Alabama!

Whatever weather type you prefer; just wait a little while and you'll have it!!! Just dodge the mosquitos, fire ants, and tornadoes and you'll be fine...

Seriously, it's a great place to live; wouldn't trade it.

I have to say that although my little southern state of Mississippi usually gets a "bad rap" in the press and such, it truly IS a great place to live and raise a family. I live in a very small community in the Northeastern part of the state and it's a place where everyone knows each other and is always there when you need them....whether it is in times of joy or sorrow or somewhere in between. I was born and raised here on the same 100 acres I live on today and wouldn't even think about moving. My husband is a transplant from south Texas and seems to have made the adjustment quite well and has grown to care about the people of the community as I have (and they have accepted him as well). I have a 10 month old daughter that I hope will come to love this area as much as I do and will one day want to raise her children here as well. I have seen a lot of growth in population since my childhood in this area and just hope that as we grow, we don't forget our values and sense of community and love for one another. Because THAT is the true legacy I hope my daughter inherits!

NOTE: Mississippi is known as the Hospitality State, so on bhalf of our fair state I'd like to invite all of you to come visit and who knows, you might decide to stay. ;)

If I had unlimited resources, I would aim for one of the less populated areas in south NJ. I am in north NJ, which has many beautiful places, but too much noise, too many people, and crime is always just a few exits away on whatever highway you are closest to. Life is a trade-off.

But, when we retire, I think we are looking at Maine. My husband does not want to go anywhere where it is warm year round, and so it will be either there, or possibly NH, where he lived for several years.

My sister is in TX, and loves it! I do not know if she would even think about coming back here. I have to reserve judgment, as I have not been there yet.

I have been doing a lot of thinking on where I would like to live when I retire. The more I hear about other places and their problems with storms and floods and huricanes, the more I am thinking that maybe I already live in the best place. I have lived in this area for over 43 years and in my present house for over 35 years. The small city that is about 10 miles from me is suddenly growing and getting new businesses. I am surprised at this. When K-Mart closed about 2 years ago and then Wal-Mart built a new superstore down the street and closed their old store, I was afraid the buildings would stay vacant but the two large vacant store buildings have been taken over by other stores. We are getting a Belks Dept. store, Lowes is building a big store, Tractor Supply Co. took over part of teh old Wal-Mart Store, several new restaurants are opening up and new building is going on in several places. I have 17 acres of land and lots of privacy. Why would I want to move? The weather can be severe some years but most years it is not too bad. People who visit this area, the Nashville area, are always saying how much they like it and would like to live here. Maybe I'm already living in the best place to live, for me at least. Judith

Anyplace your happy.The area I've found it very easy to be happy is the southern section of the central Ca. coastline between Buelton and San Simion. always cool at the beach ,warm just a few miles inland,clean air, no large cities and the towns are spread out and surrounded by ag. lots of open land both public and private, you can grow just about anything and yes there are still some areas with reasonable prices. in this area you can chose your weather by just short drive or were you chose to live coastal-cool, just inland-moderate,inland-warm ,foothills-mountain weather.If you like nature there is so much to do.And as a real bonus IT IS SOOO BEAUTIFULL rolling hills, oaks ,pines and this gigantic deep blue ocean down below with empty beaches and lots of wild life. The downside? I don,t have a job there....yet!

heads Carolina...tails California...

I have lived all over the US and I must say times are a changing...find somewhere and grow roots soon! A good organic garden takes a lot of time and years to perfect.

I laughed at MikeR's post about Colorado and completely understand because I lived there for 7 years. It's beautiful. I like CO, San Diego, and I'll bet I'm the only one who's going to say it, but "Chicago". Dats my home.

I have seen Boise recommended on here a few times, and there are plenty of good reasons why. It perfectly meets your specifics. It's called the "banana belt" of the Rocky Mountain area because of the mild winters . . . wasn't that something you were looking for? It's a gardener's paradise. And it has a lower crime rate than any other U.S. city of this size . . . or did, the last time I saw statistics.

