I noticed that this forum is a place to tell stories about the place you live and what you like/dislike about it, and thought I'd share a few of the pros and cons of living in SE Wisconsin:
Pros:
Fall
Apple orchards
three or four aisles of different kinds of cheeses at the grocery store
milk in glass bottles
lots of local festivals
low sales tax
proximity to big cities in the event you actually want to go to them
wide variety of ethnic restaurants in Chicago and Milwaukee
Train transportation
Used cars and trailers are cheap (relatively)
close to guaranteed to have a white Christmas
lots of lakes
Cons:
Ridiculous property taxes
Have to have permits to blow your nose in your back yard
Neighborhood associations you never asked to join but are forced to pay for
Outrageous land/home prices
a lot of unfriendly drivers (this is more true when you cross the IL state line)
Cold long dreary winters
short growing seasons
powdery mildew
Asian beetles
A crazy law that allows kids as young as 13 to drink alcohol as long as their parent buys it and watches them consume it!!!
kinda flat... not boring, but definitely not the Rockies.
organized and militant giant mosquitoes!!! Hate them hate them hate them!
not terribly dog-friendly place to live
That's just my two cents worth. :D
What about State Income Tax??
Yup... that too... forgot to list it.
For those who are curious.
State income tax rates for the 2007 tax year
http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/ind_inc.html
Interesting... it really varies from state to state.
... one of the reasons some people live in (or retire to) FL. (or TX, NV, etc.
When Tiger Woods won his first big tourney he bought a home in FL and moved there from CA before he accepted the winnings. Saved a bundle in persona; taxes. He not only golfs pretty good, but has some smarts. Or smart people working for him... same thing. :)
People who retire and become nomads, living traveling in those big RV's sometimes get themselves domiciles in one of the no income tax states and save that way.
I think most of my cons for Wisconsin are just personal preference. I miss the sun (though we've had a really beautiful summer and fall this year.) I miss the sun actually being HOT. We went to AL on vacation in June and just collapsed on the sand at the beach until we were crispy. It felt so good to actually feel the sun scorching hot.
Did I mention how cold it is here??
You didn't need to tell me. I spent the first 40 years of my life north of that.
So, how cold is it today?
71 here at home right now. Forecast for tonight a bit chilly, 39. ;D
Over the weekend in the mountains the highs were 65 with a 36 recorded overnight.
It was 47 today... supposed to be 30 tonight. The wind is howling out of the north...brr. There needs to be a frozen popsickle smiley.
Here's mine. :)
Lo 50°F Tuesday
Sunny
Hi 77°F Tuesday
Night
Clear
Lo 49°F Wednesday
Sunny
Hi 78°F Wednesday
Night
Clear
Lo 48°F Thursday
Sunny
Hi 75°F Thursday
:P Just go ahead and rub it in, why don't ya? I know... we walked around in short sleeves all weekend and then got off the plane in Chicago in 46 degree weather. My older daughter ended up whining that it was "too cold" and she wanted to go back to Oklahoma "right now." I can't say that I blame her... felt the same way myself!
I felt sorry for you so I left off the last half of the week. Saturday is cold --67. But back to 74 - 72 Sunday- Monday.
Your daughter has the right idea. :)
Well she was a little upset because we weren't taking her bed and dresser on the plane for the weekend because she thought we should just go ahead and move instead of piddling around until real winter gets here. She absolutely pitched a fit (the kind I thought she was long past :-[) as we were leaving my Grandma's house to go back to the airport because she wanted to stay in OK... I mean tears and hollering and the whole nine yards. :-/ Think Grandma was probably relieved when we got on the road! It was kind of embarrassing because I wasn't sure how to take it... I felt the same way myself, so I couldn't fault her for her feelings, but was surprised because they were SO extreme and because she hasn't really acted that way since she was two or at the most three.
She must really not like the cold weather. Hope things work out for her. :)
You and me both. Nothing is harder than seeing your kids truly unhappy. The first winter we were here, she'd sit in the window looking out at the snow and saying, "Can we move to summer now?" with tears streaking down her cheeks. This isn't a moody teenager... that was when she was only 2. Now that she's 4, instead of sad she gets destructive.
I moved away from the PNW because the clouds, rain and cold was too depressing.
I can always sit under an A/C or do the wet t-shirt thing... but I can't get rid of the bad weather.