Episode Dec 1, 2017

December 1, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss who’s listening, an impromptu tree cutting competition, a holiday “hanging baby” theme, the Barbie sleigh, the rites of cutting doll hair, strange bacteria-ridden reservoirs, the imagined genius of Mattel scientists, scary plastic chompers, a new practical application for White-Out, hateful teenagers, the ins and outs of internal bleeding, expired IUDs, the menopause conspiracy, the relationship between wild horses and your emotions, whether or not periods are disgusting, secrets of hat size revealed, learning how to be normal, rediscovering the many uses of laminating plastic, how to get on your happiness arousal, putting jockeys on draft horses, placing projects on a pedestal, a complaint about John’s unconditional love, losing the incentive to “look good”, when to let go of being “cute”, panic in front of the mirror, ageless aging, buying ten men’s shirts, analyzing the thrift store smell, the bad juju of Goodwill, understanding “pong”, looking for pockets of cellular perfection, uncovering your inner “bingo-wings”, a deep dive into Amazing Grace, strategies for swallowing horse pills, possibly finding appreciation for the hurdy-gurdy, whether or not Eli should be taught to warm up the car, the bygone days of learning “stick”, whistling noses & snorting, another mystery cat throw-up event, a joke about germs, how to fake laugh, perfecting the female “I’m harmless” laugh, the fine art of taking responsibility for the insensitivity of others - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Ariel Zevon [Digitize My Heart]; Robert Resnik [Copshawholme Fair]; Libby Kirkpatrick [Now].

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts or Youtube, or tune in Fridays at 11 am to hear this show live on WFVR-FM South Royalton, Vermont 96.5 FM, streaming online and rebroadcast at Royalton Community Radio. Made possible in part by generous support from station sponsors Howvale Farm, The Tunbridge Grease Collective and the Mountain Folk Concert Series.

Episode Nov 24, 2017

November 24, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss buying candy by the bag, food as an answer to our problems, a flak jacket metaphor, kids throwing up in the car, the terrors of 5th grade dances, reflections on the law school parking lot during Thanksgiving break, conjecture about the cat, the great domestic book cleanse of 2017, going deep with a plethora of information on horsemanship, one man’s propensity for tearing the pages out of books, a possible future for John’s handmade postcards, telephone logs as works of art, pen hoarding, parsing the difference between DWI and DUI, the best kind of intoxication, an imagined invitation to Willy Nelson, thinking up other cool stuff, butt savers, praise for the generator low oil shut-off mechanism, too many gas cans, too few gas stations, toughing out the holidays, a bad joke about Netflix, scraping the barrel for good Christmas movies, doing craft work in bed, a cheesy Windsor, Vt. ghost story, connecting the spelling word dots, Emily’s off-the-cuff analysis of Kristina’s childhood, the return of the pint-sized fraternity mascot, mis-translations of the French word “esclave”, an update on the Schwan’s truck, debunking recent pronunciation changes for astrologers, choosing dreams over delusions, coming to an impasse, dragging Kendra into it, more on zits, remembering & appreciating well-behaved men, the complicity of bystanders, the deconstruction of a fallacy surrounding the phenomenon of male arousal, feigning sleep as an evasive maneuver - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Robert Bryant [Farther on Down the Line]; Michele Choiniere [Esclave a L'amour]; Davey Huckett [Emanuel Cathedral Montreal].

Episode Nov 17, 2017

November 17, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss a great hat, solutions to life’s problems, a psychic prediction of falling firewood, taking a road trip alone, whether or not to like November, the appearance of a mysterious plastic facsimile of Ronald Reagan, making happy space at will, gum removal & public chewing, a cheese fantasy, over-thinking your illnesses, cultivating an exaggerated fear of flu, hairy moments with Pluto, pulling off the highway at the US candy bar capitol, an evil gas pump disaster, John’s questionable car, when waves overtop the ferry, a mini review of English slang, unfair spelling challenges, why your adult children hate the holidays and what to do about it, learning how not to ruffle feathers, the fallacies of Dinosaur Divorce, a short analysis of what insults are made of, refashioning Thanksgiving, eliminating neediness, a story about “Hair”, overdoing thankfulness, the particulars of Emily’s mutant nose, a visit to a hipster bowling alley-restaurant combination in Trumansburg NY, driving with a 91 year old, class issues at the Yacht Club, ponds vs. streams, when to wear your pajamas out in the world, more on the proper contents of & novel uses for chest freezers, a depressing realization about bird feeders, true confessions regarding long-winded guided visualizations, a spontaneous admonition to avoid complexity and simplify the brain’s work load - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Davey Davis [Hard Tellin’ Not Knowin’]; Carl Goulet [Greenville Trestle]; Spencer Lewis [To All Fathers Missed].