Teen pregnancy? Well, that's everywhere, but how's this . . . just a couple of years ago, I read a news article that a county prosecutor in Emmett (a few miles from here) was actually going into the public health clinics and fining teen mothers for breaking the fornication laws. I mean, after all, there they sat, holding the evidence. :) Yes, those laws were actually still on the books. And that was in the late 90's.

So, although teen pregnancy exists, it certainly isn't regarded as "cool" around here, and my guess would be that the rate is lower than most places.

Problem is, everyone who visits here loves it, and the city has more than doubled in size since I moved here ten years ago. So, I can't vouch for how long it will be before Boise falls prey to the very vices that people move here to escape.

I get really sick of people who move here from, say, California, saying they want to get their kids out of the gangs, drugs, etc., but the first thing they do is start whining about how Boise lacks the kinds of liberal cultural things that help to cause the problems in California in the first place. I'm picking on California, because that's where most of our transplants come from.

But I digress. For now, Boise still gets top ratings in every article that keeps track of such things. That includes employment rates and cost of living, too, in case you care. And when people come here to visit friends or relatives, they almost invariably end up moving here themselves.

I should mention that the Mormon influence (lots of them live here) is part of the reason Boise is as friendly and "clean" as it is.

Boisemom you are correct California is a horrible place we never see any outa state people moveing here and all of Californias problems are the result of people who were born and raised here. More and more people every day and no end in sight heck it's enough to make some of them want to move back were they came from, and for some natives to go looking for someplace that is now the way it was back when.... pauma

Wow, think I'll bypass Boise on my next trip out west.

Definitely north across the 49th. We've applied for immigration and should get our papers in the next year. I won't get into all the reasons but one is definitely universal health care, better schools, etc. We want to operate a small market garden and can get by.

We've lined up leads on 3 properties in southern B.C. Zone 6. We can get a modest home and 20 acres for around 90 thousand U.S. It'll be a full day's drive home to my wife's family in Montana but up there we walked around the small community and felt almost as much at home as we do here.

Vrtlar: Please do! We like it just the way it is! :) The great thing about the U.S. is that there's someplace for everybody . . . diversity. Now, if we could just convince the feds to leave it that way . . . .

My new plan is to sell my home in the Chicago area, and move to Boise. With me will come a band of pregnant, unwed mothers, drug addicts, prostitutes, assorted and sundry sodomites, pedophiles, burglars, thieves, murderers, rapists, and last, but not least, self-righteous mothers with a sharp, caustic tongue and a huge chip on their shoulders. Can't wait to get to that banana belt!

Yikes! And it's happening already. I've seen the population of Boise more than double in the past ten years, and the side effects haven't always been good (such as, yes, higher crime rates, though that's still relatively low).

Here's an excerpt from the "Top News Story" in today's local paper (if this is "top news," you know this is a pretty "quiet" city!):

Headline: "Californians Lead Influx Into Idaho"

A few brief excerpts:

"California provided more migrants to Idaho during the late 1990s than any other state.

Like many of the other 36,000 former Californians, Scott Muglia, a project manager for telecommunications and marketing firm Wirestone in Boise, came for Idaho´s highly touted quality of life.

Affordability of housing and a return to traditional ideals for child rearing were the draws, the 37-year-old former San Diego resident said.

Muglia was on business at the local Wirestone office in Boise just as inflation was fouling up his plans to buy a home in San Diego. The value of the house he had an eye on for his wife and three boys had jumped $200,000 in less than two years.

I was driving almost 50 miles to work every day, he recalled. The Wirestone people in Boise said you could live here, seven miles away max. You can afford a house, and the people were really nice here. So it was a done deal.

Though immigrants kept California´s population rising, more people left the state during the latter half of the 1990s than moved in from other states, according to the Census Bureau. It was the first time that has ever happened."

