The houses on my road of nice nosy neighbors were watched by someone looking for a target. One of the grandmas called the cops on a twenty something stranger skateboarding up and down our very rural road. He wasn't one of the neighborhood kids and not really the right age bracket for random skateboarding trip down our road. He wasn't breaking any laws so they just talked to him. Turns out, he was caught a few days later after burglarizing a house in another neighborhood!

We lucked into a rescue of what I now believe to be the best dog breed ever imagined. We could not have been luckier. The breed info on petfinder said gordon setter, the breed info from the rescue said Burnese mountain dog, the vet thought GSD mix, but no, a fancier of this breed saw us on the street, ran up to us and asked if we knew what we had. I said "a mutt?". He replied, "No you have the best dog in the world." Quite rare in the US, the hovawart is shaped a lot like a golden without the shedding problem. They come in black, golden, and black and gold. They are very handsome, home oriented dogs, love children, love other dogs, are intelligent, and very, very calm in the house. Our dog is fun loving and joyful without being wild. The only minus (and some would think this good) is that he has an incredibly deep bark. It is startling. There are a few breeders of this dog in the US. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/hovawart.htm

The Montessori catalog For Small Hands has some. http://www.forsmallhands.com/kitchen/baking/oven-mitts

I live in the western mountains of Maine. Subarus are the car of choice here (or a giant Ford 150). We have a Subaru Outback and a Honda Accord. The Subaru is hands down better than the Accord (of course the Honda is only front wheel drive) though the Accord does okay if we go really snow and have snowtires (we like the Blizzacks). We drove the Subaru in a blizzard with 8 inches of snow on the road a few years ago and it was a trooper not a slip. I did slip on black ice going around a corner at the speed limit (didn't realize it had iced up) before I got my snow tires on my Subaru. AWD is not the most important component when encountering ice. Good Snow/Winter tires are what make all the difference in icy conditions. Snow tires are often poor at handling wet roads though which is why we tend to wait so long before putting them on (hence the slip) and take them off as soon as possible in the spring. The Honda is already over 200,000 miles and on track to last longer and have fewer mechanical problems than the Subaru though.

I would say wool, especially that provided by a small farm. There are life cycle analyses of these things, but they don't always look at all the variables. Like water and energy consumption but not persistence in the environment (problem with all plastic products). In the end you will have to decide which of many issues is most important to you: using the yarn that results in the lowest pesticide use, using the yarn that results in the fully biodegradable products that will not end up in the diet of a sea animal or invertebrate (as plastics break down into microscopic bits, some are ingested by invertebrates), using yarn that takes the least energy to produce, or using yarn that takes the least water to produce (and was the yarn made in a water rich area or a drought prone area?). http://envormation.org/environmental-footprint-of-clothes-and-comparison-of-cotton-and-linen-flax-fabric/ http://www.woodguide.org/files/2014/07/LCA-textiles.pdf I don't know how much a possibility this is for knitters as opposed to seamstresses, but deconstructing already existing clothing and turning it into something new seems a very good environmental choice.

There are some chime alarm clocks. They are expensive. http://now-zen.com/

My husband wore a bolo tie to our wedding.

This year's favorite: Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery. A biography about the first woman to complete a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail at 67 years of age.

I live very close to Gould Academy. It is a good, small boarding school, but not in the league with Andover or Holderness. It is set in a charming rural town in the mountains very far away from any metropolitan area. They have a strong focus on skiing. In the depths of winter (January and February) , the area can have temperatures down to negative fifteen or so, especially in the mornings and there is plenty of snow. On the up side for some of the Chinese students who go to my son's school (not Gould) this area has pristine air quality.

