Fancy News - Adoption Fees Waived at Springfield Vermont Humane Society!

Need a cat?

They're giving them away without an adoption fee for a few more weeks at the Springfield animal shelter, here in Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons.
They have a select group of great candidates cats at the shelter (802.885.3997), who are all ready for new homes - these cats are all neutered, housebroken, and well-socialized.


There is another good reason today to free up space at your local animal shelter by adopting a rescued pet, because there are people in as much personal distress now, as a result of the quiet calamity that is our economic collapse, as there ever were from the natural disasters that have tested our security net in recent years. As happened then, people now are forced to give up beloved pets as they find themselves downsizing and moving about in unsettled times, searching to find a place to live on shrinking incomes.
Their pets deserve a place to be received as surrendered pets, but the capacity of places like TARPS (in Chester, Vermont) and of the Springfield Humane Society to accept these casualties is limited, depending not only on donors and volunteers, but the ability to take in new animals depends also on freeing up space by finding new homes for good pets. The only way to make room to help people forced to surrender pets, is for people to consider adopting another pet from TARPS or from the Springfield Humane Society, where they have been screened, neutered, brought up to date on their innoculations, etc, and where they have been observed and cared for by dedicated and professional staff and volunteers.


The reader inclined to do so should just go ahead and get a cat, or a comfortable pair like Ethan and Allen. Think about it, formulate a few questions, call your local shelter about it, and when you are ready to meet a new pet just go have a visit, sit with them and see who comes over to say hello. But don't wait too long, cats like Ethan and Allen don't grow on trees.


At least one friendly female of about 1.5 yrs old did get a new home yesterday!

A Beautiful but Erratic Haying Season in Springfield, Vermont?

The gradual emergence of an inopportune New England Monsoonal period is a major annoyance for local farmers who have every day counted in the brief but boisterous New England growing season.

The rainy weather in late Spring and early Summer raised Cain with the local farmers here in Springfield, Vermont, and in the region generally.
They needed enough sun for the succession of harvests to mature properly, and the lack thereof has affected the hay production for everyone - disaster looms.


Even the casual observer sees that the new-cut rows have this time no deep green shadows, and that the otherwise thick and sultry Summer'y air in the vicinity is not rich with the freshly mowed lawn perfumes of a countryside tamed to service or to beauty.

Climate Change? VT Viticulture? Just Ask a Farmer - Fancy News

When the local farmers here in Springfield, Vermont, begin one by one to adopt the change-over from traditional Vermont crops like Christmas Trees, to crops more suggestive of a mediterranean clime, when they invest in introducing new crops like the venerable and ancient Vine, one has to ask one's self - "are we not then beyond the question and into a phase where Climate Change is a fait accompli?"



This new vineyard was planted this very Spring, as soon as the ground was soft and ready, off Scenic Rt. 5 in Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights - and, Official Home of the Simpsons. Bacchus would be proud, Pan would leap to the merry dance, and the wood nymphs would wake from their sleep for real.

From Springfield to Brattleboro - more than a simple jaunt but not quite a staycation.

Scenic Vermont Rt 5 offers delightful simple pleasures when driving for the hell of it South of Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons, and with the promise of all that is exotic in a city like Brattleboro, Vermont, waiting to entertain and delight, who could resist a motor excursion with camera in tow?

Stopping along the way one has a fine view of the full and slow Connecticut River, in Putney, Vermont.

In Brattleboro, Vermont, the San Francisco of the East Coast, the busy crowds of shoppers and tourists fill the hilly sidewalks, a veritable parade of fashion and style. One might ask, is there more than one individual in this crowd wearing a sensible cardigan, in the first week of July? The answer would have to be a resounding "Yes!", there is nothing quite like Nature's Own Air Conditioning!



Visit Vermont Today!


Have-a-Coffee-Why-Don't'cha?

Time to buy eggs again

And what a nice store to patronize, there is nothing like a dozen of fresh, real eggs, from one of the local farms here in Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons.

Pellet stoves - handsome and cozy alternatives to burning oil

Just a note to say what good service and delightful entertainment the Mt Vernon pellet stove has given.

The figures for last Winter's heating season were an eye-opener.
Burning hardwood pellets, the pellet stove saved way more than half the usual consumption of heating oil - (the pellets were by Lignetics, merely adequate, but this year our trusty heating contractor HB Plumbing and Heating advised us to use their selection, a much cleaner looking soft wood pellet from Canada).
The actual pellet stove of course is the late 2008 Mt. Vernon by Quadrafire, a peach of a machine to be sure, but with the expert installation and advise and follow-up and other benefits of buying, installing and servicing locally - in this case entirely through the heating experts at HB Plumbing and Heating - it has turned out to be a pleasure to operate and live with, and not just during the cold weather.
The generous proportions of the window and the attractive overall design of the Mt Vernon make a very dynamic and captivating display of Fire when in use, to be sure, but the machine is perfectly handsome just sitting there during the Summer, topped with a cat or a potted plant or some other table top arrangement.

If you are reading this post because you are considering the purchase of a pellet stove in the area of Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Official Home of the Simpsons, then it would behoove you to call Brian or any of the other capable people at HB Plumbing and Heating and ask them about the deal they have right now on one pre-owned late model Mt. Vernon pellet stove, that is probably a very good deal. Apparently it was only used for a few weeks, and it is ready to provide toasty service in a new home. It is offered at a discount, and of course the buyer would be well-advised to let the people at HB take care of the installation from start to finish, as they know what they are doing and they have very good experience with these complex but effective and esthetically pleasing electric appliances.

