Well, Dawn, Hawaii still calls and we have a trip planned in January. Plan to really listen to our hearts while there. Our one son lives in Yukon and wants us to live in his garage..well, after remodeling. And that opens a lot of freedom for us to just take off on trips or spend winters somewhere and have a place to come back to. Gardening would be interesting there as his lot is rather small, so lots of vertical going on...could be very cool. And a sweet little granddaughter too.

I think our biggest hurdle is pinning down our needs and wants. We could be very cautious or make more of a risky move. We do know we need very little living space and would be just fine with a small yard. Neither of us have a desire for "acres". We had that several times.

Now you can't beat Hawaii's weather but we don't have to have it to end up happy. We might even just rent somewhere. Or build small if we bought. Or remodel a small home. We do think we need to make this move soon or in a few years, we may not be able or want to. Luckily we are both in good health and try to eat and exercise to keep it that way.

If I wanted to stay in Oklahoma, I would move to Hochatown or Broken Bow. I like all the trees and forest. (Now I am craving food from The Moon Tower or a veggie pizza at Grateful Head!)

Another area I LOVE is Wimberley, TX.

We just had to make that same decision and had a lot of things to consider. The first one was the availability of adequate medical care (a good hospital specifically) and quick response for emergency care. We felt that those two things pointed us in the direction of a metro area.

Our closest relative was 100 miles from us Sixteen years ago when we moved here employment was an issue, but isn't any longer. The lake was important to us, but my husband no longer enjoys it.

Living near a Temple was important to us, and we were 3 1/2 hours from the closest one and religion is important to us.

We wanted a better house, but didn't need a lot of property to take care of. With the rainfall already being over 48 inches for 2017, the yardwork has become too much for us.

We wanted to be close to at least one of our children, but had to weigh all of the above factors to find the best fit.

The town we settled on was Yukon. I needed their hospital much sooner than I expected and was extremely happy with the care I received there. Both of us have had medical issues in the midst of trying to move, so we are living with packed boxes all around us. We are anxious to be in our new house and think we made a good decision. I can't wait until the move is complete.

Just weigh all the factors and make the best decision you can. Good luck.

Soonergrandmom, you moved? When I first came here you were one of the people I remember the most. Haven't seen you much lately. You were busy moving...and staying in the hospital. Hope you're okay. Good to see you. Now, I want to ask about your religion (because I'm SO interested in religions), but was told that was rude and nosy once, so I won't. I hope you enjoy Yukon. I think it's a good place. Did you live near Tulsa? I remember you leaving in the northern part of the state.

Grew up in northeast Oklahoma, where you can spit on a seed & it germinate (after you harvest all the rocks from the ground every spring, of course). Southern Missouri around Joplin or Fayetteville/Bentonville area in Arkansas are beautiful areas.

Only thing I could offer is, "Follow your hearts." Pray about it and then remember to know yourselves. I'm praying for you, too.

Oh, apparently you've made your decision. I am guessing it was most likely the right one. Blessings.

Nancy RW, no we have made no decision. We are in the "so many choices it spins our heads" part, lol.

Carol! Oh wow! I trust you and Al regain your health quickly!

We moved to Tahlequah in 2005. We love it here, though extremes in weather can be challenging. There are some good deals on housing here. The City hospital has improved greatly, in recent years. My wife needed very major surgery a year ago. They did GREAT. There are also excellent hospitals in Muskogee, about 40 minutes away.

Nancy, I think you're getting some very good, and varied input. Will pray for wisdom for you. When we were looking to leave NJ, back in 2004, someone suggested Hawaii. If I recall, there was even a small church looking for a pastor, and that was my profession. We have a friend in Hawaii, though, who cautioned us about the high price of land and cost of living.

George

I'll try to respond to everyone. LOL We have not yet moved our furniture to Yukon, but each time we make a trip in that direction, we load up the Explorer and move a few things, mostly the breakable stuff. I now live in Grove, but hope to soon be in Yukon. Actually, our Grove house is filled with boxes, and our Yukon house has a few things, so neither is very livable right now but we have beds in both places.

