Lena, your post made me laugh. I know exactly what you mean about needing someone to boost your car in the winter. I have found in this neck of the woods, it's more difficult to get to know the neighbours. I don't know if it's the culture here, but it really surprised me. I grew up on a street where the neighbours frequently would come out to help if you needed a boost or your walk shovelled. I can also relate to the civic pride. I think it's similar to a Canadian making sure they are not mistaken for an American because we are Canadian, a different country. kec - thanks for all that info. I am getting into gardening, but I haven't had much luck here in Tucson. I just don't have a solid grasp of what grows here and doesn't. I want all the colourful flowers we have at home, but they just don't grow here. I went to the local Basha's grocery shopping one day in the early fall and I nearly jumped out of my pants when I saw rhubarb in the produce dept. When I went to check out, the young man said, "m'aam, I don't think your celery looks too good!" I explained to him what it was and he had never heard of it before. Just one of the differences in climate. I can understand why gardening is so popular up there. the growing season must be short and people take advantage of it. In Calgary, restaurant patios are very popular because you can't sit outside in the winter. The season is so short there, that people are outside in the summer as much as they can to take advantage of the short warm season. I have already started to do alot of research. I just started looking at MLS listings to compare what we can get there compared to here. We can definitely get more house for less money. That's a good thing! deeje - thank you so much for those links! They are all very helpful. You're about the 10th person who told me that como is much desired. Do homes go up for sale often in that neighbourhood? I ask because my parent's area is very desirable and homes rarely go up for sale because once people move there, they stay. On the rare occasion a house is listed, it's gone before the sign can be put up and there are few contingencies because people just want to be in the area. My parents house is older, they are elderly, they updated years ago, but now those updates are out of date. They won't have to do anything to their home whatsoever and people will pay top dollar for it. kudzu - I don't believe I implied older was rundown or that SP was a 2nd rate city. I'm just trying to get info about a new place that I've never been, but will be making my home. I don't know the size or what ammenities are available and I have lived in other places that seemed to be large enough to have everything, but didn't. What is Yak Butter?

It was more that I was soooo excited to have such a great kitchen in a house that was in our price range and I saw it as "wow, I might have picked all of this myself... except for the counters." I really love shaker cabinets and although natural maple wouldn't have been my first choice, it wouldn't have been my last either. From the moment I saw the house I had in my head that the kitchen could be perfect if I just replaced the counters. I LOVE corian counters, I know most don't, but we had them in our first house and I really loved the surface. Then the list of things we wanted to do in "phase 1A" of making the house our own was formed and I just couldn't justify ripping out perfectly functional 1 year old counters because I wanted corian that would have cost nearly $5k. With that same $5k we did everything else in the entire downstairs, including new crown moulding in the dining room and living room, the wallpaper and borders, paint, the floor in the kitchen (the old one was just not functional for us) plus a bunch of plumbing work (some old house issues but also installing a whole house filter, slop sink in basement, plus running water and gas for washer/dryer on the first floor) and other assorted stuff. That money went a LONG way to making the entire house "ours" and frankly, if we had used them for counters i think the impact would not have been as great.... or rather that I managed to achieve just as much impact by changing just about everything else and leaving the counters as is. Unless anyone here has a small house and a huge pot of money I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about on that front. So no, I didn't care much for the counters when I first moved into the house but once I decided to work with them, I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking them. One thing I liked about the PO's kitchen (even though I didn't like a lot of his decor choices) was that it felt fresh and clean and I think the green counters contribute heavily to that. I figured out a way to work my favorite color, cranberry/pomegranite red, into the equation as well as that vintage coziness I was seeking using some of the better parts of my husband's coca cola collection and it all just sort of clicked. I love my house and I love that I've been able to do most things on a budget with a little creativity, some ingenuity and a LOT of patience. To get back OT a little bit, I think actually this is a benefit of a smaller house... yeah you might not have as much room to store materials but the scale of the projects being smaller allows you to save time and money on less materials. Our house is on the big end of small... well, frankly I don't consider 1900 sf to be all that small but we have many rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, an eat in kitchen, formal dining room, living room, mud room and a fairly large front entry hall and we face a lot of small house challenges because with the exception of our kitchen, our rooms are on the small side... but when we were looking at homes I was overwhelmed at the thought of renovating larger homes. It felt like I'd never be able to get my arms around the whole thing. With a smaller house, there feels like there is an end in sight even with my snail's pace.

In our new build, a screened in porch was one of my prioritys. We are on the very edge of town and there are woods and a neighbors large pond nearby. ( mosquitos!). We have an 11 x14 ft screened porch off our dining area. We love it and spend a lot of time out there. We have put rollup bamboo shades on it (which are rolled up most of the time and cannot be seen from the outside) for the sun and privacy when needed. We also have a ceiling fan which helps a lot in the humid Illinois summer. We put up 2 hummingbird feeders and enjoy sitting in the porch watching them feed. The only con is that there is a field a half block West of us that when plowed in the Spring, blows a lot of dust and if we leave the sliders open, I notice a lot of dust on the dining table inside. With the 6 ft sliders we don't notice any lack of light from it. It faces South and gets a lot of light. I think you would get plenty of light.

"The original Disneyland is in Anaheim, Orange County. I was there the week it opened and I remember". And I remember when you said you just retired Elmer..... so doing the math you were a couple of years old, but you remember, sure you do. I was at the Settle world's fair when I was 6 and barely remember, but you remember well Stewie. Since you have such an eidetic memory from birth tell me when we've had another summer like this in your life. NOPE, nothing in comparison. This summer is exceptional with no memories I have, and isn't in yours even if you remember slipping out a birth canal. Only people growing up in the dust bowl of the dirty 30's remember something equal, and it's now felt by farmers and communities from Minnesota to So cal. You trivialize this drought as "just another summer" but for many it's become a living nightmare which will be felt world wide unless you're isolated from reality or have a sense of superiority and think invincible. Pinkmountian is right and many will find a way to feed themselves and some won't like the people in Madagascar right now. If the farms stop producing or the trucks/trains stop moving America will be in deep trouble. During the Covid shortage potatoes were near impossible to get but at the same time potato farmers were dumping millions of pounds of potatoes because of supply chain problems. The Midwest flood of 1993 came within a few days of cleaning out food distribution because of flooded roads and rail. My Son in law worked at supervalu distribution and told me so. He said they turn over the warehouse every 6 days, 3 for perishables, so it wouldn't take long to go hungry in a big city. So take a production shortage and throw in supply chain disruption, with groups bent on controlling people and we have a multi sided sword and could evolve into a perfect storm. So what do you have in your pantry Elmer? A weeks worth, not good, but a year's worth you have a chance. Arrogant Complacency is the worst attitude to have when depending on others, and if you had a food supply I hope you have a good police force but aren't you in San Fransisco? "Walgreens has closed 17 of its stores due to rampant stealing, and CVS has called the city one of the epicenters of organized retail crime." in San Fransisco. About Bill gates; Henry Kissinger said in 1970, “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” This is the motivation for Bill Gates, "You can't have cows anymore" he said but yet isn't a vegan and he cites his favorite food as a beef hamburger. It's not him who shouldn't eat beef, only you and the more you learn of the man the less there is to like about him. We've had nearly 200 wars in Europe in the 20th and 21st century alone because someone wanted to control another nation or the people of their own nation. Bill gates isn't special, there are many of them, include ones who want to control just about every houzz forum thread created.