ISTJ

So, introversion - do I get to blame that for my inability to post things in a timely, or regular manner?

Anyway: Meyers Briggs. This stuff rocks. Well, that and psychology, but any way: the two combined make me feel a little less 'crazy' and more, I don't know, 'diagnosed'?

SO, what does ISTJ mean?
i=introvert. Duh, like i didn't know this already. Crowds, parties, and just generally talking to people makes me nervous. I like being alone, and get all happy and energized and whatever when left to my own devices. Not to say I don't like people, I do, and really enjoy some interaction - I just really need a nap afterwards, and if pushed too far (read:party) I tend to cry afterwards.

s=sensing. I think the part that resonates most with me for this one is that I can be notorious for taking things apart to see how they work, before considering whether I can put them back together. I like tangible, concrete info, and not so keen on hunches.

t=thinking. Yup, pretty much. Rational decisions based on facts. (But, combined with the tendency to 'leap before you look' part of sensing, causes me to do things like move to Vermont before I have a job, but doing research on unemployment rates and cost of living - go figure)

j=judging. This means I come across as logical, as opposed to empathetic, because my decisions are based on the facts at hand as opposed to emotions. Also, a desire and appreciation to have things settled, taken care of, complete.

Or, in other words, http://www.personalitypage.com/ISTJ.html

Anyway, some of it is malarkey, but all in all it is a handy thing to throw out when you and someone you work with are not seeing eye to eye, to kind of lightened the moment and refocus, like "Oh, stop being such a J!" Ya have a good laugh, and get the job done - which I appreciate.

GeezumCrow

Okay, I have been known to get a tab bit peevish when Chris isn't doing his fair share of the chores. And, he's also gotten a little cranky when I am not doing mine. It is a give and take, and since we both work, we have to both pitch in.

But next time he doesn't pitch in, I am going to remind him of this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26742851/from/ET/?gt1=43001

Please note the use of a two foot sword. 'Cause the dishes weren't done. It makes me look like and angel of mercy sent from the heavens to anoint his feat in dishwater.

Totally Punk Rock

These little guys are back! These are seriously the coolest woolly worms ever, with their punk rock hairstyles. They wriggle along like they are groovin to some majorly heavy tunes. I glimpsed their bright green pals once, too. And, of course, was camera-less.

I always try to think 'take the camera' but when get home from work, the dogs are barking, and it is walkin' time, the camera is the last thing I'm thinking off. It is usually more like "Did I remember to send that email before I left work?" or "What am I going to make for dinner?" or "Lalalalalalalalalalalalala.........What did you say, Chris?"

Perfect Sunday, in flames.

Last Sunday - and let's note the date - August 10, 2008, was perfect. One of those New England summer days that convinced me that there was a utopia, and it was in Vermont. 72 degrees, sunny, breezy, bright blue sky with a handful of obscenely fluffy white clouds that were all far to perfectly shaped. Really, they had no right to be that attractive. Oh, but I forgot, in utopia the clouds can be as pretty as they want.

Any way, we got up early, did laundry, and hung it all out to dry. Partly because it was a fantastically sunny day, partly because there were no available dryers at the laundry mat. Part of the side effect of living in a small town is a small laundry mat. However, rarely are there that many people there. But, also, it only takes about three people doing laundry to occupy all the machines, so I suppose it is all relative. No matter! That is why we live where we do, so we can come home and string up a couple of extra lines, and hang the wash out to dry. I would like to note that all of our 'vintage' / thrift store clothing was dry very quickly, but any thing we have bought in the last ten years at a 'real' store took forever. We have evolved (apparel wise) into the land of necessary dryers. I am still waiting for my jeans to dry.

After all that hard labor *whew!* we made lovely lunches from our vegetable garden; summer tomatoes, squash (what is a meal without squash?!?!) , and added some tasty cheeses, and Bread. In a gluten free house, Bread always gets a capitalization. Bread is special. Bread is a treat. Bread is something you savor and get very, very excited about.

And, since sunny weather is hard to come by lately, we took the oppourtunity to mow the lawn, tag team style. It takes one person about 3 hours to mow the lawn. BUT - out lovely land vixen owns two push mowers, so me can break them both out and get it done lickety-split. Which was good, because then the clouds started rolling in...

