Category: Quality Of Life

‘Ugh, winter’ or ‘Yay, ski season!’ — you decide

It doesn’t feel like it yet below the tree line, but winter weather has started. The top of Mount Washington has gotten its first significant snowfall of the season. In an Oct. 11 online article, New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR.org) reported that as of Friday afternoon Oct. 11, the Mount Washington Observatory (mountwashington.org) reported “approximately 2.5 inches … capped with a layer of ice.” NHPR quoted the Observatory’s Alexandra Branton, who said that the top of the mountain “typically records 19 inches of snow each October.”

QOL score: -1 for the snow that’s not yet enough to ski on

Comment: NHPR reports that temperatures at the top of Mount Washington were “in the 20s last week, with … single-digit wind chills.”

State of student loan payments

The personal-finance website WalletHub (wallethub.com) reported on Oct. 10 that New Hampshire rates highest among U.S. states in terms of student loan payments. “The median monthly payment on student loans ranges from $142 to $229, depending on the state,” WalletHub reported. New Hampshire had an average monthly student loan payment per user of $229. As reported by the study, “Around 42.2 million Americans owe a collective $1.61 trillion in student loans. That comes out to an average of over $38,000 of debt for each borrower.” Given a fixed interest rate of 6.53%, it would require a monthly payment of $284 for an average American student to pay off everything within 20 years.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Arkansas and Mississippi tied for the lowest student loan payments in this study, with $149 per month.

Northern Lights in Northern New England

For the second time this year, observers in New Hampshire have been able to see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. In a rare display, viewers throughout the country were able to see the bright colors in the sky. “Last night’s event was the strongest since May,” reported the Boston Globe (bostonglobe.com) in an Oct. 11 online article, “with the lights coming out as far south as Texas, Florida and California.”

QOL score: +1

Comments: Ooo, pretty.

The death of a celebrity loon

The The Loon Preservation Committee (183 Lees Mill Road, Moultonborough, 476-5666, loon.org) announced on Tuesday, Oct. 8, that one of the loons familiar to viewers of its popular Loon Cam (loon.org/looncam) had been found dead. After performing a necropsy, The Loon Preservation Committee found that the female from Loon Cam 2 had probably died from a severe fungal respiratory infection. “Aspergillus fungus is extremely common in the environment,” the LPC reported in its October newsletter, “and normally does not pose a threat to a healthy loon. However, if a loon’s immune system is compromised in some way — if the bird is battling another illness, recovering from an injury, or otherwise experiencing stress — it becomes more susceptible to Aspergillus infection.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: “We are sad to lose her, but excited at the prospect of her offspring being productive members of our loon population for years to come,” the LPC wrote.

QOL score last week: 81

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 79

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Like clockwork, pumpkins appear

Each year on Oct. 1 two pumpkins appear on the spires of the tower of Rounds Hall at Plymouth State University. As reported by WMUR in an Oct. 1 online story, the pumpkins have appeared again. “How the pumpkins get there remains a mystery dating back to the 1970s,” said the story, “making it one of the campus’s best-kept secrets.” In a story from Oct. 31, 2020, New Hampshire Public Radio investigated the mystery and found clues to a mysterious “Great Pumpkin Society” but was not able to track down its members or any information about it.

QOL score: 0, because who knows what those pumpkins are planning?

Comment: A call to three departments at Plymouth State revealed that not only doesn’t anyone know how the pumpkins get to the top of the spires, but nobody is really certain how tall the spires even are.

A New Hampshire Nobel winner

A scientist from New Hampshire has been awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine. On Monday, Oct. 7, the Nobel Committee in Stockholm, Sweden, announced that Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun had been awarded the Prize for their microRNA discovery and gene regulation studies. As reported in an Oct. 7 online article by WMUR, “Ambros, a New Hampshire native who was a professor at Dartmouth Medical School from 1992-2007, performed the research that led to his prize at Harvard University. … ”

QOL score: +1

Comment: This year’s laureates will receive their awards at ceremonies in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

Using moose for that wet look

In a press release on Thursday, Oct. 3, the Bedford Police Department reported that the Bedford Police and Fire Departments responded Thursday morning to a report of a moose in a swimming pool. “First responders arrived to find an adult moose in a swimming pool under a pool cover, and removed the cover to help enable the moose to get out of the pool,” reported Chief of Police Daniel Douidi. “The moose then walked out of the pool on its own and left the area. No further action was taken.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Video of the moose rescue can be found under the title IMG_9251 at Vimeo.com.

USA Today likes Manchester Airport

In an Oct. 2 press release, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (flymanchester.com) reported that USA Today has named it one of the Top Ten small airports in the country. “MHT secured eighth place,” the press release read, “with this being the third time MHT has been awarded a place in the top 10.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Myrtle Beach International Airport took the No. 1 spot in the USA Today survey.

