GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy, calm. Which we could use a little of, eh? There may be some light snow at higher elevations thanks to an upper-level "cyclonic gyre," but nothing's expected in the valleys. Highs today in the mid-30s, winds from the northwest, down into the mid-20s overnight.What to do when snowed in without power? "Invite Auntie Freeze over to bake some cookies," writes Jim Zien from Thetford.Speaking of being snowed in without power... There's been a lot of that going around—along with much neighborliness in the face of adversity. Outages persist around the Upper Valley, especially in VT.
Here's GMP's current outage map, which is less broadly red than it was over the weekend, but still: over 1,100 people have no electricity in Hartford, and hundreds remain without power in each of Norwich, Thetford, Hartland, Royalton, Bethel, W. Windsor, Woodstock, Barnard, Sharon... Statewide in VT, some 11,000 people were without power as of last night, reports VTDigger's Auditi Guha.
On the NH side, NH Electric Cooperative is still reporting dozens of customers without power in Newport, Lyme, Cornish, and Plainfield; Eversource is reporting a bare handful, and Liberty reports three, one in Hanover and two in Lebanon.
On the other hand, at least it wasn't cold. Like it was 100 years ago today, notes Alex Nuti-De Biasi in this morning's Journal Opinion newsletter: 20 below zero. Which then dropped further to -35 the following morning. He also rounds up snow inches from Friday's storm, including 18 inches in Vershire.The story behind Hartford's first cannabis retail shop. In the Valley News, Jim Kenyon looks at the Tea House, in the little triangle where Routes 4 and 5 come together in WRJ. Its creator is Miriam Wood, who spent 14 years in the clerk's office at Lebanon District Court, the last four as deputy clerk. She is one of five “social equity” applicants in VT to get licensing approval from the Cannabis Control Board—an effort to redress many decades of discrimination by giving Black and other minority business owners a boost. The building is owned by developer Mike Davidson, who is an investor in Wood's business.“I'm relieved, in a way." That's Michael Chamberlain, Windsor County's long-time sheriff—first elected in 1979—talking to VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein. Chamberlain was unseated in November by Democrat Ryan Palmer. He began his law enforcement career 51 years ago in Woodstock—where, he tells Weinstein, "There wasn’t an awful lot going on." And things haven't changed that much in the sheriff's department, Weinstein writes, though "one frequent late-night activity now hardly exists." Recalls Chamberlain, "We used to work a lot of the nightclubs throughout Windsor County."American Bar Assn says not enough Vermont Law grads passing bar exam. Under the organization's rules, writes VTDigger's Peter D'Auria, "75% of law school graduates who attempt the bar exam must pass it within two years in order for their alma mater to keep its accreditation." But the most recent two years for graduates from what is now Vermont Law & Graduate School is closer to 68 percent. In a statement, VLGS says it's met the standard for every year other than 2019, and expects 2020 graduates to do so, as well. "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and what I’m doing lays heavy on me.” Chet Miller is an itinerant slaughterer in the Upper Valley, killing and butchering livestock onsite for farmers' own consumption. While Frances Mize's article in the VN on local meat processors is partly about a push by farm advocates to relax federal rules so more meat produced by on-farm slaughter can be sold commercially, it's mostly a look at the area's pressed slaughtering operations: solo workers like Miller, who's ready to retire, and Trevor Tabor and Adam Tousignant, with more work than they can manage at Sharon Beef.Oklahoma man rescued in the dark, snow from top of Mt. Monadnock. The call from the lost hiker came in Saturday with just a half hour of light left, NH Fish & Game reports. The summit, he said, "was completely cloud covered and he may have strayed off trail above tree line." There was new, heavy snow on top, as well as high winds, and it took about two hours for a hastily assembled team of first responders to find him. He was uninjured, and able to descend with help. He "was well outfitted for winter hiking," the press release says, "but inexperienced with ‘above tree line’ navigation in these challenging conditions."In NH, search and rescue costs are climbing. Although understandably, deaths get the attention, writes Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin, they're actually holding pretty steady: There were 18 in 2018, 24 last year, and this year Fish & Game officials expect the total to wind up around 20. But costs are something else: about $190K in 2013, while the department reports spending $545,453 this year. Col. Kevin Jordan, who heads the department’s law enforcement arm, says it's a combination of more people spending time outdoors and better cell phone coverage in the mountains. Tensions between Sununu, some NH House Republicans. "It's a terrible move," the governor said last week about the choice of GOP Rep. Ken Wyler—who stepped down last year as Finance chair after passing around Covid disinformation—as Finance chair. Retorted Wyler, "He is an unreasonable egotist." On Friday in NH Bulletin, Ethan DeWitt wrote that the testy exchange between Sununu and the committee chair handling the state budget reflects "hardening views" between a narrow House majority that sees Sununu as imperious and a governor who thinks some of its members are extremists. You know about the Catamount Trail. But what about the Mephremagog Trails? The 300-mile Catamount Trail is one of VT's best-known gems for backcountry skiers and snowshoers, but as Happy Vermont's Erica Housekeeper writes, "The Green Mountain State is home to a variety of smaller Vermont winter trails and trail networks offering snowshoeing and cross-country skiing." She rounds up 10, including Hartland Winter Trails and the Silloway Maple Trails in Randolph Center.You may think you've got everything, but no... unless you've already got a giant Fruit Loop (or if you want to be a stickler, Froot Loop). A half pound, 930 calories, "the equivalent of about half a box of regular Froot Loops mashed into one bowl-filling monstrosity," writes Food & Wine's Stacey Leasca of the too-big-for-a-stocking-stuffer creation by Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF. "There's absolutely no reason for it to exist, which seems to be exactly why MSCHF decided to create it." $19.99, goes on sale today.The Monday Vordle. With a timely word from Friday's Daybreak.
And to kick off the week...
Let's turn to Xavier Foley, the double bassist and composer who's been making a name for himself as a bass soloist,
See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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