GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, warm. Really... like, either side of 60 warm. That's thanks to air flowing in from the south ahead of a cold front that's moving this way, bringing some gusts this afternoon and overnight and interrupting the warming trend for a bit before it resumes. We may see some rain tonight and the mountains may see some snow, but nothing major. Lows tonight in the mid 20s.An otter doing what otters do. On the lookout for its next meal, from Jan Sensenich in Hartford.Now it's NH's turn for town meeting. Well, most of it, anyway: Some towns will hold elections next month or even in May. At the burgundy link you'll find the Valley News's very helpful set of NH previews (scroll down), including towns voting on whether to join the NH Community Power Coalition, several with articles seeking to make housing easier to build, a few weighing changes to town meeting itself, town-specific issues like whether Cornish voters want to rescind their 2023 vote accepting the former general store to use as a new library and, of course, a variety of contested selectboard (or city council) races.
In the meantime, the VN also rounded up results from over the weekend: Voters in both Lyme and Cornish approved all school warrant articles.
As Headrest closes two substance misuse programs, allegations of mismanagement and a "toxic environment." The closures came late last month, reports Adriana James-Rodil in the VN—due to lack of staffing, according to the Lebanon-based nonprofit that works with people in crisis and with substance use disorder. But two letters of resignation and an email obtained by the paper—from Headrest's former medical director, former clinical director, and former development director—claim wholesale staff departures, "chaos," and "horrible" staff morale since a new director took over in 2023.SPONSORED: Red-hot Cajun band BeauSoleil comes to Lebanon Opera House on Friday, April 4 with special guest Richard Thompson. Born out of the rich Acadian ancestry of its members and driven by Michael Doucet’s renowned fiddle playing and soulful vocals, BeauSoleil brings even the most no-nonsense audience to its feet. At LOH, they are joined by longtime friend Richard Thompson, who was called “the finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix” by the Los Angeles Times. Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House."After several hours of owl-watching, I'm inspired to nap." Why? Well, naturalist Ted Levin was out on Hurricane Hill in Hartford early yesterday, and wrote this on his Another Morning in Paradise Substack about the barred owl he's been watching for months: "It's a rattlesnake with feathers that waits for prey with the patience of Job—an ambush predator built to shelter in place... Barred owls (like rattlesnakes) wait and wait and wait ... and then pounce, a strategy honed to perfection over sixty million years. Eyes closed, sleeping. Head swiveling to the faintest sound. Hunts while asleep."
And a closeup on stoneflies—which are waking up. Or, actually, emerging from their larval stage. They're "unique among aquatic insects in that there are different species that emerge in all months of the year," writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog. Most emerge in the warmer months, but a few come out during warm spells in winter and two families emerge in the cold, probably because there are fewer predators. Whenever they see the light of day, it tends to be at night, "to avoid being eaten by terrestrial insectivores and birds."SPONSORED: Eastman Golf Links open house this Saturday, March 15! Come on by from 10 am to noon at 6 Club House Lane, Grantham, to discover what all the hype is about! Great course conditions and friendly staff has made EGL #1 in the Valley News Readers Choice Awards for nine straight years. Come discuss membership options, leagues, tournaments and social events and JOIN for 2025. Early bird rates are available through March 31. Hit the burgundy link or here for rates, details, exclusions, and application links. Address questions to [email protected]. Sponsored by Eastman.Ever wondered what it's like to go out in 120 mph winds? It was blowing atop Mt. Washington on Friday and over the weekend, and Mt. Washington State Park manager Patrick Hummel and parks employee Chelsea Parker ventured out. CNN has the video.