Daybreak Tuesday, 4/7/26

Snow and rain showers likely, then rain. That air from up north is keeping things on the colder side today, with highs ranging from the upper 20s to around 40, depending on where you are—and a weak clipper is bringing the chance of another round of stuff falling from the sky: snow at first, then a mix, then rain, but whatever it is, the system’s not packing a lot of moisture. Today’s the coldest day this week; after this we start clawing our way back into spring. Lows tonight either side of 20.

A fluffy perch from which to view the world. The mom with the horns is Sneaker, one of the many Jacob Sheep at Hogwash Farm in Norwich. The lamb resting on her is one of a pair of twin boys. “We finished lambing on Friday: We've got 63 lambs this year out of 30 ewes—possibly the most ever for Hogwash,” writes farmer Leslie O’Hara. “I'm in for a LOT of fence moving this summer!”

“Peepers are so small they fit on a postage stamp.” In fact, Lydia comments in this week’s installment of DB Johnson’s Lost Woods, “They’re so small that if they didn’t sing, we’d never know they were even here.” It’s spring out there in Lost Woods, and Auk and Eddie are counting frog eggs while Lydia, Wally, and Henry trade peeper lore.

“This is a story about the beautiful things people make, and the meaning and memory that come with them.” In this next-to-last podcast from the audio storytelling class at Dartmouth, Sabrina Durmaz draws a line from her Turkish-immigrant grandmother in Vancouver, BC—who has dementia but still loves to find and paint the beautiful things she sees around her—to Judi Simon-Bouton, a well-known Upper Valley artist and quilter who died of Alzheimer’s in 2023 (you may remember the fundraiser her friends held by selling off her fabric “stash”), and the ways in which their art wasn’t just a creative expression, but “a kind of care, not just for them, but for the people who love them.”

Mother and toddler escape from car in Ottauquechee. Yesterday at 12:45 pm, the Hartford Fire Department was called to Quechee Main Street for a report of a car submerged in the river with the driver hanging on as it floated downstream. When an ambulance arrived four minutes later, the HFD writes, they found the 26-year-old woman and her two-year-old son on the river bank—after she’d unbuckled him from his car seat in the back, “cut through the deployed driver's-side airbag,” then exited through the window. “The two were able to swim ashore safely.” They were taken to DHMC. Includes photos of the car in and being pulled from the river.

Gusanoz exits bankruptcy at “a tough time.” The popular Miracle Mile restaurant owned by Nick Yager and Maria Limon first filed in January, 2025—and now has “three years to make repayments to creditors, with payments beginning later this year,” reports Marion Umpleby in the Valley News. But as Yager tells her, these are perilous times, what with the price of tomatoes, for instance, yo-yoing between $1 and $3 a pound (Gusanoz orders $400-$500 worth a week). Still, he says, “you have to be able to roll with the punches or you’re not going to survive.” Umpleby also updates us on his son, Eddie Moran, who owned Lalo’s and is now manager of Planet Fitness in W. Leb.

SPONSORED: The "Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele" returns to Lebanon Opera House! On Saturday, April 18, Jake Shimabukuro showcases his dynamic blend of rock and folk rhythms mixed with traditional melodies from his Hawaiian homeland. The result? An unforgettable performance that's a far cry from the usual "strum and hum" ukulele tunes you know. One man. One tiny ukulele. Unlimited musical possibilities. Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House.

Pig & Wolf revisited. Today and tomorrow are the final days for the Pig & Wolf exhibit at Hanover’s RW Black Center. If you don’t know who Pig & Wolf are—or if you do but can’t make it to the exhibit—Dana Grossman has you covered. At the link is her short writeup about Pig & Wolf (okay, okay, they’re celebrity chainsaw art that you can still see as you enter Hanover on 120) and the exhibit, with photos—which include the official Pig & Wolf history by their first, longtime owner, Bill Hammond. Who, among other things, tells the story of the infamous 2005 escapade in which Pig & Wolf were stolen—and discovered months later by none other than Dana’s husband, Dan.

For the first time, Dartmouth’s medical school will be led by a woman. Jennifer Hunt, a pathologist who’s the interim dean at the U of Florida’s College of Medicine, will take over at Geisel starting August 1, the college announced last week. Hunt—who chaired UF’s department of pathology, immunology, and laboratory medicine, and before that held positions at the University of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Medical School/Mass General, and the University of Arkansas—will replace Geisel’s interim dean, Steven Leach, who has been in the position since last September. Leach will return to researching cancer genetics.

SPONSORED: Celebrate with us at the Howe Library’s Spring Soirée this Friday, April 10 at 6 PM! Enjoy an unforgettable evening in support of the Howe, featuring exciting live auction prizes—including a VIP NY Giants experience, Major League Rugby tickets, and the chance to win a coveted Library Sleepover. There will also be a raffle and the opportunity to make a gift during the program. Childcare will be available at the event for attendees with children aged 4-12. Don’t miss the fun! You’ll find tickets here and at the burgundy link. Sponsored by the Howe Library.

Student ID will no longer let you vote in NH. That’s because last week, Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a bill outlawing the use of school IDs “to verify a voter’s identity at the polls,” reports NHPR’s Josh Rogers. The move passed the legislature along party lines in March: Student IDs “were the weakest link in our election integrity framework,” says GOP Rep. Ross Berry of Weare, the bill’s lead sponsor. The regs, which take effect June 2, “will only make it harder to vote,” counters state rep and Dartmouth prof Russ Muirhead in an email to The Dartmouth. Current eligibility requirements here.

