Normally, I have my limit when it comes to what I'll bare to go skiing. The base temp at Mad River Glen right now is 7F and it's -6F with the wind chill. But the powder is beyond the beyond. Remember, I'm in the northeast, so this is not the norm and a major gift. Not only was there about two feet of...

Vermont and Alaska are the only two states without AT&T service and therefore, no iPhones. That is about to change. Read more here A New DevLife post...

Last night Rich and I watched Sherlock Holmes, The Red Headed League on Vermont Public Television. It was heavenly. Why is this significant? Since we moved to Huntington over five years ago, we haven't been able to get Public Television on our rabbit ears. Cable is not an option and I neither of us wanted...

We had some visitors today ... a few ladies who had wandered off from the farm about a 3/4 a mile away. Apparently they had been separated from their calves and went out looking for them. My office door was closed but the louder than normal mooing finally registered so I looked out my door and what did...

Only about 2 inches so far but it's heavy wet snow. The wind blew heavily last night blowing that heavy wet snow off of the trees so they didn't bend over and break as the birches tend to do. Still, a little weird for October. This was the scene out there just a few days ago when our neighbor came on...

Tonight: Snow. Low around 28. West wind between 11 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. Wednesday: Occasional snow showers. High near 36. Breezy, with a west wind between 16 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph...

I just took these pictures outside of my office door! I thought Bill would appreciate them since I tortured him with summer garden pictures during Australia's winter. Winter is not here yet in Vermont. This is just a reminder to us that it's coming. The snow will go away and we'll have fall for a while...

I haven't been able to go out hiking to see the really phenomenal view but thankfully the view from my house isn't so bad either. I leave for Amsterdam this evening, so I'm putting these photos here to look at while I'm gone and make myself homesick. They are mostly the same picture over and over but...

The sun just came out so even though I'm trapped working, I ran out the door to snap some pictures. It's been warm so the leaves are turning a little early. It's going to cool down so that will slow down the process a little. These are all right from my front yard. That's our neighbor's cat, Jorgina...

Well, I never moved that sunflower that probably came from a seed in the nearby bird feeder and it actually turned into the real thing! When it was really rainy there were actually sunflowers sprouting in one of the bird feeder that you can see through as it has plexiglass sides. It was pretty funny...

I'm safely tucked away in Vermont where we'll probably just get some good rainstorms as Gustav breaks up. But a lot of people who are at a very safe distance are still watching and worrying for everyone who is in its potential path. I cannot even imagine how terrifying it must be to be to anticipate...

This weekend is the third DragonHeart Dragon Boat race on Lake Champlain in Burlington. This will be my second year paddling in the event on a team called the Dragonflies, made up of 20+ friends - all women. There are 80 teams in the event. Most of them are community teams that have no more practice...

Bill McCarthy's latest garden post made me realize I hadn't taken any pics in a while so here's what's going on in mid July. The hostas are blooming.   The clematis are lush. There's a lot going on in the front garden - rubekia, foxglove, daisies, mallow, astilbe, roses, russian sage and so much...

But it didn't make Money's top 100 list because they only looked at cities with population of 50,000 - 300,000. Here's their criteria. Burlington is a little under 40,000. Kathleen Dollard's home town of Ft. Collins CO was #2 on the list. But I still think Burlington is one of the best small cities in...

With the exception of this past Saturday (which I took advantage of by riding my bike 50 miles to our friends' house on the lake), this has been what the forecast has looked like for the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately, this particular view is for the upcoming week. I tried to sneak in a little ride this...

The Rhodenendrons will be in full bloom this week and on their way out when I return. If we get a heavy rain, they'll probably be gone. The lupine are starting to bloom. This is just a tiny corner of the field (I think about 2 acres) in front of our house where there are literally hundreds. The veggie...

Well, not snakeS (pl.), just snake. I'm convinced that every time I see a snake around here, it's just the same one. So THE snake reappeared a few days ago in an interesting place. We have something called a Doggie Dooley buried in our yard. I went to make a "deposit" in it a few days ago, opened the...

I took a much needed break (mental and physical) from sitting in front of my computer fighting with a chapter that has been a bit of a challenge for me, and cajoled my husband into taking me for a walk. It's finally a beautiful day, about 70 degrees (F), sunny, light breeze. We have trails quite nearby...

Today: Sunny, with a high near 56 . West wind between 7 and 10 mph. Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 66 . South wind between 5 and 15 mph. Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 72 . South wind between 5 and 13 mph. Friday: Sunny, with a high near 70 . Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 69 ....

Here's the story of where the new movie The Forbidden Kingdom comes from - bedtime stories told by a man who lives nearby in Morrisville, VT to his son. I just watched the trailer online and it looks awesome. I love the fanastical Jet Li kung fu style movies including of course, the Kill Bill series...

A great video of a local fundrasier - over a thousand people jumping into the very icy Lake Champlain on a cold day...