“I spent a lot of my life fighting bullies." Remember that vote in the NH House last week to eliminate the non-profit NH Vaccine Association? One of the voices against it was Gilmanton GOP Rep. David Nagel, a pain specialist at Concord Hospital. And that seems to have been the last straw for the GOP leadership in the House, which removed Nagel from the health committee the day before it voted to advance the bill to the floor. In NH Bulletin, William Skipworth details the leadership's efforts at what Nagel labels "intimidation"; the deputy speaker says it's because Nagel was a squeaky wheel.Grafton County sheriff's office among NH law enforcement departments joining federal immigration enforcement. ICE's 287(g) program deputizes local officers to serve warrants and detain people suspected of being in the country illegally, and both the Grafton and Belknap sheriff's departments have signed agreements to join it—as have police departments in Gorham, Ossipee, Colebrook, and Pittsburg, reports NHPR's Lau Guzmán. The state police have also applied. “With the ICE-related incidents, the only way I'll really know what's going on is to be involved,” says Belknap County Sheriff William Wright.At town meeting today, kids in Barrington, NH will be voting, too. Just as they did last year and in 2023. It's not that they're weighing in on the budget or anything—this year, they're casting ballots on what to name a town road; last year, it was what to name a town forestry truck. But there's a serious experiment going on, writes Steven Porter in the Globe's Morning Report (no paywall): "Maybe engaging kids in the process is a good way to engage grown-ups as well." And it seems to be working: Each of the past two years, adult turnout has been higher than before the initiative began.Digging into "the Bennington Triangle". From 1945 to 1950, five people in and around Bennington disappeared, and as VT Public's Howard Weiss-Tisman reports on Brave Little State, the body of just one was eventually found. Interestingly, around Bennington itself it's mostly just distant folklore. But on TV shows and online and even internationally, it's a big point of discussion. Aliens? The Bennington Monster? A people-eating rock? That last one may be thanks to VT folklorist Joe Citro, whose coining of the phrase "Bennington Triangle" ignited international interest. Thank Claremont's Kevin Landry for the question.In whale pee is the preservation of the world? That could be an exaggeration, but a new study from UVM suggests maybe not. It's been known for a while that whale poop provides nutrients to the ocean's surface. Now, it turns out that whales also "carry huge quantities of nutrients horizontally, across whole ocean basins, from rich, cold waters where they feed to warm shores near the equator where they mate and give birth," writes Joshua Brown for UVM News. "Much of this is in the form of urine—though sloughed skin, carcasses, calf feces, and placentas also contribute." More at the link.To remind us of what we have and cannot lose. The 2024 winners of the Nature Photography Contest live up to its motto. On land, Christopher Paetkau takes the overall prize for his photo of a polar bear snoozing in a field of sunlit fireweed. Stuart Chape took to the skies to capture a tentacled river in Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand. And James Ferrara went deep underwater for his image of a sperm whale that came oh so close (“it felt like a train going by”) in the waters off Dominica. Scroll down for all finalists; the landscapes especially—brilliant colors, stillness, and light.The Tuesday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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The Howe, Northern Woodlands, and the Hanover Conservancy sponsor UVM Extension forest ecologist and former state climate forester for VT Alexandra (Ali) Kosiba, talking about the forest carbon cycle, Northeastern forests’ role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, and how decision makers can help maintain climate-resilient forests. 7 pm in the Mayer Room and online.
Weiss, a "visual storyteller," brought together abstract color images of a Vermont apple orchard that she photographed from 2020-2022, during the pandemic, aiming to reflect both seasonal and emotional changes during that time. 7 pm.
The Tuesday poem.
There’s a thread you follow. It goes amongthings that change. But it doesn’t change.People wonder about what you are pursuing.You have to explain about the thread.But it is hard for others to see.While you hold it you can’t get lost.Tragedies happen; people get hurtor die; and you suffer and get old.Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.You don’t ever let go of the thread.
— "The Way It Is" by William Stafford.
(taken from Hayden Reiss's 1994 film,
William Stafford and Robert Bly: A Literary Friendship
), Stafford recites the poem and talks about how every detail a writer observes matters, relating the process to this stanza from William Blake's "Jerusalem":
I GIVE you the end of a golden string; Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate, Built in Jerusalem’s wall.…
See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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