Just wondered what it is like where you love?

Do you live so far out in the country that the only thing you see that is living are the wild animals?

Do you live in the country, but have some close neighbors? (that's me!)

Do you live in a small town, a suburb, in the middle of the city?

Let us know what the world looks like where you are!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), February 22, 2002

Answers

Funny you should ask as I was just looking out the window. I can see across the fields, a hill with trees. The snow yesterday is still on some of them. The sun is just coming up and reflecting on the hill and there are two deer crossing a clearing. We live in he country with our nearest neighbor being a half a mile away.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

I live on a Farm to Market Road, about 1/4 mile out of a town of 1,700 people. On one side of us is the house my designated other grew up in, newly remodeled two story five bedroom rented to the high school principal and family, Across the road are two families (one of whom is a cousin) that were there when my DO grew up here 57 years ago. Moderate traffic on the road, but we are set back a bit from it, so it's not too bad.

Behind the house is my mulched path and raised bed back yard. Five LARGE raised flower beds (naturally sloping mounds) with native plants, and four raised veggie beds (board sides.) Three oak trees in the back yard. Behind the back yard is our 108 acre cow pasture, currently with 8 calves, 15 mommas, and my horse. We have a pond, a creek, and several oak motts.

To the west of my house is what I call Annie's Woods. It is a group of oak trees that we started as seedlings 22 years ago, now grown to impressive size. Beneath them is ground cover of horse herb which has small heart shaped deep green leaves and tiny yellow flowers almost year round. My DO made two benches out of a home grown, hand hewn mesquite log. I'm talking BIG mesquite, not the spindly stuff. The benches face the pasture.

The only drawback is the highway just over 1/2 mile away, behind the pasture. When the wind is right, we can hear the traffic there. I am contemplating adding a buffering row of poplars to the existing tangle of scrub oak and youpon and possum haw that grows between our back fence and the access road.

It's quite a place. I love it.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

When I look out my kitchen window I see fields, woods, my chickens, pigs and cows, all at one time! (I have a big bay window at my sink). No matter what window I look out of in my home, I own what I see. No other houses, buildings, etc....A beautiful scene to me! This morning we have a light covering of snow on the ground.

-- Jo in PA (farmerjo02@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

snow,, snow,, snow,,, anyone want some?? COME AND GET IT<< F R E E ! ! ! ! ! I want spring to get here,, SOON

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 22, 2002.

I'm with Stan--it snowed again last night.

We lived almost totally surrounded by big-time farms, mostly dairy. To the west are our neighbour/landlords, with their 3-4 goats. To the southwest is a horse farm. Far to the east (about a mile) is a little country village with its old, country general store. Within sight and walking distance is a railroad track.

-- Cathy N. (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), February 22, 2002.

Out the front windows(East) I see a cornfield and lightly just slight hilly land with lots and lots of cedar trees and oh the sunrises are magnificent. Out the back-West I see cornfiels and woods and magnificent sunsets through the bare trees.

We're finally gonna have winter wather next week. Better late that never I guess.

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

Ilook out my front window(EAST) and I can see the Canadian geese floating on the pond. We have had anywhere from 4 - 18 on it at a time lately. I could stand for hours at the window and just watch them. Out in the pasture with them are our momma cows and bull. We have two new babies(less than 2 weeks old) and 3 more cows set to calve any day! I love it during baby time. It is supposed to be almost 60 degrees today and 70 tomorrow, so we have been outside a lot. I'm tempted to go get the kids early from school so they can have some much needed outdoor time(they are boys!). Out back I can see my horse laying in the sun and my neighbors cows trying to eat the new grass that has already started coming up. I got my first daffodils this week. SOOOOO Pretty!! Yea Spring, though I am afraid we will get winter next week, seems to usually wait until March to hit here. By the way, here is ARKANSAS. Some people think AR is Arizona. I live in the Ozark Mtns. about 30 minutes from the Oklahoma and Missouri borders.

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), February 22, 2002.