From Mad River's website this morning: POWDER CENTRAL at Mad River Glen today as we picked up a solid 12" overnight. This on top of the 8-10" yesterday, on top of the 4-6" from the day before that so we will be approaching EPIC skiing conditions today on Gen. Stark Mountain. I was no math major but I...

Well, that would be -0.3 degrees. Good day to stay inside and work even thought it's beautiful and sunny out with still llots of fabulous powder over at Mad River. To some it just means a better day to skin up the mountain than to sit in the chair lift up high in the air with the bitter cold wind blowing...

I have been a fan of this show for a loooong time. It comes to Vermont occasionally, but I seem to miss it. I just learned it will be here August 23, 2008 and already bought a pair of tickets! So now, I have no excuses. The tickets officially go on sale on Monday and you can get them through the Flynn...

I'm not a big baseball fan, so I didn't even realize that the world series was already in play. This morning, I learned that the Red Sox had won yet another series (many Vermonters are big SOX fans) but the really big news this morning was that Lucy, a Holstein from Derby, Vermont, was crowned the "top...

Many of us in Northern Vermont have been living the fantasy of a never ending summer. I was still picking beans and tomatoes from my garden earlier this week. This morning when I woke up the thermomter registered 32.9 and said it had been down to 32.7 overnight. There was frost on the ground. I haven...

And I missed it! I was at a board meeting for www.vtsda.org , when Rich came home on Wednesday evening and saw a big male moose with BIG antlers sauntering up our road. When Rich got to our driveway he saw another moose... a girl. The stage was set and luckily nobody got in the male's way. It is pretty...

Mom and the kids ( who I first saw in July ) have been hanging around the neighborhood most of the summer. They didn't do too much damage to my flowers or veggie garden. Today I saw them all under the apple trees. There are about 10 old trees by our driveway and this year all of the apple trees around...

It has been an amazing summer for growing. there are still lots and lots of tomatoes in my garden. I've been picking the tomatoes before they are ripe and letting them finish in the sun. I decided that this will help the rest of the tomatoes that are still growing on the vines. I have a whole bunch in...

On Saturday, Rich and I hiked up the Jersusalem trail which is only a short drive from our house. It is one of the many trails that take you up to the Long Trail. This one lands about half way between the App Gap and Mt. Abe. Alongo the way there were lots of berries growing, none which looked the least...

When John Canning showed us his iPhone a few weeks ago and explained that he bought it in Boston after walking by the AT&T store too many times, we were all surprised at his risk-taking. AT&T doesn't provide service in Vermont and therefore we can't get iPhones here and certainly can't get an...

Rich and I work way too much and sometimes forget why we moved to Vermont. But we had a perfect Vermont summer weekend this weekend. On Saturday, the lake was calm and we kayaked a 4 mile stretch from a put-in near Button Bay State Park across to Westport NY where they were having a heritage day festival...

This is a big source of pride for many Vermonters. It's amazing what goes into the process. The trees are selected many years in advance by local foresters and nurtured. But there's more: fundraising, promotion, etc. THere is a whole website devoted to this cause: http://www.capitolchristmastree2007...

While today was a perfect summer day and I not only got to go for a great bike ride, but I was introduced to a fantastic swimming hole, tomorrow is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time. I am on a team of 20 women who are paddling a Dragonboat , along with 75 other teams, in the DragonFest...

In my peripheral vision yesterday, I noticed something trotting by my office window. Looking up I discovered that those long legs belonged to a deer. Then along came her babies. I was able to click this through the screen before they ran off. I immediately went out to my veggie garden (the direction...

USA Today held a contest between towns named Springfield all over the country to host the premiere of the Simpsons movie. Springfield, Vermont had not been included and brought it to the attention of the organizers so they got on the list. Springfield, VT, like the state, is a small town with a population...

The town of Springfield Vermont participated in a competition with 13 other Springfields around the country to host the premier of the Simpsons movie and won! Each town submitted a video to prove why they were the real Springfield for the Simpsons. The Springfield VT video was pretty professional and...

It rained for over 24 hours. Now things are clearing out. I looked out the window of my office to see this thick fog cloud that had settled in the valley that is the road between the hill I live on and the next hill over. Since the sun had already set, even though it looked amazing in real life, it was...

We've had weird weather all week. Constant forecasts of thunderstorms that never come and the air and sky is filled and ready to go for it constantly.It has made for some great sunsets. We saw an amazing one while at the Bob Dylan concert on July 1st thanks to a big cloud that was stuck on Mt. Mansfield...

It was cool on Saturday so Rich & I decided to go for a hike on the Long Trail. We drove to the top of the App Gap (which is near our home) and hiked south on the LT. This crosses over the top of the Mad River Glen trails, so we had lunch at the top of the double chair, looking out over the White...

