19 Comments
User's avatar
weedom1's avatar

Cool story at Temperance, which resembles many little towns in our flyover area, except we're not as wet.

Your 'cozy ranch' is a smart way to land. Enjoy growing up that yard!

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Thank you, on all counts. The fence posts are coming out today! Plus, I spent the morning milking a cow at a farm just 10 minutes away...

weedom1's avatar

Cool that you have made friends with a milk cow. Some people on another SubStack suggested that we could turn our beef cows into milkers, but that's not happening.

🤣 Too much work.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Cows are kind of magical, I'm finding...

weedom1's avatar

Yaaaa, I sort of feel guilty eating them.

The domesticated deal that they have with humans increases their survival, but it's still kind of nasty.

It's fun to hear of the rare individuals "mavericks" who break out of that deal and go out on their own. They're very magical.

Stephanie Loomis's avatar

Downsizing is HARD--but so worth the effort for the right place at the right time.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Sounds like you speak from experience?

Stephanie Loomis's avatar

Three years ago we sold our big house in a pretty wealthy area (the nickname for the women there is East Cobb Snob) and moved to much smaller and older house not quite in the country, but close! Some of the things that had to go (like half my book collection) were painful, but the pace of life is so much more tranquil.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Ah, that's a great story! LOL, snobs... I actually found it freeing to divest myself of some of the "stuff" I'd accumulated over the years and was surprised I'd lugged it all around so long. Glad to hear you found tranquility. :)

Michael Gease's avatar

Rural areas are one thing, small towns are another. They can be microcosms of society, depending on who “rules” them. We lived in one governed by a village official (wastewater treatment operator/zoning officer) and neighbor. We were treated as unwelcome outsiders. But a few years, a wood wall privacy fence, some upright junipers, and gardens of vegetables and wildflowers softened our 0.75 acre patch of mini farm and their animosity into grudging acceptance. I’m just glad we read the zoning code…

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Yeah, I was worried about that, but so far our neighbors have been great, much better than in our previous place, with sketchy single guys hosting loud parties late on weeknights. Glad to hear you won your neighbor over in the long run! ;)

Mary's avatar

Glad your neighbors are great. Glad too you escaped from the noisy neighbors. About a year and a half ago. I could hear my neighbor's music at least 3 acres away. All hours of the day and night no matter where I stood in my yard. I think somebody who lives closer to that guy complained, so the constant noise pollution finally stopped. The guy was blaring his stereo with the storm and the inside doors wide open.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Oof, that sounds horrendous! Glad it finally stopped.

Mary's avatar

I was grateful that the guy wasn't bothering anybody and was at least staying on his own property. I didn't approach him or file a noise complaint on him. Sometimes it's better to let things go instead of adding fuel to the fire.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Sometimes things work out on their own, for sure!

Mary's avatar

There's nothing like country living. City life is ok if you can afford to live in a fortress.

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Right?! It seems there are more fortresses, too, these days.

Claire Schosser's avatar

A third of an acre sounds like about the right amount of land. I look forward to seeing your land bloom as you work with it!

Lisa Brunette's avatar

Ha, ha, me, too! 😘