Category: Quality Of Life

Fisher Cats alumni go the distance

In an Oct. 24 press release the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (milb.com/new-hampshire) announced that 11 former Fisher Cats are on the Toronto Blue Jays’ roster for this year’s World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (the World Series could run through Saturday, Nov. 1, if it goes all seven games). Players include pitchers Trey Yesavage, Braydon Fisher, Jeff Hoffman and Mason Fluharty, right fielder Addison Barger, left fielder Davis Schneider, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette.

QOL score: +1

Comment: In addition to the eight players, the Manchester alumni include team manager John Schneider, pitching coach Pete Walker and assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense. The Fisher Cats are a double-A farm team for the Blue Jays.

Toll increases

As reported by the Portsmouth Herald in an Oct. 27 online article, “New Hampshire Department of Transportation officials have floated a $1 hike at three tollbooths across the state.” “If approved by the Executive Council and the governor,” the Herald article said, “the proposed toll increase would raise rates from $2 to $3 at the Hampton plaza and from $1 to $2 at the Hooksett and Bedford tollbooths.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: As reported by the Herald, Department of Transportation officials cited “stagnating revenues and a growing list of priorities” as the impetus for the proposed toll increases. “The idea, if it moves forward,” the article continued, “may be paired with a discount for New Hampshire-registered E-ZPass holders to ensure additional tollbooth revenue is generated primarily by out-of-state tourists.”

Families losing ground financially

According to a new study by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (nhfpi.org), average New Hampshire families are not making enough to cover their expenses.”The typical New Hampshire family has lost major ground over the past decade, as the cost of basic necessities has risen substantially faster than household incomes,” the NHFPI reported in an Oct. 21 press release. “According to the study, the typical four-person New Hampshire family’s disposable income — the amount left after paying for only a few of the essentials (food, housing, child care, health care, gasoline) — has dropped by $17,349 since 2015. Ten years ago, a New Hampshire family with the median household income would have had an inflation-adjusted surplus of about $15,400 after those same basic needs — money that could be saved, invested, used for other typical expenses, or used for emergencies.”

QOL score: -2

Comment: According to the NHFPI report, it’s not the expensive items that have gotten pricier. “While prices for many luxuries like certain types of clothing, recreation, and technology have remained relatively stable or even declined since 2005, the cost of essentials such as food, housing, and health care has risen sharply. For example, the price of a television or toys, listed as recreational commodities in the Consumer Price Index, decreased by 96 and 64 percent, respectively, between 2005 and 2024. At the same time, necessities like medical care, food, and housing costs increased.” Visit nhfpi.org/press-releases.

QOL score last week: 71

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 69

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

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Leaves of brown

If you’re noticing a little less fall color this year, it’s not just you, as “weeks of drought have muted this year’s autumn colors” and made leaves drop earlier than usual, as reported by the Concord Monitor on Monday, Oct. 20. The article noted “more than 40% of the country was considered to be in a drought in early October, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor,” and the Northeast is particularly dry.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Less fall color doesn’t mean none; New England’s trees are resilient, the story said, and “tourism business built around leaf peeping has also proven resilient.” The story said Chris Proulx of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce noted that the region has a reputation for fall beauty and people book travel plans in advance.

Speaking of Mount Washington…

In an Oct. 17 online weather update, WMUR announced that Mt. Washington has received its first measurable snow of the season. “The Mount Washington Observatory said that the accumulations were very light and rime ice produced from freezing fog added to the appearance of snow dust on Mount Washington,” the report read. “According to the observatory, there was 0.4 inches of snow. Temperatures on the summit were in the teens and 20s.”

QOL Score: 0 (+ 1 because “yay, snow season has begun in New Hampshire!” for some and -1 because “gah, snow has begun in New Hampshire!” for others)

Comment: The Old Farmer’s Almanac (almanac.com/weather/longrange/NH/Manchester) predicts that our first significant non-mountain snowstorm will happen sometime around Nov. 9. For extremely detailed reports of weather conditions at Mount Washington Observatory, visit mountwashington.org.

The mystery continues

As reported by WMUR’s Chronicle on Oct. 13, two pumpkins have appeared skewered on the spires of Rounds Hall at Plymouth State University. According to the Chronicle story this is a yearly occurrence. “The pumpkins pop up there under the cover of darkness,” the article read, “and in all these years, the secret of how they get up there remains a mystery, … this year, one was painted ‘1975’ and the other ‘2025’ to mark the 50th year of the tradition.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: WMUR reported that every year the feed to its live weather cam, which has a view of Round Hall, mysteriously cuts out for an hour or so, only to reveal the pumpkins when the feed comes back online.

