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Originally posted by P220 Smudge: We're leaving Washington state.

It’s a little early, but welcome to the freedom of Arizona! What a time to move. It’s just starting to warm up. We went to Mesa yesterday to go to H-Mart. It was a pleasant 94°.

Pretty cool you will be down here. Congratulations!

A lot of my conservative coworkers have/are moving down there. Good luck!

We’ll miss you here, enjoy AZ!

And you do get used to the conditions. Humans are built to adapt and if you give it time, it will be okay.

Congrats on the good news, you’ll escape in time to avoid our new standard capacity magazine ban.

I know we talked about getting together for coffee, I’d still like to make that happen before you go.

Another big congrats from a former WA 'inmate' that lived there for 30 years. We left (escaped) in 2001 and LOVE living in AZ for the the last 20+ years.
When we left WAfganistan is wasn't quite the s-hole it is today. We still have lots of friends and family up there but some have also left for AZ.

Thanks, guys! Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I did what I could to vote and email politicians, but ya'll know the writing's been on the wall for a long time. I got the opportunity to pull the ripcord, and after this last legislative session, it wasn't a hard decision.

911Boss, definitely, let's do. You've got my number.

I looked, and a resident concealed carry permit isn't required (constitutional carry excellence), but is reciprocated damn near everywhere in the country I'd care to visit. It's like taking a deep breath of freedom. I'm so very much looking forward to this.

Congrats!!!!! Very exciting move!

Okay. But man, this is concerning:

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As far as negatives, it would be a 5% raise, but we just found out that would get eaten by income tax, which we don't have here. Wife wasn't thrilled about that. Similar or even higher sales tax (10% here), so I'm not thrilled about that. With cirrhosis, I have bad edema in my legs, and last summer when it got up to 111 degrees, my lower legs swelled so bad it felt like the skin was going to burst like a microwaved hot dog.

Two things. A 5% raise is not a good deal, almost terrible, especially with the added income tax. That's less like incentive to move and more a perfunctory gesture, I dunno about that. I wouldn't find it motivating at all. Beats zero, I guess, but asking for more seems reasonable to attempt, like 5% AFTER the Tax Diff..

Also, your health and legs and the AZ heat is straight worrisome now that you bring it up.

I loved Arizona, but dude, it can go 90days straight in Phoenix in the summer and never go below 100* even at midnight.

Occasionally it will be 115* and such, I was at an outdoor concert once at 117*...

She felt awkward about it, but I pushed her to ask for another 5%. Should know today, one way or the other.

The legs thing worries me too. I hope it’s just an adjustment period kind of thing. I am supposed to avoid salt at all costs, and in truth, I haven’t been great about that and I can definitely tell the difference when I clamp down on the sodium content in foods. I guess we’ll see.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
She felt awkward about it, but I pushed her to ask for another 5%. Should know today, one way or the other.

The legs thing worries me too. I hope it’s just an adjustment period kind of thing. I am supposed to avoid salt at all costs, and in truth, I haven’t been great about that and I can definitely tell the difference when I clamp down on the sodium content in foods. I guess we’ll see.

Are you taking any meds for the swelling? My doctors (plural) have me on Lasix (Furosimide) and Metalazone specifically for that condition, and Eliquis (blood thinner) to prevent strokes. Those do seem to help me.

I only lived in Arizona my first year--my dad was a construction worker building Bartlett Dam NE of Phoenix)--but my parents and sister lived in the Phoenix area for many years beginning in the 1960s and I visited them there. It does get very hot there, but the residents seem to get along with it quite well. A/C availability has helped a lot, of course, but some physical adaptation is also at work. At first, don't do a lot of exertion in the Sun, wear a hat and sunglasses, and always have water with you (and drink it--thirst is not enough of an indicator that you are dehydrating!). Sunblock or long sleeves are also a good idea.

BTW, my birthplace, Bartlett Dam, creates a big reservoir for Phoenix's water supply, and it is also used for recreation. It's about an hour's drive NE of the city, east of Cave Creek, and I recommend at least going to see it.

flashguy

Furosemide and Amiloride, but they’re pretty low dose according to my doctors.

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Originally posted by 46and2:
Beats zero, I guess, but asking for more seems reasonable to attempt, like 5% AFTER the Tax Diff..