Boise sounds like a great place, as do all the other places mentioned here. Living around such a large and diverse population keeps me humble as a human being, and tolerant. Wherever a person chooses to live, I think it is possible to love that place and let others love theirs, with no snipes, pokes, or putdowns. I think the paradise comes from inside, and the surroundings are just icing on the cake.

I would have to agree. I visited North Carolina as a teenager, and told everyone within earshot for a couple of years that I wanted to move there someday! :) The people there were so nice, and the trees and hills were lovely. Now that I'm older, though, I think I'd rather stick with someplace that has nicer weather (and fewer insects).

Chicago and Denver are awfully fun to visit (terrific restaurants, nice hotels, fun shopping-- hey, I love that little revamped section of downtown Denver . . . and the museums in Chicago are top-notch!), but the traffic in both of those cities is enough to keep me from wanting to live there. (Haven't even checked the crime rates.)

My brother lives in Montana and absolutely loves it, but it's hard to find work in his area.

And NONE of those places have weather that is half as nice as ours!!! Seattle area is lovely and fun to visit (I really wouldn't mind living in, say, Port Townsend, or on Whidbey Island) but, again, a bit too much rain.

California . . . well, I'm already getting hate mail in response to my California comments, so I'd better not touch that one! :)

LOL! Dicentra, I just took the quiz & the first name on the list was the town I live in!! Guess I'll just stay here!!

I get such chuckle out of this thread ,"fantastic weather" obviously a very subjective thing. How many months of the year can you comfortably walk around in shirt sleeves. I have been to Boise and the surrounding area summer and winter,nice place but no bananas. I did pick one fresh off the plant the other day though, delicious-tart sweet with pinapple guava flavors not like the mushy store bought ones. In my town we don't even have a stop light and few of the previously mentioned problems that will probably get worse in any area with more people moveing in. But here land prices are high.Higher population concentrations both bring and take away freedoms,for me the freedoms I hold dear are found in areas of less people.I imagine this is true for most people on this forum.Look around know what you want this is a big section of the continent , hopefully you find it right where you are, if not keep up the search this is after all how America came to be.pauma

I agree with Peach Fuzz, Northern Michigan. Rapid City's where my home is.

Check out southern Indiana,the weather isn't the greatest hot humid summers,droughts,tornatos,and floods.Winters can be really cold,wet,cloudy an snowy or nice.Land prices are ok and there are lots of small to mid size towns.Taxes were cheap but are going up.

Franc,

That sounds like everything I want: Humidity, tornados, floods, and cold winters... At least you have the Fighting Irish! We only have Baylor.

Judith, I did not know you had severe winters. I thought Tennessee was fairly mild. For an alternative location I would suggest parts of Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas. You'd have to do a bit of research on the Net, but if you're not retiring for a couple of years (thought you said three??) you'd have time to research. I would suggest maybe looking up maps of some East coast states; their western sides border the mountains, and might have the far-enough-south-to-avoid-a-lot-of-snow and the high-up-enough-to-avoid-a-lot-of-humidity that you are looking for. Off the top of my head I would suggest looking up Winchester, VA; Harrisonburg, VA; Lexington, VA; and Roanoke, VA; these cities are near the western part of the state; not sure of the elevation. There are counties west of these cities, but I would think at retirement age that perhaps you'd want to be somewhat close to a city large enough to have a significant medical resource. Fayetteville, NC; Brevard, NC; can't think of SC cities but the state extends pretty far to the west so I'd think there'd be a few. You'd have to move an hour or two outside the major areas to get land cheap, but the roads are generally very good on the East coast.

If you need more help, I can try to dig up a little more. Most have chamber of commerce sites that include real estate listings, etc.

It does sound as if your area is growing. Maybe you are right. But Internet searching is relatively free, and definately worth a shot since there are other reasons your area may not be the best in the world for you.

