If you had one thing to change about Africa, what would it be? Dependency on the Wests. Come back to Africa. Africa, there is nothing to change other than our mentality. There is nothing we don't have. Money is not out there. Money is in Africa. Gold, stone, food, free rain, rainfall, good weather.  So when they say that in Africa we live on less than a dollar, I don't know whether they know how much food we eat. A plate of our food, if I went to their restaurants, they would be buying it for 20 pounds. But here I am. I'm eating it three times a day. So we are rich. It's our mentality that better things are out there, no. The best things are within us. And they are in our soil. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. I can't believe that there is a Kenyan living in Uganda. OK. Because you guys are neighbors. You should just stay in Kenya. Why are you in Uganda? Yeah, but we are East Africans and we are allowed to settle anywhere we want. And how long have you settled in here? 23 years to be precise in Uganda, but not here. In the bush here, about four, five years. You're living in the bush. What brought you to Uganda? Love. Oh, wow. The people in here love you. It's powerful. Yeah, someone just came and told me, I love you. And I followed. But it was also Kenyan. That time he was a Kenyan, he came to work here. So I followed. And I've never gone back, yes. So love brought you here? It did. So the love of your life still lives here? Still does. He's the main investor. That's amazing. Where is he? In Kampala, but over the weekend he comes to the farm. Or maybe any other day when it is critical. How? As a farm manager. How is Uganda so far? That's beautiful.  OK, for me, I love the country. Don't ask me why I don't like Kenya. I do in a special way, but Uganda is more special. That would have been my next question. But when it comes to Africans here, when we're looking for greener pastures, we don't think about the nearby country. We think about go to the west. If you settled in the nearby country, nobody told you that. Why Uganda? Yes, it's a bit magical. Yes, some of the whole think that greener pastures are in UK, US, lately Saudi Arabia. But it depends on what you're focusing on. The beauty of life you're looking for. Specifically, I come from Mount Kenya region that's where I was born, so I have been born in a farm. And when I came and see, I saw these green grass and trees which never dry up. That excited my heart, and I couldn't resist. This is your greener pastures? You know, let me tell you. There's some magic in Ugandan food. The matoke? You'll do the matoke and the binyayewa, the grown-ups and the dodo. You'll never go back. There's the naturalness in their food. When you go harvesting fruits everywhere, you go back to the hunters and gather as a stage and it is modern world, you just feel nice. I just love you. What are you doing in here at the moment? Yes, welcome to my farm. This is Mashambani. I settled here in 2018 to be precise, but I was a telephone farmer before that. So just behind there are the goats which have kept me coming over to enjoy my life with the birds. You hear them, see? Yeah. Yeah, yes. Would you want to go and see? Why not? Is that a tractor? Yeah, it is. It's a baby tractor. A baby tractor? What do you use this for? Yeah, for carrying grass for the goats, for the feeds. Oh, actually, this is what you take you to Kenya. Yeah, would you want to have a ride? No. To have a ride? Yeah. No, I just want to go back to Nairobi. Can't take you anywhere. I miss Ugarli. The speed. Hey. It's just to ensure that the gear is free. How do I ensure that? Shake it, OK. Beautiful. Start it. Where's the horn? OK. No, the sound alone can tell you the tractor is coming. Let me know how it all started. OK, the history of the farm starts as a private, I would call it a family source of milk. Because I had kids, two boys who could not handle the cow milk. They would always react to it. And therefore, we go home for a holiday. And my mother-in-law gives us milk. And they give the boys milk, and they don't react. The next day, they don't react. And we say, wow, goat's milk, of all other things. And the week, they were safe. So we decided, when we come to Uganda, let's have a goat. And we got one goat, but it was lonely. It was following us in the bedroom, in the toilet. Everywhere you go, you have a goat as a goat. So we decided to get two more and a male. And within six months, we had seven babies and 10 liters of milk. It was excess. We didn't need it. We needed only two liters per day. And therefore, neighbors, do you want some milk? Do you want some milk? Of course, the rejection levels were very high. But those who wanted it, wanted it passionately. So they went talking about it. Those who wanted passionately, you know, with the passion spreads. So they got people who said, yeah, where are you getting your goat's milk from? So the demand now becomes higher than what we have. We see an opportunity. We roll in. Here we go. But it is not as smooth as it sounds. Because when we started, we started in 2013, I think our first goat was in 2012. Yeah, 2012. 2014, they multiplied so much. So they couldn't be contained in Kampala, Rubaga. So we brought them to the farm. We just bought the few acres in the farm down near the lake. And they multiplied very fast to 124 goats. In 2015, actually, we had about 124 with other babies. Telephone farming again. We didn't change any structure. We thought everything would be fine.   And we picked up the 24. We brought them in the first structure because we were trying to expand when we saw the goats had started. So we felt that place was very cold. So let's expand to a drier place. So we were building this structure. And by the time we came, we came with 24 goats. Very miserable goats. And three died later. We were left with 21.  Why were they dying? You know, we were doing telephone farming. Nobody knew about diary goats. It was also very far for vets. And the project that time was so small to employ a permanent vet. And even if we had a vet who was visiting, they also didn't understand the dynamics of diary goats. They were more familiar with cows, pigs, dogs. But treating a goat in Africa is not a normal thing. Goats' brows, goats never get sick. Exactly. So when you tell them to treat a goat, they would just treat like a cow. And the death rate was massive. But we also say that it was partly negligence because as they expanded, we should also have expanded the facilities and also expanded the workforce, trained them. But we also trained. You know, this was a project which just sprung up. So, but we learned our lessons. That was cool fish, pigs. And we started from there. Probably we got a few more goats afterwards. But what you can see comes now from there. 20 goats which remained. Plus maybe one or two goats which joined us later. The only changing factor was the males. We've had since 2016, we've had more than seven males because for every one year and eight months, a male has to live. That has changed continuously. But for the females, I think, apart from the 20 which we started, we, in 2021, we've added maybe one or two. Which I don't even remember, which we added. And how many goats do you have now then? I think we have about 200. 200 plus on the females. Then we have about 60 something males. Diary goats. Diary. And a specific gene is, the breed is sunnen. We prefer sunnen. So we are going to the mothers and we can go straight to the milking people. I'm sure they have not yet finished. Do you have a cow here? Yes, we use those cows to feed our kids. What do you mean? You don't use goat's milk to feed the goat's babies. We use cow milk to feed the cow babies. You use goat's milk? No. Goat's milk to sell. Yeah, but you use cow milk to feed the goat's babies. So. Don't you ask why? Yeah, they don't eat grass. They are goats, why do they drink milk? Okay, babies, we separate the babies from their mothers at five days. These are kids. Okay, I would call these ones teenagers. The babies are the other side. We have two generations of babies or kids, whatever you call them. Of course in English, they are supposed to be called kids, but a mother will call them babies. So they have, from day five, they are bought or fed up to four months. So every day somebody has to go and feed them. I think he's almost, he's finishing to milk and then he goes to feed them. He's actually there. Can we run and see how they are fed? What is he doing right now? Now he's putting milk for the next batch. They go six, six, six. It's easier to feed them when they are few. This can take 15, but it will be very hard to control them. Okay. Yeah, so you'd rather have six, six, six until you're finished and then you'll go to the babies and feed them also. This is the cow milk? Yeah, this is the cow milk. As concentrated as it was milked, you don't dilute it at all. But it has to be warm. Just like the way it comes from the cow, that temperature. So in case he has leftovers, he has to dip them in warm water, in actual hot water to get that right temperature. Hmm. Yeah. 28 to that. This is like feeding water, man. Never seen it like this before. Trust me, never seen it. That's the magic of bringing up kids. And when you do this, you're able to detect when a kid is not feeding very quickly. Because if a kid rejects milk and the way they love milk, you definitely know that the kid is sick. So immediately you have to start working on the kid. Yes. But when they are with the mothers, you can think the kid has fed and yet, the kid hasn't fed. It's already sick, yeah. And there is a tendency.  Oh, they're in a hurry, man. Yeah, okay. So, yeah. Oh, every batch is six? Yeah, six, six. Okay. So these are the people who milk. So they have to come wash their hands again, pick the buckets, and then they pick the one jerican is having warm water. Okay. And they put the milking salve on top so that it will be faster for them. Okay. And then the other hand is carrying the bucket, of course. So, let us join them. How many times do you milk the goats in a day? Yeah, it's twice, just like a cow, morning, evening. By eight, they are supposed to be done. And then by 4.30 to five. Wow. Yes. I love the fact that they've taken hygiene precautions very seriously. I'm actually in the goat farmhouse where all the goats are here. And I can breathe, man. Like, it smells so good.  Wow, this is so cool. I have never seen goat milk before. Never have I even tasted goat milk. You are drinking. I'm a big fan of cow milk. Cow milk? Yes. So I want to know what is so unique about goat milk. Okay. The goat milk, I may not be a scientist to explain the detail. And what I've also seen by experience is that once you take milk, the digestion is faster. The evacuation is faster compared to cow milk. Now, why do people complain? Many people complain about cow milk. It's because the molecules are smaller and they kind of, it takes long to go down our zigzag in the stomach. And therefore, they bloat as it's being digested. Now, the magic about the goats is immediately you take that milk, I would bet, even the slowest digestion takes two hours. So it helps you even push what I'd refuse to go out. Don't mistake it with running. No. But what it does, it helps you digest quickly and extracts. I think... And many people are using it for weight loss. It's so hard. Please, what is the best way to lose weight without working out? Okay, but you can walking. Walking a lot and eating healthy. No. Okay, I think I need to ask the question right. What is the best way to eat full full banku and still lose weight? Yes. I found a remedy. No exercise, just goat milk. No. Eat carefully.  