Category: Quality Of Life

Rowing for a cause

A New Hampshire woman has raised money for trauma recovery programs by solo-rowing more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, WMUR reported in an April 9 online article. “Renee Blacken [who live in Bethlehem] began the journey in January, rowing from the Canary Islands to Antigua,” WMUR reported. After 65 days alone at sea, she made history as the first woman to row solo in the Atlantic Dash, the report said.

QOL score: +1

Comment: “Blacken raised nearly $20,000 during her journey for the nonprofit Outdoor Adventuring for Good, which supports trauma recovery programs,” WMUR reported in an April 12 article. Seeatlanticdash.com for more on the event.

Thanks a lot, ticks!

“A tick-borne illness that can leave people severely allergic to meat and dairy is becoming a growing concern in New Hampshire,” Patch.com reported in an April 10 online article. The allergy, known as Alpha-gal syndrome, can induce an extreme allergic sensitivity to meat in previously unaffected patients and can be contracted through a tick bite. “The illness is carried most commonly by the Lone Star tick,” the article read. “Alpha-gal syndrome is becoming more frequent in New England as ticks move farther north, some say, due to climate change.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: Patch.com reported that “the CDC says the condition differs from typical food allergies because symptoms are often delayed by two hours or more after exposure and can appear suddenly after years of eating meat without problems.”

An old battery can still cause problems

According to an April 6 online article in the Concord Monitor, the batteries of an electric car that had been involved in a March 31 crash at the Bedford tolls spontaneously re-ignited in Merrimack days later. The Monitor article quoted Jim Bailey Sr., owner of Bailey’s Towing and Auto Body in Merrimack, who removed the car from the original accident site: “‘[T]his morning, I moved the car carefully to a different location. Within 15 minutes, the batteries shorted out and it went into thermal runaway,” the article quoted Bailey.

QOL score: -1

Comment: According to the Monitor article, “the resulting [second] fire took hours to put out with some 60,000 gallons of water.” For more on battery fires and the safe disposal of batteries, visit nhrecycles.org/recyclerightcampaign/how-properly-dispose-batteries.

QOL score last week: 45

Net change: -1

QOL this week: 44

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Drop that … drop it!

Trupanion.com, an online pet insurance company, released a report March 24 indicating that the number of pet poisonings in New Hampshire has gone up. The study reported that there have been 701 insurance claims from New Hampshire policy holders for veterinary care to treat poisonings since 2020 (651 dogs and 50 cats). According to the study, some of the most common sources of poisoning for pets have included grapes and raisins, chocolate, and drugs (both legal and the other type). “The cost of poison-related claims ranged from $558 for onions to $1,705 for anti-freeze and detergents,” the report read.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The study found that “Louisiana had the highest rate of poison-related claims with 1.75 claims per 1,000 pets, [and] Arkansas had the lowest … with .65 claims per 1,000 pets.”

No! Not the nuggies!

According to a New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services press release from April 3: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a public health alert for frozen, dinosaur-shaped, ready-to-eat chicken nuggets that may be contaminated with unsafe levels of lead. This product was sold at New Hampshire Walmart locations.” “The public health alert is for 29-oz. plastic bags containing approximately 36 “Great Value Fully Cooked Dino Shaped Chicken Breast Nuggets” with the Best If Used By date “FEB 10, 2027,” lot code “0416DPO1215,” and establishment number “P44164” printed on the back of the bag. Consumers who purchased or received these chicken nuggets should check their freezers and avoid eating this product. The product should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the release said.

QOL score: -2, because sometimes dino nuggies are the only form of protein in the picky-eater diet

Comment: The release warned the nuggie-consuming public that “There is no safe amount of lead exposure. Exposure to even small amounts of lead may cause behavioral, developmental and health problems. Because children under age 6 are undergoing critical neurological and physical development, they are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of lead on the body.”

How does poutine factor into that?