Things we are good at: Bar rags for cleaning and hand wiping in the kitchen. (However: Do use a few unbleached, recycled paper towels for bacon grease, homemade fry grease and cat and dog barf.) We both work at home. No gas for commutes. We save up errands to reduce trips into town. Buying mostly clothes that will eventually biodegrade. Avoiding plastic based clothing (no polarfleece, polyester, spandex, etc) except we do continue to use what we had before we made the switch. Eggs from our own pastured chickens so no packaging. Composting or feeding to chickens all food scraps. Using a funnel to get the last bit of katsup etc. out of the bottle. Do not use fabric softener or dryer sheets. Gave up soda. Use stainless steel water bottles and lunch box containers. Line dry clothes when weather permits. Use reusable bags when shopping. (Except I always forget to bring one to Rite Aid? Why just Rite Aid? It is a weird mental block). Shop at the local farm stand when in season to avoid packaging. LED bulbs except in my "mothing" lights on the back porch. Hand tools in the kitchen. No KitchenAid, no electric can opener, no coffee maker, etc. Choosing items in glass instead of plastic even when more expensive. (e.g. buying the smaller glass jars of pasta sauce rather than the larger plastic ones. No, we don't make our own. But I am sure we should. Experimented to see the what the smallest amount of laundry detergent, dish soap, etc. was that still got the job done. Buying in bulk when it reduce strips to the store and means less packaging. What we really need to do: Get off catalog and organization mailing list to reduce the amount of junk mail that comes to our home!!! Use the 1000 paper grocery bags we have in the basement for "dry" trash (saving the plastic bag just for things like cat barf and mopped up cooking oil). Buy more things made in USA. Bring the reusable bag when I go to Rite Aid! Get a reel mower for myself only. (We had one, which I loved to use, but my husband managed to cut himself badly on it once and it "disappeared").

I haven't noticed any smell with Arm and Hammer Sensitive Skin Laundry Detergent. It is in a white bottle.

My daughter chews gum to reduce the nausea.

Really investigate the property tax situation in the areas you are considering. When people mention "high taxes" it means vastly different things in different areas. In an affluent suburb like Sudbury where my friend lives, a three bedroom two bath two story ranchâ€looking "colonial" on an acre can cost you $16,0000 a year in property taxes. (This is why I never complain about my property taxes to anyone in the Boston or NY suburbs). Otherwise, it really is a fabulous place to live. Very intellectual. Full of history and museums and natural areas. The people are reserved so they never bother you, but if you need help they will be there.

I've only had this one 6 months, but it is incredibly sturdy, made in the USA, and opens with very little effort. At $9.99 plus shipping it is worth giving a try. https://www.lehmans.com/product/grip-handle-can-opener

I am so sorry about the school. If it is any consolation, moving (which if I remember correctly you would have to do for her to attend), even when it is for a great thing, is really rough and now your family won't have that stress.

Oh, the former President of the Maine College of Art just became the president of the Pacific Northwest College of Art, maybe there are or will be similar merit aid programs there.

The difference between an art school and a university offering a degree in art B.A. or B.F.A. according to the schools we have toured seems to be that in a university the student will be taking about 50% of their coursework in art. In an art school it is generally 75%. Maine School of Art (MECA) has a merit scholarship program for between $8000 and $18000 a year for all four years that is based on academic performance in high school. Of course, the total bill is around $40,000. The University of Southern Maine has an accredited BFA and just opened a game design program which includes animation and it is not super expensive as universities go. MCAD in Minneapolis has a strong animation, graphic design, comics, game side to it. It is pretty expensive. Savannah College of Art and Design is supposed to be a leader in the animation/design area. Some of best animation and design schools are probably in Florida or California, but my child is not interested in going to either of those states so we haven't checked them out. You may also want to see if the schools your child is interested in (art school or university with an art department) is accredited. Also watch out for for profit art schools. A lot of the "Art Institutes" are for profit schools. http://www.allartschools.com/art-school-accreditation/

