YC, your posts seem frequently to be cut off.
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Happy National Eggnog Day! 🎄🥛😵
YC, your posts seem frequently to be cut off.
its a known phone thing.. I wanted to point out that I 95 is a known issue from Portland to Portsmouth only on Friday Nights and Sunday afternoons when the entire population of the rest of New England is on the move from or back to work. Its a non issue now. Its never an issue with Mainers except when semis tangle over the Piscataqua RIver.
The rest of 95 is easily ignorable.
Anyone want to join us at Goose Pasture on the Wacissa in Florida.. Its a primitive camp accessible by sand roads off 98.. No traffic per se on 98. No one knows where 98 is. I do Florida gladly for a month and expect that I can pull over on any road I use and take pictures without being bothered. Ergo I avoid the big cities and especially Orlando... A shame. Nice paddling near Orlando, you have to approach it with stealth.
To me Florida does not have to equal traffic.
Nor Cali.. Though I was born in Pomona and lived in an orange grove ; I'd not be able to find an orange grove in Pomona now. Most of Cali is still awesome.. Not 405 or 110 or 5 but I do like the climb on 15 to the Mojave desert where I spent a lot of time with my family. That was way before canoeing days. I would like to paddle Mono Lake.
Here in LA, we have 4 seasons...
We'll start with "heck", which begins in May. It's a week earlier some years, mid June in others, but averages the 3rd week of May, and is indicated by being too hot to be outdoors by 10am. Mid-day temps top 100 and humidity is so bad it remains hazy all day. Daily thunderstorms can occur if the Gulf winds continue from the south. It's so humid, your fingertips shrivel like when you stay in the bathtub too long, just from sweat. This continues until I can't go outdoors at all by July/Aug, and then eases into....
2nd Summer, which occurs in October/November. This characterized by warm days, a slight drying/lower humidity (say, 60/70%) and cooler temps (70s/80s), though in some years, we can stay in the 90s until the end of October (like this year. It was too hot to hunt both bow and gun opening weekends, a month apart in mid Sept and mid-Oct). Winds shift to the north more and more often, and rain becomes more a matter of frontal systems vs local thunderstorms. The rain also tends to be stretched out over a longer period of time (hours/days), but less rainfall per hour.
After 2nd Summer, everything turns brown and dies (except the yaupon, holly, laural, and scrub oak) and we have what most people call "Fall". This is a relatively short season, December-Feb, and is my favorite due to drier conditions (40-50% humidity) and lower temps (50s/30s, sometimes 40s/20s). I can go about without worrying about snakes and bugs, and can actually sleep on the ground again (vs hammock).
After "Fall" comes "First Summer"... there is approximately a week of transition between Fall's "everything's dead" and "everything is leafed out again" that occurs in March, and then it warms up again into the 70s/80s over March/Apr and into early heck. Winds resume their southern origin, humidity goes through the roof again, but it's bearable due to the low temps. It rains a lot in March/April if you're lucky. If not, you're in for an extra special heck that becomes a drought, about every 7 years or so, which lasts until September or so.
I can canoe all year round, which is nice, but I'm to the point where I don't go out in the sun in the middle of the day, even to canoe, in June-August. At that time of year, the water is hot and not even nice to swim in, though you do it anyway to stay cooler.
We'll start with "heck", which begins in May. It's a week earlier some years, mid June in others, but averages the 3rd week of May, and is indicated by being too hot to be outdoors by 10am. Mid-day temps top 100 and humidity is so bad it remains hazy all day. Daily thunderstorms can occur if the Gulf winds continue from the south. It's so humid, your fingertips shrivel like when you stay in the bathtub too long, just from sweat. This continues until I can't go outdoors at all by July/Aug, and then eases into....
2nd Summer, which occurs in October/November. This characterized by warm days, a slight drying/lower humidity (say, 60/70%) and cooler temps (70s/80s), though in some years, we can stay in the 90s until the end of October (like this year. It was too hot to hunt both bow and gun opening weekends, a month apart in mid Sept and mid-Oct). Winds shift to the north more and more often, and rain becomes more a matter of frontal systems vs local thunderstorms. The rain also tends to be stretched out over a longer period of time (hours/days), but less rainfall per hour.
After 2nd Summer, everything turns brown and dies (except the yaupon, holly, laural, and scrub oak) and we have what most people call "Fall". This is a relatively short season, December-Feb, and is my favorite due to drier conditions (40-50% humidity) and lower temps (50s/30s, sometimes 40s/20s). I can go about without worrying about snakes and bugs, and can actually sleep on the ground again (vs hammock).
