Catwoman, I've never seen a cat that likes snow.

I'd like to know what kind of heat you have. Ours is always much higher than that even if we are using firewood to supplement.

Our last year in Jorsey was approximately $4200 in heating oil and the electric budget was $325 a month.

Couldn't get a person to shovel even if you stood on your head and spit Chicklets, at any price. A girl who lived across the street had m mercy on us and saved us many times.

I always dreamed of the calls to Jorsey to bust on them after the snow. I couldn't do it when the snow arrived. It would have been Cruelty!

I agree.

Growing up and spending my whole career outside of Rochester NY, I personally do not miss snow. Folks who have not lived there think snow is like a Hallmark card, pretty snowflakes lazily drifting down to earth, so magical.

Yes, it can be. However, most of the time it accumulates, turns dirty, icy and gray. Gray everywhere. For weeks. No sun. Every car coated with salt so bad that if you get real quiet, you can HEAR your car rusting.

Old people having to decide if they will "Heat or Eat".

Walk across the carpeted living room and kiss your wife, you get such a big shock your lips blow off. This is from the air being so dry folks get nosebleeds. And you go through a box of kleenex every few days by the constant sickness.

Starting your car 30 minutes before you leave just so you can see through a 6' circle on your windshield to drive. Getting up an hour earlier than you have to just to shovel or snowblow the driveway, praying you can leave before the snowplow buries you again. Brushing off your car and scraping ice off the windshield.

Wrecking tires, hubs etc, from all the hidden potholes. Getting your studded snow tires on and off. Having your door locks freeze.

Going outside when it was so cold it hurt even to breathe.

Pushing shopping carts through ruts, potholes, etc.

Ice damming causing roof leaks, etc.

Keeping the hydrant in front of your house shoveled out, so if your house had a fire the fire department could FIND your hydrant.

Having an icestorm knock your power out so your basement floods from your dead sump pump, your pipes freeze because of no heat, and you need emergency shelter.

So...yes, I do miss the snow every so often, but not that much. I do miss that it can look pretty sometimes, and I miss cutting my own Christmas tree and dragging it through the snow. Some folks love snowmobiling, skiing, etc, etc. Some love the change of seasons....I miss the fall...the color of the leaves, the smell of them, the crisp apples, etc.

Florida is not for everyone, but I now like living here more than I miss some of the great things about the north.

Up north, it was cold all day, all night for months with NO break. At least here, with A/C in our houses, our cars and our stores, etc, , the summer months are bearable. Everyplace has it's good and bad points, and no place is perfect for everyone.

I like up north, and I love it here. Great we live in such a great country that we can even make that choice freely.

Frank

Add to that the snot inside your nose freezing your nose together, wind burn on your face and eyes running in the bitter cold wind. How about driving your car back into the garage with its load of dirty frozen slush around the wheels, then having that melt and make a huge mess in the garage, and you can't hose out the garage because everything will freeze.

Getting into a freezing cold car that you haven't been able to pre-heat because it was in a parking lot while you were shopping.

Walking the dog and having to stop every 50 feet to clean the snow out from between his toes.

Cabin fever. Lack of sunshine. Falling on ice while trying to get the mail at the end of the driveway.

Being cold to the bone.

Why not instead go off on a winter vacation for the month of February somewhere in the tundra and see how you like it before committing to buying.

And snow and cold in Michigan can start end of September and last until beginning of May.


At least in Florida you have sunshine when you walk outside. It was the dreary gray days that got to me in Michigan. Endless. It has been proven to affect people's moods.

Hi efficiency Trane duel stage room control. Have gas fireplace but rarely use it. We downsized after kids went to college, and now have a tiny home only 2400sf with a 1800sf basement.

Winters are not what they used to be. Our oldest lived in Alaska for 7 years, and now in St Paul. He laughs when people complain about the snow in StPaul.

For us Depending on depth of snow what car comes out of the garage. Cars now with remote systems can be started from anywhere. When you are on call snow can not be a factor.

Of course we have choices on what weather we enjoy some don’t. We love the winter as well as summers up north to enjoy the lake without a gator. I get it as you get older you don’t want to deal with cold or snow. Not sure I will every get to the stage of only enjoying two seasons.

This would be my ideal winter: Sunny and warm until midnight on Dec. 25. Then an inch of snow and temps in the mid-30's for 24 hours on Dec. 25. Then the snow magically melts on Dec. 26, and temps. return to 70 degrees with daily sunshine for the rest of the winter.

I am approaching my 58th winter season in the Midwest snow zone :( If I never see another snow pile or ice on the sidewalk I would be very happy. Snow was fun to play in as a kid, but those days are long past. What I dread is having to allow an extra 60 to 90 minutes to drive to work or get home from work because of snow. Can you tell by now I don't like snow?

Thank the stars my 88 year old father finally decided to hire someone to plow the snow off of his sidewalks and driveway a few years ago. The last thing we need is him falling and breaking a hip while trying to save money plowing the sidewalk or driveway himself. The worst part of winter for him is not leaving the house for 3 or 4 days at a time because of snow and ice -- very isolating for him. Hibernating in the house from December through March is not how I want to spend my golden years. But to each his or her own.

Thanks for responding. Maybe having to hold onto 2 places for awhile will be a blessing and not the curse I feel it is. At least we're still young enough to manage it.

Actually we have more than two homes. We have great people who watch our homes, and take care of things for us. It’s nice to not have to pack a bag every time we travel. In the next 5 years or so we will probably pair down to two

Thanks for the encouragement. Nice to hear some positives to it. I think the key is as you say having people to look after things for you. We have great friends and neighbors here so I don't think that will be a problem.

Keeping things on topic here, at least it will give us time to see if we miss snow.......or not. :laugh:

What’s nice about two homes is when the snow gets to much, ya just get on a plane. You will adjust well.

Frank, great post .. I forgot about the joy of the snowplow undoing 45 minutes of hard workclearing the driveway and depositing another round of snow and ice chunks to clear .. and of course waving thanks to him in NY style

As long as the airports are not shut down due to weather...