WacoJohn,
Seven years ago our family lived in a medium-sized city. My husband was offered a job in rural Northwest Florida...closer to Alabama than the beaches. We have 2 acres of land overlooking horse pastures and an organic farm. Our kids go to a K-12 school, and the level of parental involvement there is phenomenal. "Family Values" are the rule here, not the exception. We just got our first stop light in town, and I think that traffic violations may be the extent of our crime. Everyone here knows each other and looks out for each other. We are close enough to a town with a SuperWalmart, 15 miles, to go if you need something you can't grow yourself. On the downside, it is hot and humid here for about 4 months of the year. It gets colder here than in other parts of Florida, and we have had snow here before. Jobs don't pay as well here as in other parts of the country, but then, the cost-of-living is a lot less, too. I wouldn't want to raise my children anywhere else; when my teenage daughter bemoans the lack of a Mall, I remind her of the lack of gang problems, drive-by shootings, and sirens blasting all night long like at our old home in the city. I actually have several friends here who have NEVER locked their doors.
There's a lot of outdoor activities, and w're close enough (1 hr) to a larger city that we can go to attend cultural functions, concerts, fine restaurants, etc. if we want to.
I don't think that I'd want to live anywhere else.

I have always thought I'd like to move to a small town in South Carolina. No one has mentioned it. Does anyone have any info on the good and bad points of living there? I don't mind hot weather at all. Thanks!

You might want to give this a try. Win a home and business in Wassila Alaska. The site looks legit

If I could, I'd go back to where I came from, Lexington Co., SC. Health concerns keep me from it, but it's such a nice place to live. Low crime, people are friendly, you can still buy land cheap.

Occasional snow, I think it snowed 3" in the 5 years I was there, and we had two major ice storms, but mostly, it's pretty temperate.

HI...I was reading through the thread and althouygh you posted it quite a while ago I am curious if you found a direction to go in? I am happiy located in Western Washington and although I have traveled all over the United States and have meet many wonderful people and have been in some of the greatest small towns in the US I am certain that there is no place other then here for me. Ocean less then 1.5 hrs away, travel east, mountains (not foothills)bursting with wildlife, travel farther east and go over the hill and there is desert area and remote wilderness, well known to homesteaders and back to earthers. I am able to grow many garden and flower items, I live outside of city limits and therefore taxes on my 2 acres and home are under $500.00 a year. I am surrounded by forest land that is preserved. My place includes a creek, forest, sigh...just my perfect slice of heaven. It was reasonable to purchase and in need of repair that I do as I can. I have no city water, sewer, nor am I surrounded by neighbors. Those people who live in a rural small community are for the most part good people and parents. Are there ever problems...yes, where there are people there are problems. But nothing like what happens in towns. Raised 5 kids and the biggest problem they could get into was drinking up in the hills and running around the woods on motorcycles...to far to walk to town! My advice to you is to bundle up the family and go on a "drive-about". Travel far and wide off of the main highways and just allow the adventure to happen. I am sure there are reasons for staying in a certain part of the country, go there and be open minded to what you see and how you feel. Eat in the diner where the old timers go in the morning for coffee...every small town has one...ask about their town and then just listen. Good luck in your quest for your "slice of heaven" icecreamgranny Judy

Icecreamgranny:

As much as I hate to admit it, the more I look around the more satisfied I am right here. If I do move though, I would go to the Portland area or the Boise area for extended visits and would strongly consider those two areas.
I still am shocked by the amount of crime here, especially as compared to other places. I have been burglarized twice since I posted this question. To be fair to Texas though, crime is not this bad everywhere in Texas. I could move 100 miles and have a low crime city, but with higher cost of living. I guess there is always a trade off. Really, my dilima is I have a professional practice that I have devoted much time to developing. Starting over now would be hard. Also, I think my views may be a little skewed because I spend all day everyday dealing with and trying to help people who have made bad choices and have screwed up their lives. Yet, if I am going to continue in my line of work with all the frustrations, I might as well be looking out an office window at a mountain instead of mesquite tree.

Don't move to Boise! Too Cold, too conservative and too many skin heads...