QOL score: 78

Net change: +3

QOL this week: 81

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Even more EEE

In a Sept. 26 online article, WMUR (wmur.com) reported that the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services confirmed two additional cases of mosquito-borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis. The article cited an announcement by NH DHHS “that an adult from Derry and another from Newmarket were both hospitalized but have since been discharged.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at cdc.gov, EEE is a rare but serious disease. Symptoms can include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes and drowsiness.

QOL score: -2

Comment: As you wait for the hard freeze, you can check out dhhs.gov for the NH DHHS regularly updated map showing where EEE, West Nile and Jamestown Canyon Virus have been found in the state this year.

How expensive is your town?

According to a recent study by doxo.com, a personal finance website, nine of the 10 most expensive towns in New Hampshire to live in are in this general southern New Hampshire, Manchester-Nashua-Salem area. The study, which was released Sept. 22, named Bedford as having the highest cost of living in the state, with monthly bills averaging $3,462 per month, 63 percent higher than the national average. The town with the next highest cost of living is Windham, followed by Milford and Pelham. Londonderry, Merrimack, Goffstown, Hudson and Salem round out the nine most costly cities. The study found that, overall, New Hampshire household expenses are 17 percent higher than the national average.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The same study found that Manchester and Hooksett have the two lowest costs of living. See doxo.com/w/insights.

Saint Anselm College keeps the kids in NH

On Sept. 23, Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive, Goffstown, 641-7000, anselm.edu) announced it will waive tuition for some New Hampshire students. “We understand the cost of a college education is challenging for so many families,” said college President Joseph A. Favazza, Ph.D., on the school’s website. “With Anselmian Community Commitment, we are investing in the future of New Hampshire by making a Saint Anselm education affordable to as many talented, high-achieving students as possible, regardless of their socioeconomic background.” The college’s “Anselmian Community Commitment” will allow New Hampshire students with a family income of $100,000 or less and a GPA of 3.25 or higher to attend the college tuition-free.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The full cost of attending Saint Anselm in the 2024-2025 academic year was $47,400 for tuition, $17,020 for food and housing, $1,520 in fees, plus between about $4,500 to $7,100 in books, supplies, transportation, and personal expenses, according to the college.

QOL score last week : 80

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 78

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Another EEE case

NHPR reported in an online article on Sept. 16 that the New Hampshire Department of Public Health Services has confirmed a second human case of eastern equine encephalitis, EEE, contracted through a mosquito bite. NHPR reported, “The infection was in an adult from Kensington who began experiencing symptoms on Aug. 8. The person was hospitalized and is now recovering at a rehabilitation facility. Last month, health officials announced that a Hampstead resident had died from EEE. It was the state’s first known infection since 2014.”

QOL score: -2

Comment: According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.gov), EEE is a “rare but serious disease. Approximately 30% of people who develop severe eastern equine encephalitis die, and many survivors have ongoing neurologic problems. There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat eastern equine encephalitis.

Make that six

In its weekly e-newsletter on Sept. 18, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance announced that one of its “7 to Save” historic buildings was lost this summer. “The Manager’s Residence at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manchester,” the announcement read, “was an important component of an architecturally and functionally cohesive campus that was completed in 1950 as part of a national program to provide medical services to veterans of the United States Armed Forces, particularly to men and women who had served in World War II. This summer, it was demolished for additional parking.” The building was a 2018 “7 to Save.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: The Alliance’s 2024 “7 to Save” list will be announced on Oct. 9. See nhpreservation.org

Another movie theater closes

The AMC Theater in Londonderry permanently closed on Sunday, Sept. 15, as reported by WMUR in a Sept. 19 online article. In addition to first-run movies, the theater was a spot to catch the Fathom Events special screenings. For those who remember the theater back in its O’neil Cinemas days, it’s a bummer to see another multiplex full of screens go dark.

QOL score: -1

Comment: QOL still has a Carmike loyalty card stuffed in QOL’s wallet.

A lot of similarities

A recent study by WalletHub (wallethub.com), an online finance company, says New Hampshire is the 48th most diverse state in the country. In a Sept. 17 press release WalletHub released the findings of a study that examined diversity of income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, language and other factors. The study ranked New Hampshire 47th racially, 46th in terms of generational diversity, and 47th in terms of household types.

QOL score: -1 for our appearance of same-y same-ness

Comment: This study ranked California as the most diverse state, and Maine (49th) and West Virginia (50th) as the least diverse.

QOL score last week : 85

Net change: -5

QOL this week: 80

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Good year for falcons

In a Sept. 1 blog post New Hampshire Audubon released the figures for New Hampshire’s peregrine falcon population’s 2024 breeding season: Statewide there were 28 territorial pairs, a new state-record high; there were 23 incubating pairs, down one from 2022’s record high, and 21 of those pairs successfully raised chicks, up 16 percent over 2023’s record high “This season also saw a record-high 50 young falcons fledge,” the post reported, “a conservation milestone that comes nearly 50 years after wildlife managers first started releasing captive-raised peregrine chicks at Owls Head and several other northern New England cliffs beginning in the mid-1970s.”

