Sweden, not that it says much since 50% of Sweden count's as "The North", but I grew up even further up north, semi-close to the Finnish border. I live in the largest town in the province. The goal is to find someplace a little outside of town to get some of that trve kvlt forrest thing going, but it's tricky to compromise the distance to work/school, with the rising prices for houses and summerhomes since Covid. We'll see.

 

But the nature here is wonderful, both summer and winter.

 

[AlSymerz]

Those pictures, while beautiful, make me feel cold as I sit here at 6am in shorts and a t-shirt

 

[Dead1]

Sheol, so jealous.

 

Here it's 25 degrees and I already can't stand it.  Meant to get up to as high as 27 by mid week- yuck.

 

If I had my way I'd spend April-October in Tasmania and November-March in Europe.

[AlSymerz]

I want some warm weather so the vegies will start growing. But have no fear when, if it gets up into the 40's for too many days in a row I'll be bitching.

[Thatguy]

Most November rain in Canberra since records started. Finally a sunny day today and it is forecast to get to 23C. Woohoo!

I am really looking forward to some hot dry weather though. Bring it on.

[AlSymerz]

I've been out planting seedlings all morning, it will probably fucking snow tonight!!

 

[Sheol]

9 hours ago, Dead1 said:

Sheol, so jealous.

 

Here it's 25 degrees and I already can't stand it.  Meant to get up to as high as 27 by mid week- yuck.

 

If I had my way I'd spend April-October in Tasmania and November-March in Europe.

+25C is right around what's uncomfortable to me, I'm much happier closer to 20. Today it's -10C and it's kinda rough since our bodies haven't acclimatized yet (been fairly mild up until now, around 0C). Come january -10 will feel quite pleasant.

[FatherAlabaster]

We just started getting nights below freezing over the past week and a half. Still up around 40F during the day, but that won't last. I'm looking forward to it for the most part. Glad I don't work outside anymore.

[MacabreEternal]

First snow yesterday here in England.  Not being too far from the coast we don't often see much snow in Merseyside but it did a good couple of hours yesterday and stuck to the field opposite the house - helped by the first below freezing temperatures of the season last night making me doubly grateful that I didn't have to get up and move the car this morning. 

Can tell the temperature is changing as my eczema has started to flare up a bit on my hands - not helped by storm Arwen (or whatever they called it) pulling my fence down and me having to plug gaps in the hedgerow behind it to ensure next door's pet dog didn't sneak through.  Was planning on taking that bit of fence down actually so saved me a job, however it taking out the bird feeding pole when it fell wasn't such a bonus.

[AlSymerz]

I really wish I could like the snow and cold weather but I just can't. I'd rather wear shorts, I'd rather not wear 25 layers of clothing and still shiver and I just don't think the ground should be white. I remember my parents taking me to the snow when I was a teenager, we travelled about 3 hours to get to the mountains, we all piled out of the car rugged up like Eskimos and lasted less than 30 minutes before getting back in the car and heading home. 40+ years later and I've never been back. We've had snow on the mountains not far from here and it's only a few hours to what people call some of the best slopes in Australia, but it ain't for this little black duck.

[FatherAlabaster]

Snow is great. Shoveling it can be a pain, working in it sucks, driving through it can be pretty shitty, walking through it can be difficult too, it's no fun when it turns into a layer of pack ice on the sidewalk, looks terrible when it gets really grimy right next to the street, and tracking dirty salty snow water all over the house isn't ideal, plus it can damage power lines and break tree branches, but still, snow is great.

[AlSymerz]

We get a lot of black ice here in the winter which sucks, but I can really live without the white stuff. I might have to wear gumboots in the winter but gumboots and shorts are a fashion statement and no one can tell me any different

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Well, they can, but you might not listen...

[GoatmasterGeneral]

I don't like extreme heat or extreme cold but for me the cold is definitely the lesser of two evils. I'm good with temps from about 25°F/-4°C up to about 27°C/80°F, I find anything more than that to be unpleasant unless you're just sitting in the A/C sipping a cold beverage. I find it much easier to keep warm when it's cold out than to keep cool in the heat.

Fortunately I live somewhere where the daily high temps rarely get much above 95°F/35°C or below 10°F/-12°C, only maybe two or three days a year so I guess I'm in the right spot. I could never live somewhere that routinely gets above 90°F/32°C and stays there for half the year. When I was in Australia for 5 weeks Jan '17 I think there were more days that got above 100°F/37°C than not, and to me that's just insane. I'm sure the whole country can't be like that but Sydney summers are not for me. And this whole summer Christmas thing is complete nonsense, you Australiasians can keep that bullshit. Can't have fucking Christmas without Frosty the snowman.

Strange though how humans perceive temperature differently. This time of year mid-late November if it's 25° when you wake up in the morning that seems impossibly cold, we're like wtf is this shit?? But by February that 25° won't phase us. Conversely when it gets down to 50° at 7am in mid September we think that's cold and bundle up in 3 layers if we're working outside, but a 50° day in early March will seem like a heat wave, we'll be walking around outside in just t-shirts.

We still need to rent a lift to finish these sofits and the last little section of siding at the top of the back gable wall side of my house and even here in late November we've been checking the weather repeatedly these last couple of weeks trying to find a nice 50° day it might be available so we can do it when it's not too cold and windy. 

I reckon of any place I've been Denver has just about perfect winters. They get their share of below freezing days with a little snow here and there but they also have a lot of days in the 50's and 60's so you don't feel like you're in the deep freezer for 4 months. They don't even bother to plow the snow out there because it usually gets warm enough to melt away on its own by lunchtime, or at least within 24 hours. Here on the east coast once it officially gets to be winter and really gets cold for good in 3 more weeks we won't see 60° again probably until April and that's when the piles of snow that have built up by then will finally melt.