Suggestions on Southern US winter home please

[unclemick]

Up over a few hills yonder - Fort Payne, AL, Ms Blondie says it's kinda hot and the drought has killed the tourist trade(the Crappie Capital) on Lake Weiss. Water way down there also.

Hasn't been making noise about moving back to New Orleans - lately.

heh heh heh - Huntsville was nice living 1974 and 1975 - and great to visit on business for the next decade on and off.

 

[haha]

Dawg, I roared at this. You just have to experience living in an oven to understand.

Ha

 

[unclemick]

Dawg, I roared at this. You just have to experience living in an oven to understand.

Ha

Soooo - don't visit my friend in Mesa, Az (another Katrina refugee) - even if there is water within driving distance.

hot, hot, hot - my personal worstest can't get the smell out was letting a milk shake dribble on car carpet and not noticing - right up there with the 'forgeting seafood in the vehicle stories' I heard in New Orleans.

 

[FIREd]

Dawg, your post was hilarious, but to me it was funny because the guy is a complete idiot even though his story highlights some truths about southern living. I added in bold the thoughts that came through my mind as I was reading the story:

May 30, 2007 :
Just moved to Huntsville, Alabama from Chicago, Illinois.
Now, this is a city that knows how to live!
Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings.
What a place!
I watched the sunset from a park while lying on a blanket.
It was beautiful.
I've finally found my home.
I love it here.
June 14, 2007 :
Really heating up.
Got to 100 degrees today. Not a problem.
Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car.
What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this.
I'm turning into a sun worshipper.
June 30, 2007:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. That’s because I thought Alabama was in the southwest. As it turned out it’s in the southeast, but you know we have a shortage of maps in America according to Miss South Carolina, so I couldn’t know… Anyways we planted Lots of cactus and rocks. The yard is a breeze to maintain!
No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but
I love living in Huntsville.
July 10, 2007 :
The temperature hasn't been below 100 degrees all week.
How do people get used to this kind of heat?
At least it's kind of windy, but getting used to the heat and
humidity is taking longer that I expected.
July 15, 2007 :
Fell asleep by the pool. >
(Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body.)
Missed 3 days of work. I am so stupid. Apparently staying in the sun too long could result in severe sunburns… Everybody else seems to know about it but nobody warned me… That would never happen back in Chicago…
I learned my lesson, though.
Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20, 2007:
Morgan (our cat) sneaked into the car when I left this morning and I locked him in there for 4 hours after failing to notice during my 30 minute commute that there was a cat with me in the car (actually I noticed but I was late and I did not want to turn around and bring him back home. I figured, he’d be OK in the car until I can drive him back home at lunch time). Who knew you were not supposed to leave an animal in a hot car for a few hours? Back in Chicago I used to lock my kids in the car while I was going to the store and they never died!
But, By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Morgan had died and
swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $2,000
leather upholstery. I feel the need to tell everyone how much I paid for the leather upholstery because it is important to understand that I am more bothered by the fact that my expensive upholstery is now stinking than I am by the fact that I killed the family cat.
I lied to the kids and said she ran away because I did not want them to think their dad was a complete moron.
The car now smells like Kibbles and shits. I guess that’s what happens when you bake a cat to death.
I learned my lesson, though. No more pets in this heat and perhaps ever since I am completely unfit to take care of them.

July 25, 2007:
The wind sucks. we did not have wind back in the windy city… I am so not used to that nice refreshing breeze… It’s horrible!
It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!
And it's hot as hell!
The home air-conditioner is on the fritz,
and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he
needed to order the parts.

July 30, 2007:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now.
The monthly house payment is $1,500 and we can't even go inside.
Why did I ever come here? But I’ve got to tell you, I noticed something funny: my neighbors don’t seem to be sleeping by the pool when their A/C breaks down. They use those “window unit” things in their bedroom. I don’t know, it sounds like black magic to me… We sure didn’t have that back in Chicago!

August 4, 2007:
It's 105 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today for a
cost of $900.
The temperature gets down to 78 degrees,
but this freaking humidity makes the house feel like it's about 95
degrees.
I hate this stupid city.

