GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Don't you hate it when they use the words "active weather" and "trending warmer" in the same winter forecast? There's another low pressure system approaching, and as temps warm there's a chance of rain mixed in with the chance of snow. Temps will get above freezing sometime this morning and reach the higher 30s by late afternoon. Back only to the high 20s overnight. Let's trend toward blue light today...
Here's daybreak in Middlesex, VT, looking out at Camel’s Hump with the waning moon a little to the southwest, from Michael Katzenberg.
And here's Shelburne, MA on a gray early morning that just serves to highlight the blues in the snow drifts and swirls, from Claire Blatchford.
New Dartmouth athletic director takes over at an interesting time. For starters, of course, Peter Roby—Dartmouth class of '79 and a former varsity basketball player there—has to deal with the aftermath of the elimination then reinstatement of five varsity teams, point out The Dartmouth's Matt Krivan and Jason Norris. Then there's the Ivy League's decision to cancel competition this spring. Then there's his interest, which he pursued at Northeastern, where he was AD until 2018, in using athletics to pursue social issues, including racism and preventing sexual violence. Windsor and a handful of Upper Valley towns to take up retail cannabis at town meeting. The question comes up because the new Vermont law setting up a system for retail sales of marijuana requires towns to opt in. A number of towns, including Hartford, have kept the question off their town meeting ballot, but it's a lively issue in Windsor, reports the Valley News's Anna Merriman. Strafford and Randolph voters will also get a chance to weigh in next week. And in a look ahead at other town meetings... The Valley News continues its town-by-town review for VT and starts in on NH, laying out major topics for debate, noteworthy warrant articles, contested races, logistics, etc. Here are their previews for:
SPONSORED: Save money and support the Upper Valley's restaurants! The UV To Go Coupon Booklet gives you over $400 worth of discounts and special offers for take-out from your favorite local eateries. The Upper Valley Business Alliance created it to support our local restaurants during this difficult period and to encourage everyone to discover a new favorite place for takeout. Booklets cost $10, discounted for multiple orders. Order online or find it in local restaurants. Sponsored by the Upper Valley Business Alliance.The wonderfully weird and spider-like snow fly, a bark bull's eye, and lichen with a special connection to Tuckerman Ravine. It's (believe it or not) the last week of February, and Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast checks in with what's going on out there in the woods. Among other things, snow flies produce glycerol, a natural anti-freeze. That bull's eye? It's caused by a parasitic fungus that invades red maples. And the Latin name for fringed wrinkle lichen is Tuckermanopsis americana, named for the 19th century lichenologist who did a lot of his studies on and around Mt. Washington.Ready for summer? Susan Apel clearly is. On her Artful blog, she writes about Opera North's plans for the upcoming three-production season at Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish—and about its work rehabbing the farm buildings, "all part of its plan to reimagine the Farm as a new center for the arts in the Upper Valley." That's still to come, though. First, there's reglazing windows. Then painting. Then a new roof and new plumbing...New EV fast-charging stations slated for Randolph, Springfield. And nine other towns across Vermont. The goal, VT Gov. Phil Scott said in announcing them yesterday, is to put every Vermonter within 30 miles of a charging station and to begin preparing the state's highway network for a more electrified transportation sector. The new stations, which will go in over the next two years, "will provide up to 225 miles of range in 30 minutes," says David Roberts, who coordinates Drive Electric Vermont.Federal judge denies NH House Dems' request on remote access. Without touching on the merits, reports the AP's Holly Ramer, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty turned down seven legislators' suit against Speaker Sherman Packard for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring in-person sessions without a remote option. The speaker, she ruled, cannot be sued for enforcing a House rule that is “closely related to core legislative functions.” The House is due to meet this week in a Bedford sports complex.A possible use for old North Country paper mills? Biochar. I know, I hadn't heard of it either. It's wood or other biomass that has been charred by high-temperature burning without oxygen, writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog. It's good for a variety of things, but most notably, Brooks writes, it sequesters carbon, which means "biochar can replace some substances that cause environmental harm, such as chemical fertilizers, while locking away carbon that has been pulled from the air by plants." He looks at a new effort to create it on the doorstep of Maine's northern forests.
