My friend Jeff called me soon after we finished Town Meeting on Saturday, telling me that a reporter from one of the Portland TV stations wanted to do a story about the effects of poor internet on small businesses and small communities. They wanted to interview him and a community member or two in about an hour. I agreed to do it as I’m the VP of our nonprofit broadband utility district (which has yet to get off the ground …
Month: March 2023
We had the annual Town Meeting yesterday, here in Liberty. It’s one of my favorite community gatherings. If you’ve never experienced a New England town meeting, it’s the closest thing to true democracy you’ll likely ever see. Every town resident has the opportunity to comment on absolutely anything on the agenda (and we had about 30 items, which is typical). Every line item on the town budget, the performance of local elected officials, and any number of other topics are …
The topic of snowplowing came up a few days ago in a work meeting with a client in southern California, where they were getting snow for the first time in about three or more decades. I jokingly offered to put my “snow rig” on a trailer and send it out to him. As I told that story later to some friends, they asked about my “snow rig”. Here it is. My tractor is a 40 horsepower John Deere 4044R, a …
It’s March 2, 2023 and we’re getting another round of snow. That’s a picture of the exercise “studio” I built over the summer and fall, from a shed I had built and delivered. At 10′ x 20′, it’s a bit larger than the sauna (8′ x 16′). Both of these buildings have their electricity supplied by the six solar panels on the roof of this building, which drops to zero on a day like today. But the buildings can go …