[Aylalou]

I think they say it takes two years before you can really call a place home. It takes at least 6 months of homesickness. I love Vermont. I believe that unless you really don't like a place after a while the new place gets better and better.

NYC is hard to get over, but you're still so close to it!

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by Southerner in VT

After moving to Vermont 22 years ago, i was petrified to find out the average snowfall was 220 inches a year. They know how to deal with the snow, the rarely call off school because of snow days... good snow tires on a front wheel drive car will get you anywhere... May i recommend Hakkapelletas, they work the best. And no i am not a tire salesman.... Good luck and enjoy Vermont...

Be reassured Arel - I believe you'll soon find Brattleboro's average yearly snowfall is less than 1/3 of the figure quoted above.

David

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by chaz longue

Be reassured Arel - I believe you'll soon find Brattleboro's average yearly snowfall is less than 1/3 of the figure quoted above.

David

220 inches

Now that would be hard

[arel]

Originally Posted by Sherylcatmom

Arel, I'm so sorry that Sammy is ailing. How difficult so soon after losing Rudy and making a big move. Well, difficult any time, but perhaps especially so now. I hope settling into your nice new place will reduce everyone's stress levels and promote health and healing.

If it does turn out that Sammy has IBD, with or without lymphoma, you may want to check out www.catinfo.org. The cat-only veterinarian & cat rescuer who wrote that site helped me save my Bailey's life when he was wasting away from IBD for 18 months about 6 years ago. (He has not shown a sign of IBD since. I continue to feed all our cats according to the principles described at that site.)

I'm glad you're posting your longings for the familiar former home as well as your positive experiences here. It will be interesting to see what happens as Vermont becomes the familiar place for you, and whether the right job materializes in support of your staying here. Maybe you'll learn whether you're actually a big city person at this point in your life, or whether your wants/needs are less defined that way.

Thanks again for sharing.

I spoke to the vet tonight. He spoke of inflammatory bowel disease, not irritable bowel syndrome. I must have confused the two. I have to do some research on it. He also said that the second ultrasound could not determine whether the problem was that or lymphoma. So the next step is either laproscopic surgery or exploratory surgery. My vet will speak to the oncologist up here (i.e. in South Deerfield, MA). My vet can do the exploratory surgery, but not the laproscopic surgery. Since I am planning to pick up the cats Thursday morning, this presents a big problem for me. I do not want to have to make a second trip to pick Sammy up after I pick up the other cats this week, and I don't want to leave the other cats in boarding anymore than I have to.

I think Sammy's care will be expensive, but he is a sweet cat and he is only 11. Plus I just lost Rudy in June. Thankfully, I now have the money to pay for his treatment. And I am thankful that the vets are finally on the right track in figuring out what the problem was.

I am happy to share my experiences. I am very happy to learn that others are benefitting from what I write. That is one reason I like to write in this forum.

[Asta]

Sorry to hear about your kitty. I went thru a similar episode with one of my cats last year. She had two emergency admissions and spent a total of three weeks at the Emergency Vet Clinic in Deerfield while they were trying to find out what was wrong with her. It turned out to be salmonella poisoning she had gotten when she got into some raw chicken I had just brought home from the grocery store. It was a very trying time for all. She was eventually sent home on lots of meds and IV fluids. She pulled thru and is now back to her old self.

Originally Posted by arel

I have experienced one episode of rudeness from a Vermont driver. She yelled at me, in her New England accent, as I was crossing Main Street. Why wasn't I crossing were I was supposed ta? I mentioned this to a shoe store employee. The employee said the driver was probably a transplant. I mentioned the Vermont license plate, and possibly (I'm not sure) the New England accent. The employee suggested that maybe the driver was from Massachusetts. "We call them Mass holes".

That was probably a local. I do know that they object to pedestrians who pop up in unexpected places. My bf used to get cussed out by the townies because he would just step out into the street wherever he wanted to cross, like he was in the city. One guy even pulled over and got out of his car and tried to make an issue of it. I would cross at the light and meet up with him later!

[MRVphotog]

Yup, to be respectful of drivers you should use the crosswalks. You see, in Vermont most will stop if you jaywalk which can cause a problem for the driver behind that driver who doesn't see you and has no idea the vehicle in front would stop suddenly to let you cross.

I've been told it's not a problem in NYC cause most cars will just run you over therefore no traffic disruption.

[flu189]

Snow accumulation itself is not a problem, it's ice when it builds up or we have freezing rain. Nothing to worry about, because if we get a good ice storm then you just stay home because the roads will just be too much to handle anyway. Pedestrians and cyclists. My experience here has been that just too many of them have a death wish. I know what the law says, but lets face it, there are drivers out there that just are plain dangerous and could not give a crap about these folks. Hence, it pays to to be aware and cautious because irregardless of the "law" you will not physically win in a confrontation. Then again, I have noticed among certain pedestrians and cyclists a certain level of arrogance here also. It's your life at stake, so if you want to play the game then accept the consequences. I learned growing up in NYC to respect the gross weight of motor vehicles and the actions of their operators, therefore I also learned to stay clear and not be an idiot and take chances. Common sense, it does wonders. Unfortunately we can not legislate it into law.