Vermont-alicious BINGO! Lizzieh is the winner!!

[backafteradozenyrs]

A second double-day for me, woo-hoo!

I'm up to 7/10.

I bought one of theses for $9 when we got our Keurig:

http://www.amazon.com/Ekobrew-Refillabl ... B0051SU0OW" target="_blank

The Sound of Music is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE movies!

[geekishly]

up to 5/10 after being away a few days!

[nachosmiley]

Hooray for coffee! That has brought me up to 4/10! Getting exciting now ladies a few are quite close

[rcperryls]

Coffee brings me up to 6/10. I keep thinking I need to get one of the Keurig coffeemakers. If I win this Bingo that might be an omen??? Whatever, I love the photos and the information. What a lovely place the Lodge is nestled in. This Bingo really makes me want to visit Vermont. Tiff, you should let the Vermont Tourist Department (or whatever its called) know about your Bingo. They could hire you as a consultant!

Carole

[Lizzieh]

Wow I've got 8/10!

[LadyS]

Loving all the info, but no numbers for me today. 4/10

[tiffstitch]

I'm sorry, but I can't put numbers up today, in the move I've lost a vital part of the bingo, but it should show up tomorrow!!

and sorry!!

[rcperryls]

Considering all that you have been and are going through right now, I imagine we can cut you some slack. For me, the longer it goes on, the later I have to deal with losing

Carole

[tiffstitch]

Thanks Carole! And thanks for your comments. I do love this state, it's been wonderful to be able to work here the last 9 1/2 years, even with all the ups and downs.

[tiffstitch]

Today's numbers are 2 and 35.

2. Champy: the Lake Monster of Lake Champlain
http://www.lakechamplainregion.com/recr ... arch-champ" target="_blank

Champ (or Champy or Big Rem) is the local legend of Lake Champlain. There have been over 300 reported sightings, so does this purported monster exist? Some people believe Champ might be related to the pleiosaur from the Jurassic Period. There are ancient tales of Native American tribes describing a "horned serpent" that lived in Lake Champlain. The creature was called Tatoskok.

There were some rumours that Samuel de Champlain had seen Champy, but it turns out he described something up in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Therefore the first "modern" sighting of Champ occurred in 1819. Captain Crum claimed he saw a black monster about 187 feet long with a head resembling a sea horse that reared 15 feet out of the water. The Captain gave a rather detailed description considering he admits the creature was 200 feet away.

The next major sighting was in 1873 by Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claiming he had seen a "gigantic water serpent about 50 yards away". Mooney claimed the creature appeared to be 25 to 30 feet long and he was so close he could see white spots in the creature's mouth. And for you Nessie fans, this story pre-dates the Loch Ness sighting by 60 years!

In 1873 there were so many reported sightings, including one steamship (W.B. Eddy) running into Champ, that P.T Barnum offered $50,000 for Champ's hide, although there were no takers.

There have been numerous sightings on and off over the years, even in the 2000s, but none as famous as the "Mansi photograph" from 1977.
The doubters claim that part of Lake Champlain is only 14 feet deep, so how could a large sea monster even swim in that shallow an area. But who knows?

In 2003 the Fauna Communications Research Institute recorded echolocation in 3 different areas of Lake Champlain and could not identify the creature that made the noises. They appeared similar to a Beluga whale or Orca, but no known animal makes the echolocation noises the FCRI recorded. The scientists believe that any creature capable of making these sounds must have an advanced brain, which would rule out a pleiosaur. Although if the creature has lived in a dark region of Lake Champlain for thousands of years, perhaps it adapted.

Here's another photo of Champ:


35. Maple syrup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup" target="_blank

Maple syrup is commonly made from sugar maples, red maples, and black maples. It can be made from other maple varieties, but is less common. In cold climates these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter and the starch is converted to sugar, then rises as sap in the spring. Maple trees are tapped by boring into the trunk and collecting the sap in metal buckets (usually). The sap is then evaporated down into the more concentrated syrup.

Maple syrup was first collected by the indigenous people of North America. European settlers quickly leaped onto this idea and refined the process. Quebec is the largest producer of maple syrup in the world (75%), with Vermont way down on the list at 5.5%. There are different grading systems depending on where the syrup is produced. There's a Canada scale, a U.S. scale, and a Vermont scale.

The main difference in scales is in Canada they use numbers and have subdivisions in each of 3 numbered classes, and in the U.S. they use Grade A or B. Grade A is subdivided into 3 other classes and Grade B is what they call "cooking syrup" and has a very strong taste. Vermont uses a slight difference in their grading and generally has a slightly higher standard of product density. There are minutiae about the grades if you're really interested, but the Grade AA or Light Amber (Fancy) is the lightest, then medium Amber and dark amber in Grade A.

