Redding/Lake Shasta Area

Hello Everyone,
This seems like such a strange post to make, but I'm going to do it anyway. I've been called much worse things than strange in my life so no worries there!

DH and I are thinking of moving in a year or two and we are looking for just the right place. We are in PA right now. We've been looking all over the country. By "looking" I mean on the web, not actually visiting any place yet. But I can't wait till we get to go visiting!!!

The other night I was surfing around and found some info about the area around Redding/Shasta Lake. The more we find out about this area the better it is looking to us. I'm starting to get excited that we may have found theeeee place. However, I have some questions that I just would rather ask a real person than rely on website info. So, if anyone is familiar with this area and is up for a bit of a discussion....

We are looking for an area that's wooded, I've liven in PA all my life and just can't imagine living without trees around me. We want hills, valleys, steams, all the good outdoors stuff. We would like some seasonal changes, but the main reason we are leaving PA is because of the bad winters. I'm also not a big fan of our high humidity here. We currently live in a very small town, which I love.

We would be looking to move to a small-ish type town, maybe live on the outskirts of town and have some property to have horses. We would maybe like a larger town nearby to go do fun things, but it would be nice if the crime rate was low (or none!). Yeah, I want ideal!

So, what is the crime rate like? I looked at the Sheriff's website and it didn't seem that bad to me.

What are the school systems like? I don't know if kids are in our future or not, but if they are it'd be nice if they weren't dummies.

Property values?

Weather? This is a big deal to me, it's mostly the reason we are leaving, but I also have back problems that the weather can worsen. Cold, damp weather is awful for my back. Does anyone have any clue what zone Redding/Shasta Lake is for sure? I've looked up the ZIP 96019 and gotten back that it's zone 7b, 8 and 9. All of which are much better than zone 5 which we are in now, but it'd be nice to know if I can grow Hostas or not. How much rainfall is there in the winter? Wet, soggy or drowning?

I know I'm forgetting things that I want to ask, it's a bit late here. Hopefully someone will respond and I can ask everything else that I come up with. Y'all can fill me in on any other details I may not even know to ask about.

BTW, I've been in PA all my life. My DH is originally from Huntington Beach, CA. He moved to PA when he was 14 yrs old.

Thanks so much,
Heather

Remembered a couple things I wanted to ask. Just like going to the grocery store, as soon as you get to the car you remember everything you forgot to buy!

How often do earthquakes hit the Redding/Shasta Lake area? Isn't Mt. Shasta a dormant volcano? Wouldn't a dormant volcano make for good soil, or am I being wayyyy too much of a gardener and using wishful thinking? (Thinking Brugs do well in volcanic soil and all...)

What type of birds & butterflies are in this area? Other wildlife? I would think it'd be rich with wildlife. DH and I love to fish also if there are any fisherwomen/men reading this. We don't have a lot of time to do those things now, but part of this move is....how do I say it....simplifying our lives.

Thanks again,
Heather

The zone is going to depend on how high your elevation is--there are mountains in that area, so the higher up you go in elevation, the colder the zone. Redding and Shasta Lake are both reasonably low elevation so I think they would probably be considered zone 9a.

I'm not super familiar with that area, but I have visited it, and have gone through brief periods of looking at land or houses up there, for a while I was considering trying to buy myself a second home up in the woods in the middle of nowhere and that was one of the places I was looking (then I decided to buy a more expensive house close to work instead, so now I can't afford to even think about a second place!) So I'll share my thoughts based on my limited experience with the area, but if someone who actually lives there comes along, I'd take their word over mine.

Weather: Like I said, down at low elevations you're probably 9a, so winters won't be too bad, but summers are pretty hot. Especially in Redding, I think avg summer temps are in the mid 90's to 100. As you go higher in elevation, summers will get a little cooler (but winters will get colder too). Also if you go farther away from Redding and into less populated areas, there are more trees and things which will keep temps a little cooler. But the summers will still be hot. Not much humidity though, so it won't feel as hot as 100 degrees would in PA, but 100 degrees is hot no matter what! The winters will be rainy, the farther north you go the rainier they'll be, but given that it's only a few months out of the year I don't think you'll find it unbearable (you'll have less total cold wet days than you would in PA I'm sure).

