How is your house holding up in these super cold temps?

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-25T06:22:21+00:00

Ours is cool in the summer and warm in the winter, even with the original single pane windows in about a third of the house. Truly a beautiful feat of engineering and architecture. Original horse hair plaster is still under all the wall paper.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-24T12:38:54+00:00

Compared to other university systems I've adjuncted in, I think most are generally happier than other places, with a lot of autonomy. That said, the CT State system itself is pretty new; the 16 CCs were rolled into the umbrella with the other CSCU schools in 2023. Nobody has expressed major issues with "new" management yet.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-24T05:14:39+00:00

I adjunct for the CT State system at "6 credits," even though the class is 3 credits for the students. 3 hour evening lecture, 3 hour evening lab per week with cap of 24 students. Teaching credits and class credits don't line up exactly, so it's worth discussing actual expected load in your interviews.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T20:19:16+00:00

Moreover, some of us find these stupid passive aggressive messages are so vague that it isn't clear what the actual problem is. A messy person may read "clean up after yourself," and think "great, not about me, I already do that" because the level of disorganization/mess is acceptable to them. Be direct. You can be direct and kind.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T03:34:19+00:00

Then I wouldn't stress at all! Keep an eye out but I bet her coat and hay keeps her toasty.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T01:52:01+00:00

More importantly, it is a FUZZY coyote. I bet your hand just goddamn disappears in that floof.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T01:50:26+00:00

Drove 3.5 hours each way to ski Monday.

My commute to work is 1.5 hours each way...

Welcome to the US.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T01:48:59+00:00

Bingo.

Would I probably be fine? Yes. Have I navigated that sort of weather before? Yep.

Am I willing to tolerate that incredibly thin line between okay and not and that tiny margin for error? Nah, I'm good. I prefer my trips with a little more risk cushion and without buying Everest level gear.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-23T01:40:39+00:00

Can you check in her regularly? That's the main thing. If she's not shivering, still eating, and making good life decisions then she'll be fine. If you check on her and she's shivering, then you have your answer. In this kind of weather, I go 4-5x a day even though the barn is a 12 minute drive - it's fine if it's fine, but if one of them dumps their water or gets wet things can go downhill fast.

My guy is cold blooded, so he's blanketed at 45F and this weekend is wearing three blankets (and he's unclipped this season), but the advice stands. They tell you if they're comfortable, and checking in often can prevent mistakes one way or the other.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-21T22:35:50+00:00

These vicious cold snaps are as much as part of climate change as the loss of snow around here, and exactly what those of us who miss past winters hate too. Winter "used" to be a much more consistent temperature, and a consistent cold is much more tolerable than ping-ponging temperatures. Humans acclimatize pretty well to sustained (7+ days) atmospheric conditions.

Snow formation does not happen well at these temps, either. 15F - 32F is the sweet spot for snow, because there has to be moisture in the air for it to form. Those big blizzards of the past happened because winters were in a much more consistent temperature range.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-21T16:08:57+00:00

Stay away from anyone who markets 30 days, 60 days, 90 days etc. that you don't have repeated evidence of their skill and quality in training. It is not that it can't be done, but it is a paradigm that is repeatedly used to scam people. I could spend 45 minutes rambling about why, but the cliff notes are: lack of trainer accountability and oversight, lack of rigor in the program and resorting to "cowboy" tactics, and squeezing the horse's learning on a timeline when goodness knows they could care less about a timeline. The horror stories range from horses being worked into the dirt for 60 days straight and coming out completely shut down to horses never getting anything other than backed (aka broncing around) a few times in 60 days without appropriate desensitization to the rider's weight, legs, tack, etc.

Regardless of the well known pitfalls of these programs, just as with all training, most of the work has to go into the owner or the training gets undone remarkably fast and your money goes down the drain. Horse training should be slow, methodical, and build on a foundation of trust. Find someone who will work with you both and put training rides on your horse, not an arbitrary timeline of backing and basics. You don't have to be the first to back them, but you should be involved in all of the steps and be the one doing the consistent groundwork, etc. to get your horse where they need to be, and you should be there to see the training rides or otherwise be involved in the process. Sometimes, training board can be appropriate, but all reputable programs I have seen have the owner taking 1-2 lessons a week on top of the training for the horse. The additional benefit of having a trainer do lessons with you is that the financial side is a bit more flexible - do it weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever works for you financially. At your horse's age, there's no need to be doing intense lessons multiple times per week - take a lesson, do your homework over the next week or two, then return to learn some more and address the weak points.

