Lilred's Rant of the Week: The Commonwealth

[Lilred]

Ya'll know I aint very good at explainin myself, but I will try my best..because most of you will not understand my point.
The state of Virginia..I'm very proud of the state I live in. It's the oldest state in these here US of A, and yet, it's the most wooded, clean and peaceful places I have seen. There's no place like home, yep, I'm partial. But when in the year 2005, you can see every star, nary a light, and still breathe fresh air and listen to crickets, tree frogs, never hear a car pass and hear the whipperwhills in the trees that surround you..just as you could in 1805..the state has preserved itself under the circumstances.

We never had big ole factories like the north, our revenue was generated, by the most part, by baccer. (tobacco). We make fiddles and wine too..but most, even in the 70's, was baccer.
400 yrs of baccer growers, generations of farms, are no more. The people of "washington" shut us down. Told us to grow organic corn & maters.
Hint: people who have only mastered the fine "art" of growin baccer generation after generation couldnt fathum growin corn. The state dont even have the facilities to house ner ship such amounts of "organic" food. So, instead of exportin the baccer grown in our state, we import it from South America.

And, to any Virginian who has lived here fer generations, I will have to explain how "we" feel. We have been invaded yet again. They bring their factories, and people who have used up their land are now movin on to "fresher meat", namely, Virginia.
I am 30. 15 yrs ago (which aint that long) I remember dirt roads and farms. Now all I see is subdivisions, interstates and people. My God at the people. All w/ a city slicker's attitude. Never wave when they pass, always gripin bout all the woods they have to pass through. So, they cut em down.
The farmers caint grow, so they are forced to sell.
Our mtns are bein blown to flat land to support the people.
Trash now litter the sides of our roads. Bumper-to-bumper traffic now covers the hills instead of barns.
We caint stop em, we caint control em. To most people, the "war" was fought fer alot of reasons, some right, some wrong. But the greatest reason was for state's rights to keep what they had intact. I'll give the state credit for holdin back the legions for as long as they have, but it's over. It's spreadin like the plague.

So, I reckon if you caint understand the "Southern" pov, er the reason why Virginia in itself is still is this constant "rehashin" of such old things, it aint because we're stupid er weird. It's because of what we are goin through now. Dont git me wrong..I aint no "confederate" w/ rebel flags flyin in my yard..lol..I aint that way. But, it is pure torment watchin the destruction of such a beautiful place that I call home.
No offense to any Michigander here, there are some fine people there. But I could not git over fishin rivers and places, and never catchin ANYTHING. My hubby (who was born & raised there) explained that when he was lil, there was never anything in the rivers at all, cause of the pesticide runoff from the farms and factories. All I could think about was Virginia, and how the smallest creek would provide a good mess of any kind of fish anyday...and I was distraught sittin there all day and never even gittin a bite on such a perty river er pond.
The once creek we fished, was copper colored. I asked him why was the water so dingy. He said cause of the high mineral content. (I took it as pesticides)
It would break my heart to see our ponds and rivers that way.
But, it's comin. Soon, the deer will be gone, the fish will all die out.
My hubby said that "extensive environmental protection" has been in place fer MI rivers and such since when he was a kid, and that's great. But why destroy what you had in the first place?
Sorry..I'm ramblin..I'll shutup bout it.
But, I will try to find myself a mountain somewhere, where they caint reach, and hopefully I will die fore they take that too.

[multibeard]

Lilred

I have missed your rants lately.

As you know Michigan has had this problem for years. We all hate to see it happen but it is impossible to stop due to the city people [I was nice with the discription] wanting a piece of gods country. The bad part is that when they get there piece they want to turn it into what they just left.

When it gets the best of you, Lowes is building a new store in Ludington, Michigan that you could get transfered to. Then I could get your rants first hand. There are fish in the lakes and rivers over on this side of the state.

BTW 40 weeks till your friendly CO retires.

