SO NICE TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
Cooler, more seasonal air filtering in. It's trailing a cold front that's moving through this morning from the west, but all we'll see is plenty of sunshine and highs today a few degrees below yesterday's—high 70s. Breezes from the west/northwest pretty much all day. Down into the high 40s tonight. Just a reminder... No Daybreak on Monday. But it should be such a fine day for doing Labor Day things that you won't care.Let's start out on a high: Above Blow-Me-Down Brook in Plainfield. William Daugherty got his drone up the other day to survey the encyclopedia of greens below. And for the first time, he's published a drone video at full (4k) resolution—get a sense of it by clicking the sprocket in the lower-right of the YouTube player window, then "Quality." This mostly matters if you've got a high-res monitor or a big screen. Then, he says, "it looks spectacular."West Leb man arrested for "wrongful voting." Vincent Marzello has been charged by the NH AG's office for voting twice in 2016—once under his own name and once as Helen Elisabeth Ashley, a registered Democrat. Marzello is currently an undeclared voter, but was registered as a Republican in 2012, the Leb city clerk's office tells Patch. Investigators have been looking into the case since 2018. Enlist students on public health, don't just yell at them. That's Dartmouth senior Hannah Lang in a commentary yesterday on Boston's WBUR. "I’ve been eagerly reading every word of every email from administrators about the year ahead. But I don’t think they’ve been doing a very good job," she writes. She ran focus-group studies of her fellow students, who wanted advice on safe ways to gather with friends, not just admonitions not to. And they want to be involved in finding ways to encourage public health compliance.Haven, Twin Pines pull shelter proposal for W. Leb. With homeless shelter beds sharply reduced by coronavirus precautions, the two organizations had hoped to take over and renovate the former Consign & Design building on Main St. in West Leb, but a December deadline for spending the federal CARES Act money they'd rely on has forced them to shelve the idea. The organizations are “looking at other ways, particularly for the winter season,” says Haven director Michael Redmond. (VN)Drought worsens in NH, edges into Grafton County. Restrictions are in place on over 100 public water systems—and in a few towns, even on private wells—and farmers around the state are losing crops and running low on hay for dairy cows. “Farmers have to decide which crops they want to save and put their water resources to those higher value crops,” Hillsborough County extension agent George Hamilton tells NHPR. “I’ve seen some wicked low soil moisture levels.”
NH utilities propose to boost energy efficiency. In a filing with the Public Utilities Commission earlier this week, Eversource, Unitil, Liberty Utilities and the NH Electric Coop set a goal to sell 5 percent less electricity and 3 percent less gas between 2021 and 2023, NHPR's Annie Ropeik reports. The state lags MA and VT in using efficiency to cut costs and carbon emissions. State consumer advocate Don Kreis says the new goals are "admirably ambitious." The steps needed, however, may add to consumer costs. On the other hand, plans to install fast chargers for electric vehicles in NH are now on hold. The idea was to use $4.6 million from the VW “dieselgate” settlement to boost charging capability along six major corridors in the state; NH lags its neighbors on this front, as well. But the state's request for proposals has gotten no suitable bids, so the RFP's been pulled and is being reworked. No release date's been set, reports David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog.Meanwhile, VT highway deaths are up. There have been 43 traffic fatalities in the state so far this year, compared to 21 at this time last year, the Times Argus reports. Speeding is also on the rise: Last year, police pulled over 107 people for going faster than 99 mph; this year, the number's already at 125. Pandemic-related cuts to patrols may be part of the reason. “When you drive around, people seem to be speeding more. They seem to be looking at their phones more. They do not see law enforcement out as much as they used to," says a state highway safety official.VT will send out absentee ballots to all active voters by end of month. Expecting record turnout, Secy of State Jim Condos said yesterday that ballots will go out during the last 10 days of September—and that people planning to mail them in should post them by Oct. 26. The early date's precautionary, he told VTDigger: "We don’t suspect we’re going to see any problems with the Postal Service here in Vermont." In all, about 70 percent of voters cast their ballots by mail in the August primary.Did you happen to get a poem in your mailbox? If so, you're lucky. Vermont poet laureate Mary Ruefle's been sending them out at random—by opening the phone book and choosing a name that catches her eye. Poetry by Louise Glück, Robert Frost, Etheridge Knight (which went to people with the last name "Knight"), a Pawnee song... in all they've gone to about 130 Vermonters. She's aiming for 1,000 before she's done. What it takes to get a ping pong ball in a cup. One thing the pandemic's been really good for? House-bound Rube Goldberg wannabes. High marks for creative use of the kitchen and toy vehicles.From kinetic to very still. There's this astrophotographer named Andrew McCarthy who's been taking high-def photos of the moon from his back yard. The image at the link is actually the result of 24,000 photographs taken over 45 minutes (he's got a wicked fast camera), then winnowed down to the frames with the least atmospheric disturbance. The result... well, you can pretty much see every pore.