If you don't have it down, take goat milk. Goat milk and... Yes, but it also has an opposite effect on babies, especially the yogurt. The yogurt gives babies weight. And the milk, I don't know why it is opposite. When grown-ups take it, it reduces them. When the babies take it, they get better. Probably because babies keep on evacuating, they want food every now and then. I have never known why. But we've had especially cases of special children who have been put on a diary goat's meal. That is the yogurt and the milk. And within two months, the babies have gained tremendously. And you know, those babies are very difficult to have fresh. So that is what one of the farm... And the people who encouraged us to continue, they were using the goat's milk and we gave them some seed. So that they can continue feeding their babies. How many liters do you produce in a day? It depends on the season. It should be between 45 to 70. So now, he is giving the supplementation after the milking. Oh! Yes. So each goat has a tray. Each goat has... Each goat has a tray. Oh, tray for food? For food, yeah. And they have a bowl for water. Yes. These guys are chilling. And they are living their best lives. Eh? Like, the owner is a millionaire, you know? So they have their own milk, they have their own bowl for water and everything. Does it mean that the feed with the diary goat and the ones that we know is different? I would... The one for meat? Is it the same? You'll feed them but the returns, you know, you're calculating the input versus the return. So in case you have to invest in this because this is a high cost, then are you able to return it? Definitely, the meat goats will also love to eat this. But will you be able to recover that? Okay. Yeah. We are able to feed this because every day they are giving us milk. Oh! Milk and they are giving us money. Is it profitable? I would say yes, depending on your levels of operation and also depending on your goals. But basically, diary goats are supposed to be profitable. Absolutely, they are supposed to be. Because even if you do simple mats... Let's do the simple mats. Simple mats, a goat will give you, let's say a minimum of 2 liters per day. You'll sell a liter at 8,000, so that is 16,000. So if you are able to get, let's do a goat. So in the 16,000, even if you're supplementing one kilo of supplementation in the morning, one kilo is 1,000, another kilo, so you give supplementation of 2,000.  Then you have the labor. Water bills in case you have. I don't have water bills. So basically, it's supposed to be profitable. This looks like a male goat. Male goat, one on one. When I was here, I was like, how can male goat be milked? The female, no. The male goats are housed in a separate chamber. You see that place? Really? Yeah, they are completely separated from the female's one because we don't want any smell. By the way, that is a detail when you're building. You need to ensure that the wind flows pasts.  They always need to be at the back of the females because they have that distinct smell. And that smell can easily be transferred to the milk. So, and also that smell can make your goats keep on getting on heat when you don't want to. So you have to keep them at a distance and on the leeward side. Yes. And that's where they cage to there. When the wind comes, it comes from the lake, definitely, and it climbs up. Do you have a value addition? Yes, but we don't do the value addition here at the farm. We do it in Kampala. That's where our processing room is. Oh, wow. And then the products, basically the products are sold in Kampala. Even if I do the value addition here, you see in the infrastructure to come here. Oh my God, look at that. The struggles, man. The struggles. OK, move, move, move. Move. It's not very nice on the distance. So you'll lose some products along the way. Oh, OK. And they need a lot of refrigeration. So we milk, refrigerate, ensure we have attained the temperatures. Then it is taken to the lake. And within one hour, it's in the next fridge, ready for processing. It's taken to the lake? Yeah, we transport our milk through the lake. You have a lake here? We are on Lake Victoria. We are on the shores of Lake Victoria. We should be going to the lake anyway. How long does it take you from the lake? It's just 10 minutes. On water? On water. And then it is in Kampala. So this is a playground for the kids. The other go here. They go out. That's point. Yes. This is got a living soft life, man. So all those babies who are on the other side also need an outing. So they are supposed to come and play here. They also don't eat from outside. They don't know how to eat from outside. So they come and play on the tires and then they are returned back. They are feeding. Yeah, they are now feeding. And our babies have started knowing how to bite. Our two weeks old babies have started knowing how to bite. But some are not completely. They are not interested at all, at all. Is this a stage? Yeah, they are two weeks old. So they have not yet known how to eat. These ones are three months, almost, almost three months.  This is our sick bay. In case our goat is critical, it's brought here to recuperate. But right now we don't have any sick goats. So they are just sitting there as they wait to be pushed to these other sides. There are times when they get sick and you have to put them on a drip. Yes. Yeah. So you have to tie your drip, put it there, drop it, and ensure that the goat comes back. How does it feel like being a female entrepreneur in Uganda? And especially a farmer? Yeah. I would say it's a beautiful experience because I've also been employed for a while. I retired in 2015. I retired in 2014, but released in 2015. So it feels nice to be in control. But I will also say that it's a challenge. It's quite a challenge, especially for a startup. Because inasmuch as I was having the goats, I was not taking it as a business enterprise for me. It was a hobby that time. That's why we could afford a phone now for me. But then it also becomes challenging when you really want to discuss issues about goats and you find that, oh, what does a woman know? They feel that you have really not been on the ground. And yet, you've actually been there. More than the men who feel that they have been on the ground. But all the same, I would say the Ugandan community respects women, whether you're a man or a woman, doesn't matter as long as you know your stuff. Do you think Uganda has opened up for all the Africans to invest in here? I would say absolutely, yes. And I think our country, I would call it our country. Our country just loves investors. And I don't think there is any sector which is closed. Because personally, I would want to say that the government has been very supportive. In case I have an outbreak here, I've never heard, but any time they detect that there is an outbreak in Mukolo, the first person to call me is the DVO, the District Veterinary Officer. Hi, Purity Mashambani, are you aware that there is this and this happening? I say, oh, no, I'm not aware. No, it has reached here. I need to come to your farm, or I'm sending a vet to your farm to immunize your goods. And within five hours, the guys are here.  Would you advise the youth of Africa to go into good dairy farming? It's a very big yes. And when you look at my farm, basically, I have only the youth, and I believe they're the ones who have the energy to do this type of work. As you've now seen, now, is dairy goods are labor-intensive, and they need some energy and some vigor. The beauty about dairy goods is that once you have your dairy goods, it has given birth. Once you start milking, you start getting the money immediately. So it's instant cash, which every youth needs. And you don't need so much space. You saw the cubes, one times two. One meter by one and a half, one meter by two meters, every youth can be able to cut some shrubs and make some structure. You don't need to have huge capital. Does youth really want to be rich? And we don't think agriculture can make us rich. Of course, if you want quick money, farming, generally farming, is not for quick money. It is for those people who want to grow remediously. Farming as a business, you must have patience. It is not a quick fix, yeah. But if you're looking at sustainability and also as you're also looking for something to do, you can start doing the goats. Would I say that my son is very passionate about goats, he's in the university, but he's very keen to come and run the farm immediately. He's done. Because for him, he believes there's a lot of future in this farm. My daughter, when she comes, she's called Christine, my son is called Bindo. Actually, Bindo is the owner of all those machinery you've seen at home. He's the one who drives the tractors, cuts the mows. And a weekend, he's at the farm to ensure that he runs. So basically the farm has a succession plan. The kids are very, very passionate. The tractor we are driving in the morning is for my little son who's in secondary school, he's called Mogu. Yeah. So each one of them has their machinery to run the farm. When they come, one is stealing on their side or the other one is stealing on the other side. If my sons don't convince you, if my daughter doesn't convince you that direct goats are profitable, no one else will. Right now, my daughter is in charge of packaging at Kampala. Yeah, she's running quality control. If you have your final message to Africans, what would that message be? Love your continent. Love and cherish it. And put all your effort into developing yourself, develop your village, develop your country, develop the continent. If you can't grow food, keep a goat. Let it roam around.  It will scratch, it will feed itself. But have some animal. That is our social capital. You wouldn't believe that it's a dry season in Uganda. And it's so green. You wouldn't believe it. I accept your question. Yesterday, when I was coming in from Kenya, Kenya is scorched. And when we entered Uganda, people are saying, oh, these people are now planting seasons. But Uganda said, no, this is a dry season in Uganda. We don't know what we have. Ugandans are saying it's dry. Other people are saying this is heaven. Uganda is blessed. Don't you think so? I think so, too. If you want to buy goat milk, where do you reach out? It's called Nutrifit Goats Milk Nutrifit Goats Yogurt. We do direct deliveries. Direct deliveries. Thank you so much for watching. Don't forget to like this video. Subscribe every part of this awesome channel.


