Your home and my home

[Wayne Lomman]

Do you love the place you live? I have to confess that I do. To see a little of why, have look at the recent documentary about Tasmania narrated by David Attenborough. What is it about where you live that makes it special? Cheers

https://iview.abc.net.au/programs/da...ZW1100A001S00#

[Lee Schierer]

Just this week we have had the following wild life in our back yard. A mink, several deer, a dozen rabbits, and a red fox. Not to mention a variety of birds. No sign of David though.

[Wayne Lomman]

Lee, is it common to see mink? How big are they? Do you want more deer? They are a feral pest here in Tasmania. Cheers

[Lee Schierer]

Mink in Pennsylvania are relatively common, but not usually seen. Mink are about the size of a small house cat. We have White Tail deer which are also quite common and tasty to eat. Here is one that was in my back yard last fall.
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[Edwin Santos]

Do you love the place you live? I have to confess that I do. To see a little of why, have look at the recent documentary about Tasmania narrated by David Attenborough. What is it about where you live that makes it special? Cheers

https://iview.abc.net.au/programs/da...ZW1100A001S00#

Wayne,

Cheers to you! That was jaw dropping. I feel like I just took a trip to Tasmania, and thanks to you, I might just do so for real.

By the way, I could not get the link you posted to work, but the same documentary is up on YouTube in HD. Thank you for sharing.
Edwin

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I love my open-air kitchen overlooking historic Charlotte Amalie Harbor, where I can watch ships come and go. I love that my daughter gets to grow up doing cool stuff like sailing on classic wooden boats in these beautiful waters. I love that I can see Blackbeard's Castle, Prince Frederick's Battery, and a wealth of history from my home. I love showing my daughter starfish, sea porcupines, conch, and other beautiful creatures. I love that I know everyone in my neighborhood; that I can go to the store and know half the people I see. I love the crazy folks and the crazy stories here. I love that when Kenney Chesney sings about "hanging out with Ivan down here in the islands" I know Ivan and hang out with him often. It is a magical place. There are many challenges, as I am sure you saw my posts about recently surviving two cat 5 hurricanes, but these things are why I stay, and why my heart is firmly planted here.

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[Jim Becker]

What I like about our area is that we have the benefits of a more rural setting but the proximity to a big city for what that brings to the table, including substantial historical and cultural richness as well as access to global transportation. Aside from ever-increasing traffic on the roads, this is a great place to live. And yea...we have creatures. A doe was browsing our lawn just outside our bedroom window this morning while we were getting ready for the day.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

There is good and bad about our area. We have lots of history, Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Wash DC is only 100 miles away. But for folks who just wish to be left alone, this is a tough area. Meddlesome neighbors always calling the municipal authorities complaining about something. (A woman did not like our cattle mating in the pasture a week ago.) Folks buy a half acre lot, get their kid a four wheeler and don't understand why I don't want the brat tearing up my hay field. They see it as being selfish. Same for not letting just any Tom, Dick and Harry hunt my property. They don't see the gates left open, the ruts from their vehicles across fields, trash left where they stood for deer. They think I won't share and that I am selfish. The local governments are largely just good old boy networks. Friends of the honchos, do anything they want, everybody else must obey the rules, no matter how irrational. Neighbor trimmed her cherry tree and threw the branches in my pasture. I lost a couple goats. (wilted cherry and oak leaves are poisonous to livestock.) If it weren't for the people, this place would be great.

[Wayne Lomman]

Apologies about the link. It worked for me when I tested it.

Its good to hear about what makes other places special. Malcolm, your daughter holding a rainbow is just magic. Perry, you place sounds like where I used to live. We had 16 adjoining neighbours so everything was our fault. Lee, to me mink are one of those almost mythical creatures that I have heard of but never seen. Cheers

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wayne,

When we were in Hobart in 2014, we toured some of the surrounding areas and I found that portion of Tasmania to be beautiful. Based on some of your posts here at SMC, I'd dearly love to see more of the mountain areas near where you live!

Living in a town of 31,000 in Idaho, you'd think we don't see much wildlife but a few weeks ago, less than one mile from our home in the center of town, there is a narrow gulch that the owner had recently fenced, the 4 goats he placed in this newly created pasture were killed by a cougar. A year or so ago, another cougar was seen in the downtown area at a city park and in the housing area just east of that park. Across the river a horse was attacked and wounded a couple years ago by a cougar. In the 36 years we've lived here, we have had elk, deer, cougars and a couple bears in town and less than a mile from our home. BTW, we have both mule deer and whitetail deer in our area. We often see hawks, eagles, rabbits and quail in our yard.

My wife quite feeding the local birds in the winter a few years ago. She couldn't take the drama of seeing hawks feeding on small birds feeding at Mrs. Fitzgerald's avarian café.

Locally we live at the confluence of and canyons created by the Snake river and the Clearwater river. We climb 2,000' in elevation anyway we leave town though it's a matter of soon or eventually. We have mountains to the east and west and high elevation prairies to the north and south. Love it here!

[Bryan Lisowski]

I would move out of NJ in a heartbeat, unfortunately that won't happen anytime soon. I'm not a fan of big cities, the beach and traffic. My perfect place would be out west in a location where I could ride a horse for an entire day in any direction without seeing a neighbor. It would still have to be on grid so I could do woodworking and other things.

[Wayne Lomman]

Ken, I'll take a tiger snake any day over a cougar!

Bryan, your dream is not impossible. I worked on the Nullarbor for a while where I knew for a fact that I was the only person for a 30km radius but still had full mobile data and phone service. Independent solar does every thing now including powering your workshop. Cheers

[Mike Circo]

I'd gladly welcome meddlesome neighbors. I've lived in my house for over 20 years and could not pick out any of my neighbors in a lineup. Modern suburban living. Big houses, spaced far apart and everyone sealed up in their own cocoon. Suburbia has the congestion of a city, without the active lifestyle. You can't pickup a loaf of bread without getting in the car and driving a mile. Nature consists of manicured lawns and trimmed bushes. Wildlife is chased off as they mess up the lawns.

I long for a life at either extreme. City for walkability and modern pleasures. Or country for the open spaces and nature. Suburbs stick you in the middle gaining only a teaser of both.

I think my sons have decided for themselves. Both are moving closer to urban centers.

[Mark Blatter]

Do I love where I live? No, but it is a really nice place. Utah has many wonderful features and I should love it here. It has some of the best geography in the world. Everything from Zions and Arches National Parks to mountains that are simply beautiful. Wife and I went to Arches last year and found it just incredible.

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For me though, my heart will always be in Montana. I lived there for many years and while I do not see ever moving back for a variety of reasons, I still think, as the slogan says, it is The Last Best Place. From the Big Hole River to the Little Big Horn River, Montana has some of the best fishing in the world. Glacier Park on the west to Yellowstone Park on the south it just has few peers. I had a friend who lived and worked in New York City. We would meet up once a year at a convention and he repeatedly would ask me what it was like to live in 'God's Country'? There is a place that once upon a time was pretty off the map. It is called the Smith River. Today, not so much. Prior to 80's you could float it in a nice lazy fashion, even a couple of times a year if you had the time. My Dad one year floated it three times, spending about five days each time. Today, if you want to float it, you put in for a permit. They are awarded on a lottery basis, some 800 each year are handed out. Three years ago, the number of applicants was over 9000. It is a special, sacred place for me as many of my memories of my father are tied up with the Smith River.

I like where I live but as my John Steinbeck said, my heart is in Montana. She is a tough mistress and never releases her hold on you.