#VT – Last month Front Porch Forum gave away 60 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to lucky raffle winners. Today, one of them posted to her Pownal neighbors…
You may be interested in the fun I had with the 12 pints of B & J ice cream I won a few weeks ago:
Jan 16 – Cherry Garcia & Heath Bar Crunch
Jan 22 – FroYo Phish Food & Half Baked
Jan 30 – Friends invited me to lunch; I took dessert, Coffee Heath Bar & Stawberry Cheesecake
Feb 7 – Gave 2 pints to daughter-in-law at my birthday supper
Feb 13 – What a Cluster & Boston Cream Pie
Feb 22 – Gave last 2 to g’son, who’s favorite is Cherry Garcia
What if we all kept ice cream diaries?
#VT – Lots of great discussion of various online tools today at the e-Vermont workshop in Randolph. I was blown away by first-hand accounts of Moretown citizens responding to Hurricane Irene, as well as the folks of Westford self-organizing a food shelf to help neighbors in need.
Vermonters have so many digital media tools in the toolbox from which to choose. That said, I’m partial to our Front Porch Forum for many applications. Apparently Doris in Argyle, NY feels the same way (from her current posting)…
Thanks to everyone who posted or emailed info about the Pleasant Valley public hearings, which my husband will attend tonight. I was pleased to see that Front Porch Forum published the info in a timely manner.
It occurs to me that one week of following FPF has given me more positive information and ideas than several years of trying to negotiate Facebook. With Facebook I have struggled to figure out who is seeing what information and I have not gleaned much of anything from a world of “friends” except for gossip and a lot of negative interaction. So, goodbye Facebook, and hello Front Porch Forum!
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this bit about Twitter… just in fun, of course…
Update: And from Carrie in Argyle…
Doris, I agree…been thinking the same thing about getting rid of facebook. I love that the FPF news I hear is local!!! I feel so much more connected.
I think this is a FIRST for Front Porch Forum. Posted by an FPF member in Burlington’s Old North End today…
This morning, at about 1.30 a.m., my husband and I were ripped from coma-like sleep by a loud distress sound. It sounded like it came from about 250 feet away, somehwere on the eastern part of Walnut, up from Dot’s Market. The sound didn’t vary much in pitch. For about 15 minutes, we lay in bed speculating about its its source.
“I think its a possum or something. Perhaps an animal in a have-a-heart trap?,” speculated my husband.
“No, I think it is a seagull. I bet its trapped in a dumpster or garbage,” I offered.
In his boxers, my husband left the house to help the poor animal. He was back shortly after, with the sound was still carrying through the whole neighborhood.
“Not a seagull, Val. A mammal. A **very happy** neighbor.” To maintain the G-rated spirit of Front Porch Forum, I will proceed by referring to the sound sources as the”trapped seagull” and the “seagull rescuer,” who was clearly already on the scene before my husband and I thought to help.
Trapped seagull: I am happy for your late hour pleasure. I know this won’t be an issue in 4 weeks when we have to sleep with our windows closed, but it would be neighborly if you didn’t broadcast your coital bliss over such a wide distance.
Seagull Rescuer: Trapped seagull is not being honest with you. If a seagull were trapped for that long and were forced to give out a distress call at the volume for such a long time, she would, in real life, perish of exhaustion. Only in the movies do seagulls maintain that level of pleasure at that volume for 45 minutes.
Then again, maybe the rest of us are doing it wrong and seagull and rescuer are on to something. Perhaps we can knock on their door and ask them next time we are treated to their pleasure sounds?
I’m shocked that John Stewart would cast aspersions on our omniscient corporate overlord. How dare he! It’s imperative that we all march lock-step into Facebook’s warm embrace.
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
The Anti-Social Network | ||||
www.thedailyshow.com | ||||
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Posted on FPF by Susie in South #BTV today…
My lovely, large and luxuriant kitty, Dulce Meow, has been on a diet for months and is getting even LARGER! If you see her on the street and she begs you to buy her an ice cream from the Good Humor man (or woman), please don’t do it. If she shows up at your doorstep and convinces you that she is starving, don’t believe her, SHE LIES! Dulce has a very compelling look in her large green eyes but you must refrain from feeding her, please, not even a small treat, SHE IS NOT PREGNANT!
Thank you in advance for your help. She’s a sweet, very fat, kitty and I want her to live a good long life.
Your neighbor, Susie
Speeding cars and dog poop. We see postings on those two topics nearly every day in one neighborhood or another on Front Porch Forum. Well, at last, thanks to a fast-thinking Massachusetts woman, we may have a single solution (Burlington Free Press, Oct. 6, 2010)…
Belmont, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is facing assault charges after Belmont police said she hit a motorist in the face with a bag of dog feces.
