# Howdy from VA



## Grey Mare

Howdy and Salutations from wet and green Virginia! I stumbled upon your forum quite by accident, but it looked like a welcoming place. 

Lil about me...I am owned by a team of Percheron mares that we use around our 40 acre farm, they move logs, take friends and family for wagon rides, and we did a lot of public events and education with them. I also have a brother and sister Quarter Horses, who are more pasture puff's and all are very spoiled and well loved. 

Our farm is protected by an Australian Cattle dog cross who takes her job very seriously. We have an elderly Siberian Husky who has since slowed down and loves to be cuddled with and she is the most laid back dog I have ever had. 

We have a flock of chickens, a nice mix of young and old, love watching them and am getting pretty savvy on treating ailments and what not. Learning to "speak" chicken was a lot different than equine! 

I love a good cup of coffee, going for walks in a trail, exploring old abandoned houses, and I am learning to long range shoot, as well as being proficient in shooting a pistol.


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## Twp.Tom

Greetings!,Pleased to meet you.This is a great place to visit.


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## Fae

Welcome Grey Mare.


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## Grey Mare

Fae said:


> Welcome Grey Mare.


Thank you Fae. :spinsmiley:


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## tgp7799

Welcome to the forum


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## Guest

Howdy!
Where at in Virginia are you located? I grew up back East. Both of my kiddos were spawned back there.  One of my chirrens is there... Near his Father, and my old farmyard.


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## Grey Mare

TraciInTexas said:


> Howdy!
> Where at in Virginia are you located? I grew up back East. Both of my kiddos were spawned back there.  One of my chirrens is there... Near his Father, and my old farmyard.


Were in Northern VA, called the Piedmont area. About a half hour, 45 minutes from Fredericksburg.


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## Guest

My son is in Spotsylvania! 

Beautiful countryside where you are!!!!


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## LaDena

Welcome to the forum. I would love to see some pics of your team. They sound beautiful.


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## Karen

Welcome from another Virginian!


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## VA Susan

Ditto from another Virginian!


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## arnie

ME TOO Another Virginiain . Green and wet woods and hills surround us here as well getting the hay up has been a chalange this season but the the work horse (retired ? pet perchion cross) and cows are flurshing on the abundant pasture grasses .i'm in the SW'ern end of the state with a few old time Mt. Curs that protect the chickens ,livestock and I from the Varmits.


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## bluemoonluck

Another welcome from a Virginian here! eep:




TraciInTexas said:


> My son is in Spotsylvania!


We live in Spotsylvania too


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## nappy

Sorry off topic! We have recently lost our northern Michigan meteorologist Katie Dupree to an ABC station in Richmond, Va. You will enjoy watching her...she is a classy beautiful woman! Missing her already.


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## Grey Mare

Yes, what a loss. Yes, were getting a bit panicky about hay right now....with all the rain we got....it hasn't been exactly good conditions to cut hay


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## smalltime

Hello! I'm moving to Spotsylvania at the end of march, being a born and raised Florida boy, what kinda culture shock am I in for lol I've been to Farmville Va. for a hunting trip once and it was beautiful.


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## Dead Rabbit

welcome. also a born and bred VA gentleman. im near the roanoke area.


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## VA Susan

Welcome, Smalltime. I haven't ever been to Spotslyvania, but I think you will love living in Virginia! It's a beautiful state.


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## simi-steading

Welcome from a true NOVA person (DC subs are the REAL NOVA )

We drive near you every other weekend or so heading to our farm to get out of this area... 

Sounds like ya'll are living life right, especially for being in NOVA..


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## simi-steading

I hate to tell you this smalltime, but I will tell you what a friend that lived in Dale City years ago told us before we moved here.. The traffic will be your downfall.. it will run you out of the area..

I told him no way.. I called him three years later to admit he was right.. . Man did that hurt.. BUT, it did afford us 57 acres in WV by putting up with the commute for 8 years..


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## smalltime

Well, my buddy that lives out there said the same thing about the traffic lol but I live in Florida and the traffic here is a nightmare.. I'm more worried about the weather! I like my precipitation in the liquid form  Not a big fan of the cold/snow. It was 80 deg. here today!


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## Dead Rabbit

smalltime said:


> Well, my buddy that lives out there said the same thing about the traffic lol but I live in Florida and the traffic here is a nightmare.. I'm more worried about the weather! I like my precipitation in the liquid form  Not a big fan of the cold/snow. It was 80 deg. here today!



ive lived 40 yrs in va, (all my life) and if i ever moved it would not be any further north, it would be south, its not just the weather either, its the people too. 

northern va is not southern........at all. you figure out the rest.


