CatsPajamas

He's also known as Broccoli Head, if that helps...

Dee74

D

DesertEyes

oooooh Montana ?!?!?! Now _that_ is God's country. Lemee save up my pennies and I'm there.

I know the feeling. So far I'm finding my new digs to be fantastically beautiful. I have _never_ seen so many flowering plants, so many trees, so much green. They've got trails and parks and lakes everywhere I turn. I keep thinking I got turned around and drove out of the city cuz I'm in some winding little road surrounded by trees until I look at the GPS and realize nope, it's just another little park.

And yet, as unbelieavably beautiful as it is I keep thinking that this is a great place to visit, and I can't wait to get home and tell everybody what a great time I had. Nothing _wrong_ here, it's just that I'm a desert rat to the bone. If I can't climb up a dune and see for 20 miles it just feels uncomfortable.

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* lmao *

That does _not_ help

Desert Mike works just fine, thank you. I've got the desert in my bones and just cuz I got transplanted by a lousy economy doesn't change _me_.

Mike
( aka DesertMike )
* lol *

chicory

DesertMike,
i like the wide open spaces too. loved Oklahoma when i visited for a few months . except it was hot as he!!- all i could think of when i was outside was that i could fry an egg on the top of my head.lol

Don't lose hope-we never know what tomorrow will bring.

i cant believe that there is no way for a desert rat to get back home , find a job,and survive. what is this country coming to, anyway? things surely have changed.

hugs, chicory

DesertEyes

goodness but that view is fantastic, no wonder you love it there.

totally

absolutely right. That is exactly the way it is with me.

I'll get used to it. It may not feel like home but it's still beautiful out here. It's just a matter of changing my perspective.

Like the "townhome" i'm renting. It's absolutely _huge_. It's got a "basement" that I don't know what to do with. It's got _four_ bedrooms and there's only _one_ of me !!!! And this is a _small_ one. I looked everywhere and even hired a realtor and not only do they not have one bedroom apartments, they never even heard of such a thing. At least not like back on the left coast where you can have a really nice one bedroom with your own garage for your car.

Here they don't even have one story homes. None. Everything is at least two stories and a "basement". I'd have to live way out in the country to find a one story "ranch house" and there's no jobs out there.

So fine. I'm living in the one bedroom and I'm turning the rest of the place into an art gallery. I've got tons of pics I've made over the years and a small collection of fine art I've picked up here and there so I've got it all designed and am gonna turn this huge space into a showpiece, that's what. Already showed the landlady some of the pieces I want to start with and she's all excited.

Still dunno what to do with the "basement".... but I'll think of something.

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yup, gets pretty hot in Vegas too

oh jeeez, that's been my life for that last 6 years or so. A little stability would be nice now and again.

well.... see I got debt coming out my ears. I had heart surgery not too long ago and the insurance company changed their mind _after_ the surgery and left me with the bill. Took 'em to court and all that but the judge said there's a law called E.R.I.S.A. that allows them to do a "rescision" and no matter how immoral it may be it's legal. So I have to pay that back a little at a time.

By then I had bought a cute little condo. Standard 30yr loan, nothing shady or crazy. I could actually afford it and pay back the surgery. Until the economy tanked and the jobs evaporated from Vegas... and pretty much anywhere from Denver to the Pacific.

And my health sucks. I can barely manage a desk job in the A/C. I could never survive a job as a cab driver or poker dealer in Vegas. If such a job could be found. Last I heard from an HR lady I know in al-anon they don't even bother to advertise jobs anymore. They just put out cardboard boxes by the employee entrance and the existing employees drop off resumes from friends and family that are desperate for a job. They're averaging 3 to 4 _hundred_ applicants per job, per _day_. And this is _without_ advertising the job.

So I'll just hang out here in the land of rain and "basements" for awhile. Eventually the economy will get better and I'll go back home. Or maybe not, I'm getting to where disability will soon be my only choice and at that point I'm going to move to Costa Rica or some other country where I can actually afford to live.

In the meantime I'm going to set up this here art gallery Gotta do _something_ with all this extra room. Have you any idea how long it takes to vacuum this place ?!?!? No wonder they hire house-keepers out here.

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Mike
p.s. Do you know that they have _pumps_ in the basements to pump out the water cuz it floods !?!?? If the durn thing is going to flood why do they make basements to begin with !!!!

dollydo

Ah yes, sump pumps, always had one up north, otherwise you end up with a flooded basement. I miss the basements, more places to put my valuable junk!

When you were talking about your ride to work, brought back memories. I too, travelled a long distance when I lived in NJ, 40 miles one way, on a good day 1 1/2 hourse, in bad weather, rain or the dreaded snow 3 to 4 hours...one way, I sure don't miss that! Used to spend alot of time in DC for biz...love that beltway, talk about suicide 101!

I really like certain parts of VA, the hilly winding roads and beautiful scenery!

Sounds like you are getting settled!

LexieCat

My basement (a) has flooded with sewer water, (b) has developed huge cracks due to a failing retaining wall that I don't even own and over which I will probably be filing a lawsuit in a few months, and (c) currently has a large hole in the ceiling due to a dripping refrigerator that has leaked through the flooring for weeks or months, causing the wood to rot and mold to develop.

Aren't you glad you have one?

barb dwyer

*newsflash*

we're supposed to see SEVENTY this week!

It snowed two nights ago... melted, but was snow just the same.

The tulips are only NOW coming up.
They seem to be smarter than we are about the weather.

-ps-
Butte, Bozeman, etc. are 'high desert'
all the dessication anyone could want;
with elk moose and the occasional buffalo on the side.

Or in the road.

DesertEyes

Yes !! that's what they call it, a "sump pump". Which means that what it pumps is the "sump", therefore the word "basement" is baloney, the correct word is "sump".

Lovely, I'm living with a "sump" underneath.

* lol *

Commuting sucks. majorly sucks. Good news is i'm _renting_ this place so as soon as I get a job outta the downtown I'll be able to move.

Yup, outside of the developed areas it is gorgeous.

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ok, now I'm really convinced this place is insane. People build their houses over sumps where the sewers run. In any one day it rains more than in Noah's forty days and so what do they do? They build retaining walls like that's going to make any difference. Oh, and just as a by the way, the floors are made of _wood_ that's going to rot and mold and drop your refrigerator right thru into the sewer filled sump !!!!!

uh-huh. sure. yup.

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Careful now, don't you go and get sunstroke.

No kidding. And they're probably the only thing that _should_ live above a sewer sump.

eeeeesh. But at least you can _see_ the durn things. Over here the roads are all windy and narrow and clogged with vegetation. There's no way to see around a curve, never mind stop in time to avoid some beast on the road.

I know, I know. Anvil "sees" the vegetation and loves it. Me? It's clogging the view

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thanx for all the support gang, I'll get to liking the place eventually. My lousy health is a big part of the problem, I never feel good to begin with and all the extra work of fighting insurance companies and shopping for doctors is just exhausting. Once I get everything organized and can get out of the house to check out the parks and hills I'll feel a lot better about the place.

The sewer sump I don't know. I may have to go buy me some hip waders and a gas maks for that

Mike

Freedom1990

You could be like me and have no sump pump, and a basement that has flooded several times since '95.

Wet/dry vacs rock!