Police said Tuesday that the woman, whose name has not been released, admitted tossing doggie dung at the drive because she believed he was speeding.
The woman was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, vandalism to property and disorderly conduct. No arraignment date has been set.
Lauren Ober blogged today on Seven Days’ Blurt…
O. N.E. Cat Snatcher on the Loose – From the Bureau of Are You Friggin’ Kidding Me?
According to Front Porch Forum, there’s a cat nabber on the loose (pussy pillager, perhaps?) in the Old North End. Read on to hear the tragic tale of Beansie, stolen right out of his own yard.
SEEKING FLUFFY ORANGE CAT STOLEN BY WOMAN IN PINK
Wed, 15 September 2010Around 1:30 Tuesday afternoon, Sept 14th, a woman wearing a pink sweatsuit was seen entering my yard and stealing my large, soft, long-haired orange cat, who tried to resist. The woman was then seen trotting down Blodgett Street to North Street carrying my kitty. She is identified as white, approximately 5’5″ tall with brownish hair, stocky build, wearing pink sweats. My kitty, Beansie, is 6-years old, may have some Maine Coon cat in him and weighs about 14 lbs.
There’s a $200 reward for information leading to the safe return of my beloved cat.
Please spread the word! Thank you!!! And thanks to all my wonderful neighbors who are helping!
First, let’s talk about how it’s sort of amazing that this woman in the pink sweatsuit could jog down the block carrying a 14-pound cat. I couldn’t jog down the block without or without a squirming cat. Second, let’s talk about how Beansie put up a fight. Good for him. I hope he scratched the crap out of the pink sweatsuit lady. Meow!
If anyone has any info about Beansie or the thief, contact FPF or the Burlington Police Department at 658-2704.
UPDATE, 9/17: We’ve received word that Beanzie the cat has come back.
BEANZIE appeared on my doorstep this morning and seems fine overall, slightly stressed, but very happy to be home after his ordeal. We figure he either escaped or was let go by the woman who took him after a high profile neighborhood effort to find him.
Thank you to all who sent good vibes and/or lent a hand in the search for Beanzie!
Thank you Front Porch Forum for providing the means to get word out fast. And extra special thanks for the incredible outpouring of support and help from friends and neighbors on Blodgett, North, Pitkin, and Strong Street, my incredible and dedicated co-workers at Champlain Housing Trust, and the many small businesses on North Street who will be getting more of my patronage in the future!
p. s. Many thanks to the Burlington Police Department, and especially Officer Navari, who showed compassion and diligence while investigating a few leads to try to find the Cat Burglar in the North Street area. Beanzie and I are very grateful!
Oh happy day!
I haven’t laughed this hard in awhile. From Matt Gang in Burlington’s Old North End tonight on Front Porch Forum…
Free toaster
Are you tired of your trust worthy toaster, tirelessly toasting your toast to the desired toastiness? Boring!!!
Are you ready for an adventure? My toaster won’t let you down. You won’t start every morning with loud expletives and a smoked filled kitchen, just enough mornings to keep you constantly paranoid, and your neighbors heavily invested in fire insurance. Yes sir, the folks at Silex Proctor really broke the mold with this one. This toaster doesn’t view it’s temp. dial as an order, more as a suggestion. Sometimes brown means it will burn your bread product to a point that would require dental records for identification. At other times brown means the moment after you exit the kitchen, it will fling the still white bread into the stratosphere. Sometimes brown means that it won’t even accept the toast, preferring to make a loud buzzing noise whenever it’s overly sensitive lever is depressed.
I’m sure that at this point most everyone is just waiting for information on where to pick up this little beauty, but my conscience requires me to unearth a few of it’s less redeeming qualities.
This toaster is possessed by several malignant spirits.
It may be a portal to hell.
It cannot stand bagels, british muffins, or any other bread products come to think of it.
It can shoot flames as far as it can hurl fiery hunks of crust.Please, please, please, take my toaster. I’m afraid of what will happen if I throw it out. Don’t tell it that I wrote this.
The urge to build community with those nearby is a strong impule for many people… and lots of folks seem to realize that neighbor connection has declined. Friend Nik just shared this blog post from Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. He calls it Cheapatopia.
Congratulations to the eight winners of the Front Porch Forum raffle to celebrate Lake Champlain’s Quadracentennial. Here are their entries and the event to which they won a pair of tickets…
Thanks to our sponsors: Higher Ground, Burlington International Waterfront Festival and Burlington City Arts! Learn more about the Quadricentennial at http://www.celebratechamplain.org
And here are many of the other entries. Thanks to all who participated.
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more