Episode Oct 27, 2017

October 27, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss a false fake-out, a dearth of tiki torches, feeling dark & creepy, taking a measured approach to sour milk, the not-okay-ness of chewing tobacco, reminiscing about freezer lockers at the old Chelsea General Store, the “white turkey” phenomenon, planning a trip to the gun store, a fond nickname for Dick Upham, the dead battery situation in Barnard, our soulful connection to Scandinavia, being lured into the velvet gypsy fortune-teller’s tent, a disappointing lucky day, losing a house to foreclosure, a fishy conflagration, not being able to afford justice, getting chummy with the child support judge, the root of Kristina’s sports-aversion, the mystery of the Iroquois, making time to meet Willie Nelson, a witchdoctor journey, new uses for the common egg beater involving a power drill, a quick assessment of “kink”, the backstory on moths, a humane modification for bug zappers, people-pleasers & the laws of fatal attraction, the dangers of spruce gum, imagining a vegetarian chicken-pot-pie, saying no to washing pots, the soothing zen of running water, weird sponges, confronting Sriracha sauce, Emily’s complicated texture issue, getting good results out of a messy, organic process, supermarket phobia, the ins and outs of family-participation in an Amazon shopping cart, ordering shepherd’s crooks online, John’s Halloween-themed naked lady purchase, revisiting the Haunted Forest safe-word, pumpkin & squash confusion, the terror and duplicity of masks, extending the use of your shipping tape, a strange bonding - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Pete Sutherland [In the Country of the Iroquois]; Lizzy Mandell [What’s to Believe In]; Carl Goulet [Borrowed Time].

Episode Oct 20, 2017

October 20, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss the giant baby & all its ramifications, Myra’s very high party bar, the scariest diaper dance, how to dress up as Chinese food, losing control of your kids’ Halloween, finding the right “safe word” on a deadline, an indignity regarding the word “corset”, eyebrow problems, training yourself not to look at yourself, gaze control strategies for improving self esteem, missing letters on the Chicken Pie Supper sign, the mysterious rebranding of coat designer Donna Karan, mixed reactions to a new Target location, fantasizing about Amtrack drivers, a comparison between the International Space Station and the Holiday Inn, an argument about the deeper meaning of basketball, television during the holidays, how to explain “Paul is Dead” to someone who has never heard of the Beatles, more on the alleged Abba cover band, describing color that can’t be seen, practicing gender-neutral active listening, splitting hairs over cat pee, a similar chemical odor and cat mint, a weird & inconvenient injury related to tree swinging, a new expanded view of Rapture that includes pets, going down to Fletcher Brook to find baptism, finding a guy in a truck way back in the woods, six amazing washing machines that don’t use water, a bad analogy between toasters and driers, more misconceptions about carbon dioxide, testing the jeans-in-the-freezer theory, sheep heart storage - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Larry Allen Brown [The Gathering]; Peter Hedlund [Vastanmadspolska]; Steve Mayone [Poor Heart].

Episode Oct 13, 2017

October 13, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss banishing negativity for an hour, whether or not Kristina can identify her friends’ cars, being crushed down into the crustacean pile of nothingness, how to bypass a popular book, coming to terms with the Salem witch trials, terror & hope, a strange problem with a chicken named Giselle, fun facts about celebrity children, more on life form hierarchy, a warning about ball point pens, eating with dirty hands, trying to keep track of salmonella, a new direction for stuffed animals, the uselessness of trying to invent things, what happens when you get the local fire department involved with a Haunted Forest, improvising rhythm instruments, soliciting donut donations, unpacking this year’s Tunbridge Fair coin drop, Emily’s missed opportunity to trick Kristina into wearing a dress, imagining an alternate universe Disneyland, standing up to oppression, feeling unworthy to be alive, the school dilemma, reviving your blog, an in-depth exploration of wrapping paper, finding a mindless balance with the president, passing judgment on people’s yawns, a depressing look at dating statistics, revelatory details on the viability of sperm, a well organized run-in with foxes, cooking outside, the story of a magical gift, chipmunk taxidermy, planning a field trip to the Snowsville General Store, questions about the substitute museum curator’s decision to bring toddlers to work, a mystery can opener - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Carl Goulet [Prisoner of Conscience]; Robert Bryant [Little Red Flower]; Charlie Shew and Pat Jones [Marie-Line].