I think eating lettuce that came from my garden last night really drove it home. Summer is really truly here. More evidence is that the lupine in field in front of my house is about at it's peak. It's pretty hard to share the real view but here is a composite picture and a few others... click on the...

Yet another beatiful vermont photo for my desktop. This is Mt. Mansfield. The profile of Mt. Mansfield is a person's face. You can get the properly sized desktop here at Green Mountain Club . The photos are from local professional photographer, Paul Hansen, of Ecopixel . He prepares them each month with...

While there are still a few patches of snow on the ground, we have had a spate of warm summer like weather for the past few days. Last time I looked this morning the thermometer said it was 77 degrees! Where I live we aren't supposed to do our planting before Memorial Day (sees and hardy plants are okay...

Mad River Glen (which is open today since we had a big dump of snow and it's beautiful out and I'm tortured because I need to work... uggh) is going to begin a major restoration of it's historic and world famous Single Chair lift next week. To raise funds, they have been auctioning off the old chairs...

I used to hate flying. It still terrifies me to tempt gravity and nature so. But I have to fly a lot since I go to conferences and user groups all over the place. One of my tricks is that I love to get a window seat and look out at the amazing view. Today I flew back from Orlando where I had just been...

Rich and i have weekday passes to Mad River so when I work all weekend long and work at night, I won't feel too guilty cutting out for a few hours and today is the day! Even if you don't have a pass, you might want to consider it. Here's from MRG's website this morning: Starting today we will be switching...

Perfect snow. We got about 18" of dense snow between Friday and Saturday. (I know, bad for drivers, bad for travellers, bad for a lot of people, but suh-wheeeeeet for skiers!) Then overnight last night we got another 8+ inches of the lightest fluffiest snow in the world. Yesterday Rich and I went out...

I remember trudging through piles of snow when I was little, knocking on my neighbor's doors taking (and then delivering) cookie orders. Now if I want cookies, I have to go track them down. I just discovered that there's a list of where I can buy them all over vermont this week . (I just happened to...

This month's desktop calendar is really nice. They are done by photographer Paul Hansen of ecopixel for the Green Mountain Club ....

In December, Deer Leap Books in Bristol VT , a wonderful local independent bookstore, closed it's doors . It wasn't for lack of local support, but it still wasn't enough to compete with Amazon, etc. Today, I saw in the local paper that another fabulous indy bookstore, The Book Rack & Children's Pages...

As the snow was piling up and the wind was creating drifts, the pile of snow building up by our front door at one point literally looked like the shape of a car! Here it was the day after. Rich has been out snowblowing and shoveling on and off for three days now (in between skiing on the new snow at...

The Champlain Valley Agency on Aging along with Burlington's Operation Snow Shovel have been getting calls from seniors who need their paths and steps shoveled. Right now, they have about 10 in Burlington, 1 in Winooski, 1 in Colchester and 1 in Milton. If anyone is willing to shovel snow for a senior...

From MRG's site this morning: While it is difficult to give an exact measurement we reckon we have received between 40" and 48" (thats 3 1/2 and 4 feet folks) from this historic storm. Needless to say the skiing conditions have improved to well beyond epic and are nearing mythic proportions. It is a...

We have gotten at least 18" of snow since going to sleep last night and it is still snowing hard at 5:30 pm. Rich and I went to Mad River in the late morning. They say that by 4pm today they had 2 feet of new snow and are looking at 3-4 feet total when the storm is over! We were both exhausted after...

I discovered the GMC desktop calendar earlier this month. This was January's. It's a photo of Vermont's Mt. Mansfield and beyond with lots of snow! It was great to look at when we didn' t have any snow and I really loved having it on my desktop this past month. The image with the month calendar and GMC...

Rich and I had a great ski today. There were about 3 inches of fresh snow this morning and it was about 15 degrees, so when we went out after lunch, the snow was dry and fluffy. The kind of snow where you can actually see the crystal shapes. On top of the base that we have been working on in trails in...

Are these really pictures of Vermont in January? Yes. I just took them in my front yard. Bah. I think ALL of the snow for planet earth is in Colorado right now....

While Jay Peak , in it's very own weather zone, is boasting snow (only 60 miles north of us) and Denver is getting another 30 inches on top of the coupla feet they got last week, poor little Mad River Glen (the reason we live in Vermont) is finally going to open this weekend with a minimal base and minimal...

There are some beautiful falls that I can get to from my backyard, though they are a little off the beaten path. I finally brought my camera back there yesterday. It's really hard to capture the full impact of the falls which are about 20 or 25 feet high, fall into a beautiful small pool of water and...

There's some unusual white stuff falling out of the sky this morning. The air is thick with it. White fluffy little flakes like someone's shaking a huge box of those old fashioned laundry flakes. The wierdest thing is that it is sticking to the ground which is now mostly white with little bldes of grass...