After "Fall" comes "First Summer"... there is approximately a week of transition between Fall's "everything's dead" and "everything is leafed out again" that occurs in March, and then it warms up again into the 70s/80s over March/Apr and into early heck. Winds resume their southern origin, humidity goes through the roof again, but it's bearable due to the low temps. It rains a lot in March/April if you're lucky. If not, you're in for an extra special heck that becomes a drought, about every 7 years or so, which lasts until September or so.
I can canoe all year round, which is nice, but I'm to the point where I don't go out in the sun in the middle of the day, even to canoe, in June-August. At that time of year, the water is hot and not even nice to swim in, though you do it anyway to stay cooler.
Seeker, I am truly sorry that you find your existence in your part of the state of Louisiana so miserable. You have repeatedly complained about being in Louisiana for years on multiple forums, so there is little doubt that you find your preference elsewhere. I sincerely hope that you can find relief, and someday, take pride in where you hang your hat.
Ya gotta watch "L.A. Story" with Steve Martin, where he pre-records his weather forecast for L.A. for the weekend. Wonderful movie!
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I have spent most of my life along the southern end of the I95 megalopolis that stretches from southern Maine to northern Virginia and have developed coping mechanisms.
When I trip north I veer west of the mess, up I81 until well past NJ and NYC. When I trip south I avoid the nightmare of Washington DC, taking Rte 310 across the Potomac, or I81 again down through the mountains. I do not care if, on paper, it takes an hour or two longer, at least I am moving.
And I leave in the predawn hours, so I am past the worst of the horror before rush hour.
My worklife commute, when I had one, would be a nightmare during rush hour, so I arranged my schedule such that I was at work long before most people were awake and was driving home while they were digesting lunch.
Post retirement I have come to detest traffic even more. The Baltimore megalopolis sprawl begins 20 minutes south, with a stretch of strip malls and retailers that ends somewhere outside of Petersburg Va.
20 minutes north in Pennsylvania is a ruburb town with two good hardware stores, a grocery, a WallyWorld and a cinderblock beer store that sells only cases and kegs.
I rarely head south anymore, unless I plan to keep going for at least 8 hours.
I had a heck of a commute this morning, had to wait on my skidoo for three cars to go by on main street. Geraldton traffic jam!
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trafic jam up here is no more than 5 minutes but most often less then 3....
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Part of the traffic issue hereabouts is geography, and proximity to the Washington DC housing market. Baltimore and Washington are only 30 miles apart, and after the next US census they are sure to count as one metropolis, like Dallas Fort Worth. We may move up to the number 3 or 4 largest city. Woohoo!
The geography does not help traffic, nor housing prices. Drive east and your car better float, there is but one east west bridge across the Chesapeake Bay. Head south and its pricey northern VA dang near to Richmond. Going west is probably the worst commute, with the fewest highways and, soon, mountain roads.
The housing balloon, when squeezed, can only expand north, like an inexorable tide rolling towards me.
Yet I have little desire to live anywhere else. It is not California, but I can be on the Chesapeake Bay in 30 minutes, atop a Blue Ridge mountain in an hour and at the Atlantic Ocean in less than three. In the flora and fauna realm Maryland is right at the crux, as far south as some species range, as far north as others.
Geologically Maryland was once billed as America in Miniature
https://www.google.com/search?q=mar...hVFMd8KHRY7CWQQ9QEIPDAC#imgrc=mtPKP9hEDDWFnM:
There is a huge variety of varied terrain, flora and fauna to see here. A bit more warming and we may finally have water moccasins, and eventually, alligators. Maybe palm trees someday.
More than anything else, I know dang near every wild nook and cranny within a few hours drive, and that accumulated knowledge would be too hard to give up
I bet that I aint going anywhere feeling is common among those of us long settled in our ways and places, and local knowledge is a big part of it.
But, if I walked outside and the below freezing Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures registered the same number, I would call the movers.
The geography does not help traffic, nor housing prices. Drive east and your car better float, there is but one east west bridge across the Chesapeake Bay. Head south and its pricey northern VA dang near to Richmond. Going west is probably the worst commute, with the fewest highways and, soon, mountain roads.
The housing balloon, when squeezed, can only expand north, like an inexorable tide rolling towards me.
Yet I have little desire to live anywhere else. It is not California, but I can be on the Chesapeake Bay in 30 minutes, atop a Blue Ridge mountain in an hour and at the Atlantic Ocean in less than three. In the flora and fauna realm Maryland is right at the crux, as far south as some species range, as far north as others.
