Talk of The Villages Florida - I am legally blind in one eye, forgive the large print

EVERYONE HAS TO MAKE THIS VERY DIFFICULT DECISION FOR THEMSELVES, OBVIOUSLY.

WHEN WE FIRST SAW THE VILLAGES, IT WAS BEYOND ANYTHING WE HAD IMAGINED IT WOULD BE.

IT WAS TRULY BEAUTIFUL. THE FLOWERS WERE LOVELY. LAKE SUMTER LANDING WAS QUAINT, PRETTY & VERY VERY WELCOMING. WE LOVED IT.

THE WATERFRONT INN REMINDED US OF VERY OLD INNS IN MAINE AT THE SEACOAST.............VERY CHARMING.....THE ENTIRE SETUP OF LAKE SUMTER LANDING WAS WONDERFUL.

THE TRIP THERE WAS EXHAUSTING BUT ONCE WE UNWOUND, WE FELT QUITE AT HOME.

WE ALSO LOVED THE LIFESTYLE VISIT DESIGNER HOME ON MERRYWEATHER WAY NEAR LAKE SUMTER LANDING, WITH THE WHITE PICKET FENCE ACROSS THE BACK...............LOTS OF AMBULANCES RUNNING THAT BACK ROAD FOR SURE.........WHICH WE FIGURED WERE HEALTH EMERGENCIES OR ACCIDENTS, BUT IT WAS NON STOP.

WE WERE VERY COMFORTABLE IN THAT HOME & I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT FURNISHED, RIGHT THEN AND THERE. SPOTTED COYOTE IN BACK YARD WHICH SEEMED QUITE CLOSE TO THE THICK OF THINGS.

IN THE COURSE OF THE SLIGHTLY MORE THAN ONE FULL MONTH THAT WE WERE THERE, WE SAW ALL THE AREAS.........NORTH TO SOUTH, EAST TO WEST...........ALL VERY PRETTY. BEAUTIFULLY LAID OUT RETIREMENT VILLAGES.

VERY IMPRESSIVE.

WE LOVED THE POLO GROUNDS........AND THAT QUADRANT OF TOWN WHERE OUR ONE MONTH LONG RENTAL HOME WAS.

ONCE HOME, WE BEGAN DOING SOME MORE RESEARCH.........AS WE DID NOT WANT TO RUSH INTO ANYTHING.........

WE HAVE VACATIONED IN FLORIDA FOR THE ENTIRE 50 YEARS OF OUR MARRIAGE, EVERY SINGLE YEAR, SOMETIMES TWICE A YEAR............SO WE DO KNOW FLORIDA............

HOWEVER, EACH TIME WE RELOCATED TO FLORIDA.....ONCE FOR A YEAR, THE NEXT TIME FOR JUST A FEW MONTHS..........VERMONT DREW US BACK LIKE A MAGNET..........

THAT IS NOT A CRIME LAST TIME I LOOKED.

IT’S AN HONEST STATEMENT. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, WHEN WE WERE SELLING OUR BEACHFRONT VENICE CONDO, OUR REALTOR TOLD ME, "YOU KNOW, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY IN FLORIDA IN ORDER TO WINTER IN FLORIDA" .

THE FIRST TIME, WE MISSED THE FOUR SEASONS PLUS WANTED OUR 6 YEAR OLD TO BEGIN FIRST GRADE BACK IN VERMONT AS SHE HAD TO GO TO KINDERGARTEN AT PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE............BUT IT WAS A VERY NICE YEAR, CLOSE TO THE BEACH CIRCA 1972/73.

THEN IN 1994, IT WAS MY MOM’S HEALTH THAT CAUSED OUR RETURN TO OUR SUPPORT SYSTEM.......... VERY EXPENSIVE MOVE BACK & FORTH WITHIN A FOUR MONTH TIMEFRAME, GIVE OR TAKE.........REMODELING A BEACHFRONT CONDO TOP TO BOTTOM WHILE REALIZING THE EXTENT OF HER ALZHEIMERS.......VERY STRESSFUL.......SO BACK HOME IT WAS, TO VERMONT.