[skeet]

I REALLY understand how ya feel darlin.. That is exactly what has been happening here. That is exactly why I am going to move. You really can't get away from it. Some city folk just moved into a house (on 2.4 acres) across the road. First thing they did was put up a couple of them orange night lights. Scared of the dark or somethin I guess(I'm gonna take care of them lights one day). I ain't met 'em or them me. They shot fireworks off one night till 0 dark 30(1:30 in the morning) without even thinkin about other people. Now they ain't real close so it don't bother me too much but it's the attitude that bothers me. Now I know i shoot on my place but I ain't doing it at 1:30 in the morning. And my taxes have gone from 180 dollars a year to 3000 in 23 yrs. all cause the people moving in from the cities want more and more services. I live on the poor end of the county. If I call for the police it'll take 30 mins. If they call less than 5 mins. Hell if it was life threatening I'd either be dead...or maybe somebody else would be. Soon as the farm is sold I'm going to Wyoming. Good grief...The Eastern Shore Of Maryland was a great place at one time.. from 1790 to 1970 the population in the county I live in was just under 15,000. Now there are more people(17,000) on one island that is part of the county. My mom's folks moved to this area in the late 1670's and I'm the last of the Mohicans...and I'm gonna be gone soon. It's a real shame. They call it PROGRESS....yeah right! Ruination is more like it.

[fabsroman]

Lilred,

I was going to tell you pretty much the same thing as Skeet. Maryland is in much worse shape than you guys in Virginia. I hate Virginia's laws and after reading some threads on here I hate Pennsylvania's game commission. I would love to buy a farm somewhere, but I am pretty much screwed because the farms are pretty much gone from Maryland, and those that aren't usually cost a million or more. Count your blessings that you still have farm land down there.

Essentially, the entire east coast is going to be concrete and asphalt pretty soon. Over the past 20 years, I have done most of my hunting on two farms. I have watched subdivisions erected next to both farms and right now one of the farm owners is selling lots out of the front fields of his farm where I have killed many a goose over the years. So, I feel your pain. Pretty soon I will have to start begging land owners to allow me to hunt on their property.

As far as the game is concerned, the deer and geese seem to be doing better now than they were doing here 15 years ago. In fact, they are pretty much out of control. The streams are still pretty decent here and I can catch a good amount of shad out of them when they are running. Trout usually are stocked by DNR, so it wouldn't be too hard to find them if I were interested in them. As far as fishing in the Bay is concerned, it is still pretty decent, but there was a moratorium on Rockfish about 15 years ago which helped get the stock back up.

The good news for you and Skeet is that you have the ability to pick up and leave. On the other hand, I am stuck in Maryland because very few places will allow me to transfer my CPA license and/or admit me to the bar without my having to jump through hoops. Hell, the fiance and I even looked at some homes in Gainesville, Virginia which cost just a tad bit more than the townhouse that we bought in Maryland, but Virginia has a bunch of requirements for me to waive in, one being that I hang a sign in front of my house if I planned on practicing from home. Problem with that is that the Homeowner's Association (HOA) Bylaws did not allow the hanging of signs of any kind. Oh lordy, if I were to get started on HOA's, I would be here writing forever. They wouldn't allow me to build a tool shed and if I were to put up a fence I had to get it approved by the architectural committee.

The last thing I have to say is that I do notice the difference between people out in the country and people from the city. People from the city are always in a hurry, rarely say good morning, hello, hold a door open, waive, smile, etc. whereas most people from the country are very polite. Now, I have met some transplants from the city to the country and they still aren't the nicest people. I have also met some people from the country that have an issue with me because I am from the city. Such is life. Maybe people from the city are much more uptight because they have to make so much money just to live in the city. Oh well, I am going to move on to the next thread so that I can get to sleep sometime tonight.

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

Lilred;
I cannot find word to express the frustration that we seem to share. I believe, for me, the worst part is knowing I'm whupped.