Researchers at Eating Disorder Solutions (eatingdisordersolutions.com) recently analyzed data from sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association to rank each state in terms of healthy diets. New Hampshire made the Top 10. “New Hampshire (9th overall) leads the country in food security (#1),” a summary of the study read, “and ranks #5 for farmers markets per capita, highlighting strong access to fresh produce.” According to the summary, there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement in our diets. “Government-backed research shows just how widespread unhealthy eating habits are in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 1 in 10 adults meet the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to the study’s rankings, New Hampshire has a Healthy Diet Index score of 61.02. The study’s highest-ranking state, Vermont, has a score of 75.92, with more than twice as many farmers markets per capita and a high consumption rate of vegetables. “At the other end of the ranking,” the study summary reported, “West Virginia ranks last with the highest rates of obesity (#48), diabetes (#48), and high cholesterol (#48), alongside one of the lowest fruit and vegetable intake rates.”

QOL score: 47

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 45

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

I’ve been meaning to clean out my freezer, anyway

As reported on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection website (fsis.usda.gov), Ajinomoto Foods, a frozen food company that supplies many grocery stores, including Trader Joe’s, has expanded a recall of frozen rice and frozen chicken products. “The establishment is recalling approximately 33,617,045 additional pounds of various ready-to-eat (RTE) and NRTE chicken and pork fried rice, ramen, and shu mai dumpling products, for a combined total of 36,987,575 pounds subject to recall” the USDA statement read.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Approximately 9 million pounds of the recalled food was Trader Joe’s Vegetable Fried Rice. According to the USDA website, “The problem was discovered when the establishment notified FSIS that it received multiple consumer complaints involving glass found in product.”

Easter shortages

As reported by New Hampshire Public Radio in a March 23 online article, cold weather and a delayed harvest have contributed to a local carrot shortage. NHPR reported that “a mid-January freeze and exceptionally hot weather this month in California, from where the majority of the national carrot supply originates, appears to have delayed harvests in the southern San Joaquin Valley,” leading to shortages in area supermarkets. Additionally, according to a March 29 online article by WMUR, rising chocolate and candy prices have driven up the cost of this year’s Easter candy. “Along with chocolate, candy prices are up nearly 12% over the past year,” the article reported.

QOL score: -2

Comment: You could grow your own. Carrots, that is, not candy. Late spring is the time to harvest your early-spring-planted carrots.

Indoor bugs

As reported on March 26 New Hampshire Public Radio at nhpr.org, the large numbers of ladybugs that have been appearing in your house are, according to horticulturist Emma Erler, “not dangerous and they don’t hurt the structure or lay eggs, but they are annoying.” Erler said in the article that “[y]ou can vacuum them up with abandon as the species is invasive and in no danger of disappearing from the landscape.”The native New Hampshire ladybugs tend to hibernate outside and it’s the Asian ladybugs we’re seeing indoors, the article said.

QOL score: -1

Comment: One ladybug? Awww. More? Ewww.

QOL score last week: 51

Net change: -4

QOL this week: 47

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Turtle road

In a March 19 press release the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department announced that the Department’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program was recently awarded a nationally competitive grant to build structures in four locations to help prevent turtles and other vulnerable wildlife from being killed in traffic. “The project will have multiple benefits including reducing wildlife mortality and improving habitat connectivity, safety ….”

QOL score: +1

Comment: The announcement pointed out that turtle populations are especially vulnerable to traffic. “Turtles have a life history that includes low annual nesting success and hatchling survival, late age of initial reproduction (14-20 years), and lengthy adult survivorship (they can live for 70 years or more),” the announcement read.

Slightly more potholes

A March 18 online article by the Concord Monitor reported that more than 1,300 potholes have been repaired in Concord’s streets. While this seems like a huge number, the article reported, it is about the same as in previous years. “According to the Concord city database, from Jan. 1 to March 16, city crews filled 1,309 potholes,” the article read. “Over the same period last year, they filled 1,262 of them. This year’s tally is 3% higher than in 2025.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: In a March 18 online article, New Hampshire Public Radio quoted Gary Stanley, who owns and operates the pothole repair business Mr. Pothole: “‘All these potholes, believe it or not, they start with one small, tiny crack,’ he said. ‘Such is life, is it not?’”

