GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Thank you, neighbor! Last night's weather—you guessed it—was due to that cold front dropping south, and in its wake we get... well, at least some relief today: high in the lower 80s, chance of showers mostly this morning. Lows tonight down to near 60, chance of some drizzle overnight.So, could you call them bobkits? For the last eight years or so, Thetford's Tig Tillinghast has been trying to find a bobcat den so that he could take photos of kits with a long telephoto. So far, he's had to content himself with a jury-rigged half-dead DLSR (he once dumped half a cord of wood on it by mistake) he leaves in the woods; it's triggered by a hand-built infrared sensor. Which paid off recently with these photos of two kittens and their mom. "I still haven’t figured out where they den, despite ludicrous efforts and time spent," he writes.Hanover police investigate Dartmouth grad's death after incident at Ledyard Bridge. Early Sunday morning, the town's fire and police depts, along with Dartmouth Safety & Security, responded to a report of a man injured on the rocky embankment beneath the bridge, they write in a press release. They found a 24-year-old alum, later identified by the college as David Gallagher, a former varsity lacrosse player in town for his 2020 commencement. A pontoon boat took him to a waiting ambulance; he died at DHMC. Police and friends are remaining mum on the details, writes John Lippman in the Valley News.Leb seeks "expressions of interest" for parcel between City Hall and Mascoma River. The 2.9-acre parcel is currently used for parking, but the idea of redeveloping it "goes back decades," planning director David Brooks said last week. Two city committees are seeking ideas on what to do with the land, writes Darren Marcy in the VN. Their goal, essentially, is to gather ideas from developers that would "come up with concepts on how to develop [the land] but save what we find valuable," in the words of Economic Development Commission chair William Dunn.Hard to believe, but ruby-throated hummingbirds are already starting to migrate south. At least, the males are, writes Julia Pupko in the VT Center for Ecostudies' "Field Guide to August." But for species that don't head elsewhere, this is a busy time. Timber rattlesnakes (did you know they can choose whether or not to inject venom?) are breeding. Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles are hatching. And, writes Spencer Hardy, the Parnassia Miner bee is about to come into its own: Unlike bees focused on the showier goldenrods and sunflowers, it takes aim at an obscure white flower, Fen Grass of Parnassus.SPONSORED: You can improve someone's life right now! Hearts You Hold is a VT-based nonprofit that supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees in a concrete way. We believe that only the individuals themselves know what they want/need and that it is critical to take the time to ask them. Currently, there are many requests waiting to be funded, from clothing to bicycles to computers. Some are from folks in VT and NH, others from people all over the US. Hit the link above, pick an item (or more) to fund, and make a difference now! Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.Andover NH gets new plaque on Black Heritage Trail. It honors Richard Potter, who lived from 1783 to 1835 and was one of America’s first celebrities, a traveling magician and ventriloquist who could make coins pass through wine glasses, break eggs into a hat and turn them into pancakes, throw his voice into a teapot, bend a red-hot iron bar with his bare feet, and much more. Born to a formerly enslaved woman and a white father, his fame and earnings allowed him and his wife, Sally, to buy 175 acres in Andover and build a house there. The area is still known as "Potter's Place." More on Potter here.NH ranks 2nd in country on child well-being, VT 5th. So concludes the 2022 Kids County Data Book, the annual compilation by the Annie E. Casey Foundation of various measures of well-being: economic, educational, health, and family/community. As was the case last year, MA, NH, and MN were the top three. NH saw declining numbers of children in poverty and children whose parents lack secure employment, but a small bump in children in single-parent families. VT saw declines in children's health, and everywhere, AECF writes, "incidence of anxiety and depression among kids" has grown.