1. This is not a detailed bibliography, but merely a general list of Mark Twain's literary undertakings, in the order of performance, showing when and usually where the work was done, when and where first published, etc. An excellent Mark Twain bibliography has been compiled by Mr. Merle Johnson, to whom acknowledgments are due for important items. 2. Only a few of the more important speeches are noted. Volumes that are merely collections of tales or articles are not noted. 3. Titles are shortened to those most commonly in use, as Huck Finn or Huck, for the adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Names of periodicals are abbreviated. The initials U.E. stand for the Uniform Edition of Mark Twain's works. The chapter number or numbers in the line with the date refers to the place in this work where the items are mentioned. 1851. C. 18 of this work. Edited the Hannibal Journal during the absence of the owner and editor, Orian Clemens, wrote local items for the Hannibal Journal. Berlask of a rival editor in the Hannibal Journal. Wrote two sketches for the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia. To Mary in H. blank, blank, L. period. Hannibal Journal. 1852. 53. C. 18. Jim Wolfe and the Fire. Hannibal Journal. Berlask of a rival editor in the Hannibal Journal. 1853. C. 19. Wrote obituary poems, not published. Wrote first letters, home. 1855. 56. C. chapters 20 and 21. First after dinner speech, delivered at a printer's banquet in Kea Cook, Iowa, letters from Cincinnati, November 16, 1856, signed Snodgrass. Saturday Post, Kea Cook. 1857. C. chapter 21. Letters from Cincinnati, March 16, 1857, signed Snodgrass, Saturday Post, Kea Cook. 1858. Anonymous contributions to the New Orleans Crescent and probably to St. Louis Papers. 1859. C. chapter 27. Also Appendix B. Berlask of Captain Isaiah Sellers. True Delta, New Orleans. May 8th or 9th. End of Appendix X. Part 1, 1851 to 1859. Red by John Greenman. Section 110 of Mark Twain of Biography. Appendixes. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Mark Twain of Biography. By Albert Bigelow Payne. Appendix X. Part 2. Mark Twain's works, published and otherwise, from 1860 to 1869. 1861. C. chapter 33 to 35. Letters Home, published in the Gate City, Kea Cook. 1862. C. chapter 35 to 38. Letters and sketches, signed Josh for the Territorial Enterprise, Virginia City, Nevada. Report of the Lecture of Professor Personal Pronoun. Enterprise. Report of a Fourth of July Oration. Enterprise. The Petrified Man. Enterprise. Local News Reporter for the Enterprise from August. 1863. C. chapters 41 to 43. Also Appendix C. Reported the Nevada Legislature for the Enterprise. First used the name Mark Twain February 2. Advice to the Unreliable Enterprise. Curing a Cold. Enterprise. U.E. Information for the Million. Enterprise. Advice to Good Little Girls. Enterprise. The Dutch Nick Massacre. Enterprise. Many other Enterprise sketches. The Aged Pilot Man. Poem. Roughing It. U.E. 1864. C. chapters 44 to 47. Reported the Nevada Legislature for the Enterprise. Speech as Governor of the Third House. Letters to New York Sunday Mercury. Local reporter on the San Francisco Call. Articles and Sketches for the Golden Era. Articles and Sketches for the Californian. Daily Letters from San Francisco to the Enterprise. Several of the era and California sketches appear in Sketches New and Old. U.E. 1865. C. chapters 49 to 51. Also Appendix E. Notes for the Jumping Frog Story. Angels Camp. February. Sketches, etc., for the Golden Era and Californian. Daily Letter to the Enterprise. The Jumping Frog. San Francisco. Saturday Press. New York. November 18. U.E. 1866. C. chapters 52 to 55. Also Appendix E. Daily Letter to the Enterprise. Sandwich Island Letters to the Sacramento Union. Lecture on the Sandwich Island, San Francisco, October 2. 43 Days in an Open Boat. Harper's Magazine, December. Error in Signature. Made it Mark Swain. 1867. C. chapters 57 to 65. Also Appendix E, F, and G. Letters to Alta California from New York. Jim Wolf and the Cats. New York Sunday Mercury. The Jumping Frog. Book. Published by Charles Henry Webb. May 1. U.E. Lectured at Cooper Union. May 66. Letters to Alta California and New York Tribune from the Quaker City. Holy Land Excursion. Letter to New York Herald on the Return from the Holy Land. After dinner speech on Women, Washington, began arrangement for the publication of The Innocence Abroad. 1868. C. chapters 66 to 69. Also Appendix E, H, and I. Newspaper Letters, etc., from Washington for New York Citizen, Tribune, Herald, and other papers and periodicals. Preparing Quaker City Letters, in Washington and San Francisco, for book publication. Captain Wakeman's Stormfield's Visit to Heaven, San Francisco. Published Harper's Magazine, December 1907 to January 1908. Also Book, Harper's. Lectured in California and Nevada on the Holy Land, July 2. SCAT. Anonymous article on T. K. Beecher, Elmira. Published in local paper. Lecture Tour. Season. 1868. 1869. 1869. C. chapters 70 to 73. The Innocence Abroad, Book, American Publishing Company, July 20, UE. Bought one-third ownership in the Buffalo Express. Contributed editorials, sketches, etc., to the Express. Contributed sketches to Packard's Monthly, Woods Magazine, etc. Lecture Tour. Season. 1869 to 1870. End of Appendix X. Part 2. Mark Twain's Works from 1860 to 1869. Red by John Greenman. Section 111 of Mark Twain a Biography. Appendixes. Mark Twain a Biography by Albert Bigelow Payne. Appendix X. Part 3. Mark Twain's Works from 1870 to 1879. 1870. C. chapters 74 to 80. Also Appendix J. Contributed various matter to Buffalo Express. Contributed various matter under general head of Memoranda to Galaxy Magazine, May to April 71. Roughing it began in September, Buffalo. Shem's Diary, Buffalo. Unfinished. God. Ancient and Modern. Unpublished. 1871. C. chapters 81 and 82. Also Appendix K. Memoranda continued in Galaxy to April. Autobiography. And First Romance. The first romance had appeared in the Express in 1870. Later included in Sketches. Booklet. Sheldon and Company. U.E. Roughing it. Finished. Quarry Farm. Ruloff Letter. Tribune. Wrote several Sketches and Lectures. Quarry Farm. Western Play. Unfinished. Lecture Tour. Season. 1871. 1872. C. chapters 83 to 87. Also Appendix L. Roughing it. Book. American Publishing Company. February. U.E. The Mark Twain's Scrap Book. Invented. Saberook, Connecticut. Tom Sawyer begun as a play. Saberook, Connecticut. A few unimportant Sketches published in Practical Jokes, etc. Began a book on England, London. 1873. C. chapters 83 to 92. Letters on the Sandwich Islands. Tribune. January 3 and 6. The Gilded Age. With C. D. Warner. Book. American Publishing Company. December. U.E. The License of the Press. Paper for the Monday Evening Club. Lectured in London October 18th and Season 1873-74. 1874. C. chapters 93 to 98. Also Appendix M. Tom Sawyer continued in the New Study at Quarry Farm. A True Story. Quarry Farm. Atlantic. November. U.E. Fables. Quarry Farm. U.E. Colonel Sellers. Play. Quarry Farm. Performed by John T. Raymond. Undertaker's Love Story. Quarry Farm. Unpublished. Old Times on the Mississippi. Hartford. Atlantic. January to July 1875. Monarchy Letter to Mrs. Clemens. Dated 1935. Boston. 1875. C. chapters 100 to 104. Also Appendix N. Universal Suffrage. Paper for the Monday Evening Club. Sketches New and Old. Book. American Publishing Company. July. U.E. Tom Sawyer concluded. Hartford. The Curious Wrap of Gondur. Atlantic. October. Unsigned. Punch Conductor. Punch. Atlantic. February 1876. U.E. The Second Advent. Unfinished. The Mysterious Chamber. Unfinished. Autobiography of a Damn Fool. Unfinished. Petition for International Copyright. C. chapters 106 to 110. 1876. Performed in The Lone of the Lover, as Peter Spike. Hartford. Carnival of Crime. Paper for the Monday Evening Club. Atlantic. June. U.E. Huck Finn. Begun. Quarry Farm. Canvasser's Story. Quarry Farm. Atlantic. December. U.E. 1601. Quarry Farm. Privately Printed. And Not Edited by Livy. Note by Gutenberg Project. A Sin with Bret Hart. Play. Hartford. Tom Sawyer. Book. American Publishing Company. December. U.E. Speech on the Weather. New England Society. December 22. 1877. C. chapters 112 to 115. Also Appendix O. Loves of Alonzo Fitts. Clarence. Etc. Quarry Farm. Atlantic. Idle Excursion. Quarry Farm. Atlantic. October. November. December. U.E. Simon Wheeler Detective. Play. Quarry Farm. Not Produced. Prince and Popper. Begun. Quarry Farm. Whittier Birthday Speech. Boston. December. 1878. C. chapters 117 to 120. Magnanimous Incident. Hartford. Atlantic. May. U.E. A Tramp Abroad. Heidelberg and Munich. Mental Telegraphy. Harper's Magazine. December. 1891. U.E. Gambetta Duel. Atlantic. February. 1879. Included in Tramp. U.E. Rev in Pitcairn. Atlantic. March. 1879. U.E. Stolen White Elephant. Book. Osgood & Company. 1882. U.E. The three items last named were all originally a part of the Tramp Abroad. 1879. C. chapters 121 to 124. Also chapter 134. And Appendix P. A Tramp Abroad. Continued. Paris. Elmira and Hartford. Adam Monument Scheme. Elmira. Speech on the Babies. Grant Dinner. Chicago. November. Speech on Plagiarism. Holmes Breakfast. Boston. December. And of Appendix X. Part 3. Mark Twain's Works from 1870 to 1879. Read by John Greenman. Section 112 of Mark Twain A Biography. Appendix's. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Mark Twain A Biography. By Albert Bigelow Payne. Appendix X. Part 4. Mark Twain's Works from 1880 to 1889. 1880. C. chapters 125 to 132. Prince and Popper. Concluded. Hartford and Elmira. Huck Finn. Continued. Quarry Farm. Elmira. A Cat Story. Quarry Farm. Unpublished. A Tramp Abroad. Book. American Publishing Company. March 13th. U.E. Edward Mills and Jeffrey Benton. Hartford. Atlantic. August. U.E. Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning. Hartford. Atlantic. September. U.E. 1881. C. chapters 134 to 137. A Curious Experience. Century. November. U.E. A Biography of. Blank. Blank. Unfinished. Prince and Popper. Book. Osgoode and Company. December. Burlesque Etiquette. Unfinished. Included in Letters from the Earth. Gutenberg Project Editor. 1882. C. chapters 140 and 141. Life on the Mississippi. Elmira and Hartford. 1883. C. chapters 142 to 148. Life on the Mississippi. Book. Osgoode and Company. May. U.E. What is Happiness? Paper for the Monday Evening Club. Introduction to Portuguese Conversation Book. Hartford. Huck Finn. Concluded. Quarry Farm. History Game. Quarry Farm. American Claimant with W. D. Howells. Play. Hartford. Produced by A. P. Burbank. Dramatized Tom Sawyer and Prince and Popper. Not produced. 1884. C. chapters 149 to 153. Embarked in Publishing with Charles L. Webster. The Carson Footprints. The San Franciscan. Huck Finn. Book. Charles L. Webster and Company. December. U.E. Platform Readings with George W. Cable. Season. 