Daybreak Wednesday 11/17/21

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

Clouds moving in. After that clear night last night, the clouds come along with some low pressure lifting through the region, which in turn precedes a warm front that's due to arrive tonight—in fact, tonight's low temperature (in the upper 30s) is around 8 pm, after which things start to climb. Meanwhile, today's high is in the low 40s, winds from the south.It's all in how you look at it... Jed Williamson has been playing around with finding symmetry in nature. His goal: "Make the images so symmetrical that you can rotate them 90 degrees and maybe get something interesting," he writes. Here's a photo from Mink Brook back in October. And, just to save you having to tilt your computer, here's the original.Vermont Law student killed in collision with Amtrak's southbound Vermonter. The accident happened yesterday morning at about 11:20 at a crossing near S. Windsor Street and Stearns Road in S. Royalton, reports Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News. Thomas Fennell had driven across the tracks to turn around and was returning to his apartment when his vehicle was hit by the train, Geo Honigford, his landlord at nearby Hurricane Flats Farm, told Sauchelli. “He was a nice kid, really sweet, and always had a smile,” Honigford said. “I’m devastated for his family."West Leb's Friends of River Park lands rails-to-trails grant. The $15,000 comes from the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and goes toward planning efforts to create a West Leb Greenway that would link the Mascoma River Greenway through downtown West Lebanon and River Park, up to the Wilder Dam and Boston Lot. A coalition of groups, including the UV Trails Alliance, the National Park Service, and the city of Lebanon, have been working on the idea, which would ultimately tie the region into a trail network spanning the six New England states.SPONSORED: Sign up for a 2022 CSA Share from Cedar Circle Farm! When you're a CSA member, our farm becomes your farm. Enjoy the bounty of fresh, organic vegetables, eat with the seasons, support your local economy, and become an integral part of our community. Use your CSA card any time you shop to buy produce, baked goods, plants and groceries—at our farmstand, Hello Café, or at farmers’ markets. Become a 2022 CSA member today! Sponsored by Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center."It just happened. Not on purpose." That's Elizabeth Roma, who owns Roma's Butchery on Route 14 in Royalton—it's in the space where the Fox & Harrow put in a year before being shut down by the pandemic—offhandedly remarking on the fact that her cutting-room crew consists of five women. In Seven Days, Melissa Pasanen profiles Roma and her retail shop and butchering operation. She sources from VT farms—most of them, Pasanen notes, very close by. "I'm trying to make it more accessible for our community members to eat our local community's meat for dinner," Roma says.You can actually get Trader Joe's items delivered to your door. But there's a catch: You have to live on the Dartmouth campus. Because that's where the van that goes with the new DartDashed app will deliver. The whole thing is the brainchild of Elizabeth Orecchia, Class of '23, who was spurred by CVS's decision to close at 10 pm, a blow to students trying to find late-night snacking. She buys items in bulk and stores them in the van, reports Katherine Plaza in The Dartmouth; after a student pays up, a DartDashed team member drives over. Those Trader Joe's goods? They sold out "in a day or two."NH House committee nudges anti-vaccine-mandate measure forward. The measure passed the Ed Cte 11-8 (with one Democrat siding with Republicans), reports NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins. It would bar the state, local governments, businesses, day cares, schools, higher ed (public and private), religious entities, and others from requiring "receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual who objects to such vaccination." "To be denied employment based upon not being vaccinated is nothing short of discrimination,” said the amendment's sponsor. It goes before the full House in January."To see what people value you should ignore their statements. Look at their budget." That's what the Monitor's David Brooks just did when it comes to NH's transportation priorities. Despite a lot of talk about shifting away from dependence on cars, the draft 10-year transportation plan earmarks almost three-quarters of the $4.45 billion that's been proposed for car- and truck-related spending. The state is proposing a small start with money for sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and similar projects, but it's hard to buck "an economy and a social system that requires fast, cheap individual mobility," Brooks writes."An unnatural creation that created a wonderful natural habitat.” That's how one local describes the Green River Reservoir, a storied northern VT gem for campers, canoeists, and kayakers. In VTDigger, Emma Cotton reports that, faced with what it considers untenable state requirements for relicensing the dam that created the reservoir, Morrisville Power & Light has announced plans to decommission it. "While a range of possibilities exist that would keep the reservoir intact," Cotton writes, "it’s also possible that the reservoir could be drained—though state officials say that wouldn’t happen soon."Not so fast on ski area openings. Mt. Snow and Stowe were set to open Friday and Okemo on Saturday, but temps too warm for snowmaking and lack of the real stuff have thrown a wrench in their plans, reports WPTZ's Carolyn Sistrand. New dates haven't been announced yet—but, says VT Ski Areas Association president Molly Mahar, "It's not unusual to see resorts set an opening date and have to move it." Ski shops have still been doing land-office business. "Probably some new families resettling in Vermont," says one owner. "Which has definitely driven up the demand for lease equipment."“Oh, snow they didn’t!” A few weeks ago, we learned about VTrans’ Name a Plow Program, enlisting VT schoolkids to add some personality to the state’s fleet of 250 snowplows. Now we have the names they chose—one plow per school—and if bad puns are the only good puns, these kids did not disappoint. Folks in Bakersfield can look forward to Jennifer Snowpez cutting pitch-perfect swaths. In Ripton, there’ll be no winter of discontent with William Scrape-speare on the roads. And, of course, Star Wars names are out in full force, led by Darth Blader, Luke Snow Walker, and (Daybreak fave) Snowbegone Kenobi.Spy on the wildlife in your own backyard. Catching sight of a red fox or bobcat feels so magical because it happens so rarely. The animals themselves aren’t rare. They just know to be scarce when we’re out there. The best way to spot them, says Seven Days’ Heather Fitzgerald, is on their terms—and with the help of a wildlife camera. She encourages our tech-assisted curiosity, offering tips on how to set up your own camera (mount it “a bit above knee height so that it doesn’t get buried in snow”) and some shrewd advice: If placing a cam on public land (yes, it’s legal), better put a lock on it.But then, what about when the wildlife watches you back? Or, rather, listens to you... Andy Thorn's the banjo player with jamgrass band Leftover Salmon. He also lives in the mountains near Boulder, and at some point during the pandemic, a fox started dropping by as he practiced outside. “The fox provided constant feedback. Sometimes he was kind of a snob. He would’ve preferred for all the songs to be about him,” Thorn joked back in April. Here they are together last month.

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So why should your random Rockies fox get all the fun? Here's Steve Martin (yeah, that one) and the Grammy-winning, Asheville NC-based Steep Canyon Rangers (they've been playing and touring together since they met at a dinner party back in 2008),

(Thanks, MB!)

See you tomorrow.

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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