I think it'll have everything your looking for in terms of outdoors--there are hills, lakes, rivers, lots of fishing and wildlife and things like that (if you're in a remote area, you'll find bears and mountain lions as well as the "nice" wildlife that you're probably looking for!). Redding is a nice city, so if you stay within a decent driving distance of it you can do the fun city stuff too. Other than Redding though, there's not much in the way of cities up there, it's mostly little tiny towns. Some of the towns are kind of on their way down too because of loss of some of the industries that they sprang up to support (mining, timber, etc) so in terms of schools and things I'd make sure you do your homework if you live somewhere besides Redding--it's a big enough city that I'm sure there are decent schools, but some of the outlying areas may not be as great for that.

Property values...for CA they're very reasonable, but you'll probably still find that you get less for your money than you do in PA. And the closer you are to Redding the more expensive it's going to be.

Other hazards: earthquakes are definitely possible pretty much anywhere in CA, but you're not along one of the really major faults that causes the really big ones. Not to say you couldn't have a big one up there, but it's less likely than if you lived in the Bay Area, central coast, LA, etc. I would be a lot more worried about fires than earthquakes, especially if you end up living in a more wooded, less populated area. If you're in Redding proper there's less chance of running into one, but in the more wilderness areas that's definitely a consideration, the summers are dry and hot and fires start very easily, and if you're near a large wilderness area, fires can get going out of control. You don't hear about their fires on the news as much as ones that hit more populated areas like southern CA, but it's only because there's less people up there who are affected so it doesn't make for interesting news.

I would definitely recommend coming and visiting the area in Feb/March and in July/August since those are going to be the two least pleasant times of year, see if you're OK with the rain and the heat and while you're here, find a local realtor to show you some places so you can see what you can get for your money.

Thank you soooo much! That's the exact kind of info I was looking for.

You're right that 100* is 100*, and it gets that hot here in Aug. I usually hide inside. But our humidity is usually 80%+ with those temps too. We have visited Vegas and it hit 113 and felt like about 80 to me, I couldn't believe the difference.

I think visiting during Feb/Mar and July/Aug like you said is an excellent idea. It would be nice to be able to visit for about 2 weeks I think. That should give us enough time to get a good feel for the area and find out if we love it or want to look elsewhere.

Thank you for mentioning the fires, we would have had no way to know about that. The fires y'all have out there are horrible. We watch the news footage and it's just heartbreaking. But, I guess in the big picture of looking for the ideal place to move to, there's really no place that is perfect. Here we have the bad winters, the southern states are great but have horrible heat and hurricanes, then there's tornado alley which I just won't even consider living in!

The wildlife and outdoors are what is really attracting us to this area, along with the weather. I'm glad to hear it's not a major earthquake zone, although for some reason earthquakes are the one natural disaster that don't scare me. Of course, I've never been through one, so that could change!

Thanks for explaining what was going on with the zones. That really threw me. I'm guessing that from your explanation it's a zone 9a, but depending on elevation and tree coverage you may be able to drop to a zone 8. I was hoping for zone 8, but with low humidity I'm sure I could handle 9. I just keep thinking I'm going to have to learn to grow all new things.

The school systems and economy actually sound a lot the same as here. Since I'm used to that it's not a deterrent either. I will really look into the school systems that would be in the area we'd be moving to though.

This is all sounding really good. I think we may have found the place. Thanks so much for helping us out, we really appreciate it. Let us know anything else you think of!
Heather

The zones really only have to do with the winter temperatures--unless you get really high up your summer highs are still going to be pretty high, and if you get up high enough to make a big difference on your summer temperatures, then you're going to wind up with cold winters and snow (lots of snow--probably way more than you're used to in PA!) So I'd stick with the lower elevations, and try to find a place that's a bit woodsy so you have some shade, that'll help a little with the summer temps.

