Disaster prep on a dime.

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(Happy Throwback Tuesday! Yes, I know it’s supposed to be Throwback Thursday, but given the various weather storms and power outages around the country right now, this article  needed republication before Thursday. The post originally ran on Feb. 18, 2021, when the Texas deep-freeze catastrophe was threatening lives and property.)

Disaster prep isn’t much fun. Who wants to think about all the ways that nature is trying to kill us? But it’s essential.

Texans couldn’t really be prepared for the double whammy of extreme cold and multiple utility failures. Burst pipes, multi-car accidents, disruptions to the food supply, boil-water notices, “seeking heating” shelters that don’t provide meals or a place to sleep – it’s pretty dire.

In some case it’s become a triple whammy: No way to stay warm + no power to cook/preserve existing food = needing to go out on slippery roads to seek a place to sleep. Assuming, that is, that local shelters aren’t full or that hotel rooms (if you can afford them) are still available.

I’m not looking to turn this into a diatribe as to whether Texas was foolish for wanting its own power grid and why officials didn’t winterize said grid. There’s already plenty of finger-pointing to go around. Instead, I’d like to ask readers whether they are even a little bit prepared if extreme weather or some other natural disaster should befall them.

If things got dire in your neck of the woods, how would you eat, drink and keep from freezing/developing heatstroke? Also: Got any idea where you’d poop?

 

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Giveaway: “Tundra” calendar.

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Continuing with my “support the local economy” string of giveaways, I give you…a wall calendar made by Alaska’s funniest guy – and signed by him, too. If you squint real hard at the photo on the left, you’ll see the signature “Chad Carpenter” in silver Sharpie at the top, just above the “Tundra” logo. Carpenter … Read more

Had a hibernating Christmas.

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The song “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” has been running through my mind since Dec. 25, probably because a Sam the Snowman chew toy was waiting under the tree for my niece’s dog that day. The Burl Ives version of the song was featured in the Rankin-Bass animated special, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” so it’s been his voice singing the song.

Except I changed the title a bit. “Had a hibernating Christmas” is the way it plays in my head.

DF and I did go out the afternoon of Christmas Eve to meet up with his son, daughter-in-law and their kids for a couple hours of carol-singing, Chinese food and opening a few presents. (Let me say that we never opened gifts early when I was a kid, but life is about adapting, right?)

On Christmas Day, DF had to show up at church as cantor for a mid-morning Mass, so he dropped me at my niece’s home to watch her kids open their gifts. And, of course, to see the dog toy that inspired the earworm.

This morning, I dropped him at church for his usual 8 a.m. cantor gig, and headed off to see if any post-holiday specials were good enough to tempt me into using some Shopkick points. Short form: Nope. In fact, the two stores I visited had relatively little left to be marked down. Supply-chain issues strike again, I guess.

So we were back here by 9:30 a.m. and did more of what we’ve done since Friday evening: hibernate. No visiting with family or friends, no movies, no nothin’. A whole lot of reading napping has taken place in the past few days, though.

It felt pretty good, I have to say.

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Monday miscellany: “Die With Zero” edition.

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Bloggers sometimes make (not very much) money when they put Amazon links in their posts and readers use those links to buy things. I put in these links from time to time, and so does my daughter. But in her recent review of a book called “Die With Zero,” she urged readers to hit the library rather than purchase a copy.

“I’m not even putting an Amazon affiliate link here – that’s how much I want you to not buy the book,” she wrote.

While Abby liked a couple of things about the personal finance tome, she was frustrated by its lack of clear advice, and by its ageist/ableist attitudes. Early on, for example, author Bill Perkins described old age for lots of people consisting of sitting in front of the TV and eating tapioca pudding.

Not only do lots of older people remain active physically and/or socially, who is he to judge the lives of more sedentary people as being of lesser value? (Especially since some people don’t choose the sedentary life, but rather have it thrust upon them due to illness or the need to care for a chronically ill spouse.)

Perkins also mentions that live theater might best be enjoyed when you’re younger, lest you be “too old to hear the actors or to stand in line for the restroom.” Um, wut?!? Not only is that pretty ageist, it’s also a slam against folks of any age who are hard of hearing or completely deaf. That doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy live performances or movies, either through assistive listening devices or ASL-interpreted shows.

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Giveaway: Two $25 gift cards.

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I’ve been trying to focus on Alaska goods for my giveaways lately, in order to support the local economy. My idea is that some of the folks who don’t win might decide to check out these the Last Frontier economy* on their own. I even had an Alaska item picked out to give away – but then I realized it might not get to its recipient before Christmas. That’s why I’m doing something non-local today: gift cards.

Which gift cards? Whichever the winners want, provided I can obtain them electronically. 

Drugstore? Discount emporium? Office-supply place? Home improvement center? Supermarket? Bookstore? Massive online retailer? It’s your call, if you win. 

Two winners get to use these card to finish up their holiday shopping. They could opt to give the cards themselves as gifts. Or donate them. Or, maybe, use the cards for something they themselves need.

Again: Your call. Provided you win, of course.

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The Talkeetna index.

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In years past I’ve done both long-form writing and mock-tweet compilations about the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition. And this year I did Talkeetna in six pics.

Today I realized that wasn’t nearly enough coverage, given how many other photos I still had to share, and how many experiences I hadn’t yet described when I put up the six pics. After all, that post went live the same night we arrived in Talkeetna. Surely there was more to tell.

So I decided to tell it, in the style of the long-running “Harper’s Index” from Harper’s magazine. But I’d be doing it Talkeetna-style.

For the uninitiated: The Harper’s Index is a list of random facts, sometimes connected, sometimes not. Rather than draw from multiple sources, I will of course focus on the bachelors auction and wilderness woman competition.

Some of my index items will be illustrated and some won’t. One of the photos will be not suitable for work. You’ve been warned.

 

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6 money lessons from “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

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I didn’t expect “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” to be a cinematic classic. It was clear from the first preview that this would be a popcorn movie. What I did expect is that Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon would take the lead in supernatural heroism.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the middle-school nerd, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” among others) and her new (and only) friend, Podcast (Logan Kim) pretty much walked away with the movie. They – and especially Phoebe – are the film’s heart and mind.

And the scene where Podcast asks if she would be….

…wait for it…

his lab partner? That was one of the shyer, sweeter movie scenes I’ve encountered in ages.

The protagonists are the daughter and grandkids of one of the original Ghostbuster gang, and they’ve inherited his dilapidated house in Middle-of-Nowhere, Oklahoma. The mom, Callie, tells the kids they’re just going out there to sell the place, but we know before they do that they’re going to stay; after all, an early scene shows Callie begging the landlord not to evict them.

What could go wrong? Especially when teenaged son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, of “Stranger Things”) and his new buddies start hanging around an abandoned mine? Or when Phoebe starts noticing some strange things of her own around their new home?

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” drags a bit here and there, and I could have done without the Hallmark-y denouement, but overall I had a pretty good time. Didn’t hurt a bit that I paid only $6 because it was cheap Tuesday, or that I had a $3-off coupon for the concessions stand. (Like I said: Popcorn movie.)

And, of course, I found money lessons therein. Don’t I always? 

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Holiday 2021 giveaway: Alaska chocolate.

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Here we are, a bit closer to Christmas and Kwanzaa, Hannukah in the rear-view mirror, and still supporting the local economy. This week’s holiday 2021 giveaway is pretty sweet. But not too sweet, even though it’s made up mostly of chocolate.

That’s because the Chugach Chocolate company specializes in dark chocolate. Headquartered in Anchorage, it’s been the subject of a couple of previous giveaways and it’s always been a big hit.

If you win, you could give free chocolate to someone you love this holiday season?

And yes, that someone could be…yourself. Charity begins at home. Sometimes chocolate does, too.

In addition to the four chocolate bars in the giveaway, the winner will also receive a fun (yet useful!) piece of Alaska kitsch: a face mask featuring the Alaska Tastee-Freez logo.

More on that in a minute. Right now, let’s talk about the chocolate.

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Six pics of Talkeetna.

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For the first time in three years, Linda B. and I are attending the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition. The drive up was smooth sailing, with hardly anyone else on the road. It was also gorgeous, once the fog burned off – especially the eye-popping vistas of Mt. Hunter, Mt. Foraker and Denali (see below).

It’s 13 degrees below zero right now, but that’s all right because we’re indoors. If anything, it’s a little too warm in our hotel room. Pretty sure I won’t be needing the blanket and comforter tonight, or maybe even the top sheet.

Thus far we’ve viewed the annual parade (made up mostly of emergency vehicles, plus a flatbed truck with some shivering bachelors), eaten not wisely but too well, and chatted up some of the old-school auction folks. One of them pointed out that this is the 40th annual event, out of 41 years (the pandemic nixed large indoor gatherings last year).

The Wilderness Woman Competition is a large outdoor gathering; it takes place tomorrow. The Talkeetna Bachelor Auction will be indoors, but tickets were limited. They sold out in six minutes flat. Fortunately, Linda B. was ready to pounce the moment they went on sale.

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Monday miscellany: Porch pirates edition.

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It’s not enough that inflation and supply-chain issues are putting a crimp in preparing for the 2021 holidays. Those dirty rotten porch pirates are back in business, too. According to a study from SafeWise, more than 60 percent of U.S. residents have had a package stolen in the past year. Obviously the holidays are prime … Read more