Daybreak Tuesday, 4/21/26

Mostly sunny, a bit warmer. That arctic boundary’s been and gone, leaving relatively dry air in its wake and kicking off a return to more normal temps by mid-week. For today, we’ll see highs in the upper 40s, generally clear skies—though there’ll be more clouds around in the afternoon as we head toward a slight chance of rain and or snow showers overnight. Lows tonight around or just below the freezing mark.

April in the Upper Valley. Need we say more? From Debbie Carter in Norwich.

“Why does Henry always make takin’ stuff so hard?” There’s Henry’s boat, just sitting in plain sight on the bank in DB Johnson’s Lost Woods this week, and Eddie and Auk are determined to liberate it. But wouldn’t you know, it’s stuck in the mud.

First she drained her retirement to support her husband through dementia. Then he set their apartment on fire—and later died. Now she’s struggling with medical debt. You may remember the March 2 Vershire fire that broke out when Hal Beebe turned on a long-unused stove after his caregiver left but before his wife, Jodi, returned from her overnight nursing shift. In the Valley News, Marion Umpleby goes far beyond that headline to tell the Beebes’ story: meeting in high school, Hal’s early-onset Alzheimer’s, Jodi’s struggles to get him care and earn the money to pay for it. Medicaid would have helped, but that’s been an odyssey, which Umpleby carefully describes. Includes GoFundMe links for Jodi Beebe and families displaced by the fire.

SPONSORED: Owl Festival returns to VINS on April 25, 9 AM–5 PM at the Nature Center! Meet live owls, connect with scientists, and dive into a full day of stories, crafts, and interactive fun. Perfect for families and anyone curious about these incredible birds of prey. Full schedule and advance tickets here or at the burgundy link. Sponsored by VINS.

Suspicious death investigated in Woodsville. The announcement from the NH AG’s office was terse: “In the early morning hours of [Monday], members of the Haverhill Police Department were directed to an apartment on Nelson Street in Haverhill.  Upon entering the apartment, officers discovered the body of a deceased adult male inside the apartment.” WMUR’s Kendra Broddus reports that in an update late yesterday, the AG’s office says investigators are trying to identify multiple people who were in the apartment at the time of the incident, several of whom sought treatment. They’re withholding other details, including the identity of the victim.

Early wildflowers can take care of themselves, thank you. This may come as a surprise to you this week, but in April, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, “temperatures can fluctuate dramatically and the winds can be chilly.” But at least Hepatica and Bloodroot know how to deal. “The soft, downy hairs that cover the flower stalks as well as the new young leaves of Hepatica help to conserve warmth and protect the plant from extreme changes in temperature,” Mary writes.  “When Bloodroot emerges, a single leaf envelops the flower bud, protecting the delicate pink flower stalk as well as the bud from the wind, conserving warmth.” Includes photos.

SPONSORED: Help people who need a hand! Based in the Upper Valley, Hearts You Hold supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees across the US by asking them what they need. These include immigrants in Vermont who need mattresses, dressers, a stroller, and other basics, and immigrants across the country who need baby supplies, kitchen goods, clothing, and school supplies. At the burgundy link or here, you'll find people from all over who need your help getting started. Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.

Boy Scouts show their stuff in Mt. Chocorua rescue. On Saturday, the six scouts from Nashua were hiking the Champney Falls Trail with two counselors when one of the adults, a 51-year-old from Wolfeboro, slipped and fractured her left ankle. They called NH Fish & Game for help carrying her out—and by the time rescuers arrived, the scouts “had appropriately splinted the fracture and applied ice to reduce swelling and help with pain,” Fish & Game reports. It took about 3 ½ hours to get her to the trailhead.

Despite snow, rain, January-March in NH were unusually dry. In fact, writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog, “Dating back to when measurements were first recorded in 1895, January-March 2026 was the sixth driest first quarter for precipitation on record in the state.” This is not good news for people who worry about wildfires. Last year, the state saw a nearly 17 percent jump in the number of acres burned due to wildfires. “Many homes in New Hampshire are located in the wildland urban interface, which is the area where homes and flammable wildland fuels intermix,” says Chief Steven Sherman of the state’s Forest Protection Bureau.