Home heating expensive this year

A March 20 online article by WMUR reported that New Hampshire homeowners pay some of the highest prices in the country for home heating oil. “The New Hampshire Department of Energy says the state ranks second in the nation for heating oil use per capita, with 42% of homes relying on it as their primary heat source,” the article read. WMUR quoted Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy, a popular mobile app that helps drivers locate the lowest gas prices using crowdsourced data: “$5.50 a gallon is certainly possible in the next couple of weeks.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: As of Monday, March 23, the price of a gallon of home heating oil in the Concord-Manchester-Nashua area ranged from $4.89 to $5.49. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price for heating oil in New Hampshire in February was $3.91.

QOL score last week: 52

Net change: -1

QOL this week: 51

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Team Police was on fire

As reported by WMUR in a March 15 online article, Team Police won this year’s Battle of the Badges hockey championship. “Team Police reclaimed the victory over Team Fire, winning 4-2,” WMUR reported. The yearly event “features a competitive rivalry between police and fire departments from across New Hampshire,” the article read. “All of the money raised will go to Dartmouth Health Children’s and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. This year, the event raised $285,000, the largest single-day total in the event’s 18-year history.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: The Battle of the Badges hockey tournament has been played every year since 2008 except in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 18 years of the tournament, Team Police has won 11 times; Team Fire has won seven times.

Despite recent flood watch, still a drought

According to a March 12 online article by New Hampshire Public Radio, even with this winter’s snowfall, “Eighty percent of New Hampshire is still in a drought.” NHPR reported that the state’s weather has been relatively dry this year. “While this year may have felt like a classic New England winter, it was the eighth driest December through February since record keeping began in the late 19th century, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: NHPR reported, “Conditions have been essentially ‘locked in place’ since winter began and the ground froze, said Ted Diers, who leads the water division at the state Department of Environmental Services. ‘Any snow that falls is on top of the ground, it’s not soaking in,’ he said.”

Not a good time to be a fish

In a March 13 announcement on its website, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (271-3421, wildlife.nh.gov) wrote that “New Hampshire may experience winter fish kills as ice melts” in the next few weeks. “Fish kills, where large numbers of fish die in a short period of time, are not an uncommon occurrence in the early spring. As the ice recedes, especially from many smaller Granite State waterbodies, there may be dead fish, and most of these occurrences are due to natural processes.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: The problem, NH Fish and Game reported, is a lack of oxygen in frozen-over bodies of water.

QOL score last week: 53

Net change: -1

QOL this week: 54

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

It’s pothole season

In a March 7 online article, WMUR cited Brian Desfosses, the director of public works for Bedford, explaining how potholes happen: “warm temperatures melt snow, leading to water seeping into cracks in the pavement. When the temperatures get colder, that water freezes and expands, weakening the roadway,” the article said. “As the freeze-thaw cycle continues, it could create more potholes this season,” the article said. “The best advice to avoid damage to a vehicle is to slow down and watch the road.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: Consumer Reports says, “Don’t assume a small-looking pothole doesn’t pose a threat: Deep potholes can fill up with water, concealing their true depth.” Search online for “consumer reports pothole survival guide.”

But it’s also (nearly) baseball season!

In a March 3 press release the New Hampshire Fisher Cats announced a new addition to this year’s home games at Delta Dental Stadium. The “Hot Dog Happy Hour” will include “discounted food and beverage deals, live music and acts by local artists [which] will generate a new pregame buzz to the ballpark. Pregame festivities will take place at the plaza near the main entrance of Delta Dental Stadium, next to the Samuel Adams Brewhouse.” Gates open 90 minutes before the first pitch, with Hot Dog Happy Hour scheduled for the first hour of that time.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The Fisher Cats will open their season at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 3, with a home game against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. There will be a post-game fireworks display.

More proof that social media is the worst

As reported by Boston 25 news in a March 8 online article, “Residents of a Manchester, N.H., three-family woke up early Saturday morning to a loud kick on the front door in a prank made popular by the social media trend, the ‘Door Kick Challenge.’” Home security video showed a person “sneaking up to the door of the Derry Street building, peering through the window and violently kicking the door before running away,” the Boston 25 report read.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The website Police1.com describes the “door kick challenge”: “Participants — typically teenagers — kick or aggressively bang on random residential doors, often at night, then run away. Though reminiscent of the traditional ‘ding-dong ditch’ prank, this challenge has escalated to significant property damage and real safety concerns.”

QOL score: 54

Net change: -1

QOL this week: 53

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.