Early Autumn in Vermont - Appalachian Gap

As always, clicky the piccy to biggy.


Heading up the gap on Vermont Route 17. Switchbacks ahead.


From the summit of Appalachian Gap looking west. Elevation 2375 feet, or 724 metres. In Vermont, the term "gap" or "notch" is used instead of "pass".




Radio tower also at the saddle.


The challenging gap is popular route for bicyclists. I snapped this brave fellow right before he crested, then he rode back down to his trailing mate to lend some support and crest the gap again.




Another lovely sunset from our third floor window, actually Sierra's room. She has the best view in the flat.

Top Ten Stand-Ins for John McCain at Tonight's Debate

10. A cardboard cut-out of John McCain.

9. Sarah Palin (oooohh, that would be disastrous.)

8. Rush Limbaugh (do people still listen to this douche?)

7. Another Vietnam War POW (because that qualifies McCain to be president.)

6. A Ventriloquist. Is Howdy Doody still around? Someone call his agent, stat.

5. The Ex-Office Humpbacked Grinch.

4. Nothing for #4. Literally. The Empty Seat.

3. Curt Schilling.

2. Jeff Baker, the neo-con who brainwashed me into conservatism all those years.

1. A Rubber Chicken.

Storming the Fort

*added to Doodle Week: Greed - I'm sure you're all ENVIOUS with GREED that I've met the illustrious Claire and Aerten*

Also, read Aerten's account here.

Yes, there is a real photo that this stick figure drawing is based on, but you'll never see it. See, I promised Claire aka CRPitt from A Little Piece of Me that I wouldn't post the photo, but I never said anything about doodling it!

I've been a follower of her blog since June something or other, and when she announced she was coming to America, more specifically the Northeast, I thought there could be a chance that I might meet this lovely English beauty.

She had already planned a couple days with fellow blogger Aerten in upstate New York, as well as some time in Boston, which put her within 3 hours driving time from my residence in Vermont. That was certainly doable. When she mentioned that they would be making the scenic drive up to Fort Ticonderoga in the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain, along the New York-Vermont border, I almost wet myself, putting them 1.5 hours away. Very doable.

I then decided to take a mental day off of work, made the obligatory sick call into my co-worker who would tell my supervisor for me (ah... pressure is off), then it was off to run some errands before we got the text saying meet us there in 2 hours.

Sierra and The Girl accompanied me and the wee one behaved herself very well. We took the fort tour, then wandered around the exhibit, discussing everything from "what would the British side of the history of the fort be?", "but wikipedia is the BIBLE!", my woes of my computer temporarily dying Sunday night (only to spring back to life Tuesday morning), and inevitably Claire's near Liverpudlian accent, which did sound quite akin to that of Sir Paul McCartney's.

After seeing pretty much everything there was to see of this smallish fort, the five of us headed to lunch in the small town of Ticonderoga at a small country diner called The Hot Biscuit for some country home cook'n. Actually pretty good for this sort of rednecky frontier small town of 5167 souls.

Our quick 3 hours had come to an end and we reluctantly parted ways, but our day with Claire and Aerten will not be soon forgotten. Also, I will now be a regular follower of Aerten after meeting her and her very interesting wit and weirdness (I mean that in the best possible way!). All in all it was a fantastic day - the weather was beautiful, Sierra was well behaved and slept all the way back home, and the only downside was losing my computer for the day.












*Ticonderoga was the hometown of one of my first girlfriends when I was 12. I once rode a bicycle that summer the 50 miles all day over mountains along Lake George to Ti in an effort to visit with her. Alas, she was spending the night at her grandparents after getting wisdom teeth pulled, and her parents drove me the hour plus back home to Glens Falls after midnight. It was the same day as SummerSlam 88.

Catching up...

That's what us Red Sox fans have been looking at for the vast majority of the season - Tampa Bay in first place, Sox in 2nd. Personally, I thought they would have started slipping from that number 1 spot back in June before the All-Star break. But it never happened. We had the chance to retake that spot last night with a dead-lock tie for first, with 12 games left to go.

The other day, I actually saw a Tampa Bay fan up here while shopping at the supermarket. I felt like saying to him "SERIOUSLY. You're kidding, right? No - wait, you're wearing that ironically, right? You're trying to jinx them so they'll lose, yeah? No? Well do you remember where you are?" I had to snicker to myself.

Despite the 2 wins, the post-Tom Brady era isn't all that exciting, and one of my 2 fantasy teams has suffered for it, having picked Randy Moss in the first round with the 3rd pick overall. Grrr...

In other news, it's been great getting out of the house for boys night out the last couple weeks. D, who was the best man in my wedding, whom I thought I had a falling out with about a year ago, is now back in touch. Nothing like some male camraderie when you're around a bunch of women all day. Even at work, I only have 2 other males in my department, the other 4 are women, outnumbering us.

Have some random pictures from the last month or so.

Go Pats!

Professional football has always been a part of my life. Sundays on the couch with my dad were the norm in my house as a kid growing up, and throwing the pigskin in our conveniently gridiron rectangular shaped backyard was commonplace. I remember my dad teaching me different passing routes, the difference between an out and an in, a post and a slant, a button-hook and a hail mary. He would bring home pick sheets from work and I would make my picks, usually the favorites because they had a better chance of winning.

Though my favorite teams have changed over the years (Giants, Bills, Packers, and now the Patriots), my love for the game hasn't changed over the years.

This time of year has always been my favorite - autumn's coolness replacing the heat of the summer. Schoolyard pickup games on weekends were a great way to get the guys together and flag football was played in PE. Defensive pass rush counts were heard: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi...

Welcome to the 17 weeks of NFL Football.

PS: Kudos to my fantasy football mate Rob who named his "team 18 and OH NO". I know this Colts fan is snarking on our Pats but it is worth a giggle.

And I Quote... (I)

But the leaders of the free world
Are just little boys throwing stones
And it's easy to ignore
Till they're knocking on the door of your homes

Passing the gun from father to feckless son
We're climbing a landslide where only the good die young
Passing the gun from father to feckless son
We're climbing a landslide where only the good die young

-Elbow, "Leaders of the Free World"

Special thanks to Dawn for the idea for quotable posts.

No such luck...

...for the game running over on time on McCain. That was stitched up quite nicely, it couldn't be more obvious that the NFL and NBC had their marching orders, however isn't it funny how nothing has been mentioned about it? Similar to the ECONOMY NOT being mentioned in McSame's speech? (Yes, I sat through the lameness that was. Clearly I laughed the whole thing off while trying to withhold my contempt for the septigenerian.) But right on for Code Pink for disrupting the speech. Bravo.

Anyhow, WTF Strahan? Has the NFL been taken over by the WWE and/or Hollywood? I have never seen anything like that opening. So surreal. But by far the quickest game I've seen, the time clock seemed to move right along. Shocking.

In other news, with Comcast retracting analog stations off their basic cable (basically having people pay the same for less service as stations migrate from analog to digital - I'm not affected in the living room as I have full digital there, but on the other 2 TVs I don't have digital boxes), MSNBC was removed from analog service. FOX NEWS was not. I smell conspiracy. Comcast, shame on you.

Are you ready for some football?

First, read this.

I sooooo hope tonight's NFL football season opening game goes extra long tonight, thwarting McCain's network manipulating plans to cash in on viewers. So if you're reading, Eli Manning, throw lots of passes, keep it close; Refs, throw lots of yellow penalty flags; and coaches throw lots of red flags for challenge replays. America is counting on you! Defend this country from the right-wing crazies!