The story behind bald eagles’ return to the Connecticut River Valley. Young people “might find it hard to understand the excitement their parents and grandparents often exhibit at the sight of a bald eagle. They’ve never known a time when these birds weren’t around,” writes Robert F. Smith for Brattleboro’s The Commons (here via VTDigger). But from the 1930s until relatively recently, there were none around. That began to change when Massachusetts wildlife officials imported orphaned eaglets in the early 1980s. They established themselves and began expanding northward up the river. Key to their success: preserving habitat. Smith lays out what’s happened.

Woman sets out to ride from Ushuaia, Argentina to Prudhoe Bay. On horseback. First challenge? The horses were barred at the Chilean border because they’re Argentinian. Just a minor setback for Olivia Cazes, a Canadian anthropologist who is traveling the length of the Pan-American Highway with those horses: She got them their own passports, writes Ash Routen on ExplorersWeb, and they eventually got across. The journey, from the southern tip of Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, runs some 19,000 miles, and Cazes expects to be riding for up to seven years, with breaks to earn money and write a master’s thesis. She’s on her own for most of the journey, grateful for the generosity of people she’s met along the way. 

The Tuesday Crossword. Slip into the day with the mini from Dartmouth librarian and puzzle artist Laura Braunstein. If you’d like to catch up on her past puzzles, you can do that here.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.

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HEADS UP
Dartmouth’s Dickey Center hosts a panel on “Shaping Global Climate Policy”. Three professors at the college—Erin Mayfield and Hélène Seroussi at Thayer and Melody Brown Burkins in Environmental Studies—will talk about “how their scholarship is helping shape global climate policy at the highest levels, from work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and G7 to global collaborations advancing critical predictions of sea-level rise.” 4:30 pm Haldeman 41 and livestreamed.

“The Declaration of Independence at 250” at the Abbott Library in Sunapee. Colby-Sawyer history prof Craig Gallagher will look at the historical setting from which the Declaration emerged and at its origins “as a wartime statement of rebellion by the thirteen colonies.” 5:30 pm in the Activities Room.

At the Howe Library, Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd and “Spiritual Dimensions of the Climate Crisis”. A former biology prof at Middlebury and currently the co-pastor at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, Rev. Lloyd will delve into the spiritual challenge raised by a changing climate, which “demands a transformation in how we understand ourselves, as humans, to be in relationship with one another and with the non-human world.” 5:30 pm in the Mayer Room and online.

At Tuck, former health CEO Kent Thiry on “How can corporate leaders help fix our dangerously polarized political system?” For two decades, Thiry ran DaVita, a public company that provides kidney dialysis services around the US and elsewhere. He’s now co-chair of Unite America, “a philanthropic venture fund dedicated to strengthening U.S. democracy through nonpartisan election reforms designed to improve representation and political accountability.” 5:30 pm in Raether Hall’s McLaughlin Atrium, in-person only, registration required.

Violinist Patrick Yim with “Songs and Dances for a Solitary Violin”. Sponsored by Dartmouth’s Music Department, Yim will give a recital of six works for solo violin by leading Chinese and Chinese-American composers—Hing-yan Chan, Chen Yi, Kui Dong, John Liberatore, Gao Ping, and Shen Yiwen—highlighting “a generation of composers whose music seamlessly blends cultural perspectives, creating a distinctive synthesis of influences.” 7 pm in the Morris Recital Hall at the Hopkins Center.

The Tuesday poem

Maybe it ruins the story to say at the start that no one was hurt
the day Scotty Forester swung open the door of the family car,
climbed up, put one hand on the wheel and, then, while pushing
and pulling on buttons and knobs, he found and released 

the brake, and it started, the silver-blue Mercury, to roll 
down Robin Street, best street in the neighborhood for sledding, 
for coasting on a bike with arms waving above your head, 
Scotty gaining speed on the long sweep of that block, heading 

toward the intersection, then into it, then speeding 
through, the car beginning to slow as the street leveled out,  
although, toward the end, Scotty going fast enough 
to jump the curb before stopping, three feet from a gas pump. 

Maybe knowing the ending ruins this story, but sometimes 
we need a break from dread. We need to know that the car 
did not crash, the child did not die. We need to briefly forget 
that we live in a world where a car is gaining speed, and 

no one seems to be at the wheel. We need to be more 
like the dog Scotty drives past, who barks, and runs in circles 
as he barks some more, driven by some circuitry we have lost 
for loving this dangerous life, living it.

— “Mercury” by Suzanne Cleary, published originally in Poem-a-Day on 4/10/26 by the Academy of American Poets.

See you tomorrow.

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