Episode Oct 6, 2017

October 6, 2017 Kristina Stykos

In this episode co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss some tricks for how a Howe might say “how” without drawing attention to themselves, a useful paradigm for the chronically inept, generic niceties said by bridesmaids in the receiving line, applauding grease without endorsing it, choosing plain donuts as a lifestyle statement, full moon types with and without astrology, looking for a fake gypsy fortune teller, the dangers of predictions that come from strangers, another confusing situation involving fingernails, a show-down between a man of science & a man of faith, what things not to do alone, keeping Entertainment at arms length, getting ready for house guests, bonding with a road crew guy named Mike, surviving mean teenagers, the no-good reasons that go along with no-good people, smelling weakness, when you dream about your ex, the serial cheater archetype, the finer points of flushing sewage out of your emotional system, different kinds of secrets, wondering what men do in the bathroom, one unfortunate exception to the Muzak rule, the genius behind the modesty of Japanese women, a wonderful pioneer fish trap to the rescue, managing prodigious iris beds and the incredible life force of plants, the silence of friends, many new-fangled ways to “ghost” others, a tale of summer camp rejection, growing to adulthood with bad personal habits, clinging to other blabber-mouths and over-sharing as a way of life - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Jamie Gage [Mary Drives by in the Moonlight]; Rick Davis [Old Hippies]; The Cousins Project [Mess of Love].

Episode Sept 29, 2017

September 29, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss the man with tan pants, stupid skinny jeans, sunset photos taken by boring people, repercussions of a dud foliage season, when to doff Victorian clothes (casual Friday), an eye makeup mistake, the new “hot” and how to affect it, salon mirror protocol, using animation to blot yourself out, personalizing the Peter Sellers look, avoiding daily reflection, how to party without others, an accusation about adopting strays, a hornet extravaganza, unpacking common misconceptions about dragons, an inexplicable rash, what to do with a bag of mildewed linens, apocalyptic microbes, the finer points of “hooking up”, the modern way to get a bad reputation, creepy dirty dancing a la from behind, surviving dating culture, questions about female bonding, the best pick up line for single Vermonters, missing out on wood-splitting, feeling like you don’t know anybody, using your time wisely as a hermit, what you do when you come home from work, the inherent inefficiencies of satins and taffetas, kids with sticky hands & poor supervision, a business opportunity for milk maids who like to sing, the abnormal popularity of Jonna Jinton, the dangers of taming something with horns, hopping the happiness train, finding the hidden beauty behind the crap, improving levels of clarity within and without, another broken lawn mower incident, the undeniable aesthetic perfection of a well oiled machine, suffering 45 minutes on the phone with AT&T, electrons and apples - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Robert Bryant [Learning to Cry]; Libby Kirkpatrick [Crying]; Julie James [Down to the Bottom Side].

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Youtube, or tune in Fridays at 11 am to hear this show live on WFVR-FM South Royalton, Vermont 96.5 FM, streaming online or rebroadcast at Royalton Community Radio. Made possible in part by generous support from station sponsors Howvale Farm, The Tunbridge Grease Collective and the Mountain Folk Concert Series.

Episode Sept 22, 2017

September 22, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss a lost hairbrush, skipping work when you can’t afford to, leaving Jon at home butchering sheep, a great young man, an odd pair of red rubber sneakers, the finer points of goulash, rebranding gypsies and Eskimos, musician albinos, a blond, tattooed horse wrangler, the nuances of sitting on draft horses, eating burritos at the harness race, parking in a favorite field, the most logical reason for failing your driving test, unpacking Suzy and her school buses, the difference between a bog and a fen, trying to understand quicksand, recreational boot buying, real non-monkey hurdy-gurdy, how to deal with sneezers, talking about the weather, some thoughts on joy, almost bringing Mary Oliver to the local library, fantasizing about famous musicians, the oozing craziness of fan mail, planning for a future expose of delusional obsession, Emily’s life-long infatuation with Sean Austin, a movie about fighting golf resort development, celebrity vs. local hero, songs & dirt roads as therapy, a clue-based adventure, visiting gnome houses during the annual road rally, more information you didn’t want to know about “the wishing well guy”, the sound of wind, winter panic mode, a journalistic spelling challenge, bad associations with the color grey, an in-depth look at shovel handles, transplanting unhappy trees, the nice men at Welch’s hardware, goats in Prospect Park, the hoggy moons of Saturn, tricks for warming up to space - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Robert Resnik [Copshawholme Fair]; Pete Sutherland [Hard Hearted Hills]; Michael Shaw [Raised by Wolves].

