Daybreak Tuesday 5/11/21

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

We get a beautiful start to the day... Dry air moving in and one low pressure system moving out will give us full-on sun this morning, but there's another low moving through overhead that will bring in some clouds at some point. Temps in the high 50s, gusty winds, and more clouds than blue sky this afternoon. Down into the high 30s overnight, slight chance of showers. Long twig, round hole. Quechee photographer Lisa Lacasse writes, "Songbirds like wrens are so much fun to watch as they bring little twigs and some not-so-little twigs to fit into their nesting cavity—in this case, a backyard bird house.  It’s perseverance, patience, persistence, stubbornness, and eventually success!  They just keep bringing twig after twig and figure out a way to twist and turn to get that twig into their nest..." Hanover aims to make outdoor seating permanent. "We are loving it, visitors are loving it, restaurants are loving it. I think it is here to stay,” Town Manager Julia Griffin tells WCAX's Adam Sullivan. Restaurants originally got outdoor elbow room when NH imposed indoor capacity restrictions; those have now been lifted, so Hanover Planning and Zoning is drafting a proposal for the selectboard to allow outdoor dining to become permanent. "It is nice to see that we are moving in that direction," says Lou's owner Jarrett Berke.“Change, often, in education happens really slowly. But change can happen really fast when it needs to happen.” That's Maggie Mills, Woodstock Elementary's principal, talking to NECN's Jack Thurston about the 6th graders' classroom for the last few months: Billings Farm and Museum. They've been going to school there since February, amongst the exhibits about the region's rural heritage, in the auditorium, and not far from the cows. Even better, since it's just down the road from the school, meals can still get delivered every day and the nurse can visit if needed.SPONSORED: Virtual open houses at Kimball Union Academy. Join KUA today or Saturday, May 15, to learn about its transformative educational experience from the people who know it best—students and faculty. You’ll learn about its academic offerings, robust arts and competitive athletic programs, and individualized support through the Gosselin Learning Center. The independent day and boarding high school has openings this fall for students looking for an environment where they can be themselves and become who they want to be. Sponsored by Kimball Union Academy.Grantham, Newport, Claremont school districts join NH school funding lawsuit; Mascoma considering it. The lawsuit, whose lead plaintiff is the Contoocook Valley district, charges that the state education funding formula does not cover an "adequate" education, and that it unfairly imposes a burden on taxpayers in towns with lower property values. Grantham Supt. Sydney Leggett tells the Valley News's Tim Camerato that residents are tired of yearly tax increases other school districts don't face. “It’s just becoming like a tipping point for what local taxpayers have to bear,” she says.

