Couldn’t agree more. The Oceania expansion with the nectar makes the game so much fun.

Truly beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

Her skill is amazing, and her durability is unrivaled. It’s been a real gift to watch her over the past few years.

Is that a VerMonstera?!

Ooh, next time you're there, post a picture of what's in the Devil's medicine cabinet. I bet he's got the good meds.

Amen to this.

The fact is that you’ll get shit for it from people who are looking for a reason to give you shit, but there’s not always a ton of vitriol behind it. I’d get something like it for being from a different part of the Vermont, were I to encounter a similarly minded person born in the town I moved to almost a decade ago. Tribalism is tribalism.

Practically, this will mean very little to you, particularly if you’re looking at Chittenden County. Chittenden has more transplants and resembles other places a lot more, socially, than most of Vermont, and it’s also where most of the jobs that might bring in someone from all the way out in Oregon are located.

My wife is from New Jersey originally, but always belonged here, even before she moved 20 years ago. If Vermont calls to you, I’m guessing you’ll find a place, too…although I will say that a lot of folks from out west find us nosey, judgmental, and impolite in our directness. And, ya know, being honest, those people probably have a point, but my VT-raised friends who have gone west for any period of time have found west-coast social mores to be more distant, shallow, and impersonal than they’d prefer. See about spending some time out here - especially in the times like right now or late March, when this state is generally considered to be at its least appreciable. If you can find ways to be happy during these times, you’ll be good.

I will give you one piece of advice to avoid raising a Vermonter’s ire, and that would be to avoid the “ya know what you need around here is [insert thing that we actively have resisted]”. As long as you’re asking a question about something we’ll talk your ear off (see: this massive fucking reply), but until a Vermonter personally feels you understand some of their perceived nuance behind some issues, your opinion will be taken as ignorance or out-of-state bullshit. I’ve only ever lived here, but I have a feeling that this is a universal truth that Vermonters just take to an unhealthy and jerkish extreme at times.

Good luck with your move - or not move! Either way, you should come and visit. I LOVE Oregon, and while we can’t match the scale or majesty or your nature, we have a very accessible and beautiful bit of it here. Also, there’s a really similar ethos among the two pretty divergent groups of people (Burlington = Portland, Newport = Baker City, roughly) and if you understand how to respectfully operate in both places the state is really varied and fun to explore no matter where you’re from. Hope to see you around sometime!

>Ahhh, so now you are saying ...

LOL, you've got me now, detective!

You're correct in your assertion, but I haven't changed anything with my argument. Because the candidate has control over who volunteers on their campaigns, and who they appoint to different campaigns. As you so cogently pointed out earlier, the candidate doesn't do all of the work themselves, they have people that they pay as well as people who volunteer their time in support of their candidacy...but in the event that the any of those people fail to meet the standards of conduct set by a campaign, the candidate is responsible for policing those actions. You haven't caught me in a loophole, and I haven't changed my argument friend - I wouldn't vote for a candidate whose volunteers didn't do this, because that candidate is probably terrible at managing the people supposedly working for them - they can't even coordinate volunteers to pick up their own garbage, how are they going to run a government?!

Look, this has been an absolute hoot, but I'm done explaining how electoral politics work. Please ask your civics teacher, or if you're someone who has already gotten beyond the reach of our educational system, volunteer on a campaign. I've done it multiple times over many decades - it's the source of most of this understanding - and it's taught me a lot.

Wrong. These are campaign volunteers who are organized at the behest of the candidate. Just let it go.

If a campaign places a campaign sign on your property, they come back and remove them. There are literally volunteer groups on (well run) campaigns that do this exact thing - usually the same people placing the signs requested online in the first place. Because they are they are representatives of the campaign for which the sign was printed, the understanding is that they will also remove any signs that they place.

The person who posted here is not a campaign volunteer or the landowner, they are a neighbor - a completely uninvolved party. That person has no right to remove any signs from anyone else’s land.

Those signs serve one purpose only, to get them elected. If they think that standing for office here doesn't involve picking up after your campaign, I don't think they have the correct mentality to take responsibility for spending my tax money.

…And yet, my lawn signs were picked up by volunteers or the candidates themselves, as has happened every year for decades. Is it legally required? No. But it sure shows me who gives a shit about Vermont.

The signs didn’t just magically appear, people requested them from or allowed them after an inquiry from the campaign. They DEFINITELY know their supporters eho received them, that’s crucial info. They need to take responsibility for their garbage.

The campaign responsible can - and should - remove them. The last task volunteering on campaigns in my experience has been doing just that, going to all the places you dropped or installed signs and picking them up.

a) You can't remove political signage from another person's property, for multiple obvious legal/social reasons and

b) Malloy deployed massive amounts of signage, and it's his responsibility to pick it up. I hope that people see how much of a shit this carpetbagging loser actually gives about Vermont by seeing him leaving his garbage strewn everywhere across it.

I grew up in Brattleboro, went to school at UVM, and then moved to Addison County, but part of the staff that I help to manage for work now is down in White River Junction...and that place is just different, for better and for worse.

If relocation is a possibility for you, moving close to Chittenden County can often strike the balance between job availiability, social life, and affordability - provided you don't mind driving 30-45 minutes to work every day. For a small state, Vermont is incredibly regional, and the next town over can sometimes feel a world away. Take advantage of that, if you can.

Regardless, good luck finding your tribe and some sense of place - we all deserve that.