Country Boy Comes to the Big City of Buckeye

I never imagined living in a big city. I was born on a hundred acre farm with 70 acres of timber. We had a creek with a waterfall and our own small coal mine. Our timber was full of game to hunt and we could seine our own minnows from our creek.

We had our own orchard with all kinds of fruit trees and a huge garden that could grow massive amounts of beautiful vegetables.

We had one hill that produced enough morel mushrooms to fill several grocery bags every spring. We were 1/2 mile from any neighbors. We raised livestock and we had a pony of our own to ride.

Winnie the Pooh’s Christopher Robin’s “Hundred Acre Woods” was a real place to me and it was a magical place to grow up and I loved it. It truly was magical.

As an adult my wife and I have lived most of our lives on a farm with no near neighbors. We loved it. It was a wonderful place to raise our children. I never thought a day would come when we would ever want to move to a big city.

I know Buckeye isn’t considered a big city to most, but to us it is. Most of our lives we had to drive at least 6 miles to get to any type of a store or restaurant. We never minded a bit.

Life in Illinois got so miserable that we finally had to get out. It was driving us crazy with the draconian laws, taxes, horrible political corruption and tyranny. Half of our last few governors went to prison (literally) and the ones who didn’t should have. Taxes got ridiculous.

Gov. Pritzker absolutely rules Illinois with an iron fist and shut down nearly all small businesses for months and months and put a lot of them out of business forever with his draconian shut down Covid rules. He held older people in care facilities like prisoners for over a year. They couldn’t leave the home and their families couldn’t visit. Many died alone.

Arizona is a breath of fresh air for our old lungs! We so love it here. I truly didn’t know what it would be like to live in town and have close neighbors. We have been here a year now and we are in love with Arizona and Buckeye. It already feels like home.

We look out over our back yard wall and see mountains in the distance. We have our very own palm trees and several varieties of cacti. We even have 3 large Saguaros of our very own. We feel like our backyard and our pool is like an exotic resort. We both say that sometimes we feel like pinching ourselves when we see such beauty, to make sure it is real, and that we are actually here for good. No more Illinois. No more Pritzker. No more ridiculous taxes. No more sub-zero winters. No more Chicago ever again for any reason!

We have to go back to Illinois for a funeral soon and it feels like we are having to go back to a prison. I dread everything about the trip except seeing family and friends.

The transition to living in town and having neighbors and an HOA has been much smoother than I would have ever imagined. Our neighbors are nice and quiet for the most part. We do hear an occasional dog barking and a rooster crowing, but not a really big deal.

I always said I would never live somewhere that had an HOA and have people telling me what I can or can’t do with my own house, but so far it has not been a big deal. And we like that not only we, but our neighbors, are required to keep up our properties and keep it looking nice and safe.

The police here, both local and state, as well as county sheriffs, are totally different than back home. They are usually helping someone who has car trouble or fighting real crimes instead of harassing folks for going a few miles an hour over the speed limit to fill their coffers. Illinois police are not like the ones here at all. Cops are too often disliked and mistrusted back home because all they seem to do is harass honest hard working citizens. What a wonderful difference!

Buckeye is so low crime it is wonderful to be able to take a walk after dark and not worry about getting mugged.

It is awesome to be so near to Phoenix and be able to eat at literally a thousand or more restaurants and to shop at almost any store imaginable! The traffic at its worst in Phoenix is nothing compared to Chicago!

We do miss Menards lumber yard. Back home it is as big of a deal as Lowe’s or Home Depot here.

We have come to love the local Ace Hardware here in Buckeye! They are so friendly, well staffed, helpful and have an amazing inventory.

We love Postnet also. George and Mrs. McKinley, the owners, and all their employees treat people so well every time that you just want to go back.

I am so impressed with “To the Limit Printing” as well. It was one of the first places we visited when we were buying our home here and they were so helpful. A little over a year ago when we were there and saw the Buckeye Star headquarters in the same office I mentioned I used to write a weekly column and they graciously told me to submit a couple of samples of my writing. I have had a column here ever since and I do appreciate the opportunity.

We love Buckeye and it is a wonderful place to live. We are so blessed to be here. We bought our house sight unseen because of Covid. Our realtor (Chris Dunham) was awesome and took video live for us and we sure picked the right realtor and the right house. We are truly in paradise!

God bless Arizona and God bless Buckeye!