you know you live in a rural area when...... - Page 3

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by sierratahoe

Yes, I forgot this one! when it is a 5 mile trip to get the mail! and when that's the only time you see your neighbors close up lol (when and if they are there at the same time)

So true!

[emdeecee_sierra]

when your audience watching you while you rototill your garden area are three free-range cows : : :

[TinyFrog]

When you have to stop at the police station and tell them there is a cow roaming the highway
WHen you call the vet to check on your cat after it's been fixed and they tell you they have not started because there was an emergency pig procedure.

[lightheart]

Originally Posted by mtn.mama

...when momma's work outside topless, and babe's go naked.

I love this one, my oldest is finally running to get underware on when he hears a car coming up the driveway!

... when you call EMS and put flagging out at the end of the drive so that 'just in case' during your homebirth they can actually find where you live and you have to get a 1/2 mile phone line run because your midwife says no-go unless there is a working phone on site!

...a fiend comes to visit and they are totally lost because the nearest cell reception is 10 miles by car

...you have a tv free home because there is no reception, movies from the library are a treat!

...you buy ice cream in the winter to stock up for the summer so that it doesn't melt on the way home and you ration it out!

[Ravin]

About the buying ice cream thing...why not just use coolers and ice to bring your groceries home? Of course, I do that in the city because when it's 110 out stuff doesn't last long without protection.

Okay, I need to stop being literal and just enjoy the thread, huh?

[J-Max]

I do use coolers to bring my cold groc home, but Ice cream does not stay cold enough, and melts a little, then when it refreezes, the texture is weird.

....When the only way you have icecream is from Schwans (and they have an overnight route so they can get to where you are


...When a neighbor does not come in from ridding colts, and all the neighbors go out looking for him, find him, and haul him out on a 4wheeler, and wait the the 50 min for an ambulance, and another hour for a helicopter to come get him, then go catches the colt and do all the evening chores. (neighbor broke his pelvis last night )

[mtn.mama]

Originally Posted by lightheart

... when you call EMS and put flagging out at the end of the drive so that 'just in case' during your homebirth they can actually find where you live and you have to get a 1/2 mile phone line run because your midwife says no-go unless there is a working phone on site!

Hey lightheart... did you already put in the phone line? If not, and if you really don't want one, you could consider renting a satellite phone for the birth time...
L

[Dillpicklechip]

Okay, I have a possibly stupid question...how are all you off-the-grid mamas without phone lines able to access the Internet? Are you using it at the library, or something? Because if you're hear at MDC...

[mtn.mama]

dillpicklechip...
We use a solar-powered (generator backup) computer hooked up to a satellite-based internet system called Starband. It takes a 4 foot dish (in Alaska), a special 9x3x11 modem and software. You have to be able to see 14 1/2 degrees above the horizon in the southeast sky to get reception. Satellite internet and satellite phone has totally changed our lives!

[Dillpicklechip]

Oh...thank you, that makes sense now!

[box_of_rain]

Originally Posted by antannie

Yup we leave our keys in the car and don't lock our door during the day. I do lock it at night but I don't really need to. I never did til dp moved in from the city.

We leave our keys in the car, also, and never lock the door to the house (day or night).

Also - you buy extra chickens, because you know the hawks are going to get one or two no matter what.

We also don't get cell phone reception at our house...

Just thought I'd add...great thread!!

[lightheart]

Originally Posted by Dillpicklechip

Okay, I have a possibly stupid question...how are all you off-the-grid mamas without phone lines able to access the Internet? Are you using it at the library, or something? Because if you're hear at MDC...

for us we were off grid for 10 years, relying on kerosene or candle for light, propane for stove, no fridge for 1st 5yr then got a propane one, then got the phone (had 4yrs) then got power (had 2yrs) It's weird in a way, we had what some folks dream of having but then we wanted/had kids and it really changed everything for us... we figure we're weird enough just being ourselves they didn't need another something (no power) to look back on when they are 40! I know we could of went solar or water but just not affordable and time was running out on having or not having kids....

okay back to the regularly scheduled thread, living rural...

