Having done something similar, the only way to make it worth it would be to line up a set of audio books or podcasts or something of the sort. But even still, long commutes get old.

None. It had been nice not caring one iota about him for a while.

Are you a teacher?

Culpability*

Plainville or Southbury?

Parents.

Education. Not sure how much longer. Don’t recommend it.

Piecasso was great. My wife and I liked Idletyme- they’re apparently closed for a bit due to a burst pipe but we had a nice time there. There’s a little bit of a main drag that’s nice to shop around at. The Skinny Pancake has really great stuff (took me forever to figure out they don’t actually have pancakes and they sell crepes). Stowe has lots to offer. April could still be pretty cold.

I went solar in 2015. Purchased outright. I cannot think of a benefit to leasing.

The above here is basically true but #4 can really depend on the town. I’ve heard of people waiting months and months. I waited 4 weeks to the day before the PD emailed me.

Welcome to CT. Hope you have a safe move. The only thing I can think of is the liquor store is kind of frequently referred to as the packy- short for package store. It throws some people off if they hadn’t heard it before.

Annoyances? Focus on them and that’s all you’ll see. I love Connecticut. Grocery stores are well stocked. The infrastructure is better than I’ve seen in other states- some roads suck but mostly pretty good. Gas stations abound. EV charging is improving. Regional differences aside most towns have a real good pizza joint. Most areas have a good local brewery. You don’t need to drive far to get a nice hiking area if you look. Focus on the positives and you’ll see more of them. I wouldn’t recommend focusing on the negative.

Happy to read this. We have a Daikin model good down to 5°f as well. Thought about going for the -15°f model but really couldn’t justify it. Run the wood stove almost around the clock late fall to early spring. Got it mostly for the shoulder season and the summers.

In many ways I feel like an electric motorcycle makes much more sense in many situations than an electric car. [personal opinion] looks fantastic. Enjoy!

Was this the home that had the basement full of sand or something that stores the heat from the summer in some way?

Have a PHEV- a plug in hybrid. Charge it nearly every day. 8.9 KWH battery. Tank of gas in the vehicle in a typical month lasts 5-6 weeks. Approximately 1000 miles on a fill up. We have solar panels and month to month we don’t pay.

Those are all good towns. A bit pricey but I guess that’s all relative. Southbury is pretty. It’s in New Haven County so just outside of Fairfield County which in some instances and give you a bit of a break on taxes. But again, relatively speaking.

ConEdison in Danbury. I used them when they were Ross Solar in 2015/16 something like that. Same place & people just a different name. They’re honest, upfront and stand behind their work. I highly recommend them to anyone considering solar.

Eh, I don’t know. Sometimes people just need to get something off their chest.

Tiny story for you. When my wife and I were dating we booked a weekend trip to Stowe and Burlington. On the way up a good size snow started to fall. A few inches/can’t remember the total amount. There were cars all over the side of the road, some pretty bad looking accidents. We were in my POS FWD Toyota Yaris (loved the car personally). I run snow tires in the winter and swap them on & off the rims each year. Swapping the tires on and off yes does cost a little, and buying a second set of tires does set you back a little- I’m not chastising you here but the fact that you’re asking the question means it’s on your mind. We were glad we had them as we took it slow & steady. Got everywhere we wanted to go w no problems. If nothing else- snow tires aren’t a one & done purchase. They’ll last you years. I’d say get them.

Stay home.

I switched to a credit union about 10 years ago. Without exaggeration it was a great move and I’ve been extremely happy with the move. I highly recommend getting out of banks and into a credit union.

Thanks for posting this OP. I’m going to buy this book for my daughter for Christmas. I don’t want her to turn into someone like you.

Jotul makes an attractive stove for sure. A buddy has one and to me it looks like a piece of art compared to some stoves out there.

• 3 year plan means you’ve got wood you’re burning this year, wood set away for next year, and wood stacked and ready for the following year. The idea is to be burning wood that’s been cut / split / stacked for 3 years so the moisture is low. I have a Woodstock stove- one with a catalyst. Certainly use caution but I use compressed wood bricks with the cordwood I have. I find it to burn clean and produce much less ash. Cost is a little higher but then wood usage is a bit lower. Kind of a personal preference thing. Last- the idea behind the couple pieces of pine is essentially that it gets a hot/fast fire going and burns down the coals / winds up creating less ash. Why? Honestly I don’t know, but the old timers were talking about it a few years ago so I gave it a whirl, and they were right. Good luck burning!

Interesting… I have a few thoughts. Sounds like you have experience with wood heat- I would wonder what kind of stove you previously used. Modern stoves rely on dryer wood than we used to get away with. Strong suggestion to get on the 3 year plan. After that if you’re burning around the clock, at the tail end of the burn cycle see if you can toss in some pine (pallets work good) to “burn down the ash” sometimes there’s usable material left in there that otherwise gets scooped out.