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At Home in Las Vegas
When we first moved here, we had quite a bit to learn. We would have saved a lot of time, if we had known about the three sites below, before we moved. The Chamber of Commerce Relocation Guide offers just about anything you'll need to know as a new resident. The Las Vegas City Website is loaded with good information about the city, including some of its history. Finally, Clark County has very complete website covering pet rules, permit applications, taxes and anything else you might want to learn about. Once you learn your way around these sites, you can find great information relating to your home in Las Vegas. For information about registering your vehicles, and changing over your driver's license, and all that legal stuff, check the Nevada DMV.
An older Las Vegas House
Coming from an area where power outages would last for days, I'm pleased to say our home in Las Vegas has been without power for less than four hours in four years. Three of those hours were during a rather bad storm. Our Embarq phone service works just fine as does our Verizon wireless. Las Vegas is growing so fast that you get an updated phone book delivered every six months! Republic Services (Trash) comes like clockwork, twice a week. Unlike the Post Office, they work on holidays. We were startled to find they came at the normal time, even when Christmas and New Years fell on trash day. They seem to be willing to pick up just about anything. Of course, some of it disappears before the truck gets there.
Collecting other people's trash is very common here. Anything on the curb in front of your home in Las Vegas, is fair game. This has proven to be very useful at times. We have disposed of sections of an old couch, two old dishwashers, a non-working baby stroller, and various other items, simply by placing them on the curb in front of our house. If you have an old appliance, television, or other bulky item you need to get rid of (and live in an area where it's allowed), just put it where you normally place your trash. It will probably be gone by the end of the day. Caution! Do not leave anything you are fond of on the curb! Our seven year old Grandson left his bike on the curb overnight. Yep. Gone.
Thinking about it, the
Las Vegas water deserves its own section
We moved from an area where the lots were sections of old farms, and generally measured in acres. I wasn't at all sure about having houses all around me (our closest neighbor in our old house was about 750 feet away and across the street). As it turned out, our neighbors have made our home in Las Vegas a really great place to live. We have had neighbors recommend service people, solve a water problem, find our missing cat, help us get a lost dog home, and, one truly fantastic neighbor, helped us for months on our remodeling project (Thanks Jack). With some luck, your neighbors will be just great as ours. If one of your neighbors is having construction work done, stop by and ask about it before you start your own project. If a neighbor is walking his dog, ask about a good vet. If you like the way your neighbor's yard looks, ask who does his landscaping.
A while back, we ripped out almost a half acre of grass (ok, it was mostly dead grass), and replaced it with a bunch of rock. It may sound like an odd thing to do, but in a desert, it can make good sense.
Desert landscaping doesn't mean dull
Like any house in a warm climate, your home in Las Vegas will have a few creepy crawly things. Unlike some other warm climates, it does not have much in the way of fleas, ticks, or annoying flying critters. It really isn't bad compared to, say, Northern Virginia, where I once lived for a year. There, cereal was kept in the refrigerator, so the bugs couldn't get at it. You will want to hire a pest control company. To find a good one, ask your neighbors. I generally suggest staying away from the large, national chains, as they seem to have a "one solution for everyone" attitude. I base that on having employed a couple of them over the years. A good local company is familiar with the area, and what kinds of problems crop up. In four years, we have found we get a few ants every spring and fall. Other than that, we have had no problems. Of course, our company sprays the entire yard and outside of the house every few weeks, so I'll give them credit. The desert is home to a number of poisonous creatures. I have yet to see a rattlesnake, or scorpion, but both my wife and myself have discovered Black Widow spiders on occasion. I have found them in an outdoor grill I haven't used in a while. One had a very nice web with egg sacks in one of our sheds. And we found two at the base of our wall while taking down some Halloween decorations. No biggie. Just hit them with spray, or let your pest control person do it. Just don't stick your hand into any dark place without looking first. And you might not want to go barefoot into a storage shed.
Offsetting that, mosquitoes don't exist here, nor do many other annoying insects. You can actually sit outside your house in Las Vegas on a summers evening without being eaten alive. The bugs we do have, are generally large enough that flying is a chore, and heavy enough that you can hear their footsteps as they approach (just kidding). There is something called a longhorn beetle that is larger than most mice. I have never seen one fly, but they do walk very quickly.
The rules for pets in Las Vegas vary between Clark County and the City of Las Vegas. If your house is within the city limits, you will have a few more regulations, than if you are in the County. Note that the County regulations still apply to those in the City. For information on the County regulations regarding pets, take a look at their pet information page. The City of Las Vegas also has information about pets.
For some reason, those clocks that get their settings from a signal from an atomic clock, don't work here. Thanks for visiting.
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