Geologically Maryland was once billed as America in Miniature
https://www.google.com/search?q=mar...hVFMd8KHRY7CWQQ9QEIPDAC#imgrc=mtPKP9hEDDWFnM:
There is a huge variety of varied terrain, flora and fauna to see here. A bit more warming and we may finally have water moccasins, and eventually, alligators. Maybe palm trees someday.
More than anything else, I know dang near every wild nook and cranny within a few hours drive, and that accumulated knowledge would be too hard to give up
I bet that I aint going anywhere feeling is common among those of us long settled in our ways and places, and local knowledge is a big part of it.
But, if I walked outside and the below freezing Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures registered the same number, I would call the movers.
This is the number one reason in 2000 we escaped our section of Connecticut.. I still shudder when we drive back to visit family. Local knowledge was of some help but none at all when no matter how you sliced and diced to get to Maine paddling you had to pass within 30 miles of Boston. Just one driver error and heck ensues for hours.
It was unfortunate that we felt the need to go paddling in Maine as Connecticut waters were varied and gave a lot of paddling opportunities
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I spent almost 20 years in Wyoming (#50 in population) and Alaska (#49) for all the above reasons. I'm now compromising in Montana.
I grew up here, and spent much of my youth in the ADK's, but never fully appreciated them until I was on my own.
I've always liked winter, even before I skied. In the last 15 years or so, MDB and I have been acquiring distressed rental properties and rehabbing them. This last 2 week cold snap (for us, that's every night below 0F and daytime highs in the single digits F) we finally had not a single call about frozen water lines or non performing heating systems (we have 27 units to tether us).
So I can now enjoy the cold as I always used to...
But back to location. The closest part of the ADK park is a 45 minute drive north, and some of the better skiing is but a 2 hour ride from home. Traffic is rarely an issue, I'll not mention taxes.
So as many of you upthread have expressed, I'm plenty happy living right where I am.
I've always liked winter, even before I skied. In the last 15 years or so, MDB and I have been acquiring distressed rental properties and rehabbing them. This last 2 week cold snap (for us, that's every night below 0F and daytime highs in the single digits F) we finally had not a single call about frozen water lines or non performing heating systems (we have 27 units to tether us).
So I can now enjoy the cold as I always used to...
But back to location. The closest part of the ADK park is a 45 minute drive north, and some of the better skiing is but a 2 hour ride from home. Traffic is rarely an issue, I'll not mention taxes.
So as many of you upthread have expressed, I'm plenty happy living right where I am.
Tried this yesterday but something cut most of it off. Here goes again.
I live at 53 degrees north, at 3000 feet (~925 m) above sea level, near the edge of the foothills of the Rocky Mountain and in the boreal forest. We have a continental climate that is also influenced by the nearby mountains. "Typical" weather or even climate is getting hard to predict. We used to have a very distinct winter and summer with a shorter spring and autumn, however, it was not uncommon to get a snowstorm on the May long weekend (usually around May 24 or so), in fact it is almost expected. We often get Chinooks in the winter which can raise the temperature from significantly below zero (Celcius) to significantly above zero - up to about +15 (~60F). Winter was predictably cold with a light to moderate amount of dry, cold snow. We think that 10 to 15 cm (6 to 8 inches) of snow is a big storm. As I said, winter temperatures can vary widely from -40 to +15 (-40 F to 60 F). Winter usually starts around Halloween and the skiing is usually poor by mid-March. Spring is a real mix of warm, dry days with occasional snowstorms. Spring is also forest fire season - look up Slave Lake Fire and Ft. McMurray fire. Late Spring and early summer is our rainy season from mid-May to mid-July and that is also mosquito season - we have no blackflies. After the middle of July it tends to be drier and that usually lasts until well into the fall - Go out to Alberta, weather's good there in the fall. Our usual summer days are in the 18-25 C range (65 to 77 F) but a few 30 degree (86 F) days happen. Sometimes temps get into the low 30's (~90F).
When going outside we have to be prepared for almost any kind of weather at almost any time of year - that means we have to bring lots of stuff.