Well the new year has started and it is nearly a year since you posted this thread. I agree with you that startng over would be difficult after spending so many years developing your business. Your crime rate...or at least your business may have caused you to be a "target" of opportunity. It is unusual to be in an area where the same crime is committed in less then a year to the same individual. Your family is so well rooted in your area that you would find yourself wishing to go home. A solution for you might be to involve yourself and your family with different groups of people that have more positive attributes then those individuals your work requires. I assume you work in a counceling, probation, or "negative" atmosphere. I was very close to a police officer that always saw the negative, it is what he dealt with and "where he lived" mentally. You got into your field and developed your business with "ideals" and now your positive self is just overwhelmed. Find a way to re-fuel and remember that for every person that walks through your door with overwhelming issues, there are many more with the simplistic ideals of just getting themselves through life with a smile that would never have a need for your services. I hope that in 2004 you are "re-fueled" daily with the positive value that us humble humans can offer each other. Judy

As a non-American, but world traveller, I've lived in a variety of places in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and now Belgium. I've visited 72 countries, and worked in many of those. Where's the best place to live? Well, that really depends on you.

If you want low crime, high standard of living, well-policed, diverse, friendly, warm, and amusing people, then in my opinion Belgium wins hands-down. I love it here, and this is definitely the country for me. There's 4 seasons, not too cold and normally not to hot (-5°C to 30°C), handy to everywhere, amazing lingual capability with Dutch, French, German, and English all spoken, wonderful history and traditions, I could go on for ages.

However, you will find lots of people who concentrate on the negative aspects concluding they don't like it here (lots of bureaucracy, multiple languages causing lingual divides, petty politics, etc).

Only you can decide for sure what you want. Your ability to emmigrate, desire to be in a foreign environment, flexibility for learning new languages, political ideology, and more may mean you may need to only consider the US. If not, then, literally, the world is your oyster. And there is a lot of it to explore! Eventually you will find one that "fits". But also beware, two things (1) the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and (2) you can never go back - by this I mean that if you leave, you can always return to where you were, but you will have changed, so you may never fit into your community the way you do now. So you can never go back, you can only return... it's a big step to make.

BTW, to avoid being robbed, just look the least easiest compared with your neighbours... it's the classic bear in the woods joke - you just need to run faster than the person you are with!

Strudel 1820 ,you are right on. Just got back from spending some time in central Europe ,mostly the alps and by far the friendliest and most interesting folks were the people from Belgium followed by Netherlanders.What a wonderfull part of the planet.pauma

No one has mentioned Tennessee. We moved from Long Island to Middle Tennessee. The weather is mild most of the year but there are still four seasons. The scenery is beautiful. Today is Feb. 1st and my husband and I went for a motorcycle ride in 60 degree weather. It was sunny and great to be out. We live in a town with a state university with lots of free concerts, three large lakes within thirty minutes and lots of free state parks to visit. The economy is good and there is still land to be had at reasonable prices.

This is the best site to compare cities, and decide where would be perfect for you. It compares dozens of important things: from economic, to growth, schools even temp. and climate. Unfortunately I'm not able to past the link but hope this helps anyone else looking.
MSN House & Home\compare cities
Nashonii

I just visited Kansas City and was pleasantly suprised? Anyone from there?

We are planning on moving soon from Cheyenne, Wyoming. We have lived here for 20 years but my husband is retiring from the military and for his job, there is not much for employment around here. I would love to find a town like this one of about 50,000, very low crime and friendly people. The only bad thing about this area is the weather. We get like 3 months of summer and the rest is fall-like or winter. I would love to have four distinct seasons. The wind blows constantly, probably because there are no trees! Wide open plains may appeal to some but beautiful scenery I desire. Give me green...no more tumbleweeds please! Any advice??

Waco John,

I'm from Kansas City. Lived here for about 28 years. The older I get, the colder the winters get but it is still a good place to live.

