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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Carnival

Carnival

In between #Zentangle lessons,
It's good to try some images,
Glimpses,
Places,
Situations,
Determination,
Color,
Contrast,
And
Incorporating
The Zentangle lessons,
Reflecting current
And
Past events.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Tommy POD #7

Tommy 

POD #7

(Monday, yesterday, was Post op day #7)





He is gradually becoming more himself.
He had 8 teeth pulled last Monday.
So glad we did it and are thankful for the veterinarian supports.



Monday, April 6, 2015

Gaz, nG, proposed Addison County,Vermont #fracking Update

An email came  through about the proposed pipeline.
It held a copy of a letter to the editor by a neighbor.
It says a lot.


Update to the Update..

I posted a letter here and then was notified that the wrong letter went out.
As an updated letter appears, I will post it.

Meg

YouTube link The Mountain


Great song.

Written by and performed with
Steve Earle

Del McCory et al... 


This link on YouTube...Great photos to show a glimpse.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter 2015 alt. Happy #Easter2015

Hippety, Hoppitty, Easter's on its way.

That's all I could think of.
Wait...

Here comes Mr. Cottontail, Hopping down the bunny trail...

Spring should be here by now.
It was spring like Friday,
Then yesterday, a crashing cold front.

Turned my mood introspective.

Easter is not about the weather,
Or bunnies.
It's not about the candy
Even though it helps...

It is about the Golden Rule, truly a universal value.
It's about resurrection,
Rebirth,
Renew,
Spring,

Where Love is everywhere.









Saturday, April 4, 2015

A letter I found to myself

I found a letter to myself,

or I suppose to anyone who might stumble onto it.
It is dated in the future,
how strange I did that.
guess I did it that way so I could cool off.
Oh I am cool, alright.
here it is,
more perhaps to follow...

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

To Whom it May Concern,

Regarding Property Taxes on a 48+10 acre property with homestead
located in Monkton, Vermont, 
where family settlers relocated to
over a hundred years ago.
In 2009, the Town of Monkton attempted to sell a tax lien on our property.
This would have made someone else own our property.
Our property taxes were less than one year late
In the greatest depression we have suffered.
We ended up having to pay 12 thousand dollars that year plus ads, legal costs and penalties and interest. Oh yes, and humiliation and shame at so many people knowing or thinking they know our business.
I am a woman landowner. The Town of Monkton never notified me.
They thought my husband, whose Dad just died should tell me the bad news.
I have been verbally attacked in the town hall by a town official.
No one believes or cares.
When I raised questions of how they selected our property 
they themselves said only certain ones were selected 
but that is because they decided that.
When I asked for how they contacted me they said they didn’t have to.
They all voted together except one, abstention. Not one person in eleven felt I should have been notified. Not one person in eleven thought 
There was anything wrong with trying to sell our property in less than a year property tax delinquent. Even though that may have caused our bank to foreclose. And take more away.

I cannot waste any more of my finite life fighting these people.
The next victim I pray, will be a stronger soul, not battling MS, not afraid to death of courtrooms.
The next victim, I pray will enter the town office will say, “I am proud to be a flatlander! I was born in a city! I was a Tiger in high school, a champion of the debate team! Aggressive pushy lawyer, your worst nightmare to avenge Mary!”


Thursday, April 2, 2015

#fracking Gaz, er nG, er Gas updates

#Fracking

is outlawed in Monkton, Vermont, US

#Gaz #Pipeline in #AddisonCounty Vermont, US

is strongly opposed by myself and and large number of Vermonters
In fact so many that (believe me, small town) Monkton, Vermont, US Banned Fracking....

Oh yah, nah nah nah, 
you didn't ban the pipelines,
suck it up,
smell the gaz?

Enough of my rants.
Here is a summary of the press I could manages to save. There are hundreds of emails I cannot get to. Gas leaks, land takings, intimidation by corporations, being ignored by politicians, unconcerned with one, this time it happens to be me. 

A Great letter to the editor:
from the addison ind. shared by friends of mother earth...

