Many years ago, I was out walking my dog in my town and the animal control officer did stop and ask me if my dog was licensed and then asked me to point out homes in the neighborhood that had dogs. So it can happen, it's not common though.

I was told it's a new policy to prevent theft. The self-checkout staff has to sign off on your order first and then the door check people do it again.

Town all the way. The backward ways some of the older homes and property deeds were drawn up has me refusing to ever consider another home that's on a well.

I remember being in Hannaford right after mask mandates hit. A teen employee was asking people walking into the store to put on a mask. He had a box of masks right there that you could take one if needed. I watched an older woman start screaming at this kid for daring tell her what to do. He'd never told her more than "it's store policy now" and was polite and calm the entire time. She proceeded to push her cart into him.

When you're being paid minimum wage and dealing with people like that, I can't imagine wanting to stay in that position. It's not surprising to me that stores are still trying to fill spots.

My doctor just left the area, and thankfully, I've been a patient with this practice for 30 years, so they have me seeing other doctors or the LPN, otherwise, I've been told an eight-month wait with priority to existing patients like me. Some practices are no longer taking new patients at all because of the lack of staffing. When we moved my mom closer to me (Alzheimer's) only one practice of the ten I called would put her on the waitlist.

JCAT are exceptional people. My Mom had Alzheimer's and still liked to go out to eat, but from time to time, she'd insist on having a BLT, which they didn't have on the menu, and the chef would make one for her anyway. I adored them for that. 158 Main in Jeffersonville was the other spot that were fantastic with her.

I had it years ago when the big Windjammer norovirus issue happened. It was so bad. I resorted to the tricks I'd been told while going through severe morning sickness. Lots of frozen lemonade and Warheads. I lived on those. I will never understand why sour lemon helps with nausea and vomiting, but it did for me every time.

I put a pair of those on Crocs and only use that pair of Crocs for outside in the winter They aren't that hard to put on. Easy to slip on and off and after wiping out on ice hidden under a fresh coating of snow in my 40s - as the town sands/salts the center of the road, not the side where pedestrians have to walk - I decided that fall like that would never happen again.

For teens, the ice cream tour itself is likely to be boring. The last time I went, I had a pre-teen and 8 year old and both were bored until the ice cream samples at the end. It's the ice cream that's more appealing, but that said, the ice cream IMO is weak since Unilever took over. As said in another comment, Lake Champlain Chocolate's ice cream is superior. A maple creemee at something like Palmer Maple is better.

If you can, join Hilltop Energy next summer. The group rates Keith negotiates with Amerigas are far better. I just had my tank filled by Amerigas for $2.92. He also negotiates with Irving to get lower prices.

In my experience in the 30 years we've owned our home, every company raises prices to absurd levels, especially if they consider you low-use, which we are. We were paying $5 a gallon with Suburban and every company we called (Franklin/Chittenden County) said they couldn't do better.

When we came across Hilltop and switched. We haven't paid over $3 since, still while low-use. We've been with Amerigas since and are on autofill. It's on them if they don't fill us in time, and though it's gotten to 5% once, when we called customer service to say we were awfully low and the delivery still hadn't happened, someone was out that same night. Customer service has been great for us.

No. From what I was told, haulers can opt in if they choose to, but they don't have to. Ours opted not to saying the cost of adding trucks and equipment was not feasible when they're already struggling to get staff/drivers. We have a company locally that will pick up for $35 a month, providing a 5-gallon bucket. Or, we can drop off at a bin at the local waste facility. We started composting all but meat/dairy and were told we can throw those away as they are not compostable for garden usage.

The PV module only lasts 30-35 years, some quit sooner and some last longer, but they do have an end-of-life and will need to be recycled and new ones installed if you still want them. That's one thing that's happening in areas, like California, where rooftop solar started. They've reached that end of life and few recycling facilities that can take apart the different components exist. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/end-life-management-solar-photovoltaics

SunCommon used to lease, but I'm not sure if they still do or not. I've never even broken even with the design they came up with over a decade ago and we regret it. We're tired of having inches of snow stuck on panels after storm and when it finally comes down, people have to carefully time leaving or entering our house or you might end up with a mound of snow coming down on you all at once.

