And to welcome December... a "busy" day. You never know what to think when the weather folks use that word. Here's one thing they have in mind: "Marginally conducive conditions for snow squalls will be in place late Thursday morning and early afternoon." We're talking wind plus snow. A lot will depend on where you are—and around here, could mix with rain later in the day. And when we're not being busy? Partly sunny, highs in the mid-30s, winds from the west with gusts reaching above 30 mph. Skies mostly clear tonight, low 20s.

That Maxfield Parrish light.... That's what Patricia Corrigan thought as she was looking at Mt. Ascutney from the back parking lot of the Batteries Plus on Main Street in old West Leb late Monday afternoon. Just a reminder that however mundane the setting, the views can be something else.

Federal, state, local law enforcement swarm Springfield VT neighborhood. The FBI, DEA, DHS, state police, and Springfield police shut down Valley Street yesterday morning as they carried out raids on three homes in "an ongoing investigtion" into alleged illegal drug activity, reports VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein. The street has been at the center of a string of shootings and drug activity this year. “At first I just heard a really loud bang... and then two more loud bangs and then yelling and commotion,” one resident told him. “When I looked out the window there were big military vehicles, with a lot of police.”

Oh, now this is going to be interesting. There were "audible gasps" in the audience at Monday night's info session on the planned closure of the Lyme-E. Thetford bridge, Nick Clark reports in Sidenote. Why? NHDOT project manager Jennifer Reczek told the audience that at the same time that bridge is closed down, work will also be taking place on the Ledyard Bridge—though at least one travel lane will be open in each direction. Otherwise, Clark writes, Reczek spent much of the evening explaining why no alternatives to closing the Lyme-Thetford bridge are viable. He details her arguments and audience concerns.

Facing rising costs, DH reports losses. It saw a relatively small $22.1 million loss on its $2.9 billion operating budget in the last fiscal year, reports Nora Doyle-Burr in the Valley News, but in the quarter ended Sept. 30 faced a $41.4 million loss, or nearly 6 percent, on a nearly $770 million operating budget. Spokeswoman Audra Burns tells Doyle-Burr the health system "doesn't expect any more." The leading causes, CEO Dan Jantzen wrote in a filing for bondholders, are staffing costs, especially for traveling nurses, and challenges discharging patients to nursing homes and other facilities, thus freeing up beds.

SPONSORED: Beat the crowds with an early-season winter getaway! Looking for a quick weekend getaway this winter? Look no further than Highland Lodge in Greensboro, VT! Situated on over 100km of groomed trail network maintained by Craftsbury Outdoor Center, you'll enjoy ski-in/ ski-out access to some of the best Nordic skiing our region has to offer. With a full-service restaurant and bar onsite, you can enjoy a full day of outdoor adventure, followed by a relaxing evening of dinner and drinks by the fireplace. Sponsored by Highland Lodge.

So, what are you having for lunch at the Marsh Brothers Deli? That's the question Artful's Susan Apel asks brothers Bud and Scott Marsh at their highly popular downtown Lebanon spot, more formally known as Marsh Brothers Deli at the Little Store. The brothers make the deli's meats in-house—including turkey, pastrami, and corned beef—and though they've got some veggie options, "it is fair to say that most of the deli’s guests are enthusiastic carnivores," Susan writes. Aficionados, she adds, know to check the deli's Facebook page for its daily specials. As for what the guys would eat....

Harriet Dame "could not stay at home while her New Hampshire neighbors marched off..." Famously, she spent four years during the Civil War as a nurse with the 2nd NH Volunteers. In this week's Enthusiasms, Bill Craig highlights Mike Pride's book about Dame, No Place for a Woman—and explains why it reminds him of our times. "I blame Pride, for being too good a historian," Craig writes. "In the opening pages of No Place for a Woman, he writes 1860s Concord back to life... And me, I couldn’t help noticing that no one in town seemed to want war, but war had been coming for decades."

Dartmouth alum reaches agreement with Grafton County Attorney’s Office over 2020 menorah vandalism. In the VN, John Lippman reports that Zachary Wang, now in law school in TX, will face drug and alcohol testing, perform community service, meet with members of the Jewish community organized by the campus's Chabad organization, and split the $1,901.82 cost of restitution with Carlos Wilcox, the former Dartmouth student first charged in the shooting of the campus menorah two years ago. The agreement mirrors an earlier one reached by prosecutors with Wilcox.

New London man shoots, kills partner, then himself. In a press release yesterday afternoon, the NH AG's office said that Tuesday afternoon, officers responded to a home on Shaker Street after getting a call from the homeowner. They found 73-year-old Peggy Brown dead inside and the homeowner, 78-year-old Douglas Lyon, dead on the ground outside. The investigation, still ongoing, has determined that Lyon first shot Brown, then himself. "No additional information is expected to be released at this time," the AG's office says.

