More Life in Vermont

1. Lainey-Paney mentioned in her comment on my first "Life in Vermont" post, that people in Texas have guns. This is true in Vermont too. Mostly people just have rifles or shotguns for hunting, but I do know some people who have handguns. I even know a woman who carries a handgun with her when she goes on a walk with her kids through the woods near her house. Ya, I think she is crazy, I only carry my pepper spray.


2. People out in the Boonies of Vermont can still be robbed. The house in the following photos was just burglarized last week. It happened during the day while the woman who lives in this house was away. Allegedly the thieves stole guns and prescription medications.I took these photos from my porch.


Six months ago another woman, who lives on this same road, was robbed. That time the thieves took a coin collection and prescription medications.
I now take my "good" meds with me when I leave home.

3. Some roads in Vermont change the speed limit willy-nilly every mile or so. The speed limit can be 50mph then 35mph, back up to 50mph, down to 25mph then up to 40mph,all within a few miles. Of course there are police who know this.

4. I can drive 36 miles home from work at midnight and only see one other car on the road. However, while speeding seems like the thing to do at that time, there are occasionally cops waiting to catch me or the other car!

5. Dirt roads are not just for poor people. This house is my favorite house in our town and it is located on a dirt road. New houses are also being built on dirt roads. This house is on the market for just under 2million. I think it's a bargain because it comes with a huge barn, garage with apartment, over 100 acres of land and a beautiful view. There was a new house for sale for over 2 million in my town, but it burned down in a fire.

If I win the lottery, I'm definitely going to buy this house.

6. People in Vermont can get really really, kick your ass colds, like I have had for the last 16 days! I didn't even get out of bed until 1PM a few days and even then, I didn't want to.

Poor me.

Saturday Sounds 15 or Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

I've had a cold for a week. I feel like crap. I want to sleep all day and do nothing else. Of course I cannot do that. Damn, being a grown up sucks sometimes. I did take, what I called, a half of a sick day on Thursday and stayed in bed until 1PM and then sat on the couch blogging until 3PM. That was a great day.

Alka Seltzer Plus was the best cold medicine EVER! Then one day the FDA decided to take out a key ingredient, the only decongestant on the market that worked. Now everybody had to suffer, just because it occasionally caused a teensy brain hemorrhage in some people. It also was the best hangover med too by the way.

Now I have to sign my life away for a couple Sudafed.

What do you take for a cold?

Life In Vermont

Some things I've learned about life in the country while living in Vermont.

1. There are people, mostly men, in Vermont who grow beards in winter and shave them off in Summer.These beards have confused me more than once. I moved here in the winter so most of my neighbors looked similar to this photo of the actor of Tom Welling. Scary if you ask me.

The WINTER Look

In the spring, I would run into the same neighbors and not have the foggiest idea who they were. Several times I would argue with Hus when he would try to convince me that the clean shaven fairly good looking man we were just talking with was our neighbor! "But that guy looked like a troll." I would protest. (below photo also of Tom Welling)

The SUMMER Look

No I don't have any neighbors as hot as Tom but since I don't find beards of any kind attractive, any clean shaven version of a person is better than the bearded one.

I met Hus in the summer and thank goodness he does not grow a beard for any reason!

2. There is no automatic trash pick up, cost covered in taxes, in Vermont. You need to either bring it to the dump yourself or pay a small fortune for a trash removal service. Or, you can do like I did in the beginning, and bring really small bags of trash to work with you and put them in the dumpster on your way in.

3. There are people who live in the boonies, like us, who have Septic Tanks. Gross.

4.Some people (my neighbor) walk their dog, cat and turkeys all at the same time.

5. If your neighbor owns a goat, sometimes it will come over for a visit and steal your child's sock. Of course it will be an accidental theft because the sock will stick to the goats beard when they smell your child's carelessly thrown on the porch shoe.

6. You can not hide in the country. My neighbors knew more about my husband before I did. My farmer neighbor noticed future Hus's red truck in my driveway when he picked me up for our first date, and before the date was over, my neighbor knew exactly who my Hus was. He knew where he came from, where he worked and whether he was an honorable man. Ha! (He was worried about me) Somehow via a crazy country neighbor grapevine, word had traveled an hour away to Killington, where my future BIL Dave, identified my future Hus to my farmer neighbors friend, who worked with Dave, just by his truck! I know, hard to follow, but true.

7. If you tell people you come from a family of pig farmers, they will believe you. Above BIL told my future FIL Chet, that I came from pig farmers. During our first meeting, Chet, with a straight face, asked me how it was coming from a family of pig farmers. I was just a little surprised and confused then noticed Dave cracking up in the corner. Dave had to explain to poor sweet Chet that it was a joke. OINK. We still laugh about that one.

Saturday Sounds 14 or He's Gone Like the Wind

I wasn't a huge fan of Patrick Swayze. I really can't say why, I mean he was a good actor, dancer and pretty damn good looking. There were movies he starred in that I enjoyed but only one I thought was great. The Outsiders is my favorite Patrick Swayze movies, as a matter of fact it is one of my all time favorite movies. I've watched it several times and now that I am reminded of it I think I'll have to watch it again soon. It's a 'coming of age' movie which stars other famous actors like Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise and Matt Dillon.



One thing I noticed since Patrick Swayze died is the lack of publicity about it. We are still hearing about Michael Jackson, every waking minute. I've heard very little about Swayze. After MJ died radio stations of all types were playing his songs. Even my alternative rock station jumped on that bandwagon.



So I wanted to share this vid of Patrick Swayze performing this song which he wrote for his wife.
I'm sure you all have heard it before.





Rest In Peace Patrick Swayze



On a side note: I am writing this at 2am so hopefully it's not too grammatically incorrect!

I Have Conquered My Fear of Roller Coasters; Thank You Xanax!

Well, we did it. We took the kids to Disney World in Orlando. Hus and I are not theme park type people. We would rather spend our vacation time at the ocean doing nothing except relaxing than to spend it hiking miles in the hot sun. We took this trip strictly for the kids. However, even though it was stressful and tiring, we did have fun at Disney. I'll try not to bore you with too many details in one post but spread out the boredom over a few posts.

I haven't liked roller coasters since I was a young adult. After having kids, for some reason, I suddenly became too scared to go on any amusement park rides. If I did decide to go on one with the kids, because they begged me, I would have visions of the car flying off the tracks or the swing detaching from the rigging. Rides were terrifying for me.

At Disney, because my mother was with us, I took Xanax every day, actually twice a day. I had also promised the kids that no matter how scared I was, I would go on any ride they wanted to because I could be a brave mama. Ha! Well, the first roller coaster we went on was Splash Mountain. While waiting in line, I realized I wasn't even scared. All through the ride, I didn't get scared at all. It wasn't that I didn't get a rush riding it, but I wasn't scared. Woo hoo! I went on to ride Big Thunder Railroad, Mount Everest (twice), Rockin Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror! The only ride that I didn't enjoy was Mission Space because I felt like I was being choked while it simulated rocketing into space.

Splash Mountain

A word of advice: After getting your shorts completely soaked riding Splash Mountain, don't use the toilet seat covers, Disney so nicely provides for you in their restrooms, the paper will stick to your wet butt. This type of paper will not peel off your butt in one piece, I guess because it is meant to dissolve when wet. You will next try desperately to dry your butt with toilet paper only to end up with tiny pieces of paper stuck to your butt and then will have to use your antibacterial wipeys to wipe your butt before you put your wet shorts back on. Also don't ride Splash Mountain first because your shorts will not dry in time to prevent your legs from chafing. Just so you know.