This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
We used to live in Oakland, we moved to CV to have a kid.We've been here almost 3 years and I love it. It's an easy drive or BART to Oakland or SF, and we live in a quiet neighborhood with almost no traffic. My wife and I were freaked out by the quiet the first night we slept here.
He needs to come out and buy my outhouse....
Wow. Great call on the stamped colored concrete. Seems like a pretty easy/cheap but still nice looking alternative. Tons of other great info here and in the rest of the thread already too. :thumbup;
It's funny but even just three years ago inwould have agreed with this. Now I absolutely cannot wait to get out there. The city is great if you're youn and single. Beyon that? Give me a little patch of land, a backyard, some space, trees, and a breezy summer day. I can't wait until we get out there and have our first drink in the yard. I'm giddy.
How does the Offdee scale change in the suburbs? Everyone gets a +1?
Quite the opposite. Women move to the burbs, pop out some kids, get a mom haircut, get lazy and fat and end up only caring how her drapes look to the neighbors.
I agree. It's always fun to watch someone realize he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Sorry, should have worded that better. For men in the suburbs are women who would usually a 6 become a 7 (because of lack of options etc).The quality of individual women inevitably nosedives.
Not all suburbs are created equal.
I'm really shocked that Red Lobster is even in business on Long Island...My wife gets sucked into the commercials and she's from Carolina and she says' "Oh I love Red Lobster - We should go!!!"And I say "Are you ####'# Kidding me we live on an island.!!!!!!!!!!"
BBQ - Very happy with my Weber - still kicks *** after 7 years - Have easily replaced a few parts but I've taken care of it and it still looks somewhat new. Learning how to use and experimenting with different foods if fun - don't sweat this partPatio set - shop around/let the wife pick it out - I'd recommend Fortunoff but they went out of business. When you're looking at different sets ask yourself if you want it to last 5-10 years and spend accordinglyNeighbors - the less I see of them the better - Living Wall = Leyland Cypress - a fantastic quick growing sturdy bush/treeRe-doing patio/ front steps - OUTSOURCE. Stamped concrete and/or pavers are the way to go. Anything that involves moving earth/rock = OUTSOURCE. You'll have plenty to do around the house - don't ned to be busting your *** doing this.Lawnmower - Very happy with my Lawnboy/Honda engine. Biggest thing to look for is the ease of taking the bag on/off to empty cut grass. If this is an outsource option you'll spend $20-$50 per wek depending on the size of your yardPulling up unwanted grass - Outsource IMO or go to a rental type shop to rent RotoTillers/Thatchers for the day. Strongly recommend the poutsource optin here again.Other must haves - some make excellent house warming gifts from the parents.Snowblower - hands down the best house warming gift I've received - especially after this past winter. I'd recommend an Ariens model here.Need a fridge for the garage - an absolute must - new/used - dont matter - as long as it can keep a few cases of beer cold.Welcome to the burbs.
I absolutely love this place on Merrick Road - very helpful.Nice selection of Chimineas and BBQ sauces as well
Not Where Otis Lives... This is still NEW YORK.
I have at least 5 Italian joints (that I Like)with Italians off the boat within 5 miles of my house. I pick and choose which flavor sauce I'm in the mood for or what kind of crowd....
As for Seafood - YO, this is Lawn Guyland... We get the fish right off the boat and that's within 5 miles of me. (Freeport) I can either take the fish / Lobsters home or pick from over a dozen restaurants on the nautical mile just in that one town.
Hint: It's an island - you can find seafood and towns right on the water literally all around the island.
IMO, Seafood is one thing that is defintely better on Long Island that NYC unless you pay big $$$$$. I don't even bother with Seafood in the city.
Oh> and thanks to that big BBQ thread, I've been grilling my lobster which is probably the easiest thing in the world to Grill Especially the Tails!!!!!
Also - On BBQ's.. JETMORE
These guys are Weber dealers and are a great resource opposed to going to Home Depot and talking to some kid with no clue.... I've wanted a new grill yet, every time I go to Jetmore, they tell me some trick to make my old Grill work even better and tell me that my grill is fine...
I forget the other grills they sell but, they might even steer you away from the Weber. I forget what he said but, I think they sell a grill just as good but, not as "fancy".... Also they sell all the parts for Weber and whatever other products so, if anything goes wrong you go right back to them and they hook you up - Some Grills you find out, the insides rust out and you can't get parts as easy.
Fortunoffs Re-Opened with only outdoor furniture....I still think they are WAY overpriced.ETA... I know "MALLS" are taboo and all for the suburbs but, The Source Mall in Westbury where Fortunoffs is rulz.... It's quiet and has a Gymboree to bring your kid as soon as the cold months come back. (Milf galore)... They have an Off-Sachs and a PF Changs, one of the few chain places I like.....They also have an indoor Carousel for the kid and is just a good place to avoid the regular Mall crowd you see at Roosevelt Field and get out of the cold...
