By Dom Cioffi I had the opportunity to eat something bizarre recently when a good friend offered me a handful of chocolate-covered crickets. We were sitting around his kitchen having a cocktail during the Christmas break when he pulled out a small plastic bag. The package was opened, but looked to be mostly full (I…

  By Tim Traver During a mild winter in northern New England, there are those of us who rejoice over our lower heating bills and those who scan the forecast, hoping for cold and snow. In a classic El Niño year like this one, when we often get unseasonably mild weather well into February, there…

I missed Adult Swim’s initial December airing of the five-part miniseries “Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter,” but when I found out that the show was set in Vermont, I hastened to catch up. An absurdist melodrama about a gun-toting, neon-clad vagabond and the werewolf-plagued small town that commissions him as a bounty hunter, the show is…

This week finds me in a contemplative mood, approaching 60 days of skiing (I’d have more, but had to go to my family reunion in Dallas) and having a very good time with Pip the Impaler (my guinea pig), who seems to be settling into a far less aggressive (if still highly energized) role in…

They don’t have revenge on their minds because these Nerds are grateful for the success they’ve enjoyed the past 30 years. This Sunday, Jan. 17, you will have a fun day if you head to the Pickle Barrel to see the Nerds, who are the ultimate cover band. There is not a genre they don’t…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of an Aquarius Moon, with a bunch of aspects that make me feel really good about the coming week. There's a beautiful trine running from Jupiter to Pallas, Mercury, and the Sun, that means we will be doing…

By Dom Cioffi My 11-year-old son has been displaying a remarkable lack of intellect lately when it comes  to money. It all started over the last year when several fateful events brought me great pause. The first “situation” involved an overnight school trip where he was corralled into a card game in the back of…

By Karen D. Lorentz What makes for special vacation memories? There’s no one-size-fits all answer, but there are some fun things to do that might just tip the scales to remember the year when we didn’t have a ton of snow and we skied some and then explored the world of extracurricular fun! Killington The…

By Dom Cioffi For as long as I can remember, I’ve been making and breaking New Year’s resolutions. Every year it’s the same thing: Once Christmas wraps up, and over the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, I begin analyzing what I could do to either improve myself or help others in the coming…

Crow communication is cawfully complicated By Joe Rankin “Caw! Caw!” Every spring we hear it. And my wife says, “that’s My Crow.” It’s apparently the bird’s name. She capitalizes it in her tone. I think she hasn’t bestowed a more formal name because she doesn’t know whether it’s a male or female. My Crow is…

By Brady Crain Pip “the impaler” is Brady Crain’s current pet pig. There have been worse times for Pip the Impaler. Even now, he sits in a pile of hay, giving me his apple eyes, knowing that just beyond his reach is a treasure trove of sweet things: apple, pineapple, and other fruits unimaginable. For…

What kid doesn’t love ice skating? Back in the 1950s our Rutland City neighborhood had a couple of swampy areas that froze over. After a snowstorm the kids would get shovels and turn them into skating rinks. The ice was never very smooth but it served the intended purpose. Neighborhood skating got a whole lot…

Did you hear about the 2,000-person brawl that took place at Kentucky’s second-largest indoor shopping mall last week? A teenage riot of epic proportions, it shut down the Mall St. Matthews in suburban Louisville two hours early on Boxing Day, as local police, responding to alleged gunshots and general unruliness, strove to break up fights…

Submitted Donal O’Shaughnessy You will get more than just music from Donal O’ Shaughnessy when you go see him play at McGrath’s Irish Pub this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. It is a show filled with jokes, stories and both Irish and Folk music. He appreciates when you sing along or even get up…

By Dave Mance III If you’re a hunter who’s ever ordered something from a sporting goods company, it’s probably safe to assume that you’ve been inundated with catalogues over the past four months. God help you if you save your seed catalogues, too. If you take a moment to flip through your now complete seasonal…