I have very good friends that live in McCloud - just East of Mt Shasta City. Beautiful country. You may notice that there is an airport in Weed. That is because a large number of very rich people live in the area as a seclusion place. My friends are within spittin' distance of the Hearst family (Patty went there after being released.) I have been by the McCormick's (Shilling-McCormick spices). I believe Ophra has a place in the area also. Rural area - subject to temporary power outages due to snow. Mt Shasta is just downright beautiful. It has several glaciers on it's face and sports skiing in the winter. From there it is about an hour to major shopping in Redding or Medford, OR.
As noted by you already, It ain't the heat it's the humidity, seems to sort of hold true in that area.
My sister in law lives in Red Bluff, about 1/2 hour south of Redding. A lovely little community in the Valley. Like Redding, it is a bit too hot for my wishes, but it is along the Sacramento River and seems like a good place to raise kids.
I have another friend that lives is Cassell. It is to the East of Redding in the Mt. Lassen area (another dormant volcano, but one with steam vents and other cool features) Again rural, lots of water nearby and snow for part of the year.
My parents and brother are buried at Whiskeytown Dam - to the East of Redding. I lived for a year in Big Bar (population about 20) This is old gold country and still has some active gold claims working. Check with http://davesgarden.com/members/4paws/ as she lives in Hoopa, further toward the East of Redding.

I grew up in Fort Bragg, near Mendocino. It is on the coast and is far more temperate in climate. Next to the ocean you are in the 50 - 70 degree range most all year long. Fog in the summer because of the temperature gradient between land and sea, but generally very clear in the winter. Given my druthers, I would go to the coast - Eureka, Crescent City, Fort Bragg. Each of these towns has all the major shopping conveniences.

In any of these places you will have plenty of wildlife, maybe more than you want. My friends at Mt Shasta have a very limited amount of plants available to them - most get consumed by the deer. They have fox, coyote, bear. They have trout in the their front yard. On one of my visits a tame raven came by and perched on shoulders looking for a handout. The best tale from Mt Shasta is the young eagle that came and snagged a trout from the pond. Eyes bigger than tummy was the rule of the day and the poor eagle had a tough time getting the trout to the edge of the pond. It only ate the head and flew off. My friends watched the entire activity and a went out after the eagle left to claim their dinner for the evening.

Here is a view of Mt Shasta from the east edge of Mt Shasta City. It is really easy to wake up in the morning knowing you can walk outside and see that wonderous mountain.

Edited to add: Have you found http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?addrstrthood=&citystatezip=redding%2C+ca&GOButton=GO yet? Just put in a city name, or zip code to see house prices in the area.





This message was edited Oct 31, 2007 7:22 PM

Prescott or Flagstaff AZ? Maybe Payson?

I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. My DH snuck onto DG and read your replies and forgot to tell me, so this post didn't show up on my updated threads list.

Thanks for the suggestion of AZ, but we've actually looked around at a few places, including AZ and no place has seemed just right for us....until we found Northern Cali. Every place else we looked at just seemed to have more and more faults the more we looked at it, but the Redding/Lake Shasta area seems to be holding it's own for us.

I love the idea of all the wildlife. Even the deer eating my plants. Yeah, I'm a sap that way. I know it'll be a different story when it actually happens though! Last week at 5:30 am I spied a doe out of our bathroom window. I'm never up at 5:30 am. I sat and watched her eat berries off the neighbor's plant for 30 minutes. We have a lot of the same wildlife here that you mentioned, but you just don't get to see them. We go for rides, when we have time, down old dirt roads just to look for deer, elk and whatever else might show up. Coyote are about the only thing that concerns me because they can get so bold and fearless. Are you allowed to hunt/shoot them there? In PA there's coyote season, and most times you're allowed to shoot any animal that's harassing live stock/pets on private property. Just wondering.

We really do want to live out away from the world a bit. Right now we are in a small town, and that's a very good thing because we are right on a corner lot with no privacy at all. All four corners of our lot are exposed. Because we live on a hill it wouldn't even create privacy if we put up a fence...well, we'd have some privacy, but not complete. Our corner is also part of where the kids cruise on the weekend, because we are the last street at the top of the hill above town they come up here to make their loop of town. This is a nice place, I have nice neighbors and all of that, really I do, but it's just not what we want. I would love to be able to have coffee on my deck (which doesn't exist) in my pj's. If I did that here the whole town would know what color my pj's were in 30 minutes, lol!