1884 to 1885. 1885. C. chapters 154 to 157. Contracted for General Grant's Memoirs. A Campaign that Failed. Century. December. U.E. The Universal Tinker. Century. December. Open Letter. Signed. X, Y, Z. Letter on the Government of Children. Christian Union. Kidditchen. Children's Poem. 1886. C. chapters 159 to 161. Also Appendix Q. Introduced Henry M. Stanley. Boston. Connecticut Yankee Begun. Hartford. English as She is Taught. Century. April 1887. Luck. Harper's August 1891. General Grant and Matthew Arnold. Army and Navy Dinner Speech. 1887. C. chapters 162 to 164. Also Appendix R. Meister Schaft. Play. Hartford. Century. January 1888. U.E. Knights of Labor. Essay. Not Published. To the Queen of England. Harper's Magazine. December. U.E. Consistency. Paper for the Monday Evening Club. 1888. C. chapters 165 to 168. Introductory for Unsent Letters. Unpublished. Master of Arts Degree from Yale. Yale Alumni Address. Unpublished. Copyright Controversy with Brander Matthews. Princeton Review. Replies to Matthew Arnold's American Criticisms. Unpublished. Yankee. Continued. Elmyra and Hartford. Introduction of Nye and Riley. Boston. 1889. C. chapters 169 to 173. Also Appendix S. A Majestic Literary Fossil. Harper's Magazine. February 1890. U.E. Huck and Tom Among the Indians. Unfinished. Introduction to Yankee. Not Used. Letter to Elsie Leslie. St. Nicholas. February 1890. Connecticut Yankee. Book. Webster & Company. December. U.E. End of Appendix X. Part 4. Mark Twain's Works. From 1880 to 1889. Read by John Greenman. Section 113 of Mark Twain of Biography. Appendix's. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Mark Twain of Biography. By Albert Bigelow Payne. Appendix X. Part 5. Mark Twain's Works. From 1890 to 1899. 1890. C. chapters 172 to 174. Letter to Andrew Lang. About English Criticism. No important literary matters this year. Mark Twain engaged promoting the page typesetting machine. 1891. C. chapters 175 to 177. American Claimant. Hartford. Syndicated. Also Book. Webster & Company. May 1892. U.E. European Letters to New York Sun. Down the Rhone. Unfinished. Kordnerstrasse. Unpublished. 1892. C. chapters 180 to 182. The German Chicago. Berlin. Sun. U.E. All kinds of ships. At sea. U.E. Tom Sawyer Abroad. Nalheim. St. Nicholas. November 93 to April 94. U.E. Those extraordinary twins. Nalheim. U.E. Puddinhead Wilson. Nalheim and Florence. Century. December 93 to June 94. U.E. $100,000 banknote. Florence. Century. January 93. U.E. 1893. C. chapters 183 to 187. Joan of Arc. Begun. At Via Viviani. Florence. And completed up to the raising of the Siege of Orleans. California's Tale. Florence. Liber Scriptorum. Also Harpers. Adams Diary. Florence. Niagara Book. Also Harpers. Iskimo Maden's Romance. Cosmopolitan. November. U.E. Is he living or is he dead? Cosmopolitan. September. U.E. Travelling with a Reformer. Cosmopolitan. December. U.E. In defense of Harriet Shelley. Florence. N.A. Rev. July 94. U.E. Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses. This may not have been written until early in 1894. Players New York. N.A. Rev. July 95. U.E. 1894. C. chapters 188 to 190. Joan of Arc. Continued. Etreta. And Paris. What Paul Bourget thinks of us? Etreta. N.A. Rev. January 1895. U.E. Tom Sawyer Abroad. Book. Webster & Company. April. U.E. Putin Had Wilson. Book. American Publishing Company. November. U.E. The Failure of Charles L. Webster & Company. April 18. The Derelict Poem. Paris. Unpublished. 1895. C. chapters 189 and 192. Joan of Arc. Finished. Paris. January 28. Harper's Magazine. April to December. Mental Telegraphy again. Harper's. September. U.E. A little note to Paul Bourget. U.E. Poem to Mrs. Beecher. Elmira. Not published. U.E. Lecture tour Around the World. Begone at Elmira. July 14. Ended. July 31. 1896. C. chapters 191 to 194. Joan of Arc. Book. Harper's. May. U.E. Tom Sawyer Detective and Other Stories. Book. Harper's. November. Following the Equator. Begone. 23. Ted Moore Square. London. 1897. C. chapters 197 to 199. Following the Equator. Book. American Publishing Company. November. Queens Jubilee. London. Newspaper Syndicate. Book. Privately Printed. James Hammond Trumbull. Century. November. Which was which? London and Switzerland. Unfinished. Tom and Huck. Switzerland. Unfinished. Hellfire Hodgkis. Switzerland. Unfinished. In Memoriam. Poem. Switzerland. Harper's Magazine. U.E. Concordia Club Speech. Vienna. Stirring Times in Austria. Vienna. Harper's Magazine. March. 1898. U.E. 1898. C. chapters 200 to 203. Also Appendix. T. The Austrian Edison Keeping School Again. Vienna. Century. August. U.E. At the Appetite Cure. Vienna. Cosmopolitan. August. U.E. From the London Times. 1904. Vienna. Century. November. U.E. About Play Acting. Vienna. Forum. October. U.E. Concerning the Jews. Vienna. Harper's Magazine. September. 99. U.E. Christian Science and Mrs. Eddie. Vienna. Cosmopolitan. October. U.E. The Man That Corrupted Hadley Berg. Vienna. Harper's Magazine. December. 99. U.E. Autobiographical Chapters. Vienna. Some of them used in the North American Review 1906-1907. What Is Man? Carlton Lake-Geben. Book. Privately Printed. August. 1906. Assassination of an Empress. Carlton Lake-Geben. Unpublished. The Mysterious Stranger. Unfinished. Translations of German Plays. Unproduced. 1899. C. Chapters 204-208. Diplomatic Pay and Clothes. Vienna. Forum. March. U.E. My Literary Debut. Vienna. Century. December. U.E. Christian Science. Vienna. North American Review December 1902. January and February 1903. Translated German Plays. Vienna. Unproduced. Collaborated with Siegmund Schleichinger on Plays. Vienna. Unfinished. Planned a Postal Check Scheme. Vienna. Articles about the Kellgren Treatment. Sanaa, Sweden. Unpublished. St. Joan of Arc. London. Harper's Magazine December 1904. U.E. My First Lie and How I Got Out of It. London. New York World. U.E. Articles on South African War. London. Unpublished. Uniform Edition of Mark Twain's Works. American Publishing Company. End of Appendix X. Part 5. Mark Twain's Works from 1890 to 1899. Read by John Greenman. Section 114 of Mark Twain of Biography. Appendixes. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Mark Twain of Biography by Albert Bigelow Payne. Appendix X. Part 6. Mark Twain's Works from 1900 to 1910. 1900. See chapters 209 to 212. Two Little Tales. London. Century. November 1901. U.E. Spoke on copyright before the House of Lords. Delivered many speeches in London and New York. 1901. See chapters 213 to 218. To The Person Sitting in Darkness. 14 West 10th Street, New York. North American Review. February. To My Missionary Critics. 14 West 10th Street, New York. North American Review. April. Double Barrel Detective Story. Sarinac Lake. The Lair. Harper's Magazine. January and February 1902. Lincoln Birthday Speech. February 11th. Many other speeches. Plan for Casting Vote Party. Riverdale. Unpublished. The Stupendous Procession. Riverdale. Unpublished. Anti-Mortem Obituaries. Harper's Weekly. Received Degree of Doctor of Letters from Yale. 1902. See chapters 219 to 224. Also Appendix U. Does the Race of Man Love a Lord? Riverdale. North American Review. April. U.E. Five Boons of Life. Riverdale. Harper's Weekly. July 5th. U.E. Why Not Abolish It? Riverdale. Harper's Weekly. July 5th. Defense of General Funston. Riverdale. North American Review. May. If I Could Be There? Riverdale. Unpublished. Wrote various articles, unfinished or unpublished. Received Degree of LLD from the University of Missouri. June. The Belated Passport. York Harbor. Harper's Weekly. December 6th. U.E. Was it Heaven or Hell? York Harbor. Harper's Magazine. December. U.E. Poem. Riverdale and York Harbor. Unpublished. 67th Birthday Speech. New York. November 27th. 1903. See chapters 225 to 230. Mrs. Eddy in Error. Riverdale. North American Review. April. Instructions in Art. Riverdale. Metropolitan. April and May. Eddypus. And Other C.S. Articles. Unfinished. A Dog's Tale. Elmira. Harper's Magazine. December. U.E. Italian Without a Master. Florence. Harper's Weekly. January 21st. 1904. U.E. Italian With Grammar. Florence. Harper's Magazine. August. U.E. The $30,000 Bequest. Florence. Harper's Weekly. December 10th. 1904. U.E. 1904. See chapters 230 to 234. Autobiography. Florence. Portions Published. North American Review. And Harper's Weekly. Concerning Copyright. Tiring of Massachusetts. North American Review. January 1905. Zars. Soliloquy. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. North American Review. March 1905. Adams Diary. Book. Harper's. April. 1905. See chapters 234 to 237. Also Appended. V. Leopold Soliloquy. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. Pamphlet. P.R. Warren Company. The War Prayer. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. Unpublished. E.U.'s Diary. Dublin, New Hampshire. Harper's Magazine. December. 3000 years among the microbes. Unfinished. Interpreting the Deity. Dublin, New Hampshire. Unpublished. A Horse's Tale. Dublin, New Hampshire. Harper's Magazine. August and September 1906. 70th Birthday Speech. W. D. Howells. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. Harper's Magazine. July 1906. 1906. See chapters 239 to 251. Autobiography Dictation. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. And Dublin, New Hampshire. Selections. Published. North American Review. 1906 and 1907. Many Speeches. Farewell Lecture. Carnegie Hall. April 19th. What Is Man? Book. Privately Printed. Copyright Speech. Washington. December. 1907. See chapters 256 to 263. Autobiography Dictation. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. And Tuxedo. Degree of Doctor of Literature conferred by Oxford, June 26th. Made many London Speeches. Bagum of Bengal Speech. Liverpool. Christian Science. Book. Harper's. February. U.E. Captain Stormfield, New York. New Hampshire. Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven. Book. Harper's. 1908. See chapters 264 to 270. Autobiography Dictations. 21 Fifth Avenue, New York. And Reading, Connecticut. Lotus Club and Other Speeches. Aldrich Memorial Speech. 1909. See chapters 276 to 289. Also Appendices N and W. Is Shakespeare Dead? Book. Harper's. April. A Fable. Harper's Magazine. December. Copyright Documents. Unpublished. Addressed to St. Timothy School. Marjorie Fleming. Stormfield. Harper's Bazaar. December. The Turning Point of My Life. Stormfield. Harper's Bazaar. February 1910. Bessie Dialogue. Unpublished. Letters from the Earth. Unfinished. The Death of Gene. Harper's. December 1910. The International Lightning Trust. Unpublished. 1910. See chapter 292. Valentine's to Helen and Others. Not Published. Advice to Pain. Not Published. End of Appendix X. Part 6. Mark Twain's Works from 1900 to 1910. End. End of Mark Twain A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine. Volume 3. Read by John Greenman.


