GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Dry, sunny. High pressure's building in to our south and west and settling down to sit for a spell, giving us what looks to be a stretch of quiet, bright days. Temps will climb toward 40 today, with winds from the northwest. Low tonight in the low or mid 20s.Coyotes, out and about. The pair that Kevin Lary caught on his trail cam in Canaan are darker than what we're accustomed to seeing (if, that is, we see them at all), and are out in the early afternoon. Neither is unusual, Ted Levin writes: "Coyotes come in many colors, most typically gray. And, yes, they are active day or night. I occasionally hear one in the late afternoon while walking my dog."Flooding roundup. There was some drama out there, and rainfall was heavier in NH than in VT, but overall, damage seems to have been relatively contained, compared to the July floods. Here are rundowns:
In NH, reports NHPR, parts of the Whites saw up to 8 inches of rain, Jackson got 6 inches, the Saco River reached near-record heights—three people stranded in homes nearby were rescued. In one flooded neighborhood in Conway, several people had to be rescued by air, reports WMUR, while in Gorham a truck swept away by the water got stuck under a bridge. Overall, waters have receded, though some roads remain closed due to flooding. And here's aerial video from Plymouth State yesterday of flooding in town, and now-iconic video of the Ellis River rushing past Jackson on Monday.
In VT, most of the state's rivers had receded by midday yesterday—though not the Winooski near Essex Junction—writes Emma Cotton in VTDigger, and there were several water rescues around the state. Barre saw basement flooding, but no Montpelier residents were displaced and businesses avoided the first-floor flooding that was so devastating in July. At a press conference yesterday, reports VT Public's Mark Davis, state officials said the worst damage appears to be in Waterbury and the Okemo and Mad River valleys. At the same briefing, Gov. Phil Scott said the July floods had shown the importance of keeping culverts and streams free of debris—which led state officials to offer municipalities help on that front on Monday, reports Seven Days' Anne Wallace Allen. Though the state didn't see nearly the same damage as in July, there were still some impressive scenes out there, as in these two drone videos up in the northwest corner of the state, via MyNBC5. And here's a helpful map from VT Public's Cory Dockser and Elodie Reed of where the rainfall and flooding hit hardest.
The Upper Valley got off comparatively lightly, reports Frances Mize in the Valley News. Some schools remained closed yesterday either because of road closures or concerns about sending buses out on "fragile, crumbling back roads", but they're due to reopen today. And power was back by yesterday afternoon in most spots, though a few hundred customers were still out in Haverhill.
You may remember the racist graffiti on homes and vehicles. But as Nora Doyle-Burr outlines in the
VN
, the police have charged the four—three from Newport, one from Claremont, ranging in age from 22 to 30—with a spate of other misdeeds: damage, twice, to Newport school buses; slashed tires and other damage to vehicles at McGee Mazda in Claremont; and various offenses in Claremont, Croydon, and Springfield NH. Police have also sent their investigation to the NH AG's civil rights unit.
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SPONSORED: It happens once every ten years: Artist Kate Emlen’s holiday open house and studio sale! On Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm at 12 Elm Street in Norwich, Kate will welcome you for refreshments, visiting with friends and other art lovers, and a chance to find the painting of your dreams. That day only, prints and paintings at her home and works at Pompanoosuc Mills in Hanover get a 10 percent discount; smaller work and greeting cards modestly priced. One percent of proceeds goes to the Haven via 19 Days of Norwich. Drop by Saturday—or wait until 2033! Sponsored by Kate Emlen.A book for good times and bad. "Poetry is a balm," writes Carin Pratt in this week's Enthusiasms, and the dog-eared, tattered state of her copy of The Rattle Bag is a good measure of how often she's reached for it. Put together over 40 years ago by the poets Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, its "eclectic and idiosyncratic and endlessly charming mixture ranges from doggerel and songs to Shakespeare and beyond. A lot of well-known and many lesser-known poets appear," Carin writes. It's still in print, she points out, and, ever practical: "contains hundreds of poems and many surprises, and can last for decades."Concord-Lake Sunapee rail trail: an "unbearable invasion" or "a critical link" that gets people out on foot and bike? In the Boston Globe (paywall), Amanda Gokee dives into the debate over the trail's proposed route through Warner. She focuses on Warner naturalist David Carroll, a MacArthur "genius award" turtle specialist, who argues that by bringing people into sensitive habitat, the trail will also bring invasive species, predators, and destruction; and on trail builder Timothy Blagden, also of Warner, who argues that public health and the next generation of conservationists will benefit from access.SPONSORED: New Year’s at Noon at the Montshire! An early New Year’s Eve party just for families. On Dec. 31, 9:30am-12pm, join us to celebrate the planet, science, and our region’s connection to winter. Enjoy activity stations, countdowns, a climate pledge station, and more. Guests can dress up or down (think pajamas, fancy formals, or both). Members: $11/person, Non-members: $15/person. Learn more at the link above or here—and register to ring in the New Year at the Montshire! Sponsored by the Montshire Museum.Along the NH coast, an unwanted resident from MA. "You would just think," says UNH Extension's Malin Clyde of invasive pepperweed, "it looks like a pretty, white-flowering, 3-foot-tall plant.” But as NH Bulletin's Hadley Barndollar writes, it has a liking for salt marshes and "can alter soil conditions in a way that creates a monoculture of invasive plants and displaces the native ones." Not to mention, it grows really fast. For a long time, NH researchers thought they were keeping it from spreading north from the Great Marsh around Newburyport, MA, but last year they found enough new sites to suggest there's a problem.Can you print a house? Actually, that question's been answered "yes" at the U of Maine, writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog. The bigger question is whether they can develop faster 3D printers to make enough houses quickly enough that it becomes a feasible approach to creating affordable housing. The houses are made from wood fibers and resin—"you can cut it or drill holes in it, hang pictures or drywall on it," Brooks writes—using waste wood from forestry and sawmills, which would be a boon to NH's North Country (and to ME). Next, researchers are hoping to print nine homes for Bangor's homeless. So how has NH spent its pandemic money? Pretty well, say researchers. A new analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts that looked at five states and American Samoa in an effort to outline best practices found that NH has put 72.5 percent of the $995 million it got from the American Rescue Plan toward one-time expenses and only 8.1 percent toward ongoing expenses—a balance that's helpful for financial stability. The money, writes Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, went to everything from boosting internet connectivity to buying Hampstead Hospital. Full report here.In NH, Monday's rain closed ski areas. Some are still closed. Waterville Valley, reports NHPR's Todd Bookman, said yesterday its facilities needed a "deep cleaning" before it reopens today; Loon plans to open today after remaining closed yesterday to "allow the mountain to drain." Gunstock, Sunapee, Pats Peak, and a few others were open yesterday; five more plan to open today; and several, including the Jackson and Great Glen xc trails, spent yesterday "reassessing the terrain," according to Ski NH.Half of all Vermonters seeking unemployment haven't been able to file. Early last week, the state's aging, gum-and-baling-wire unemployment portal went on the fritz—ahead of a Friday deadline for applicants to file. Initially, officials said a few hundred people had been affected and that the problems were fixed. But yesterday, reports Sarah Mearhoff in VTDigger, labor commissioner Mike Harrington said the problems were more extensive, affecting half of all filers; in a given week, up to 3,000 people may apply. The computer issues were fixed, but "phone lines are still swamped" with waits as long as two or three hours.Soon, the pig was joined by a cow and a sheep. At cookie cutter maker Ann Clark, in Rutland, Seven Days’ Jordan Barry learns about the artist who started the business and the shapes she created. The company rolls out more cookie cutters than any other US producer—four to five million a year—with some 3,500 shapes now in its repertoire. (A doll head flew off the shelves after Barbie came out.) New shapes end up at major retailers across the country, including King Arthur, and overseas. The plant responds to changing demand fast, swapping dies and going from gingerbread men to reindeer in nine minutes.From meditative to highly dramatic. That’s how Søren Solkær, a Danish photographer who has been tailing flocks of migrating starlings across Europe for six years, describes their hypnotic murmurations. More than a million starlings gather for these dances, “swooping in unison to create evocative shapes in the sky,” writes Sascha Pare on LiveScience, exploring Solkær's work. Starlings migrate from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean and Middle East, and researchers believe that murmurations may have developed as a response to predators. Plenty of photos and a very cool video.Also highly dramatic: Iceland's newest volcano. As you may have read, the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted Monday night. It's about 30 miles from Reykjavik, on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Here's a set of photos from the BBC.The Wednesday Vordle. If you're new to Daybreak, this is the Upper Valley version of Wordle, with a five-letter word chosen from an item in the previous day's Daybreak. Hey, it's just five letters. What have you got to lose?
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There's that Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, 252 or 520 pieces, just in time for these long nights by the fire. Plus, of course, fleece vests, hoodies, sweatshirts, even a throw blanket. And hats, mugs, and—once you work up a puzzle-piece sweat—tees. Check it all out at the link!
A bit of a switch. On Monday night's "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon", Burlington VT folk musician Laura Heaberlin, who's half of the indie duo Cricket Blue, was pulled out of the audience along with NJ-raised, NYC-based folk rocker Peter Groppe, each charged with coming up with a song in an hour, then performing it. "It was a little hectic," Heaberlin told
Seven Days
' Chris Farnsworth yesterday. "You have this limited time to write a song, but all the while you're being sent to hair and makeup and people are clipping [microphones] on you." The real challenge was coming up with lyrics to the song prompts: In Haeberlin's case, "Texting in my Mittens" and in Groppe's, "North Pole Dancing". "It's getting so cold outside / I'm glad we can be fiends," Haeberlin sang. As Farnsworth writes, Fallon was "visibly blown away" by her song, but the audience wound up preferring Groppe's. Haeberlin herself was happy regardless. "I think the real win for both of us was just getting to be on the show. It was such a cool thing to happen," she says.
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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, writers, and librarians who think you should 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 Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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