Which is what she asked for, at my urging, and got word today that they approved it. It's not a massive raise, no. But the big incentive is escaping California North. She gets the paperwork later this week, then it's official.

As for the health issues and the edema, I told my wife I would rather physically suffer than live here any more. I do no want to spend the rest of my life here, as beautiful as it is. Without getting into a whole long thing, I'm in a much better place health-wise than I was last year, so I'm hopeful that I'll adjust to the heat without undue problems. I've been freezing my ass off for over a year now since I lost all the weight anyways.

On that note, there's good and bad news. We'll be moving in about three months. So, there's some breathing room as far as getting the house ready to list and to go see and do some of the things we want to do before we leave. But that's also getting right into the hottest part of the year, and God-only-knows with gas prices. May end up having to have the truck relocated as well, I don't know.

Oh. And the moving company will not move live ammunition. So I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I can't afford to shoot it all up, and honestly... the idea of selling off what I have pains me deeply. It was an absolute struggle to get my hands on what little I have, which is enough that packing it into the truck and back and forth to hotel rooms every night if we end up driving sounds like a nightmare. I'm not sure I can ship it, I'm guessing not. I guess an epic range trip or two with my SWAT friend, sell some, and save enough to take the bare bones with me on the plane if it comes to that. I don't know. And really, that's so far down on the list of stuff that needs to be figured out that it's almost not even worth talking about.

Moving sucks, but I'm really hopeful that this one is worth it.

WRT moving the ammo. When we moved from NC to TX the movers wouldn’t move ammo either. I put it all in ammo cans. Stacked them against the back of the bed of my pickup and piled other shit they wouldn’t move on top, motor oils, fluids, gunpowder and primers were in the cab along with the dog, etc. I had a whole bed full of stuff such that I looked like a gypsy. I didn’t unload it at night, just backed the truck into a spot where it could be seen from the front of the hotel and took out the dogs crate. Three days of driving two overnights. Mrs. Mike had all the guns in the trunk of her sedan, and had a bunch of stuff over top of them.

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Furosemide and Amiloride, but they’re pretty low dose according to my doctors.

^^^^^^^^^^^
The biggest thing is restricting salt. BTW most locals do not go out in the midday sun, you should be ok. Remember mad dogs and Englishmen?

When I moved to AZ, I put as much ammo as I could into the gun safe I was moving, had enough in the car for the couple of guns I was driving cross country, and shipped the remainder via UPS to a friend’s house, since I wasn’t sure if the ammo or I would get here first. Turned out it wouldn’t have been a problem timing wise, but better safe than sorry.

You will adapt to the climate here, and the snowbird season is quite nice, aside from the snowbirds. The advice on water consumption is key, as well as sun block, hats and long sleeves.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
…like 5% AFTER the Tax Diff…

So, that’s what I had her ask for, and it was approved. Paperwork should come through by Friday. That came back today, so this is happening.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Also, your health and legs and the AZ heat is straight worrisome now that you bring it up.

Yeah, I definitely have my concerns about it. But like I told my wife yesterday, I would rather suffer physically there than live here any longer. Also, they have the Mayo Clinic there in Scottsdale. That’s all my buddy with the new liver said when I talked to him. “You’re covered. Don’t even worry about it.” With that, it will be an improvement in the care in getting.

Regarding the advice on moving the ammo, I appreciate it. I'll have to see what's involved with their handling my safe. Could be a good time to sell it and buy a newer bigger one. It's packed to the gills and I can't even get everything in there. I was looking at adding a smaller one to the bedroom for just the defensive stuff, but it didn't happen.

My wife said there was something in the moving paperwork about having to provide a list of serial numbers of all firearms. Not thrilled about giving anyone a list of my guns, but I need to get that paperwork from her and read all of it before I do too much speculating.

Congratulations.

I'd probably be burying my ammo in socks and such to get it moved with the rest.

FWIW, I've moved a fair amount of ammo on two day road trips and left in the car/trailer at the hotel. As said, packed stuff around and over it. Not a problem thankfully.

I don’t know much about Arizona, I’ve only visited a few times. But I am very familiar with Seattle and the PNW. Glad to hear you’re getting out of there, because IMO the Seattle area, beautiful as it may be, is a lost cause culturally.

Good luck finding a place to land in AZ, and let us know how you make out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 2Adefender,