Our area of AZ can get hot, but it also has snow. We live about 30 miles from a grocery store, any fast food place, and even the post office. Dark skies are what drew my husband here, because it’s perfect for his telescope!
Once you tell people you live in Arizona, they automatically place you in Phoenix, or maybe Flagstaff. That’s okay. We are deliriously happy with our isolation and NO TRAFFIC!
~VOW
the area i live in is in the desert and it can be 112 night and day one time and 40 degrees night and day the next until mid April and then its just hot usually …
We get bugs reptiles and all the flora and fauna most north and south American deserts contain except fleas and most of the time mosquitos because its too hot here for them
Nice to see you, @VOW
(Sorry to hijack)
That’s not really true. According to the California Department of Water Resources, about 30% of California’s water supply comes from the snowpack. That’s a lot, but it’s not most of it. A lot of it comes from rainfall that goes directly into rivers, lakes, and ground water.
Thanks for the welcome back. I think I answered your PM, but it looks like I sent it to myself. I’m just that talented.
Bottom line: I’m ready for this pervasive, hellacious, eternal, infernal El Nino crap to be over with.
~VOW
Conversely, though Illinois is a pretty reliable “blue state” in presidential elections, and both of our U.S. Senators are Democrats, that’s largely due to Cook County (the county that includes Chicago, and many liberal-leaning suburbs) – Cook County is home to 41% of the state’s total population. Once you get outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, the rest of the state (which tends to be rural, or smaller cities and towns) is pretty conservative.
Southern Alberta here.
Many foreigners, including many Canadians, seem to feel that Alberta is ultra-conservative, where we’re all very religious, and thus against abortion, against LGBTQ+ issues, and against any religion that isn’t Christian. Our educational institutions are indoctrinating children, teens, and university students with liberal ideas. We’re supposed to be pro-gun, and all for giant honkin’ pickup trucks. Apparently, we’re like certain southern American states, just more northerly.
Not true. There are churches—and synagogues, and mosques, and other places of worship for other faiths—but many Albertans don’t bother with religion, and don’t want it influencing public policy in any event. Abortion is just fine, and covered by our single-payer health plan, which most Albertans have no problem with. Pride celebrations happen every June, and being LGBTQ+ doesn’t bar one from seeking public office—or anything, really. Nobody feels their children are being indoctrinated at school, and nobody is calling for school libraries to remove books that might offend parents’ sensibilities. We understand the need for farmers to have varmint rifles, and for hunters to have shotguns, but very, very few, especially city-dwellers, want a society where you can get a handgun for self-protection. And as for those giant, honkin’ pickup trucks—there are a few, but they are far outnumbered by minivans, SUVs, sedans, and believe it or not, cyclists.
I think we’re pretty cool. Except in summer, when it can get downright hot. But we’re so far north that it’s possible to get in 18 holes after work. Come visit!
Basically, yes. A little over 80% as big as Rhode Island, for comparison.
Exactly right.
My wife and I have a print of this antique map on our wall. It shows the old Luxembourg, including that chunk of what is now Belgium.
About three-quarters of the way up the eastern border, look for the city of Weiswampach. That’s the top of the current country. Now look toward the bottom, dead center horizontally and a bit up from the southern border, for the city of Arlon. That is now just on the Belgian side.
So if you draw a line southwest from Weiswampach and then curve down south so Arlon stays just west of that line, you’ll chop out about a third of the map. On the right is modern Luxembourg, and on the left is now the Belgian province (more or less).
The Belgian landscape is very pretty, well-forested. The European Space Agency has a major public visitor center there. Oh, and a giant Ikea which is in the middle of nowhere by Belgian standards, but which is literally meters from the Luxembourg border, not by accident. 
Many people think that New Jersey is all urban and dense suburbs. There is a lot of that but mostly in the corridor connecting NYC and Philly. A lot of the state is still rural. I can see cows less than a mile from my house. There are a bunch of farm stands near me that sell the best sweet corn and tomatoes in the world during the summer. And no one talks like Tony Soprano.
