Guidos is expensive and has the best produce hands down. It is sort like Zabars in terms of variety - cheese, organic and natural foods. It caters to a NYC crowd. Big Y has good produce, especially in summer and many local (Massachusetts and Connecticut produced) products. Aldis has lowest prices, good produce, but limited variety and a lot of their own brands rather than national brands. Price Chopper has OK produce, and tend to be cheapest for national brands. Target is good for pantry staples. Stop and Shop has so-so produce, but probably the most variety in general items.

Edit: keep forgetting Price Chopper is now Market 32 (same company) in this area.

The farm store on Fort Hill is good in summer. Also Jaeschke's on Crane Ave has a good garden center for veggie, herb, and flower plants and a pretty diverse farm stand in the summer. The owner can be a bit cranky if she is the one waiting on you. Whitneys on Rte 8 also has a great garden center/farm stand with bakery and sandwiches (a bit more expensive than Jaeschke's) and a pain to get out of if you are heading south back into Pittsfield.

Lanesboro is coming in at 3 feet. My final foray into cleaning the snow yesterday was around 7 last night. I thought I would see 1-2 inches to clear this morning, boy was I wrong. I could hardy open the door. I haven't seen piles like this for years. The roads at least are pretty well cleared.

Berkshire Botanical Gardens have their Harvest Fests in October, it may be too far south for you, but the Stockbridge area is nice for a day trip.

Norman Rockwell museum is in Stockbridge.

Clark Museum has the Munch Exhibit this summer into October.

Check out Naumkaeg- not sure what is happening in Oct, but its beautiful

Then MassMoca

Yes I do thanks

From 1996-2013, those of us in the Eastern (edit Western) part of the state paid no tolls between what was exit 1 (West Stockbridge) and exit 6 (Chicopee). Good times.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/with-new-salt-limit-irs-explains-tax-treatment-of-state-and-local-tax-refunds

According to the state, taxable on the federal level if you itemized deductions and included the tax you paid to the state as an itemized deduction, not if you took the standard deduction.

"The refunds are not taxable as income at the state level.

All tax refunds, including the 62F refunds, are taxable by the federal government to the extent that the recipient claimed itemized deductions on his or her federal return for Tax Year 2021, including his or her state income tax. Refund recipients who itemized on their federal returns for Tax Year 2021 will receive a Form 1099-G from the Department of Revenue by January 31 of the year following the year in which the refund was received."

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/chapter-62f-taxpayer-refunds

It is actually a 10- 15% supply rate drop. Delivery does not go down, so 4-5% drop off overall bill.

Could be, from the reporting:

Under federal law, natural gas is sold in a competitive market. The Massachusetts gas distribution companies are required to purchase gas on their customers' behalf at the market price and pass that cost on to their customers without profit to the companies. The DPU requires all gas distribution companies to revise their gas supply rates, known as the cost of gas adjustment factor, or "GAF", whenever the companies will materially over- or under-collect costs from customers. Due to declining natural gas prices in the competitive market, the companies will decrease their GAF for gas consumed between Feb. 1, 2023, and April 30, 2023.

Depending on the utility, this is actually a 10-15% gas supply rate reduction. 5% drop in total bill expected. Like electricity, distribution charges are often higher than production charges, and these will not go down.

Retro to Feb 1. Summer rates begin May 1. I like my house on the cool side, but I really cranked up the heat on Friday.

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has approved reductions in gas supply rates for most gas customers across the Commonwealth. On average, the decreases will result in a monthly bill decrease of about 4-5 percent for a typical residential heating customer.

New rates begin Feb 1

Growing up here in the Berkshires I remember February with temperatures in the teens with lots of snow on the ground. A couple of days we might have minus temperatures, but nothing like this. Looking out the window there are only patches of snow, mostly from piles left by the plows. I do wonder about my fruit trees, strawberries and other perennials, because they usually have a snow blanket to protect their roots.