I was supposed to fly to Seattle today (that's a cross country trip for me) by way of Chicago O'Hare. O'Hare was closed yesterday with something like 400 flights cancelled because of the weather, so I was a little nervous about what might happen with a 7:30am flight out of Burlington, where we were also...

I LOVED this book. It is one of those that I found myself reading until 2 or 3am in the morning (and then sleeping late because of it). I won't be going, but just thought I would share in case other locals read my blog but not the Free Press where I learned about this....

From a short walk today Maples by our mailbox. Looking down the road towards the valley. Daisy (left) and Tasha (right). A surprising discovery. This is a wasp hive that is about 1 1/2 feet tall. Luckily, nothing was buzzing around it so I could go up and take a picture!...

The leaves are wierd this year, so if you plan to come to Vermont to see them, definitely check out the official website to get you in the right place at the right time. http://www.vermontvacation.com/seasons/fall.asp?bfp090601...

When I first moved to Vermont in Sept 1999, there were 3 or 4 highway moose accidents reported within a few weeks. I have fretted about them ever since when I am driving at night. I don't recall any bad accidents locally until seeing a news report today in the local paper. Some poor man was killed in...

I was driving home earlier this week on Route 17, facing the green mountains in the late afternoon. There is a section of the road where you see a sweeping view of the mountains that is like a big bowl. In the afternoon, the sun is hitting this wall of mountains. The afternoon glow combined with the...

We don't have to worry about stuff like that around here because we shop at our nearby farmstands. Many benefits of course, but the one that is highlighted this week is knowing where your food comes from. Though we did not do the localvore challenge ( here's an example of one ), I know it was inspiration...

Some teens in Brattleboro (southern part of the state) have decided that 1970's style flashing wasn't quite rebellious enough. So they are just hanging around in the middle of town buck naked. Egad. It's a little ridiculous (easy to say now that I'm so far past those rebellious years) and to make it...

This little guy was curled up in a bed of ferns about 3.5 ft off the ground. I saw him while I was picking berries and no girly shrieks this time. He was sitting quite still and didn't surprise me at all. It was just funny that I noticed a shape that didn't fit in and took me a moment to realize what...

Interesting that CNN's headline refers to Essex as a "rural" Vermont town. It's actually very suburban and one of the most densely populated communities in Vermont -just outside of Burlington. This is where IBM's Vermont chip mfg plat is. Rich was at our dentist in Essex Jct when this was beginning to...

Rich and I went to this classic Vermont country summer fair last week. Below is a photo of the tractor pull. There were so many garden tractors lined up, this event went on for hours and hours and hours. One event that I wish I had known about (before it happened, rather than hearing about it after the...

I grew up under the influence of a local weekly alternative newspaper, The Syracuse New Times. When I lived in New York City it was, of course, The Village Voice. In Vermont, it's Seven Days. I always look for these papers when I travel as it gives me a good perspective of the city I'm visiting. In St...

This is for fellow vermont bloggers. Seven Day's is once again adding Vermont blogs to it's survey this year. For a thorough list, check Cathy Resmer's blogroll. Frankly, Cathy's blog will probably get my vote! I'm quite sure that technical blogs have a very narrow audience in Vermont....

It rained all of May and most of June in Vermont. It has been raining and raining while we have been gone. I just saw an article in the Burlington Free Press that the USDA has declared the natural distasters in every county of Vermont. It has created a nightmare for the farmers who lost most of their...

One of the best comic strip artists in the country lives in Vermont, just a few towns north from where I live, in fact. I have been a big fan of her strip "Dykes to Watch Out For" (which obviously has a broader appeal than what the title indicates) for years, not even realizing the author, Alison Bechdel...

Rich and I actually went out for a short hike yesterday. We can just go out the back door and through the woods to get to a trail called the Beane Trail that is an access trail to the Long Trail. Our plan was just to take a walk up to the shelter at the end of the Beane trail which is just a few hundred...

A beautiful summer-like afternoon. As I took a few minutes to laze in the hammock, I thought of all my poor city dwelling friends around the world and ran indoors to get my digital camera. For the very short (but 22MB video) click here . Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org...

I just thought to check again to see if there was a chance the "Elite DSL" 4mbps (vs. 1.2mbps or so that I'm currently getting) was actually available to my remote location. Downloading things like 3GB vista builds takes about 20 hours right now. So this will make a big difference to me. Congratulations...

This little guy was wobbling through my front yard a short while ago. (Here's a short video I also took with my camera in case you've never seen one before - 25 seconds about 1MB.) There's a part of me (and most people who live around here) that has very evil thoughts when we see these little buggers...

We got a call from our neighbor telling us there was a moose heading up the road. So we ran out and there it was just at the corner of our property. I ran back to get my camera while Rich and our neighbor Tom watched him (I think it was a male). It was bent down on it's front knees eating grass. Though...