Not to fear! We got the mowing done in record time, and managed to break a sweat - all those hills are a great workout. Now time for a little break; we grabbed cold beers, and sat on the porch and watched the storm clouds. They were across the valley, and you could see the edges of the storm, the lightning ricocheting off the clouds, and sometimes sending angry fingers to trees below. We debated gathering the laundry, but the storm glided on around us.

After some garage stuff (Chris) and some house stuff (me) it was getting to be about evening and dinner time, so I set to cooking. More squash, polenta, collards, and some toasted sunflower seeds to start....but that is about as far as I got.

Moments after I put the sunflower seeds in the oven (it felt like moment, maybe it was longer) I smell something funny and OH MY GOD THERE ARE FLAMES IN THE OVEN! I (amazingly) think that "I need to turn off the gas" and even more remarkably actually did so.

And then I open the oven.

BAD idea, as flames leap OUT of the oven. Slam door shut, and, god only knows why, open the oven AGAIN. I think I thought I would find something other than black smoke and flames, but no.

Then, most embarrassingly of all, I run for my husband. I can think of nothing else to do other than GET CHRIS. SO into the yard, screaming my head off. Chris recalls me screaming something along the lines of "ChrisFireHelpNow!" He had no trouble hearing that.

And at this point it starts raining. With all the clothes still on the line.

Into the house bursts Chris, and grabs the (why didn't I think of it?) fire extinguisher.
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffffffffffTTttttttttttttttttttttttt.
Fire is out. Black smoke is everywhere, and the inside of our oven is caked in soot and fire extinguisher stuff. And there is a fine layer of fire extinguisher dust over out entire house.

Then we both tear into the yard, throwing laundry into baskets as quickly as possible, and back into the house.

Then I start to cry, because I realize not only have I ruined dinner, but now we have to clean all this up. And start cooking again, because we can't go out to eat, because Chris can't eat anything. But, we do it. We clean up, and make some salads, and I vow never to use to oven again without proper supervision.

But; I did not destroy the oven. After some spraying of oven cleaner, it is as good as new - literally. That stuff is a little scary, actually. I'm not sure what it did to make it so easy to clean that oven, but man oh man, that oven is Spotless.

And I did not cause the house to explode. It only occurred to me a few days later that 1) we have a gas stove. 2) Our gas stove was full - really, full - of fire. 3) Our oven did not explode.
I'm sure that somewhere there is a design element that the clever stove manufacturers included, and I did have the presence of mind to turn off the gas, but still....

More Marital Bliss

me: Hey, I posted on my blog, about how you can't hear me.
Chris: I can hear you just fine, I just choose to ignore you.
me: WHAT?!?!
Chris: .....

From what I observe, this is 'selective hearing,' a condition that all men develop upon the placement of a wedding ring on their finger. This is similar to, but in a different form from, 'selective memory,' which women develop with the acquisition of the same jewelery:

Chris: Wifey, did you go to Target?
me: I think so....
Chris: What'd you get? Do you have the receipt?
me: Um, I don't remember....
Chris: I thought you said you were only going to pick up some laundry detergent.
me: Really? Did I? I don't remember that.
Chris: Is that a new dress?
me: ....

Home

I am having huge painful urges to go home. It happened about this time last year, too. It is as if I can only handle approx. 6 months of time away from Kentucky before I need to visit again. And maybe - just maybe - I am a little jealous that Chris's sister now lives soooo close, and we get to see her when ever we want. And that we got to spend time with his friends and family when they came up this year. Flying is prohibitively expensive, and after last August's experience, I swore not to fly until the airlines got their act together. And driving, well, not really an option either, although I am itching for a road trip. Maybe I'll just head down to Boston to see Johnna in a week...

Two Years

This past weekend a couple friend of ours came to visit. At one point, Chris and I were having one of our typical conversations:

me: Christopher - honey?
Chris: Hmmm?
me: Remember that thing?
Chris: .....
me: Ya know, that was all....and we were.....remember?
Chris: .......
me: Seriously! Don't you remember!
Chris: .......
me: Chris! Are you listening to me?
Chris: What?

To which my friends started laughing and said we have now been married for 30 years.

Squash.