Being where we are now we've also encountered the need to drive 30 minutes to an hour for anything we need. We do have a grocery store in town, but they don't carry a lot of things and their prices sure aren't the best. So, we go 30 minutes to the next town for groceries, or for a movie. I needed a dress for a wedding a few weeks ago and found out I had to drive an hour to find one because none of our closer stores had any in (and still didn't find one, lol). I've had back problems for years and used to have to travel 2 1/2 hours one way every couple months for treatments. All that stuff is a pain, but to have your own little slice of the world that's what you gotta do I guess. We're already doing it here because there's no other choice.

I can't wait until we are able to come and visit! I was thinking about the heat, and although I've experienced that dry heat, I realized I've never worked in it. We were always on vacation, laying by the pool, being vegetables. So, when we do get to visit I'm going to have to find someone who's doing some gardening and help them dig something up, go for a run, do something to see how it affects me and how I stand up to it. Hmmmm, unless.....unless I can find some way to move into Oprah's neighborhood, they must have gardeners, chefs and cleaning ladies there right? What's left but to lay by the pool?

Be sure you check into health services. The counties up there are in a terrible financial bind - many libraries and public services have been severely cut back.

With Prop 13 you will pay 1% property taxes plus any local county assessments (usually works out to between 1.13 and 1.45, depending on county). Your property values are then "frozen" except for reassessments (see below for fuller explanation. As a result of this homeowners have saved considerable money the longer they remain in their original homes. The downside is that spending on schools and infrastructure has fallen dramatically. You will want to fully investigate the local school districts if you are thinking of having children in the future. In the urban areas it's almost a given you send your children to private school because the elementary level schools are generally horrible. Don't know how it is up there in the North Counties, though.

Be aware there can be considerable building restrictions, even in rural areas. Don't assume if you buy a 40-acre lot you can build just anywhere on it, that isn't always true. Be careful about rural acreage without power hookups, as PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) has huge charges for running wires if you're the first person to initiate hookup along a road. A friend of mine ran into this problem - she is less than 2 miles from the road and the charge for hookup will be $25,000 - almost as much as she paid for all 5 acres.

Prop 13 explanation:
"Under Proposition 13, the annual real estate tax on a parcel of residential property is limited to 1% of its assessed value. This "assessed value," however, may only be increased by a maximum of 2% per year, until and unless the property is resold. At the time of sale, the assessment may increase by an arbitrary amount, but future assessments are likewise restricted to the 2% annual maximum increase. If the property's market value increases rapidly (values of many detached dwellings in California have appreciated at annual rates averaging more than 10% over the course of several years) or if inflation exceeds 2% (common), the differential between the owner's taxes and the taxes a new owner would have to pay can become quite large.

The property may be reassessed under certain conditions other than a sale, such as when additions or new construction occur. The assessed value is also subject to reduction if the value of the house declines, for example, during a real estate slump."

Good luck!

That's a really good point about the schools. Honestly, I'm not sure about the quality of even the best public schools out here. I know someone who moved here from Chicago and her daughter wound up in public school in one of the "good" Bay Area school districts, but it was still way behind where her school in Chicago had been. So private schools might be a consideration even in a good school district. But I'm not sure what sort of private schools you're going to find up there--besides Redding, it's just not a really highly populated area.

We have an incredible number of people here who homeschool. When my son was young, it was a struggle to be able to do this. Now there's a lot of support for it.

Jkom51, that is some really great info, thanks very much. I'm going to look more into the taxes and Prop 13. I must say that $25,000 for 5 acres is exceptionally reasonable if that's what your friend paid. However, paying that much for utility hook up is outrageous! You'd be further ahead to put in a windmill or go solar for that price (oh, please don't anyone tell my DH I said that!).