Last week I had to send in all of my paperwork for my business quarterly taxes. There's the 941 to the Feds, a tax & withholding to the State of Vermont Dept ofo Taxes and one other to the Vermont Dept of Employment and Training. I inadvertantently switched the checks for the two Vermont agencies...

It's too pretty out so I had to run outside and take these:...

As I get ready to head to Wisconsin for Deeper in .NET , I see that Vermont's Cabot Cheese has once again won a bunch of gold medals at the "olympics of the cheesemaking industry", the 2006 World Championship Cheese contest. And just to be clear, it was the Wisonsinites who run this contest so thanks...

I took this pic of one of the red maples on our property yesterday morning. Kinda gray but the buds are pretty. the picture wasn't impressive in a small format, but it looks so nice big that I have it for my screen background now. Spring is coming. Yay! Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org...

Last week our neighbor's house was robbed in the middle of the day. I sent an email out to a list of about 30 local people to let them know and suddenly many of those people were reporting back about a number of other recent local robberies. Many of these had the same signature which was the door being...

I almost missed a great sight the other night as I had my nose glued to the computer! But Rich mentioned it and I turned my head to the left to see Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org...

Vermont is in the midst of "sugarin'" season when the sap is flowing and sugarmakers everywhere are boiling one of Vermont's trademark products. The local paper, Burlington Free Press has some stories, a video and a slide show of sugarin' and boilin' on their site today. Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org...

Is winter back? Well, it's pretty but I can't go out and ski in the woods even though we got lots of fluffy snow overnight and this morning. My skis would just go right down to the rocks and grass. Oh well. Bad for the maple syrup makers right now but its still early. They require cold nights and warm...

After the long awaited beauiful dump of snow this weekend and then enjoying the great skiing in the woods , it was time to get some use from our weekday season pass at Mad River Glen yesterday. Another glorious blue sky day. Most of these are from the chair lift as I was too busy skiing to take pictures...

After an incredibly disappointing (relatively snowless) winter, we got a nice little 1 1/2 foot dump yesterday and to add to this grand event, today was a beautiful sunny day. Don Kiely asked for pictures, so I took my camera with me when Rich and I went out on a 3 hour back country ski. We ski right...

We woke up this morning to the sound of the snow plow going up our road. There was about a foot of new snow - big fluffy powder snow - that had fallen overnight and it was still snowing!! It is now 9:30 and it is STILL snowing heavily. We have been waiting for this for 3 months! It is so beautiful out...

How cool is this? Here is a college kid at Champlain College in Burlington who started an Ipod accessory company and is making it big ! (And he's probably all of 19 years old, now.) Mophie is a developer of innovative, value-added solutions for the digital lifestyle accessory market The Company was founded...

I'm sure all of the big cities in the Northeast that are getting seriously dumped on today would gladly send their snow here if they could. And we would be happy to have it. Once again, the big dump has missed us completely. Countless ski resorts will suffer greatly this season which will also have a...

One of the big factors that drew us to move to Vermont in 1999 was the skiing. We can ski out our back door to the back country or drive 7 miles to our favorite lift-serve ski area: Mad River Glen . But what is this? I took this on Jan 21 out my front window and this one I took 5 minutes ago...

i got this message from a friend at CEDO and thought I would share: There is an addtional 1,200 parking spots downtown for the holidays during nights and weekends. If you want a map of the other 14 parking lots and garages and a list of the 300+ retailers downtown go to our web site www.cedoburlington...

G.B. is our cat. He snuck out the door last night at about 11pm as I was letting the dogs back in from their pre-bed pee. And he bolted. I knew he would not come back for hours and hours and I after making a few attempts to lure him back to the house with the sound of tapping a spoon on his beloved cat...

Bah humbug. I'm sure it will be packed though and there's lots of nice college students who will be happy for the waitressing jobs I'm sure. Don't expect any Vermont.NET user group meetings there anytime soon. Though I suppose if I could get casey to come to Vermont, we could go for burgers there. Don...

I found this article by way of VT blogger, Mark Chadwick . Vermont ranked as smartest state in the country October 27, 2005 BARRE, Vt. -- Vermont is the brightest state in the country, according to a Kansas publisher. Morgan Quitno Press ranked Vermont at the top of the list, ahead of Connecticut, which...

There was a big messy wet snow storm earlier this week in Vermont while I was in hot sunny South Africa. The power went out all over the place and was slowly restored over the next day or so. However the northeastern part of Vermont was slammed really hard. The electric company that provides power there...

It has been raining for about a week with intermittent major downpours (like right now). We are in northwestern Vermont and not experiencing the dreadful flooding that surrounds us in New Hampshire, Southern Vermont and other parts of the NorthEast. Rich and I have discussed what would happen if there...

I bet you didn't know that the Emily Post Institute was based in right here in Burlington Vermont! They are now reporting that good manners are on the decline in the U.S. Dear oh dear! :-) Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org...

