I live in the 'rural suburbs', i.e. a dead-end road 3 miles outside the city that was country 40 years ago but now has houses and trailers on it. Most people's yards are still wild, though there are some people (evil-eyes the neighbors) who have replaced the wild grass with turf. My yard is wild, and I only mow it periodically to keep down the snake population. I like seeing bees and dragonflies and all the bugs!
@ Marian: That's rather austere... or bland.... or do you have a draconian HOA?
@ Stephen: I live about 7 miles from a major city and close to a big motorway/highway intersection - so not too rural [grin]. There's plenty of green spaces though and I can't hear traffic too much (mostly). I generally let my (back) garden 'do its own thing' with a trim periodically to keep things in check. I do chop down two of my (small-ish) trees because they were blocking the light, but there's still plenty of trees around. I did gravel my front patch (its only small - about the size of an average European car) but I'm letting some plants grow in it that have blown in from somewhere. Again it's *mostly* left to its own devices apart from getting rid of grass and the odd bit of weeding. It does mean that I see plenty of wildlife on a regular basis, from butterflies, to birds and squirrels to the odd fox... As long as the wildlife stays outside and doesn't bother me I just watch & appreciate.
Haven't seen a snake though - at least not in my garden! Oh, and I LOVE dragonflies. They're wonderfully bizarre!!
@CyberKitten - I live in an apartment complex in the middle of the city. :'( It's very nice for what it is, but I miss the forest and little creek where I used to live. I think my ideal place to live would be somewhere on the coast, sort of the best of all worlds.
I love dragonflies as well! I don't see them much here. Sometimes we get very large grasshoppers though. Which are sort of cute and sort of ick.
I was lucky enough to buy a house just as the market was starting to recover after a pre-2008 crash. I could *just* afford it but compared to how high the mortgage prices got later I really got off lightly compared to some of the people I worked with. I paid it off fully just before I retired so - win, win really.
I've heard that its a Zen thing to live on or near the coast with forested hills behind you. Sounds brilliant. Places to hike and walk the dog(s), plus a beach to wander on and look for fossils after a storm. Heaven.
Dragonflies are amazing. Pretty cool that they can fly in any direction - including backwards! Being the size they are is OK although I wouldn't like to encounter the HUGE pre-historic ones!!
5 comments:
That looks uncannily like my neighborhood haha.
@Marian Sorry to hear that!
I live in the 'rural suburbs', i.e. a dead-end road 3 miles outside the city that was country 40 years ago but now has houses and trailers on it. Most people's yards are still wild, though there are some people (evil-eyes the neighbors) who have replaced the wild grass with turf. My yard is wild, and I only mow it periodically to keep down the snake population. I like seeing bees and dragonflies and all the bugs!
@ Marian: That's rather austere... or bland.... or do you have a draconian HOA?
@ Stephen: I live about 7 miles from a major city and close to a big motorway/highway intersection - so not too rural [grin]. There's plenty of green spaces though and I can't hear traffic too much (mostly). I generally let my (back) garden 'do its own thing' with a trim periodically to keep things in check. I do chop down two of my (small-ish) trees because they were blocking the light, but there's still plenty of trees around. I did gravel my front patch (its only small - about the size of an average European car) but I'm letting some plants grow in it that have blown in from somewhere. Again it's *mostly* left to its own devices apart from getting rid of grass and the odd bit of weeding. It does mean that I see plenty of wildlife on a regular basis, from butterflies, to birds and squirrels to the odd fox... As long as the wildlife stays outside and doesn't bother me I just watch & appreciate.
Haven't seen a snake though - at least not in my garden! Oh, and I LOVE dragonflies. They're wonderfully bizarre!!
@CyberKitten - I live in an apartment complex in the middle of the city. :'( It's very nice for what it is, but I miss the forest and little creek where I used to live. I think my ideal place to live would be somewhere on the coast, sort of the best of all worlds.
I love dragonflies as well! I don't see them much here. Sometimes we get very large grasshoppers though. Which are sort of cute and sort of ick.
I was lucky enough to buy a house just as the market was starting to recover after a pre-2008 crash. I could *just* afford it but compared to how high the mortgage prices got later I really got off lightly compared to some of the people I worked with. I paid it off fully just before I retired so - win, win really.
I've heard that its a Zen thing to live on or near the coast with forested hills behind you. Sounds brilliant. Places to hike and walk the dog(s), plus a beach to wander on and look for fossils after a storm. Heaven.
Dragonflies are amazing. Pretty cool that they can fly in any direction - including backwards! Being the size they are is OK although I wouldn't like to encounter the HUGE pre-historic ones!!
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