Another 2 ?'s: Boats and Pet Safety (Kingsport, Pigeon Forge: real estate, rentals, live)

[HoneysuckleHobo]

Can anyone hold forth on whether it is easy to have a boat in your tri-cities area. Are there places to have a slip in a marina that are not yacht clubs. I almost fainted looking at the prices in a place over there where they have a yacht club. I see the word "yacht," I know I can't afford it. Real estate agents will either tell you anything or act kind of snotty that you can't afford things, so I'm asking y'all. I hope that ET isn't the sort of place where people are looking down on you if you're a bit poor, I've had about enough of that.

My husband just has his heart set on a little boat to putt-putt along in. But we can't trailer it and would need to have a slip in a marina/storage area.

Is ET good for boating?

RE: Pets. I have lived in places where if your cat gets out at night, you have no more cat.

In the Pacific NW where I lived, in a suburb, a cat out at night was a goner, the great-horned owls would swoop and get them. I'm not kidding. These owls are very large, as big as a man from the waist up.

In the outskirts of Tucson, your kitty would get eaten by coyotes. A small dog was also in danger in that area.

Is it safe to have your pet out in your own yard at night in the CITY parts of ET? I don't let mine roam, I'm talking about safety in your own yard. Of course to the owls they can go right in your yard.

Many thanks. Sorry for so many questions, just narrowing it down before we make the trips for a look-see.

[kamoshika]

Originally Posted by HoneysuckleHobo

Can anyone hold forth on whether it is easy to have a boat in your tri-cities area. Are there places to have a slip in a marina that are not yacht clubs. I almost fainted looking at the prices in a place over there where they have a yacht club. I see the word "yacht," I know I can't afford it. Real estate agents will either tell you anything or act kind of snotty that you can't afford things, so I'm asking y'all. I hope that ET isn't the sort of place where people are looking down on you if you're a bit poor, I've had about enough of that.

IMO, East Tenn. is one of the last places in the U.S. where one would be looked down on for being poor. This is not a comparatively wealthy area. While there are plenty of affluent people here, most folks are of pretty modest means.

Marinas w/ both covered and open slips are plentiful, especially on Boone & South Holston lakes. For an open slip at a large marina, expect to pay $800-900 a year or $500-$650 for six months, but I would think some of the smaller places are cheaper (including the slips at Warriors' Path State Park). Related article/video report in today's Kingsport Times-News:
Video Report - Despite high gas prices, low lake levels, local marinas are hopeful for the holiday weekend

Is ET good for boating?

Absolutely, and it's a very popular activity on local lakes. Due largely to its location in the middle of the Tri-Cities, Boone Lake (my least favorite TVA lake) is reportedly the 2nd-most heavily used lake in TN. South Holston & Watauga are much prettier and less crowded.

Is it safe to have your pet out in your own yard at night in the CITY parts of ET? I don't let mine roam, I'm talking about safety in your own yard.

Coyotes & Great Horned Owls are both fairly common in NE Tennessee, though rarely seen in heavily populated residential areas. While it's certainly possible that a small pet could be picked off by either animal in one's own yard in the city, it's highly unlikely.

Coyote territory in this area isn't subject to nearly as much human encroachment (i.e., development) as what they encounter in much of the West, so they tend to stick to the countryside.

Great Horned Owls have plenty of rabbits, squirrels, mice, skunks, birds and other small critters to dine on around here, so I'd say the odds of one trying to grab a 12-lb. domestic cat or dog in a yard are very small.

[HoneysuckleHobo]

Thank you kamoshika, for your information regarding boating and pet safety.

I will check out South Holston and Watauga lakes when I visit. The slip rentals you mentioned are very reasonable.

I don't know why the owls targeted cats on the island where I lived (near Canadian waters), as there were literally thousands upon thousands of "wild" domesticated rabbits to dine on (the eagles ate them plenty), but they were just h-ll on the cats.

I do miss seeing the eagles walk along during harvesting eating mice till they were about to pop. Any bald eagles (or with my accent, "ball eagles") thereabouts?

Glad to hear people aren't snotty there...

[kamoshika]

Unfortunately, bald eagles are only very rare visitors to NE Tennessee. Hawks are plentiful, however, and I even spotted an osprey swooping into the Holston River in Kingsport last year.

You might be interested to know that the largest captive-breeding program for bald eagles is headquartered in Pigeon Forge (http://www.eagles.org/saveeagle.html - broken link). Here's a related video of a recent release at Douglas Lake in E. Tennessee:

YouTube - Release Of 2 Golden and 2 Bald Eagles AEF)