Hi, I'm Russ. And I'm Meg. And this is Coco. And we're from County Wexford, Ireland. And you're watching Trucker Josh on YouTube. First Dakota just headed out where we spent the night.  We picked them up in Berlin, Wisconsin. We've already driven a little over a day. Picked them up Monday evening. Not always Monday evening. And then Tuesday was yesterday. Filmed or drove all day yesterday and filmed. So if you haven't seen yesterday's vlog, go back and check it out. We have two more days to get all the way up to Fort McMurray, Alberta, in Canada. So today we'll be in Canada. Not too sure where we're going to end up. But we've got to go far north in Alberta, up to the oil fields. We're an oil field country. We're not actually bringing these to the oil field. But I'm guessing they're going to be used on the oil field. We're just bringing them into town. So for now, let's just focus on what we have in front of us today. A full day of driving. We're going to go through most of North Dakota here across from Portal North Dakota into North Portal Saskatchewan, Canada. And I'm guessing we'll probably end up either... Well, I don't know what my route is exactly. I did check my route, but I'm not too sure exactly where I'm going to end off today. And I haven't planned that far today. It's not that important to me. As long as I get further than 700 kilometers or like further than like 450-500 miles today, I'll be fine to do the rest tomorrow. Doesn't really matter where I stop today. Tomorrow we have to make it to our destination, though. Like snow clouds. I don't know what snow clouds are, but those look like snow clouds.  We're in central North Dakota right now. Maybe a little east of central. We're in about the middle of our own highway, 52.  Cool and slow. And I've just, you know, just been sort of coasting behind them. They've got a grain truck between me and that guy. But a whole sum of these truckers out here making some dangerous passes like that guy. I know you can't see them, but cool and that's why I mean he's doing 55 mile an hour. Speed limit's 65, but I mean, I'm okay with it. I'm not that big of a hurry today. Maybe that's why. If I was in a big hurry, I'd be very frustrated right now. But all depends on the day, right? Today I'm just sort of relaxed and wearing my sweatpants again. I know. Judge me all you want. I'm comfy. I'm comfy. I'm having a good time. Relaxed, stress-free. Got lots of time to get to where I need to be. Truck is running well. Knock on wood. Got some coffee in my belly. Got some fruits in my belly. Got my dash camera working again. Like my other one, not the one you're looking through right now, but I have an actual a DOD or a dog dash cam. And it wasn't working for the longest time. I needed a new SD card. I stopped by Walmart yesterday. Got a new SD card. And now it's working again.  Because that one's filming 24-7. This one down here is not. When you're looking through, I can't have this one filming 24-7 because I don't have that much storage space because I use such high quality. Like I'm filming at 2.7K right now. I could film at 4K, but I don't see the point in that because you guys wouldn't even notice if you're watching me on like a hundred inch television screen. And even then, you probably wouldn't even notice unless you zoomed right in and... You get what I mean. Oh, what's going on here? Ah, it's just lawn mowers. Now that's a lawn mower. I'm gonna get me one of those. Look at that thing. Just to give it to you, buddy. Have fun. I love mowing the lawn too. Why not stop in my not? Well, I did. It's a nice hot shower. Got a new coffee. Didn't really need it yet, but we stopped, so... Went in my not, right? It's still a long way to go today. Probably about another 10 hours is what I could drive. I mean, I probably won't drive that long, but... Probably at least another 8. I feel good that I'm playing the shower now, though. Didn't get a chance to last night. Felt dirty. Let's get ourselves back on the highway here. I think this is Highway 2, right? Highway 2 and 52, and then 52 sort of juts off. So we've got a four-lane highway here for a little bit. And then it turns back into a two-lane highway once the 52 leaves this road. This is a popular road for western Canadian trucks. Because everything from Saskatchewan West that's going... Going to or coming from the United States, eastern United States, comes through here. I'm surprised they haven't twinned it all the way to the border. There's a lot of heavy truck traffic here. I guess it's not heavy enough yet to warrant a whole four-lane highway. That'd be a lot of money, and I get it. It would be nice, though, because there's a lot of Americans. I mean, it's not just Canadian trucks. It's 50-50s both going back and forth, right? I don't know, maybe in the future, maybe before the end of my career. We'll see that, we'll see. Who knows, I might be driving an electric truck by then. I'm not opposed to that at all. I'm not opposed to driving electric trucks. The whole electric truck thing is kind of interesting. It's kind of exciting. Just a little bit, you know? But they've got a long way to go. I mean, they've got to make the electric truck affordable, first of all, and they've got to make the range a little better. I mean, we've got to be able to do at least 600 and maybe, like, it'd be nice if we could do 800 miles on a charge. And then they've got to put charging stations and every truck stop, they've got to make that electricity affordable. It's a lot of infrastructure they've got to build. It's a lot of work. And then the biggest thing about driving an electric vehicle, though, is the battery, the lithium-ion batteries, right?  Who knows? Maybe less. And then they go and sit in the landfill for 10,000 years once they're depleted. So it's very bad for the environment that way. That doesn't help much. All right, well, my second random search at the Canadian border in just a few months. I haven't been searched at the border going either way in probably seven, eight years. Now I've been searched twice within a few months just to keep me on my toes. They didn't find anything, spoiler alert. Nothing to find. I got nothing to hide. So let's get out of here now. This whole thing is under construction right now so I gotta figure out how to safely get out of here without hitting anybody. So we've left the facility now and you can see all the construction. You know, they're doing a lot of construction for the port of entry as well. I think Canada is updating a lot of their ports of entry, at least in the west, which is nice because traffic is getting heavy. More and more and more trucks going through here, which is good. It's a good thing. Lots for us to do. We've got ourselves around here, followed the signs towards Estevan, Duty Free Store on this side. Very nice. All right, not towards the US border. We'll go back and visit them again soon. Don't worry, for now we gotta go to Fort McMurray. I've searched. Are you guys watching my videos?  They're doing a good job. Wonderful, wonderful border agents. You're doing a good job keeping us safe on both sides of the border.  I know it's nothing personal, right? Really nice guy who was dealing with me today. Really nice guy. I'd be friends with him if I lived around here. Asked me how my trip was going. Really friendly about everything. You know, sometimes they're all just business. You know, this guy was, he did his job. He did his job well, but he was also nice about it. Friendly about it.  And we go wait in a separate area where I can't see the truck that's just let him do his thing. He's not going to find anything. I got nothing to hide, so he looked through the whole truck. He was actually very nice about it. Some of these guys, they throw your truck upside down and just leave it like that, right? They'll unpack all your bags and just leave it. Won't repack anything. But this guy was nice about it. He didn't make a mess. Got a little bit of mud in my truck, but that's okay, I forgive him. He's a nice guy. And he came back and stamped my paperwork, gave me the go-ahead. Bada-bing, bada-boom, we're on the road. We're allowed to come home. So I always say that, like, I used to say that those searches were rather rare, but, you know, you never know. Those random searches, they pop up randomly. I'm going through a series of months where I'm getting searched way more often than I have in the past, so it's a good thing. It's a good thing. They'll catch people who are doing some shady stuff that way. Man, we're once again in the Megatropolis that is Saskatoon. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I'm going to be staying here the night. I've decided. I'm going to go to the Husky and, uh, I don't stay there. Should be parking there for me, I'm thinking. Still got, what, like, three, three and an hour from 22 minutes available, but we've only got 850 kilometers left so it's, like, 500 miles. So I'll do that tomorrow. I don't want to stop and get a good rest. This is just the main drag going through Saskatoon on the north side of the city. We've got to turn right or turn north on the Idlewild Drive. Look that street name up once and how they spell it. I don't know where they came up with that name, but it's, it's unique. I wonder if this guy in front of me is going to the exact same place as me. I have no idea who he is. But I bet you there's one spot left at the truck stop and he's going to take it. I'm just kidding, I'm not that negative. If there's no parking available for me here, I have lots of time on my clock. I can still continue going. I'll just go further down the road then. Most people do like to stop in bigger cities like this. Like I do too, especially as the weather starts to get a little colder. Like right now we're looking at, uh, four degrees celsius. Where's that siren coming from? Here's siren. It's not behind me. It's not in front of me. That building over there is always lit up in different colors. That's the SaskTel Center. I believe that's where their Saskatoon Blades hockey team plays. Husky is right up here. Just look for the big Canada flag and you'll find the Husky. There she's. Oh, they don't have the flag lit up. What do they do? Yeah, it's sort of just no, they don't have it lit up. You should have the flag lit up, my friends. Aren't you lighting up the flag? There you see Husky Travel Center. All that over there. Every Husky has a big Canada flag. That's how you can see it far away. Are we coming over there? No? Nobody coming? Nobody coming? Nobody coming? Nobody coming? Nobody coming? No, I'm going. All right. And here it is. So we're just gonna keep turning right here. We've got a Tim Hortons right across the street. It looks like the Tim part of their sign isn't working anymore. It's just Hortons now. Look at this. They've got their Christmas lights on here already. Why don't you look at that? You know, I was in Walmart in Fargo yesterday and they had Christmas trees out for sale already. Christmas trees. In October. Christmas trees. Before Canadian Thanksgiving. Before Remembrance Day. Before American Thanksgiving. What in the world? Walmart is all gung-ho down there. They're ready for Christmas. All right, let's get in here. Why are these cars parked back here? Oh, it's because there's an event at the SaskTel Center. Oh, so they take up spots for us. And look at all these cars here taking up spots. Oh, that's not very nice. Those spots to park.  All these cars here. That's just rude. That's just rude. Those spots are for the big trucks. You can go park anywhere else. That's a nice truck right there, speaking of. Okay, well. Looks like there's still plenty of parking for me, so it's not going to be a big problem, but luckily it's not full. Crazy. There's a lot of traffic right now, so I don't have to focus on finding a spot here. Hi, I'm Russ. And I'm Meg. And this is Coco. And we're from County Wexford, Ireland. And you're watching Trucker Josh on YouTube.


