The Good Banter Thread

[Big Lou]

#6, Lou. They call it a hamlet here, maybe 30 or 40 houses, with farms all around.
John

I'm originally from a hamlet of 296.

 

[CountryEscape]

Lou, guess I would qualify for #7, very rural area, since there are only 3 houses on the mile and a half road I live on. Only thing I would want different is more trees nearby. Pretty windy out here on my "prairie", but otherwise I love the quietness of the country. Just me, the fish, horses, dogs, cats, quiet. Just need a man now. LOL

 

[Becky]

We live in a moderately sized town - just your typical English old market town really! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altrincham (pronounced Ol-tring-ham). The autumn colours are looking particularly beautiful at the moment! Shame about all the leaves that need sweeping up though!

 

[CountryEscape]

Beautiful buildings in your city, Becky. Around where I live, all the beautiful old brick churches have been torn down (except one) and rebuilt into huge metal buildings. Nothing like a church should look, in my opinion. I love old architecture, as well.
Where I live in particular, it is so flat that the few mature trees I have in my yard (3 soft maples and 2 elms) have small leaves, and then the wind blows them into the next township, so I have yet to rake my yard. Love that! But, sure wish there were woods with hills and valleys close by to walk around in, too. Ho hum ...

 

[Big Lou]

Beautiful buildings in your city, Becky. Around where I live, all the beautiful old brick churches have been torn down (except one) and rebuilt into huge metal buildings. Nothing like a church should look, in my opinion. I love old architecture, as well.
Where I live in particular, it is so flat that the few mature trees I have in my yard (3 soft maples and 2 elms) have small leaves, and then the wind blows them into the next township, so I have yet to rake my yard. Love that! But, sure wish there were woods with hills and valleys close by to walk around in, too. Ho hum ...

.

I also dislike the unecesasary destruction of buildings with character.

 

[sissy]

Here there are farms all around me but I live in an area where they bought up a part of a farm and built houses .My house was the first large modular home built here .I wanted something built to my standards and did not want construction delayed by weather ,since i was on a time crunch .My house was sold in NJ and moving here to VA .I gave all my furniture away there and started new here .It took to industrial cranes to lift my house onto the basement and 12 hours to get it all done and sealed in and then the interior finishing had to start.I played GC (general contractor ) on the job and it is like a dance of sorts to make sure everything runs smooth .Took 3 months from start to finish and no driveway and no lawn .I had years of planting trees the developer had stripped all the trees off where the house should go before I bought the property .I bought 3 /1 acre lots .I loved every minute of it .Would never look back and say I wished I had not done it .The developer built other homes here after mine and they are so poorly built I was amazed .I wanted a ranch and wanted it built as a lifetime home so it was all built to handicapped accessability standards .Went online to get all that info and gave everything to norris homes and they agreed to let me design my own house from scratch .

 

[CountryEscape]

You never cease to amaze me, Sissy. I'm sure you could be others' general contractor. My sister did that on her house, and was running back and forth getting permits, etc. Out where I live, no permits are required, only inside city limits. But, my house was here, so I only had to move in. You have something to be very proud of, having had it built, then landscaped it all yourself, and you are so handy and creative, love all your homemade creations you have added, and I'm sure continue to add over the years.

 

[Big Lou]

......and I bet you make a great apple pie! I love apple pie.

 

[sissy]

I read up on it a for a year before trying it and have watched lots of DIY shows over the years and permits were easy .Certificate of occupancy was a nightmare here .They did not understand the handicapped part and had to give them a printed out paper on it .They could not understand swing free hinges on all the doors and why all the doors needed them and why all the doors had to be 36 inches wide .I think they got hung up on that and why outlet switches had to be higher on the wall .They thought it was a safety concern .I filmed the house being lifted by the cranes from start to finish and would do it again .Modulars are built with 2 steel frames under the floor beside the 2x 12 floor joinsts and 2x6 stud walls and since norris homes wanted my plans from start to finish house only cost 89 thousand and that was with septic tank and well and land .I like the fact I do not get settlement problems like other homes and it does not sit out in the weather getting wet while the house is dried in .I know my house can do 65 miles an hour down the road and saw it being built in the factory and followed it from Tennessee to VA .

 

[sissy]

just made crab apple jelly and it is good .Got some of them before deer got them all .Used to can but now it is just me so not as much a few pints here and there of stuff .I grew up on an organic farm my parents owned and mom canned everything that we did not sell .

 

[Big Lou]

just made crab apple jelly and it is good .Got some of them before deer got them all .Used to can but now it is just me so not as much a few pints here and there of stuff .I grew up on an organic farm my parents owned and mom canned everything that we did not sell .

My grandparents canned vegetables and fruit. So good! Sissy you are amazing!

 

[sissy]

not amazing just brought up by parents who made me understand young that you never say I can't do it .I was a daddies girl .He worked 3 jobs kentile floor tiles and 5 acres of organic farm and lot clearing and tree cutting for Kaplan Builders in NJ .He was a amazing and so was my mom .We picked everything our selves and unloaded the truck of the firewood my dad would bring back to sell to customers .We were a well known family in our area for our fresh produce and firewood .

 

[Fishylove]

The city I live in is quite large, but it is actually made up several small "towns" of sorts, with a total metropolitan population of around 360,000. Fortunately Evansville, which is called "the river city" because it is located on a bend in the Ohio River, is a good mix of old and new buildings, and I love the old architecture of our downtown and even in the other small "towns" around our city. The house we live in, I purchased when I divorced from my first husband 12 years ago, it was built in 1940 and my husband and I have lived here together for 10 years now. And it's always a work in progress!

 

[sissy]

new or old they are always a work in progress .That's why i think it is funny when I hear people want a brand new house because it is less work ,what a laugh i get from that .I bought 2 fixer uppers when I first started out and they were work but worth every minute of it .They seperate the know it alls from the I want to learn it alls .And boy is there a lot of learning to do . :razz:

 

[addy1]

We have bought a bunch of fix its. My dry wall work has gotten a lot better! He does the grunt work, I do the finish.