Outside of better schools, cheaper real estate and lower crime rates, I'm not really sure. Parking?
I grew up in Brooklyn and still visit there all the time. There are still quite a few nice sections.
We will need pics of the lawn in order to help.I agree with the others to let a pro do the steps and maybe the patio.How big is the yard? This will dictate the type of mower.For grilling, if you're new at it, I'd recommend a gas plus either a webber charcoal or a cheap vertical water smoker for when you to start experimenting with real bbq.
Just get a self-propelled push mower. Don't overdo it. Just get something with a Briggs and Stratton engine for about $350.
I will say that the town we are moving to seems pretty awesome. We have a quiet little block with tons of trees and a big pond just down the road (you have a nice view of it from our house up on the hill), and yet we are two blocks from a main street that has just about everything you could want -- some great programs for kids, but far more importantly a bunch of fantastic restaurants. There is a clam bar right on the docks that's a walk from our house -- we had lunch there last week out on the deck when it was nice, and it was awesome. Great italian place nearby (my italian food guru/food snob friend swears it's his favorite italian place anywhere, period). We even ate at an Indian place a few blocks away and it was as good as anything I've ever had on indian row here in the east village of NYC (except it had views of water from all sides and I didn't feel packed like sardines into a dungeon).There are some really ho-hum suburbs in the world, but we tried really hard to find one that had some life to it, and I think we found it.
AE is right. Some serious misunderstanding going on here. The summers in Anchorage are beautiful. It sits on the coast with a warm water current. Winters in Anchorage are actually warmer than Detroit on average. And you can roast in Fairbanks. Really sucks sometimes as it sits in a valley and the air gets stagnant which makes it very hot.http://wikipedia.org/summer+in+fairbanks"Yes, Summers in Fairbanks (also known as August 14th) are beautiful, but homeowners beware: they can melt the attic clear off your igloo."You are so ignorant it's pathetic. It's 7:30pm right now and still sunny. Summers in Fairbanks get into the 90s. But you go ahead and stroke Otis some more and recommend a patio chair to the sad city slicker.
Here's the catch -- the front yard is all pachysandra, which just looks like weeds to me and which I want to pull out. But it may be there because (1) it's on a steep incline, and (2) there are lots of trees, so maybe it doesn't get much light for grass to grow. So because it's not a square/flat lawn like I grew up with, I wonder if I may be better off rolling with the advice in here and just having the gardening service take care of it all for now.I'll need to post some pics. The house needs a ton of work, but we'll get there...
For .4 acres?
Righetti was good enough for decades, has that much really changed?
And GUARANTEED that the family you can't stand will end up having a kid who is best friends with your kid. NEVER fails!
I wish I had .4 acres to mow myself. That hour outside by myself would be awesome every Saturday. No way I'd pay someone for that.For .4 acres?
Have a particular one in mind? I want the same thing (and I want to mulch) for a similar sized yard...
Diversity is key. Find a fairly densely populated suburb with various types of ethnic backgrounds and you'll have more (and better) options than the urban areas of 2nd and 3rd tier cities.
That only works if you get to decide the hour for mowing the lawn. I doubt if Otis has that kind of clout in the house. When the kid's screaming its head off, and the wife is talking about all her issues, and his blackberry is going off from work, and somebody has to go to the grocery store, Otis isn't gonna be able to just say "gotta go mow the lawn" and leave it all behind. His wife will expect him to squeeze that mowing into one of the incredibly scarce hours where he has nothing much else to do. Like, you know, during football games or during the time that he imagines himself lying outside in a hammock drinking a beer.
I wish I had .4 acres to mow myself. That hour outside by myself would be awesome every Saturday. No way I'd pay someone for that.For .4 acres?
Have a little over .5 acres and make sure to milk it for all its worth.Get done, make some noise like Im cleaning things up in the garage as I grab a couple of beers from the outside fridge. Its a nice little spring afternoon.
Yup, this was high on our list too. We didn't want a homogeneous crowd, and our area is also pretty diverse (ethnically and economically).
See, this does sound kind of awesome.I wish I had .4 acres to mow myself. That hour outside by myself would be awesome every Saturday. No way I'd pay someone for that.For .4 acres?
You should be giddy. In all seriousness, this is really, really nice. One of the best parts of owning a home.
I'd leave the pachysandra there. That area looks like it'll be tough to grow good grass in, no matter if the grass seed says it's for "shade". Pachysandra, on the other hand, is great ground cover for shady areas.Looks like a really nice house. Grats.
where in Milwaukee do you live?
I love mowing the lawn. And working on house projects. And golfing. And lying in a hammock drinking beer. But I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. A long commute to work and the weekends get booked up with family plans and other stuff.Time is scarce. Outsoure, outsource, outsource.
aperclip:
