s n a p p e r h e a d

Winterfall

Find
Where you best - are comfortable at rest
Near the space where the muscles under your face
Unwind, then
Seek the spot when
Your attentive mind - feels evermost kind
Unfocused on the locus while at the same time
Reach, for a
Resolve to abhor
Never to soar - or - teach yourself to become more
Cognizant of whatever you're always most-never
Aware, yet
Don't devolve
Or forget - that every contestant we've never once met
Dies before they consider themselves wise
Careful, there
It's slippery
(You have time - I know, you know there's no finish line.)

- Winterfall by Veach Glines

Thanks Fellow Veteran

Instead of the bland, ubiquitous, cringe-inducing 'thank you for your service' - try asking a question. And, because I think humorous questions are better than serious ones, try these:

Was it an adventure or was it just a job?
What was it like to be more than you could be?
Was it fun doing more before 9 am than others do all day?
Do people expect a you're welcome when they thank you for your service?

Before Looking for an Apartment in Vermont

Thinking about moving to Vermont?

Almost all landlords are members of the Vermont Landlords Association (VLA), which behaves like a guild/insurance company.
The VLA has a policy-guideline: no more than 30% of a renter's income should be spent on housing (rent combined with all utilities and 'housing fees').
Member-landlords treat this as law and ask all prospective tenants to provide proof of income.
Acceptable documents include recent pay-stub or employer-letter.
Landlords will refuse to lease to tenants who's income would cause the tenant to pay more than 30% on housing.
The VLA supports its member-landlords with legal assistance and can provide monetary assistance if any tenant behavior results in a financial loss to a member-landlord.
The VLA may refuse to assist a member-landlord if employment documents were not obtained or if those documents reflect insufficient income.

Important statistics:

Vermont Minimum wage (as of 1 Jan 2020) is $10.96, which computes (for a full-time employee) to about $1,900 a month before taxes.
Assume double-occupancy (every minimum-wage worker must have a roommate in Vermont) and 1,900 x 2 = $3,800.
30% of $3,800 is $1,140.
$250 monthly utilities (1 BR Apt) $60 electricity; $150 (average) heat; $40 garbage.
$1,140 minus $250 is $890.
$890 is the maximum rent a landlord can expect two minimum wage workers to afford.
In and around the metro-Burlington area (where more than 50% of the state population resides), average 1BR rents are $1,300 (+/- $300) albeit many complexes offer units with all or most utilities included in the rent.
To be permitted to afford $1,300 a month, in rent and utilities, the household must be able to prove they have an annual income of $52,000.

None of this is a government regulation/law; merely a guideline, informally enforced by VLA member-landlords. The results:

Throughout the state, housing turn-over (across all levels and types) is extremely low (and not just in the winter). The reason? The minimum wage increased 18 cents per hour from last year; which is $30 a month. Nobody can move if their rent has increased more than their wages.

There is a constant need for temporary, seasonal, minimum-wage workers (50-60% of businesses have help wanted signs). The reason? Nobody can move to a state with almost the highest rates of taxation in the country and middling wages, if there is an unregulated "informal gatekeeper" dictating: every household must have over $50K to move here.

The fix is simple:

Vermont legislature: Make it illegal for businesses and landlords to request a person's income.

other very-vermont things worth noting:

Lazy Witch Coffin Windows

Good Day to Be a Crow (hunting regulation)

Before Driving Your Smart Car to Vermont

          A few days ago, I decided to go trail walking among the falling and yet-to-fall autumn leaves. At the trailhead, I noticed a list of Vermont's Hunting and Trapping Dates. Although I hadn't heard any gunshots, I realized that was probably the last thought JFK, MLK, and Theo Van Gogh all had (although Theo had enough time for a follow-up think: "nobody kills the village idiot," since his assassin only shot him off his bicycle and, then, dispatched him with a knife).

As I got out my reading glasses, I looked down at myself (wearing exclusively subdued colors except for a splash of color on my hat) and read that bow season was already open for deer, and black bear season had been open for more than six weeks. Which caused me to feel both stupid-lucky and stupid-foolish at the same time – I'd walked in different wooded areas every one of those past weeks not wearing bright colors but with bear spray on my hip.

          Driving away, I considered what the odds were of being killed by a human compared to being killed by a black bear (and decided it was statistically more probable to be murdered, by at-least a factor of 100). Then I wondered at the increased odds of being "accidentally shot" by a drunk, stoned, Vermont hunter, during bear hunting season, while wearing a black sweater (and decided it was smart I chose not hiking to Preston Lake that day).

One line on the list of hunting season dates stuck and wouldn't let go of my shadow:

          Crow   JAN 18 thru APR 8 and AUG 19 thru DEC 16: Open FRI – MON Only; Closed TUE – THR

          It seems that it is illegal to hunt crows mid-week in this state. What logic-based data (presumably, closed hunting dates are decided on nesting dates) would support only hunting four days a week?

Crows – which the government stupidly uses as a category-name for all Corvids – learn from past experiences, pass information along to their young, and (reportedly) are scared away from an area by shooting at them or by using a crow-based scarecrow.

The federal government regulates an annual maximum number of days in which every state is permitted to allow the hunting of migratory birds. Vermont Dept of Fish and Wildlife disagrees with the categorization of crows as migratory (considers them a nuisance) and closes "crow season" every mid-week so as to appear to adhere to the letter of the federal regulation.

other Vermont to-see's:

Preston Pond, Bolton

Swanton

Westford

East Middlebury

Waterbury

St Albans City, Town, Bay

Lyndon Center

An Amazon God Has Spoken

As someone who owns TACKLIFE Propane Fire Pit... can you help this fellow customer?

Q: What is the difference between bo7lg5kdnk for 179 and the bo7lg5q78q for 189?

A: Ahhh young padawan, it is illogical to ask the amazon gods about the algorithm which determines why one ASIN costs ten dollars more than another. That is a question better answered by camelcamelcamel. (An Amazon God Has Spoken)

Q: After watching the installation video, i realized that i did not plug in the wire to the auto starter. once i plug in the wire, it worked.

A: How did you find out how to make it turn on without using any of your own brain cells? For 200. (An Amazon God Has Spoken)

Q: Can we put this on the outskirts of our garage so we can have some cover?

A: Based on your vague description (the word "outskirts" and "some cover" are not helpful in specifically knowing your plans, but are helpful in that I think you already know the idea is wrong-headed). I picture you and your elderly husband placing this large propane fire just inside your open garage door and saying that 'the amazon gods said it would be ok'. If you do this, you could fail to get sufficient ventilation from the open door that the carbon monoxide kills you before you get a chance to see the plastic portions of your siding melt and the paint catch on fire from the heat. I put this in the middle of my back yard and could see the heat moving leaves on a branch twenty-five feet above - I recommend you watch the video 'dumb ways to die' for more things you should not do. You are welcome (An Amazon God Has Spoken).