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## simi-steading

hehehe.. Keep on thinking that smalltime, I hope you find the traffic no worse.. What really makes the traffic the worst of any other place you can go is the entitlement of the other drivers.. 

As far as snow and ice, it's really not that bad here.. we don't get that much...


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## smalltime

What entitlements are those? My buddy complains about the traffic all the time, we are iron workers and he has to commute to DC most days because he works "on site" most days. I'm more of a shop guy/Fabricator but do on site/Erection/instillation work also and there's a good chance i'll have to travel with him on some days.. he said he spends 4-6hrs a day driving  but we get paid by the Hr. so...


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## simi-steading

They are just entitled.. they are more important than you.. Just ask them.. If they drive a volvo, audi, bmw, lexus or mercades, or have diplomat tags, they WILL cut you off, they will run red lights in front of you and they will make sure you know they are better than you. . I had a lady in a volvo run a red left turn arrow in front of me. I honked at her and she flipped me off.. It was all I could do to avoid hitting her... Funny thing, she was turning into the secure parking area behind the Whitehouse.

You need to find my thread about fun with an entitled person in the general chat area I posted the other day.. .

We live 23 miles from work. at 3 in the morning I can drive one way in about 25 minutes... during rush hour, normal commute is a little over an hour. The other night it took us just over two hours. Were weren't sitting behind an accident. We were just stuck in traffic... crawling most the time.. 

Traffic in this area has been rated the worst or second worst in the country. We beat out NYC constantly and LA some times.. In this area they say drivers are mostly likely to purposely hit you. a couple months about I had someone tail gating me. I couldn't go faster then the guy in front of me... The person ended up tapping my rear bumper lightly on purpose... Driving a Lexus SUV... I didn't stop because I knew I would have started swinging and didn't feel like going to jail.. 

These are just some simple examples.. Since we've been here we've been hit 4 times in 8 years.. Never our fault and no way to avoid the accident for us. Once while parked... they can't drive here... 

You don't want to know about how many people we see shaving, reading (books even) doing makeup and other stupid stuff while driving.. not while stopped at a light.. 

I've been all over this country and in a lot of big cities. I've never seen anywhere like this place.. .I enjoyed driving in San Fran, NYC and Chicago compared to this place.

Around this area traffic laws are very laxly enforced. I've seen people run red lights in front of cops, and they don't bat an eye... If you are doing 20 over, you can be sure a cop will pass you doing 30 over..


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## smalltime

That will take some getting used to lol at least I drive a 79' Ford pickup, any of those plastic cars hit me they will know about it  Maybe I'll build some big steel bumpers! and Put my AK-47 in the gun rack in the back window hehehhehe


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## simi-steading

I wish I could put a gun in the window.. They do have open carry here, but if someone sees your gun, they will be calling the cops and you will be harassed. I am WAY so careful with my concealed not to even let it print through a shirt because it will get you called out.. 

DO NOT even think of bringing an empty fired 22 shell into DC. if you get stopped and they find it in your vehicle, it will get you tossed in jail. It's crazy and stupid in DC with their gun laws. You can't even legally carry an unloaded gun in your trunk just passing through DC, even though federal laws says you should be able to.. In DC, the cops do as they please..

I've come so close a couple times of putting a train horn on the car and truck, but I figured if I ever did use it, it would probably get me a ticket.. heheh.. I'd love to honk at a diplomat tag that cut me off between all those buildings with a 135db train horn..


You'll never get used to the traffic around here..... I would have never believed anything I've told you.... and I got even better stories that would blow your mind of things I've seen concerning traffic.. 

OH.. wait until it starts to sprinkle and the car in front of you turns on it's flashers and starts driving 25 in a 55... I kid you not.. In this area we got a lot of people that came from other places where the normal citizen never drove.. or learned how to.


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## smalltime

I believe you lol Florida is a melting pot of all the worst drivers in the country  I've seen folks who get over spray from the car in front of them windshield washer turn on their hazards and slow down to a roll... oh well, you can fix stupid!


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## robert_p43

Smalltime, I moved up to the Shenandoah Valley from Southwest Florida. I was in a coastal town and I complained about the drivers there till I moved here. I live in the country and soon discovered the speed limit is 55, even on this graveled road. I hear about way to many head on collisions and soon figured that out too. The secondary roads are paved and narrow and everyone drives them at 55, right down the middle of the road, swerving quickly if and when they see you coming at them. I would drive 41 anyday over this.


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## Zapthycat

Holy Necropost batman!


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## mountainlaurel

Simi-steading ain't exaggerating neither. I live in the Northern Shenandoah valley and I absolutely refuse to drive down where is he. And if I have to ride down there, I take a chill pill and close my eyes. I'll freak out if I don't and whoever's driving might toss me out of the car. Those folks there would just run over me and never bat an eye.


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