Im moving to Utah, can someone tell me about it?

[shana1]

This is one of my first posts. So hi everyone!!

My family has decided to move closer to family so we are looking at a house in a town called Kanosh, Ut. It is almost smack dab in the middle of Utah so im wondering what the weather will be like, do I have to worry about snakes, i know rattlesnakes are around Utah but im not sure where, ive never seen a rattlesnake and I have 6 kids so does anyone have any advice on how to prevent someone getting bit by them. We will more than likely be living on 10 acres so we wont be able to keep all the land mowed down so that has me worried about my kids playing. We own a riding lawnmower that we will use to mow the grass around the house and playing areas, will that be enough to keep the critters away from the house or are they known for wandering into living areas of houses.

Is Utah a high price living? I spend at our current home approx. 1000.00 a month heating this home during the winter with electricity and gas, is that average for Utah too? we will be moving into a home that is 4500 sq ft but one of the 3 stories is a basement underground so hopefully it will stay at a fairly constant temp. Im mainly worried about the venoumous critters and the cost of living and just curious about the weather, where we can go for snow sports? will we have to travel or is there snow where we are moving to.

Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated, im excited about our move and I cant wait to begin our new life, but at the same time i will miss my home here in KY but only because this is where my kids have been growing up and so i will miss our memories.

[DenverGirlie]

I don't know anything about this place, but here are some links to local information

http://www.city-data.com/city/Kanosh-Utah.html

http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ut/kanosh.htm

http://www.millardcounty.com/

[sisterpine]

I spent a couple of years living up by Layton (hill airforce base) a while back. Having come from Tucson I thought the cost of living was higher in Utah. At that time houses were costing more as were food and utilities. In the middle of Utah you will use heat in the winter and lots of water in the summer. Summer temps are high as well. Central Utah has a beauty all its own and I bet you will like it there! sis

[Ramblin Wreck]

Probably your family will be your best source of info. I've driven through the town/area on the interstate a couple of times. Utah is not one of our wettest states, but its one of the prettiest.

Edited to add: I'd say it's the cleanest state in the union, at least of the 44 I've been able to visit. Alaska would rank in there too, but there's a lot less people per square mile to make a mess up there.

[gotahouseful]

If you haven't spent much time in a small rural area in Utah, Wy, Western Colorado, etc. its a whole new world. When it was first settled someone wrote in a journal about how its a "Godforsaken" peice of ground useful for nothing but holding the rest of the world together...While I think thats a little extreme I can understand why they might have thought that.

I live in Vernal (Northeastern part) and we just purchased 10 acres, 25 miles outside of town. Our 2,000 squ ft house costs about $400 a month to heat in the winter and about $300 to cool in the summer, without a cooler it costs about $120 a month for our utilites and we have 9 kids, 2 TV's and the computer.

Gas is 3.09 a gal
milk- 2.25- 3.00
bread- 1.15

Everything is quite a drive so we spend about $ 120 in two weeks for gas and we are still living in town. Property tax and other taxes are high, sales tax is .0725 and fast food is closer to .09. Building codes in most places are strict and high, our building permit looks like its going to be $2000+ for a 1300 squ ft house.

The snakes are worrying me too. I've only seen rattlers on the road while driving, but my daughter saw one this weekend on our property. We couldn't find it when we went to look. Most land in UT is covered with sage brush and its a lot harder to clear than I thought (think i'm just going to bulldoze it...hummm), black widows have been a bigger problem for us, but we have always lived in town. One neighbor said they get several out on thier porch every year, usually early in the morning, but they just shovel them up and take them off the porch. They said they haven't ever had a problem with them striking. Dogs can help alert you to them being there, but don't know much more than that.

Water is the biggest issue out here. Make sure you have enough irrigation water for what you want, or a good well. We aren't going to do much more than chickens and a garden, but we will use gray water for the lawn and trees. People here seem to get really cranky over property lines and water.

Any other questions I'd be glad to answer. I've lived in UT for nearly 30 years now and it does grow on you sort of

Elisabeth

[Pauline]

Kanosh is a nice area ,as far as snakes just do the basics of keeping things non-hospitable for them ie: don't pile your lumber right next to your house ,don't have a lot of rock up by the house anything that attracts rodents will then attract snakes as they come for the rodents , food prices was broached by gotahouseful as was gas prices summer will be hot winter cold my bills over here in stockton run about $145.00 for heat in winter and drop in summer as we don't have an air conditioner/cooler of any kind here at this time water availability is a major concern for the state due to drought.

[comfortablynumb]

the Mormons will steal your soul.... run

[Sand Flat Bob]

I am assuming you are Mormon since you have family close. I have many friends that have lived in Utah, If you are not Mormon, you will have a very hard time making it where you are going.

Good Luck,

Bob

[gotahouseful]

The whole Mormon/Non-Mormon thing is highly over rated. Here in Vernal less than 40% are Mormon and that is going down every day. In the apartment complex I live in there are 51 units, 3 are Mormon families, 4 are former Mormon families and ALL the rest have no affiliation with the LDS church. We have Catholics (3 families) Bapists (at least 2 families) and for awhile the preacher from the Church of Christ lived here (BTW, he was the only one who ever knocked on my door to 'discuss' religion with me).

Most of the people here don't attend any church and we all get along just fine. We BBQ together frequently, our kids all hang out without any problems. To date there hasn't been a religious arguement, yet and I've lived here in these apartments most of the last 10 years.

We also homeschool and there are two homeschooling groups here in Vernal. One is for everyone, but is mostly LDS. The other is only for "Christians" NO MORMONS OR CATHOLICS ALLOWED. The "Christian" group is nearly twice the size of the other group.

I really don't want to turn this into a Utah Mormons thread, but most of the people that have proplems here, from either side of the fence, are because they go out of their way to create those problems.

Elisabeth

[thequeensblessing]

Thanks so much for that exellent post Elisabeth. I lived for years in Roosevelt Utah, and there are many, many non-Mormons there as well as many inactive Mormons. As a matter of fact, we're heading back to Roosevelt for a family re-union in about 2 weeks.

[shana1]

thanks for the new info and advice, and thank you elizabeth for the insight. My family are christian but i dont think that will play that much into my happiness in Utah, i am not a person who judges others by religion and sure as heck am not going to start stuff because someone is different than me this world is made up of many different people and we all can coexist happily as long as everyone minds their manners and shows others respect for their beliefs. I have taught my kids the same thing and so unless some attacks them they too wont even give it a second thought to being friends or friendly with someone of a different religion.


And Bob my MIL just moved to utah this past year or so, they too are christian but loved Utah so much that we decided we would like to live there too.