GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny. We’ve still got high pressure firmly in place, and after this morning’s patchy fog and frost, air that’s starting to flow in from the south will send temps rising: from the low or mid 30s at dawn to the mid 70s by mid or late afternoon. That air’s going to stay in place for a while, so nights and days are going to be warmer for a bit: Lows tonight in the mid 40s.
And just as everyone figured, last week’s rain didn’t put a dent in the drought. Both states are about where they were last week. One note: NOAA won’t be updating these maps after this until the federal shutdown ends.
In NH, almost all of Grafton County and the northern swaths of Sullivan and Merrimack counties are in extreme drought; much of the rest of the state is in severe drought.
In VT, most or Orange and Windsor counties are in extreme drought, with everything else except the far northwest and a sliver of the far southeast in severe drought.
Spider art, herons hanging out, and… a snoring loon? A grab-bag today.
On an early-morning bike ride in Orford, Jay Davis caught this perfect web.
And just below the Wilder Dam the other morning, Larry Morin spied these herons on a snag.
And for his latest, pond video artist Peter Block writes, “The loon chick featured in this video is making a quite loud sound while he sleeps with his beak nestled in his back feathers, all loons take catnaps like this. But while he sleeps, he is making a continuous and quite loud sound that I can only assume is snoring!”
It’s time for Dear Daybreak! This week’s collection of short pieces from readers about Upper Valley life features a remarkable sunset mirrored in Post Pond, by Jeff DeWitt; Sharon Wight on what she’s discovered about downsizing item-by-item; Kim Morton’s sharp-eyed take on an odd-looking tree; and Dan & Faith Senie’s new song on watching twilight through the seasons. If you’ve got a good story or reflection about life in these parts, please send it in. One request, though: Dear Daybreak is not a place for political opinion.
More on that Forest Service helicopter stationed at Lebanon Airport. The CH-54A Tarhe helicopter that’s hanging out there in case it’s needed for wildfires in Forest Service lands in either NH or VT “falls under the classification of Type 1, which the National Interagency Fire Center describes as the largest, fastest and most expensive helicopters used on wildland fires,” reports VT Public’s Nathaniel Wilson. This one can suck up and carry about 2,000 gallons of water. The Globe’s Amanda Gokee reports that, if needed, it’ll cost $10,300 per hour, and would typically be used for three to four hours for a given incident.
A “time-traveling adventure” to see Bethel’s old—and sometimes barely there—one-room schoolhouses. There were 14 of them, and last Monday The Herald’s Maryellen Apelquist piled into a car with JoAnn Davis Marshall and her husband Doug to tour them. There was the Christian Hill School, with its front façade “tilting precariously over the road” but with a fine history in the early years of the 20th century; the Quarry Hill School, now a private home, along with other schools that are also homes, like the Old Church School; the octagonal East Bethel School, which still stands; and plenty more. Apelquist digs into the past.
SPONSORED: Volunteer at Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center's Pumpkin Festival on Sunday, October 12! Join us for a day of fall fun! We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to bring energy and support to seasonal activities, tasty treats, and family festivities. Whether you can give a few hours or the whole day, your help makes a big difference. Perks include free festival entry, a volunteer t-shirt, complimentary lunch, and a 20% off coupon for our farmstand, greenhouses, and café, valid through December, 2025. Sign up today at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center.
The Center for Cartoon Studies’ early days: “People were like, ‘Oh, you’re making a clown college?’” That’s co-founder James Sturm talking to Marion Umpleby in the Valley News. CCS is celebrating its 20th anniversary—there’s an opening reception this afternoon for an exhibition of work from its early days (see Daybreak’s weekend Heads Up). Of course, Sturm and Michelle Ollie were up to something just as ambitious as a clown college: creating “a hub for burgeoning talent and seasoned cartoonists alike,” as Umpleby puts it. She looks at the school’s development and future as it starts renovating WRJ’s historic telegraph building.
Cindy Pierce and more in this week’s JAM highlights. Since there was no Daybreak yesterday, here’s what JAM’s got on offer to catch up on: comic storyteller and innkeeper Cindy Pierce’s “Glitchy Business” from her fundraiser for the Special Needs Support Center earlier this year; a forum In Plainfield on health care and coverage issues a couple of weeks ago emceed by Rob Taylor and featuring former NH Medicaid director Deborah Fournier, former NH health commissioner Lori Shibinette, and former NH state rep and current DH government relations VP Matthew Houde; and a walk through WRJ’s Lyman Point Park with Clare Forseth of the Hartford Tree Board.