One second to do so. All right, we are now being recorded. Welcome, everybody, to the Kappa Joe Town Budget Edition this Friday morning in November. So today, like previous days, we're going to talk about topics related to the budget, answer your questions. You can also ask questions that aren't related to the budget, whatever is on your mind. To do so, you can raise your hand in Zoom. If you're on the phone, that's star six. So we will get started by introducing everybody.  I'm Sean Mangano, the director of finance for the town. That was quick. Yeah. And I'm happy to be here today. And I'm Paul Backelman. I'm the town manager. And I'm happy to be here today, too. Everybody's happy. And Brianna Stundard, communications manager and CPO community participation officer for the town.  You want me to do that one, Paul? Sure. So we have developed our baseline projection of revenues for the FY23 fiscal year. We'd always do a very early projection. And it will evolve over the next several months. And we have presented that projection along with other financial trend information to the council, the school committee, and the library board of trustees. We did that on Monday at what we call our financial indicators meeting. And then we also on Monday held a budget forum, which had a good amount of input from the community. But I think there was at least eight or nine comments, maybe more. And so we hold that budget forum pretty early in the year because we want to receive feedback on the budget process on the front end before we start looking at programming and really working on the budget. We want to get that feedback so it can be built in. And so that budget forum was held. And now, and then that night, the council refers the development of the council's budget guidelines for the town manager. And they refer that to the finance committee. And so the finance committee met on Tuesday to start discussing budget guidelines. And the budget guidelines are really important. It's an annual document that the council prepares with the help of the finance committee. And it lays out the parameters for which the town manager and staff develop the budget. Kind of sets out the expectations of the council. And so the finance committee had a good discussion on Tuesday. It seems like every year there's more and more challenging topics to fold into the budget guidelines, at least the last few years since I've been here. And so there's a lot for the finance committee to kind of grapple with and to figure out how to put into the budget guidelines. Because they don't really want to say, do everything. That's not the intent of the budget guidelines. It's to acknowledge that we have limited resources and that there's a lot of needs as well. And what's a responsible way to develop a budget moving forward? So the finance committee will be meeting again on this coming Tuesday to continue the budget guidelines discussion. And then they will eventually make a recommendation to the council. And then the council will discuss it. And hopefully the council will approve budget guidelines sometime in December. And again, that's really for the manager and staff. That's really sort of the, here you go, go develop the budget.  So yeah, I'll just jump in here on a couple of things. And we should let Sean and I will talk forever until people start raising their hands. So if you have questions or comments, do that. Someone mentioned a few things. One is that our budget process, where we start with financial indicators, have the elected leaders establish the guidelines, that was developed years before either Sean or I were here. But it's become a standard for the state that our previous Sandy Pooler and John Musanti were really ground breakers in doing this process. And that's really become the standard around the state for well-managed communities. So it starts with sharing information and then moves to asking the elected officials to set priorities. And that's what the guidelines are. The forum, when we started, when we switched to the council forum of government, we had the budget forum in the spring. And then we realized after that first year talking with the council president that that was too late. We had already pretty much made a lot of the decisions on the budget by April or whenever we had the budget forum, so we moved it to the very beginning of the process so we could hear from people as to what are their priorities as the council was considering the priorities. And I think the point that Sean made was really important in that it's not a to-do list of everything we want. It's the hard grappling with the challenges of having limited resources and establishing the priorities for the community and where you want those limited resources to go. And that is a policy matter that we want the council to make those decisions. And I think that we have a very strong, robust system in place. And then it's every year we have to make those hard decisions. So I do see that we have a hand in the crowd. And I also want to take a chance to say that you can type your questions into the Q&A if you'd prefer. And I can read them as well. I see a lot of hands. First is number ending 364. But I'm pretty sure this might be Phyllis. So come on into the room and introduce yourself. Right. Sorry, I'm beating Ken Rosenthal today. Phyllis Lara, South Amherst. Who is on the finance committee? And can we contact them by email or phoning them to say what we would prefer to have in the budget? So the members of the finance committee, there's five counselors who are on the committee. And then there are three resident members of the council. So it's Councillor Steinberg, Councillor Griezmer, Council President Griezmer, Councillor Pam, Councillor DeAngeles, and Councillor, who's the fifth one I'm forgetting. There is one more counselor. There's five. What about the Japanese music on free? Well, I'm thinking of that. I will name the three residents, which is Bernie Kubiak, Bob Hegner, and a new member Matt Holloway. And who is that fifth one? I, Councillor Shane. Councillor Shane. How can I thank Councillor Shane? Thank you, Jeff Lee for putting that in the chat. I'm on like three committees with Councillor Shane. So those are the counselors. Council President or the finance committee chair, sorry, is Andy Steinberg. And so, yeah, you're certainly welcome to email either your counselor for your district or Andy Steinberg and his role as chair of the finance committee. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. You too. Thank you, Phyllis. All right, so we've got a couple other hands. I'm going to go to, I believe this is League of Women Voters, Amherst, RJC. But please unmute and introduce yourself. Yes, this is Martha Hanner on behalf of the. We lost you, Martha. Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. So we would like to emphasize the importance of considering the recommendations of the CSWG and the larger issues of safety and crests and so on as one sort of total package. We hope you'll give it a high priority in the budget, but we believe it's important to look at a long range plan, just the way you do for capital projects and other things that we have to really seriously ask, how can we flesh out crests, make it become an important part of the overall safety, support the other communities. And we believe it's very important to include all the aspects in this overall plan, and that would include potentially then a youth center, also potentially reparations. But it's important to include that all as one and not do something like, say, reparations outside of the budget process and to ensure that, say, the marijuana money and other things are all included in this overall plan so that we hope you will give priority to this and envision what's going to be the ongoing effort on the larger scale. So thank you. Yeah, I mean, I'll just speak to that really briefly. I think the projection, the FY22 budget included some initial investments in the recommendations from the CSWG. The FY23 budget builds upon those investments quite a bit. I think the total sum of the requests is such that it has to be phased in over several years. But I think the FY23, what we're looking to add for FY23 is substantial in terms of a 10-person crest department, a two-person DEI department. And then we are also looking to our American Rescue Plan Act funds to explore the youth center. So I think we are making progress on a lot of the recommendations to our budget while at the same time realizing that there are other departments that still need a certain level of funding to maintain services. And that level of funding increases each year. So it is a challenge. That's probably the biggest challenge this year is how do we integrate these new programs while maintaining services that other services at the community values as well. Yes, I just think it's important to show that the town is taking seriously the overall commitment. And so that's where a multi-year plan would sort of help people to see that, yes, this is something that will be ongoing. So thank you. Thank you, Martha. I have a quick clarification here that came in from Council President Griezmer regarding the financial guidelines. This is simultaneous with the Council setting the goals for the town manager when the new town council is seated, they will review both of these documents. So just to clarify and point there. That's a really important point, yeah. I think so the financial, the budget goals, financial guidelines are what we use when we start to develop our budget. The goals for the town manager are things that the town council establishes in terms of here's what we want the town manager and all the departments to accomplish this year. And it's really important for the council to take those, to vote on those as soon as they can because we're working right now in getting our budget developed. That starts in the November-December time range so we can't wait till a council is fully seated. But I know that this is the first time we're doing a transition, the new councillors will be able to review both of those documents and then amend them as they see fit. All right, I see a couple more hands. I see Ken if you would like to come into the room and introduce yourself. Good morning, thank you. I'm Ken Rosenthal, I live on Sunset Avenue. And I am happy to yield the opening comment to Phyllis Learer today. My question is about not about expenditures for the town but revenue. Hadley has just decided to split its tax rate between residential and business. I know that's something that we do not want to do in Amherst. But I wanted to ask you about how you decide on the basis for taxation. For a resident like me who owns his own house, the assessor makes an estimate of the value of my house based upon mostly comparable sales. For businesses, I think the assessor has to do something different and I think it has to do with capitalizing revenue or capitalizing profits. I don't know which and maybe you'll tell me. But that isn't my question. My question is, what do you do about a hybrid of business that is renting residential houses like mine by an absentee landlord who will own multiple houses and whose business is not a residential rather, whose business is the rental of such houses?  I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but I'm trying to understand whether there is a different standard for absentee landlords whose sole business is owning houses like mine but renting them out completely to others. Thank you. I think a cup of Joe with the assessor is on the horizon. I think that would be a good, especially since we have a new assessor, that would probably be a good one to come up in the future. You're right about your first two points about how residential homes are assessed and businesses. There's three different options for assessing certain types of properties. And so for commercial, one of the things they look at is revenues and expenses with some of our multi-use buildings where there's rental apartments on the top and commercial on the bottom. They do split those types of buildings and will split the commercial portion out from the residential portion. But I do think probably to get the most complete and helpful answer, we should have the assessor come back maybe in the next few weeks and weigh in on how all that's done. Yeah, I mean, it's a really good question, Ken, because you have your house and you live in it and you get taxed one way. Suppose your next door neighbor is owned by that house is owned by a corporation that rents it out as a business. Are those two properties appraised or assessed the same way? And my instinct is that they are. Although, again, that'd be a more detailed answer from the assessor on that. They do do a sort of an income assessment for commercial properties in terms of value of those buildings. I'll be glad to talk to the assessor about it and another couple of Joe, because I think that's something that's important for Amber since we are so concerned about how the neighborhoods are surviving the pressure for houses to be sold to absentee landlords who will then run them as a business rather than as a residence for permanent, long time residents. The distinction I think I'm making is between people like me who intend to be here for a long time and people who live in rental houses, mostly students, who are going to be here for one, two, three, or four years. It's a very different kind of a residence. And it really isn't the same kind of residence that we think of when we think of neighborhood