QOL Score: +1

Comment: NH Audubon reports that the weatherproof nest box near the top of the Brady Sullivan Tower in Manchester was successful for the 24th consecutive year: “It has produced 76 fledglings since 2001.”

Unbeleafably good year for foliage

In a Sept. 6 radio story and online article, New Hampshire Public Radio quoted Dave Anderson, Senior Director of Education at the Forest Society and co-host of Something Wild on NHPR: “I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say that this year’s fall foliage display could be the best that we’ve seen in the past decade,” Anderson said. In contrast to 2023, the weather in New Hampshire has been excellent for healthy trees and bright foliage. The NHPR story explained that leaves on different species of trees change color at different times throughout the fall, so we can expect waves of color over the next month or so.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: According to Anderson, “Orange and yellow have been there all along, you just didn’t see it. It was masked beneath the green chlorophyll in the leaves all summer.”

Leaf sleeping bears alone

WMUR aired footage on Thursday, Sept. 12, sent in by a viewer of a family of bears asleep in the limbs of a tree in Merrimack. The mother bear and two cubs spent the morning in the tree, from “at least 7 a.m. to just after noon,” according to the accompanying online article.

QOL Score: +1, for the peaceful nap

Comment: In a telephone interview with the Hippo, Daniel Bailey of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said that regardless of how appealing animals like these bears are, people should leave them alone. “With bears, or any wildlife, it’s best to appreciate them from a distance,” he said. “They aren’t inherently dangerous, but they are always unpredictable.”

Three NH veterans take an “Honor Flight” to Washington

WMUR reported in a Sept. 16 online story that three World War II veterans from New Hampshire were flown to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Sept. 15. “The three veterans are all between the ages of 100 and 101,” the story read. According to its website, Honor Flight New England (193 Londonderry Turnpike, Unit 4, Hooksett, 518-5368, honorflightnewengland.org), the organization responsible for this trip, “is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring America’s most senior veterans.” This week’s Honor Flight honorees will stay in Washington for eight days.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: According to WMUR, this was Honor Flight New England’s 67th flight.

QOL score last week: 81

Net change: +4

QOL this week: 85

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Public service

As reported by WMUR on Monday, Sept. 9, Gov. Chris Sununu saved a choking victim Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition. “Contestant Christian Moreno began to signal for help, tapping on his chest and looking to get the stuck piece of lobster out of his windpipe as he began to struggle to breathe,” according to the story. “I started saying, ‘He’s choking, he’s choking,’ … So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich,” Sununu told WMUR. Gov. Sununu reported that the most surreal part of the experience was what happened immediately after he had cleared Moreno’s airway. “He went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe. He ate another seven lobster rolls after that,” Sununu said.

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to Hampton Chamber of Commerce representative Colleen Westcott, the contest was won by perennial contestant Chris Thurston of Somersworth.

That’s Dewey Decimal code 690

The Manchester City Library reported in a Sept. 4 blog post, that on Tuesday, Sept. 3, a slow leak in the ceiling of the Carpenter Memorial Library building began trickling water into the building’s mezzanine and into the nonfiction stacks. The volume of water leaking from a broken pipe increased, and as the blog post read, “This leak sent water raining over and into the mezzanine and then down into the nonfiction stacks below it. Quick action from the city’s Facilities division stopped the leak, but not before the water threatened those special collections on the library’s mezzanine as well as the nonfiction collections behind the Circulation Desk.” Library staff gathered and worked to move vulnerable materials to safety. The blog post reported, “It was a very large, heavy and intense job.”

QOL score: -2

Comment: The library will remain open during repairs, but parts of its collection might be temporarily unavailable.

Robotic cat on lend

In other library news, the Nashua Public Library has announced the opening of a new collection called “The Library of Things.” As reported in a Sept. 3 online article by WMUR, Nashua library patrons will now be able to borrow tools or other useful items from the library. The library’s website describes the items available, which include ukuleles, a telescope, a metal detector and a robotic cat companion.

QOL score: +1

Comment: At press time, the robotic cat was checked out and due back by Sept. 24, according to the library’s website.

Fades, braids and school supplies

On Sunday, Sept. 1, Manchester barber shop Get Faded gave free haircuts and school supplies to students. Shop owner Kim Lazoda said in a telephone interview that the event brought together talents from across Manchester’s hair community. “There was about 400 kids that came through the event,” she said. “[Two barbers from] West Side barber shop combined with our barber shop to help us out.” Electric Avenue Tattoos donated school supplies and painted faces, and Liana Locs and Nana Torres of Nana’s Hair Braiding braided hair for students who wanted it. Students ranged in age from very young to 12th grade.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Lazoda is also a certified Sensory Safe stylist for customers on the autism spectrum or with sensory issues.

QOL score last week: 80

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 81

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].