I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT.............IT’S EXPENSIVE TO MOVE AT OUR AGE........NOTHING MUCH IS SELLING HERE ANYWAY........WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE OUR HOME AWAY AS IT IS VERY COMFORTABLE , LARGE AND A GREAT FAMILY HOME FOR WHEN OUR ENTIRE FAMILY GATHERS HERE................I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS BUT THERE ARE SOME CONTRARY FOLKS, WHICH I TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, THAT CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES............

WE DO PLAN TO RENT AS SNOWBIRDS, THUS I DO HAVE AN INTEREST.
MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO POST ON HERE DO NOT LIVE HERE FULL TIME............IT’S NOT A CRIME FOR THEM EITHER.

HAVE TOUCHED BASE WITH SOME GENUINE REALLY NICE PEOPLE; I APPRECIATE THEIR FRIENDSHIP.

WE’VE LIVED UP HERE TOO LONG I GUESS.........44 YEARS TO BE EXACT.........WITH A SHORT HIATUS BACK & FORTH TO FLORIDA.......PEOPLE ARE PLAIN SPOKEN UP HERE........NOT FLOWERY OR OVERLY GUSHING ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING............BUT I WILL ALWAYS HAVE BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES OF OUR FIRST VISIT TO THE VILLAGES.

NONE OF YOU HAVE TO DECIPHER HIDDEN INUENDOES IN WHATEVER IT IS I TYPE AS I TYPE "FROM THE HEART"..........I'VE SEEN SO MANY POSTS WHICH ARE MUCH WORSE THAN MINE COULD EVER BE...........GUESS "SOME ARE JUST JEALOUS OF BEAUTIFUL VERMONT" TO CONTINUE PICKING ON IT. OUR CRIME WILL NEVER COMPARE TO THAT OF OTHER STATES. IT IS SO SHOCKING. THAT IS WHY IT MADE THE NEWS.

BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY WE WERE TOTALLY ENRAPTURED WITH THE PHYSICAL BEAUTY OF THE VILLAGES.......AND THE LOVELINESS OF THE HOMES.

HAVING VARIOUS AILMENTS TYPICAL TO AGING & BOTH OF US REACHING AGE 70 WITHIN A FEW MONTHS, WE WANT TO MAKE "SURE" WE WILL NOT BE IN ANY MORE PAIN THAN WE ARE IN AT THE MOMENT.........not a crime.

I am legally blind in one eye thus the big or dark print.......forgive me.

Personally, I can see myself retired in T.V.........just not at the moment. Perhaps home prices will rise in the north.........hope so anyway.

Getting back to the cement slab/tile floors

People without any orthopedic problems will tell you what the above posters have told you. It truly does not matter to them. They feel just fine living on cement/tile floors.

People who choose to vacation or become "snowbirds" in areas with cement slab foundations often discover they are having increased foot, leg, or knee pain; joint pain or back pain.

Thus, those with rheumatic joints, arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis in all major joints might beg to differ about living on a slab foundation / tile floors.

Numerous conditions can cause chronic leg pain. According to the Mayo Clinic website, leg pain can be constant or it can come and go. It can be diffuse, widespread or focal, affecting only one part of the leg. Chronic leg pain is persistent, long-standing leg pain that may be sharp, stabbing, dull or aching. Chronic leg pain can be caused by medical conditions

Foot Discomfort

The lack of shock absorbency in concrete flooring affects feet first, causing the soles and heels to ache. Feet take the brunt of the hard impact, as the muscles in the feet absorb the impact to protect the legs, back and rest of the body. Muscles can become sore, and over time, bones may even weaken as a result, leading to susceptibility to fracture.

Plantar fasciitis pain of the heel is another "pain" that unless you have experienced it, might seem trivial.

Here was a test done to evaluate the relationship of plantar fasciitis with type of flooring:

Materials and method

100 patients with physician diagnosed plantar fasciitis formed the cases and an equal number of people who never had plantar pain syndrome formed the control.