residential. Thank you. Yeah, so one more point on that, Ken. So one of the things that Town Council has asked us to do is to look at a residential exemption, which would allow people who own and live in their own homes to pay lower taxes. It doesn't create any new revenue or take any revenue away from the town. It just shifts it to other parcels. And it's basically, it's also skews to the lower value properties as well that they get the bigger benefit. And that's something that some communities do, not a whole lot. But it's something that the council has asked us to investigate. And they've talked about the last couple of years. And I think, you know, come the fall, their expatting is a little more detailed on what that looks like. Thank you. All right, thank you, Ken. I had a question that came in via email from Ian. That was kind of related to what we were just talking about a little bit. So I'm going to read it now. And hopefully we can provide a little bit of answer. So this is from Ian, who's wondering which Amherst neighborhoods seem to be the fastest growing in terms of population in new housing. And again, maybe not these panelists here who would have that answer, but do you get any sense? Yeah, I mean, we can track pretty much it's where the new houses are being developed. And it's really the biggest developments happening in Amherst at this point in time are in apartment buildings. So there's a new apartment building being built on one University Drive South. There's one that just opened up on University Drive near the Hangar. There's one that's about to open up on Main Street near the railroad tracks. So it's these relatively, I mean, modest-sized multi-unit rentals. And that's where we're getting the most people. There aren't a lot of single-family homes being built. There are some, but not a whole lot. And in terms of population, we actually have good data at this point from the 2020 census. I'm not sure how good it is, but we have new data that I will send to Ian to kind of break that down by precinct, at least. That's a great idea. Yeah. So I will send that. Thank you. And we can compare that from prior years, too. Yes, exactly. Yeah. I see Jeff's hand. Jeff, if you would unmute and introduce yourself. Thanks. This is Jeff Lee. I live in South Amherst. And my question's quite similar to Ken's. But I read that in Hadley, with their recent property evaluation, their residential property values went up, but their commercial property values went down. I was just curious if that pattern has been seen in Amherst. Yeah, so we had a similar trend as Hadley, where we know residential properties are going up because there's been a lot of sales. And as we've all kind of observed, sale prices are sort of skyrocketing or worth several months ago. Whereas commercial, there hasn't been a lot of turnover in commercial properties.  So there hasn't been that same growth in terms of the cost for commercial. So it's not so much that our commercial is dropped, where it's more around where it's sort of stagnated while residential has grown significantly. Thanks, Sean. Thank you, Jeff. So I see Jennifer's hand, if you would like to unmute and introduce yourself, please. OK. Hello. My name is Jennifer Taub. I was just, I think, responding to the question about how much Amherst has grown. And I kind of honed in on this from the Districting Advisory Board who was working with the census. I was just sort of, it was interesting, as I'm from District 3 and Precinct 10. And most of the growth happened here. So from 2010 to 2020, Amherst population increased by 1,444. And 1,300 of that, the DAB, was in Precinct 10 and was attributed to the two new dorms at the Honors College. So aside from that, the population grew by 144. And I don't know that we know how much of that is students and how much is year-round residents. But it's not so much a question, but just something I would like to think about, you know, address maybe what the new incoming council, how they might be able to address this. But it's just how we may be build more homes for families, even if it's starter homes. Because so much of the new development has been in the multi-unit apartments. So I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know what we can do. But I'd love to explore that. Well, first off, congratulations on your election, Councilor Locke-Towb. Thank you. Looking forward to working with you. Yeah, so what drives home prices is land values. And so to, and when I first started here, the huge emphasis was on developing long-term solutions for the homeless population. And lately at the Affordable Housing Trust meetings, the emphasis has kind of shifted towards creating more home ownership opportunities for people, mainly watching what has happened with the school population starting to drop, that we're losing families who would like to live in Amherst but can't afford it. So the trust has been looking at what are ways that we can do to create family housing. Because we all know that families help stabilize the community. And it's really important for the entire community. The way you use, you know, the market is the market. The way you can subsidize the market is by subsidizing land values, because construction is construction, basically. Maybe you can have some modest changes in the types of construction you have. So to that end, you know, the trust is looking at, again, finding town-owned land or other land that we can purchase with town funds that then we can flip to a developer who would develop the kind of housing that we're looking for. OK, thank you. All right, great. Thank you. So I just want to remind folks or anyone who's newly joined, you can raise your hand to ask a question or you can type it into the Q&A chat. And I will read it. I do not see any hands at the moment. I do see, let's see, Council President Lynn Griezmer is in attendance. I'm going to just mention if she does want to say anything about the budget to feel free to raise her hand, and we will bring her into the room. But no pressure. Oops, there it goes. Never misses an opportunity. Yes, a little bit of pressure. Welcome, Lynn. Hi, first of all, good morning and thanks for those of you that are coming to the Cup of Joe. Many of you are regulars and I appreciate that. This is really going to be an interesting budgeting process for FY23. And being a member of the Finance Committee for the last three years, having the benefit of learning a lot about municipal finance from Andy Steinberg from Sean and from Paul has been a blessing for those of us on the Finance Committee. We have some major drivers on this budget coming up. And I think we can do whatever we can do to try to satisfy all of them. But they will continue to be major drivers as I think Martha Hammer said earlier. It's we're going to need to look at what our priorities are and over the long term. And I just value and continue to ask that people stay in touch with us and let us know what you're thinking. Thank you. Bye. Thank you, Lynn. All right, I see. I'm going to say this right this time. Anna Devlin-Gothier, if you would unmute and introduce yourself, please. You did so well. Well done. Good morning, everyone. First, I want to apologize. I was a little bit late. And so if this question was already asked, you can just tell me that. And I will go back and watch the recording. So to Lynn's last point, could you tell us a little bit more about the best way for folks to give feedback on the budget process or the budgets so far when we're thinking about priorities, when we're thinking about what is getting funded? Often, I think not only how to give that input, but also what it makes sense to give input about, right? So what is it that folks can really, how can folks contribute in the most meaningful way to this process? From Paul, Brianna, Sean, all of your perspectives, that would be great. That was a great question. I'll let Sean start. Sure. So in terms of ways to give input, there's going to be several opportunities. One thing we did last year that I think we'll do this year, and it was helpful as we used the Engage Amherst page around the budget process and allow people to either ask questions about the budget or voice their what they want to see in the budget. And that will then contain all of our budget documents or links to our budget documents as well. So it can be sort of a one-stop place to read about the budget and share input. I think once the budget guidelines, I think getting input now to the Finance Committee is a good idea. I think that was raised earlier. While they're developing these budget guidelines and before the council votes the budget guidelines, getting that feedback to your counselor is really important because once they're voted, again, we sort of start moving forward with those guidelines, but they're still being shaped right now. So now is a good time to reach out to your counselor and let them know what you think is important. And if you want to know sort of what they're discussing, I would recommend going to the meeting on Tuesday or watching the meeting from last Tuesday, this past Tuesday. You'll get a sense of what are the key topics that they're discussing that'll help you consider what's most important to you. Yeah, so that conversation is happening at the Finance Committee and that's where the first draft of the budget guidelines will be developed and that will be a pretty strong controlling document. So last Tuesday's meeting and then the next few Tuesdays, the Finance Committee will ultimately make a recommendation to the entire town council in December and then the town council will consider it over a couple of meetings and then ultimately vote on that. So you're right, this is the time right now to weigh in on what your priorities are. Yep. Perfect, thank you. And there will also be multiple meetings throughout the winter and the spring where there'll be opportunities to share and put. The other big opportunity that's on the sort of other side of after the budget is presented is there's a public, I'll get it wrong whether it's a forum or a hearing but I'll never get that one right. But there's a public opportunity after the budget is presented for the public to weigh in specifically on the budget and share their thoughts with the town manager and the council. And while we're talking about this just real quick, and I know Anna knows this because she was on the meeting last night, a couple big budget things that are going on right now are the Community Preservation Act is reviewing Community Preservation Act proposals. There's a lot this year, which is good but I think that was one of the goals of the CPA Committee last year was to get more interest and more community proposals and they definitely have that this year. It's more challenging because now the requests exceed the amount of money we have available but ultimately that's probably a healthy thing for CPA long-term. So the CPA Committee started reviewing or started really deliberating on what proposals they wanna recommend to the council last night. And then the other thing that's today so if anybody has any last second requests they can get them in. The resident capital request deadline is today and that's been open for the past month or so and this is an opportunity for people in the public who may maybe have a capital project idea that is allowable for the town to submit those ideas and those will go to the town manager who will consider them when he develops his capital plan. And so that's on the town's website under the Joint Capital Planning Committee. I think it was on the homepage yesterday I'm not sure if it's still on today but it's a form that you can submit your ideas and your project idea. Can I ask a follow up on... Oh, sorry, Brianna, can I ask a follow up about that form, Sean? So when you think about forms like this is this something that it helps to have more folks submitting the same thing? Or is this really truly a... So if I have folks in my district who are advocating for a specific project would it support the project more to have everybody submit the exact same phrasing in multiple times? Or is that not helpful? And we should just submit once. Paul is shaking his head and I feel like he doesn't wanna get ten of these. I think if there's more than one person supporting it I think you're allowed to attach documents to this request. So one thing you could attach is like a signature sheet or something that lists all the people who are supportive of this project. I think that would just show that there's more than one person that's specifically asking for this project. And then you don't have to worry about submitting ten of them. Okay, I will repeat. So Ana, the reason I was shaking my head is that we basically, it'll be one item like if it's to buy a new car for the town manager I know everybody would sign on to that. There would be one item. And if you had ten of those identical things it's still just one item. But I think as a good point Sean made is that it does help, it might be useful to see there is broader support for whatever the proposal is. Thank you guys. That's really helpful. I'm done asking questions, Adriana. Thank you. Those are great questions. I am really glad that you asked them. Thank you, Ana. So let's see. I have a couple of clarifying points that came in. Another one from Council President Griezmer reminding people that there's a new feature to submit public comment online to the town council. It's a web form. It's really easy. It's linked right at the top of their