Bring on the religion questions and I'll be happy to answer them. Write to me at caroldumasallen - sbcglobal.net if you like.

George, I have had Harrington Rods in my back for 31 years, and suspected they were failing when I started having trouble. Instead, I have developed another spinal issue (higher up) and I couldn't move my head - at all - right, left, or up and down. I had a short stay in the hospital, but still need therapy and some pain management techniques, which I will be starting in Yukon in a couple of weeks. George, keep in mind that you will always have a place to stqy in OKC, if you find yourself there. I'll send you an address and phone number when we are finally settled.

Al has several medical issues and is retired from the Air Force, and I feel better knowing that he will be near a good VA facility. Right now he has a terrible infection in his right leg. He started with a stomach virus, but after a few days of not being able to take his blood pressure meds and not wearing his compression socks for a few days, he began to have problems. They thought he might have a blood clot so told us to go to the emergency room. No blood clot, but a bad infection and he has been really miserable.. He is going back to the clinic tomorrow.

We thought we were tough, but are learning first hand that getting old isn't for sissies. We are not really downsizing as much as we are simplifying, and while I am sure that I will never stop growing a few things, I doubt that I will ever have a large garden again.

In our new house we will live about 20 minutes from our daughter and she is a nurse, so that is another plus.

We worked at Tinker for 4 years and lived east of Norman, so we know the OKC area fairly well. I was slow in making the decision to move, but once I decided where to go, we found a house very quickly. It is only the illness that has slowed us down.

Carol, My son and his little family live in Yukon and love it.

Nancy after an aborted trial in Florida I came back to OKC. I now live about a mile from Lake Hefner with it's biking and walking trails... about an 8th of a mile from Sprouts, and there are a lot of fast food places (which I however not utilize). Also, less than 1 1/2 mile from Baptist hospital.

I really thought I would like to be back in my old neighborhood, but this is sooo much more convenient all around. Now if my neighbors would just move in around here... ;)

Moni

Interesting, Moni...I was looking online at some houses in the Village. We also had an aborted Florida experience....we bought a house online sight unseen and turned out to be a terrible decision. Never do that again! I didn't like it there from what I saw the few weeks we were there. We also have Chickasha on our radar now with the college there. Some real cute fixer houses and lots for building. We are all over the place with our thinking.

Carol, thank you so much for the invite. If I or (we) are ever in the area and could use lodging, I'll contact you. You, please, consider the same offer from us, though, Tahlequah probably won't be on your list of destinations. We accidentally grew your Seminole Pumpkin this year. One went bad last winter and someone, here, fed it to the chickens, by leaving it in the front yard. A plant germinated in June and covered up a tree we had taken down. I thought it was pretty. Jerreth thought I had planted it. I thought, since she didn't say anything, that she too, liked it. Turns out we still have very different ideas about landscaping, etc. But it stayed, since, when we discovered our error, it had lots of fruit. I had to reiterate my promise NEVER to plant squash in the front yard! Just last weekend we made pumpkin pie from half of one of the smaller fruit.

I managed to hand pollinate three Seminole, so now, I have a pretty permanent supply of seed. I gravitate more to Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin. But the truth of the matter is, that they are both excellent and fit our needs beautifully.

Nancy, Oh, I'd follow my heart since you have so many options.

I love the idea of a garage conversion and living with son and his family, but I don't know if y'all want to go that route. That's a lot to be said about choosing a smaller home (less to clean!, etc.) too. Life's so short---why spend too much time cleaning and doing yard work?

There's nothing wrong with being all over the place with your thinking right now. I think it is great to consider so many various options, and a fixer upper could be a ton of fun too. It is good to have lots of options and I hope y'all can take your time, evaluate all the options and then make the choice that is most appealing to you. There's so many great small towns in OK that I feel like you cannot make a bad choice.

Carol, I hope you and Al make a full recovery. Your recent medical challenges certainly show the wisdom in the decision y'all made to relocate from a smaller town to a larger one near more medical facilities. I was sort of picturing y'all getting all moved in and settled and didn't realize health issues had gotten in the way.