QOL score last week: 71

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 71

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

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

More bad news about water

As reported by WMUR in an Oct. 9 online article, New Hampshire’s drought has reached record levels. “Officials said one gauge on the Ammonoosuc River shows water levels are the lowest they’ve been in nearly 80 years,” the article read.

QOL score: -2

Comment: “As temperatures begin to drop,” the WMUR story read, “officials are concerned about how the state will replenish water levels before next year if dry weather persists. ”

Clothing to pack in your carrion luggage

The winning design from New Hampshire Audubon’s 2025 Turkey Vulture Art Contest has been released on a limited-edition T-shirt. The graphic, designed by New Hampshire artist Lane Lloyd, features the silhouette of a turkey vulture across the back of the shirt. According to a Sept. 30 Facebook post from NH Audubon, more than 600 participants voted in the final round of the contest.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The contest and the resulting T-shirts were inspired by New Hampshire Audubon’s newest animal ambassador, a male juvenile turkey vulture. Visit nhaudubon.org/soar-into-style-new-turkey-vulture-t-shirt.

Avian malaria

In its October newsletter the Loon Preservation Committee announced that a cause of death has been determined for a New Hampshire loon who had achieved notoriety on a popular webcam livestream. “In late September,” the announcement read, “histopathology results from the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed that avian malaria was the cause of death for our Loon Cam 1 Male. Upon microscopic examination, malaria parasites were found throughout multiple tissues, including his heart, kidneys, liver, and lung. This confirmation makes him the first documented New Hampshire male loon (and the second male loon overall) to have died from avian malaria.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: According to the U.S. Geological Survey, like the human variant of malaria, “Avian malaria is a mosquito-borne disease of birds caused by a protozoan parasite. If the parasite load is sufficiently high, the bird loses red blood cells (anemia).” Avian malaria has devastated bird populations in Hawaii. Visit usgs.gov/diseases-of-terrestrial-wildlife/avian-malaria.

QOL score last week: 73

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 71

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

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Yeah but what about ‘Baconchester’? ‘Baconcord’?

In an Oct. 2 press release, New Hampshire Lottery described the return of its “bacon-scented, scratch-n-sniff $2 ‘I Heart Bacon’ scratch ticket” this way: “As players scratch the “I Heart Bacon” ticket, they’ll be met with the aroma of sizzling bacon, and an opportunity to win up to $10,000, along with a second-chance drawing for a … full year’s supply of bacon from North Country Smokehouse in Claremont.” To promote the sniffy scratchies, the NH Lottery posted a video on its website replacing the “ham”s in say New Hampshire or Durham or Pelham, with “bacon,” so “New Baconshire,” “PelBacon,” etc.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Because at least you know you’ll win the bacon smell.

Dry but colorful

In an Oct. 2 press release, the University of New Hampshire announced that the state’s drought conditions will not have a significant impact on this fall’s foliage. “There should be plenty of leaf peeping opportunities this year,” the press release read. The report quoted Steve Roberge, professor of natural resources and UNH Extension forestry specialist: “[Y]ou still see color because it is already in the leaves from the rainy weather we had this spring.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: “The color’s reveal is controlled by the length of the days and nights as we head into fall,” said Roberge. “What has been great so far are these lovely 45-degree nights that help to bring out the first reds and deep purple colors.”

The number of NH drug deaths has dropped

A recently released study by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute found that drug-related deaths in New Hampshire have dropped to their lowest level in more than a decade. “In 2024, 287 Granite Staters died from drug-related causes, down from a peak of 490 in 2017,” the Institute reported in a Sept. 30 press release. The study credited State investment in anti-drug measures for much of the decrease.

QOL score: +3

Comment: According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, “In 2015, New Hampshire had the second-highest drug-related mortality rate in the nation (32.5 deaths per 100,000 residents). By 2024, that rate had fallen more than 38 percent to 20.0 deaths per 100,000 — the lowest in New England and below the national average.” Visit nhfpi.org/press-releases.

QOL score last week: 68

Net change: +5

QOL this week: 73

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

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

From UNH to space!

