In Search of Parking …
We didn’t know about the winter overnight parking ban in the city until last week. As you might have guessed all of the city’s parking permits have been gobbled up by now. On the suggestion of the police we have called all the local churches, funeral homes, et cetera, in the area in the hopes that they would have a space to rent for us. Nada. Zilch. Nope.
The parking garage on East Main Street was also suggested by the police, but they don’t offer monthly permits, and charge $5 per day. Obviously that is a bit expensive (about $100 a month since Saturdays and Sunday are free). We could avoid the charges completely by moving the car EVERY MORNING by 7 a.m. and then moving it again EVERY NIGHT by 6 p.m., but we’d really like to find a place were we can leave it without worry. After all, we drive it only once a week or so to do errands.
If anyone out there has a parking spot we can have or rent, we’d really appreciate it. Even if you only have an idea or lead, PLEASE contact us (gmail = rickscully). Thanks!
I’m off to make up a few flyers to post.
UPDATE: Our property manager came through for us with a spot we can use rent-free! A big thank you to him!
About Towns …
Though we haven’t been writing about it much, we’ve continued to explore Vermont. Inspired by the 251 Club (some members of which we got to meet in-person at a recent VT blogger meetup), Rick made a 251 page where we can track our progress.
When The Steelers aren’t playing a 1:00pm Sunday game, these afternoons are the perfect time for us to hop in the car and check out a new town for a couple of hours. Several weeks ago we drove over to Northfield. We enjoyed the quiet setting and historic “New England” feel, and had a blast spending too much time and money in the used book store on the green. The town also had some great views. For us, the major detractor was that Northfield is the home of Norwich University: while we admire the institution we are a little too hippiefied to feel at home in a town that is mostly populated by a military academy. It was a great town to spend a couple of hours in though.
Last Sunday, we headed over to Bristol, about an hour’s drive west-south of Montpelier. Bristol lies just a bit off of the major north-south corridor of the Lake Champlain valley, Route 7, and the proximity to Burlington and Montpelier drew us to the area. We tried taking a short-cut across the mountains via the Lincoln Gap Road but had to back track a couple of miles onto the more conventional (and paved) Route 17 when we discovered Lincoln Gap was closed due to fire. (It also looked like some trees had not been cleared off the road from the wind storm a week earlier, and that had us wondering what the people who live on Lincoln Gap Road do in the winter. Stay home I guess.)
At any rate, we eventually got into Bristol, parked next to the large town green (no meters!), and immediately snapped off a few pictures. It was sunny and beautiful so we strolled around a bit before checking out an eclectic Asian imports and weird do-dads store, an art gallery featuring the works of Vermont craftsmen (painting, sculpture, hand-carved spoons, ceramics, and jewelry), and then the Bristol Bakery & Cafe which had great soup and organic green-tea soda. We loved the area and felt comfortable in the town. It seemed large enough to be a town one could go to for errands, but small enough that the surrounding countryside would have the rural feel we are looking for. The one detractor of Bristol is that we are not the only ones who are enamored with it, and the property values are skyrocketing. We’ll keep an eye on it but wonder if we’ll be able to afford land and/or a house in the area.
On the way to and from Bristol along Route 100 (before the turn to Route 17) we were also reminded how much we like the areas around Moretown and Waitsfield. The towns are smallish and the surrounding fields and farms reminded us of England. The proximity to highway 89 is an added bonus. Again, the question of affordability came up, but for now we’ll add these areas to our list of “places we could live” and continue our search.
Those Aren’t Tulips! …
About the only thing I have found I dislike about Montpelier is the amount of dog doo left lying about. There is less and less grass area were we can safely walk our dogs without having to worry about any of us treading in something. And these aren’t small dogs either. Sometimes I wonder if someone is secretly housing an elephant in town. From what I have heard it gets worse as winter goes on, and that come mud season the melting snow revels more than just crocuses.
It is not only gross, it is illegal. Below is the information from Section 8-210 [PDF] entitled “DEFECATION.”
(a) The person in control of any dog which defecates in a public park, walkway, sidewalk, street, public way, playground, cemetery, school grounds, state property or on private property shall remove such material immediately and dispose of it in a sanitary manner. This provision shall not apply to private property used without objection of the property owner or to off-trail, wooded areas of public parks.
A month ago we were yellled at by one business person because he was fed up with people’s dogs crapping on the property. At the time I was picking up after someone else’s dog, but any attempt I made to explain this to the person fell on deaf ears—and blind eyes since I was obviously picking up a mess and not abandoning one. But I understand his frustrations.
Since that event I have made an effort to have a baggie in view as I wander around mumbling “go potty” to my companions, simply because I hate the looks of those people who also are fed up with the messes left behind in Mont-poo-lier.
Meet the Bloggers …
With Sarah working, and me not, I have become both Keeper of the Flat (aka House Husband) and de facto dog walker. I get up when Sarah does, and while she gets ready for work, I take the dogs out for their morning walk, feed them and then have breakfast with Sarah before she has to run. I take the dogs out individually, mostly because they are difficult for one person to control, but also because they seem to do their Duty faster when their colleague is not around. And with winter approaching, getting them to go quickly is a good idea.
Today I had the pleasure of running into two local bloggers while on the individual walks. When I was walking Haley I bumped into JDS, and later while walking Mickey I met Morgan. Both apparently recognized the dogs first and then asked me if I was the guy behind this website. I must admit I was surprised it took so long for us to run into other locals who maintain websites, but it was neat to run into two people 30 minutes, or so, apart.
Hopefully, with Cathy’s help, there will be an area meetup in the next month or so, but in the meantime, please feel free to stop me—and whatever dog I have in tow—and say hi. As JDS and Morgan can attest, none of us bite.
Hunger Mountain Weekend …
This weekend was all about Hunger Mountain CoOp. Saturday afternoon we visited the Coop-sponsored “Food and Wellness Expo” at city hall, and later we stopped by the CoOp to do our weekly shopping. Sunday we attended the CoOp’s annual members’ meeting, which was also held in city hall’s auditorium. The auditorium is also the home of the Lost Nation Theater. It’s a nice space.
The expo gave us a chance to meet the nice people who grow and make the yummy food we eat, and the annual meeting showed us our first glimpse of Vermont democracy in action.
Both events were interesting, and we met lots of nice people. The expo was attended by representatives from all sorts of places. We chatted with Nick of Shelburne Orchards about apples and ginger, and about daikon and herbs with Richard of Cate Farm. The Annie’s folks were real nice and even fawned out back over Mick before things got started. We were surprised that we didn’t see Nutty Steph, but she ended up going to her usual Montpelier farmer’s market gig on Saturday. She set up a table at the annual meeting the next day. She’s a trip.
As for the democracy, the biggest issue this year is whether or not to offer a family membership as opposed to requesting (not requiring) that each adult in a household have a membership. The vote was so close that a movement was made to table the motion and immediately seconded. Not unusual. What was unusual was that once it was seconded, it was voted on, and it was nearly unanimous that the item be tabled. Neither side seemed all that interested in fighting it out or anything. And without going into details, the compromise is already sort of in place, so it is something that can wait until next year to try to be decided.
* Every product getting a link is getting one because Sarah and I actually use and like the product. Although we haven’t been to the theater yet.