I really don't know if kids are in our future or not. DH and I flip flop back and forth on that a lot right now. I've thought about homeschooling if we do have kids, and it does sound like a lot of work and like a lot of organization is required. If/when the time comes it would be a very big decision. I'll have to scout out that area for private schools and see what's available. It's nice to know that homeschooling is a more available option than it used to be. The only thing that concerns me is the lack of community the child would seem to have, but that may just be my perception of homeschooling. I just went and looked and there is a DG forum for homeschooling (I thought there was, but wasn't positive), maybe I can ask some questions there to educate myself a bit. Thanks guys!

Heathrjoy- have you looked at Fall River Millls, CA near Lake Shasta? Lovely area.

The thing about homeschooling.

I know couples have different support arrangement these days, but...

In my neighborhood the wives/mothers tend to do the home schooling. Maybe thats because the husbands/fathers work for the income..... maybe not.

But I'm always wondering why the husband / father doesn't seem to take an active roll in the home schooling.

Any one out there want to enlighten me?

I'll look into that area. But, for the homeschooling thing, I think you're right about the Dads working. Actually I think my DH would love to take an active role in homeschooling if we chose to do that. He's a math whiz and very into science and computers. I'm not a math whiz. He loathes English studies which I rather like. I guess that actually we're both into science and geography.

When this move takes place both DH and I will be working from home so, hopefully, that would make homeschooling easier, if that's what we would choose to do.

I think most Dads would love to be more involved in their kid's homeschooling, but probably just don't have the time. On the other hand, maybe they've just found out what us women have known all along....women are just naturally smarter and therefore better suited to teach! tee hee hee

That would depend entirely on how the primary teacher structures the schooling.
Some take a more classic approach & utilize the typical "school day hours"; others use a looser structure where learning is tailored to the individual needs of the family. Plus, it is considerably different to homeschool 1 child versus 2 or more.
As in most jobs, success will be somewhat dependent on one's dedication, patience, organization & time management. The beauty of it is the flexibility to teach in a manner that fits the student. "Who teaches what" is not as important as "is the child actively learning?". Most dads work, but that should not lend to the perception that they are not involved.
Generally speaking, I found it easier to adhere to a schedule that mimicked the typical school day, so my son would be able to interact with the other kids that lived nearby. My dh was involved but not to the extent I was.
In the end, I found this to be an wonderful way to get to know my child on a level I might not have discovered otherwise. No regrets whatsoever - but it is a very intense undertaking, and one that should be taken quite seriously.

Just checking out zillow.com, it's very cool. I think I found the place we should buy. 8.2 acres, 4 bed, 3.5 bath, just under 2,500 sq ft. for $498!! It's in Jackson, CA, which I haven't researched at all, but I'm pretty sure I'll never find a better deal! Check it out http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=18210031 I hope the dogs come with the house!

I think they left a few zero's off the end! I also don't think you'll like that area as much as the Shasta area.

Another word of caution on the Zillow listings--I noticed they list the property tax amount for the previous year. Anywhere else in the country that's a great piece of information to have because it's a reasonable guess as to how much property tax you'll be paying, but because of Prop 13 that was discussed earlier, your taxes may be considerably higher depending on how long the previous owner has had the house. So use the info jkom listed above to figure out how much your taxes will be rather than going by the current owner's tax payments.

I'd also recommend realtor.com as a better place to look for homes for sale--they have a lot more listings.

You gotta take zillow with a grain (mountain) of salt. $498 seems to be missing a few digits. Here is the real listing for that property. http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?ctid=93078&bd=5&bth=7&typ=7&sid=2bc60e95bee8495faa6154f6e4aeafb6&lid=1089860329&lsn=1&srcnt=8#Detail
Jackson is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. My brother in law lives in a similar area and what I remember about visiting in the summer when it was 105° that he would keep saying - Wait for the Delta Breeze, then it will come down. The wind comes in from San Francisco, up the Sacramento Delta and blows into the central valley and up into the foothills and cools it down at night (into the 90's).
I also ran across this interesting site. http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ca/index.htm that presents a great deal of statistics for various cities in the US.

I think it was Jackson that Huell Hauser did one of his road trip shows about and of all the places that he goes, it's the only one I remember him saying it's "hot as he**" here today. Then the usual response about 'dry heat'..lol....

http://zipskinny.com/

How about the Auburn area?