VT proposes hunting moose to keep ticks at bay. The hunt would be this fall, and limited to the far northeastern corner of the state, from the border down to around Lunenberg and Guildhall. The density of moose in that wildlife management unit is higher than in the rest of the state, supporting "high numbers of winter ticks which negatively impact moose health and survival,” wrote Fish & Wildlife biologist Nick Fortin last week. As a result, adult moose are in poor health and only about half their calves are surviving their first winter. Lowering moose density, officials say, will cut the winter tick population.At current pace, Vermont could vaccinate everyone in state by September. Though the state led the region in early January in first doses given, it has fallen behind MA and CT and dropped nationally, reports VTDigger's Erin Petenko, in part because it is trying to balance out first and second doses. Petenko notes it's also one of just nine states that so far have limited vaccines to people 70 and older. State data show that 61 percent of people 75 and older have gotten at least their first dose."You have a right to be here, you have a right to be heard, your voice is as good as anybody’s voice." That's John McCaughry, founder of VT's Ethan Allen Institute and longtime town moderator in Kirby, population 394—down from 520 in 1840, notes Erica Heilman on VPR. She talks to McClaughry about what town meeting means in a town with no school and practically no commerce. “The idea that we can come together and talk with each other and adjust our interests back and forth and reach a decision that we can all support on matters that affect our lives... is a very important concept," he says."This is the strangest thing I’ve ever eaten. They taste like grandma." Not what you think. That was a woman in Texas responding to a sweet confection from Australia called "musk sticks." Turns out that even if you can't travel, you can snack like you did thanks to a Reddit called r/SnackExchange, which can help you score matcha Oreos from Hong Kong, Caramello Koalas (or musk sticks) from Australia, ruby-colored Kit Kats from the UK, Mackintosh's toffee from Canada... You have to figure The Guardian's Katie Cunningham got a sugar high just writing about it.I count 33, but I may have missed a couple. You? Every so often the internet washes things up that just have to be seen. A jeep pulls up to a school in the Mongolian countryside. A couple of adults pop out, a couple of teachers wander over, and they start lifting little kid after little kid after little kid out. "[I] have myself been crammed into a jeep with 20 people," one commenter who taught in Mongolia writes. "You get piled in layers to fit. Is actually helpful in the winter when temperatures drop to -50."
And the numbers...
Dartmouth reports just a single active case, a student. There are 18 students and 3 faculty/staff in quarantine because of travel or exposure, while 1 student and 9 faculty/staff are in isolation awaiting results or because they tested positive.
Colby-Sawyer, too, has just one active case, an employee.
NH reported 252 new cases yesterday for a cumulative total of 73,665. There were no new deaths, which remain at 1,154. Meanwhile, 109 people are hospitalized (no change). The current active caseload stands at 2,883 2,940 (down 57). The state reports 253 active cases in Grafton County (down 5), 62 in Sullivan (down 5), and 232 in Merrimack (down 3). In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 40 active cases (down 2), Enfield has 12 (up 2), Lebanon has 9 (no change), Newport has 6 (down 2), Charlestown has 6 (no change), New London has 6 (no change), and Canaan has 6 (up 1). Haverhill, Piermont, Warren, Lyme, Hanover, Grantham, Springfield, Sunapee, and Wilmot have 1-4 each. Plainfield is off the list.
VT reported 102 new cases yesterday, bringing it to a total case count of 14,608. There was 1 new death, which now stand at 198 all told. Meanwhile, 37 people with confirmed cases are hospitalized (down 1). Windsor County gained 5 cases to stand at 1,017 for the pandemic, with 81 over the past 14 days. Orange County had 2 additional cases and stands at 494 cumulatively, with 32 cases over the past 14 days.
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To the list of places you can xc ski in the Upper Valley, add the 10 km of trails at Tim and Janet Taylor's Crossroad Farm in Post Mills. They run around the farm and down through what they call the "Taylor Preserve," and Tim's not just been laying down corduroy but, when he can, tracks. Link takes you to a map; the yellow splotches are for parking—Tim says, "We prefer you park at the farm out behind the barn."
Today at 5:30, Vital Communities hosts "Local Investment: An Introduction," a panel discussion aimed at "mobilizing local capital for Upper Valley businesses, projects, and people." It will include panelists from the White River Investment Club, community loan funds for NH and VT, The Local Crowd, Norwich Solar Technologies, and the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation.
This evening at 6, the Lebanon Opera House presents Kenyan-born KeruBo—Afro-jazz singer Irene Kerubo Webster—who lives in Winooski and fronts a band that moves effortlessly through jazz, blues, and traditional African music. It's an online house concert—free, but you'll need to register.
At 7:30 pm, the Portsmouth Music Hall's "Writers on a New England Stage" hosts renowned radio host Diane Rehm, talking about her 2020 book, When My Time Comes. It's a series of conversation with both proponents and opponents of right-to-die laws. "With characteristic evenhandedness," the Music Hall says, "Rehm skillfully shows both sides of the argument, providing the full context for this highly divisive issue." Tix are $5.
At 8 pm, the Hop begins a set of Tuesday-evening screenings of the three-part "More Or Less I Am" by the international performing art collective Compagnia de' Colombari. Based on Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," it began life as a live work melding fiddle and flute, dance, sea shanties, opera, and poetry, then last year was turned into a digital piece for New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Now, Dartmouth and Colgate have commissioned new installments, as well. Free, but you'll need tickets. At 7:15 there's a pre-show talk on Whitman and the creative process behind "More Or Less I Am" led by Dartmouth English prof Don Pease.
The right to make my dreams come true I ask, nay, I demand of life, Nor shall fate's deadly contraband Impede my steps, nor countermand. Too long my heart against the ground Has beat the dusty years around, And now, at length, I rise, I wake! And stride into the morning break!
— "Calling Dreams" by
See you tomorrow.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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