Root is a ton of fun for the right group (it's kind of heavy). For something lighter I like Everdell, Boss Monster, or Flamecraft.

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Also if you're reading this and into board games and live in the Rochester area hit me up!

Just jumping on this to say I’ve been trying to buy a house in the Middlebury school district for over a year. There are, I think, 4 houses currently for sale in that area, one over a million dollars. Good luck to anyone trying to get into that market, it’s incredibly cutthroat.

Yeah, there’s simply nothing to buy. We’ve been hoping to sell and move closer to town for over a year now. I watch Zillow like a hawk and have a realtor on standby. Nothing is being sold. It’s the absolute worst possible time to buy a house in this state.

My kiddo brings this lovely bug home from preschool a couple times a year. It's just the worst - violent, incapacitating sickness. At least it's quick though.

It was seriously coming down this morning! I could barely see my hand in front of my face while I was walking my dogs.

Not sure how it's an enforcement issue? It's perfectly legal to do which is why we need new legislation to close some of these loopholes.

Sure that's true in a lot of cases, but it's not uncommon for second home owners to have one parent claim residency in their ski house to get payment for out of state private schools that their kids were attending anyway. I don't want to thow the baby out with the bathwater, but I also don't want to pay for a rich person to send their kid to an elite boarding school. Especially when that kid/rich person aren't even really part of my community in the first place.

For the record, school choice currently pays for students to attend any school, anywhere. There are a not insignificant number of students currently attending private schools in another state or even another country, and taxpayers have to pay for it. This bill seems super reasonable, I hope it moves forward.

I mean, pick any chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude. The hurricane chapter is probably my favorite though.

It sounds like the Balint campaign had no idea these funds were being spent and I'm willing to believe them on that.

But damn, the optics on our brand new congresswoman "cooperating with federal prosecutors" is a rough way to start out.

I don't know a ton about minivans but I know from experience that mud season is all about clearance. The two times I've gotten stuck in mud were in an AWD Subaru that got high centered. I would look for the tallest AWD minivan they make.

We had both our kids at porter and I simply cannot say enough great things about our experience. We could not have been more cared for or more listened to. I’m almost sad we’re stopping at two just because I can’t get to hang out with them anymore!

yeah a lot of that jives with what I've discovered as well. It's crazy how the government is pushing these as a panacea when, at least at the moment they're giant money pits that don't seem like they'll possibly lead to enough savings to cover their installation costs.

Mitsubishi.

Just as a counterpoint to this because we're currently experiencing it: Good luck getting your heat pump serviced if/when it breaks. My understanding is that, while new units are still being made, parts for repair are basically nonexistent. Our $20,000 heat pump system dramatically cut our heating costs for 2 years, and now has sat broken waiting on a new compressor for the last 2 years. I'm considering tearing out the head units because just looking at them makes me angry.

Wait, has Brave Little State never done an Airbnb episode?

If you don’t have a prepped site expect to pay at least a million for stick built. You can maybe get the price down if you go modular but not a ton.

Yeah but that chicken/eagle hybrid is fucking terrifying holy shit

I think it would be inappropriate not to

You’ve already gotten good advice so I’ll just add that the second best time and place to see them is from my office 1 millisecond after I take myself off mute on Zoom.

Hey if your point is that Vermont should have a state monopoly on weed sales - including tightly controlling the number of outlets in a geographic area - then we are on the same page brother.

The same state where a ton of farmers jumped into CBD hemp with both feet and a ton got burned?

We all love weed, we agree. But everyone loves Chik-fil-A too and if tomorrow every town in Vermont suddenly had like 3 Chik-fil-A's you could be forgiven for being like "hmmm I'm not sure if this is going to work out for all of them"

I mean, I won't argue with that logic. And I don't care personally - I haven't paid for weed in years and don't see myself starting. Just seems like people are jumping into this market because it's cool and exciting and in a few years we're going to have a bunch of bankrupt weed shops. But again, it's not my money. Just seems unlikely to workout for a bunch of the folks getting into it.

Anyone else feel like there are wayyyyy too many dispensaries opening up? I could be wrong but I just can’t imagine there’s enough demand to sustain them all. I mean, Waitsfield has two within walking distance of each other and I’m hearing rumors about a 3rd coming.

And it kind of makes sense out west given how you can drive from LA to Tahoe in a day. That’s a huge change in climate for folks who almost certainly wouldn’t have snow tires.