Last numbers for the week...
NH added 41 new positive test results yesterday, bringing its official total to 7,347. There were no new deaths, which remain at 432. The state has 240 current cases in all (up 16), including 4 in Grafton County (down 1), 4 in Sullivan (down 2), and 16 in Merrimack (up 1). Lyme, Hanover, Claremont, and Charlestown have between 1 and 4 active cases each. Grantham is off the list.
VT reported 7 new cases yesterday, but oddly its reported total didn't budge: 1,637, with 143 of those (down 3) still active. Deaths remain at 58 total, and 1 person with a confirmed case is hospitalized. Windsor and Orange counties remain at 79 and 20 cumulative cases, respectively, with Windsor County at 4 positive cases in the last two weeks and Orange County at 2.
Oh, and by the way... Esri, the company responsible for the ArcGIS software that underlies a lot of the maps you see out there, has a slick new CovidPulse map that shows state trendlines back to February. Makes it really easy to see what's going on out there. Click on a state for charts, zoom in for county trends.
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Starting at 5:30 pm, the Fred Haas Trio will be back in its usual Lebanon Mall spot—between Salt Hill and Three Tomatoes—playing jazz for anyone who wants to stop and listen. This evening, Alan Grubner, an NYC-based jazz violinist who went to Dartmouth, will be joining them. Tomorrow, singer Grace Crummer doing her versions of the Great American Songbook, Norah Jones, Peggy Lee and others. No link.
And at 6 this evening, Pentangle's hosting Covid Commedia on the back lawn of the North Chapel in Woodstock. They're a three-person commedia dell'arte troupe, two of whom met at Hanover High, two of whom met in college, two of whom studied at the Accademia dell'Arte in Italy... and all three of whom relocated to the Upper Valley when the theaters shut down. Reservations required, at the link.
Meanwhile, the Upper Valley Community Band will be doing a free "music for the spirit" concert on Sunday a 3. They're sponsored by the Lebanon Elks and the Hanover Lions, and will be performing on the field behind the Lebanon Elks Club on Heater Road. Bring your own chairs, snacks, and masks.
Also on Sunday, the Chandler's annual New World Festival will go ahead, both onstage and streamedstarting at 7:30. The live audience event will be with piper Dan Houghton and harpist Rachel Clemente doing a set of Scottish tunes, then trad-roots power trio Pete’s Posse (Pete Sutherland et al) take over. They'll be playing and emceeing pre-recorded sets by John Doyle and Nuala Kennedy; the Cape Breton trio of Wendy MacIsaac, Mairi Rankin and Mac Morin; and E.T.E., Connla, and Cantrip. There's a handful of tickets left for in-person, unlimited for streaming, all at the link.
Yesterday there was a
bolero,
so today, it pretty much has to be
Boléro
,
Members of the Vienna Cello Ensemble perform it all at once on a single cello. No word on how much the instrument cost, but they did write, "It is just sad to see that the economic situation forces four great musicians to share one cello..." when it first came out. (Thanks, RW!)
Have a lovely long weekend. See you Tuesday.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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