A bright yellow butterfly crossed the green area, fresh from a night's rain. The cul-de-sac street opens up to overgrown grass beginning at our house and rising up to the small wooded area of our closed community. Beyond it, on the plateau above us, the wall of another closed community. But from here, I can only see the tangle of tree limbs.

-- Randal at home in Brazil (randal@onebox.com), February 22, 2002.

Randell,, you HAVE to stop telling us about butterflys and such,, when most of us are still ocvered in snow,, and wishing the wood pile was larger

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 22, 2002.

Looking to the north (frount) I can just see my In'laws roof. I cant see them, but Grandparents live just on the other side of a stand of trees. Other than these three houses, there is not another house for a mile. The two sides we don't own are, -a hay field and a cow pasture. I can also see my garden which despertly needs some work done!!!!! Looking off the back deck, there are woods, and you can hear a creek. About all I can see is some small pastures and trees. Thats fine with me. But I also see a lot of work that needs to be done but I'll have to wait for better weather. A few snow flurries this a.m. and sharp wind, but no on-the-ground snow.

-- Kelly (KY) (homearts2002@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

Hello---if I look out the front window--looking to the south---there is a hill across from our house----& we watch Mama deer & her babies come down out of the hillside & we also watch wild turkey come out of the hillside & walk single file down the street to the river----all kinds of birds & wild life----a lot come in our front yard---& I have a pan under the hand pump on our water well--that many come & drink out of--- To the east is our guest house---that hubby is scrapeing prepareing to paint!! If I look out my huge kitchen window to the North----we are sitting kind of/ in a hillside & I can see all of the small villiage/ we live in----sometimes I can see almost all 50 people who live in this town- (working in their gardens or yards)--I can see our back yard & the garage & barn & all my chickens & ducks & geese---& our dog watching them---I can see the back of our 11,000 sq ft warehouse that sits on main street---- & our orchards!! If /we are in our yard/ we can hear the water going over the dam at the river that is across the street from our warehouse & next to the 1800's stone mill--- In the spring no matter what window I look out I can see flowers blooming & herbs --- We love to sit in our yard under the many wonderful shade trees & enjoy the flowers & herbs blooming & watch the wild animals----or our livestock----I'm soooo ready for SPRING!!!!!!

Also we have all our property for sale---if it sounds good to someone!!!!

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.net), February 22, 2002.

haven't seen any butterflys here yet and wondering if there'll be alot less this year. I heard a few weeks ago that they had a devastating freeze down in Mexico that killed off millions of butterflys that winter over down there.

Looking out my window here I see alot since I'm up on a hill. Mostly just my neighbors places and a large field of mostly sagebrush that's probably waiting for a developer to put outrageously priced houses on. The other direction overlooks a decent sized town, lots of lights at night. Quite a variety of trees here, even some lemons ready to be picked. I'm surrounded by mountains here in every direction. The ranges to the north and east have snow on them. They got another fresh snow last week. Down here however it's supposed to be in the low 90s today and mid 80s at the beaches which is where I'm headed in a bit. I've been going down to San Onofre state park beach a few times a month for the past year. From Sept to May it's virtually empty and other than a few surfers there is nobody on a few miles stretch of beach. About half the time I see dolphins or whales. The dolphins come pretty close to the shore. There's a few outcrops of rocks full of little sea creatures. Last week I must have spent an hour on those rocks just watching nature at work.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), February 22, 2002.

My next door neighbors dining room table. Aaaaak!

-- Buffy in Dallas (buffyannjones@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

Dave that sounds just awesome...

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), February 22, 2002.

When I look outside I see mostly woods! Our house is on the top of a hill and it falls off on either side, but we have a nice sized yard and hay field on top. Our dirt road is about 2 1/2 miles long, and dead ends just 3 houses past us. There are 12 houses on our road. We have been here 12 years, and 3 of the families are "newer" than us, although we have both lived near this area all of our lives. Out my fornt window I can see my perrinial flower beds, to the north is woods, and pasture, to the south and east is the garden and horse- barn, across the road to the west is our closest neighbor. It is a nice place to love, sometimes the only traffic is the mail and paper delivery and the bus. If anyone comes down this road, we know they are going somewhere and if we don't know them, we make sure to check them out closely!!! A car is an event here!!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), February 22, 2002.

