Posted on 06/11/2002 7:19:28 PM PDT by Bowana
My Side of the Story
Are You Ready for the Country?
The allure of the country is the rural setting and the beauty of a natural life among back roads and country stores. Small towns, small schools, and a country store where the clerk actually knows your name. Yes, it's a drive to go to the grocery store and a drive to bring the kids to a movie, but your living in a quaint, country town away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Along with the country lifestyle come some concessions, like not knowing when your quaint little back road will get plowed or whether or not you'll have curbside trash pick up. These are issues that people need to consider when making the move to the country. They need to consider the answer to the question "Are you ready for the country?"
For some small town residents visiting the dump, or excuse me, the recycling center, is a ritual where you meet your neighbors and even local politicians who go there to hand out flyers and get to know their constituents. When asked why the town doesn't have curbside pick up, the politician will answer, "Well that would be hard to do, you see we don't have curbs."
Then when questioned on getting the roads plowed, they'll explain how the state roads get plowed first and that not too long ago the back roads were still dirt. Some people that move to the country forget to answer the question, "Are you ready for the country?"
One new resident of a small town in N.H. went into the town clerk's office to ask about getting their water turned on. When they asked the clerk, the clerk replied, "Well first off, you are going to need a plumber. You see we don't have town water here. You have a well." This new resident definitely didn't answer the question, "Are you ready for the country?"
A club in Hollis, N.H., The Lone Pine Hunters Club, has been taken to court by a group of Hollis residents calling themselves Residents Defending Their Homes. The club has been in Hollis since 1966, longer than many of the residents in this group. They are upset that the club has gotten busier, but with all of the "No Trespassing" signs and the sandpits closing, clubs like Lone Pine are the safest places to shoot.
The Residents Defending Their Homes claim that the club exists illegally and was not given a variance. The club applied in 1966 for a building permit and was told by the building inspector that they would need a variance. When the club went to the Hollis Zoning Board, the board said that they did not need a variance and signed a letter to the club stating so.
During the Hollis Zoning Board meeting of December 14th, 2000 the lawyer representing the Residents Defending Their Homes was asked if he was representing any abutters to the Lone Pine Hunters Club, his answer was no, he wasn't. One thing that this lawyer should have asked his clients was "Are you ready for the country?"
When people come to the country in the fall, they see cows in one field and corn growing in another. It's a beautiful picture of the country life. They follow their dream and move to the country.
Then in the spring, when it's time for the farms to fertilize, they wonder what in the world that awful smell is. They don't realize that it is the smell of spring, the smell of the country. They never answered the question, "Are you ready for the country?"
When you choose to live in the country you accept the fact that you won't make as much money or pay as much in taxes. You accept the fact that your kids may have a longer ride to school.
If you want your kids to get a certain level of education, you live with traffic, you live with construction, you make a little more money, you pay more taxes, and you'll have computers in your school.
If you decide to live in the country and live with a few less amenities, make sure that you can answer this question truthfully, "Are you ready for the country?" That is my side of the story.
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I love it.
When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I could get anything I wanted--but it would take me all day to get to the store.
From the boondocks, I can get anything I want--by computer and telephone. It might take a day or two longer.
My neighbors in the boonies are more sophistocated and better educated that my neighbors in the Bay Area. I don't seem them often. They like living in the boonies too.
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