Yeah, I hear ya... I wish I hadn't sold my home in Show Low, but I made $35K on the flip, so that's something. I'd like to go back there, but the prices have already gone through the roof. Here in Benson, I'm having difficulty finding another job: I lost a good gubmint job with full benefits, including an excellent retirement plan, all because I hollered at some inmate who kept smoking near fuel. Asked the fool nicely a dozen times not to do it, but he kept lighting up just to rile me, and one day it worked... I've had a really hard time accepting the outcome of that fiasco, since I busted my @$$ on that job and turned things around in a positive way, but 2020 will forever be remembered as the year when ALL rules & regs went out the f#%g window. One look at that fraudulent swamp rat in the Oval Office is proof of that, aye? You were spot on about the country going downhill, I feel sorry for the youngsters who still have decades ahead of them.
I've thought of pulling stakes and relocating AGAIN, possibly just down the road in Sierra Vista or Hereford, the problems you mention aren't quite as prevalent there. There's more crime in Willcox on the other side of the Dragoons, I reckon, and down near Douglas on the border... I'm roughly an hour from the border (time-wise, as driven on these back highways), so my neighbors & I don't have the problems associated with being right across the border from Mexico, or on a direct path to the nearest interstate highway. By the time any undesirable elements reach this area they are already on their way to the Big City, plus I'm just far enough off the beaten path to not have to worry about passing thieves. I may just wind up staying here, depends upon whether a job offer comes through for me; my age is a factor in the job search, and I was falsely charged in Kalifornia so I may or may not have a 'record'---I can't get a straight answer out of that f/u state.
Another option would be to flip this home and move farther into Redneck Land, say the lake country in eastern Oklahoma, where I can buy a decent home for $30K or so, but then I'd be dealing with that miserable humidity, and if I took the cats with me, they'd have to deal with the flea & tick problem, which is virtually nonexistent here at elevation in Arizona. I like Arizona, it has a lot going for it, and there are good jobs available with towns and counties if you can score 'em... the wages aren't that high, but the benefits are excellent, especially the retirement plan, and that's where I'm remiss. Whatever I had going in the past for retirement has all been burned up, courtesy of the socialist plandemic (and losing that last job at the worst possible time). So I've been dealing with that, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had it all going on, but now I have to start over again. Meh, we'll see what happens, I still have a few apps out, and I check job listings every day.
I keep telling myself to look at the big picture: others have already lost everything due to the criminal machinations of these fraudulent political scum and their globalist overlords, while I'm still under a roof and I only owe a few grand to my brothers & my best friend. Sh!t, I was debt-free for decades before this job loss & socialist plandemic, but at least this current debt is to folks I know, so nobody is clamoring for payment. They know I'll get it back to 'em one way or another, by slowly digging myself out of the hole or flipping the home and repaying 'em pronto. All it will take is one good job offer, and I'll simply remain in place and dig myself out, that way I won't have to go to the trouble of relocating again. But I'll do it if necessary, might even break down the 8' table and take it with me... I like having the table, it keeps me out of trouble, lol. No expensive drinks to buy at bars, no drunken barroom brawls with fooliots, no DUI on the way home... what's NOT to like?
Anyway, I just borrowed another $500 from my best friend, he's like a blood brother to me and he knows I'm good for it. Obviously, I don't like doing this, but it may be worth it just to see the responses to this latest round of county apps, three separate jobs which just closed within the last week. All three jobs give preference to applicants with a CDL-A, and mine is still valid, along with my medical certificate and spotless MVR. If I can get back on that good retirement program, I can still salvage the whole situation, and stay right here with my three cats (and the two other visitors I feed daily, dunno what would happen to them if I left). All the towns, counties, and state share the same retirement system, and it can't be beat for racking up a pension in a relatively short time. So we'll see what happens, a decent job offer could make all the difference. Otherwise, I'll be packin' my bags and hittin' the road, possibly camping out for awhile and checking the real estate listings.
Well, now you know more about my life than you probably wanted to know, but I'm a long-winded b@stard once I get started, lol. I'll tell ya, hand, these traitorous scumbag politicians aren't making life easier for citizens of this country... maybe I should make like an illegal immigrant, or participate in one of those 'refugee resettlement' scams, then I'd get gubmint handouts galore, lol. Hell, I'm a "political refugee" in my own country, when ya get right down to it... sounds like you are too. I'm just trying to find my place in this Brave New Third F#%g World, even if it means heading deeper into Redneck Land. One advantage there is that the cost of living is definitely lower, and so are the real estate prices... I saw one place that looked pretty cool, and the annual property taxes were only $14, lol. Outside town limits, of course, but still on rural water... a place like that can save heller money in itself, one of the survival tricks I've learned since this whole situation arose. Hey, whatever it takes!
WELL, THAT'S ENOUGH RAMBLING FOR NOW... YOU MAKE IT OUT THIS WAY AGAIN, BE SURE TO STOP BY FOR A GAME OF POOL, THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST TABLE IN THIS BURG, I KNOW THOSE CR@PPY BAR TABLES CAN'T TOUCH IT, LOL. CHEERS!!!