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In this issue, I would like to continue sharing with you some common Social Security questions I receive on a variety of topics and my answers. Question: Is it illegal to laminate your Social Security card? Answer: No, it is not illegal, but we discourage it. It’s best not to laminate your card. Laminated cards […]
Alabama: heart of the ‘Stroke Belt’ Stroke (or cerebrovascular diseases) is Alabama’s fourth leading cause of death, exceeded only by heart diseases, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Alabama is a prominent member of “The Stroke Belt,” an 11-state region where the risk of experiencing a stroke is 34 percent higher than it is in […]
Magazine wins three awards Alabama Living magazine recently received three Awards of Merit in the 2017 National Electric Cooperative Statewide Editors Association Willies Awards. The awards were given for: Best Illustration for “Cotton Pickin’ Time” by Dennis Auth (October 2016) Best Cover for “Raising the Steaks” by Michael Cornelison (August 2016) This cover, featuring an […]
OWA entertainment complex offers another option for Baldwin County visitors OWA, the 520-acre entertainment complex in Foley, minutes from Gulf Shores, is appropriately named. Pronounced “oh-wah,” the word inspired from the Muscogee Creek language means “big water.” But OWA could also also mean oh-wow, as today’s visitors are about to find out. It is a late […]
What do Aristotle, Sylvia Plath, Jon Bon Jovi, Morgan Freeman, “Sherlock Holmes” and Thomas Jefferson have in common with one another? They are just a few of the many people (and a few fictional characters) from across the world and centuries who have nurtured and harnessed the sweet, essential power of one of nature’s busiest […]
Jordan Mahaffey doesn’t see dead people. Instead, her vision when visiting a cemetery has more to do with survivors than deceased. That’s because Mahaffey, a history graduate from the University of West Alabama, is more apt to pay attention to what is on top of the grave than what’s in it. “I see artifacts,” Mahaffey […]
When the “Free the Hops” bill passed the Alabama Legislature in 2009, it removed some of the major hurdles restricting beer production and ushered in a new era of Alabama brewing. Fast forward to 2017, and there are currently almost 30 craft breweries here, and they’ve all tapped into the energy and interest created by […]
Alabama co-ops help restore power in hurricane-ravaged Florida
Crews from 19 of Alabama’s rural electric cooperatives were sent to help five Florida electric cooperatives with power restoration in the wake of Hurricane Irma in September. More than 210 men joined forces with their fellow cooperatives in areas affected by the hurricane, which left more than 75 percent of Floridians without electricity. Alabama’s crews […]
A matter of minding your Ps and Ks Need a local source of fun, fresh fruit this fall and winter? It’s as easy as minding your Ps and Ks — as in persimmons, pomegranates, pawpaws, kiwifruit and kumquats. These often lesser known, or a least lesser grown, fruits are now, or soon will be, in […]
In this periodic feature, we highlight books either about Alabama people or events or written by Alabama authors. Summaries are not reviews or endorsements. We also occasionally highlight book-related events. Email submissions to bookshelf@alabamaliving.coop Due to the volume of submissions, we are unable to feature all the books we receive. Game of My Life: Alabama Crimson […]
Worth the Drive: The Bright Star
The Bright Star continues to shine in Bessemer Jimmy Koikos believes in downtown Bessemer so much that he insists his family heirloom of a restaurant, The Bright Star, stay in this town sandwiched between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, continuing to beckon the 3,500 patrons that visit each week. To walk through downtown Bessemer in 2017 is […]
Heat and cool your home without blowing your budget Q: My husband and I are tired of paying such high electric bills during the winter. We think our winter bills are high because of our baseboard heaters, and our summer bills are high because of our window AC units. Our neighbor just installed a ductless heat […]
“Goat” Hollis began hunting the bobwhite 77 years ago, and hasn’t stopped since Seventy-seven years ago, 9-year-old James H. Hollis held his 20-gauge Sears and Roebuck single-barrel shotgun close to his chest as he inched past the English pointer locked up on point, just behind a covey of wild bobwhites. As the young hunter passed […]
Game wardens have long been a part of Alabama’s law enforcement
With hunting seasons in progress or starting soon, hundreds of thousands of sportsmen will take to the fields, forests and wetlands all across Alabama to pursue everything from doves to deer. Most of them will obey all the laws and participate in a tradition as old as mankind. But not everyone judiciously obeys every game […]
Recipes: Grab your piece of the pie
Enjoying any of our reader-submitted pie recipes is as easy as, well, you know. Pie occupies a prominent place in Southern food culture. Almost any occasion that brings people together probably has pie on the menu: family reunions, Sunday dinners and Fourth of July celebrations. What’s a Southern Thanksgiving without some kind of hearty pie? […]
Why we will defeat breast cancer October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I became particularly aware of this when I lost an old and dear friend to the disease. On a more positive note, several other friends who are breast cancer survivors continue to thrive. Losses are hard to take. But the survivors show us […]