If you want to come to California, there are many,many wonderful places to choose from.

Oh, I know that listing was missing some 0's. I just thought it was funny and that I'd share it with y'all. If I really found a deal like that I wouldn't be sharing it until after I bought it, lol.

I'll check out the other places you've all linked to when I have some time. Last night when I was playing on zillow I found a placed called Somerset that looked nice. At least the properties there looked nice. Any info on that area? I haven't looked into it at all yet, so I'm not even sure where it is...it was just purdy.

Where the heck am I? Now I'm on Google Earth and I'm down looking at Placerville. Didn't someone mention that name earlier? Looks nice too, trying to find out about the weather.

Last night I found what looked like some great property on zillow, except I couldn't figure out where all the trees went to? Finally I realized I had made my way all the way over to Reno, NV! There's some nice properties there if you're looking to keep horses and don't mind no trees....or much of any other kind of vegetation. What do the poor horses graze on during the day?

Thanks too, to whomever it was that mentioned about the utility hook ups. A lot of these properties say they don't have them, or say they have only phone. I would have assumed utilities weren't a big deal, because around here it's nothing to get a new hook up.

Placerville is where my business partner lives. Right at snow line, so only short snow exposure (generally!) On highway 50 that goes from Sacramento to Ocean City, MD. 45 miles to Sacramento, and baring too much snow a quick run to Lake Tahoe (60 miles.) It is part of the old gold rush area (highway 49 runs up through most of the gold country) Apple Orchards.
If you have a fast connection be sure to load up http://earth.google.com/ and enjoy traveling to each of these places. Here is Placerville, looking down highway 50 towards the Sierras.

Very cool shot, Potemup! I've been using Google Earth for much of my search of Northern Cali. It just makes it easier to tell how populated and how green the area is. I know that might sound goofy, but it works well for me. It's also the quickest way I've found to tell what else is in the area...larger towns/cities, schools, hospitals, etc. Then I look up everything I've found on the web, then talk to y'all about it.

From looking up Placerville briefly it looks great also! Very low crime from what I see so far. The zones look about the same. The school systems look much better according to the ratings I've found. It looks like there are some places outside of Placerville that could work for us. I'll have to see what DH thinks. The crime rate there looks a lot lower, but I still have a lot more to look into.

One thing that I haven't been able to find much info on yet is something I found about hazardous waste in the Placerville area. On http://www.city-data.com/city/Placerville-California.html there is a little yellow/tan map about 3/4 of the way down the page, on the right hand side. There's a bunch of little green dots on the map that indicate hazardous waste, but there's no explanation of what it's all about. I did a bit of research and I'm guessing that these are hazardous waste disposal companies. Anyone else have a guess of what it could be? It just seems very odd that whatever it is is so concentrated in this area. Should I be concerned...should y'all be concerned? I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but what the heck is this all about?

I'm not sure what exactly it means, but out of curiosity I looked up my own city and the little green dots for hazardous waste are everywhere. My guess is that it indicates businesses that generate some amount of hazardous waste since it seems to be concentrated in the areas where the businesses are rather than the areas where I know there are just houses. It's probably more useful to figure out what the major businesses are in the area--I think a green dot could mean anything from a place that generates a little bit of waste but not nearly enough to represent a danger to you all the way up to some big manufacturing plant that could have an accident and cause major problems.

That's what I was wondering. Besides, what exactly is considered "hazardous"? That could be a million things when you really stop and think about it.

Ok, I just went and looked for my area. I guess because we are such a tiny area we don't have the map with the little green dots. Instead it lists "facilities with environmental interests located in the ZIP code." They are all businesses, of course. But, it's everything from auto repair places to chemical manufacturing places. Including metal fabrication plants. Also listed is a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System...whatever that is exactly. Didn't know we had one of those.

So, I guess it could be darn near anything, probably even a place that sells paint. It just seemed really odd when I first saw it.