Gary

Email me if you have questions.

I started in MN, then went to college in Wisconsin, which was wonderful, more open space, nice small towns and big ones that ended at the city limits (none of these spralling developments of 2 acres like the twin cities has). Then I went to North Carolina for a job which was better yet. Climate nice, got a little hot but it didn't bother me much. I could hike in january if I wanted with out carhart coveralls. And so many more plants would grow there than in MN.. but needless to say I am back, living close to home. Not even japanese maples or peach trees could fill the void of not seeing someone in my family once a week. I now live in a small town that isn't being encroached by the cities too bad and am very happy..

but I had to find that out first otherwise I would be constantly thinking about it. I think you can always go back. The grass may be greener other places but what good is it if you can't enjoy it with the folks you love...

I took the quiz on 'the best place for you to live' way further up in this post, and found out that my paradise would be an hour and a half south in Deland, FL. Gave me some things to think about. The crime rate in Jacksonville is just too high, so maybe a short move would not be too bad.....

But my dream would be southwest New Mexico.

Cheri

I've lived in southern Georgia my entire life. Which to many people isnt long because I'm only 25. However I am a mother of three wonderful boys. Two of whom are my nephews that my husband and I raise. (All 3, under the age of 9.) We live about 45 minutes from Savannah in a small town, I should say a very small town. We have recently moved here and we love it. It's so quiet and the kids have plently of room to play without me having to worry about the traffic like I did when we lived closer to Savannah. Crime in my area is almost nonexitant, however there still seems to be a lot of bigotry around here toward people of different races. Which really bothers me. I'm so glad my mom and dad decided to move out of Savannah before I began highschool because the schools in Savannah leave a lot to be desired. Their just plan scary. And the crime rate seems to go up everyday. I wouldnt move back to Savannah if someone paid me, expecially since I have children in school. All that aside, southeast Georgia is a wonderful place to live. (A lot of people would say way too hot, and I think I would have to agree.) But if I had to choose a place to live, I think it would be Montana. I've never seen such a beautiful place. (Maybe I'll win the lottery one day.)

Those that live in this area, we're suppose to discourage poeple by telling them it rains all the time, no sunshine, never can see the mountains, and there isn't hardly anything to do here (-; did I mention it rains almost everyday? Forget the past 10 days of sun, that's just a fluke, it'll never happen again.

Seriously, can't think of a better place to live, and I have lived in many places, this place is home forever for my partner and I.

Kendal

Western Mass.Since 80% of the states population lives in the eastern half,the western half is still pretty wild.Plenty of wildlife and real nice scenery,especially in the fall.Could easily get you lost in the Berkshire Mountains,more than a few have,remains sometimes found by hunters.Many state forest that cover more than 12,000 acres and more.If you don't like -20-30,in winter,stay away.

I can see the last post was in '04, but I just have to add our town to the list! Hot Springs, Arkansas has been the best of both worlds. We have a great climate (zone 7b), great family activites in town, and a low crime rate. We do have to put up with all of the hillbilly jokes even though Hot Springs is rather comopolitan. We've really enjoyed raising our daughter here, and we will probably stay for retirement ourselves.(Although, we are recently worried that casinos will come in and change everything, so we've been keeping an eye open for other nice places to live.)

Well, this is now almost 2 years since the last post, but after visiting many places, I have to say southern Tennessee is where I want to live out my days. Although reared in Louisiana and living many years in Texas and Alabama, our farm has just about the best climate for growing the things we like. All kinds of veggies, fruits and nuts, including pecans. Our farm is our "heaven on earth".

Becky

A bit of dissension here...A rant, if you're rather sensitive about being a yankeelander in Dixieland, stop reading right now!

Geez, I hate posts like the parent one....A pet peeve of mine, Yankeelanders moving south, and bringing their brought up better and superior to all of our local children kids and their "well were we come from we..." attitude about which nobody here cares to ever hear about (so y'all can just STFU about anything you know did had whatever in yankeeland and hurry up and go the hell back), and looking down their nose at the locals and their "quaint" ways.