Taking a trip to a sugarbush (sucerie) or maple syrup production farm can be really fun in February and March. You go to the sugarhouse and can enjoy some fresh maple syrup on pancakes, waffles, you name it! The best is to pour some hot maple syrup on snow and you end up with this kind of taffy almost.. delicious! The local fair pours hot maple syrup over ice, and it's almost as good. "Sugar on snow" it's called. Although it does compete with the maple cotton candy... yum yum!! (we get both)

Maple Syrup competition


Sugar maple with buckets


Sap coming out of the tap

[LadyS]

Hope the move went smooth!

I got one today, so 5/10.

[socialsue]

6/10 so far. I got one today!

socialsue

[Ketta]

Up to 8/10..because who wouldn't put maple freakin' syrup on their list? Stitchers, if you haven't ever had REAL maple syrup, you absolutely must. I never had the real thing until a few years ago when I first got into making jams and jellies and I tried a few interesting and tasty recipes...and I'll never forget it. NOM!

[rcperryls]

Ketta, we really are very close in the numbers we chose. I love Champy. Do you think he is related to Nessie? And I also agree that anyone who has ever tasted REAL Maple Syrup would have to put it on their list. I never had any from Vermont, but when I went to school in Wisconsin I did have some a very too few times. Doesn't come close to Aunt Jemima's or Mrs. Butterworth. So I am now up to 8/10 also. Getting down to the wire.

Carole

[backafteradozenyrs]

Maple syrup was also on my list so I'm at 8/10. Some of us are getting very close!

[nachosmiley]

Maple syrup wasn't on my list Would love to try the REAL deal at some point!

Champy on the other hand was on my list So I'm now half way on 5/10!

Good luck to all who are close now

[Lizzieh]

There seem to be quite a lot of us poised on 8/10

[Squirrel]

I agree about the real Maple Syrup, as I tried some when I was in La Veta (Ohio) many decades ago and still remember the taste. What is in the shops is but a very poor relation.

Now up to 6/10 -I think.

[Squirrel]

I agree about the real Maple Syrup, as I tried some when I was in La Veta (Ohio) many decades ago and still remember the taste. What is in the shops is but a very poor relation.

Now up to 6/10 -I think.

Tiffany - you really are amazing just moved house and still keeping up posting the numbers. Thank you for your efforts and all the wonderful info about Vermont.

[tiffstitch]

Let's see if today's numbers get anyone a little closer to bingo!

Today's numbers are 12 and 31.

12. Wild Turkeys (in Vermont)

By the late 19th century so much of the woodland of Vermont had been cleared, several species of wildlife had completely disappeared, including wild turkeys. Considering how many people think of Vermont as more forested than some other states, think of how it might have looked if over 75% of the forests were gone, exactly what happened over 100 years ago.

The woods were allowed to grow back over the next 50 years, and in 1969 biologists trapped 31 wild turkeys in New York state and brought them to Vermont. As the birds had offspring, these offspring were then spread around the state. Vermont's wild turkey numbers in recent years have topped 50,000 birds! It's very common to see turkeys near the highways and roads, although they mysteriously seem to hide out in May (turkey season).

Thousands of turkeys are captured or killed every May, but many hunters go home empty-handed after trying to pit their wits against a wary prey with eyesight about 10 times that of humans.

From personal experience, there were 3 or 4 rafters (or gangs) of turkeys, so around 60+ birds, that were getting corn in the fields I drove by in April, but come May, you couldn't see them anywhere! There's a short turkey season before U.S. Thanksgiving at the end of November as well, but the long season is in May.

My dad worked on a turkey farm many years ago and used to have a collection of turkeys from special edition Wild Turkey whiskey, so I've always been interested in them, and if you've never seen a turkey fly, it's a strange experience. It doesn't seem like they should be able to since their bodies are so large, but they can fly short distances.





31. Champlain Valley Fair http://www.champlainvalleyfair.org/" target="_blank

The Champlain Valley Fair has been around over 90 years, although it has changed considerably in that time. It started out mostly as an agricultural fair, but now has rides and some pretty high dollar music acts (Justin Bieber) and others. Over 300,000 people visit the fair annually which makes it one of the biggest events in Vermont.

The midway has rides for children and adults/teenagers and of course games to win stuffed animals. There are exhibit halls for art, photos, and crafts, as well as a small stage for local talent and there's usually a hypnotist and a juggling act (The Mills Family). Not to mention all the agricultural events.

There are judging of all kinds of animals, llamas, oxen, rabbits, horses, sheep - with shearing demonstrations, and of course cows - with milking demonstrations. Then you also have the food and flower competitions, and a pine tree judging contest as well as a bonsai tree competition! You almost need more than one day to see everything.

As I mentioned in another post, there's a sugar shack with lots of maple goods, maple cotton candy , sugar on snow, maple bread, maple sugar and of course maple syrup. You can also find a lot of little shops with tents that sell almost anything you can think of from lawn tractors to jewelry.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the last 2 years:

Oh, I forgot to mention the sand sculpture!