Daybreak Monday 3/7/22

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

At some point, a good day to be inside. Rain headed our way from the west should be reaching us about now, and will most likely last into the evening. Temps will stay in the low 40s all day. There's a cold front coming through tonight, bringing wind gusts, but we won't get much below 30 before dawn.Ascutney expansion plans in the works. You may remember the plan for six tiny houses for out-of-town visitors that the VT Standard reported on a couple of weeks ago. In addition, writes Patrick O'Grady in the Valley News, the Ascutney Trails Association has gotten local approval for three mountain-biking “flow trails” and a bike skills park. The project's under review for an Act 250 permit, and the group's hoping for a state grant; if both come through, they plan to begin construction this spring.Five hours with an excavator, four dumpsters, and now there's a vacant space in Fairlee. The old post office, built in 1934 by William Chapman, was demolished last week as his grandson, Jonah Richard, moves forward with a retail/apartment building he's got in the works. On his Brick + Mortar blog, Richard's got a photo essay of the excavator at work as the building dwindles."Sometimes all you need is a rhetorical question, spoken out loud." This coming weekend, the region's newest arts organization, Upper Valley Baroque, holds its second concert. Its genesis, writes Susan Apel in Artful, lies in a stray comment at a choral concert last year picked up by Jo Shute and Allan Wieman, who enlisted local conducting whirlwind Filippo Ciabatti. The idea of "bringing high quality music-making to the Upper Valley, with the mission of making this wonderful repertoire available to this community, deeply resonated with me," Ciabatti says.Don't blink. On Friday, the Norwich Bookstore's Emma Nichols got about 30 seconds with Good Morning America's vast audience as part of its GMA Book Club. She packed a lot into that time to sell viewers on Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez's debut novel about the complexities swirling through the lives of pair of Puerto Rican siblings.SPONSORED: Welcome Spring with Mindfulness Meditation! Have you heard about mindfulness meditation but are unsure if it's for you?  Do you need support establishing a practice and staying on track?  Whether you're looking for a healthy way to improve your wellness or just want to learn and grow, turn over a new leaf with the ancient, scientifically proven training of mindfulness meditation. In a 6-week beginner's course you'll learn basic meditation techniques as well as how to apply mindfulness to your own life. Starts March 24. Hit the maroon link for more information. Sponsored by Jennifer Cantor.In Garipay housing face-off, plenty of history. It used to be, writes Alex Hanson in the VN, that Hanover and Dartmouth officials worked more closely together when it came to Dartmouth's plans for expansion. Those habits began to fray when Jim Yong Kim was college president, and recent projects—the indoor practice facility and, now, the dorms proposed for Garipay Field—have brought heated community opposition. Hanson traces the complex land deals and changing relationships that brought us to this moment.Thetford Academy robotics team headed to world championships. It took seven hours back in February, but five Thetford teams (plus four from NH schools) prevailed in the VT/NH Robotics State Championship to move onto the world event in Dallas in May. In Sidenote, Li Shen chronicles the feat—and describes how robotics competitions work and what makes them so compelling.Oh yeah? But what about the Anemone Meadow-rue? Not to mention the American bumblebee! There was a lot of fanfare when VT's Dept of Fish & Wildlife announced that the bald eagle is no longer considered endangered. But as the VT Center for Ecostudies' Kent McFarland points out, other species were added to the endangered and threatened lists. He introduces us to the Anemone Meadow-rue, Houghton's Sedge, Brook Floaters, American Bumlebee, and Eastern Meadowlark. Plus some endangered habitats.Granite Staters may be poised to buy more electric vehicles, but will face lack of charging stations. At the moment, writes Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin, there are just 3,000 or so EVs in the state, but ISO New England projects as many as 56,000 in eight years. The problem: NH lags the rest of New England in charging infrastructure, a combination of limited funding and few incentives for utilities to invest in them, Gokee writes.Once again, Fair Haven proves it has a soft spot for goats. Missed this last week: Fair Haven, VT has once again elected a pet mayor, and once again, it's a goat. Albeit a really cute one. Elsa, a baby goat, beat out Maddie the dog and Colonel Kernal, a chicken, for the honorary position at Town Meeting Day. Two of Elsa's three predecessors have been goats. WCAX's Elissa Borden reports.And now we'll go to the dogs. Olive and Mabel, in particular. "The agenda is this: We're going to go for a run, and then we're going to get the balls, and then we'll go for a bit of a swim." Sounds just about perfect, right? And as BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter writes for his latest post, "This isn't really anything particularly creative... But sometimes there is so much grim news around that two minutes of heading into their world isn't too bad." Especially when you're at the beach with a dog-cam.

Heads Up

You knew we'd have to get around to it eventually, right? The Mamas and the Papas, 1966 on Ed Sullivan, "Monday, Monday."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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