Number one: Encouraging a sense of wonder. Rachel Carson puts it best: "One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" I also would emphasize the experience of the beauty the world has to offer before getting into the horrors. (So beauty in elementary, early middle, problems/horrors in late middle and high school). Yes, we can turn to Rachel Carson on this one too: “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.†Again Rachel Carson: “Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.†Number Two: Direct experience coupled with nonfiction books written by experts and with literature. So go outside and observe ants then read some of E. O. Wilson's books or articles on ants. Go to Chitradurga Fort in India; read the section in the Mahabharata about the dangerous giant Hidimbasura who, legend says, lived there and caused havoc. Observe spraying in nearby agricultural fields and read Silent Spring. Constantly discuss facts and issues with your children in a challenging way, encouraging them to hone their thoughts and not rely on sloppy thinking or pure emotion, and to look for more information in books written by experts (or by attending lectures by experts or by corresponding with experts or by listening to poets or storytellers). (You would have to specify that long distance and international travel, while great, is not a requirement or risk turning off those for whom such travel is unaffordable. Much can be done with local travel, attending festivals, and use of museums).

NPR BBC Education articles in the Washington Post Science Times section of the NY Times

E. O. Wilson, professor of biology at Harvard, has done a lot of work on the evolutionary role of tribalism. His conclusions are not accepted by the "selfish gene" tribe of biologists, but his work makes sense to me and will probably spur more research in the future. And here he is in a popular magazine: http://www.newsweek.com/biologist-eo-wilson-why-humans-ants-need-tribe-64005 His book is much clearer than this short Newsweek article. https://www.amazon.com/Social-Conquest-Earth-Edward-Wilson/dp/0871403633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477619492&sr=1-1&keywords=the+social+conquest+of+earth

Silk long underwear would probably be most comfortable seeing that college students spend time outdoors on their way to class and then time in heated classrooms. It is also thin and more comfortable under clothes. L.L. Bean, Cabelas, and Lands' End carry silk long underwear. The pointelle style does not snag or run.

Just saw in my facebook feed that Stars Hollow is based on Washington, CT. So there you go! http://www.npr.org/2016/10/22/498745463/ahead-of-revival-gilmore-girls-fans-descend-on-the-real-stars-hollow?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2048

To understand where your dh is coming from read Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Robin. When you and your husband work, you and he are trading your life energy for money. The things you buy with this money should be life giving goods (food, housing, clothes, heat, etc.) or goods worth the sacrifice of your time (education, practical car, etc.). If you start to see material goods as "costing" a certain number of hours from your lives, you will begin to put a lot of them back on the shelves. E.g. $15 beeswax candles = 30 minutes of dh life energy. https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0143115766/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476801308&sr=8-1&keywords=your+money+or+your+life For practical advice look at The Simple Dollar blog archives. Here is one of several getting started posts: Here is a good starting one: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-10-core-principles-of-the-simple-dollar/ Here is a link to his frugality archives: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/category/money/frugality/

Proprioceptive motor disorder? The sensors in the joints, muscles, etc. don't communicate well with the brain so there is lower awareness of where the parts of the body are relative to each other and where they are in space. Symptoms include: Sensory Seeking (pushes, writes too hard, plays rough, bangs or shakes feet while sitting, chews, bites, and likes tight clothes) Poor Motor Planning/Control & Body Awareness (difficulty going up and down stairs, bumps into people and objects frequently, difficulty riding a bike) Poor Postural Control (slumps, unable to stand on one foot, needs to rest head on desk while working)

My state, Maine, has had an influx of Somali refugees as well as refugees from other countries into the Portland and Lewiston areas. Though not everything has been completely smooth, people are especially proud of how Lewiston has modeled a successful transition for the refugees and has brought them into their community and learned from them. A lot has been written on it, but I think this simple piece about how the French speaking Somali and Congo refugees have helped revive the traditional Franco American culture of Lewiston epitomizes the kind of synergy that happens when people welcome others into their communities. I am a Mainer who would love our state to accept more refugees, especially from Syria. http://www.pressherald.com/2016/07/31/when-cultures-click-it-could-mean-a-renaissance-for-french-speaking-in-maine/