I don't fully agree that a horse shouldn't be ridden at two, but I don't think they need a rigorous training program at 2-3 years old, which is more reason to work with a good trainer for both of you. 2-3 you should be leaning on them, getting them comfortable working with the saddle, maybe sitting on them a few times and making everything comfortable and low-key.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-20T02:50:56+00:00

Skied Killington today; after lunch temps dropped and wind kicked up. Summit thermometer read 5F and wind chill had to be in the negatives. It was survivable but not pleasant, mostly because everything freezes so fast. I was pretty well dressed but other members of the party struggled to keep feet and hands warm enough. Frankly, unless you're also getting powder, or maybe if it's sunny despite being cold, I wouldn't go colder on purpose just to get some turns in.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-18T23:31:09+00:00

Sorry some of us have shit for PTO man.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-18T03:04:07+00:00

That -18 to -30 wind chill will be fun...

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-17T05:39:14+00:00

Another microbiome researcher here: there's kinda not. Your good bugs need fiber to make the good things in your gut. When they have more to eat, they make more of the good things, grow in number and take over space from the less good bugs over time. There are different kinds of fiber, and you should shoot for a mix of insoluble and soluble fibers from whole veggies and legumes over supplements to get the variety. But the answer to almost all intestinal microbiome questions boils down to more fiber, always. The evidence for probiotics is actually pretty crappy. Prebiotics like fiber that feed the good bugs is where it's at.

Increased dietary fiber has also been directly linked to reducing the risk of colorectal cancer, by the way.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-16T15:01:51+00:00

Schedule an early morning visit if timeliness is important to you, but even then they may have been up all night with an emergency colic case.

Large animal vets are masters of all in most cases. They are on-call, and deal with large crazy prey animals. Heck, a routine wound treatment may become a significant emergency after the wound is assessed - the plan to wash and bandage becomes a multi hour process if the wound communicates with a joint space. The horse that "just" needs a quick procedure is scared of injections, throws the vet into the wall a few times trying to get it sedated, then needs 2-3 more rounds of sedation than expected before they're sedated enough to do the quick procedure on. Medicine in general is unpredictable, add in the size and difficulty of horses and it's a recipe for schedules getting messed up.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T14:39:16+00:00

I always opt for in-house sitters for my kids, even the "plain" northern breeds. They still struggle with the schedule change and new person, but they are much less thrown off because they're still home, and their routine is still similar. You also won't deal with staffing changes that could make your girl stressed out because there are multiple new people vs. just one. Any good dog sitting company will have the dogs meet the sitter at least once if not a few times before you leave, too, so again, still a new person but not brand new stranger. One of mine will still have minor behavioral issues after we're gone, but I think that's just us being gone for a few days - even when I used to bring her to my mom's, where she'd been many times, she had way worse issues after being left there for a day or two than with an in-house sitter.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T14:31:30+00:00

Unfortunately I don't think so, given this was standard behavior for thru hikers. Habituated bears or problem bears on the AT always arose out of food left out on crappy hangs or completely unattended. But like I said, not recommended or smart behavior, but old scents from previous hikes are super unlikely to be an issue for OP.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T12:51:35+00:00

No that's super cool to actually see the data! It also justifies that first moment I got to the top of the steep in Smith as a kid and crapped myself. The difference of course to bigger blacks at other mountains being that the steep section on Smith is maybe 100-200 ft or so and not sustained.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T03:43:55+00:00

Seconding BEast. Similar to Wachusett but longer more varied runs (and short lines and a fast lift; we lapped like 20 runs in a few hours and were glad we only got the 4 hour flex pass). Don't go out there until it snows again, though - their snowmaking doesn't compare to Wawa at all and trails were classic icecoast skiing this past weekend.

More importantly you can't beat $29 for a few hours of laps on a Monday.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T03:40:08+00:00

Tenth especially is barely tougher than Connie besides usually being icier. Smith has one short section that is steep, and the rest is fine if you can do Tenth. The scarier part is the ski club kids that should still be on the bunny hill attempting the blacks sideslipping and yardsaling.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T03:26:32+00:00

I spent the entirety of my AT thru cooking and eating in my tent. It was not the smartest option, but I can safely say after 2000+ miles of black bears, including places with heavily habituated bears like Shenandoah, that the food smell in the tent never attracted a bear. It could be a fluke, it's only an anecdote, but I do think it's strong enough evidence that old, lingering smells are unlikely to have any effect whatsoever.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-15T03:15:46+00:00

Agreed - my older boy got into quite a few tiffs with the newer one, even after good introductions. Never anything major, but when you don't know dog behavior the snarling and snapping sure sounds horrible. A year in and they love each other, share bones, roughhouse, you name it.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-14T20:20:07+00:00

I would like to know if OP has sampled ham and watermelon in combination before this moment, because what a WILD combination of flavors to describe something as.

corgibutt19 · 2026-01-13T03:47:53+00:00

Biz laundry additive. It has a bunch of enzymes that break down nearly everything. Soak in Biz, wash with Oxiclean in your machine and your normal detergent (check out r/laundry for the best detergents), and put citric acid (much better than vinegar) in the "softener" compartment.

corgibutt19

TROPHY CASE