Shelburne Museum members get an “exclusive” yet limited opportunity to visit the “Brick House”, located on the vast Shelburne Farms estate. So what are all you other, under privileged folks missing out on? Well, it’s an interesting place to be sure but don’t lose any sleep over not being able to see it. I took some video awhile back even though one of the tour guides didn’t like it much.
Sometimes I wonder if the many hours invested in Vermonter.com are worth the effort. As a writer, I always worry that maybe my topics are no longer as relevant as they used to be. Vermont is rapidly changing into a whole different place than the state I was born in. I often wonder what people want, what keeps the boredom factor at bay and what I can do to make Vermonter.com better. It’s e-mails like this that keep me going:
Hi Vermonter,
What a great blog! As an avid traveler, I am always looking for unique activities when I am on the road. From great local restaurants and Vermont historical sites, your site gave me such a diverse range of options to make the most of my trip!John Durfee
Airsplat.com
11688 Clark St.
Arcadia, CA 91006
If you love Vermont and want to see some nice photos, check out our Flickr page.
As I write this, it is late-May in Vermont and the temperatures today are pushing into the 90′s. Lilacs are still in bloom but won’t be around much longer in this hot weather. Despite the hot weather, there really is no place like home in Vermont.
I have been spending a lot of time in Bangkok recently where it is always brutally hot, noisy and hectic. Being cooped up in an air conditioned condo cannot hold a candle to the summer breezes on a hot day in Vermont. When you are born and live in Vermont, it’s sometimes easy to take it for granted. Although most natives will agree that Vermont “isn’t what it used to be”, it’s still a beautiful place and there are plenty of places to visit where you can enjoy a bit of peace and solitude.
I will be returning to Bangkok in less than a couple weeks and I might be there for a few months. I’m taking along some videos, photos and of course, VT maple syrup. Despite all those small comforts, I will be anxious to return to Vermont. There truly is no place like home!
It’s almost summer and most people are out and about jogging, biking and trying to shed a few winter pounds. Usually, this time of year results in health and fitness clubs becoming virtual ghost towns as folks venture outside to get in shape and enjoy the weather. Because of this, health clubs usually start offering specials and promotions to lure fitness junkies back inside.
I received a call a few weeks ago about a summer “special” at a health club in Shelburne. I gave them a call back and was quoted $180 for a 3-month special offer. My first thought is “wow, that’s pretty expensive for a so called special” but a quick call to Racquets Edge (or Fitness Advantage, I think thats what they’re called now) was even more at $199+ for 3 months.
I guess these aren’t quite so special “specials” after all unless the rich and elite of Chittenden County are already forking over $150 per month, etc. Maybe these health and fitness clubs haven’t heard that we’re in a recession. In any case, $80 or $90 per month is a lot of greenbacks to take a few pounds off your plump butt.
So the next time you hear Dr. Phil or one of those other quacks tell you to get off the couch and hit the gym, be sure to write or email him and ask him to send you a few bucks (or in Vermont, substantially more than a few bucks). In the meantime, us average Joe’s will just plod along as best as we can and enjoy the nice Vermont summer. Hopefully, we’ll lose a few pounds somewhere in between.
The well-to-do crowd can take advantage of the wonderful specials and promotions going on at the local health clubs and rattle their jewelry on their way to the showers…if they can afford it. After all, we are in a recession, aren’t we?
Here we go again in the nutty state of Vermont, laughing stock of the USA. Actually, it seems that anything goes in VT except any activities involving heterosexual males (yes, there are a couple of us left here). Let’s legalize prostitution while we’re at it. With businesses stagnant in VT, this might be a great way to attract some corporate execs back to the Green Mountains. Got a great marketing logo too…”Business in VT, play and stay!”. I can see it now, the Colchester Cathouse and the Shelburne Sweeties. Lots of empty buildings on Shelburne Road you know!
With the cost of veterinary care, I feel that it is my right to declare my cat as a legal dependent with access to free medical and day care services.
