Anyone growing up in today’s world would be pretty amazed to learn what a person went through to talk on the telephone back in my youth. I am pretty sure they would not want to take a step back in time for that experience. As fond as I am of the “good ol’ days” I…

What do you do when you’ve already watched all the good movies on Netflix Instant? Reevaluate your life, maybe? No, you move on to the digital movie library at Amazon Instant Video. Like Netflix, Amazon.com offers a subscription service for unlimited streaming access to a collection of thousands of movies and TV shows, including its…

By Janet Pesaturo My town had the job of removing a dead beaver from a culvert pipe cage, a rather sad and odorous affair, but also an opportunity. I alerted the usual suspects–there’s nothing like a rotting carcass to bring camera trappers together–and we moved the body into the woods and set up a few…

Do you make your bed in the morning? And if not, do you think you’re a terrible human being? I myself do not make the bed. Since I don’t enjoy doing chores, I do them only as necessary—and making the bed has always struck me as perhaps the most useless of all the prescribed “daily…

Garden State Radio is not only a band not-to-be-missed, it’s a concert experience not-to-be-missed. They play all the top hits and have the best lights in the business. They describe their show as the ultimate experience in sight and sound, an audio visual event like no other. They transform a venue’s atmosphere. Having seen a…

By Carolyn Dean Let’s be honest, with a shortened amount of sunlight and days when the thermometer barely rises above 10 degrees, going outside can be miserable without proper preparation. Dylan Davis, 23 from Butler, Penn., knows this firsthand. He recently was one of nine finishers in the Winter Death race held in Pittsfield, Vt.,…

By Tony Crespi It’s really cold. Really, really cold! My teeth are chattering and my feet feel frozen. It’s just bitter cold out there! Now, understand, a lifetime of mountain escapes and repeated bouts of frostbite, when I worked as a race coach and ski school supervisor, explain the problem. Still, if you are a…

By Dom Cioffi My son’s fifth grade basketball team was just beaten in the first round of the playoffs to officially end their 2014-2015 season. Like all defeats, this one was difficult to swallow. But as any athlete will likely admit, losing doesn’t have to detract from all the great experiences enjoyed during the season.…

By Steven D. Faccio The porcupine is one of the most recognizable mammals in the North Woods. And thanks to its short legs and fat body, it’s also one of the slowest. Of course, a porcupine really has little need for anything faster than first gear, since its quills provide excellent protection from most predators.…

The Godfather of Funk is coming to the Pickle Barrel Nightclub this Thursday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. Don’t miss the first ever appearance of George Clinton in Killington, Vt. You don’t just get George when he plays; you get his whole entourage, and there could be 20 to 30 people on that stage movin’…

By Tom Joyce My uncle Jack warned me to never say “hi” to him at the airport. I asked why, he said try it, I said “Hijack” … oh that old chestnut never gets old. I’m going to go out on a limb and say “Hi Jack” to our guests from Kentucky.  If you haven’t…

There was never a shortage of ways to keep ourselves entertained back in the ‘50s. We didn’t seek expensive options. We made our own fun . . . often for free. Since there were about a dozen kids in our neighborhood, we never lacked playmates. I still keep in contact with several of my childhood…

Nearly four months after the premiere of “Serial,” I finally experienced the cultural phenomenon that was Sarah Koenig’s murder-mystery podcast. A spinoff from NPR’s “This American Life,” Koenig’s project was a 12-episode audio program that reexamined the 1999 killing of a Korean-American high school girl. I’m not a fan of true crime narratives in general…

By Michael Caduto We two-leggeds build inviting habitats and fill them with ample food supplies. We heat these spaces in winter, cool them in summer, and keep them dry year-round. And when our wild neighbors have the audacity to move in, we frequently kill them on sight. My wife and I recently restored an old…

By Dom Cioffi I was in Copenhagen, Denmark, on business this past week. It’s a bustling city, but not in the way Americans think of bustling cities. First of all, because of the economic system that’s in place in Denmark, it’s extremely expensive to own a car (taxes on car purchases and gasoline are outrageous).…