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Youtube, or tune in Fridays at 11 am to hear this show live on WFVR-FM South Royalton, Vermont 96.5 FM, streaming online or rebroadcast at Royalton Community Radio and visit our website at www.11thHourRadio.com. Made possible in part by generous support from station sponsors Howvale Farm, The Tunbridge Grease Collective and the Mountain Folk Concert Series.

Episode Sept 15, 2017

September 15, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Host Kristina Stykos and guest co-host Jonathan Daitch discuss the fact that life is full of exaggerations, Emily’s absence, last year’s Fair flop, how a 29 year old took the helm of a junior high school named Markles Flats, confidence vs. arrogance, building something in the spirit of the 60s, getting revenge on a wasted youth, the power-sharing dynamics of all-school meetings, boredom as fuel, coming to consensus in Madagascar, the art of acknowledging someone else’s principles, getting to know kids from the wrong side of the tracks, the joys of making mistakes, the agonies of making mistakes, a shout-out from Richie Stearns to “the guy who taught me how to learn”, wisdom’s edge & the persistent reign of lies, having too much fun, education on a toxic waste dump, no-penalty truancy, when you might need math, a classic American sound, conquering time & space, the arc of personality over a lifetime, leaving Ithaca, living outside the square, low-judgment environments, trying to keep track of everybody, looking for Danny & Steve, a failed woodworking project, a book about contemporary Palestinian theater, culture as resistance, a horrible occupation, teaching photography in a refugee camp, not scaling your project to your budget, ambivalence about food selfies, the ingredients of an old friendship, a memorable men’s group, a chatterbox father-son reunion, abandoning your kids & re-friending them, another fun thing that we did - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Doug Anderson [Old Dirt Road]; Val McCallum [Digging For Gold]; Brown Trout and the Lunkers [Honor Thy Fly].

For more information:

Jon Daitch Photography

Episode Sept 8, 2017

September 8, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss lice, donut crumbs, our crappy sound, changing your name, Emily’s absurd contention that people add silent letters to their kids’ names, hidden keyboard shortcuts, the epic discovery of a connector between vowels, the tragic death of a computer with nine lives, a return to the power of positive thinking, the rapid demise of the word “trump”, the truth of Gaia, a cursory analysis of Disney movies, putting down puppets, more on marionette disasters, a trip to Harrods, the complex acquisition of patience, an untimely haircut, heaven via blow-drying, home hair straightening with bricks, a dream of swapping body parts, the natural high of self acceptance, water bras, the saga of the dead baby fawn, wildlife running a-foul of the law, the best ice cream flavors, fantasizing about a difficult-to-get-to location, proposals for controlling local road deterioration, re-imagining cowboy hats in Vermont, the return of the riding lawn mower, getting ecstatic about next year, holding your pee in too long, choosing glasses frames & the sexy secretary look, reuniting with your own songs, another colonial housewife gig, an incredible dream & the intense feelings of safety and comfort that came with it, delusional dreaming, the old man who almost fell down the stairs, smelling other people’s weaknesses, a clarification regarding the Piscean moon cycle, avoiding the word “radiation”, a new technique for catching spiders and/or throwing them - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Larry Allen Brown [Stories That We Wrote]; Stefan Lundin [Som en andlos vag]; Terry Lee Hale [Bound, Chained, Fettered].