Out in the woods this week, a bunch of poisonous plants. There white snakeroot, for instance, which, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul, contains a toxin that when “eaten by cows, can contaminate meat and milk and sicken humans who consume them.” And American pokeweed, toxic to humans, pets, and livestock but not to the migrating birds that eat its berries. And the fruit of milkweed pods, famously poisonous but fine fare for milkweed tussock moth caterpillars. Me, I’m intrigued by the beautiful herb Robert—not toxic, but it does have the nickname “stinky Bob.”
Hiking Close to Home: the Appalachian Trail. As the Appalachian Trail Conservancy celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance says, “there's no better time to experience this iconic trail right here in the Upper Valley.” With over 300 miles of the AT running through Vermont and New Hampshire, you can explore sections of this legendary trail without traveling far. The AT offers stunning fall foliage views and multiple local access points. Trail access info at the burgundy link.
Were you paying attention this week? Here are the Friday news quizzes. At the link, you’ll find this week’s Daybreak quiz on the Upper Valley, NHPR’s New Hampshire quiz, and Seven Days’ Vermont quiz.
Why it’s getting harder to obtain public records in NH. For the Granite State News Collaborative, NHPR’s Annmarie Timmins explores why some cities and towns make it a snap and others “fight the request all the way to court or take ages to respond.” In some cases, she writes, public officials might be erring on the side of caution, even though NH’s right-to-know law is plainly on the requester’s side. Others hope to wear down an inquiring newspaper editor, say, through recalcitrance. And some jurisdictions worry about the high cost of complying with an overly broad request. She looks into what the laws say, and options for requesters.
In both NH and VT, Medicare Advantage options dwindle—and in VT’s case, nearly evaporate. Medicare Advantage is the set of plans offered to recipients by private insurers as an alternative to traditional Medicare. Providers across the country have been pulling back as the plans become less profitable.
In NH, the state insurance department said Wednesday, Anthem and Martin’s Point are pulling out entirely, while Aetna will drop its coverage everywhere except Hillsborough and Rockingham counties. Up in Coos County, only WellSense and Humana plans will be available. In all, about 77,000 NH residents will be affected by the changes.
The picture’s even starker in VT—where, reports VTDigger’s Olivia Gieger, “nearly all Vermonters on Medicare Advantage individual plans are expected to lose their current health insurance for 2026.” That’s because UnitedHealthcare and Vermont Blue Advantage are dropping their individual coverage; of the 51,600 people covered by Advantage plans in the state, Vermont Blue Advantage serves 26,000 and UnitedHealthcare another 7,800. That leaves Humana plans in Bennington, Caledonia, Essex, Orange, Windham and Windsor counties, and nothing in the state’s other counties, except for plans sponsored by large employers for their retirees.
And it’s not like things are easy for people on regular health insurance. On her new Rumble Strip episode for VT Public, Erica Heilman starts out with a friend on the phone with her insurance company trying to understand a $1,000 bill for a 10-minute visit to a hospital in which no treatment or information “was imparted.” In her show about “the challenges of “getting health insurance and understanding health insurance and paying for health insurance and using health insurance,” Heilman features Justin Lander: “The trauma begins when you get the bill that you believe you shouldn’t be getting,” he says. Then there’s “what it’s going to take me to solve this problem…”
The Zizian who didn’t survive. In the NYT (gift link), Shaila Dewan profiles Ophelia/Felix Bauckholt, the person shot and killed by border patrol agents in January in the same shootout that also took the life of agent David Maland. Like many of the people involved with the group, Bauckholt was transgender, called “Felix” by family and people back in Germany, “Ophelia” by friends here. But Bauckholt, writes Dewan, “did not share the Zizians’ most outlandish beliefs or outsider status,” instead, working as an analyst at a Manhattan trading firm, “balancing a brimming social life with a devotion to helping vulnerable people.” Dewan tells the story of how Bauckholt disappeared from that NYC life and, “and, more than a year later, ended up dead on Interstate 91.”
Hot Wheels POV. Some people really have some time on their hands… (If you’re not an Instagram user, just X out of the popup box).
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Wednesday’s Daybreak.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
THERE'S SOME GREAT DAYBREAK SWAG! Like Daybreak tote bags, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
HEADS UP
Something different today!
There’s a lot going on this weekend, from a chock-full First Friday in WRJ to Puuluup at the Chandler to the Vermont Open Studios weekend, famed author Peter Heller in Newport, NH, and more. You’ll find it all on its very own page, here. And starting next week, the Friday Heads Up section will come as a separate weekend-events email, in your inbox on Thursday afternoons.
And for today...
This evening at 7, the “romantic neo-zombie post-folk” Estonian duo Puuluup pulls into the Chandler, in Randolph. Here’s a taste.
See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
Looking for all of the hikes, Enthusiasms, daybreak photos, or music that Daybreak has published over the years? Go here!
And always, if you’re not a subscriber yet:
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to visit daybreak.news to sign up.
Thank you!