I am in a iffy reception area (valley surrounded by mountains) with traditionally very heavy cable penetration, so very few antennas around. No one around me has an antenna, which makes giving directions easy - look for the house with an antenna. My inververters are 10 years old and they convert dc to ac at the panel. The newer converters use a better shielding. It is more of an annoyance than a problem.

The FCC does know. They are the ones that told me solar inverters are except from section 15 part b of their regs. We have suppression and shielding and cancellation on the inverters and the antenna. Engineers have been out. The only solution that would work is ground install of the antenna, because the issue is localized to the roof. I would lose several stations in a ground install, we did several tests. The only solution is replace all 24 inverters. Not worth it given I mostly watch TV at night, when there is no interference.

No problem, it might have been a good replacement for my recast. They just have the big 4 and PBS on a single frequency here using ATSC 3. I would benefit from ATSC 3 now because the ATSC 3 is on rf 22, and one of my networks is on rf 7 (ATSC), which has too much interference on it. I appreciate the response.

Thanks, but we have all major networks using ATSC 3. I can not get one of their ATSC 1 signal. I don't think that DVR can receive ATSC 3. It looks like an interesting device though.

It is one thing to lose your morality, it is another to lose your humanity. You know that there were people on this thread who were there and were traumatized by this incident, and you make a flippant remark like that?

Early reporting points to an argument between 2 people who knew each other, the argument escalated when at least one of them pulled a gun and shot. An innocent by-stander was shot and killed. Would even stricter laws about firearms in public places have prevented it? Maybe, but I don't know. Currently our gun laws are aimed at reducing the number of potential mass shootings.

External tuners and especially DVRs are expensive and only have a few manufacturers at this point. Tablo pulled theirs, some report Homerun HD do not work with some broadcasters. I could use a tuner, but it needs to be in the $50 range. I would pay $200 for a dvr since my recast is dying, but there is no guarantee those on the market will work with the final standards since the standards seem to be evolving.

It is so sad when you hear about a shooting, it becomes scary when it was at a place you have been to many times. Those of you who were there, I really hope you will be OK after experiencing this trauma.

Thank you for replying and I am sorry for the negativity in this thread. As a moderator elsewhere I know it is not an easy job. I, of course, respect your decision. I would however like to point out that not all information is freely available even in 2023. I have been a librarian for over 35 years and the monetazation of information behind paywalls is stronger than ever and something we librarians struggle with every single day. In fact, the BBC news division (which you mention) is actually considering paywalling BBC news in the US. https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/06/10/bbc-broadly-favours-faster-introduction-of-paywalls/

Again, I respect your decision and will no longer cite to sources such as the New York Times or Boston Globe. I do hope that people use the curated free e-resources those provided by BPL and other libraries to broaden their understanding of the world by being exposed to wider viewpoints beyond Google's front page.

I do not understand the no paywall site rule. Although some information is really available through government sites, etc., the reality is much of the information about Massachusetts can be found in the Boston Globe or local newspapers, such as the Berkshire Eagle. The dissemination of information from these sources is important in discussions in a free and open society. Dissemination of information that not everyone may have immediate access to but is verifiable is important for keeping us all informed. I would also point out that everyone in Massachusetts does has access to a version of many of these newspapers, such as the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Sun, The Sentinel etc. through the Boston Public Library e-newspaper collections, or through the Boston Public Library access to press reader, although it is not as easy to get to the information as the direct link paywalled link. I agree that random paywalled sitd should not be cited here, but I would really like you to reconsider the ability to cite and link to Massachusetts newspapers and major newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, York Times and Washington Post.

Idk, although homemade is best, you really can't call yourself English without mushy peas and Heinz baked beans. Mushy peas is one of my favorite things in the world.

But none are reboots of classics, I can not imagine the Rifleman rebooted.

Nearly any Western. It is hard to imaging Bonanza, the Rifle Man, Gunsmoke, etc. today. It is funny how much 40 years ago Western dominated TV.