Our neighbors are selling their house. They are just up the road from us. I would add to their description below that there are over a hundred acres of woods behind the house (each of us on the road own a chunk of those woods) with trails for hiking, dog walking and cross-country skiing. (But not for...

I shared this list of personal favorite things to do in Vermont for someone who is coming here next weekend and thought I would share. This is all focused mostly in Northern Vermont. Some super special things I would recommend are www.shelburnemuseum.org www.shelburnefarms.org For a GREAT drive: From...

update: In total, Vermonters filled up 34 tractor trailers, which arrived in Gulfport Mississippi over Labor Day weekend. I witnessed the most amazing thing yesterday. In one day, thousands upon thousands of Vermonters donated amazing amounts of needed supplies for victims of Katrina. Here are two stories...

I don't have a Costco membership, but I just called and got permission to come shopping there for the Vermont National Guard trucks going down to the Gulf Coast that are collecting today and today only. ( More info on that here if you are from Vermont .) If you are someone that I know and you would like...

A few days ago, I blogged that the local chapter of the American Red Cross was headed south. I had seen it on the television news. Those volunteers are blogging their experience here http://nvtredcross.blogspot.com/ www.acehaid.org...

A message from the Northern Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross "A hurricane of this magnitude is a true act of nature, something totally beyond our control. We can make a difference, though, by responding to those who so desperately need our help now," said Rob Levine, Executive Director of the...

Hooray, I have been looking for this all day. I was even starting to fantasize about hiring a trucker and making this happen, but I'm thrilled that the state of Vermont is doing this. I have lots of clothes already piled up and am going on a shopping spree tomorrow. From the VPR.NET website Vermont offers...

Last week, Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Allen Benson of St. Albans, a 40 year old who spent half of his life in the army, died as a result of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad. Benson is the 18th Vermonter to die in Iraq since the war began. more www.acehaid.org...

Yep - about 10 miles from our house, but 3 miles from where we were having dinner since our power was out. Apparently it didn't touch down. Helluva storm last night. 1" hail reported in Bristol (where we had dinner). Creeks were RAGING. Hurricane force winds (not at our house - but we are used to 60...

One of my favorite local arists in Vermont is dug nap . Dug is very clever, very witty, very talented and sometimes very naughty. Luckily for me, he makes greeting cards of lots of his artwork so I can buy and share his art very easily. The best I can do for the rest of you is at least to point you to...

oy vey - here comes another good storm and lighting. To me that means shutting down ALL of my computers and unplugging everything - computers, phone lines etc. I learned the hardway about 8 years ago when I lost $7,000 worth of equipment in a lightning storm. Everyitn was powered down and plugged in...

Dead Creek is a very special place in Vermont and not far from where I live. It's hardly dead! It is a wildlife refuge and one of the locations of the Bald Eagle restoration project . Rich and I took the canoe there yesterday and had a lazy beautiful paddle up the creek. It is wide open, with views of...

Flying home from D.C. to Burlington late last night, on a small plane, I sat in an aisle seat with Judy Dean on my right and Howard Dean on my left, on the other side of the aisle. I didn't realize that it was Judy until we were departing the plane in Burlington. She is a lot more like me than any kind...

Vermont-based NRG Systems , which is a big player in the windmill industry, was growing rapidly and needed a new building. They decided to 'walk the walk' and ended up creating an unbelievably environmentally friendly commercial building. They are in Hinesburg, VT, near where I live. They have a whole...

tons of snow melted in the last day. My whole front garden is uncovered as well as a bit of dog poop that has ummm, "landed", over the winter (and then got covered over with snow) thanks to our two newfoundland doggies. There were so many robins and finches bouncing about today, too! http://www.AcehAid...

hmmm - about a foot of brand new snow, blue sky, beautiful sunny morning but it is only FOUR degrees out! Aaargh. I am just finally getting over 3 weeks of cold/flu/bug thing and can't afford to get sick again with upcoming travel.... Maybe it will warm up later. I don't need to get the virgin pow that...

Today is the day where residents of all of the towns throughout vermont get together to discuss all of the proposed budget and other changes for the town. They spend the morning hashing it out, asking quesitons, etc. In our town there is also a big pot luck hot lunch at the end. Then voting is from 7am...

Turned on the tube this a.m. to see what news from Indonesia (we don't get much reception here) I happened upon live covereage of the deployment of yet 45 MORE Vermont National Guardsmen (and women). There have been so many vermonters sent to Iraq. And there will be more. http://www.AcehAid.org...

50-60 mph winds all night and 20-40 all morning. The poor power guys are still driving around trying to figure out why the power went out in the middle of the night. Probably some stupid poplar tree somewhere in the woods. They snap like match sticks around here. We have a huge one down in our yard today...

