Florida

[the mingo]

I ain't never gonna live in Florida
nah no never
I'm doing just fine practicing poverty
up here in the piney tree woods
burning pine to
keep warm
as long as I got wood to burn
and something to eat
I say Fuck Winter !

[sasha]

Been to Florida a coupla times. Some good scuba diving, but a climate where 88 degrees is considered "the cool of the night" doesn't much suit me. I guess I'll stay here in my woods until I'm carried out in a box.

[mnaz]

Florida is barely above water; you need a little elevation. And those damned hurricanes, they even wrecked Hemingway's Keys.

That's about the last place I'd go...
(at least for now)

[the mingo]

Sash - I hear ya say you're over New Hampshire way ?

[the mingo]

yeah no shit bout being on sea level, mnaz - and fuck them pythons too!

[saw]

I turned 21 in Key West, because I was attached to the submarine base...and loved my 8 years somewhere in the lower Keys...but Maryland is far better suited these days for this old man....it's pretty damn safe here...no earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, cyclones, monsoons, oil slicks,...The Chesapeake Bay is a wonder of the world...just amazing.....But honestly all coastal areas will be under siege as the oceans continue to warm, and we will see more violent storms more frequently....and big cities like Boston and New York will need to study the Netherlands expertise with levees....So, I,m happy here inland a bit....the woods suit me just fine

[sasha]

Sash - I hear ya say you're over New Hampshire way ?

yep, in the southwestern corner. Spent most of my career working in the "city" (by virtue of government, not size) of Keene. I'm about 20 mi south of there, within a half mile of the border with MA. Heavily wooded & swampy here in Fitzwilliam. If you squint at a topo of the area, it looks like an old lakebed with islands rising up out of it. I'm on one of the islands.

[Doreen Peri]

You can keep your winter. I'm in Virginia and Virginia's a southern state and has too much winter for me. I hate snow and ice. Good God, the beltway can treacherous! I LOVE the fire, though! I'll go to Florida and burn a bonfire on the beach. I'll send you a postcard. "Having a wonderful time. Bet you wish you were here."

[sasha]

Doreen, I don't know what your winters are like, but I'm guessing that it doesn't often get as cold down there as it does up here. When it snows with the temperature near 30F, the snow is dense, wet, & sticky - horrible for driving in, back-breaking to shovel. When the temperature drops down into the lower 20s, the snow is much less dense, so a given amount of water turns into a lot more snow. But it's light & fluffy, more like ash than slush, & much easier to drive through and to clear. Also, we have a lot more public snow plows up here than do the southern states, and the crews manning them have a lot more experience. So I can well understand how you would loath winter. By March, I'm not too fond of it myself.

[Arcadia]

a place full of anti-castristas listening to Gloria Stefan...???!!!! (sorry, I´m in a reductionist day! )

[the mingo]

Sash - I hear ya say you're over New Hampshire way ?

yep, in the southwestern corner. Spent most of my career working in the "city" (by virtue of government, not size) of Keene. I'm about 20 mi south of there, within a half mile of the border with MA. Heavily wooded & swampy here in Fitzwilliam. If you squint at a topo of the area, it looks like an old lakebed with islands rising up out of it. I'm on one of the islands.

Thx Sasha - checked out your shit on Google maps - didn't get to a topo map yet, grabbing a sandwich & some coffee on a break from stacking slabwood
will check out the topo later in the evening - I'm working out of the southern uplands of Tug Hill Plateau in the great state of Yew Nork - I'd like to be further up the Plateau but this is as far as I got - win a lottery I'd say Fuck Tug Hill and head for the Adirondacks and get back in there so far & so deep only the bears & bobcats would know where I was at - Put in Parish Ny on Google maps, (closest village) when ys get there check out all the backroads in the surround - them my bike riding stomping grounds, Sash - I've had a ball over here on the bike - those back roads ain't nothing but local traffic and not much of that - you can just cruise them things not worrying about staying alive, just ride easy let the place talk to ya - and it will too - the two state routes that cut through here whole nother matter - them fucking things ain't nothing but meat-grinders. Lose your ass real quick due to the speed every one takes on them because you're on a bicycle = you ain't shit to most motorists. Anyways

[the mingo]

I turned 21 in Key West, because I was attached to the submarine base...and loved my 8 years somewhere in the lower Keys...but Maryland is far better suited these days for this old man....it's pretty damn safe here...no earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, cyclones, monsoons, oil slicks,...The Chesapeake Bay is a wonder of the world...just amazing.....But honestly all coastal areas will be under siege as the oceans continue to warm, and we will see more violent storms more frequently....and big cities like Boston and New York will need to study the Netherlands expertise with levees....So, I,m happy here inland a bit....the woods suit me just fine

The woods suit me just fine too, saw - I never minded the forest, not as a kid and not now either - and the only thing makes anywhere round here less than safe is the winter & ... the people. Did a couple of tours in the Navy myself -

[the mingo]

You can keep your winter. I'm in Virginia and Virginia's a southern state and has too much winter for me. I hate snow and ice. Good God, the beltway can treacherous! I LOVE the fire, though! I'll go to Florida and burn a bonfire on the beach. I'll send you a postcard. "Having a wonderful time. Bet you wish you were here."

Doreen - you're a big weenie, bonfire and all

[the mingo]

a place full of anti-castristas listening to Gloria Stefan...???!!!! (sorry, I´m in a reductionist day! )

You can be all the reductionist you want to be in my book, Veronica !
PS - and I loves Gloria

[sasha]

Hey Mingo -

You might like the website http://www.mapmyhike.com/routes/create/ for planning/recreating bike rides. It's got topo, satellite, & barebones map views. I use it a lot to suss out daily hikes with my pup... try to do at least 4-6 miles each day, even if only along one of our many unpaved back roads. I'm getting comfortable letting him run off-leash, even if he disappears momentarily into the woods... he knows I carry snacks, so he's never far even if can neither hear nor see him.

One of my favoritest hiking spots is the Otter River SF/Birch Hill WMA complex down in northern MA, just a few miles south of my spread. Plug 42.634120,-72.106311 into Google Maps and have yourself a virtual wander along some of my favorite trails. I can drive down there without touching pavement except for one tarred road that I need to cross. It's pretty flat so there's not much aerobic benefit, but we get that most mornings on our pre-breakfast 3-miler.

Another great spot is Pisgah SP several miles to the west of me, straddling Hinsdale, Winchester, & Chesterfield NH. 13000 acres of wilderness gone to seed... cellar holes, stone walls, old roadways, as well as the more recent footpaths. And it's got some decent hills, with some decent views, to wit: