Nature

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) began its monitoring program for the summer of 2017 on Wednesday, June 21st. Volunteers will be collecting samples from 34 sites on nine rivers and streams every other week through the end of August. This year, we have sites on the West River, Flood Brook, North Branch Ball Mountain Brook, Rock River, Williams River (including the Middle Branch), Saxtons River, East Putney Brook, Sacketts Brook, and Whetstone Brook.

June 21, 2107 So much for my previous astrological prediction of some kind of news announcement today. Oh well, they did announce an electrical outage for a short period at the State House. That didn’t stop their tongues from flapping on the roofs of their mouths, they just brought in a generator. U.S. News & World Report, 6 hours ago, MONTPELIER, VT (AP) “Power has been restored to the VT Statehouse following about an hour-long outage as legislators were…” So, while I was still waiting for some news on marijuana legalization, I studied other seriously important astrological issues, combined with real life Space astronomy, that yield amazing new predictions!

Just noting for the record the rather spectacular rainfall we just experienced in Brattleboro. This was some of the hardest rain I’ve seen in quite a while. “Buckets!” as they like to say.

Please join us at Brooks Memorial Library on Wednesday, June 28th at 6
pm for a free showing of the movie: SEED, The Untold Story, brought to you by Brooks Memorial Library and the Radical Lending Library at the Root Social Justice Center!

Hello Everyone,

Saturday, June 10, 10:30 – 2:00 PM

Yesterday was World Turtle Day!

This idyllic waterway is located in a most unexpected place.

Please note! Through Wild Eyes begins at 3 pm on Saturday, May 13th. 

A trio of experts will lead a guided walk to visit one or more the Black Gum Swamps in Vernon’s J. Maynard Miller Town Forest on Friday, April 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Ir appears that Spring is trying to come in for a landing today.

I was watching a pair of blue jays go after a small pile of peanuts left for squirrels.

We may be experiencing unusual temperatures at unusual times of the year, but March’s famed “In Like A Lion…” is holding true today, right on schedule. High winds are blowing about everything that is untethered in Brattleboro and southern Vermont.

This morning Brattleboro is being treated to a very nice snow storm. It’s a heavy, constant snow, covering up all the dirt and grime of the previous storm. For a moment, it looks like a calendar, or snow globe.

We’ve had four or five inches so far, and more is falling. Is the snow falling to the ground, or the ground rushing up to meet it?

When I first looked out this morning, I saw flakes that were hovering in mid-air over the street, just bouncing along at a height of about 8 feet with no intention of dropping. Others were choosing to drop, but a certain class of flakes would have nothing of it.

Last night between 3 and 4:30 AM or so I counted 13 breaking branches or falling trees.  There were other sounds, too, that I couldn’t identify but might well have been other trees.  Does anyone have photos of the damage?  I was a bit surprised to wake at 7 and find the grid still up.

Has anyone told you, you have beautiful eyes today? No? Why don’t you try on hazel eyes for a day and let me be the first?

The beauty of hazel eyes adds a bit of a mystery on the human eye-color chart. Less than 7% of the world’s population has hazel eyes, which make hazel eyes rather rare.

The science of the observable characteristics of hazel eyes is, like all eye colors, determined by genetic traits “influenced by up to sixteen known genes, passed to you that you inherit.” Science no longer thinks that your hazel eyes “(or any other eye color) happened because of a dominant gene.”

Brattleboro is getting a first dose of real winter weather, and conditions for walking, biking, and driving are poor. Take your time, go a bit slower, and get to your destination safely.

Just this morning I was walking near Western Ave and Cedar and BANG – two cars collided. (Another guy and I were close enough to check on everyone. We also directed traffic for a moment until the police arrived.) Both drivers were safe, but they are both looking at lots of car repair.

If you don’t need to go out, by all means stay in. And watch the forecasts. More snow and rain is expected this week, along with cold temperatures.

Earth’s moon is the largest planetary satellite relative to the size of its planet. Throughout its orbit it always shows the same face and this weekend it will shine down on us in one of its rare closest approach. The forecast indicates that this Saturday and Sunday will be sunny and clear, so hopefully viewing the Moon will be unimpeded at night.

The face of the Moon is arguably the most visual motif for countless subjects represented in the arts, literature and culture throughout all civilizations. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Algonquin tribes and American colonists called the November full moon the Beaver Moon because it was the time to “set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs.”