Discover More from This Category: Columns

Best in show

April 20, 2022
By Dom Cioffi Marilu Henner is an American actress with a career spanning over 45 years in motion pictures and television. Her most notable role was that of Elaine Nardo on the hit television series “Taxi,” where she starred alongside Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conway, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Andy Kaufman. While her acting work…

How to spend (or save) your tax refund

April 20, 2022
By Kevin Theissen What are you going to do with your tax refund this year? Through the end of March, the IRS received over 81 million returns and processed just under 79 million returns. To that point, the IRS has sent out just under 60 million refunds checks totaling $188 billion. The average tax refund…

The Rutland County Humane Society needs volunteers

April 20, 2022
The Rutland County Humane Society (RCHS) is looking for volunteers to help with the cleaning of our community cat rooms! Our community cat rooms are a great way for adoptable cats to socialize, and visit with potential adopters, and with the warmer weather comes more occupants! Volunteers need to be 16 years old or older,…

Step outside your comfort zone and shake things up

April 20, 2022
By Cassandra Tyndall A new week arrives fresh from the Libra Full Moon that clashed with powerful Pluto. You might be reeling after the realization that not all was as fair as you thought in a particular relationship. This week, Mercury is active, which offers the chance to think about recent events as well as…

Moguls illustrate how experiences are shaped collectively

April 20, 2022
By Merisa Sherman I cannot pull away. I want to ride Cascade over and over and over again. Ok, alternating with Downdraft. They have been so playful. I could actually feel my heart smiling. So smooth and buttery and beautiful, with a touch of graininess to it. But not that chunky graininess that trips you…

Birds nest using lichen as camouflage

April 20, 2022
By Rachel Sargent Mirus Birds use a wonderful variety of materials and techniques to create their nests. Some nests are small and tidy, like grass baskets lined with cozy feathers. Others are large and messily blobbed with mud. Some species build their nests in trees, some on the ground, and others woven into wetland plants…

Remembering life in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s — before technology

April 20, 2022
By Mary Ellen Shaw I recently came across an online article in which various people wrote about the way they remembered life from the 1930s into the '50s. The general consensus is that everything was a lot more work back then. Today’s conveniences make many of the routine things in our lives easier but I…

 It’s a game of survival for eggs underwater

April 13, 2022
By Dan Lambert  Each year, soon after ice-out, torpedo-shaped fish slip into the lake’s weedy shallows from that offshore zone where the bottom falls away. First comes the female, her flanks green and gold, and her ovaries swollen with eggs. The male swims alongside, alert for an opportunity to mate. Over the course of a…

Real vs. perceived income gap

April 13, 2022
By Kevin Theissen Wealth disparity in the United States is a widely discussed topic but what is actually true? The gap between rich and poor is somewhat different than most Americans perceive it to be.  According to Statista: “Despite wealth disparity in the United States being a much-discussed topic over the past decades, the true size…

A heavy load to bear

April 13, 2022
By Dom Cioffi My wife, son, and I boarded a plane and flew to a Caribbean Island several days ago. We didn’t know what to expect since it was a spring break week, but given that the airport was a zoo, we assumed it was going to be a hectic trip. Thankfully, most of the…

Weekly horoscopes for April 13-19, 2022

April 13, 2022
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="194740" img_size="full" alignment="center"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=".vc_custom_1582852508329{margin-top: 40px !important;}"][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_raw_html]JTNDc3BhbiUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyaWNvbmlmeSUyMiUyMGRhdGEtaWNvbiUzRCUyMm1kaS16b2RpYWMtYXJpZXMlMjIlMjBkYXRhLWlubGluZSUzRCUyMmZhbHNlJTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGc3BhbiUzRQ==[/vc_raw_html][vc_custom_heading text="Aries" font_container="tag:h2|text_align:center" use_theme_fonts="yes"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1568082984251{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}"] March 21 - April 20 [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]You’re craving rest and retreat. In order to get it, you need to tie off loose ends and complete outstanding tasks. As your ruling planet, Mars, prepares to dip into your most private and secretive sector…

Relationships will be under the spotlight

April 13, 2022
By Cassandra Tyndall This week is truly one of the most magical weeks of the year as Jupiter and Neptune join forces in Pisces. You don’t have to be a Pisces to experience the benefit and blessings of this planetary play because we all have an area of life linked to the fishes. In a…

April showers bring May kittens

April 6, 2022
Did you know that RCHS takes in around 500 kittens each year? As it starts to get warmer, the kittens will be here before we know it! Please help RCHS take care of our many new kitten arrivals this season. During the month of April, we will be hosting an online kitten shower! If you…

Colorful wood ducks returning to area

April 6, 2022
By Laurie D. Morrissey I’ve seen all kinds of birds on the wooded New Hampshire hilltop where I live, but never – until recently – a duck. So when I spotted a pair of wood ducks loitering in my yard one spring morning, I reached for the binoculars. A closer look revealed these were indeed…

Where’s my refund?

April 6, 2022
By Kevin Theissen The Internal Revenue Service continues to be backlogged and shorthanded—because of years of mismanagement plus Covid-19 related difficulties. As of last month, the IRS had over 20 million tax returns and correspondence waiting to be processed. Last year there were over 150 million taxpayer calls to the IRS that went unanswered. If…