I live at 53 degrees north, at 3000 feet (~925 m) above sea level, near the edge of the foothills of the Rocky Mountain and in the boreal forest. We have a continental climate that is also influenced by the nearby mountains. "Typical" weather or even climate is getting hard to predict. We used to have a very distinct winter and summer with a shorter spring and autumn, however, it was not uncommon to get a snowstorm on the May long weekend (usually around May 24 or so), in fact it is almost expected. We often get Chinooks in the winter which can raise the temperature from significantly below zero (Celcius) to significantly above zero - up to about +15 (~60F). Winter was predictably cold with a light to moderate amount of dry, cold snow. We think that 10 to 15 cm (6 to 8 inches) of snow is a big storm. As I said, winter temperatures can vary widely from -40 to +15 (-40 F to 60 F). Winter usually starts around Halloween and the skiing is usually poor by mid-March. Spring is a real mix of warm, dry days with occasional snowstorms. Spring is also forest fire season - look up Slave Lake Fire and Ft. McMurray fire. Late Spring and early summer is our rainy season from mid-May to mid-July and that is also mosquito season - we have no blackflies. After the middle of July it tends to be drier and that usually lasts until well into the fall - Go out to Alberta, weather's good there in the fall. Our usual summer days are in the 18-25 C range (65 to 77 F) but a few 30 degree (86 F) days happen. Sometimes temps get into the low 30's (~90F).
When going outside we have to be prepared for almost any kind of weather at almost any time of year - that means we have to bring lots of stuff.
Same here. My parents grew up, as did I, between the Western Adirondacks and Tug Hill, they being children of pre-WWII Eastern European immigrant settlers. I have spent most of my life in the region and know the backcountry of both areas very well. In adult years I traveled quite a bit for work and pleasure, and have often thought I would not want to start over with a huge learning curve getting to know someplace new as well as I now know my homeland. Had a chance to be reassigned for work to Albuquerque (an area I much enjoy) or central Ohio (yuk, such a horrible place, why not contemplate suicide on that one), but chose to stay here instead. I live in a rural farmland area with a trout stream and access to woods and field hiking and backcountry skiing literally just out of my back door where I can link to an extensive machine groomed trail system if I want. I can remember as a kid expecting winter temperatures to go as low as -40F at least once a year (it only made it to -33 last week here). I know how to deal with the regular heavy snow of the region, it does not bother me and I enjoy it.
I have Easy access to Adirondack lake and river canoeing (where I can be within 15 minutes) and train and enter many races all season.
I recently purchased a large wooded plot with frontage on a private, no motors allowed Adirondack lake not far from home, where I plan to put up a cabin next summer to enjoy with my wife and grandkids.
I know and am good friends with many Forest Rangers and other local officials, due in part to 25 years as a guide and a SAR volunteer and team leader/instructor.
Property tax is relatively high. However, as a government retiree my pension is by law not taxed as income by New York State, which is a real nice benefit.
So all of this is why I would not want to relocate to some other person's paradise.
I have Easy access to Adirondack lake and river canoeing (where I can be within 15 minutes) and train and enter many races all season.
I recently purchased a large wooded plot with frontage on a private, no motors allowed Adirondack lake not far from home, where I plan to put up a cabin next summer to enjoy with my wife and grandkids.
I know and am good friends with many Forest Rangers and other local officials, due in part to 25 years as a guide and a SAR volunteer and team leader/instructor.
Property tax is relatively high. However, as a government retiree my pension is by law not taxed as income by New York State, which is a real nice benefit.
So all of this is why I would not want to relocate to some other person's paradise.
I think we're conflating things, at least for some of us: where we end up living vs. liking the climate there.
I've had 22 principal residences in my life: eight different homes in two different boroughs of New York City (Staten Island and Manhattan); four different homes in Tallahassee, Florida, in two separate decades; two homes in Jacksonville, Florida (one actually in Ponte Vedra); the suburbs of Boston (on a lake); Westchester County, NY; Malibu, CA; Austin, TX; San Jose, CA; Woodstock, NY (Catskill Mountains); an unheated cabin in Maine; and now in a small town in Connecticut.
None of these moves were in any way influenced by the climate of the location. They all involved following my parents, going away to four different universities, and then following my own career in private industry and professional practice. We all end up somewhere for historical, family or vocational reasons. Very few of us have the luxury or money or freedom to move to a location simply because the climate there pleases us -- the primary exception to that being a retirement home for those with the resources and health to move.
If you asked me at any one of my 22 homes whether I liked the climate there, I suppose I would have responded with an entire spectrum of answers, from yes, through various intermediate layers, to no. I've never supposed that I was required to like or take pride in the climate of a place I've lived, including the current place, just because other factors have caused me to live there. To me, that's a logical non sequitur, completely divorced from cause and effect. Of course, we can all adapt to various climates and I always have, but that doesn't mean I didn't like some a lot better than others.