I've been tasked lately with writing press releases and articles on the state of solar panel recycling in the U.S. It's still new territory, and now some of the first panel installations have reached end-of-life and homeowners who bought rather than leased don't always find it easy to recycle them. It's raised concerns with me as to what will happen to mine in another 9 years. Originally, I was told they'll likely just give them to me rather than have to take them down and fill all the holes, but I don't want them to stay. If I ever do solar again, it will be yard-mounted, or even better, I'd rather sponsor panels on a solar farm.

They're also laying off an unknown amount of staff. As the parent to a college student who worked several years in a campus library, that work-study money was essential. And, I will say that most of her time was spent helping students find information. Not every student had online researching mastered and were not afraid to ask for help.

I have a Pixel and I love the automated screening.

Home weather station - Winds are 5 mph right now, 9 below temperature, and 20 below wind chills while it's 65 inside. I'm about to make a loaf of sourdough, so my home is about to get nice and toasty and smell amazing.

Some of this could tie into the issue that I have to write about constantly for an HVAC company down south. January 1st, the government upgraded to SEER2 ratings, so some older heat pumps and central and mini-split systems are no longer in compliance.

It's making HVAC technicians down there struggle to find parts that meet the new SEER2 ratings, and if they had any remaining stock that isn't in compliance with the new ratings, they can't install anything legally. I don't know how this plays out up here, but I know my client has been heavily focused on pointing out that it's going to be trickier to get some parts for older equipment.

It's probably too late for this year, but I highly recommend going into a co-op/group for heating oil and propane for the next heating season. I've been doing this for years and lock in in the early summer and then do monthly payments with the propane company.

We reached a point years ago where we were being charged $5.50 a gallon all because we were told our home didn't use enough propane (about 300 gallons a year usage) to justify a lower rate. We were penalized for having a pretty tight home in terms of insulation and having a pellet stove for the very cold weather.

I saw a post about Hilltop Energy and signed up. This year, we're at $2.92 a gallon. It looks like Keith still has oil plans (if you're in an area that's covered) still if you go with open/adjustable rate. Right now the rate is $4.09 a gallon for heating oil.

Some do, some are really vague. We have a guy near us who breeds hunting hounds and they are kenneled in the backyard and incredibly noisy all year, but summer often means keeping windows closed to block them out. We gave up long ago as animal control said he's within his rights and the town doesn't have rules beyond the state rules which are useless:

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• § 1022. Noise in the nighttime
  A person who, between sunset and sunrise, disturbs and breaks the public peace by firing guns, blowing horns, or other unnecessary and offensive noise shall be fined not more than $50.00. However, this section shall not prevent a person employing workers, for the purpose of giving notice to his or her employees, from ringing bells or using whistles or gongs of such size and weight, in such manner, and at such hours as the selectboard members of the town, the aldermen of the city, or the trustees of the village may prescribe in writing.

I have lived here for almost 50 years, and in all the years I can remember, we've had warm stretches - the typical January thaw-, but this is the first Dec/Jan where I haven't seen below-zero temperatures. It's weird.

I have family in that area who have been struggling to get mail more than once or twice a month, so it's been at least a year that this has been happening.

The weird thing to me is that if you look up Williston, there is one listing for weekend delivery work and it's very clear that there are no benefits. That to me is the biggest problem. I thought about applying to work for the USPS, but as soon as I hit no benefits it loses all appeal.

The water thing can happen more easily if you think, especially if it's a dug well. We had one with the tight-fitting, heavy cement cap and small snakes would crawl up underneath and fall in. We put in filtration and had to take measures to drive out snakes from the yard.

This menu has so much more than the one I have. Their food definitely became more and more mediocre as time passed. In the early to mid-80s, I loved eating there. We used to go from the bank to Carburs a lot for lunches in the late 80s, early 90s. But a few years before they shut down, they definitely weren't the same.

At some point, I can circle back and do so. I have a scanner, but it's not set up right now, so it would have to be photos from a phone. The link below isn't the one I have. The one I have is smaller and has a section of alcoholic beverages. I think the date on it was 1980.

I still have a Carburs menu and have often thought about recreating each sandwich for kicks, with the exception of Lady Chatterley's Liver, I couldn't stomach that one.