Update - a brief explanation of what it is to be a pellet stove, in Castillian, for a reader in Spain, who asked perhaps because his home heating bill has become a pain, on the plain, in Spain.

Me pregúnta un interlocutór hispanoparlante, que ¿que es lo que es un dicho "pellet stove"? Y para explicarlo en algo, doy aqui una explicación básica:
El pellet stove es un electrodoméstico de calefacción suplementál, en algunos casos principál, a base de un combustíble abastecido en forma de trozos uniformes de fuel natural, producidos principalmente de leña, pero tambien de otros productos de agricultura.
Es la forma de utilizar la leña para producir el combustíble, lo que le da el nombre a la calentadora de "pellet stove".
Esto es porque lo que en un principio es leña, ha de convertírse en pedacíllos uniformes, para poder ser parte de un systema muy controlado de dar fuego. La lenya puede ser cualquiera, limpia claro, pero la hacen serrín y de serrín le hacen una tira comprimida con forma de lapiz, a base de una maquinota en un taller. Entonces, al salir de la maquina rompe naturalmente - en trozos de uno a dos centímetros de largo nada mas, perfectos para abastecer la tolva y de alli la hoguera.
Estos trozos, los mismos pellets, ya llegados al hogar y llenados en la tolva del pellet stove, van entrando en el area de combustión de la maquina, donde siempre hay un cristal para ver la hoguera - hoguera pequeña pero divertida, y mucho mas potente de lo que se presenta, Esto porque el electrodomestico esta hecho de tal forma de que extrae tanto calor de la combustión y la tira al hogar tan efectívamente, que lo que es el humo que sale afuera tiene apenas suficiente calor para poderse volar y escapar.
Para controlar la combustión de combustíble, hay pellet stoves diseñados con un ordenador propio para mejor mantener y utilizar el aparato, otros simplemente usan un termostáto u otro sistema sencillo.
Siendo aparatos electronicos, y siendo hogueras a leña, precísan cierto nivel de mantenimiento, facil de aprender.
Casi mas importante es el diseño y la instalación del electrodomestico, y por eso es imprescindible, al buscar y comprar un pellet stove, de hacer el tramite en todo caso através de un proveedór de servicios de calefacción, ubicado en el area, y muy conocido.
Entonces, el comprador hace bien enterarse de los miles de productos llamados Pellet Stoves, atención a las marcas que prefiere el profesional de calefacción escogido, pero también atención a lo que es un pellet stove en sus diferentes aspectos, para mejor entender la compra.
Se ve que cuanto mas caro el aparato, mas exigente es de instalación y mantenimiento, y mas hay para fallar y reparar, pero tampoco vale bien comprar un pellet stove primitivo. Lo mejor es buscar un pellet stove con un conjunto de puntos de control suficientes como para no enrabiarse durante un Invierno frio. La compañia www.quadrafire.com tiene una linea de pellet stoves con buena fama. Igual la compañia New Englander, conocida por pellet stoves mas sencillos o economicos.
Se dice mucho de que es preferible nunca usar como el combustible ni maiz, trigo, ni otras semillas o cascaras de nueces u otros residuos agricolas (como de las piedras de cerezas, almendras, y melocotón), apesar de ser todos muy populares como combustibles en pellet stoves diseñados para acceptar tanta variedad de combustible - todos preparados para forma trozos semejantes a los pellets ordinarios.
Esto se dice porque los demás pellets, ninguna de ellos de leña de alguna clase, son muy sucios al quemar, y requieren mas mantenimiento del pellet stove.
Entre lo que es el pellet normal de leña, hay simplemente dos clases, hechas ó de leña tipo softwood, ó de hardwood.
El pellet tipo softwood es preferido porque es el que mas energia rinde con menos ceniza, y au.
www.hearth.com es un foro de conversaciónes activas con temas incluso de muchos aspectos de calefacción alternatíva y a base de leñas y otros combustibles no petroleos, la conversación es a base de en inglés, pero lleva mucha información útil.

New Mac! - Fancy News!

It's a Mac!

The new Mac has arrived at Center of Operations, www.springfieldvermont.org - this, despite the best efforts of fedex to spoil the moment.

Kudos to Apple - at the first sign of a wrinkle not only did they get on the horn and make the system work, but they even credited back a friendly $um. The Mac is hard at work even now, yes here in Springfield, Vermont, USA, Official Home of the Simpsons - promising to enable for many, many years to come.

Por fín, y gracias a la casa Apple y a la Mágia, ha llegado el ordenador Mac nuevo, llega apesár del mal servicio de fedex. Se habla mucho de lo que paréce un ordenador Mac tener un precio elevado, en comparación a lo que es un ordenadór sub-normál. Pero hay que ver, que con las garantías que lleva cada instrumento de la casa Apple - Mac, con sus inumerables detalles supérbas, con la calculación del bajo costo de tener-lo durante los muchos años que durará, es una ganga, una ganga nivél mundiál.

Quien compre barato, compra dos veces, y quien compra un Mac, compra una vez.