Posted on March 23, 2015 |
By Stephanie Kaplan and Annette Smith



Vermont’s scenic beauty has always been highly valued both by Vermonters and by visitors to our lovely state.
In 1968 Vermont banned billboards to prevent the despoiling of Vermont’s landscape. And when Act 250 was enacted a few years after that, it included Criterion 8, which prohibits commercial or industrial development that would create an “undue adverse impact” on the scenic or natural beauty, aesthetics, historic sites or natural areas.
In 1986, the Environmental Board convened a group of people with expertise on aesthetics to develop an objective way of evaluating what is an “undue adverse” impact on aesthetics and scenic and natural beauty.
The result is the “Quechee Analysis.” It has been used to evaluate aesthetic impacts in dozens of cases by the Environmental Board (EB), Environmental Court (EC), and Public Service Board (PSB) and upheld by the Vermont Supreme Court (VSC) over the last three decades.
The Quechee Analysis has two steps. The first is to determine if a project will cause an adverse effect on aesthetics. If the impact will be adverse, then the second step involves addressing three questions. The impact will be undue if any one of the questions is answered in the affirmative.
One of the questions is whether a project would offend the sensibilities of the average person. If it is so out of character with its surroundings or significantly diminishes the scenic qualities of the area so as to be shocking or offensive to the average person, the adverse impact is considered undue and a project is denied. The EB explained the purpose of this provision: Criterion 8 was intended to ensure that as development does occur,?reasonable consideration will be given to the visual impacts on neighboring landowners, the local community, and on the special scenic resources of Vermont.
The VSC has consistently upheld the EB and EC decisions on aesthetics that applied the Quechee Analysis.
When the review of telecommunications towers and large-scale solar and wind installations was transferred from Act 250 to the PSB, the law required the PSB to give due consideration to some of Act 250’s criteria, including Criterion 8 on aesthetics.
In the past, the PSB’s interpretation of the Quechee Analysis was consistent with that of the EB in ensuring that development did not degrade Vermont’s scenic views, including those enjoyed by neighbors.
For example, in a 2001 case, the PSB denied a wind tower, ruling that “because … the Project will be in the direct view of the (neighbors) from their home and will significantly diminish their enjoyment of the scenic view from their home … the Project will be offensive and shocking to them and to the average person in a similar situation.” In denying the project, the PSB accurately applied the Quechee Analysis as established in legal precedent. The decision was upheld in 2002 by the Vermont Supreme Court.
But, the PSB no longer considers the interests of neighboring landowners. Every decision issued by the PSB on solar and wind projects has dismissed the interests of the neighbors, ruling that because they are most likely to be affected by the project, they cannot be considered the “average person.”
The PSB’s finding is especially nonsensical because in order to participate at all, neighbors must show that they have a particularized interest that is greater than the interests of the public at large. But then the PSB uses that particularized interest to ignore the neighbors entirely.
Thus in order to be able to participate in the proceeding, neighbors must prove that their interests (e.g., views) will be affected, but then because their views are affected, the PSB says that their interests (e.g., views) should not be taken into account. They base this absurd reasoning on their made up notion that a person who is directly affected cannot be the “average person” that the Quechee Analysis considers.
Although the PSB says that it applies the Quechee Analysis, in fact the PSB is completely ignoring long-standing legal precedent.
The PSB is also contradicting the EB and its own precedent by ruling that municipal zoning ordinances do not constitute clear written community standards for purposes of the Quechee Analysis.
In its zeal to approve every single telecommunications tower and renewable energy project in the state, the PSB is fabricating its own interpretations of the law regardless of the standards of the local community and it is allowing the scenic beauty of Vermont — that was so carefully protected over so many years — to become degraded.
Vermonters can speak to the House and Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committees at a public hearing on renewable energy siting on March 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Statehouse in Montpelier. Please come and let legislators know that protecting Vermont’s scenic beauty is important and that communities and neighbors must be a respected part of the process in the development of new utility infrastructure.
Stephanie Kaplan
Calais
Annette Smith
Danby
Stephanie Kaplan is former counsel for the Environmental Board. Annette Smith is executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment.

Regulators weigh penalties....huh? How much does a penalty weigh? Pints a pound the world around?

from the digger:


from the addison independent
the governor is grilled for supporting pipeline through addison county


Whaddaya mean, they knew about the costs estimate price of the propsed pipeline?


Regulators review...


a few more...


vtdigger.org
State: Vermont Gas Mishandled Price Estimates From The Beginning
Vermont's Public Service Board is considering a $35,000 fine for Vermont Gas Systems because of the company's handling of major cost overruns that ...




vtdigger.org
State regulators weigh penalty against Vermont Gas
Eileen Simollardes, a vice president at Vermont Gas Systems, testified before the Public Service Board on the company's delayed announcement of a ...



Ok...That is all I can handle. 
Hope for Spring soon...
meg






Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The Fool

Who will protect the fool?



April' Fool's Day

Are you the fool?
Or
Are you the fooler?

Just fooling around,
For April fools day.


This fellow,
 the discoverer,
May be mistaken for a fool.
Really he is a sophisticated traveler,
Looking at the new world he found