August 8, 2007:
If another wise ass person cracks, "Hot enough for ya today?" I'm
going to strangle him. Damn heat.
By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over (note to self, maybe I should maintain my stuff better and not wait until they break down, that includes my A/C unit at home), my clothes
are soaking wet (maybe I could turn on the air conditioning in my car? Nah, A/C is for fools!), and I smell like baked cat! (I think it might be the cat’s way to make me pay for the gross negligence that killed him…)

August 9, 2007:
Tried to run some errands after work.
Wore shorts and sat on the black leather seats in the ol' car. I have never heard of black leather upholstery getting hot when I park my car in the sun! I am calling my lawyer and suing Ford…
I thought my ass was on fire.
I lost two layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and
ass.
Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.


August 10, 2007:
The weather report might as we ll be a damn recording.
Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. (now that’s hell on earth. By moving down south I wanted cold and rainy, cold and rainy, cold and rainy…)
It's been too hot to do anything for two damn months,
and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week.
Doesn't it ever rain in this damn desert?
Water rationing will be next, so I might as well watch $1,700 worth
of cactus just dry up and blow into the damn pool.
Not even cactus can live in this damn heat. . (or maybe it is because Cactuses belong in Arizona and not in Alabama? I wouldn’t know, I am so stupid I never noticed that my neighbors don't grow cactuses in their yard… Would they know something I don’t)



August 14, 2007:
Welcome to HELL!!!
The temperature got to 105 degrees today.
Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the
car.
The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?"
My wife had to spend the $1,500 house payment to bail me out of jail.
Freaking South.
What kind of a sick demented idiot I am to think I was intelligent enough to live here or anywhere else for that matter?

 

[Dawg52]

Yeah, I thought the same when I read it. I've lived in the south all my life but I can't remember many days in June where the temps reached 100. Usually around the end of July before you see any of those. Very hot here this summer but I think we only had 4 or 5 days where it reached 100. Of course with the humidity, 95 can easily feel like 100. BTW, the temp as I type this here in central MS is 79. Very nice on the golf course this morning.

So not a perfect story, but some truth to it too.

 

[heyyou]

Grizz- Besides Arizona's Lake Havasu City, check on the towns near those other Colorado River reservoirs in western and northern Arizona. In some areas, local realtors are slow to post on the MLS. Only the large developments will have enough web presence for Google to notice.
Any place warm enough in the winter, will be too hot in the summer for the same outdoor sports. Welcome to the middle latitudes.
Joe

 

[RunningBum]

I've heard that story about Arizona, it looks obvious that Phoenix was replaced with Huntsville, and a couple of changes made but not things like growing cactus.

 

[Grizz]

Funny, you folks in the south kind of sound like people up here in Canada only we complain when a week of -40 (F and C are same at this temp) pretty much means that you are stuck inside with the wood stove supplementing the furnace, your car won't start, and if it does, you have to continually scrape the frost off of the windshield while you drive because even though you've taken the time to secure a piece of cardboard to the front of the cars radiator the heater can't keep the interior warm enough, and the whole thing kind of creaks as you drive, and it rides rough because the tires aren't very rubbery at all at this temp. Oh, and the cat has to come into the house from the garage or its ears and tail will freeze off.

We all know about us snow bound types going south for winter and then spending our wonderfully temperate with 20 hours of daylight summers back here, but I'm curious, what do retired southerners do? Is it typical for them to have a home in the north to go in the summer when it's unbearably hot there?

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm - the year I went to high school reunion changing planes in Phoenix - it had 'chilled down' to 108 - last week in July.

heh heh heh - 73 and sunny here outside Kansas City. Gonna dig out some of my winter clothes.

P.S. Living in New Orleans - we often went to Reno(family get together) for Mardi Grais - definitely cooler. I knew those that went sking via clubs in New Orleans. And of course - the RV'ers went to Yellowstone and points north in summer - before school.

 

[W2R]

We plan to move north to retire, like Unclemick.

I don't know any retired people down here who have a house in the north. A lot of families do have fishing camps that they visit for a few days every week or two, to go fishing. But these are usually within a couple of hours' drive of the city. Or, some will purchase a condo on the Gulf Coast at a location like Gulf Shores, Destin, or wherever, that they go to for a few days now and then. They might drive to some small town in Louisiana to visit relatives. Or, they might hop on a cruise ship down by the docks and go on a cruise for a while. Our secretary just got back from 10 days in Italy. But I don't really happen to know any retirees that migrate for the majority of the year to another home. I really don't understand that mindset, either. It seems so indecisive!

