I grew up about a mile from the trail outside of Boiling Springs PA. While I have mobility problems that would keep me from thru-hiking myself these days, when I inherit my parents house & acreage when they pass on I plan to move back home & I'd love to get involved with the AT community, participate in trail magic instead. I'd especially like to let people camp in the backyard and maybe even rent out a spare room or 2, give people rides into town, let people use the w/d, showers, etc. Can you share with us more about trail magic? How does one get started with this sort of thing? Anything else I should know?

I think they thought the vegans would love it because "vegans love animals, so why wouldn't they like snuggling animals, doing something loving to them?" I don't think they realized there's a subset of vegans that are (as far as I understand it) against humans owning/keeping animals at all.

Adding on to all the rest, (and this isn't explicitly PA, this is federal) she may find her healthcare costs are more covered by a Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C plan) rather than Original Medicare (A&B). (Note: this is NOT the same as a Medigap plan.) They're basically plans with private providers and, surprisingly enough, they almost always cover WAY more than A&B. Some of them have a more limited treatment network (but no more restrictive than a standard HMO or PPO), or they won't cover out of area unless it's an emergency, but if you're not traveling a lot, it's not really a problem.

Ex. I'm on Medicare (and SSDI, but my income is lower than hers) and my plan (an AARP Medicare Advantage plan - you don't have to be part of AARP to get the plan, I'm not) has a $0 premium, $0 deductible. I pay $0 copay at PCP, and like $20-30 at specialists. My plan includes a bundled drug plan (Part D, although you can get plans w/o a Part D plan and pick a separate Part D plan) and, with Extra Help/the Low Income Subsidy (LIS) I pay less than $5/Rx (and that went up recently). They even cover eye and dental! I think they also have a hearing aid allowance. Plus, I think they can even provide transportation to appts and stuff.

I used to have Original Medicare (A&B + D) and did an Employed Individuals with Disabilities thing so I could have Medicaid on top of my Medicare to use like a Medigap plan, but with this Medicare Advantage plan, I don't need the Medicaid on top and just have this.

You'd want to use Medicare's comparison thingie to compare different plans for her needs. You can even say "only give me plans that cover all my meds" so you can make sure her meds are covered or sort by premiums (at her income, she'll probably have some premiums, but they'll probably be pretty low) or deductibles or other things. There's also people you can call and talk to that can help you sort out plans; those folks don't make more if they sell more of one plan than another so they're not going to push a plan that doesn't work for you.

I hope this helps.

My parents moved from Washington County to Cumberland County before I was born. Ofc, I'd go back there with them sometimes to see family. There's definitely linguistic differences. My speech is primarily South-Central PA (soda, not pop, tvym) with a few Pittsburgheze words/syntax thrown in, but I can understand Pittsburgheze.

And the hill thing! What they call a hill, I call the side of a mountain! (My parents are STILL that way, over 40 years later.)

I'd prefer not. As a member of the queer and trans community, people like her make me afraid to move back home to CC.

I misunderstood what you were trying to say. My bad.

But Washington DC is hardly in the midwest. It's a Mid-Atlantic state.

....Carrie & carry sound alike, and ferry rhymes with all of them. I'm still not sure how they sound different. Can you describe the actual sounds?

I don't know. He was from Southwestern PA so he'd be more likely to say Stillers. ;)

I fought with my dad over pop vs soda.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger the top audio file.

Cot sounds more letter A like, more nasal, while caught sounds more like ought. A lot more O like.

What do they sound like in the East?

What's interesting with warsh is that I have a friend, born and raised in Washington DC & suburbs, who says warsh. I'd love to see a map of the USA divided into "how to say wash" regions.

I can hear my grandfather saying these words. He's been dead almost 5 years now. Thanks for the memories. <3

Ah, the cot-caught merger. Good times, good times.

My accent is extra fun because I grew up in South-Central PA but with recent transplants from the Pittsburgh area. So I've got, primarily, a SC PA accent/dialect (soda not pop), missing a few SC PA words/phrases (I never learned "all" for "all gone"), and I've got a few words/phrases of Pittsburgheze in my vocabulary (redd up, sweeper, gum bands, slippy, the need + past participle thing ("the grass needs cut"), and, of course, kibossy) because my parents taught me how to talk. But I can understand Pittsburgheze pretty well (growing up visiting my relatives out there).

Oh, and then I moved further South so I say y'all. So that's even more fun!

Sorry, this is just one of my favorite subjects.

*deep breath* Okay, so this is complicated, but the short answer is... in some ways, yes, in other ways, no. They have some theological differences, and organizational differences, but they're quite similar in other ways.

(And technically they recognize the pope as a fellow bishop (the Bishop of Rome), and as the leader of the Roman church, but NOT as the leader of the Episcopal church/Church of England. See Primus Inter Pares.)

(And if you really wanna break your brain, hardcore technically Episcopals are both Catholics AND Protestants. When you say "Catholic" you're probably referring to "Roman Catholic" but there's more than just the Roman church and the word "Catholic" (with a capital C) has a specific meaning and encompasses a number of different churches.)

I believe they meant purchasing indulgences.

Eh, Ontario already has Wiarton Willie.

But... aren't they supposed to be cousins?

They'll take away your right to have a PA driver's license if you keep going around saying things like that! They'll kick you out and make you live in a neighboring state! ;)

Well, you don't really tell us what you're looking for in where you live. What kind of place makes you happy? What kind of place makes you hate life? What kind of people do you like to live around, what kinds of things do you like to do? What do you feel makes a city/area great?

FWIW, PA pretty much has it all, from wooded rural areas to a number of different big cities, so I think where in PA (if PA at all) will depend on your tastes.

This is general advice for whenever you keep banging your head against a brick wall re: anything dealing with gov't.

Contact your applicable representatives. Esp. your House rep. They hire people for their office that are there explicitly to help constituents navigate gov't problems. Sometimes when nothing's happening for you, a call from a rep's office is just the push the relevant agency needs to really start getting things done, because now they know they're being watched and being held accountable. Plus, these agencies are sometimes used to working with these folks and the wheels are already greased for them.

This has worked for my PA mother with tax issues (she was called back by someone working for her rep that explicitly handles tax problems and only tax problems and they got things sorted out), this has worked for my partner in VA when the state tried to pull some blatantly illegal shit with layoffs/firing during COVID because that particular agency was being run like a corporation and didn't want to follow the emergency laws that the legislature passed.

Your reps are there to help you and make gov't work for you. It's what your tax dollars are paying them for. Utilize them.

Good luck!

I lived in the DC area for roughly 20 years. MoCo, primarily Takoma Park & Silver Spring.

NYC is always a good time.

You mentioned Harrisburg. I'm not sure you can get away with 3 days there (unless you go right now for the PA Farm Show, which, if you've never been to it, GO.)

THAT being said, add in a Carlisle day (w/ a nice chill few hours around the lake in nearby Boiling Springs), and/or a nature day at either Kings Gap or Pine Grove Furnace, and you've got a 3-day weekend. (Also, you mentioned Penn's Cave, which is definitely cool, but there's also Indian Echo Caverns outside of Harrisburg/Hershey.)

But, yeah, if you can go this coming weekend, and you don't mind crowds (COVID is still out there; stay protected), I'd recommend doing the Farm Show on Friday, Harrisburg on Saturday, and spending some time checking out the view & hiking a bit at Kings Gap on Sunday before heading back (or switch the Sat & Sun around depending on weather).

Have you been to Baltimore or DC yet?