Episode Sept 1, 2017

September 1, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss the question of how much complaining is too much, a plethora of picks, ugly kitchen flooring, resisting your birthday, some very strange spellings, a currently popular rescue animal, permission to make it “all about me”, the gifting of a very special cereal bowl, undressing in front of pets, taking your kids to a nude beach, the ups and downs of wearing clothes, gazing at a dry pond & what to do about it, leaving the water on at the barn, calling yourself out for being a “dink”, hair washing day at the International Space Station, a milk tester, a dry cleaner and a machinist, an scary analysis of what we might have eaten in a T.V. dinner, camping with Dinty Moore Stew, advertising a haunted forest 2 months before Halloween, having a messed up relationship to iTunes, an in-depth look at “grit”, how to prepare yourself for success, the money quandary and a rehash of what it means to fall in the gutter, taking stock at forty, more science about opossums, the problem with complicated sentences, telepathy as a strategy for avoiding words, getting the elderly to understand Smart phones, a shout-out to all the people who are still calling Emily, writing instead of talking, first-day-of-school rituals, a review of several Tunbridge businesses, a tale of three inverters, falling in love with old timers, bonding over a winch, a dearth of mower belts, making your lawn look “golf course perfect”, when a flirting comes to its natural end, what to wear when you’re old, taking coolness to the bank, a confusion over vitamins and Hammond organs, nerd museums, debunking the bucket list thing - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Mark Struhsacker [Suzy]; Jemima James [When You Get Old]; Robert Bryant [Thinking Too Much].

Episode Aug 25, 2017

August 25, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss giving yourself a black eye, how a piece of hair can bring enlightenment, when our computers die, the job scramble, close encounters with sharks, a recommendation about car trunk protocol, more on bad cats, traveling with your mother-in-law in a small car, whether or not to be concerned when you start wearing sweat pants all the time, Kristina’s cool patina, pulling off a look, local store interaction phobia, an early morning trip to vegetable paradise, bonding over the repugnant odors of 14 year old boys, embracing a bad diet, party avoidance as a way of life, the indignities of being a drummer and/or a mom, an unusual song prompt, the lyrical power of a famous missing member, explaining the alteration of anatomy using diagrams, common-sense disparagement of leaf blowers, the hopes, dreams & aspirations of lawn mowers, watching freight cars go by, something pink that came in the mail, an underwhelming once-in-a-lifetime eclipse, a patriotic misnomer, the genesis of Emily’s pear-shaped face, getting on board with another time period, shopping for leather clothes, splatter pants, unnecessary meetings and the perils of advocating for yourself, why emails keep writing alive, being nice but irritating in-person, the question of whether narcissists can change how they are, the futility of trying to fix a crazy person, marriages of convenience, where not to grow, technical obstacles to being fully functional on social media, an argument about the secret space stations on the moon, being kind of interested in something - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Carl Goulet [Greenville Trestle; Jesus, Me and Whiskey; Prisoner of Conscience]

Episode Aug 18, 2017

August 18, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss piercing babies’ ears, deleting personal information, hidden hair, why god made beds, adding a B to itchiness as needed, protecting your pets from the solar eclipse, bulk ordering glasses from NASA, a long term plan for enlightenment that cuts it close, a missed opportunity to harvest venereal diseases, the upside of snorting, early-onset vegetarianism, shaking some sense into trees, coping with your child’s wretchedness, lunch packing strategies, a breakdown on what constitutes a really bad grilled cheese sandwich, unpacking the signature smell of used clothing, permission to like who we like, slowing yourself down with bicycles, the annoyance of overly formal language, firing your sales rep, another go-round with Kendra’s name game, a manure-spraying incident, humorous displays of anger, early acts of revenge perpetrated by good children, the biological roots of selfishness, debunking good parenting, the burgeoning fall apple crop, shocking behavior from senior citizens in a blueberry patch, flower picking with toddlers, an argument about wildflowers, an unconventional & controversial use for marshmallows, a long list of thank yous including one to Bob for bringing cash, inadequate picnic table maintenance & subsequent emergency first aid, avoiding generic sofas, sending baby clothes to Italy, butchering foreign pronunciations, pouring your heart out in a six minute song, going from one thing to the next & other problematic segues, dry kindling - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Hunter Paye [Cloud Cover]; Nick Cowles [Stubborn Fool]; Hot Flannel [Workin’ On a Building]