People often leave New Orleans over Mardi Gras, whether they are working or retired. This is because the snarled traffic, parades, and delays due to floats being moved to and from parade sites can grow old. So, people go to Disney World, or go shopping in Houston, golfing in California, or whatever. We like to go for long drives researching potential retirement locations over Mardi Gras.

 

[REWahoo]

...but I'm curious, what do retired southerners do? Is it typical for them to have a home in the north to go in the summer when it's unbearably hot there?

A second home is more than my budget and energy level can hack, so to get some relief from the heat and other stuff*, we plan to pack up the RV and head for the mountains of NM, CO, etc. for a few weeks. That is once DW finally retires...and if she'll peel herself away from the g-kids for more than a few days at a time



* Scorpions, rattlesnakes, fire ants, cockroaches on steroids, killer bees, mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, tarantulas, brown recluse spiders, copperheads, cottonmouths, rabid skunks, wild hogs, alligators, oppressive heat & humidity, bleak desolate scenery, dirty beaches, polluted air, drought, wildfires, water shortages, recurring floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, rednecks, huge piles of flaming mulch, spontaneously combusting playgrounds, the stench of natural and unnatural gasses, amoebic meningitis lurking in area lakes, ebola virus outbreaks, flesh eating bacteria, and unbelievably high property taxes.

 

[dex]

Check out the North Georgia mountains or that general local to the north, east and west.

 

[Grizz]

.

But I don't really happen to know any retirees that migrate for the majority of the year to another home. I really don't understand that mindset, either. It seems so indecisive!

If you spent some winter here, you'd understand. It is cold from and including Oct.-Apr. and there is only daylight from 9 AM to 4:30 pm in mid winter. The lack of sunshine can be quite depressing actually. Our more or less 2-3 months of summer is worth coming back for, as I mentioned before, 20 hrs of daylight, Fairly dry, with average daytime temp. of around 75F. You can get in a lot of golf in the summer here.

As well, snowbirds are only allowed 6 mo. in U.S. for recreational purposes or they need to apply for immigrant status. Also we have "free" (taxed to death while working) health care up here and if they stay away too long, they can temporarily be denied their health care coverage for a few months when they return back home. The health care system in Can. isn't perfect, but it's a pretty sweet deal for the elderly not to have to buy any insurance.

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

Also we have "free" (taxed to death while working) health care up here and if they stay away too long, they can temporarily be denied their health care coverage for a few months when they return back home. The health care system in Can. isn't perfect, but it's a pretty sweet deal for the elderly not to have to buy any insurance.

My wife and I are thinking of moving to CA in a few years (and by few I mean 10 or 15). I've been to BC a few times and loved it every time (even winter... of course that's because I was snowboarding at Whistler)

 

[Grizz]

My wife and I are thinking of moving to CA in a few years (and by few I mean 10 or 15). I've been to BC a few times and loved it every time (even winter... of course that's because I was snowboarding at Whistler)

Nice choice, Southern BC is the exception to the rule as far as weather goes up here. It is also easily the most beautiful area of western Canada and would make a wonderful year round location to retire. A very laid back place as well, possibly due to pretty much unrestricted marijuana usage. It's got a very artsy/hippy feel in many places. Unfortunately the cost of real estate is out of this world & getting much worse for Americans to buy or visit since our dollar has gone from 68 cents U.S. to around 96 cents today in a fairly short time.

 

[AltaRed]

. If you spent some winter here, you'd understand.

My sentiments with Grizz's post. I would add that I would have not thought for very long about retiring in a Southern USA location on a semi-permanent basis if it was not for US limitations on residency and taxation based on the 180 day IRS formula, and more specifically US health care.

I spent >10 years of my working life in the USA on assignment, most recently 2001 to early 2006, and while I received good health care in the USA, I would not want to expose myself financially to the US health care system. The Canadian health care system has treated me very well, including recent eye cataract surgery by the Internationally recognized Gimbal clinic in Calgary at zero net cost to me.