spiciest, b. water.

I in my second season I kept them around to scare away predators. Not always successful, but one of the roosters completely traumatized an aggressive fisher once. The roosters kind of patrolled outside the coop. I'm not sure how humane that is, though, since they did end up getting gadooshed eventually.

Don't take it personally. In recent years Vermont has had high retail theft rates, both in terms of frequency and $ value. It sucks because 99.9% of the population here are honest enough to literally correct an under charge, but many stores across the state have become targets for theft-- Costco, Walmart, Shaws, Hannafords, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. all now have new loss prevention strategies because of how often stuff was disappearing. Just a couple years ago whole carts full of expensive stuff were being wheeled out of big box stores-- surveillance video was ending up on the news with pleas for help and everything. So, now the checkouts are a little slower. It sucks especially because it's Vermont, but the policies are no more extreme than NY/NH/MA/CT etc.

Probably not helpful, but I know there was a case like this in NH a few years ago and the the woman did get some kind of compensation for repairs accrued after having to commute over a badly damaged road for an entire summer. In her case, the only other detail I remember is that it was the only road to her house, so her option was to try carefully driving it in her sedan, or lose her job.

My propane guy's tanker truck has chains with rectangular spiked brackets spanning the dualies.

"Whoa, I've never seen that before."

"Yeah, I made them myself."

I've lived here a long time, and I love this state more every year.

The Vermonter to Montreal would be life changing. The idea of zipping to Waterbury for an early morning train up to the city, and grabbing an after dinner return ride would be INCREDIBLE.

What you want is Wayside Diner outside Montpelier. Kids dishes, traditional menu, homemade pies, basically the definition of family friendly, and it's been there for over 100 years.

I appreciate it! I'll send you a DM when I make a plan to go up-- I've been curious about it for a couple years now.

Oh man, I've had this question for years,

Yes that's exactly what I was told: wind blown ice @ Tremblant. But at least good coverage. I haven't been in two years, but the last time I was there it was phenomenal for snowboarding. I'd like to try Le Massif this year, too.

It's pretty good right now, and will be even better after this week. Definitely worth the visit. Have you been to Tremblant this year? I'm planning to go up second week of Feb and I'm hearing mixed things about conditions.

Just slap some KO2s on there and it's the specialest

Like off-road trails? I really wouldn't unless you can foot the bill for your impending tow-out via excavator. Avoid winter and spring, save for summer and fall, unless you have a very special vehicle.

Especially this year after all the pandemic homebuilding. There's a secluded dirt back road I like to ride in the summer and a couple years ago a long driveway was put in, leading from the road back into the woods. Pretty cool spot for a house. Well, with all the leaves gone now I can see the "one" driveway suddenly leads to like 6 new houses all next to each other. I hope the first buyer/builder knew what she/he was getting into.

Are we supposed to have any idea wtf you're talking about?

The Montreal Poutine Bathers

Just be wary of some of the security issues that are being discovered now that the platform is surging.

SB is very family friendly, and has those comfortable outdoor seats with fires going every day, and you have two whole mountains to choose from. The only thing I'm not sure about is other kid friendly things besides skiing. They need an arcade or an indoor jungle gym or something.

I have one pup who basically goes to sleep as soon as anything covers her eyes, and another who will revolt with high energy if a blanket is even a millimeter above neck level. Similar to me.

Just don't look at it.

You know, I've never been a big fan of so much public sculpture art, mostly because I probably don't understand or am not smart enough to make sense of 99% of it. But every time I drive past these in VT, I think: "Huh. I kind of feel this one." Like it's representing the infinitesimally small point of time we occupy, and even in the middle of the mountains, in a state with no coast line, there were once whales swimming above this spot, and I should remember that, even when I'm on Camels Hump or Mansfield. It was a long time ago, but also wasn't that long ago. And how weird that I'm going to a job site on this ridge, digging through layers to put in a septic tank, and those layers are actually a sea floor, and in the scheme of things, not that long ago. What I'm digging through was once where megalodons pooped.

We should all take a moment to reflect on a billion years of prior poop whenever we're putting in a new septic tank.

It's pretty cool when you're out snowboarding and the F35s zoom through the valley. I wonder if they see us and think: "man I wish I were snowboarding down there" the way we look up and think: "man it must be so fun to rip through the green mountains in a fighter jet"

Dirt roads up in the hills is by far and away my favorite thing about Vermont!

Consider the luxury treehouse at Moose Meadow. The whole lodge is cool, but the treehouse is remarkable: https://www.moosemeadowlodge.net/treehouse

Woodstock is such a cool little anomaly. I rode around there this summer on a motorcycle and was really surprised. The main strips were full of people, and all the brick and stone buildings were interesting. Also an impressive amount of restaurants and galleries all packed together. I'll have to do more than a ride-through next time.