We live in south east part of Wisconsin, but I grew up in WI. Rapids, about the middle of the state. I think Rice Lake is about 6 hours from us now. We have a son in Minneapolis & we usually stop In Eau Clair to stretch our legs before heading onto the twin cities. We used to live in a small town that the whole fire deptment was volunteer except for the chief. Luckily we never had to use the fire services, but they were a fine bunch of people. Winter is getting a little too hard for our bodies to handle :) We have just over an acre now & live in a rural area, so no one to help when the snow flies <G> hubby usually uses the lawn tractor with a thrower attachment on it. last year he had heart surgery & I had to shovel by hand, because the tractor was broke & he wouldn't let me use it anyway <G> it was NO fun ! I am hoping that this is the spring we can put the house on market :) We won't be looking in your neighborhood, if we come to AZ, not unless we found a distress sale <LOL> good luck on your venture ! Faythe >>>I am working part time for a local Fire Dept. We no longer have "volunteers".....all the men on my department are either career or part time paid. This is the second go-around for me. I was a Lieut. and training officer and a state fire instructor many, many years ago. My wife and i have a second home in the Boulders in Scottsdale, and are building a new home in Desert Mountain, also in Scottsdale. I had a grandfather that lived in Rice Lake, Wisc. and loved to visit up there. I can sure understand why you'd be interested in Phoenix/Scottsdale though, particularly around the winter months <chuckle> Regards from the "Keyboard Cowboy", To unsub or change your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ For more info: //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=pctechtalk