Of course there are always a few inconveniences with rural living:
Living the Good Life
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
4 1/2 acres, less than 100 k, 4 minutes drive from where I worked. no traffic, leave our doors unlocked, the car outside with keys in it. The way things were 70 years ago. Neighbors who come and ask how you are if the paper or mail hasn’t been picked up for a couplse of days.
Can’t be beat.
The older I get, the more rural I want
There’s a town of 300 or so people around here that has a corner store and 3 bars, one of which is open until 1AM and makes better pizza than most pizza places I’ve been to.
The major urban areas show all the symptoms of nearing collapse. There is no clear upside to live or work in the large US cities. The quality of life offered there is no longer worth it.
I’m more of a city kid, but core city politicians are determined to allow their towns to lapse into an unlivable state and county pols are otiose.
Whoever the hell JRod is, he successfully listed a good number of the reasons I don’t live in an urban area.
JRod sounds like someone who would be all for the 15 minute city idea. Yea no thanks. I’m a hitch up the wagon once in while and go into town type. Motto of our local hardware “if we don’t have it, you don’t need it” that’s kinda my philosophy of living rural. Although it’s been my experience for any type of job (outside of owner operator) that pays anything or lets you use your brain the cities do have a corner on the market
We still haven’t come to terms with some revolutions. With the internet and modern delivery someone living in the country can buy and have delivered most things as quickly as someone living in the city. There is no longer a reason to have many businesses headquartered in cities, especially in a time of rampant theft and violence in the blue urban hives. Many professionals can be quickly consulted through zoom and follow up e-mails. I am seeing that increasingly in my legal practice. The country remains for many people a much better place to live, but urban centers are losing some of their advantages as technology advances.
My husband and I live on a farm. It’s located on a 1658 Lee patent handed down through eleven generations of related families. We’re the first people to buy it 23 years ago. The attaction for me was a little Catholic church across from our property. My husband loves it here and tells people we are Fairfax refugees. Come Heres is another term. The only traffic is getting stuck behind a combine or VDOT resurfacing our 2 lane highways. Part of our land we lease out to college educated farmers who grow round up beans, feed corn that’s yellow. (Corn on the cob is white corn) and my favorite, winter wheat. No written contracts, just a handshake. My husband with a valued local employee, the”game keeper” and vineyard manager grow Bordeaux varieties. Don’t expect any one to show up for work during deer season, and mornings during turkey season. Venison is the only meat for some families. I like venison and I understand it is necessary to cull the herd. I just hate the hunting with dogs, unsportsmanlike. Retiring them means abandoning them where they either starve to death or are road kill.
Our congressmen is a decent Republican and so is our state delegate. Luckily our county supervisors are not otiose and the sheriff has had quite a few
drug stings. Peninsulas are notorious for drug trafficking. In certain times of the year the state helos fly over looking for pot patches. With the advent of propane (no smoke as a give away) there are supposedly stills. Hard to convince a trooper that the trunk full of sugar is for mama making jam.
We’re in the flight path of Navy and Marine aircraft which warms my heart when I hear them overhead. Beautiful sunsets, lots of fish, oysters and crabs, no water or sewer bills. Our sons visit quarterly from California and Louisiana. The downers not much culture, lots of Lyme disease and Alfa-gay, nearest hospital is 40 miles away.