Halley Suitt is posting pictures that look like she has gotten at least 4" of snow ther ein Boston. Here in Vermont it is COOOOOOL, but now snow! Apparently it snowed a bit on Thrusday but it was sunny so there was nothing left to show for it by the time I got home from Las Vegas. Posted from BLInk!...

I just discovered a great local treat and am going to help my new pal (and proprietress) Ann Zuccardy by blogging about it (since it can be ordered for holiday gifts!) It's the Vermont Shortbread Company . Their site is getting updated, but you can email Ann directly for pricing and shipping info! Ann...

I've been looking for news on this all morning and the Burlington Free Press finally has this on their website. Preliminary results: Voters reject technical academy Updated 11:14 a.m. FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT Preliminary results show a ballot proposal to build a new Regional Technical Academy was defeated...

One of the local votes on Tuesday is to go ahead with the plans for the Regional Technical Center here in Vermont, bringing together and expanding upon the success of the exsiting Tech Centers in Burlington and Essex Junction. This has been a big controversy in Vermont and one that seems to be fueled...

From today's Burlington Free Press About 600 Vermont Army National Guard soldiers were mobilized Friday morning to provide security in support of the U.S. war in Iraq, but Vermont's soldiers are not scheduled to go into the turbulent country. They report for training Nov. 15. Also two soldiers with Vermont...

I see this tree all day long while I'm working. This tree is like the ocean. In the summer when it is full green and the wind is blowing, it is absolutely mesmerizing to watch it. I have never loved a tree before, but I love this tree....

it's FROST not SNOW! But this is what we awoke to this morning. I think I'm finally capturing that color! It's impossible to miss even with my little camera. (click on the one below for a larger view)...

Someone emailed me to ask where they will find the best leaves driving from Boston to Vermont next week. LOL. I guess my nice photos of the leaves in front of my house are seen by more than just you geeks! Anyway here is a link to a page from the local daily paper (Burlington Free Press) that tries to...

Yesterday Rich and I hiked south on the Long Trail from the Appalachian Gap. From near the Theron Shelter there is a great ledge where we ate lunch looking east at the Green Mountains and beyond to the White Mountains. Here is a photo (well, 3). Click on it for an larger wide view. My camera does not...

My friend and neighbor, Sarah Jane Williamson, is going to rent her fabulous property out for the year 2005. The house is furnished and it is one groovy place. Sarah Jane has a very unique style. The house was completely renovated in 1986 and the barn from 1995-1997 . Sarah Jane is an organic farmer...

Here are pictures from Sept 23rd I took these just now 10am Sept 26th as the clouds were on their way out....

well, it started a little early! If you check my last year's pics , we are now about 10 days earlier with the amount of color than last year. Here are some pics I just took standing in front of my house. As I sit here, I can see the same stuff out of my glass doors in my office. These photos do not capture...

There are a lot of wonderful swimming holes in Vermont thanks to the Green Mountain range and lots of creeks and streams running down from them. Some of these swimming holes, are just gentle tubs along a stream. Others are in gorges. There is a popular spot called Huntington Gorge where many people have...

We lucked out this weekend with no rain until Sunday night. Good thing for the 65,000 people who showed up for the final Phish concert . (That's more than 10% of the state's entire population!) It was held in the region of Vermont called “the Northeast Kingdom”. Here's a story from the local...

When I was in Redmond last month, we were taken on a beautiful Lake Washington dinner cruise. Tonight, I am going on a Lake Champlain dinner cruise . It has been raining all summer but today just happens to be sunny beautiful and 80 (well that's what it looks like from in here). Lake Champlain is the...

Yes you read that right. A 4th of July tradition in Bristol VT (which is the closest “real town” to where I live being 12 miles away) are the pre-parade Outhouse Races . SInce we used to live much further away, this will be the first time we have watched them. Apparently the rules are they...

This is very typical for Vermont. Rich and I had planned to NOT WORK today and go play outdoors : hike, bike, or even paddle. However the forecast this morning said rain throughout the day. It is now 3:30, 60 degrees (brrr) and overcast so that would have been okay for a hike or a bike ride, though with...

All of my neighbors saw the bear wandering around here yesterday but I missed it. And I'm the one who works at home in front of a hug set of windows. We don't have garbage pickup so maybe that's why he was at my next door neighbors and across the street but never here. It's just a yearling - probably...

Having moved to this house in August of last year, spring is now a time for discovering what types of plants and flowers are around (planted or wild) and birds as well. In the past week I have found a few varieties of trillium on the Beane Trail behind our house, rhubarb in the old veggie patch (which...

June 8th, Capitol Plaza Montpelier, VT This event is hosted by the Vermont Information Technology Center and the Vermont Commission on Women. More info here I have been trying to get in touch with ANYONE from this conference about possibly participating as a panel speaker or something. If anyone has...