I have no problems with yankeelanders moving south or west as long as they keep their south west of the Mississippi and their west north of Kentucky/Virginia. Texas is a fine place for yankeelanders heading south. It's real big and there is a lot of empty space there.

There oughta be a law that says only born and bred Dixielanders can move about and live in the Old Confederacy. Or at the very least, that ONLY those who intend to live there full time can even consider the Appalachians of NC,Tn,Va, and no-one from "out of state" and new moves anywhere within 50 miles of any coastline in any state,
Oh yeah... and the feds STOP payments of any kind for damage and destruction from such lovely little inconveniences like hurricanes and disallow ANY reconstruction within 2 miles of the high tide line. Once it's gone it never comes back.

When it comes to living at the coast...You chose, you lose, you pay. Fair enough.

Then again, the Oregonians and Washintonians and Nevada folks might need a break from the ongoing influx of Californians, so maybe you should take your accent and your attitudes and your kids way out west.

Just checked back in because I was curious as to whether WacoJohn ever actually moved, and, if so, where he ended up! This thread garnered me more hate mail than any other notes I have ever posted . . . had to even put a few people on my email block list!!!

Good ol' Kansas City. I grew up about a hundred miles from there, and still have lots of relatives that live in the area, including my parents. The last time we tried to visit Mom & Dad at Christmas, it was seven below when we got off the plane! Brrr! Ever since, we've aimed for summertime visits, preferring to brave the bugs & humidity.

It's been three years since I posted my previous comments about Boise. What's it like now? Boise still shows up on lots of "best places to live" lists. Crime and unemployment rates are still low. But we have more people all the time; higher property taxes; poorer air quality. I guess it was bound to happen.

The quiz told me i should be in San Marcos, TX. Interesting, because I never thought of living there, but it's really got everything I love in a town. Now my husband is emailing about taking a road trip later this summer to check it out. His number 1 came up in Vermont. I love Vermont, love love love it. But we both know the winters and short growing season would not be good for me.

Boisemom,

After I posted this, my home and an investment property next door were burglarized nine times in fifteen months. Finally caught the repeat burglar.

I traveled to the PNW and love it but my business is established where I am so I moved about twenty five miles to a really small town. Almost no crime and no noise makes things much better. It is amazing what just a little distance can change!

I forgot to mention that we currently live in Dallas, TX. We are in a great area about a mile from a gorgeous city lake that is surrounded by art deco architecture and turn-of-the-century mansions. We got our 1600 square foot brick, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car attached garage home on a city lot for well under $100K, although it's worth much more now. There is a lot of crime here, but we have not been personally affected ever. We keep 2 big dogs out back, lock the doors, lights on out front at night, car doors locked and keep an eye on things around our street. Maybe we've just gotten lucky. Our problem with Dallas is that it's a city in transition, and areas like that are not always the friendliest places to live. There are a lot of very old original owners on our street, and they are nervous about rising property taxes and utilities and the new families that keep moving in as the old folks begin to move into assisted living or die. When you combine nervousness with way too much free time there is the potential for a not so nice little old lady to become a real pain in your butt. We have 2 on this street that have made things so uncomfortable for quite a few people over very petty things. They have done things like trying to organize block parties and only invite the white people. There is a lesbian couple on our street, and they're just horrible to them. We love the mix, but I'm afraid the tensions won't improve until the bored little old ladies are dead and gone. A little elbow room would do us well....

Also, the schools here stink. Texas public schools are the worst in the nation, they regularly ignore federal laws and the agency designated to enforce the law when complaints are filed is corrupt and useless. We have found a way around the schools, but eventually we will leave Dallas. The city is not doing anything to protect the middle class from rising property taxes as the mcmansion tear-down crowd slowly takes over this part of the city, so even after we own our home in a few more years, we will be paying a huge amount each month in taxes each month.