Just needs a couple kids with guns and it would be a Republican Christmas card.

Throughout my early years at school we had a different principal for elementary, middle, and high school. When my class moved from elementary to middle school out principal followed us. When we moved from middle school to high school the high school principal literally had a mental breakdown a month into the year. Their solution was to have the middle school principal cover the high school as well.

So the job stress actually caused a principal to take a leave of absence due to mental health and their solution was doubling one guy’s workload. And this is the mindset of the people they had managing the children’s education.

So yeah… I’m so surprised kids mental health is at a breaking point.

Only thing I missed about skipping my family’s weekly visits to Thunder Road. Was glad to escape the races, but missed the fries.

I appreciate the guy might be nice but my point is that the post headline says “BJ and Target taste better than Vermont Maple Syrup” and it is a single brand of Vermont syrup that doesn’t even have the market presence for me to recognize and I grew up where they are headquartered. So I’m sure they put out decent syrup and are good people but I can’t speak to if it’s better than chain brands because I’ve never heard of them.

I however disagree with what the post tried to insinuate because I’ve tasted better (than BJ/Target) from the small batch places that many Vermonters get their syrup from.

It’s like if Consumer Reports compared Ben & Jerry’s with other big brands then someone here said “such and such brand is better than Vermont ice cream”. Well, no, Consumer Reports only compared to A SINGLE Vermont brand. I could hit up many farms with their own in house ice cream.

Than “a” Vermont maple syrup. Having never tasted the Butternut Mountain Farms syrup I have no idea as I mostly get my syrup from just small batch local places where you know the people making it.

It’s funny if this is “THE Vermont Maple Syrup” because they are headquartered in my hometown and I’ve never even heard of them.

My concern is the first time idiots. No, I’m not talking about out of staters or fresh transplants… I’m talking about the 90% of people (even with green plates) who lose all experience with winter driving for the first snow storm. The same people who in February will be cruising along at highway speeds but first storm are sliding all over the place as they forget how snow affects steering and breaking.

They don’t take the time to get reacquainted with their steering and nearly bite it at every turn. They don’t think back on decades of braking in snow and try to stop like it is midsummer. And they don’t look at the sheet of white and think “well maybe other cars need room too”.

Right which is a bit proving my point that it’s based on the store. I don’t know the Price Choppers you’ve been in but the ones we’ve hit have ranged from “okay if you just need a jug of milk” to “where we get 90% of our food”. I’ve probably only been in a handful of Market Baskets but all of them have been subpar compared to the handful of Price Choppers I’ve consistently used over the years (but better than dozens of others I’ve been in for “grabbing milk”).

I’ve got 1 Market Basket in driving distance and I’d rate it a 6/10. I’ve got 4 Price Choppers and it’d be an 8, a 6, and a couple 5s. That being said, the “8” where we get the best experience is even just for 90% of the groceries only because they have a wider variety of stuff we are used to buying but we will do occasional meat/produce runs to the coop because it’s better still in those regards.

I feel like a lot of this is very store dependent which kind of defeats a single study. For instance, we live within driving distance of a Market Basket and don't shop there because their meat selection is really poor compared to an equal distance Price Chopper. It is better than the in-town Price Chopper but that isn't a high hurdle.

If we go to my hometown, Price Chopper has run just about every brand of grocery store out of town. Price Chopper has been there for years and there was a rotation through just about every other type of store as they would open then closed down within a few years. Near where my wife grew up, Hannafords and Price Chopper are on near equal footing. Town where my friends grew up, Shaws has reigned supreme for a couple decades with other stores closing.

So yeah.... this really feels like a Market Basket ad whereas the few Market Baskets I have not lived up that type of reputation. It really doesn't feel like the others have universal quality issues, but instead it is mostly centered around leadership and market positioning. The Price Chopper we primarily shop at? Got a really good location so it is the go-to for a good chunk of the area compared to the Hannafords and Shaws in the same town, the Market Basket is in a less trafficked town in the opposite direction. As long as management at the Price Chopper doesn't let quality slip... not likely Market Basket would make a dent in the established area.

We’ve bought some from these guys at local events that they come to but they also ship: https://www.eat-better-meat.com/

Farm raised animals but they do a variety of meats. Good quality according to my wife who comes from a hunting family and a mother who is a meat cutter.

I was a 10lb kid with a massive head. My mom normally weighs 90lbs but crested over 100lb when she was pregnant with me. I feel like she doesn’t have to imagine as I’ve see pictures from right after I was born and I’d have made Dudley Dursley look like a tiny baby.

So… like everywhere else?

Vermonters don’t drive aggressively, except when they do which is quite frequently by the amount of times when I’ve been cutoff by a fellow green plate or when I’ve had one ride my ass despite going the speed limit in an area known for wildlife crossing.

Highway speeding, I’ll set my cruise control at about 70 and still get consistently passed by fellow Vermonters.

Pulling over for sirens is a universal thing. I’ve driven in the middle of a city and had to pull over with no space to let emergency vehicles by.

I understand the sentiment considering I’ve even recently replied to a post about peepers jumping in the road for pictures but all the things you’ve mentioned here… I’ve seen that usually Vermonters are just as bad with and I’ve lived here my whole life.