I find that people that say this aren't very worldly in their views and assume everything around them is theirs and no one else's... they have no concept that their country is not theirs... their state is not theirs.. their home is not theirs... and in most cases even their car is not theirs. We're just a small part of a larger whole trying to make something of ourselves.
I was with ya (even though I can certainly be a 'hater' when it comes to the population growth - from a certain state in particular) UNTIL this remark.
You were right that, in my case, I am probably 50% dramatizing for effect in my comments about our beautiful state's infestation problem (ha! seeeee?).
I have lived in Chicago, New York City, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Buenos Aries, and Rome (oh, and Denver, Steamboat, Vail, and Fort Collins - which, by the way is truly worth your checking out these days!! Very very nice up there without the crush of the Denver metro)...and trust me, I wasn't walking around in overalls with a piece of Alfalfa hanging out of my mouth asking why I can't find a cold Old Milwaukee...not that it didn't cross my mind of course (hahaha!). But when you are working with the Ministry of Health in various countries in efforts to look at endemic populations afflicted with some nasty tropical infectious diseases or trying to setup the right facility to use their new Flow Cytometer (a very cool "cell sorter" basically), the piece of hay would've been a bad choice.
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What you see in my remarks, aside from just ranting for the sake of venting a little and trying to have a little fun with it, is really and truly about my personally experiencing the complete lack of respect for our surroundings and a general ego-centric "me first" attitude that has really been one of the biggest changes I've seen in the people here over time as I have come and gone over 40 years (re: 'entitlement' characterization). One guess as to who I have seen driving like complete a**es, acting like any rules/lines/procedures do not apply to 'them' (quote: "Back in Ell Ayyy...[L.A.] blah blah"), "car camping" right along a 2-lane highway sitting on coolers with music cranked (hi hop of course - ha...or not) tossing pop cans and wrappers from their pre-packaged foods into the brush, maybe even starting a "cute little campfire" then pouring a diet coke on it and driving off...did you see the news this Summer? No joke there.
Yeah, there is certainly a sense of hurt when I take my amazing memories of wilderness survival and backpacking trips with my now deceased father and try to reconcile that mentally when I find time to go hike...and everything is now "owned" and fenced...there's trash o the trails...spandex clad yuppies on $5,000 bicycles are flying by with headphones on trails meant only for hiking...and as another guy said, tearing-up the areas going off-trail. The whole "too cool" stuff just pushes me over the edge.
NOW - I really and truly believe and want to promote that we are ALL "in this" together. My son is currently 2 weeks away from the Selection process for US Army Special Forces (knot in my stomach) and even though I was raised by extremely liberal parents (scientist and psychologist), I am a firm believer in our need to act as ONE country and that our entire country belongs to us all.
I certainly know, in reality, that my gripes are about the individuals who choose to be dumbasses (in my opinion only) and are really not because of their license plate (execpt CA - haha see, I can't help it!).
When you look at NM, AZ, even UT and MT (where the uber-rich buy family ranches and take pictures of themselves), you can see how this will one day happen out there too as population increases and people realize just how tremendous our region is in climate, outdoors, etc etc. Look at Portland, OR and you really see how it's changed and they are realllly pissed about the "Californication" of their state (proximity issue there). Like I say, though (really), we need take the good with the bad.
BTW - Iowa has a had a HUGE migration here (big ad campaigns for years worked - just go to Keystone and you'll see) as well as IL and TX. Top 4 I think demographically are CA, TX, IA, IL. It's not lost on me that without this growth we wouldn't have been able to afford the light rail and lot of other great things here now.
OK - Enough. I hope you DO move here as the vast majority of all who come here are not in the categories I gripe about. Hey, we used to hate the Texans, after all...now it's the Cali's who have shown us that the TX infux in the 70's/80's was a good thing.
Love, Sgn :cowboy:
But seriously, we've never had a basement. I imagine getting a finished basement is ideal. Do you have any suggestions or constant problems to look for or avoid? It seems most places we've looked at there have decent sized basements.