$1456.40. That, apparently, is how much Vermonters on average think their online shopping data is worth. Granite Staters value their info a bit less: $1,428.68. Both, though, are close to the national average of $1,452.25 found by CouponBirds, a decade-old online coupon site, in a survey of 3,500 consumers nationally. Coloradans lead the country in data self-regard, at roughly double the national average. Tennesseans come in at just $623.NH labor shortage hits…the woodwind section? Okay, not so much a labor shortage as a scarcity of students interested in taking up the bassoon, the bigger, double-reeded sibling of the oboe. Granite Geek’s David Brooks writes that NH’s All-State School Orchestra is having trouble filling seats this year, with far fewer kids than normal even auditioning. Only 4 kids tried out for 6 spots. But it’s not just a bassoon swoon. Covid and remote learning have quelled interest in orchestra everywhere. Says one music teacher, “Every music program I know…their numbers are cut in half.” NH foresters take flight to survey “skeletons of trees scattered throughout the forest.” Bill Davidson and Kyle Lombard call themselves the Bug Patrol, and a few times a year they trade on-the-ground research for sky-high analysis of NH’s forested landscape. NHPR’s Mara Hoplamazian joins them in the tiny Cessna as they assess the damage that pests are doing. Like Spongy Moth caterpillars, which eat through thousands of acres of oak tree foliage each year. And of course the Emerald Ash Borer, wreaking havoc. But the brighter perspective from that height: NH is covered in trees.Roots that can delve 10 feet deep. A "zombie-like afterlife." You probably already know what this is about: Japanese knotweed. On VP's "All Things Gardening," Charlie Nardozzi says that you can kill it. If, that is, you've got years of patience. You chop it down, place every jot and tittle in a plastic bag, cover the cleared area tightly for a year, dig out the sprouts, repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Or you could try injecting herbicide. And repeat. Or there's always making it a crop: He offers a helpful link to recipes (it's related to buckwheat)."A museum of human ingenuity." That's how VP's Anna Van Dine describes a good hardware store. And she's found a good one, all right: Fernandez Hardware, in the back corner of Depot Square in Northfield. Now owned by Dave and Ray Fernandez, it was started by their parents in 1955—and from Van Dine's description, it's a fair bet that more than a few items from its opening day can still be found somewhere on its crowded shelves or walls. But honestly, the real pleasure of her profile is the enthusiasm of her tour guide, Johnny Summers, who 30 years ago found exactly the spring he needed there.Red sprite? Meet blue jet. If you've got a really long Daybreak memory, you may recall a stunning photo of a "jellyfish sprite" that appeared above a thunderstorm in Texas a couple of years ago. We've known for a while that storms can spawn bizarre atmospherics, and the other day Texas produced another example: blue jet lightning, which may be the hardest of all the cloudtop "transient luminous events" to catch, according to astronomer Tony Phillips on SpaceWeather.com. The weirdest thing? "You could touch one with your hand and it might not hurt." But on the whole, no thank you.The Tuesday Vordle. Back as usual for your diversion.
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It's time again for the the outdoor Tuesday concerts. At 6 at Grantham Rec Park, Brooks Hubbard, back in these parts from his sojourn in Tennessee, goes it solo with his Americana rock. Monster's Tacos food truck will be on hand, as well.
And at 6:30 on the common in Fairlee, HI-WAY 5—which pays honor to the old Fairlee drive-in of that name—offers up rock from Elvis to Creedence to Hendrix.
The Tuesday Poem
But first, a note from poetry editor Michael Lipson: "July's poems had a hidden theme, the theme of royalty, in honor of Julius Caesar, for whom the month was named. That's why 'The Emperor of Ice Cream' (Stevens) and '...for fear to be a King' (Dickinson)—the two poems that drew the most response from you all. There will also be a guiding idea behind August's poems: See if it jumps out at you!"
I caught this morning morning's minion, king- dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and stridingHigh there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wingIn his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing, As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hidingStirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billionTimes told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier! No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillionShine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
—
Wondering about those accents over "sheer" and "plod"? Hover over the highlighted words at the link above for brief explanations. And is that kestrel just a metaphor? Well, no... and yes,
in a Poetry Foundation guide.
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 and writers who want you to 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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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