It could also be residue from the mining days http://geology.usgs.gov/connections/blm/minerals/mercury_re.htm , or even naturally occuring minerals. El Dorado Hills was in the news for Asbestos http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/noa/

Another possibility is that it's any place with a Prop 65 warning--Prop 65 is a law that says if there's over a certain percentage of certain potentially cancer causing materials present in a facility or in a product, they have to put a warning on it that says "this facility (or product) contains materials known to the state of California to cause cancer" or something along those lines. It sounds like a good law and I think their hearts were in the right place when they made it, but there are sooooo many places that have that warning that you sort of take it for granted because in the majority of them you're not likely to be exposed to enough of anything to remotely increase your chances of getting cancer. I'd like the law better if it picked on the places where there really was a larger risk, now you have no way of knowing those from the places that really don't pose much of a risk because they all have the same warning.

It could be the leftover mining and things too, but there must be other things included too besides those, otherwise Dublin wouldn't be crawling with green dots!

I've seen the warning you're talking about. I know I've seen it on things like paint thinner, mineral spirits, polyurethane, etc. It makes me wonder if every places that uses those types of things would show up as a green dot. Imagine a place that refinishes furniture and all the stuff they would have to have on hand. I'm sure the mines would show up too.

How about Fort Bragg (6 hrs North) of SF
or Willets, (6 hrs North East of SF).

Don't know if you need to carrying on a profession re your move but up in those parts Corporate jobs (on-site) are hard to find. Cottage or med-professionals maybe.

I've always thought of work as very much the four letter word that it is.

Seriously though, DH and I have an internet business that we are building up and will be able to run it from pretty much anywhere. That's why we're thinking "anywhere" should be someplace we really enjoy and love.

Most of the reason we're not interested in places further south in Cali is because they are very populated. I think the weather in those areas is absolutely *perfect*....and, of course, that's why everyone is there! :)

They are populated, but the areas of San Luis Obispo,Cambria, Cayucos, Russian River area, Mendocino, Ft. Bragg, are not so much so and everywhere north of Santa Barbara on the coast is heaven-on-earth. Period.

One other thing to think about if you're planning to run a business over the internet--high speed internet is not always available in more rural areas. If you're close to a city you should be OK, but if you get too much out in the middle of nowhere you may be stuck with dialup, and I'm guessing that would be less than ideal for your business!

Good point ecrane. It just seems so strange to me that anyplace in Cali could be w/out high speed internet if we have it here. We never thought we'd get it. Now we actually have choices of ISP's. In the very beginning we didn't think our little town would ever see the www at all. We're still missing a lot of stuff that folks in bigger areas take for granted, but we're grateful for what we have!

Gypsy, I'll check out some of those areas that you mentioned, thank you very much!

My friends in McCloud finally opted for satellite connection. The only other option was dial up on a really OLD phone system with crackle and pop. DSL only works if you are close to the switching station and not all cable systems offer internet. McCloud has cable, but no internet on it.
Even checking towns may not get you the info you need. Since populations are sparse, a mailing address of whatever may actually be a home many miles from the post office.

heathrjoy, I'm picking up a mixed message from your posts. On the one hand you say you like to be around wildlife, then you want to know if you can kill them off.????

"The wildlife and outdoors are what is really attracting us to this area, along with the weather."

"Coyote are about the only thing that concerns me because they can get so bold and fearless. Are you allowed to hunt/shoot them there? In PA there's coyote season, and most times you're allowed to shoot any animal that's harassing live stock/pets on private property. Just wondering. "

Coyote are wildlife just like the deer and elk. Some folks don't like them, many people admire them. Those of us that are native to this state are very proud of the fact that we still have wildlife that is wild, and not just in a theme park or zoo.

Although it is true that ranchers have some ability to shoot predators that are attacking their herds, you would be expected to have first taken measures to protect your animals while peacefully co-existing with the local wildlife rather than killing them.