I have a lot of squash. Really, it is coming out of our ears, because after you eat it every day for weeks and weeks and you start to turn a little yellow, and it starts ooozing out of your ears. Chris has been having a hard time hearing me lately,

me: Honey - where is the squash?

Chris: The what?

me: The squash?

Chris: ........

me: Chris - did you hear me?

Chris: ......

me: Chris? Hey - where is the SQUASH? CHRIS!

Chris: .....

me: CHRIS! WHERE THE @#$% ARE YOU?!?!?

Chris: Sorry, wifey - did you say something?

And it is because his ears are clogged with squash.

Just like it.

(photo courtesy of www(dot)unpluggedliving(dot)com)

Okay. Back on the blog writing bike. Yup, here it goes.

It's raining. A lot. Constantly. I think I am officially vitamin D deficient now. It is unnatural and makes me want to sleep all the time. I like weather...okay, except when it is hot and it rains too much. Actually I guess I like the lack of weather.

I've been thinking, lately, about the fact that all of my friends are not here. And how that is. Just thinking. And I rarely get lonely, does that make me weird? Social stuff just makes me anxious more than anythign else. Writing emails makes me nervous. Phone calls make me nearly panic sticken, and I have to lie down afterward, so you can imagine what actually having to spend time with people does. SO perhaps it is for the better? Still, I am lucky to know some amazing people. So maybe I should get off my ass and make a call...

Wah.

What happens to all those moments when you are bored as a kid?

Why don't I have time to be bored?

Why do I not even have time to put the laundry away?

And why oh why please tell me why people do not listen and make up what they want to hear?

I am sooooo not the only one obsessed with my pests...i mean pets

Check this out:

http://urara1117.blogspot.com/

Cute lil' buggers. Sebastian would accidentally step on one, and then cry, because he really likes playing with dogs that are 1/2000 of his size. He likes to roll over onto his back and let them hang on his jowls. Bella would probably look at them like they were the super hyper wind up toy dogs that they are and then wander off and ignore them. But man, they sure are cute.

To Anyone who knows more than me - so - Everyone:

How do you change the sizes of pictures? Is there a program that can help with that? Any suggestions? Hmmmmmmm????

Lunatic

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!
That is my little Lunatic aka Luna aka Scratch Fury Destroyer of Worlds.
She is finally feeling better, and back to her bitchy self.



The vet we went to see will not be getting a return visit. After several more days of frothing, and general illness, I called her again. The vet refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong, and kept insisting that my cat must repeatedly be licking toads, or some such. When I described Luna as being affectionate, the vet said "That's sounds normal" and when I tried to explain that for this cat, it certainly was not normal, she said I should welcome the new development, regardless of the fact that she was frothing at the mouth and not eating or drinking. So, now I have a standoffish crank-monster, who runs around like a crazy thing, and eats and drinks plenty. And has received many lectures about the evils of ingesting amphibians.

Upon Request

Upon request, here are pictures of the house. There is Christopher and Bella, and the tiny maple tree that Christopher is growing.

And this is the rock wall / drainage ditch that I spend an entire Sunday rebuilding. I am trying to decide if I should keep weeding it, or let it get all over grown....


That bottom rock wall, constructed by Joshua, and home to my 'experimental' plants. Surprisingly, the teeny succulents are doing well, and some of the other creepers are not. At All. But - miraculously - the lavender is going like gangbusters.

'Cause one view isn't enough.

So. That's the garden. We has poppies and irises for about a week. And there are some new purple flowers after all the rain. Maybe more pictures are needed. Hmm...I also didn't add any of the vegetable garden, which was beautiful. Until the deer. They even ate the artichokes. It is terribly depressing.

Self Indulgence of the Literary Kind

I love books. I love reading. I love books so much that I love reading reviews of books. But, I have this problem...I rarely really remember what I read. Sucks, no? And I read way too much way too early, and didn't really get it. Kudos to the parents for having skads of lovely things to read. No kudos to me for trying to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" when I was 10. Sure, I read all the words, and understood maybe the 'ands' and 'thens' - but that's it.

Now, here is the big dilemma. Do I go back and re-read all the things I have read and did not retain? Or focus on the millions of excellent things I have not?