There's nothing wrong with simplifying. I've been adding trees and shrubs to our front, back and side yards for almost 20 years now---hoping that by the time Tim finally retires, they'll shade the yard so much that no grass will grow in it and then we can just plant shade-loving groundcovers and cut back a whole lot on how much mowing we have to do. I can't picture us at 70 or 80 or 90, still mowing and weed-eating 3 acres. (I'm grateful the rest of the acreage is heavy woodland that doesn't require anything from us.) I don't want to ever leave this place, but I am trying to change it enough that maintenance becomes easier. I've also cut back a lot on how much I plant, subbing in more flowers and herbs this year for some of the veggies, so there's not such a big surplus to can, freeze or dehydrate. I hope to cut back even more on the veggies next year in order to grow even more flowers. It isn't even that flowers are less work in terms of planting and maintenance, but they don't give you a big harvest to pick, eat, can, freeze or dehydrate so they still are labor-saving. Technically I'm not downsizing the garden, but am trying to downsize/right-size how much of a harvest I have to deal with.

George, I love that y'all ended up with a Seminole climbing a tree in the traditional way it was grown in the Everglades. That's my favorite way to grow Seminole, and letting it climb helps keep it from crawling and sprawling all over other edible plantings.

Dawn

George, I had an invader as well although I didn't plant any squash.

Dawn, Al is in the hospital right now. We are having a rough time right now. Everything just all came at one time.

God bless you, soonergrandmom. . . I'm thinking of you both and prayers.

If you are looking for somewhere other than an urban area, you might look at Marlow, Ok. It's a small town with good water, an active garden club and the prettiest library that I've ever seen. It's only 10 miles to Duncan which has a large amount of medical facilities, 3 museums and more shopping. It's close enough to Lawton for even more shopping or to areas like Medicine Park and the Wichita wildlife preserve and mountains.

Carol, Please keep us posted on Al. You know how we worry. Love y'all!

Dawn

Dawn, Al is still in the hospital and I suspect that he will be a while longer. Then we know he will need 'wound care' for several weeks, but some of that we can do at home. He suffers from venous insufficiency where the veins have problems sending blood back to the heart. His heart is strong with no problems there. He was sick for a few days and things got out of hand and a serious infection developed in his right leg. When he called VA, and described what was happening, fearing a blood clot, they told him to go to the local ER, which we did. They gave him pain meds and two different antibotics which should have killed the infection, but didn't. Four days later, we went from the VA clinic, to the local emergency room again. After 4 hours in the ER, they admitted him and he has been on IV antibotics, and now lots of pain meds. The procedure they do to his leg twice a day is extremely painful, so it is a rough go. He is alert and seems to be getting good care, so everything else in our life is just on hold. Thanks for caring and for your prayers.

Carol, Jerreth and I will be praying for Al, and for you.

Thanks George, we appreciate that.

Carol, Thank you for the update on Al's health. Tell him we're thinking of you both and praying for you. I am sorry the vein issue requires that they do a procedure that causes him such pain. You know, this is not the best of timing since y'all were in the middle of moving and settling in to your new house, but at least you're partially relocated to the new place and closer to the hospitals there in the OKC metro. That is a plus.

Please be sure and take care of yourself too. We Fort Worth sisters aren't exactly Spring chickens any more, are we? I know, I know, it is hard to believe---it seems like just yesterday we were 29 years old, and now we're not. (grin) I know it is very easy for a woman to neglect her own health when she is worried about/taking care of an ill family member and we don't want you back in a hospital bed too.

Everything else can wait---y'all just get well, please.

If you need anything, anything at all, just say the word. Your Garden Web family is here for you.

As always, I'm sending you and Al love, prayers, hugs and well wishes.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn. He is getting better, but I think he will be hospitalized for a few more days and is still getting IV antibotics. With a history of the oral stuff not working they are unlikely to send him home too early. We will get to move someday, but for now we are just ignoring it.

You're welcome, Carol. I agree with ignoring the moving for now. It can wait. Al's health (and yours too!) is more important.