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

Thought you might get a kick out of this:-

These here city type folks moved into the countryside and brought properties from elderly country folks down a private lane. Private means the council doea not do any maintenance on it, it's down to the folks that live there. Well the first property was still owned and lived in by an lady in her late 50's her's, had the largest garden and the lane went around the outside of it then onto the other properties. She didn't even have a car. Well the yuppy types that had moved in over the last few years all drove flashy sporty type cars and soon found that especially in the winter what with the rains the holes that developed in the lane caused the cars to ground out. The previous residents would actually fill the holes up every year, but that of course was beneath the yuppies.

so they formed a residents commitee, the original lady was not interested as they didn't need such things before being neighbours they all tried to get along. But the city types or townies as we call them seem to have a need for such. Well they got together and decided that the lane needed improving and it would be tarmaced so their nice shiny sports cars would not get all dirty and scraped bottoms. The decided that they would each pay for the bit lane that passed their property to be done, when it was all cut and dried and prices obtained they then troop down to the lady at the end and tell her that the lane is going to be tarmaced and her share of the bill is £X amount which of course was far higher than anyone elses as her garden was bigger and it went around the boundary in a loop.

Well to say she was not pleased is an understatment, especially as she didn't even have a car, but when this was pointed out the newcomers told her that was not their fault and that the majority had made the decision and she would have to pay up or be sued for the money. Hmm bad move that one as now she had no option but consult a solicitor (lawyer), well the Deeds of the property were duly sort and consulted whislt this was being done the townies had a brainwave, they would just take a slice from the old ladies garden and put a new lane straight through thereby shortening the journey and reducing the cost. They informed the lady of their idea and plans. Stuck up or what.

Well it all backfired on them as it seems that actually there was no OFFICIAL LANE AND ACCESS to their properties at all, the lane where it entered off the main highway was owned by this little old lady and she was advised to gate it off and refuse the others permission to trespass on her land Seems when it was all friendly like the owner which happened to be her father had let the other original owners of the properties built later one construct the dirt/shingle as it was originally lane which is why it went around the outside of the garden. The townies were now in a state claiming that she couldn't (yes she could and did) fit a locked gate and refuse them access, yes she could quite legally it seems. Now it seems when the deeds of the other properties were carefully looked at there was no provision for any other access and it relied on good will of the owner of the first house which they had no lost through their lack of respect.

They tried bribary and offering to pay for her share, not interested was the reply, they offered to buy the lane outright, nope as she could no longer trust their intentions. So all that was open for them was to make offers to buy her out lock stock and barrel or try to buy some land next too the lane or at the other end to put an access way through providing they could actually obtain planning permission that is.

I don't know what the final outcome was as I moved jobs and the guy who I worked with who knew of this personally as it was just up the road from him and he knew the lady in question at least to chat too. Oh boy now if I owned the land around or next to the lane you can be sure the price just went through the roof

Hope it brightened you day a little.

[Lilred]

Fabs, them rules you were talkin bout in the subdivision is another thing that riles me up..them stupid rules are made by the fools livin in them subdivisions. You caint fly a flag in yer yard, yer house HAS to be vinyl sidin..etc etc.
To each his own I say..but I tell you what..iffin Lilred's payin some ungodly amount of money to live in a place..then by God, Lilred's gonna do with that place whatever I see fit to do with it. Dont git me wrong, I can understand "neighborhood laws", they can keep the peace, but most go so fer beyond peaceful, that it's just assisnine.

Most farmers here in my county sold/willed their large properties to timber companies and/or the state. Thank God fer them thinkin ahead, cause the state forest covers the majority of the county (my guess would be 40%), timber companies covers some,(another 40%) and landowners have the rest. There is only 1 official subdivision in our county that has 5 homes in it on 2 acre lots. The county board has laws passed for 2 or 3 acre minimums. Our population is 8,000. But in contrast, our neighboring county has a pop. of 25,000 and growin. I'm mighty afraid it's headin this way.
Talkin bout easements, there is alot of land here that has no right-of-way to it at all..and thank God fer them stubborn people who refuse to give them.