I was pleased to find, when I ventured into New Jersey in about 1987 to visit a friend at Princeton, that New Jersey was actually rather rural. Yes, it may not seem so in the northern part near NYC, but the rest was beautiful. Farm fields, trees, nicely-tended houses with gardens that the owners obviously took pride in, and best of all, the roads were lined with daffodils. It really is “The Garden State.”
Whilst they are endemic to the northern regions of Australia, crocodiles are not lurking in EVERY creek and/or beach along the coast. In over 4 years here now, I am yet to see a croc in the wild.
Having said that, if you see a sign with a pic of a croc and WARNING/ACHTUNG beside it, don’t bother trying the water.
Visiting the desert near Tucson, I was surprised how dense the cacti and other plant life was. Looking toward the horizon you see vegetation, not predominantly sand (at least in the part we were at).
Yeah. Colorado high country here. There is no delivery. Not even mail. No garbage pick up. Nothing.
The county sheriff’s office is closed at night. Not just the business side. NO deputies are on duty. I’m sure there must be someone on duty at the jail though they would not be a patrol officer.
So, you’re on your own. I suppose the state patrol would need to get involved if it’s late at night. I really don’t know.
We’ve got electricity. No natural gas or cable or anything like that. No sewer or water service (well and septic). Internet and TV comes over a satellite dish (works fantastic).
The closest town (pop ~ 400) does have a cop car. When they don’t have anyone to ‘man’ it, they put a mannequin in it and park it on the side of the road. It’s kind of charming really.
But we are quite comfortable with this arrangement. We do get TV and internet over the satellite. I work from home. Propane for heat. If that runs out (which it is about to do). I’m going to get another 500 gallon tank, hook it in series. It’s a passive solar house which helps a lot.
There is an issue though. We are approaching retirement. If we need EMS in the dead of winter, we got a problem. So we will be moving in a few years. The views are to die for. But I don’t want to experience that literally.
My wife has numerous cousins from the UK and Ireland who stop by for a visit when they are traveling through California. They always seem to feel the need to point out how disappointed they are that the women here are no more attractive than those found back home. The Beach Boys totally oversold that one.
For all of the issues that Florida has, the real reason crazy Florida Man is a stereotype is because of our open records laws.
These “sunshine” laws make arrest affidavits public records, meaning that when a person is arrested the police statement about what they are accused of is available online.
So, it’s easy to find a story that says something like “Florida man arrested after getting into a drunken fight with a squirrel”. But that’s not because Florida is uniquely populated by stupid people.
Chicagoan here, and I am sick of constantly telling people, including members of my family, that no, Chicago is not a dystopian hellhole. It’s nice here, crime is on the downswing, and even the weather isn’t as brutal as I remember it being during my childhood.
I think I will begin to point out to these people that to assume unquestioningly that Chicago is a war zone is to believe racist anti-Obama propaganda from Maga types.
Fun fact: how many US states are “south of Canada” if you take that to mean “the entirety of the state’s territory is located south of 41.7 latitiude”? (Not longitude, Mr. Geography Nerd!)
Answer: 23
Cite: So, 27 US states are farther north than Canada, eh? - SAS Learning Post
Flathead Lake? My coworker is from Ronan. Nice part of the country.
Mesa AZ is everything people think: desert, saguaro cacti, javalinas, bobcats, coyotes running on the streets, rattlesnakes, black widows, scorpions in your yard, 115 highs and 95 lows from June-Sept, and idiot republicans.
The misconception is that it is horrible.
I’ve actually been to Luxembourg. Had to go there on a security check of the Embassy. Also, I lived in Brussels for a couple of years, so am familiar with the whole area. Before we moved there, I was in a bank in my ex-wife’s very small town. I told the cashier where we were going and her response was “Is that near Iraq?” 
As for MN, not everyone here sounds like they starred in the movie “Fargo”. That sort of heavy accent is more common in the northern part of the state (The Range).
I’m from Alaska. We never lived in igloos, nor did we ride dog sleds to school. No pet moose. Anchorage is a modern city and even has the Internet. Oh, and it’s a huge place, so no, I don’t know your friend Jim Robbins.
Oregon is not liberal central. Like many states, the big population centers are lefty, but once you leave the city limits, things become very red in a hurry.
As charming as this?
