SilverFallsAndrew

Well its probably not the only criticism.

I actually like the older body style better. And always prefer a manual. The only criticism people have of pre-2005ish Foresters is they can be very loud...Noticed that with my old 04', haven't noticed with the 99'.

That's what I was thinking.

Hope springs eternal!

We made it to 56 after a low of 30 this morning. Still a little snow in the shade, and some piles by the shop where it all slid off the roof.

Nice win. The announcers on the radio before the game predicted Cruz would homer off Kluber and Diaz would get the save. Worked out well... Dry here too...Down to 37, so not really mild.

Just looked it up. Latest measurable snowfall on record for Tulsa, OK was April 12, 1957. Just looked this day up...27 with light snow at 1pm...Wow.

Snow in April in NE Oklahoma would be incredibly rare. It snowed on the evening of April 5, 2007 for several hours, and at the time it was my understanding that was the latest snow on record... My mother had passed the day before and I was preparing to fly back to Oregon for the funeral the next morning, so I don't remember much about it, other than it snowed for several hours and there was a dusting. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBVO/2007/4/5/DailyHistory.html I flew back to Oregon, my baseball team went up to York, NE where it was unbelievably cold. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KJYR/2007/4/6/MonthlyHistory.html?&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo= We had about 6" of snow on March 20, 2010 when I was living out there. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBVO/2010/3/20/DailyHistory.html

I own two Subaru Foresters. One is a 2011 and I blew the engine a year ago...Its been sitting in my Dad's driveway for the past year...Never had a problem with it before that...I was probably to hard on it. I've been driving a 1999 Forester since then, while I decide whether to fix the 2011 or cut my losses. Get's me from point A to point B. My significant other has an Outback. She likes it. I used to have a 2004 Forester, loved it. Sold it when I got the 2011. They are incredible in the snow, I have never had any problems in the snow, and you know how much it snows up here.

Chilly morning. 31.

Down to 34. Chilly night.

My youngest daughter is happy to see signs of spring...

Beautiful evening, down to 38 after a high of 54

True...If that is, you consider Roseburg to be civilization

Bad comparison...Much more rural...

Yes, you are in a nice outdoorsy area, but it seems much more populated than out here. They won't run high speed internet out here because there just aren't enough people to make it economically viable. What is weird also is that the state park does have a cell tower, but it only works for Verizon customers because of how state contracts are done I was told (They can only allow 1 carrier on the tower.). But even though it is only a few miles away, topography limits even Verizon service at my house. I have never considered your area to be rural.

I agree. Most people would not even be interested in living where I do, which is not really that far out of the way, and easy commuting distance from the state capitol, or really even Portland (Takes me about 1 hr 15m to get to the airport). When I have people over they usually grumble about the lack of cell phone service, and my only internet option is satellite. The power grid is not always reliable (It goes out for at least 6 hours, about 5 times a fall/winter on average). Life can be a bit of a hassle compared to a low maintenance centrally located house in town. In our modern world most people do not want to put up with that, and that makes sense. Still my homes current value is in the 350-375K range. I think if my property was located in rural Washington County (Easy commute to Beaverton, Hillsboro), or just outside of Oregon City, it would probably be worth considerably more.

I will. Thanks for the suggestion.

They have pretty short growing seasons in places like Upstate New York. You can't make a living on 100 acres of corn or wheat. Willamette Valley farms can do alright on smaller acreage if they have a niche like berries, nursery stock, or can turn it into a vineyard. And a lot of times they will run farm stands, but the more successful farm stands also purchase from smaller growers. Most of the successful farmers in the Willamette Valley even are more corporate now and at minimum own or least several hundred acres. And again the Willamette Valley is incredibly productive and has a fairly long growing season. Even in the valley though smaller dairies have pretty much disappeared in the past 20-30 years. When I was a kid there were 8 dairies within a 3 mile radius of our house. They are all gone now. A good book to read about the plight of small farms in America is Fields Without Dreams by Victor Davis Hanson (He would later become a Fox News contributor, Hoover Institute Fellow, and prominent NeoCon), but in the 1990s when he wrote the book he was more of a rural Democrat (Something that also does not really exist anymore.). He discusses the agrarian ideal which was intertwined in the founding of the United States and how that idea of a nation of yeoman farmers was ending. If anything what he describes in his book (He had inherited a family farm in California's Central Valley, which essentially could no longer be run profitably.), has accelerated.