Episode Aug 11, 2017

August 11, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss catching hell, half the world on either side of a hoo-ha, starting a car with a push button, the fitbit on-or-off argument revisited, what to do if what you feel doesn’t match the statistics telling you how you should feel, a funny bone moment, gender-free planets, a few Mark Twain truisms, the untimely loss of a fingernail, a pledge of protection, an antiquated first aid kit, two views on the final moments of a baby bird, custom ordering large inflatable objects, the lost bull fighter’s hat, how to elongate a museum tour, an embarrassing hinge size, the stability of calendars, a plethora of grease collectives, remembering what people look like, Julian’s quest to find the optimal used transmission, altered honking habits, celebrating driveways, “destination mailbox”, checking out a giant skunk hole, the butternut tree in the cellar hole, toughening up your bare feet, sucking the moisture out of “potato hands”, applause for sister photographers, longing for summer barn dances & a fantasy version of the old Dreamland dance barn of Tunbridge, debunking various myths about falling in love, attraction as karma, looking for the right words, recognizing things that belong to you, divine intervention at the model airplane show, avoiding sad animal movies, being happy about banjos again, confusion brought on by the philosophy of live it – love it, an unfortunate fashionista misstep, Emily’s experiment with corn rows, the biggest form of flattery - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Rick Ceballos [Les Quatres Branles]; Chris Kleeman and Malcolm Gibson [Magnet to Steel]; Bow Thayer and the Holy Plow [Way of the Gun]

Episode Aug 4, 2017

August 4, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss electric fans, layering tee shirts, white starchy aprons, a self-inflicted dearth of plumbers, looking forward to John’s gubernatorial run, a huge cabbage, condoms, cat food and fearing the judgment of cashiers, Kendra’s twist on Pig Latin, going whole hog with “totes”, homage to saying Bloody Mary 3x in the mirror at midnight, repeating a word until it becomes meaningless, the perils of calling someone “Durwood”, Kristina’s hang with hipsters, girth in its many forms, preempting your 40th birthday, how to maintain your standing as an optimist when crummy things keep happening, more details on the tractor repair, another Subaru transmission fail, breaking down in West Hartford, hating cars, the fine print behind Emily’s unlucky star, whining as a way of life, the inordinate knowledge base of large families, verbal bulldozering, mowing over apple branches, yelling for your partner, picking the color of your port-o-let, discovering “the magic hotel”, a musical instrument spelling challenge, shacking up with Sweden’s premier nyckelharpa player, true confessions of the letter “x”, a new use for the library book deposit box, the hows and whys of stealing gardening tools, a bad word band name, rockin’ the roadhouse, getting good at stuff, searching for the lost thrift store curtain, the ins and outs of dating a banjo player, Bow’s trip to Alaska, a band named Cabinet, alone-in-the-wilderness syndrome, a terrifying June bug, a make-shift toad enclosure, the demise of a red eft, healing your life with affirmations, shoe glue - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Nick Cowles [Sensitive New Age Redneck]; Lizzy Mandell [The Old House]; Brian Clark [The Lake]

Episode July 28, 2017

July 28, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Host Kristina Stykos and guest co-host Libby Kirkpatrick discuss Prince Edward in a can, not having a plan, conversation as a dying art, names that don’t roll off the tongue, eyes like pools, the intricacies of yawning, discovering coffee as an adult, getting more respect for doing nothing, things that were enjoyable, how to get to know somebody you already know, news from inside the raspberry patch, letting go of your lunch, breaking down flat-picking patterns in three, a hankering to play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, possible causes for on-stage panic, disorders with the vocal cords, more on manifesting life force into physical form, wrestling with a very public disability, coping with famous parents, having a mid-life crisis in front of an audience, dancing with ghosts, the non-solution of playing louder in order to hear yourself, pretending to have fun, the self-centered singer-songwriter phenomenon, having children as a way to subvert your career goals, normal guys wearing a collar, recognizing destiny, further poetic musings on the cathartic train whistle sound, what a tolling bell really is, Tony Furtado’s softened world view, how bird calls relate to time travel, the fall crow call and other unmitigated harbingers of truth, a world-wide cranial sacral shout out, the importance of self regulation, recalibrating the practice of feeling love, cranking the door open from a closed position, contemplating a day without dreams, rusty windows and favorite lubricants, the dark doo-doo, taking the time to navel gaze - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Libby Kirkpatrick [Goodbye Venus; Vaulted Heart; Wake Me Up]