page, their web page, amrstma.gov slash town council. You can always email them to all the counselors at town council at amrstma.gov as well as emailing your individual counselor. So that's just a quick tip. And then another question that's come in from, I believe it was Martha. To follow up on the housing discussion, is there a program for renting with option to buy? Could such a program be initiated? So we don't have a program like that. The town doesn't actually own housing. It tends to have land that it then conducts a request for proposals and gives to a developer who then builds the housing and then rents it out. Or usually typically they rent it out because their goal is to have sustained ownership. Now, sustained housing. There are like the community land trust and habitat. I think they actually sell their homes to income eligible people. So usually it's a partnership or we help promote some of the local agencies who are offering these opportunities. Yeah, we support them along the way too. I think the land trust, they come into the CPA periodically for additional funds for their housing too. And I believe there is an opportunity right now through the community land trust for affordable home ownership opportunity. I'll mention it since we're on the topic. I think the deadline's coming up but that is also on our homepage. And the deadline for applications is until November 30th. So if you know anybody who might be interested in that I can get the information and application to you. Feel free to email us at info at amherstime.gov and it's on our homepage. And Brianna, housing has seemed to be a high value of the discussion this morning. So I'll just say that in the American Rescue Plan Act proposal that we put forward, we've allocated a million dollars for the development of more affordable housing. And there's nothing specific around what that looks like. So that could be a lot of the programs that people have talked about today. We've also put a million dollars in to support solutions for homelessness and transitional housing. And then in the CPA committee right now the committee I was just talking about, there's a $500,000 proposal for transitional housing support. And then there was a $500,000 proposal for the affordable housing trust. So there are lots of resources tentatively going towards developing more housing or providing more housing support in town. And I think that's momentum that's gonna continue to grow as we go forward. No, good points. Thank you, Sean. All right, I'm gonna ask people again if they want to contribute a question or just the thought that might have come up feel free to raise your hand or use the Q&A. I don't see any at the moment. What else do we have for them, Paula? Yeah, I've got, yeah. So since we had one of these, we've had an election. We have new counselors who've been elected. There is one seat that is going to be recounted next Tuesday. That's one of the district three, no, whatever seats I've got the district numbers for. And, but there will be, you know, five or six new counselors coming in. If the initial tallies are accurate and affirmed come Tuesday, there will be 12 of the 13 counselors will be women, which is I've been asking the Mass Municipal Association to see if that's a record and it might be for councils. So we have a lot of new people coming in which is really exciting. And, you know, also there was a pretty strong confirmation of the library project. And so that is now moving forward. We have a certified vote as determined by the town clerk. And we've submitted our first request for funds from the Mass Board of Library Commissioners. So that project is launched. Additionally, for our school building project, we have our, we have picked a designer, Dinesco design group. And that has through the Mass School Building Authority. We have three seats on that committee. We selected this architecture architect to start the design of the building. And that includes choosing a site. You know, where do we want this new elementary school to go? And most likely it's either going to be at Wildwood or Fort River. And then we'll start to get into design. The web, we are hoping the website, and Brown is working on this with our owners project manager for that project will be up and running possibly before Thanksgiving if everything comes together. So we're excited about all these projects moving forward. Oh, I see a hand from Ken.  Thank you. I'm Ken Rosenthal, Sunset Avenue. I have a process question all since you just brought up the subject of the election and the new council, either for you or for a council president. The process now is that the election is held in November and the new councilors are not sworn in until January. That seems to be a copy of the federal process, which may have made sense when it was necessary to have a time to adjust and get ready for a new administration. But in this town, it's more mischievous than it is helpful because it means that there is a two month period when it's possible for a lame duck council to act in ways that might be contrary to what the voters were expressing when they elected new councillors. Now, when I say elected new councillors, as I understand it, if the president Talley holds six of the councillors who are gonna be serving in January are gonna be new and different from the councillors who are serving right now. So here's my question. What do we have to do if we want as a town to make the change so that after the next election, the council doesn't meet until the new councillors are sworn in or put another way around, can we swear in the new councillors in November rather than January? What's the process by which we either change the charter or change the rules to make that possible? Yeah, so when the new council takes office is enshrined in the town charter, which was voted on by the people. And it's an alignment with what most cities do in the Commonwealth. If there's an interim mayor, for instance, they may take office sooner, but in almost everybody, almost every other city in town, every other city, the swearing in happens and typically in January, it could be the first day in January, the first Monday in January, something like that. And so that's pretty much the standard. And there's a lot of reasons for that possibly, like we still do not know what the resolution is of the district foreseed is because that seat has been challenged and that will take time to process through. If you want to change that, you would need to change the charter and there's a process, the charter gets reviewed every 10 years. And so once the, and I think there's also an initiative position because it petition process you can possibly utilize. All right, great question, Ken, thank you. I see no hands, no questions in the chat. Last chance everybody to ask your question, does it need to be budget related or housing related? Could be anything. I'll take a quick chance to remind everybody about our asymptomatic free testing program available for pickup both at the Jones library and at the bang center with dropping off outside of the main bang center door. It's been really smooth. I do it every week. And we have ongoing continuing vaccine clinics for boosters. Massachusetts just made it, everybody in 18 and over eligible for boosters now. So we are having that every Thursday from three to 6 p.m. at the bang center. And you can sign up online for an appointment. But not next Thursday. But not next Thursday, not on Thanksgiving. We wouldn't do that to you. Anna asked, will there be increasing dates for vaccinations now that the age limit has been dropped? So not at this time, supply has been a little tough to get a hold on for the pediatric doses. So what our public health team has done is to support clinics at the schools and for other ages or for children looking to get vaccinated, I also recommend calling the pediatrics office as well as retail pharmacy. So I don't think there'll be any increase to the recurring clinics at this time. I know that our public health director is gonna be reevaluating that after the Thanksgiving holiday. But people can access vaccine through CVS Walmart, different locations as well. I think we've put a lot of effort into making sure our children have access to vaccine. And we've done clinics at the various schools which have been very successful. And I think there's another clinic on Tuesday from at the schools have arranged with Bay State health coming up with their van. So there'll be lots of opportunities for people to get the vaccine. And just all mentioned, since we're on the topic that the public health team is also doing smaller tailored clinics to specific audiences, vulnerable populations that aren't generally open to the public, but they are doing those clinics in addition to the weekly public clinics on Thursdays. That's a good point. So they're very busy over there. And again, so no questions in the queue here. So, Brianna, I can, I guess, should I just talk about something that I think is interesting? Yeah, please. What about your soccer team? Well, I'm not gonna, we've got a big game coming up on Saturday, but no, it's the one thing, I don't know if everybody's aware of, but it's I think a really positive thing that should be celebrated is the solar development and the landfill is moving forward and should be hopefully up and running sometime next year. As Paul knows, this is a process that started I think like 12 years ago or something to put solar on our landfill. And the landfills has cleared space. So there was no cutting down of anything to put that array up there. And so it's space that, we weren't really gonna generate anything on. And now we'll be getting pilot payment. We'll get some rental revenue from it. And we're gonna be generating, we'll be getting net metering credits, which is a reduction in our electric bill. We'll be getting that for about half of the town's energy consumption. And that's how, based on the size of the array, it's roughly half of the town's consumption. So that's a good example of trying to generate some more revenues for the town and a space that was previously sort of unusable. And that should be up and running next year and will be a really positive thing for everybody. It really has been- We're gonna need a big ribbon for that ribbon cutting. Yeah. It has been a really long time because the town decided to do it. It arranged to get awarded the contract to a company. Then that went out of business. And they'd go to a different company and then it went through permitting a million things along the way. There's a lot of details to this as well, but it's really is exciting. I mean, you know, it's a long project when you see it in the Gazette, 10 years ago today, the town awarded the contract for the solar development. So, yeah, but it just took a credit to Stephanie Ciccarello, who really has pushed this along every step of the way. There's just been the number of legal terms and Sean came in at the end to sort of really wrap it up and sum it up. And so really appreciate your work on that too, Sean. But that is exciting. That's really going to happen. And they can actually do construction during the winter, which we're thrilled by because it's on the cap of the landfill. So they don't have to get underneath the earth too far. All right. So I'm not seeing any other hands or questions. Here's your last chance. I will ask both maybe Paul and Sean, if there's anything that they wanted to say or share that they didn't get asked yet. Now is your chance. Paul, I'll let you start. Okay. So yes. So, you know, we will be working, you know, we will be working, you know, next week is Thanksgiving, but the council will be meeting weekly pretty much until December 20th or something like that. And then there'll be a break for the holidays. We're looking, the new council takes their seat on January 3rd is prescribed in the charter. That's when they will be sworn to office. And at their meeting, you know, their first meeting, there's a number of things that they will do. And what that looks like is really the town council president and clerk of the council were really working hard to sort of figure out exactly how we've never done this before. We say that a lot in this with this new form of government, but we've never done it before. So we're figuring those things out. But that's an exciting time to welcome the new counselors and trying to help the new counselors get up and running as quickly as possible and helping to orient them so they can be ready to start working on day one. And I'll just quickly say that, you know, we really strive to be accessible for the public. We wanna answer your questions. If you have any budget related questions or other questions, or you just wanna know how things work, we encourage you to reach out to us. You can email a town manager or myself, you know, if it's appropriate based on the question, but we don't want anybody to have a question and not know how to get the answer. We try to put more information in the budget document this year, but we know there's just things that are really technical about municipal government.  So if you have any questions about anything, you can always reach out to us. All right, that's great. I don't see anybody with anything else. So I wanna thank both Paul and Sean, as well as all of you for joining us so early on a Friday, this recording will be up shortly in case you wanna reference back or share with a friend or neighbor. So thank you all. Thank you, Brianna. Thank you, thanks for giving it to everybody.