I live in a formally small town, but which is developing quickly into another megalopolis. Our home is in a small town of 33,000, but is next to another city of 110,000, with other small cities (15,000 - 20,000) strung out along the main highways. This string is quickly closing ranks, and is nearing 300,000 souls, more or less, and about 40 miles long, 5 miles wide.

NAFTA has created a huge surge in population here, as the area we live in, the lower Rio Grande Valley, is situated between the major cities in Mexico and the U.S.. Areas formerly covered with citrus groves (devastated by hard freezes in 1983 and 1989) caused many grove owners to abandon the practice, and develop their property for sale. Other farmers, farming "Uncle Sam", root plow their brushy plots of property, and plant crops, knowing that drought will not allow the crop to grow. The "farmer" then collects crop insurance, legal technically, but what a SCAM, IMHO.

So much of our wilderness is being lost, I can remember as a boy what these lands looked like. Now some look like the moon, the topsoil, exposed by denuding the land, blown off by the gulf winds, turn the air brown. It makes me really sad to see what "progress" has done to us.

I want to move out into the country, at least 25 - 40 miles out, but we have a three year old boy who will be in school soon, and a daughter who will hopefully be born within a month. Consequently, we feel we have to be near some facilities that will make their lives (and ours) a little easier. I am an architectural draftsman, my wife is a junior high school teacher, so for now, civilization is our reality. My wife, having a doctorate degree in Bilingual Education, is eligible for teaching in college and this is what she wants to do someday. The time is coming where I can also do my work at home; if home is in the city or country is of no consequence. Where is my likliest prospects for living out in the boonies

Luckily, my father has left me some rural property about 60 miles away, where I can really exercise my need for some quiet and solitude and watch the stars. My uncle raises Red Brangus on this ranch, about 1000 acres, but another uncle, my brother and I insist that our lands will not be rootplowed for cattle. Our property may not be economically valuable, although goats could do pretty well there, I want the land to grow and be as wild as possible. Luckily, my brother, who concurrently owns the same share of property that I do, agrees fully with my decision. I am so lucky to have a brother who I can get along with; he is probably my best friend.

This property is at least 80 miles away from any community over 15,000, so at least for my lifetime, I should be safe from the noise of the city and city lights, for the time being. Hard to believe the stars are still around; city lights dim them so badly. Rural life is MY dream; my wife is a country girl at heart, even owns a few head of cattle at her mother's pasture located, but still feels she needs to be within 30 miles of a city. I am nevertheless slowly preparing to move to the country, buying tools and storing them for, what I tell my wife, "just in case". If we do make the move, it will be ALL of us, I love my wife, and cannot see myself leaving her or my children to fulfill MY dream.

-- j.r. guerra in s. tx. (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), February 22, 2002.

In my office, to the west, I see a snow covered field with aspens and spruce interspersed. Out the southwest window (the office has a lot of windows..recycled and left here in an outbuilding) is the chicken coop--they're mostly outside now. To the south, a birdfeeder with red and yellow grosbeaks (also chickadees, blue jays, woodpeckers). Then a pond and more spruce. To the east of the house, a dirt road, and forest across the street.

We're eight miles out of a very small town (680 people). Deer come into the field at sundown. I love it.

-- Cat (catcrazy@somewhere.com), February 22, 2002.

Fields and snow. Lots of it -- which has all fallen in the last 5 hours. Which is really disgusting considering it was 15C here on Tuesday (thats about 62F for those of you on the "old" system!).

DH startled a hare out from under the back deck as he left for work this morning -- but I notice it's back -- have to watch that he stays away from the bulbs.

I could sure do with some of that Brazilian sunshine!

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

We're near a small town but have no near neighbors. Just now, sugar trees with buckets hanging on them. My front window faces the barnlot and a US highway (ugh!!.) The diningroom window faces a pasture with cattle, orchard and woods. Mostly, I look out the diningroom window =o)

I'm interested in Randal's and jr Guerra's entries because I've traveled in Brazil and lived as a child, in the lower Rio Grande Valley. It's true, the Valley was beautiful with citrus groves and lots of palms when I was a child but much of that was gone when I've returned in recent years. Pity. And I loved Brazil in the Olinda/Recife area.

