Why I Live in Silverado

[Portager]

We have been running our sprinklers for fire protection (since we live in a high fire risk area) which produces patches of green grass around our house. One beneficial side effect is the local deer come to graze right outside our windows.

Lately we have been seeing a doe with a couple of fawns which I think are under one year and pronghorn buck that is under two years old. Here is the doe:

Here is a shot of a pronghorn buck.

and the younger fawn:

It is really rare to get a place this remote and still be inside Orange County CA.

 

[06 H3]

Thats cool! I would take living in your area any day over the city. I still remember your thread about offroading on road. Thats cool too!

 

[Zach]

That's pretty cool Mike. I remember seeing some deer on my way up to Saddleback one time.

 

[abearden]

I want to move out there at some point, but I haven't found the opportunity. Eventually...if I don't move out of Cali first.

 

[Portager]

QUOTE=abearden;70690]I want to move out there at some point, but I haven't found the opportunity. Eventually...if I don't move out of Cali first.

[/QUOTE]

Forget it! There is no room left!

Actually it is a nice place to live, but you have minimum of a 20 minute drive to get to almost anything including gas, groceries, ... and you’re never going to get a Pizza delivered. I have a 45 minute 34 mile commute each way so that takes 1.5 hours out of each day. There are some homes for sale and there are a few building sites left, but getting a building permit is almost impossible.

 

[Expendable]

I miss living in the hills. used to see deer once a month or every other month on average. tons of lizards. Amazing how close they come to you and or you can get (when the Bucks aren't around) to them.

 

[abearden]

I want to move out there at some point, but I haven't found the opportunity. Eventually...if I don't move out of Cali first.

Forget it! There is no room left!

Actually it is a nice place to live, but you have minimum of a 20 minute drive to get to almost anything including gas, groceries, ... and you’re never going to get a Pizza delivered. I have a 45 minute 34 mile commute each way so that takes 1.5 hours out of each day. There are some homes for sale and there are a few building sites left, but getting a building permit is almost impossible.

I'm perfectly okay with that. My commute would go from 25 minutes to about 30 minutes if I moved back there. And my "dealing with BS" meter would drop more than a little bit.

Why are building permits impossible? Just trying to maintain the small town status quo?

 

[bigbadt]

That's awesome ! Being I live 20 min away from you there's only coyotes out here in Yorba Linda

 

[Portager]

[

I'm perfectly okay with that. My commute would go from 25 minutes to about 30 minutes if I moved back there. And my "dealing with BS" meter would drop more than a little bit.

Why are building permits impossible? Just trying to maintain the small town status quo?

There have been issues with corruption in the OC building permit approval process (which I believe have been corrected), but the remaining issues are with concerns over land slide areas, fire protection (when the canyon is burning it is difficult to get equipment in to fight the fire), flood plain issues and building bridges over the creek. Most of the lots that are still available require building a bridge to get to the building site or a lot of grading which destabilized the hillside. I don't know why they are so anti bridge building.

There are existing properties that are for sale, but you need to be careful of the older turn of the century homes. The lots are very small so the neighbors are very close and many are located in the flood plain. There aren't many homes in the canyon that I would want to own.

There are some people that believe that the county doesn't want any development in the canyon. They might be right, the costs to maintain the road and infrastructure is probably disproportionally high relative to the tax base. There are also many local residents that are anti-development.

 

[Zach]

I've seen the T one the way up Silverado. Looks like you are in a good spot as far as the flooding aspect

 

[erdlen65]

I miss living in the hills. used to see deer once a month or every other month on average. tons of lizards. Amazing how close they come to you and or you can get (when the Bucks aren't around) to them.

Move to western pa if you want to see deer, I'm pretty sure the odds to hitting one in my county is 1 in 3 lol you see them everywhere all year long.

 

[Portager]

Move to western pa if you want to see deer, I'm pretty sure the odds to hitting one in my county is 1 in 3 lol you see them everywhere all year long.

Yea but my commute would suck! In Silverado I have access to the Orange county fob$ market, great weather, great off roading, prospecting and deer in my back yard. I'm staying at least until I retire.

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[Green 1]

I do feel for the guy's that still live in town. I moved back out after living in Dallas for 7 years. Best thing I have done in 7 years. I shoot almost everyday. Have a lake right down from my patio and lots of game on my property. I do have the 45 minute drive but it is worth it.

 

[Portager]

And I almost forgot about our friend Robert,

 

[Expendable]

Wow, is Robert friendly? I've only seen one in person.

 

[Zach]

Lmao, Robert. That's way cool. We only have possums that my Golden chases

 

[cgalpha08]

Aww look at the little kitty

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[Portager]

Wow, is Robert friendly? I've only seen one in person.

We can get within about 4 feet, but he growls when you get that close. He's just keeping us honest.

Lmao, Robert. That's way cool. We only have possums that my Golden chases

I had Possums when I lived in Santa Ana and I hated them. I used to catch them in my garage with a live animal trap and turn them over to animal control. I started thinking they all looked alike so I asked them what they did with them. They said they turned them lose on the river trail, which was behind my house. After that I drive them out to Silverado Canyon (never expected I’d live there someday).

In Diamond Bar I had skunks. My female Great Pyrenees got sprayed 13 times. My male Great Pyrenees got sprayed 5 times but he killed 5 skunks. He knew how to pick his battels. I much prefer Robert and the deer or even the Possums to the Skunks.

 

[Expendable]

That's pretty cool that he lets you get so close and also that he warns you about getting that close lol.

 

[Pappibri]

Roberts cool.. I live out of town and I usually will see deer pretty much everyday.. Tons of deer around here.. See some coyotes occasionally...

 

[Hummjay]

Hi Mike- thanks for sharing pics of your wild friends!! Wow, that's the thing I love about this forum, not only is this a great place to meet friends with common interests, have geat adventures wheeling our trucks, share info, etc., but we get to see cool stuff like this! I'm especially loving Robert... he's is waaaaay cool!! He's gorgeous! So, for him to come around like that, do you leave scraps or does he just wander around your place sometimes? I know folks say not to feed the wild animals, but my mom loved wild critters and she used to put out her table scraps at the edge of her yard in the bushes for them to come and get it. She loved watching the show-- deer, possums, racoons, etc. always came around, but never any bobcats. Robert is soooo darn cute... I'm in love!

 

[Portager]

Hummjay, we suspect somebody in the neighborhood is feeding him, but he hangs out in our yard because it is more secluded.

 

[supersapper-rpm]

Tons of deer out here in rural VA and lots of other creatures too......cant even drop a french fry in the truck here or yogi bear will come visit!

 

[kflips]

local food source -- buy a compound bow...

 

[MSC]

This what we see in our back yard



I wouldn't trade living in the country for anything.