As reported by the University of New Hampshire in a Sept. 24 press release, New Hampshire-built technology was aboard a rocket launched that morning. “Instrumentation designed and built by researchers, engineers and students from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) blasted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” the press release read. “The rocket is headed toward the sun as a part of NASA’s latest scientific mission to better understand the impact of space weather, cosmic radiation and their impacts on Earth.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: As reported by WMUR in a Sept. 25 online article, “Multiple spacecraft from the rocket are expected to reach their destination, a location between Earth and the Sun about one million miles away, by January.” Visit “UNH and IMAP-Lo“ on YouTube.

You might need to borrow a little more money

As reported by the Concord Monitor in a Sept. 24 online article, the cost of buying a home in New Hampshire has gone up. Again. “August marked the 67th consecutive month in which New Hampshire home prices were higher than in the same month a year earlier, according to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors,” according to the article

QOL score: -2

Comment: “Rockingham County topped the list as the most expensive area to buy a house last month,” the Monitor reported, “with a median price of $689,000. In Merrimack County, the median price was $527,500.”

Hoping you don’t work at the top of a hill

In a Sept. 28 post, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation announced on its Facebook page (facebook.com/NHDOT) that it was encouraging the drivers of New Hampshire not to drive. In a post titled, “Could You Go a Week Without Driving?” the DOT wrote that “from Sept 29 – Oct 5, NHDOT is stepping out of the driver’s seat and into the reality of millions who rely on walking, rolling, biking, transit, or carpooling every day.” They prompted temporary non-drivers to “sign up at weekwithoutdriving.org.”

QOL score: +1 for good intentions

Comment: The online responses included: “Well, that’ll be a really long walk to get groceries 35+miles away,” and, simply, “No.”

QOL score last week: 68

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 68

Things are getting thirsty

According to a Sept.16 online article from WMUR, this summer’s drought has hit a new milestone: some wells are starting to run dry. Quoting Ted Diers from the Department of Environmental Services, the article read, “Basically, this is a statewide drought. What we’re encouraging is for people to be very, very careful with their well water, be conservation minded, [and] use it gently.” The NHDES website posts a warning, “Drought conditions continue to worsen. Currently, 73% of the state is in severe or extreme drought. Please follow local water use restrictions and fire requirements, and conserve water where you can.

QOL score: -3 (because see also page 4)

Comment: More than half of New Hampshire residents depend on private wells for their water. Visit des.nh.gov/climate-and-sustainability/storms-and-emergencies/drought.

But relief might be on its way

As of Sept. 22, WMUR’s extended forecast shows a likelihood of at least one day of rain in the next week, with a 90 percent chance of rain. The National Weather Service is more cautious in its estimates, predicting a maximum of a 70 percent chance of rain.

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to the National Weather Service, Concord experienced 18 days in August (the latest data available) with temperatures above average, and 1.18 inches of rain, compared to the 3.36 inches of a normal year. Visit.weather.gov.

Is ‘stagnant’ as bad as it sounds?

In a Sept.11 report, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (nhfpi.org) analyzed U.S. Census data and concluded, “While Granite Staters’ economic well-being did not worsen, it also did not improve. From 2023 to 2024, median household incomes were essentially flat when adjusting for inflation, poverty rates remained unchanged. These stagnant indicators suggest that while New Hampshire has avoided backsliding, many families continue to face persistent challenges meeting basic needs.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: According to the Institute’s report, “A limited supply of housing units in New Hampshire is contributing to both higher rental costs and increased sale prices for single-family houses across the state, making purchasing a home, and associated wealth-building opportunities, more difficult to access for those who currently rent.” Visit nhfpi.org/blog/acs2025.

‘I owe how much!?’

According to a recent study by the online finance website WalletHub.com, New Hampshire ranks second among states with the highest rate of student loan debt. “[New Hampshire] Borrowers owe an average of close to $40,000, the highest amount in the country,” the report read. New Hampshire came first in the average amount of student debt, second in the proportion of students with debt, first in the percentage of student loans past due or in default, and — perhaps a good sign — third in grant growth. Only Mississippi scored higher.

QOL score: -1

Comment: According to the WalletHub report, “At the end of the first quarter of 2025, total outstanding college-loan balances stood at over $1.66 trillion, according to the Department of Education. That comes out to an average of over $39,000 for each of the 42.5 million borrowers.” Search for “States with the Most and Least Student Debt (2025).”

QOL score last week: 72

Net change: -4

QOL this week: 68

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

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.