This list makes me feel stupid and hopeful ; all the books I have read are bolded. Doesn't mean I retained a damn thing, but I have looked at every word between the covers. But, there are a few I remember. Mostly modern books...I feel like I should reread some classics? Geez.

(photo courtesy of elearningstuff.wordpress.com)
"106 books of pretension" at
What Would Jane Austen Do?

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Catch-22
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude
6. Wuthering Heights
7. The Silmarillion
8. Life of Pi
9. The Name of the Rose
10. Don Quixote
11. Moby Dick
12. Ulysses
13. Madame Bovary
14. The Odyssey
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Jane Eyre
17. The Tale of Two Cities
18. The Brothers Karamazov
19. Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
20. War and Peace
21. Vanity Fair
22. The Time Traveler’s Wife (okay - this i remember, and love)
23. The Iliad
24. Emma
25. The Blind Assassin
26. The Kite Runner
27. Mrs. Dalloway
28. Great Expectations (and i remember this one, but hated it)
29. American Gods
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (this one was great)
31. Atlas Shrugged (okay, I love Ayn Rand)
32. Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
33. Memoirs of a Geisha
34. Middlesex
35. Quicksilver
36. Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
37. The Canterbury Tales (in high school, for class - does that count?)
38. The Historian : a novel
39. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
40. Love in the Time of Cholera (yeah, not real impressed with Mr Marquez...)
41. Brave New World
42. The Fountainhead
43. Foucault’s Pendulum
44. Middlemarch
45. Frankenstein
46. The Count of Monte Cristo
47. Dracula
48. A Clockwork Orange (i have an excuse; tried to watch and then read after having wisdom teeth extracted - heavily medicated, barely remember anything)
49. Anansi Boys
50. The Once and Future King
51. The Grapes of Wrath
52. The Poisonwood Bible : a novel (this was excellent)
53. 1984 (love this one)
54. Angels & Demons
55. The Inferno (again in high school)
56. The Satanic Verses
57. Sense and Sensibility
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray
59. Mansfield Park
60. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
61. To the Lighthouse
62. Tess of the D’Urbervilles
63. Oliver Twist
64. Gulliver’s Travels
65. Les Misérables
66. The Corrections
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
68. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
69. Dune
70. The Prince
71. The Sound and the Fury
72. Angela’s Ashes : a memoir (college)
73. The God of Small Things (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful)
74. A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
75. Cryptonomicon
76. Neverwhere
77. A Confederacy of Dunces
78. A Short History of Nearly Everything
79. Dubliners
80. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (read it, liked it, still felt like I didn't get it) 81. Beloved
82. Slaughterhouse-Five
83. The Scarlet Letter
84. Eats, Shoots & Leaves
85. The Mists of Avalon
86. Oryx and Crake : a novel
87. Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
88. Cloud Atlas
89. The Confusion
90. Lolita (read it for a women's studies class - totally different take - loved it)
91. Persuasion
92. Northanger Abbey
93. The Catcher in the Rye
94. On the Road (hate kerouac - Chris loves him, so maybe I'm missing something...)
95. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
96. Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
97. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values (yup - there it is)
98. The Aeneid
99. Watership Down (i don't know which i love more about this book - the bunnies or the bunny-language dictionary in the back)
100. Gravity’s Rainbow
101. The Hobbit
102. In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
103. White Teeth (genius)
104. Treasure Island
105. David Copperfield
106. The Three Musketeers

Cows!

(photo courtesy of Katie)

Welcome to Post 1 on The Parade to End All Parades: Brattleboro's own, Strolling of the Heifers.
That there cow is named Sassafras - and she is being strolled by Katie, my lovely co-worker.

This parade was excellent; cows! Trucks! Kids dressed up like organic broccoli - god I wish I had a picture of That one! The only real downside was that it was 90+ degrees. That's right, it was hot, in Vermont, in June. It is rather early for heat of that magnitude, and it has continued - with 100 degree days ever since. Insane. I think the locals are going to start melting any minute now.

Oh - and did I mention there were over 60,000 people in town? Brattleboro is usually only about 11, 000 inhabitants. It was udder (ha!) chaos. I got to see a cop slap - and I mean SLAP, hard, hard enough that hundreds of people went silent for a second - a car (with out of state plates) as it did some stupid driving in a crowd of people.