In the meantime, why should the kids have all the fun? Isn’t that a bit discriminatory? In Vermont??? Perish the thought!!!
Sexting even has the Vermont legislature considering a change to its laws that would legalize the consensual exchange of graphic images between two people 13- to 18-years-old.
The idea is to make sure young people could not face harsh charges with long prison sentences. Supporters say they’re not condoning sexting, but that they just don’t think teenagers should be prosecuted as sex offenders for consensual conduct.
That bill has not yet come up for a vote.
IBM takes the money and runs. Americans, don’t you really feel sorry for IBM? Apparently, the feelings aren’t mutual. Here comes that great “sucking sound” again, of jobs leaving the USA that Ross Perot warned us about a few years ago:
Washington – Computer giant IBM plans to cut a “large number” of US employees in its business services unit and transfer their duties to India, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper, citing “people familiar with the situation,” said that IBM generally avoids public disclosure of layoffs and the number of US jobs being eliminated could not be determined.
It said that earlier this year, IBM sent notices of layoffs to around 4,600 employees in its software, sales, semiconductor and finance groups.
The Journal, citing an internal document, said the global business services group targeted for layoffs is the largest at IBM in terms of revenue and employment, with 180,000 employees worldwide.
The newspaper said IBM had 398,500 workers worldwide at the end of 2008 and 115,000 in the United States, down from 121,000 at the end of 2007.
IBM is one of the few major corporations to have weathered the global economic showdown and ended 2008 with 12.9 billion dollars in cash and marketable securities in hand.
Battlestar Galactica (the new version, not the campy old 70′s series) debuted it’s final show last Friday night, after a 4 year run. It was arguably the best show on television and ranks right up there with the Sopranos and many other classic TV shows. Now it’s gone and there isn’t much reason to stay home and watch TV.
Hmm, maybe that’s why people drink so much and frequent the bars on the weekend? Unfortunately, many great TV shows have passed on replaced by crap like all those so-called reality shows and a dozen variations of CSI and those other medical shows. All of which are about as enjoyable as appendicitis.
So what are we left with? The Ghost Whisperer (aka the “Boob Whisperer”)? Sorry, not worth the wait. Fortunately, warm weather is around the corner and it’s a great time to get our fat butts off the couch.
Can Tony Soprano and Admiral Adama do for the American weight problem what others could not? Maybe. With the crap that’s on TV these days, we may all have to just close the refrigerator door and go out for a walk.
So say we all!
On February 20 members of the Vermont House of Representatives voted 88 to 50 not to take a 5-percent pay cut. Fast forward in time and now there is a bill in the works that, if passed, will pay for a laptop for every legislator – apparently from the pockets of taxpayers.
During the debate about whether to accept a pay cut, most of those who spoke in favor of the cut insisted that in such dire times, when so many Vermonters are making sacrifices, that legislators should also make sacrifices. However, of those who voted against the cut, most of those who spoke insisted that they work far too hard for anybody to think they should be paid any less than the pay they already earn serving in legislature.
There is now a bill creeping forward, which if passed, will provide each legislator a laptop computer – apparently courtesy of Vermont taxpayers. House bill 385 is sponsored by four Democrats, all who voted against the pay cut. They are Ken Atkins of Winooski, Richard Howigan of Fairfield, Tim Jerman of Essex, and Kathy Keenan of St. Albans City. The following is the “statement of purpose” as recorded on the bill.
“This bill proposes to appropriate sufficient funds for the purchase of laptop computers for every member of the general assembly.”
If this bill comes up for debate on the House Floor it will certainly be interesting to know why the legislators promoting this bill think we all need a laptop computer at taxpayer expense when many taxpayers can’t afford their own.
To find out how your legislators voted on various “roll call” votes, votes that are recorded, go to www.leg.state.vt.us.
The author of this article, Scott Wheeler of Derby, represents Brownington, Charleston, Derby, Holland, and Morgan in the Vermont House. He serves this district along with Representative Robert Lewis of Derby.
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