Both groups were given a questionnaire and they were grouped according to the type of flooring.

Results

Among the plantar fasciitis group maximum number of people lived in cement or mosaic floored houses followed by marble floored houses and vitrified tile or marbleonite floored houses. However on analysis of both patients and controls maximum prevalence of plantar fasciitis was noted among people living in marble floor houses.

Conclusions

Type of flooring does influence development of plantar fasciitis. Maximum incidence of plantar fasciitis was noted with people living in marble floored houses.

Re: Relationship of Prevalence of Plantar Fasciitis to the Type of Flooring

Where they were undoubtedly barefoot...

Marble - hard and flat - not what we were designed to stand on or ambulate on.

Concrete does not flex. When you step on a floor built on joists, the whole floor flexes subtly (or not so subtly for a bouncy floor) with your weight.

When you step, the flex of the floor means that your bones/muscles/ligaments/cartilege are not taking all of the shock of the step, the floor is taking some of it.

Of course, if there is ceramic tile, porcelain tile, or stone on the floor, the floor is now as hard as concrete.

If you take that slab and lay some cork flooring down, you will get some cushion on the feet and joints, but not nearly the flex you'd get with a floor with joists.

If you used those stick-on cork tiles, there would be almost no difference because they are so thin.

If you have joint problems of any kind, don't even think about a slab unless you can comfortably stand in Home Depot or Lowes for as long as it would take you to prepare and serve your biggest meal of the year! That is the true test

Many with bursitis & tendonitis complain about feet hurting when in Home Depot, the mall, or any place that has a slab. Also, if your feet tend to get cold at all, slabs are terrible.

In the sunbelt where AC is the primary concern a slab has a slight advantage because it is in constant contact with the soil and serves as a heat sink. This slightly reduces the amount of AC required.

In cold climates just the opposite is true. A basement puts the lowest floor below the frost line into the natural geothermal layer where the temp remains a mild 50-to 55degF. In this configuration the 8 or 9' of air space between the basement floor and the ground floor acts as an insulator and decreases the thermal differential between the floor temp and desired temp, thus it decreases the amount of heat required to keep the structure comfortable.

People who live for long periods of time on concrete floors may develop lower-leg pain as the feet fail to absorb the full shock of concrete to the joints. The muscles in the calves can become sore as they endure more impact than usual from the hard concrete, and knees may begin to ache.

Over time, the joints in the knees can become permanently damaged and arthritis may develop

Constantly walking on concrete floors is extremely hard on hip sockets. The hard landing on the concrete jars the joints in the hips, causing long-term damage such as arthritis or degeneration of the hip bone, and may necessitate hip-replacement surgery.

Lower-back pain may develop, too, as the hard impact from each step radiates up the calves and through the thighs to the lower back. The back is usually the last part of the body to be affected, as the feet, calves and hips have softened the blow from the concrete floors. Permanent damage does not usually occur, and most people will only experience mild lower-back pain as a result of living on concrete floors.

Concrete floors are usually covered with carpet, but they are occasionally left uncovered, or there may be spots where the carpeting begins to wear away. This can become a health issue because frequent contact with cement residue can cause skin irritation---exacerbated when people walk on the floors barefoot, which can cause rashes or irritation on the soles of the feet.

Degenerative joint disease can cause chronic leg pain. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases or NIAMS--a division of the National Institutes of Health--states that degenerative joint disease, also known as osteoarthritis, is a painful condition that targets the hips, knees and other joints throughout the body. According to the NIAMS, degenerative joint disease manifests in joints that experience repetitive overuse from performing a specific task, playing certain sports or carrying too much body weight. Muscle imbalances or variations in muscle tone from one side of the body to the other may place stress on the joints and cause uneven joint wearing. Over time, joint cartilage is worn away and bone spurs or osteophytes may develop around the joint. Common signs and symptoms associated with degenerative joint disease include joint pain, tenderness and stiffness, reduced joint active range of motion and a grating sensation within the affected joint. etc.

　