But! Wait! there will be more! I haven't even started on the night BEFORE the parade!

I get presents, too?

SO.
Apparently along with this whole bloggin' deal-thingy, is presents.
Like commeents and links to cool stuff. The web is a big place, and you need help to find all the good stuff.

Like this:

http://www.neticons.net/music_life/

From my cousin Zachary. Enjoy!

Tired but prolific.

I have a camera full of photos.
Tales of a busy weekend.
And the desire to take a nap.

Things I Should DO, Not Just Think About

Kids are neat. They are so guile-less and pretty much just focused on having a good time. It is always good reminder that - oh yeah! - life is supposed to be fun. It's easy to get really bogged down in the trappings of adulthood; work, cooking, laundry, scrubbing the toilet, walking the dog, weeding the garden, and then work again. But all of this - at one point in time - was fun. Okay, maybe not scrubbing the toilet...but I did get a perverse sense of satisfaction out of doing a very good job of cleaning my first apartment.

In fact - all of the things I do were once 'fun';

Laundry was a blast in college, and the one time that was free from classes, or work, or crazy stress. Two hours of peace and quiet.

(photo courtesy of www(dot)persalts(dot)com/)

Work was once exciting - and when I think about it, I love my job, even when it is crazy and ulcer-inducing busy, I love what I do.

(photo courtesy of biojobblog.com)

Cooking was once an adventure, not an obligation. And when I stop worrying about and enjoy the process, it is relaxing and satisfying.

(photo courtesy of http://www.glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/ - check it out - she is my hero!)

And the garden. It can be so much damn work, but I do get lost in it. And being able to stand back at the end of the day and be able to see and touch what I did all day - something missing in the esoteric world of computers and papers at my job - there is a sense of accomplishment.


So. Life is supposed to be fun. Get your nails painted blue once in a while, like my lovely nephew.

(photo courtesy of Kay)

Bad Blogger!

Geez. This bloggin thing is harder than I though it would be. I keep saying "Oh! That would be great to post!" But do I do it? No. Instead I wander down to the garden and putter, or take a nap, or play with the dogs, or try to find a new gluten free way to make banana bread, or mindlessly stare at the horizon.

Or. OR! Spend way too much time slapping at these incarnations of pure evil.

Absolutely, pure, unadulterated evil. Spawns of satan. Scum of the earth. I HATE Mosquitoes. I am covered in bites, way earlier than usual this year. If I am standing in a group of people, no one else gets bitten, because they are visually swarming all over me. They leave scars. I have resorted to covering myself with some deet-based bug repellent if I want to leave the house after 4pm in the afternoon, which I am sure will cause cancer in my old age, but I don't care! Okay, I do care, but I really like being outside....

Luna Wins.

This is the item that is less important than my cat.

This is the item that cost as much as a vet visit, but that I love.

But not as much as I love my cat.

So, in round one of Luna v. Over Priced Article of Clothing, Luna is the victor.

But - damn, that is one fine dress.

Tomorrow's post: pictures of my cat being cute - and maybe foamy!

(picture courtesy of Anthropologie.com)

Stupid Cat - Don't Lick the Toad

(photo from my stash - if it is yours, please let me know)


Isn't he cute? I love the toads in our yard, and routinely terrify the little buggers by insisting upon picking them up. The cat, Luna, also likes them, and likes to make them jump around by pouncing right next to them. Little did I know that if a cat LICKS a toad, it will froth at the mouth - kinda' like they've got rabies. That's right - rabies. So this morning, as I am leaving for work, the cat is sitting on the kitchen table, and Chris says

"Does it look like the cat is foaming at the mouth?"

Yup - sure enough - frothy like a mad-kitten. So - off to the vet - in a panic - we go. I was especially panic stricken because (bad cat owner!) her rabies shot was two weeks late. Well, the vets were rather amused. Especially since rabies shots allow for a teeny bit of overlap, to cover idiot pet owners like me. So now she is all shot-up-to-dated, and still a little frothy.




Two morals of this story: always keep your pets meds up to date, so you can just shrug and say "I wonder what amphibian the cat licked this time?" and "Bad kitty! Don't lick the toad!"