In VT, House takes forced school district mergers off the table. Despite strong pressure from Gov. Phil Scott and earlier consolidation support from House Speaker Jill Krowinski, reports VT Public’s Peter Hirschfeld, “legislative leaders have come to terms with the fact that they don’t have the votes to pass a mandatory consolidation measure on the House floor.” Instead, last Thursday the House education committee passed a measure requiring districts to participate in regional efforts to split district costs for services like transportation and IT. It did keep intact the idea that the state would set a base per-pupil spending level.

Not in your backyard: Rooster regs pit ag heritage against suburban quiet. VT towns are hearing more complaints about chickens disturbing the peace, writes Brendan Rose in VTDigger. A few (like Burlington) have long had bans, and St. Albans recently joined the flock. In Williston, some residents have challenged a law banning hens and roosters on property smaller than an acre. Shelburne debated restrictions last year, but opted not to enact them (it “felt too controlling,” said one board member). New ordinances forbidding backyard roosters have led to families facing tough choices and sanctuaries overwhelmed with requests to give the birds a new home. 

Wow, talk about clickbait! Props to VT Fish & Wildlife’s media team, who came up with the idea of an album (on Instagram) of game wardens keeping bear cubs warm inside their jackets. “Our wardens have spent some time in the field supporting the Bear Project Team on a multi-year reproduction study,” the post explains. “While biologists gather important data on the bears’ health, we have a very specific job: keeping the cubs warm.” Just hit the little arrows for the pics. (Thanks, HHC!)

Who needs Cassiopeia when you can start with a line between Segin and Caph? Those two stars are the ends of the W that makes up the sorta-well-known constellation. But now Neal Agarwal, the genius behind the learn-while-you-waste-time website neal.fun, has come up with his own constellation-creating game, Constellation Draw. You get the night sky and every star in view (just hover on one and you’ll see its name—sometimes an actual name but usually, like the first star in Orion’s sword, a number like the melodious blue giant HIP 26237). You just choose a color for your lines, click on the two stars you want your line to join, and have at it.

The Tuesday Crossword. Here’s the “mini” from Dartmouth librarian and puzzle artist Laura Braunstein. That’s 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.

Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:

THERE'S SOME GREAT DAYBREAK SWAG! Like Daybreak tote bags, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!

HEADS UP
At the Montshire, the Hanover Garden Club presents “Gertrude Jekyll and Her Influence with Suzanne Dworsky”. Jekyll (1843–1920) “was without doubt the most influential and prolific landscape designer of her time, creating more than 400 gardens in England alone. Even today, garden designers are indebted to her style, color sense, and environmental awareness,” the Garden Club writes. Dworsky, a landscape architect, will talk about (and present) gardens Jekyll designed and influenced. 1 pm in-person at the Montshire and via Zoom.

Engineering open house at Dartmouth. The annual public showcase is hosted by the Thayer School, computer science department, Irving Institute, and Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship. There’ll be research lab tours, dispays of student projects, robots, race cars, industry exhibits, and food science demos. 5-7 pm in the Thayer School and Irving Institute’s labs, project spaces, and atriums.

Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center hosts Bob Bixby and “The Deficit Dilemma: Saving Our Fiscal Future”. Bixby has a long history, including as executive director, with the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan fiscal-responsibility-focused advocacy group founded in the 1990s by the late US Sens. Warren Rudman of NH and Paul Tsongas of MA. He’ll be talking about the federal budget, its ever-growing deficit and impact on the national debt, and plenty more. 5 pm at the Rockefeller Center.

The Howe Library hosts Samara Ayvazian-Hancock and “Books: Their History and Their Care”. A conservationist specializing in library and archival materials, Ayvazian-Hancock will talk about the history of the book, its global spread and adaptations, and common problems books face and “how you, as a home librarian, can take steps to protect the longevity of your own collection.” 6 pm in the Mayer Room and livestreamed.

At the Norwich Bookstore, Betzy Bancroft and Herbal Pharmacy. One of the founders of the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism and a longtime herbal medicine instructor, Bancroft will both demonstrate and talk about her new book, which offers step-by-step instructions, how-to information, “and ‘why-to’ explanations so readers can confidently move from following recipes to designing and preparing their own herbal remedies.” 7 pm.

At the Norwich Inn, Suds & Science with “Urbanization Impacts on Amphibian Communities”. The VT Center for Ecostudies’ monthly talk series brings in conservation ecologist and VCE postdoc researcher Brian Kron to talk about his work on human impacts on ecosystems and wildlife. 7 pm.

The Tuesday poem.

I’m in the house.
It’s nice out: warm
sun on cold snow.
First day of   spring
or last of   winter.
My legs run down
the stairs and out
the door, my top
half   here typing

— “Poem” by Ron Padgett.

See you tomorrow.

Looking for all of the hikes, Enthusiasms, daybreak photos, or music that Daybreak has published over the years? Go here!

And always, if you’re not a subscriber yet:

Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on Daybreak’s homepage.

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt      Poetry editor: Michael Lipson    Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt

And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to visit daybreak.news to sign up.

Thank you!