Maine was made for precisely this. I grew up on a piece of land that contained 8 homes, a central meeting hall and central dining hall, and I was raised in a multigenerational 'commune,' four generations at one time. Family compounds seem very commonplace there.

There was a recent program (not sure if the deadline has passed) that grants $10,000 to people who move into the state and work remotely.

It didnt matter if you were black, pakistani, yankee, gay, trans, polyamorous, jewish, sikh, female, short, tall, disabled, athletic, or red-haired.

In other words - Vermonters treat people as people. Move in, get involved locally, dont try and change the place to be like where you came from, treat others well, and mind your business - nothing else really matters.

If you're looking to move in and insist on legislative changes for your personal situation - yeah, that might fly in Montpelier, but it's not going to work "on the ground," whether you're a Connecticut Real Estate Mogul or a PETA activist or a Fundamentalist theocrat or a White Nationalist or a Progressive Hero or any other brand of Personal Agenda.

Good people are welcome here, and all sorts of people are welcomed regularly. End of story.

And how is that different from being a man and the only available bathroom is for a woman? Or needing to change a baby and the one bathroom with a changing station is occupied? These are "hate crimes?" The world does not exist to cater to your every desire at the drop of a hat. Sometimes you gotta wait for a bathroom. If you can't deal with that, you're not prepared to enter society.

Barn muckers. I live in them all spring.

The question should not be "Who can afford to pay the fine?," the question should be "whose fault is it?"

It is, without a moment's hesitation, the driver's fault - its no different than if they followed a paper road map and ignored the fact the bridge they're trying to drive under is only 6 feet high.

READ the road signs.

Love the old names...Plymouth is "Saltash" and Grafton is "Thomlinson." Brookline, Dover, Peru, Mt Holly, Winhall and Stratton don't even exist yet...

How about the basic "Confront" as a choice - "Hey buddy, whaddaya doin'?"

Bingo. If the barn is in a rural area (likely), there is no town water or sewage, so that means septics and wells for multiple apartments, and that gets expensive fast.

Your Rutland to Bellows Falls line already exists - the Green Mountain Flyer. What it needs is regular, scheduled service.

What in the freaking world makes you think a gps 'announcement' is accurate? Are you that friggin' reliant on technology?

Yeah, that explains it.

And you're 100% sure you hadn't crossed the state line? ;-)

Perhaps their property extends beyond the VT-NY border and they have a choice? Many of the properties there are large and deep.

Contact Frog Meadow B&B in Newfane, and/or the Ladies of the Rainbow in Brattleboro (I believe they're on FB). They would be good sources for local knowledge and performers. (Alas, I gave that kind of job up some decades ago, and I am reduced to wheezing after shaking my belly for 10 minutes now....lol)

Gamma Ray Burst? Much of the northeast was out today.

You are an obsessed, incoherent asshole.

To those new to this lunatics ravings, just click on his name and follow the comments...

Make room in the freezer...

Clearly we live in different areas of the state. Most near me have 8 to 10 units. All arguments to the contrary, the basic fact is: If the state had the rooms, they wouldn't have signed these places up to begin with, knowing what they were like...and none of these motels would have agreed to the arrangement if it meant engaging in a fix-up project they had already decided against doing.

The larger hotels that participate with mixed homeless/tourist residencies are hotels in trouble. No hotel with a vibrant tourist trade participates. They are even reluctant to house temporary construction workers.

Reality Check: Anyone with a nice motel is renting to tourists and has no interest in housing the homeless. There simply are no homeless shelter beds available, especially for families (with a few notable exceptions, which are at capacity.) So the State looks for anywhere they can house people...and this means shoddy motels that would otherwise simply shut down. They're not going to sign up these facilities if it comes with a laundry list of 'code' violations to be corrected at the owners expense. They determined that an available, poorly-maintained housing unit is better than your car. You can make that determination, too.

We are in a period of extremely high stress, anxiety and social change. There is no easy finger-pointing.

Yes, many out of staters have moved in. Many do not understand the local culture, think nothing of dropping $350,000 on a house (because that's a deal where they came from), and expect town, school, and other services to be what they were used to 'elsewhere.' The influx has raised housing prices and put pressure on Town boards to enact 'messy yard' ordinances and engage in expensive infrastructure projects. They dont understand that dirt roads should not be plowed in November with three inches of snow, or that schools are not free day care services and year-round entertainment venues.

On the other hand, my line of work means that I deal with dozens of foodshelves and volunteer-based social agencies: people offering their hearts and time to help those around us. And it's not unusual to find them staffed with people who moved here "from away." They have become the bedrock of many communities, and keep them functioning. Good People, even though they weren't born here. Vermonters in spirit, heart, and action.

50% of Vermonters today were born out of state. Many have adopted a Vermont way of life - some, even more so than those who are here merely as a geographic accident of birth. It has created a unique society of "Farmers with PhDs."

Yeah, I heat with wood that I split myself, hunt, help my first-time-shepherd-neighbor birth her lambs this past spring, grow all my own food, volunteer at local charities, know the best naked swimming holes, share our eggs with the neighbors in return for their hearing my rooster at 5 am, pull people out of ditches, tap 100 maple trees, raise bees, attend congregate senior meals at local churches, and do all the things that many would consider "Vermonty." And I was born in NYC.

Because unchecked, one-party control is not healthy.

A box of shotgun ammo.

Seriously? You're looking at a state where one in four persons is a senior citizen, and who, by and large, have been incredibly active in the small but important local arts, music, and theater communities we have here. I think you can find your quota of rudeness by taking a glance in the mirror.

You must love sugar season...

Deer. I always see remnants of food in bear scat.