Merry Christmas, a little late, but the sentiment is just the same. The day after Christmas is needed just for some time to gather some thoughts and write them down. I really needed some thinking time this year and it has been so hard to get lately. This is my first chance to get my …
Author Archives: Ed Pirie
Navigating Through Medicare and Medicare Advantage Choices
Oh boy, I have set a daunting task for myself here. If you are like me and using Medicare, then probably starting this past summer, your mailbox, email, and phone have been deluged with offers and outright annoyances from Medicare Advantage plan providers. My call block list on my phone has grown astronomically and I …
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Another battleground: education
School is where I learned to think. It is where I learned to look at information, knowledge, struggle with problems, and try to make sense out of it all. No one told me how to think or what to think, but they gave me the opportunity to use my mind. Sometimes the problems were very …
Veterans Day/Armistice Day and my Uncle Grover in the A.E.F.
I did a little research to find when Armistice Day became Veterans Day. President Eisenhower signed a proclamation in 1954 officially changing the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day. The first Armistice Day was celebrated on November 11th, 1919 in recognition of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I on the …
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The Two Parties Are Killing the Country
Both the Democrats and the Republicans have changed positions of power in our government several times since the end of the Clinton presidency. Both parties come into power acting like they have this huge mandate behind them – they have not had this or even close. Think back to the presidential election between Al Gore …
The “Not” Morning News Programs
Am I the only one that is noticing the folks on the morning news programs never shut up? There is no conversation, just noise. They talk fast and often, piling noise on top of noise, and usually they do gang pile ups of noise, just ceaseless noise. Sometimes I think it is not humanly possible …
We are in trouble…I’m not exaggerating
First of all, let me preface this piece with a disclosure. I do not identify with either political party, I am not a Democrat and I am not a Republican. I like to do my own thinking and I will be damned before I will let somebody do my thinking for me. I like to …
Vermont Baked Beans (because I said so)
Ok, a bit of a departure here for me, but it is the time of year when baked beans are very popular, at least with me. My grandmother made baked beans and always brought them to every family gathering. I loved them, and I asked her to teach me how to bake beans. I wanted …
Lost Valley
During the “war” my grandfather bought an old Vermont hill farm in Washington. Gas was being rationed and it took more gas to go to his camp on Joes Pond so the hill farm in Washington was a good option, at least for him, and later, for me too. This hill farm was soon for …
Something I Have Noticed About Rural Vermont (and I am a lifelong Vermonter)
We all like and enjoy the pastoral and country images that are brought to mind when we think of rural Vermont. For years, publications like “Vermont Life” and “Yankee Magazine” have depended on all the enjoyment their readers got from the simpler, peaceful, and nostalgic way of life these images have conveyed on their pages. …
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A Vermonter Writes - A Pathfinder 