If you move to a rural wooded area and then go around shooting the wildlife, you could find yourself very unpopular with the neighbors/locals and/or at the receiving end of a law suit. About ten years ago or so when I was still living in the Sierras (up at Tahoe), we had an incident with a family who purchased a house that backs up to National Forest Land. The woman was outside in the yard with an infant, then left the infant in the yard as she went in the house to answer the phone. An enterprising mother coyote saw this as an opportunity to bring food home for her pups and grabbed the infant. Fortunately for the infant, the neighbor saw the situation and was able to rescue the child (thankfully only minor injuries). The child's mother tried to start a campaign to rid the area of coyotes. The towns folk would have none of it and let her know what an idiot she was for leaving her child alone in the yard. How difficult would it have been to take the child in the house with her or let the answering machine pick up? That family moved away within a year. The town was glad to be rid of them.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that you would do the same - I just want to emphasize that it is possible to live harmoniously with wildlife.
You need to understand their habits, respect their right to be there, and act accordingly. If you create a temptation for local wildlife, you've go no cause to complain (and certainly no reason to shoot) if bears, coyotes or mountain lions cause some damage. You can readily avoid many, if not all,of these problems by closing your horses, goats, cats, small dogs etc in the barn or stable at night, keeping some livestock protection dogs if you are planning to have a larger herd, locking up the garbage in bear proof containers and not leaving dog or cat food outside where wildlife will find it.


Here are some links with tips on living with California wildlife:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/index.html

Coyotes
http://sagehen.ucnrs.org/Documents/visitors/wildlife/coyote.pdf

Bears
http://www.crcd.org/bearfact.html
http://www.humboldtredwoods.org/images/bearbrochure2000.pdf

Mountain Lions
http://www.humboldtredwoods.org/livingwithcougars.htm

Info on livestock guardian breeds:
http://www.alpinepub.com/product_info.php?ref=11&products_id=43&affiliate_banner_id=27


In terms of earthquakes, every where you live has its own set of natural disasters. I've been through two hurricanes in Florida, one twister in Texas, several blizzards in the Sierras and flooding when the levies broke. I'll take an earthquake over the others any day! We use earthquake straps to attach heavy furniture to the wall studs so that wall units and file cabinets won't fall over on us if a "big one" hits. They are easy to install. We have quakes everyday but most are too small to notice and the noticeable ones are over and done with by the time you realize what they are.
Big ones don't happen that often, so you've got lots of great weather and scenery to enjoy between jolts. If your time is up, it won't matter where you live, so you might as well enjoy your place.

Good luck in your hunt for a new home.

In Alaska, it is common to control wildlife with this:

http://www.winchesterguns.com/prodinfo/catalog/category.asp?cat=018C

Most of the neighbors appreciate your concern for their children. We have had bears enter houses right through doors and windows.

Prevention can go a long way towards avoiding that type of incident rick. That is not the normal behaviour of bears. Adverse incidences with bears are usually the result of careless human behaviour usually the direct result of humans leaving pet food/garbage out where it attracts them to the house or cabin. Owning a rifle is no excuse for negligient behaviour.

Most of the time you are exactly right. I agree garbage is often the attraction for bears. Juneau has big fines for anyone who is negligent with their garbage.

In real life it does not alway work that way. We are not dealing with Yogi the bear in Yellowstone Park. We give them space, respect them and leave them alone. I have had bears on my property many times and thankfully I have never had to shoot one, but two neighbors had bears come right into their homes through closed doors. I watched a bear enter the side door of my neighbors attached garage and go right in. One year, 16 bears had to be killed within the city limits of Juneau ( I live out a bit from the city) because the bears came out of the hills and threatened children. That was a tragedy that was fixed when the city themselves fixed their own garbage cans and made them bear proof ( bear resistant anyway). The bears walked right into grocery stores and apartment houses and had to be shot by the police.

I assure you if a bear were endangering my wife, my kids or my grandkids, that bear would be history. I would protect first and discuss it later. I have had three people I know eaten by bears. It does not sound like something that I want my family to experience personally. I have a strong desire to learn from their mistakes and not repeat the same mistake. There was even some wacko who came up here and thought that he could show the world that he could live at peace with the bears in their natural habitat. He named all the bears and talked them. He camped right in the middle of their "space". They soon ate him and his girlfriend.

http://www.adn.com/front/story/4110831p-4127072c.html


As long as we could safely watch through the window, we let them go their way. But my gun was ready. It is negligent to NOT have a gun and know how to use it.

This message was edited Nov 25, 2007 9:44 PM