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Around the Bend: House cooling plans full of hot air

Posted on June 6, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



Last Saturday night, during a period of heat-induced delirium, I briefly reconsidered my longstanding opposition to air conditioning.

My inner stoic Vermonter says A/C this far north is a sign of weakness and a waste of money. True, I am not stoic by nature or a Vermonter by birth, but I still believe artificial cooling is for sissies. Just Saturday afternoon, in fact, I had been bragging to a friend that our bedroom is always cool enough for sleeping, even during heat waves.

I swear I never heard the minor piano chords threatening in the background.

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Around the Bend: Keeping it simple, the hard way

Posted on May 23, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



Seven years ago, my husband, Mark, and I impulsively bought an old farmhouse, with land and a couple of barns. We set out to fulfill our dream of “the simple life”: tending animals and growing our own food.

Yes, we are idiots.

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Jessie Raymond: The waiting game can take its toll

Posted on April 25, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



The other afternoon I found myself standing next to a lovely young woman. She wore a flowing ankle-length skirt and an expression of pure contentment. Her languid movements and placid countenance reflected the soul of a person who has transcended the pressures of daily life and found a space where time has no meaning.

I wanted to kick her in the shins.

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Around the Bend: Bring on the zombie apocalypse

Posted on April 11, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



I know zombies are hot in popular culture right now, but until Sunday night, when I caught part of a Discovery Channel documentary — with the not-at-all alarming title “Zombie Apocalypse” — I had no idea that zombies posed an actual threat.

The zombies I know from TV, movies and video games are undead humans who stagger around looking for live brains to eat. They don’t generally move very quickly or with much precision and their enunciation is poor at best. But what they lack in agility they make up for in perseverance.

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Around the Bend: Vicious turkey is a sign of spring

Posted on March 14, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



Did you notice anything different about last weekend? If you’re like me you stepped outside, detected a change in the air, surveyed the layer of grime on the colorless landscape and thought, “Ah, it’s springtime in Vermont.”

Isn’t it beautiful?

I’m not saying the daffodils are up or that a reasonable person would take off their snow tires just yet. But for me the weekend marked an unmistakable turning point in the seasons.

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Around the Bend: Internet overload calls for timeout

Posted on February 28, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



I love the Internet. A lot. If it dispensed food I’d never leave the computer.

But it’s time the Internet and I took a little break.

Things were better years ago. Every morning, I’d fix a cup of coffee and sit down to read my email, pausing only to let the dog and cat in or out 10 to 20 times. (For you young people, “email” was a popular thing before Facebook. It was a handy method of communicating — privately! — with people you knew in real life.)

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Around the Bend: Signs of aging are hard to see

Posted on February 14, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



A few months ago, I found this tidbit on the Internet:

“As people age, the lens of the eye becomes less elastic, losing its ability to focuson objects up close. This process, called presbyopia, is a natural part of aging, and affects nearly everyone over the age of 40.”

“Yeah,” I said when I read it, “maybe everyone over the age of 40 who isn’t awesome. But not me.”

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Around the Bend: Laundry proves to be a monster task

Posted on January 31, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



Occasionally, such as when I am cooped up inside for most of the month of January, I get an uncontrollable urge to clean. Usually, if I just take a few deep breaths, the feeling passes in a minute or two. But sometimes I can’t help myself. This past weekend, for instance, I cleaned out the laundry room.

My inspiration? The Sasquatch standing in the corner.

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Around the bend: Holiday brought full range of stress

Posted on January 3, 2013 |
By Jessie Raymond



As it is, I get pretty stressed out around the holidays. So, had I been able to choose the optimal time for my kitchen range to burst into flames, I would not have picked the week before Christmas.

It’s a frantic time of year anyway, when I get so distracted that I do things like forget appointments and put the Kleenex in the fridge and the milk in the linen closet. But this year was particularly crazy.

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Around the Bend: Miracles can happen on a budget

Posted on December 20, 2012 |
By Jessie Raymond



There’s a little something making me happy these days. I call it the TSM. And I’m not talking about the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. In my world, TSM is short for Thrift Shop Miracle. I experienced one just a couple of weeks ago.

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