-- Rosalie (Dee) in IN (deatline@globalsite.net), February 22, 2002.

When I look out our kitchen window's I see our goats, ducks, chickens, sometimes dogs and cats and deer and turkey and other wild animal that might come along. I see trees and a beautiful view of a valley. We live on a hill in the country and every window that I look out of I see the country. Our neighbors aren't really close and I am so glad we can't see them. ha ha

-- sweet_mae (sweet_mae86@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

When I look out any of my windows, I see spruce, hemlock and alder trees and rain. Our house and landscape is situated so we cannot see any neighbors. If I step outside, I can see Mt. Olympus and hear the ocean crashing.

From the windows, we can see the horses, goats, chickens dogs and cats in all of their favorite hangouts. Sometimes, when the temporary fence is put up for the lawn mowers, my daughters wake up with their favorite horse sticking her head in their window just to say good morning.

Visitors have described our area as the most beautiful place in the world, where everyone is nice and we ride horses all day. We don't get visitors on those days we get several inches of rain.

-- Laura (Ladybugwrangler@hotmail.com), February 22, 2002.

I live in the country, but have some close neighbors, about 4.5 miles from a town of about 50,000. When I look out my front door to the northeast, it is flat and brown with a few salt cedar and a salt lake a couple of miles distant. To the west is the almost sunset, the city's water tower, and Sierra Blanca's snow capped peak 80 miles away. To the south is the main road to town, and more neighbors houses visible. Still brown and flat. To the southeast, the one lone cottonwood tree for miles that happens to be inside our property boundaries. Oh, and the wind is only blowing a little bit today. Did I mention the sunset is beautiful?

-- Gina NM (inhock@pvtnetworks.net), February 22, 2002.

The first thing I notice is the huge Birch tree on the front bank. Lokking past the birch I see a big field (usually has deer, turkey,fox,coyotes,crows,hawks, and just about every bird passing through), then trees and rolling hills and then mountains for miles. I live on a mountain along the Connecticut River. I see about one mile of New Hampshire and then I see some of Mass and then a lot of Vermont.

On most summer mornings when the fog is lifting I can see where the Connecticut River flows. The fog looks like a snake winding through the trees. I am high enough on the mountain so I am above the fog on the river. I stand and watch the fog as the sun rises. I watch as the fog swirls in circles and once the sun is warm enough the fog disapears for the day, but I can almost count on it being there the next day.

-- george nh (rcoopwalpole@aol.com), February 22, 2002.

Hi Melissa, we live on the top of a hill and when I look out my front window facing south, I see the three peaks of Mt. LaConte in the Smoky Mountains and the mountain ranges around them. My garden is my front yard, which is on a slope also facing south, so I can see it too. There is a neighbor below us on the road, but because of the trees on that side of our hill, I can't see their house. If I look to the west and down the hill, there is a rolling pasture with horses in it with the distant mountains as a back drop to the pasture. To the east is all woods on a pretty steep slope and behind the house to the north is my back yard with woods 60 feet or so away. We live 10 miles out of town on a country road and because of all the hills, the houses that are on this road are ususally tucked in the hills and you never hardly notice them. Other than hearing a car once in awhile on the road below, it's so peaceful and quiet here, which is why I hate even making a trip to town!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), February 22, 2002.

My favorite view is to the west...snow capped Rocky Mountains...can't be beat!!!!!!!!! DW in CO

-- DW (djwallace@sotc.net), February 22, 2002.

We look out the south living room window and see the turkeys, llamas, deer, cats, birds at the birdfeeders, sometimes us out there working and sometimes nothing but the wide open spaces here at our house. We have a webcam looking out that way too so take a look if you'd like to. http://members.tripod.com/galen44/webcam.html Sometimes the camera works great and other times not, one never knows with this electronic stuff :)

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.