[fabsroman]

Lilred,

The HOA agreement for my subdivision was over 100 pages long. If I wasn't an attorney and used to reading long boring documents, I don't think I could have made it through it. With that said, it appears that the HOA here is rather lenient about the rules because a lot of the rules are being broken by people. However, I really don't care myself. I think people should be able to do almost whatever they want with their property short of leaving an old toilet out in the middle of the lawn for me to look at every day.

[Cal Sibley]

Just don't get to thinking you can outrun it. You can't! I'm also originally from Maryland, near College Park. I flat out gave up about 30 years ago and moved to Ontario, Canada. I had a gutfull of corrupt politicians and racial problems along with the rapid dwindling of open spaces. Our peace and contentment lasted about 15 years. An example is Barrie, Ontario, about 50 miles north of Toronto. That sleepy little community of 15,000 has grown to over 100,000 people in these short numer of years. I'm fortunate to see a woodchuck within a two hour drive. Our farms are all but gone, taxed out of existence. We now have more hispanics and orientals than I would have thought possible. I guess the government feels it's a fair trade. We get their people, and in return they get our jobs. I was thinking of migrating to Australia or New Zealand, but realistically what would I get? Another 30 years at best. Yeah, it's pretty depressing for all of us. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[Cal Sibley]

Lilred,

Maybe you can update me. I remember being told there were 4 commonwealths in the U.S. I recall Virgina and Kentucky having that status, but I'll be darned if I can recall the other two. Do you know which ones they are? Thanks and best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[fabsroman]

Cal,

I have no intention of trying to outrun it. I am living in Germantown, Maryland right now which still has a couple of farms around it, but they are developing everywhere. I used to live in Colesville on the outskirts of Silver Spring and when we first moved there 20 years ago, there were a good number of farms and wooded areas. Now, they are all gone. I remember driving to a farm in Howard County and passing a huge wooded lot on New Hampshire Avenue where it intersects with route 198. I always thought that place would remain, but now it is a golf course community with million dollar homes on it. Don't get me wrong, I would love to live in one of those homes, but I just hate the "progress" that we are making. I am wondering where we will be in 100 years. Probably no place to live whatsoever and where will we grow food, on the moon maybe. Better yet, we might live on the moon and leave what is left of the Earth for growing food. It is all pretty disturbing, but I guess that is what you get with technology.

[rubicon]

Lilred,Its the same in the mountains in Wv. At my home there was only farmers, miners, and small mom and pop stores. Then the city slickers found we were great for ski resorts with the 200 inches of snow. Then came the skiiers on weekends with all season radials on their lexus who had been told" with these tires this car will go anywhere" Then due to tax breaks they started building condos and renting them. Finally they realized they could keep their city jobs and live in the mountains via Computers! Only problem was these highly educated folks didnt like these uneducated life long residents killing Bambi, driving lifted up 4 wd trucks, riding 4 wheelers, etc. They caused so much trouble grade schoolers are transported back and forth on a mountain daily to learn Spanish. Problem was there was only on teacher qualified to teach it and they had to bus kids from three schools to get enough students for a class. There are no Spanish people up there so the kids sure dont use what they learn. Developers bought farms and started housing projects with associations rules and regulations. Fed government bought land and made preserves everywhere and the only access to this land now is on foot or bicycle. NO HUNTING. I had a building contracting business up there and constantly battled with these pilgrams and their rebuttle to me was "you lifers up here just dont understand what you want or need" HA!

[dunwerkin]

Cal
Pa. is a commonwealth. But like you this old brain isn't kicking in and I can't recall the other one Sorry.

[skeet]

Massa...scuse me Taxachussetts I think

[BILLY D.]

ISN'T THE OTHER COMMONWEALTH MASSACHUSETS? NOT SURE, HISTORY CLASS WAS 50+ YEARS AGO.