Yeah I don't really see that trend reversing any time soon. It is a global phenomenon too. A place like Upstate New York was pretty developed even in the 19th Century. There were tens of thousands of small (50-200 acre) farms, and infrastructure which developed to support that. By the end of the 20th Century however, small farms were no longer viable, especially with the short growing seasons of inland New England which limit the viability of some of the more lucrative cash crops. I would imagine a lot of these sales are estate sales on some of those remaining farms, or hobby farms retirees picked up in the 90s. If your parents own 100 acres and an old farmhouse in upstate New York you aren't going to abandon your career in say Boston, to move out there, and maintaining the property is going to be a hassle, you'll just liquidate it. But there are literally thousands of these properties on the market, looking at them some have been on the market for years, just no real demand. In the west similar properties are much more valuable because the supply is low, and I think the western ethos is still alive to some extent. If you have some money, its appealing to move out to a rural area in the west and live the "western" lifestyle. We also still measure distance differently in the West. Bend to Portland is a similar distance as DC to NYC, but yet we think of Bend as being close to Portland. These topics fascinate me. I apologize for straying from weather related topics...

I don't think so. I was shocked how cheap things are in rural areas of the east. The major metros are very pricey out there too, so I just assumed their rural areas would be too. But I also think a lot of it is economics, and supply. There is not a lot of economic opportunity in rural New England or the rust belt anymore. You can't make a living on a 100 acre farm, and a lot of the towns and counties of upstate New York for example have lost a tremendous amount of population over the past 50 years. This creates excess supply as people move out, but not a lot of people are interested in moving in. There is also a lot more private land ownership out there. The zoning on the west coast, but also vast tracts of public land constrict inventory. Places in the east developed and peaked 50-100 years ago, and now there is high supply as people move out and also just an incredible amount of land that was developed, as most of it was in private hands. There is only so much development that can occur for instance in Deshutes County (Bend/Redmond) because 70% of the land is public, and will never be open to private development. That is part of what we like about the West, but part of what makes living here expensive. That and people are moving here...I looked at Little River, NY. In 1920 they had over 13,000 people, now they have about 4,900.

In many cases you are right. But I'm not huge on modern amenities... This would be a dream home though. A little to far from anywhere to be a viable goal... https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/29937024_zpid/1-_beds/0-300000_price/0-1179_mp/1306800-_lot/globalrelevanceex_sort/44.854895,-72.675934,43.412031,-74.653473_rect/8_zm/

They'll stay here and maintain my Oregon Estate...No, I wouldn't move if they didn't want to... Albany NY averages 82/61 in July. Even with more humidity I think I could handle that. July is also their wettest month on average...I enjoy summer rain and thunderstorms. Something I actually miss about Oklahoma. The places I have been looking at are a bit further north than Albany and around 1000-1500' so they would probably be cooler and wetter. There are a lot of great places bordering Adirondack State Park that are shockingly affordable. If I lived on the east side of the park I could probably commute to Burlington. I have been looking at the Albany area though as there are probably more employment opportunities in that area. You can get a 20 acre parcel with a decent old farm house for 100-150K within 30 minutes of Albany.

Currently seriously considering a move to rural New England in the next few years. I love the old farmhouses and the opportunity to get a mid 19th century farmhouse on a 50-100 acre parcel for literally pennies on the dollar, is very appealing. The winter weather does not hurt either. If our market stays hot in a few years I may be able to pick up something out there with cash rollover from the equity on my current home. Plus it would be like coming home for me in a sense, my mother’s side of the family was in upstate New York from about 1830-1965.