To our north are farm fields for a ways, a few neighbors off in the distance, and then the Ochoco Mts. (steep and pine covered). West is just our front yard and trees, beyond that the road, a neighbor and some fields with horses, cattle and sheep. South is open fields and a neighbor's farm, with rolling hills beyond. The hillsides are covered with juniper trees and sagebrush. To the west is my favorite view, the gorgeous Three Sisters Mts. We can also see Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood. It is a stunning view and I never get tired of it. We have absolutely awesome sunsets, especially in the summer. We often halt in the middle of chores and just go sit and watch. Our sky here is often almost a turquoise color, and our sunsets start out as streaks of pink and turquoise, turn to pink, turquoise, and purple, then finish up in a spectacular display of pink, purple, yellow, orange and red. It is almost overwhelming at times. Reminds me of an awesome piece of music that just builds and builds until the grand finale, and leaves you transfixed with no words to describe it. Finally you get to your feet wondering how anyone has the talent to create such a masterpiece. The good part is, we can go back the next evening for an encore! Sunrises around here aren't too shabby, either. :)

Between our house and the views is a plethora of farm animals....too many horses to count, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens, pigeons, dogs, cats and who knows what else. I can't go 3 steps without a tangle of dogs and cats around my feet, and usually at least half the goats run loose in my yard, so they accompany me wherever I go. Frequently I have a horse or two in the yard also and they always come over for a scratching. The ducks are pets, and often follow along behind, and my favorite dog and favorite duck are jealous of each other so often get into a fight over who gets to be closest to me. Everywhere we walk around here, as soon as the animals see us they start talking to us so it gets noisy in a hurry.

If we stay indoors, the cats congregate on the doorstep and windowsills, trying to get us to come back outside, so usually any "view" around here includes at least one cat in the middle of the picture. The goats also come up on my porches, or run around the sides of the house and peer through the windows hoping to spot me inside.

-- Lenette in OR (kigervixen@webtv.net), February 23, 2002.

Laura, that sounds really nice. I've been in southern california for 2 years now and though some things are nice, I really really miss rain. I actually like rainy days and we get very few of them here. Last summer we didn't get a drop of rain from May to late September. By August the air quality around here was pretty bad. Dusting around the house seems like a full time job at times.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), February 23, 2002.

Out the front door, to the north I see lots of blackjack (scrub) oaks, my drive, and if I look closely I can see the neighbor's garden and house across the dead-end street. In the summer, when the trees are all filled in, I can't really see any neighbors that way, or to the west, where we have a nice family living next door. I can see our storage barn, which I look forward to taking down and replacing with a shop for Lance to do his woodworking and furniture building in - we would like to have a good business going by the time he retires from the fire dept., and that barn with it's dirt floor and leaking roof is not the place for table saws and routers!

To the south, out the back door, I see where we are moving the garden to, the chicken house, and a 6 ft. privacy fence that separates us from the neighborhood behind us. We are probably going to be putting a gate in that fence so that the boys can go over and swim with my neighbors granddaughter when she visits, and a lock on the gate so they can't go when we don't plan on it! It will also make it easier to get our haircuts (she's a beautician), and for her to get our eggs she and her husband love!

To the east, I have an open area where the garden used to be. It will either be filled with fruit trees or a volleyball court, I just haven't decided which yet! I may have to split the difference and try to do both - I think there's room if I plan it right! I can also see the back of the weird guy's detached garage/shop. This is the only neighbor I have that I could do without - I have been given the impression that he thinks a little more highly of himself than I do, to put it nicely! As long as his little dog stays on his side of the fence we're okay (it was sneaking through and stealing stuff to carry off and chew up - kids' shoes, Lance's gloves and tools, etc).

Now, for a few perspectives: we are on 2 1/2 acres, in a suburb of Oklahoma City that had 45,000 people when I moved here in 1987. It now has over 70,000, and new additions are going up left and right, homes with a minimum square footage frequently over 2,100, and restrictive rules. We are lucky to have gotten this spot, in this unplatted area on a dead end road when we did!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), February 24, 2002.