Episode July 21, 2017

July 21, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss a short-lived entanglement, a middle-aged woman’s waning cuteness, the nuances of falling in ditches, mowing down flowers, the Zen of using scissors on lawn grass, porcupine data points, a possible woodchuck reincarnation event, opening up to the new moon in Leo, when fantasy turns into delusion, projecting onto external objects, seeing the same familiar face again and again, acting “as if”, the relationship between boredom and yawning, calling out the Vermont Agency of Transportation, bridge-repair-frustration as a way of life, the tragic effect of summer road construction on cremee purchases, powdered plastic stuff passed off as food, the continuing saga of hard-to-find tractor parts, why farming is harder than it should be, the truth about who changes light bulbs at Walmart, deconstructing the word “phubbing”, eating dinner sans devices, hankering to be home, moving lumber in a station wagon, mistaking a tint for a color, a movie about the hidden life of protein and other personified chemicals, how human happiness may be tied to gumball machines, an unusual door stop, the ongoing mystery of Butch sneaking things onto airplanes, paranoid plans for flying far in the future, making enough money to take time off, a marriage proposal on the Baltic Sea, how dementia might change your gender orientation, an unfunny case of sexual assault on Grandpa, busting churches for their lack of originality, map dowsing for fun and relaxation, looking for Killington’s town center, locating a baptismal font without GPS, putting the “whine” back in winery, losing your cumberment - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Will Patton [Bebop in Pastel]; Robert Resnik [Whistle Set]; Spencer Lewis [Change Is].

Episode July 14, 2017

July 14, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss la la la, zoning out, full utilization of the grocery list, sardines for cats, chipmunks in the shower stall, old people acting like young people, two reactions to the Burger King crown, the art of selecting your profile pic so that it won’t scare away women, an argument about clowns, the superior aesthetics of miming, a return to our worst syntax habits, further analysis of John’s phone tics, nostalgia for the way things never were, a clarification around the word “master”, what mom found in the bottom drawer, an epic marble scramble, debunking piñata mania, the full story on plum pudding, baby cake and other cake-themed information, how to strike up unlikely friendships with telemarketers, Randy’s life-changing bike ride, what else might reroute your entire life, how the out-of-town neighbors have been introducing Emily to hard liquor, what might be wrong with thinking you’re funny, eating brie standing up, when being busy turns into an unhealthy obsession, discovering the hazards of sleeping in a new clubhouse, why rain gets us off the hook, odd ambiguity around the bridge outage, what not to say to France’s first lady, lack of discipline around sexual projection, the backwards way we look at rape, a hypothetical about the love train, Kristina’s ultimate answer for all queries regarding her musical inspirations, a gift for the shop crew that fell flat, reviewing magazine subscriptions, an atypical Harvard grad, a familial connection to olive oil, Eli’s crush on the French girl in the movie about the chimpanzee scientist, dealing with an upside box of cereal - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: Scott Campbell [Nancy in the Mud Bog]; Bow Thayer and the Perfect Trainwreck [Got My Attention]; Susannah Blachly [All the Colors].

Episode July 7, 2017

July 7, 2017 Kristina Stykos

Co-hosts Kristina Stykos and Emily Howe discuss a stylish accessory, new info on rocks, the secret talents of an elusive mollusk, how to hide things in plain sight, a clever “go-to” for used diapers, highway-induced revelations, connecting with your inner I.Q., making a bridge between hoopla and hoo-ha, how Kristina’s mother accomplished the complete eradication of her English accent, updates on the donkey and the horse, an attempt to unpack humble-bragging, some possible motivations for posting photos to social media, the long road to connecting with yourself, babysitting as a gateway to disliking children, from synchronicity to rhinoplasty in a few easy steps, trash-talking fish, the Sayers-Ellis Syndrome, if any people are really nice, the weight of guilt as a counter balance to karma, the science behind victim-blaming, the complexity of common sounds, the thrill of lingering on a train whistle, full circle from birds to back stabbing and back again, why you might sell your land to an unscrupulous land developer, inspiring others to rip off your ideas, kleenex in the washing machine, tanning with stickers, the challenge of replacing corn-based cereals, discovering Vermont’s hippest food truck, getting a deal on jumper cables, fear of electricity, more confessions of a bad mother, Emily’s sad and painful history with the Van de Graaff generator, the humiliations of schooling, ideas for getting rid of teenage boys, Montana’s recent earthquake and the sheep takeover on Highway 200, needing a helper, a reason to get married again - and so much more!

Featuring music from Vermont musicians & friends: The Highwoods String Band [Bully of the Town]; Bow Thayer and the Perfect Trainwreck [In the Pines]; Turnip Truck [Jesus on the Mainline].

Show Notes