"As a town, we may not have a ton of investment capital (yet), but the amount of social capital that runs through Fairlee’s veins more than makes up for it." On his Brick + Mortar blog, Fairlee's Jonah Richard tips his hat to the volunteers who showed up this past Saturday to help turn a vacant lot across from Chapman's—once the Colby Block, which burned down in 2007—into a park. "Planters and flowers: check. Fence posts installed: check. Picnic tables painted: check. Mulch and grass seed spread: check. We were even able to complete the bocce court," Richard writes.Dartmouth announces commencement speaker. It will be Harvard lawyer and historian Annette Gordon-Reed (who also happens to be Dartmouth Class of '81 and a former member of the board of trustees). She won a National Book Award in 2008 and Pulitzer in 2009 for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. Honorary degree recipients include poet and essayist Louise Glück, Khan Academy founder Sal Khan, novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday, and Momix and Pilobolus co-founder Moses Pendleton.Gotta watch those water bottles. Sunday afternoon, reports the VN's Anna Merriman, a woman and her son were fishing by Kilowatt Park in Wilder when the woman tried to move her SUV, which was parked on the boat ramp, and a water bottle fell on the gas pedal. The car lurched into the river. The woman was able to climb out, but the car floated out into the water and sank. Hartford firefighters called in the Hanover Fire Department dive team, and three divers were able to attach straps to the car and then to a Sabil & Sons tow truck, which pulled it out. Photos by WRJ's Nancy Maynard, who was passing by.There's a lot of road work going on out there! It's construction season, which means that, among other things, VTrans has re-launched its weekly report of planned activities, usually updated on Mondays. And there's a lot around here: resurfacing on I-89 around Sharon and Bethel is closing lanes, likewise with bridge repairs on I-91 in Hartford, Rockingham, and Weathersfield. Meanwhile, if you happen to be taking I-89 south as far as Concord, expect nighttime lane closures around Exit 4 for bridge work.Peepers are out, caddisfly larvae are building little stick hideouts, and don't go mistaking brain fungi for morels! It's the second week of May, and Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast writes that this week in the woods, warblers are returning—with a photo of a striking black-and-white; false morels are growing (they're toxic); peepers are out (but you knew that already); and fiddleheads are emerging. Look for look for "a combination of traits including a 'U-shaped' crevice running up the stems and the papery brown casings that cover young fronds," she writes.And speaking of spring... Writer and naturalist Ted Levin is back from a sojourn in Colorado, and on his land in Thetford shadbush is in flower, purple trillium is in bloom, morels are pushing up, and, in the sunless, early-morning air he can hear cardinals, titmouse, chickadees, yellowthroat, blue-headed vireo and "a solitary improvising catbird, the Charlie Parker among songbirds—no two notes repeated in succession." Also, a reminder that back in 1951, Rachel Carson was warning about climate change. "The frigid top of the world is very clearly warming up," she wrote.And speaking of birds... You'd think that having crossed the Gulf of Mexico, purple martins could relax a little. But it's not in the cards, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog. The problem is that their diet consists solely of flying insects; this makes them "particularly susceptible to spells of cold and rainy weather during the spring and early summer, which can drastically reduce their supply of food." Add in sparrows and starlings, which "aggressively" compete for nesting sites. The Upper Valley housing market... sheesh.So...if NH legislators don't have to wear masks at the State House but Concord still has a mask ordinance, who wins? As you may know, the Joint Facilities Committee decided last Friday to lift the capitol's mask requirement, but Concord's is still in place. Turns out, David Brooks writes in the Monitor, that Concord's only applies to retail establishments and city offices; even the State House gift shop is exempt, though if the state opted for a gift shop in the Steeplegate Mall, it would have to comply.Sullivan County weighs nursing home compensation changes to encourage vaccinations. The move comes after a Covid outbreak at the county nursing home in Unity, and would limit compensation for employees who miss a day to those who are vaccinated. "It’s not that we’re trying to be mean about it,” County Manager Derek Ferland says. “[But] as long as there are hosts, the virus continues to do its thing. And the number of hosts is directly proportional to the number of people who are not vaccinated.” Over 90 percent of residents and three-quarters of staff are fully vaccinated.About those hosts... In a commentary in VTDigger, Southwestern VT Medical Center's Trey Dobson explains why upping the vaccinated population matters even to people who've been vaccinated. Where cases are high and only 50 percent of people are vaccinated, he writes, people might encounter the virus often. The odds of an unvaccinated person getting ill are high. And a vaccinated individual "may still eventually become infected, as they are bumping into it many times per week and at some point, they succumb. About 90% to 95% of the time, the vaccine wins, but 5% to 10% of the time, the virus wins."$285 million. That's how much money Vermont has spent to support the dairy industry over the past decade, according to a new report from state auditor Doug Hoffer's office. As Seven Days' Kevin McCallum points out, the office doesn't criticize the spending, which it details in an effort to inform future debate over public subsidies. The money includes breaks on sales taxes, aid for dealing with water pollution caused by farm runoff, and grants to help farms develop best management practices.Sometimes you need to dream a little... Back in 2015, Condé Nast Traveler put together a photo gallery of 51 of the world's most beautiful travel destinations. They've just updated it, and though they use the opportunity to serve you no shortage of ads, there's some true travel eye-candy in there, including spots you may never have heard of: the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove outside Kyoto, Madagascar's Avenue of the Baobabs, Vietnam's Halong Bay, the otherworldly Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil... Plus, you know, your Machu Picchus, Pamukkales, and Grand Canyons.

So....

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The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearl'd; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in His heaven,All's right with the world!

— "Pippa's Song," by Robert Browning

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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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