GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Astoundingly, there's high pressure in place today. So there's going to be plenty of sunshine. On the other hand, there's also a sheet of high clouds that the models show moving southwest to northeast over the course of the afternoon—making the Northeast Kingdom and Coos County the likeliest spots to have clear skies at eclipse time, though the clouds could slow down enough to give other spots a break. Highs today in the upper 50s to low 60s; temps will drop a few degrees during totality. Low or mid 30s tonight.Welcome, visitors! A little back road humor from Brownsville's Frank Hoffman.And if you're looking to check out traffic conditions: New England 511 is at the burgundy link. Check the Waze box for incidents, and the "cameras" box to get your pick of road/highway cams to check out. At the moment, many of the Vermont cams seem to be stuck on nighttime images despite morning timestamps, but here's hoping that gets fixed.Fire on Hanover's West Wheelock St. takes out apartment. When firefighters arrived early Sunday at the building a short way up the hill from the Connecticut, they were "met with heavy smoke coming from an apartment and smoke spreading throughout the building," according to a Hanover Fire Department release. "A hand line was stretched into the building, and crews had to force entry into the apartment"—which turned out to be unoccupied. Crews from Lebanon and Hartford assisted. No other apartments were damaged; the fire started in the kitchen and does not appear to be suspicious.Facing financial crisis, Revels North cancels midwinter show. In a video and text announcement last week, executive director Alex Cummings told fans of the community performance group—which has been in the Upper Valley since 1974—that "rebuilding as an organization from the pandemic has been a lot tougher than we could have imagined." He went on to say that the cost of mounting the traditional Revels winter performance is more than the group can sustain this year. Instead, it will be focusing on a "spring sing" in Lebanon this weekend and Summer Revels in Fairlee in June, as well as fundraising."It took the war for me to start actively seeking people who are from Ukraine." That's Dartmouth Russian prof Victoria Somoff, who is from Ukraine, talking to Dartmouth student Prescott Herzog for his podcast class episode on the Upper Valley's Ukrainian community. Herzog catches up with Somoff and college senior Zhenia Dubrova about early efforts to organize the region's small Ukrainian diaspora, Mickey Elsberg of the Woodstock area's Shir Shalom synagogue—who helped organize an effort to bring Dubrova's family to the region from Donetsk—and others about where things stand these days."Strict but not unreasonable." At the wake after Chuck Hunnewell's death at 88 in February, so many people crowded the receiving line that the wait was over an hour, Tris Wykes writes in the Valley News. That's because, over the course of over three decades coaching basketball and baseball at Hanover and then Lebanon High—and 24 years leading Hartford’s American Legion Post 26 baseball team—Hunnewell touched a lot of lives. He and his wife, Alean, raised seven kids on a coach's less-than-generous salary—and since his kids went to Lebanon, Wykes writes, Hunnewell "repeatedly coached against his sons."Haverhill town manager will stay on as town administrator. You may remember that back at town meeting in March, voters there opted to end the town manager's position and shift control over day-to-day operations to the selectboard, with the help of an administrator. On Friday, reports Alex Nuti-de Biasi in today's Journal Opinion newsletter, Haverhill officials announced that Brigitte Codling, who's been manager since 2019, will stay on as that administrator. The selectboard assumed its responsibilities Friday; the manager-to-administrator shift happens tomorrow.To Upper Valley farmers' weather-related challenges, add another: spreading manure. The problem began with last summer's torrential rains, reports the VN's Frances Mize: Facing sodden ground, many farmers decided not to spread manure, partly out of concern for local waterways. So their manure pits started filling—even before a Dec. 15-April 1 ban on spreading (for VT farmers) took effect and December's rains made things even worse. By the end of March, Mize writes, farmers were getting desperate. “The only thing I’m thinking of right now is how to get the level of that manure pit down to make room for all this snow we’ve got," one told her after last week's storm."If you have a view towards where the eclipse is coming from, you can actually see the darkness coming at you. It is astonishing." That's John Thorstensen, Dartmouth physics and astronomy prof and three-time total eclipse veteran, talking to Vermont Public's Mitch Wertlieb. They cover some of the scientific discoveries that have taken place during solar eclipses, Thorstensen's adventures as an eclipse chaser, and why you need to wear safety glasses except for the very few minutes the sun is totally covered. If you're in the zone of totality, says Thorstensen, the instant you see "a little arc of little bright spots" appear, you should put the glasses back on.The Monday Vordle. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
Heads Up
Today starting at 3:26-3:28 pm across northern VT and a bit later in NH, the moon will be completely covering the sun. There are eclipse-viewing events going on at the Montshire, VINS, the Dartmouth Green, the libraries in Windsor, Lyme, Enfield, and Thetford—and pretty much anywhere with some open sky.
This evening at 7:30, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain takes over the Lebanon Opera House stage. They believe in truth-in-labeling: They're British musicians playing ukuleles. And they play, well, pretty much anything—rock covers, jazz covers, classical covers, theme songs, whatever—with their own twist. "Expect a joyful evening with the genre-bending rebels who’ve lasted longer than Led Zeppelin, played more gigs than the Rolling Stones, and rocked harder than Dwayne Johnson," LOH says. There are still tix.
And you should know that this is the final week for the Hanover Lions' online auction to benefit Youth-in-Action, the Hanover High community-service group; and Visions for Creative Housing Solutions and their effort to build a home for adults with developmental disabilities. Everything from fly-casting lessons to a chocolate cream pie to rototilling on offer.
And to set us up for the day...First, to put us in a celestial mood: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain with the Star Trek theme. And then, because why not?: Jonathan Edwards, "Sunshine (Go Away Today)".Have a fine day out there! See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Black Stache: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Stache About Michael
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