"Do you remember being told that you were going to lose your vision?" This past summer, the library in Bristol, NH, began recording conversations between residents as part of the national StoryCorps project, and NHPR is broadcasting some of them. Debbie Doe and Andrew Harmon became friends 30 years ago, when he was in elementary school; she taught him Braille— though they grew close before then, as she prepared him for the eventual loss of his sight. In a short, achingly sweet conversation, they talk over how it felt as his eyesight vanished, his love of reading, and their shared love of mysteries.

Building "age-friendly" communities in NH. As the state ages rapidly, writes Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, some towns around the state are searching for ways to make transportation safer, make their housing more affordable, and create amenities that can attract or keep retirees—on the theory that what's good for them also benefits everyone else. Newport, for instance, is turning a vacant lot into a dog park and community garden. "Neither are solely focused on getting dogs exercised or growing tomatoes,” says town manager Hunter Rieseberg. “It’s as much about the community as it is the purpose of the place."

Is it possible consumers could help save the region's organic dairy farms? The thinking goes like this: Organic dairy farmers are in a bind, because their costs—especially for grain and fuel—have skyrocketed, while the price they get paid by processors has not. But as Vermont Public's Elodie Reed and Mary Engisch discuss, some farmers are now bottling their own—and discovering that it's a profitable business. Others are pinning their hopes on the Northeast Organic Dairy Partnership, which has had some success getting more local organic dairy products into colleges and smaller stores.

47,000 days. That's how many weather records the Fairbanks Museum holds, writes meteorologist Mark Breen in his "Kingdom Almanac" in North Star Monthly, and they make him certain of one thing: "the weather never 'always' does anything!" Which makes it hard to predict what December will hold for cold and snow, he writes. The average monthly temp in St. J tends to waver between 15 and 30 degrees, though it was 5 in 1989 and 36 in 2015. And most years, snowfall can run from 5 to 45 inches—with no evident trends (unlike with temps). If anything, he writes, the years before 1965 were less snowy.

Taking an egg drop to new heights. No, seriously. Heights. You know the school assignment: Engineer something that can protect an egg as it's dropped from, say, a second-floor balcony. But what if you're former NASA engineer, YouTube star, and serial squirrel challenger Mark Rober and you've got this really cool idea for sending a rocket with an egg payload into space via balloon—which will then drop the rocket which will then drop the egg which will reach terminal velocity and safely hit a mattress. What could possibly go wrong?

The Thursday Vordle. With a fine word from yesterday's Daybreak.

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

• Today's December 1, which means it's the launch of 19 Days of the Valley, now in its 10th year. Started in Norwich by Dan Fraser of Dan & Whit's, it's expanded over time to include businesses and organizations around the region that raise funds or pledge a portion of their proceeds to benefit the Haven. There are events—the Norwich Lions' "Memory Tree," a pet photo contest, the annual friendly competition between hair stylists Diane Coley and Andrea Marquay in Norwich, a holiday market this Sunday hosted by Harpoon in Windsor where they'll also be collecting winter clothing and donations... But mostly, it's a chance to do good twice, by shopping at local businesses and taking advantage of their Haven-focused specials. You'll find participating businesses and organizations here.
• This evening at 7 via ZOOM, the VT Ski and Snowboard Museum brings in author Skyler Bailey and local military historian Brian Lindner to talk about Bailey's new book, Heroes in Good Company: L Company, 86th Regiment, 10th Mountain Division 1943-1945. Bailey runs a blog, The Rucksack, devoted to the history of and research on the storied 10th Mountain Division; the book focuses on a company that fought in the mountains on the Italian front. Both he and Lindner have family ties to members of the 10th.
• This evening at 7:30, Enfield's Shaker Bridge Theater launches its production of Alan Ayckbourn's Living Together, part of his 1973 "Norman Conquests" trilogy, set in the three rooms of a Victorian country house over the course of one eventful family weekend. As you might guess, Living Together is set in the living room, where Norman, who's come to pick up his sister-in-law for a weekend getaway, is out of humor because she can't join him. Instead, he'll be joining family members and her invalid mother....
• At 8 pm, New London's Flying Goose Pub brings in legendary Canadian folk troubadour Garnet Rogers, who's swinging through this corner of New England (he was in Peterborough last night and is off to Connecticut tomorrow). Rogers made his name backing his even better-known brother, Stan, before Stan died in an Air Canada plane fire in 1983. With his resonant baritone, skill at multiple instruments (though he doesn't bring them all on the road, since he drives), songwriting chops, and resolute determination to remain independent of record labels, he's carved out a sturdy niche on the folk circuit. As his press notes go, "An optimist at heart, Garnet sings extraordinary songs about people who are not obvious heroes and of the small victories of the everyday."
• And just something you might want to know about: Every year, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center invites kids in grades K-6 to conjure up—and then draw—a fantastic creature or two, then submit that drawing with the potential for it to be turned into a glass sculpture. GLASSTASTIC 2023 will be on display at BMAC starting next spring, but the deadline for submissions is Dec. 16. No, you don't have to live around there to take part. Here are the details.

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt         Banner by: Tom Haushalter    Poetry editor: Michael Lipson  
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