(photo courtesy of the Simpsons)

Casulties in Adulthood

I overheard some people talking the other day about how hard it must be to live pay check to pay check, wondering when the next car repair was going to put them in dire straits. These are friends of mine, and I honestly wanted to shake them. Granted, I am not quite in that shape, but close enough that if Chris or I lost our jobs, or we had a major emergency, all would not be well. There are some tense discussions when something monetarily significant comes along, and there are definitely decisions based purely on the financials.


Money is so strangely taboo, even though I think it is something we all worry about, no matter how much or little you have. Managing it is tricky, making decisions about it is tricky. Maybe if we all got together and said how we did it we could learn something... Any way, I often feel I can be blissfully child like until money comes along. I can love my job, like my house, until benefits premiums go up and we need a new toilet. Then - wham - I am an adult. And I have to make decisions.


I think that is the hardest part, the decision making; what goes on the card, what gets parcelled out, what we do with out, what takes priority. I just get so overwhelmed with that process of reordering. Chris is better at it. What for me becomes an emotional reaction, mostly fear and worry, for him is a logical puzzle that must be solved, and if he can just get all the little bits to fit...and he always does. He has fun with it, and comes to me with a "Look what I did!" smile, and everything is okay. I guess that's why we are happily married. Damn, I think that's adult, too.

Have your turned your trashheap?

In our last house, my dear, dear husband turned our compost head into a huge stick pile. Probably for the best, since after we got our mutts, it would have been more of a snack counter. In our new house, out in the country with no trash pick up, we compost almost every bit of compostable scrap. However, I have still had to teach him the finer arts of composting. Like, no, old moldy cheese is probably not a great addition. Or the bits and pieces in the drain catch....
(update: we realized that we have a composting toilet - so the drain catch bits are gettin' flushed - it's a pretty genius system, for those of you who live on 10 or more acres of land....)

(picture courtesy of ApartmentTherapy.com)

To his credit, he is the one that turned the compost pile last year. But - this pic is for you, pookie.
And, although we have quite the hearty stick-free compost pile, it is still the neighborhood doggie snack shack. Benji, a great big red dog with a white tipped tail, likes to make the neighborhood rounds when he goes on walks, gettin' all the good stuff early in the morning. And our dogs have two distinct tactics: Bella lithely wiggles her pointy noose in between the bars, while Sebastian likes to just rip off the bars in his way....I need to put up a pick of our compost box...

Signs a'Springin'

I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of all the work I did in the garden this weekend. The moment I do, I will have pictures. Pretty much, I moved mountains. Or pieces of ones. Boulders. Well, rocks. but enough to constitute a mountain. And it should drain better. Luna (the kitty) likes her little rocky perch - great for teeny tiny game hunting (or so Susan, our landvixen, says).

However - one of my favorite places is open - Walker Farm's stand. I get to drive past it every single day on Route 5 during my commute. It is fabulous. All winter, as I watched it being buried under snow storm after snow storm, until you couldn't even see the sign again, I kept wondering if it would even be there come spring time. But - it is - in all its flowering glory. They sell everything you could possibly ever want to plant. And the whole place is just gorgeous. And last year we got these heirloom tomatoes that were hands down some of the most amazing tomatoes I have eaten. Ever.

Ah, spring. It is very nice to have you back.

Welcome to our Goat-Less Abode

Well, there it is, in all the glory that living in a goat barn can be. This picture is from last May - it isn't nearly that green here yet. I mean, there is still snow in the shady places. And we have a railing now....and the storage bins are...stored. We were still moving in when we took this picture. I love that it looks so very "Hi we are in the middle of the woods and we are still not exactly sure what we were thinking, but isn't the light nice on our new teeny house?"

Living in Vermont is an experience. It has to be one of the most egalitarian states in the union. It is not uncommon to have poverty snuggled right up against ridiculous wealth. And they both have to negotiate crater-sized ruts in the dirt roads and then replace their struts when they hit one too many...in fact we are currently working on establishing the New England area as the strut-replacement capital of the nation, single-handedly padding the pockets of mechanics and strut-makers everywhere. That's one, right there. See that gizmo? They are unbelievably important when driving on washboarded roads. Who knew that I would learn about struts upon moving to here.