For anyone out there who loves the climate where you live, I'm truly happy for your happiness. For those who can't stand the climate (or anything else) where you live but who must live there for some other compelling reason, I empathize with your feelings about climate and, if you feel it, your entrapment. Some of us simply can't move to where we'd like to live for economic reasons, health reasons, family reasons, or other (usually lousy) circumstances.
P.S. on edit: The best climate I've lived in was Malibu, California. The worst was Austin, Texas.
I've had 22 principal residences in my life: eight different homes in two different boroughs of New York City (Staten Island and Manhattan); four different homes in Tallahassee, Florida, in two separate decades; two homes in Jacksonville, Florida (one actually in Ponte Vedra); the suburbs of Boston (on a lake); Westchester County, NY; Malibu, CA; Austin, TX; San Jose, CA; Woodstock, NY (Catskill Mountains); an unheated cabin in Maine; and now in a small town in Connecticut.
None of these moves were in any way influenced by the climate of the location. They all involved following my parents, going away to four different universities, and then following my own career in private industry and professional practice. We all end up somewhere for historical, family or vocational reasons. Very few of us have the luxury or money or freedom to move to a location simply because the climate there pleases us -- the primary exception to that being a retirement home for those with the resources and health to move.
If you asked me at any one of my 22 homes whether I liked the climate there, I suppose I would have responded with an entire spectrum of answers, from yes, through various intermediate layers, to no. I've never supposed that I was required to like or take pride in the climate of a place I've lived, including the current place, just because other factors have caused me to live there. To me, that's a logical non sequitur, completely divorced from cause and effect. Of course, we can all adapt to various climates and I always have, but that doesn't mean I didn't like some a lot better than others.
For anyone out there who loves the climate where you live, I'm truly happy for your happiness. For those who can't stand the climate (or anything else) where you live but who must live there for some other compelling reason, I empathize with your feelings about climate and, if you feel it, your entrapment. Some of us simply can't move to where we'd like to live for economic reasons, health reasons, family reasons, or other (usually lousy) circumstances.
P.S. on edit: The best climate I've lived in was Malibu, California. The worst was Austin, Texas.
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SNOW STORM TODAY! Buses cancelled, no precious children at school, going to start my skidoo momentarily. It's a good day people, a very good day!
I moved from Pa. to Ak. because Pa. didn't get enough snow. I wanted to move to a place where if my vocation was not fulfilling my recreation would be. It worked out well but I am ready to return to Pa. where the climate suits me better now and I have more time now to devote to recreation.
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By and large I have ending up living, even in a climatic sense, where I wanted to live. I once took some pride in that, between ages 16 and 21, I had footloose lived in 21 different places.
Some of my moves were influenced by the climate. I lived in the Atlanta suburbs through six summer months and hated every minute of it. OK, the people, attitudes, traffic and general urban sprawl frenzy of that metropolis as much as the climate.
I lived in a no running water cabin in PA for a year. Loved the locale and the quiet, not the hardship. SE Arizona for a spell, loved fall into spring. Summer not so much. Plus it was a long freaking way to anything, and there were no living wage jobs.
I take some local climate pride in being a resident of the climatically peculiar Hereford Zone. It was in the single digits here a couple days ago, with a thick notgoinganywhere ice coating on the driveway and roads. Today it is near 60F and I have the shop door open.
I do not take as much climate pride as expressed by folks from Maine, Minnesota or Alaska, or some of our Canadian brethren, but that crap is too dang cold for too long for me.
On a prideful residence aside, I refuse to identify myself as a Baltimoron, despite living, for the most part, 20 to 40 miles north of that gawdawful city for most of my life, and despite working deep inside it for nearly 40 years. I aint no dayum Baltimoron Hun.
I hope never to relocate, but further north into more rural Pennsylvania would work for me.
Inland SE North Carolina holds some less frigid east coast allure as well. Slower pace, lower cost of living, far less population density. That latter part may be an important factor in general societal politeness, and has more bearing on where I chose to live than climate alone.
Living in the snow belt SE of Buffalo is not as much fun as it used to be. This year we have decided to become Snowbirds. We are easing into it, only spending 6 weeks on the Gulf Coast this year. Next year, probably 3-4 months. With the way NY taxes are, the SAFE act, and Cuomo, it may be time to relocate out of NY permanently.
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Actually one of my favorite things about living in WNY has nothing and everything to do with the climate(and soil). Hardwood trees. This is among the best places for hardwood trees to grow--they even have many commercial tree farms here for that reason. From out front window here at turtle pond i can see-black cherry,sugarmaple ,soft maple,Oak, swamp maple, beech, hornbeam,poplur,ash, willow, bitter hickory, and many others.
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