...when your husband falls over a fence post at night getting the critters back in and he asks you to sew up his forehead because it's not real bad (yeah right? it needs stitches!) but you have had practice before on the critters and you do it because by the time you would get to town the wound would of already healed (okay maybe not thaaaat far, but it is far)

[happymamax3]

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!!!!

......neighbors bring over food and a Food Lion gift card when they see your moving van in the drive......

......neighbor tells you to help yourself to as much corn as you want because they "put up" so much last summer and you just moved in yesterday......

.......everyone in town knows who you are, where you came from and which house you bought BEFORE you tell anyone......

.......your dog is chewing on a bone from the pond where the mama cow died giving birth last year.....

.......your kids bestfriends are eachother, their dogs and the assorted fowl.....

.......you find out that dogs really can get stuck together, while facing opposite directions and receive EXPLICIT instructions from the vet NOT to touch dogs again.....

......your neighbors know that you only have a push mower and mow your lawn without being asked.....

......your orthodontists both drive trucks because they need them to haul hay......

......your kids can make a baseball field in your backyard......

......you can buy milk, bread, slushies and 12 gauge shotguns at "corner store"......

......a traffic jam is caused by a tractor......

......people sell fried fish, bunnies and tractor parts out of their front yard.......

......the local handyman/wedding photographer/gardener/caretaker/Bible authority stops by to do magic tricks for your kids......

......you overhear a 6 year old tell his dad that "if that bull chases me again this summer out in da pasture, I'm gon shoot that bull in the belly daddy!"

We are so blessed and so grateful to be living here and I cherish each moment of the craziness of rural living. I would not trade it for anything! My MIL is visiting from the city. Wonder how she'll like it???????

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by box_of_rain

We leave our keys in the car, also, and never lock the door to the house (day or night).

Also - you buy extra chickens, because you know the hawks are going to get one or two no matter what.

We also don't get cell phone reception at our house...

Just thought I'd add...great thread!!

Yep, yep, and yep!
We have a tower for our specific cell phone behind our house and still no reception.: We are in a pocket. Basically you get on the dirt road to our house and you don't have reliable reception until you get back to the pavement.

[magentamomma]

is When you can't hear your friend on the phone over the spring peepers
When bats fly in your house at night
When you have two dead scorpions in the bathroom light fixture and leave them there for decoration
When rescueing frogs from the living room is the evenings entertainment.
I actually live on the edge of town, but I still get to experience all this amazing stuff.

[MtnCanary]

I love this thread!

When your idea of a fine evening is sitting on the porch watching the bats and listening to the owls, coyotes and mountain lion.

When your dogs bring in science displays for the kids (last summer they brought in a deer skull, both hind legs and most of the backbone - they probably found a mountain lion kill).

When your kids need to know more about staying away from animal predators (rattlesnakes, mountain lions, etc) than people predators (molesters and the sort).

When you can leave tools and such out and not worry about them being there the next morning.

Kristin
mom to dd (almost 6), ds (3) and #3 due in June

[magentamomma]

our three city dogs brought down a dear this winter. my kids loved the bones and the gross out factor

[mama in the forest]

When you hear a wild rucus outside at midnight that sounds like teenagers partying...and it's really just wild geese living it up on the lake for a midnight social.

This thread is great. I love living in the country!

[blizzard_babe]

Some bush Alaska-specific ones:

-School is not canceled for blizzards, but is canceled three days straight when the river is freezing up because kids live across the river and there's no bridge across the river.
-The nearest traffic light is two plane flights away
-You haven't seen a road, paved or unpaved in months
-You have a chest freezer filled with salmon, but would sell your soul for a non-moldy orange
-Your school district covers an area the geographic size of Ohio

[saintmom]

When you can't get up the driveway because the neighbors
geese are out.
.....The neighbor man hires your boys to work his tobacco
....WOHM means moms in the garden
...Your garden is way bigger than your house.
....You're the last ones to get power after a hurrcaine or ice
storm.
....You wave at everbody when you're driving
....Your family are still the "new folks" even though you've
been there 25 years
.....You still hear "you're not from around here are ya"
.....Going to town means the kids have to wear shoes....