Just a reminder that, thanks to INETA, Tim Huckaby speaks at Vermont.NET tonight. We are gettingn a preview of his TechEd 2004 talk on Architecting and Building Smart Client Apps with .NET. Here are all of the details! www.vtdotnet.org Tim took great advantage of the trip east. He and his wife spent...

Deer scat looks like a pile of raisinettes. Moose poop looks like a pile of Milk Duds (well more the elongated, like Peanut M&M's). I have been seeing a lot of Milk DUds in the past week. In our front yard and in the woods behind our house. It was funny to see Dave Burke's post this morning about...

Burton Snowboards is looking for a new Internet Director and an Internet Project Manager . I think all Burton jobs come with a free pass to Stowe or something like that. here: http://www.burton.com/Company/jobs.asp There is a bank in Stowe that has been adverstising for a while for Web Developer (VB...

thanks to Korby Parnell , I am close to making my dream of marking the Microsoft campus with my presence come true... It's a Mad River Glen tradition. They have a wall filled with photos of MRG stickers stuck in places all over the world....

I went today to Mad River for the last hurrah . It was just like one of those great spring days in college where you just have to cut class and go play frisbee and drink beer (back in the old days when the drinking age was 18) on the college green. A day of sheer sun, joy and new found freedom after...

I've been sitting here in my office all morning in my flannel lined jeans and fleece - as I have all winter long! Who knew it was almost 65 degrees outside?! Throw open those windows! Where's my bike? (oh god - do I have to wear my bike pants in public after this looooong winter?) I want to garden. COME...

from www.madriverglen.com Conditions have been some of the best of the season this week, and today looks like another incredible day on the mountain. We received another 2-4 inches of new snow last night, giving us a total of 8-14 inches of powder since Sunday and over 2 feet of snow in the past week...

First it was Urban Outfitter's “voting is for old people” t-shirt , now it's K-2 snowboard division, Ride Snowboard's, attempt at a dig on Burton (trade show banners which said “The worst thing about riding a Burton is telling your friend you're gay.” ) which is not only stupid...

Infragistics recently scooped up Jason Beres (lucky them) and he moved from Florida to New Jersey. Tomorrow they are sending Jason, who is also an INETA speaker, to speak at Vermont.NET. Jason will fly in in the early afternoon, get a quick tour of Burlington, do the meeting then we'll head back downtown...

There was something in the local news the other day that IBM was doing a small amount of hiring (small in comparison to the thousands that have been laid off in the last few years). The newscast showed people in full lab gear, so I assumed it was jobs right in the manufacturing area. However, I just...

Ahhh peace and quiet, now I have some time to write another overdue post. I was able to lure Steve Smith to speak to Vermont .NET with the invitation of a free weekend getaway in Vermont which was extended to his wife Michelle and daughter Ilyana. Unfortunately, Michelle and Ilyana weren't able to come...

Avonelle points out this t.v. ad for Vermont Teddy Bears which is one of Vermont's most well known businesses and #2 tourist attraction after Ben & Jerry's (though I can't figure out why...with so many other treasures). Anyway, I was amazed by the ad - it's kind of sleazy and low class - opposite...

No surprise here . Kathy was a goddess in every way on Survivor Marquesas . I only watched that season as interest in Kathy as a local hero heated up. Ken Jaffe , the guy who designed (and donated) our Vermont .NET logo did her really cool website . Ken's wife , another Kathy, gave us weekly reports...

Check out Halley's Dean House Party ... me - I spent 2+ hours dealing with snow this morning so I'm gonna try to get a couple of hours in here now... and the single is fixed - hoorah!! We got over a foot at my house overnight --again. It was mostly GONE from all the rain. Phew!...

I am not going to make excuses for playing hookey today after working day and night, seven days a week for few years trying to learn .NET. So I played hookey today. Yesterday was notably one of the best ski days ever at Mad River Glen as reported by many many locals who have skiid there for years. So...

Another generator day . We had about 1.5 more feet of snow last night. I had a client call me and say “why aren't you skiing? GO SKIING!”. But unfortunately, I have to figure out how to print out a 300 page report for another client even though my printer doesn't work to well on the generator...

This article was featured in our local groovy weekly Seven Days this past week. It's not about the whole blog phenom around the DeanforAmerica campaign, but another aspect - the use of the meetups.com site to create Dean related gathering. It is as much a social computing phenomenon as what Dean has...

Halley was here ...and I missed her. Damn! Well getting into Burlington wasn't really an option over the weekend anyway with 2 1/2 feet of snow falling here. We did manage to drive 7 miles over the App Gap to get to Mad River Glen yesterday though of course. The parking lot was jam-packed so I'm sure...

Hey! We moved to Vermont for a reason . We've got 4 lousy inches of snow right now. Already we are getting the same insult as last year. We moved here from the Hudson Valley where they are expecting 12-18 inches of snow (okay so it's a blizzard) in the next few days. According to Sam Gentile, Boston...