City Mouse in a City House

We've lived everywhere, man.

Well, everywhere in Pierce County.  At least it feels like it.  At least in the sense that we've lived both in the city of Blackshear and out in the county.

We've lived in four different places in the city of Blackshear, and one out in the county.  Alison is a Pierce County native and has lived here except for a few college and early career years.  She lived in three different places within the city growing up.  It's hard for us to travel about Blackshear without going by someplace she used to live.

Many of our friends have indicated a preference for the country, or "out county" life.  There is a larger sense of "room" and "freedom", they say.  People are less densely packed together.  The amount of property and house you can have is greater for the same amount of dollars.  The taxes are lower, in that you are not paying both city and county.

We tried to make a go of it in the county for about six years.  We lived in a new home built by a reputable builder. We had a little more than an acre of property.  We were near woods and walking distance of a pond.

But not everything is for everybody.  We tried to have outdoor cats, but loose, stray dogs would always wind up getting them, or other wildlife would.  We had to arrange our own garbage pick up, and pay for that separately.  The bugs were atrocious, including one hornet I saw that, I swear, was the size of a flying VW bus.  We had one caught in the window frame one time that our exterminator called the biggest bug he had ever seen.  The water was from a well, and it would break down every time the temperature dropped below freezing, or ants decided to make a home close to it.  We had to heavily filter the water to even think about drinking it, and the sulfuric smell?  You just had to get used to it.  Yard debris would just accumulate, and the only way to get rid of it was to burn it, and I am not an outdoor fire person.  So my yard debris just stacked up higher and higher. There were few children Benjamin's age to play with - he had to usually bring kids in from other areas.  The Internet had to be brought in via satellite, and we had to pay a fortune for a service that was barely better than dial-up.  Want to watch a streamed show?  Be prepared to take an hour and a half to watch a twenty-two-minute comedy.

So after our valiant attempt to make the county work, we came back to the city.  We found a foreclosure home that needed to be remodeled, and Alison and her father had a blast turning it into a wonderful, livable home.

Yes, we have to pay city taxes.  Yes, we have less acreage.  Yes, we have closer neighbors.  But it is a beautiful neighborhood that is great for walking, and close to the library and to downtown.  It's okay to pay more taxes when you can see the benefits - people who pick up our yard debris, no roaming packs of wild dogs, water and sewer, more police and firefighters, city parks.  And the Internet?  Blazing speed!  I can stream a show instantly, without delay or buffering.

Being a city mouse in a city house is for me and Alison, even if it's not for everyone. And thank goodness we have a choice, and that different people prefer different places.  We couldn't all live in one place or the other. The county has many virtues for many people.

But for us?  Give us that small town "city" life!  Viva la Blackshear!