I remember one time the snow started about noon. Seemed like every business let out around 2pm, the roads were crazy. I went back to work, put on my headphones and watched movies until about 7. At that point the traffic had died down, the plow crews had gotten a handle on it and the roads were fine, no stress...

So I've got to ask, at what point is it not worth it to make it to winter soccer practice?

I remember lots of times where my dad would be taking me to some extracurricular activity and we'd just turn around and go home "nope, it's too bad out tonight."

I know that winter soccer practice is "important" but not getting into car accidents is even more important.

Nice! I looked at a set brand new last month for $2600...

Same people mostly...

You know what you're interested in, start there.

Volunteering is an excellent way to meet people and do good things at the same time.

There is a kind of person that can't be bothered to do anything for themselves...

It's the crab bucket. Gotta find a way to bring others down.

When I used to travel for work I would search "boardgame group <city name>" very often there would be one in the local library.

If there isn't you could approach your local library and start your own group. This could also work at a restaurant. Pick a day when they aren't particularly busy and ask if you could have a group that day. Monday through Wednesday are usually good choices. Usually the restaurant is glad to have somebody coming around and buying drinks/food during their slack times. Be respectful and don't make a mess...

It very often does. Snowmobilers are the most maudlin crybabies I've ever known and I've been one for 20+ years. The way they talk it'll never snow another flake again anywhere in the world...

Honestly if you want to meet people join the snowmobile club and volunteer at work days. When there isn't snow there is still stuff to do, trails need to be cleared, machines need to be fixed, stuff needs to be moved around. I met my best friend through my volunteering for the snowmobile club and through him I've made a bunch of other new friends.

Don't keep anything of value in your car. A broken window in a car sucks forever

Its not the only way but EVs pay zero gas tax. On top of subsidies from the government...

Not just the potatoes, in early September most of the broccoli eaten on the east coast comes from Aroostook county. The farmer that rents my land farms something like 3000 acres.

They don't plant the same thing every year, this year my land was in oats, last year potatoes. I think broccoli is every 4 years...

Ahh, icicles hanging from my beard, that's a proper winter!

To add: Don't bundle up into your warmest clothes the first time it gets cold in the fall. Your body will acclimate (at least a little) to colder temps. If you never experience cold your body won't acclimate and you'll just be cold all the time.

Once you've acclimated some you'll probably find that you don't need your heaviest jacket like you thought you would.

Finally sitting around and bitching about the cold just makes you more miserable. It irritates everybody around you too.

>There's not a whole lot of horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Ag (like VT); no fields of hemp as prolific as berries in the barrans. Even if ME/Extension were to try and attract farmers it would be a hard-scrabble life. Maine is timber/forestry and most of that land is owned by 2 big outfits.

Never been to Aroostook have you?

Ohhh, that explains why the government has to give tax incentives...

Another point to remember is that currently electric cars are not paying road tax since they're not buying fuel. At some point we're going to need to change that, we can't have a large proportion of our road users not supporting the roads they're using.

Ahh, I only got the headline due to the paywall.

It's still the same same though, mining, Maine, well worn arguments from both sides.

Why are people acting like this is new? The article referenced is a month old, the "discovery" is from last year. We've debated it on this very sub several times now.

Not really, it's NIMBY in action. People want virtue signaling via electric cars, what they don't want is to admit that electric cars are maybe not so good for the environment as they at first appear.

Lithium is largely mind in South America and China. Basically zero environmental oversight...

>It's not great, but over time and use, it could be.

The amazing thing about cast iron. Even cheap crap becomes pretty good over time.

I got my first Lodge pan 20 years ago, it's now every bit as good as some 60+ year old pans I have.

From my experience making taco meat (with good greasy beef) is the best thing you can do for a rough pan. The meat doesn't stick too bad and the grease from the meat gets time to really seep into the pores.

The best cast iron is not thick ass. When you check out really old cast iron you'll be surprised how thin it is. When you tap it it rings like a bell. Modern stuff makes a terrible "thunk" noise.

That said my favorite 2 dutch ovens are really cheap ones. One came from a tool show, the other was a gift. The tool show one was total luck, it rings nice and clear.

How do you know that a given coffee shop is labor positive though? I've enjoyed CBD coffee for years while know knowing anything about their politics or labor relations.

In the end if everybody decided to boycott all Starbucks the employees at the individual stores end up getting hurt the worst because they'll all lose their jobs. The people at the top making the decisions are rarely in any serious trouble if a company closes down.

It's a thorny issue...

Dang.