OT - One more horse pic + KS winter

[damienph]

Group shot of our four horses.



1/2 mile south of our house, either Dec '09 or Jan '10. First time I had to wait for the road to be opened to get to work.

[Pitchy]

Nice lookin horses ya got there.
I bet ya get some deep drifts in that open country, how do you like living in Kansas?

[damienph]

With the wind, we get some deep snow drifts. From the snow in that pic, I had drifts between 6 and 10 feet deep between some of my buildings.

I do like living here. I can see all of the way to the horizon in the west which makes for some beautiful sunsets BUT... We are pretty far from everything. Which isn't all bad, no one here ("locally") locks any doors, we leave our keys in our vehicles, even in town.

We don't have much locally as far as for restaurants, shopping, no movie theaters, no cable TV (we have satellite TV/wireless or satellite Internet). Most of us live 20 - 45 minutes from work. Our vehicles are always dirty, I drive four miles of rock (gravel) to get to pavement. But the people living near me are very friendly, neighbors (at least mine) will drop whatever they are doing to help you if you really need them.

But we have no light pollution, the night skies out here are fantastic, no drive by traffic, crime is something that we read about in the papers...

But we do have alot of wind, all of our trees lean north because of the prevailing winds out of the south. More than our share of tornados, straight wind storms, snow and ice storms.

Overall though, compared to the few years that I spent in metro Atlanta, I much prefer living in rural Kansas.

Sunrise


Sunset


Approaching Storm


Yes, I like it.

[Pitchy]

Say that looks like a nice farm, i`ve considered the plain states just to get away from everything. Have a friend that lives there, we drove the old 85 Winny 25 miles down a dirt road to get to his farm It had rained resently and i had that white mud all over the under carrige, had to go to a truck wash to get it off.
Thanks for the pictures and info

Edit, we parked in the city park in Pratt several times, nice town a beautiful park.

[kimwcook]

That picture of the snow drifts reminds me of living in North Dakota. Let's just say winter was an adventure. Kill ya deader than a rock if you didn't mind yourself. And, NoDak has wind.

Nice pics.

[pdawg.shooter]

25mi east of Dodge City here. 8.5mi of that is sand road. Wouldn't trade it for any city anywhere. 880yd shooting range in my back yard. Nearest neighbor is 3/4 mile away. Best of everything.

[Dave James]

Miss Kansas from time to time, folks and family from there, spent alot of time roaming and growing up , in Plevna,Hutchinson and Montizumia just out side of Dodge , Just don't miss the snow much any more

[RIHMFIRE]

looks like a great place to live....
love the horses...
we are surrounded by horses and cattle...but still close to town!

Fantastic sunrise.....
most of the time down here if you have
red sky in the morning...sailor have warning...

Hows the hunting?

[damienph]

RIHMFIRE, the hunting is pretty good. Good deer hunting (white tail in east, white tail and mule deer in west), Pheasant, Dove, Prairie Chicken, Geese, spring and fall turkey seasons. Squirrels, Cottontail and Jack rabbits, (more Jacks in the west) and antelope, a few in the east but plentiful in the west.

Plus lots of coyotes statewide and prairiedogs central and west. We've had red foxes and bobcats come in close to the house.

[foxtrapper]

With the wind, we get some deep snow drifts. From the snow in that pic, I had drifts between 6 and 10 feet deep between some of my buildings.

I do like living here. I can see all of the way to the horizon in the west which makes for some beautiful sunsets BUT... We are pretty far from everything. Which isn't all bad, no one here ("locally") locks any doors, we leave our keys in our vehicles, even in town.

We don't have much locally as far as for restaurants, shopping, no movie theaters, no cable TV (we have satellite TV/wireless or satellite Internet). Most of us live 20 - 45 minutes from work. Our vehicles are always dirty, I drive four miles of rock (gravel) to get to pavement. But the people living near me are very friendly, neighbors (at least mine) will drop whatever they are doing to help you if you really need them.

But we have no light pollution, the night skies out here are fantastic, no drive by traffic, crime is something that we read about in the papers... 20-45 minutes from work for you and neighbors. What type of work

But we do have alot of wind, all of our trees lean north because of the prevailing winds out of the south. More than our share of tornados, straight wind storms, snow and ice storms.

Overall though, compared to the few years that I spent in metro Atlanta, I much prefer living in rural Kansas.

Sunrise


Sunset


Approaching Storm


Yes, I like it.

[foxtrapper]

I realized my text was lost in the middle of your post(trying to master this IPad) my question had to do with your and the neighbors trip to work was in the 20-45 mins.Range. What type of work is available out in that beautiful countryside ?

[damienph]

I realized my text was lost in the middle of your post(trying to master this IPad) my question had to do with your and the neighbors trip to work was in the 20-45 mins.Range. What type of work is available out in that beautiful countryside ?

Unfortunately, next to none. I work for the electric cooperative that serves this area (part of a 10 county territory) as do three of my neighbors. We are lucky that because of our jobs (electric linemen) we make a very good wage and can afford to live out here. There are very few job opportunities here. A few of the kids stay to farm and ranch with their families but most have to move away to make a living.

There are a few cattle feeding/finishing operations where the cowboys might make $12-15/hour and supply their own horse.

The electric cooperative, telephone cooperative and Hodgdon Powder Co are the three largest employers in our county and in at least 4 of the 6 neighboring counties. But we have very little turn over. Unlike many industries today, most of our employees will be lifelong employees.

It is a real shame because it is a great place to live, if you can get past the occasionally severe weather.

Rural America

[foxtrapper]

Thanks for the reply. If you don't mind a couple more questions If you have kids ,how far to school and medical care? I guess your kids would have to move away when grown, but what a place to grow up! Oh I forgot ,you have a beautiful place and ponies!!!

[damienph]

Thanks for the reply. If you don't mind a couple more questions If you have kids ,how far to school and medical care? I guess your kids would have to move away when grown, but what a place to grow up! Oh I forgot ,you have a beautiful place and ponies!!!

Our only child/son is 32, married and long emancipated, graduated from HS before we moved to the country. We used to live about 65 miles from here.

There is a grade 1 thru 12 in the same building in a small town about 8 miles north. It has a very low enrollment, average about 130 -150 total students in all grades. There has been talk of closing it and sending the kids to two other schools, depending upon where in the county they live. The town where I work (20 miles east) has an elementary and HS with about 550 kids total, out of a poulation of 2400. Entire county has maybe 3500 residents. There is a very small community hospital but I have never used it. My wife and I still use the doctors in our old town (Manhattan, KS) 65 miles away.

That's about it...

[foxtrapper]

Thanks

[getitdone1]

Nice pictures. Country liv'in for sure.

We've had plenty of lousy weather here in Indiana but right now it's perfect. Warm fall days--hard to beat. Doing lots of shooting.

Don