Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer by May 8 with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative. The winner and answer will be announced in the June issue.
Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop
Submit by mail: Whereville, 340 TechnaCenter Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117.
Contribute your own photo for an upcoming issue! Send a photo of an interesting or unusual landmark in Alabama, which must be accessible to the public. A reader whose photo is chosen will also win $25.
April’s Answer
The Flomaton Area Railroad Museum serves as the city’s welcome center and includes exhibits on the area’s history as a railway junction. It’s housed in a historic 19th-century home on Sidney Manning Boulevard, named for the World War I Medal of Honor recipient. A monument to Manning stands in front of the museum. (Information from the Encyclopedia of Alabama). (Photo by Allison Law of Alabama Living magazine) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Teresa Kite of Southern Pine EC.
STAR ID deadline extended to 2021
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at the direction of President Trump, is extending the REAL ID enforcement deadline to Oct. 1, 2021, in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Alabama’s version of the federal REAL ID program is STAR ID, which stands for Secure, Trusted and Reliable Identification. STAR ID is a step beyond an ordinary Alabama driver license or non-driver identification card, and meets all the requirements of federal law.
For first issuance of a STAR ID, customers must visit one of ALEA’s Driver License Examining Offices across the state, but the agency closed all locations March 27 to combat the spread of the virus.
The agency will resume operations when COVID-19 is under control. The STAR ID deadline extension should relieve wait times when driver license offices reopen. For more information on STAR ID, online renewals and other services, please visit www.alea.gov.
Maintain the battery life on your devices
Adults and kids are always having to manage battery life on their smartphones and wireless devices. From Batteries Plus Bulbs, here are some tips for maintaining that precious percentage:
- Charge your battery to 80% and don’t let it drop to zero. If you let the battery discharge completely and leave it uncharged for a long period of time it will eventually become incapable of holding a charge at all.
- When charging your device, make sure to use the correct adapter. Batteries have different power outputs and using the improper output will result in a slower charge.
- Update your apps. Most often, apps get updated to use less battery power and turn your device on a power saving mode.
- Don’t let the device overheat! Not only will most devices not let you fully charge when they are overheated, but the will also power down if theyreach an unsafe temperature.
Some of us didn’t have that much rain in March, but it didn’t stop hundreds of our readers from finding the hidden umbrella in the April magazine. It wasn’t that hard, we admit, as it was hanging on the top of the vinyl window on Page 48.
Thanks to those who wrote in with some poetry, including Marjorie Wynn of Frankville, a member of Clarke-Washington EMC, who wrote:
I wish some rain would come,
So we could use an umbrella some. We need a good little rain,
To wash that pollen down the drain.
Eleanor Madigan of Dothan, member of Wiregrass EC, wrote (with tongue in cheek, we sincerely hope):
Oh dear, these dingbats hasten my demise
The pressure on the brain, the strain on the eyes. To search for a bumbershoot
That might protect a roach, it’s so minute.
And with my last breath I do state
It sits on a window frame on Page 48.
Phyllis Fenn of Dixie EC put finding the dingbat on her to-do list, right up there with social distancing, washing your hands and paying your power bill. Glad you’ve got priorities straight, Phyllis!
Congratulations to our April winner, Joy Boutwell of Red Bay, a member of Franklin Electric Cooperative. This month we’re hiding a red jalapeno pepper to help you celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Deadline is May 8. Good luck!
Submit 2 ways
By email: dingbat@alabamaliving.com
By mail: Find the Dingbat Alabama Living, 340 TechnaCenter Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117
Online resources to help parents and children
While most parents have by now found all sorts of resources online to help their children learn, we’ve found a few other Alabama-based websites to check out.
NewSouth Books has posted some free sample coloring pages from Amazing Alabama and Amazing Georgia, the first installments in Laura Murray’s “Amazing States” coloring book series. (The third installment, Amazing South Carolina, will be available May 12.) Visit newsouthbooks.com/amazingsampler/AmazingStatesSam- pler_20200324.pdf to make printouts of the pages for free.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History has launched alabamahistoryhome.org, which allows users to explore the state’s history through online resources and virtual opportunities.
The Alabama Farmers Federation is hosting Virtual Field Trips through Facebook Live on the Alabama Farmers Federation Facebook page every Friday at 10 a.m. through May 22. Topics for May are May 1, catfish; May 8, greenhouse and nursery products; May 15, forestry; May 22, cotton and other row crops.
And don’t forget about Alabama Public Television’s Digital Library, which contains thousands of videos, online lesson plans and learning resources. Visit aptv.org.
Tips on keeping food clean and healthy
Now that many of us are staying home and cooking more, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System offers some tips on keeping both the kitchen and prepared food safe. For more helpful tips and ideas on home and garden, visit aces.edu
- You’re already doing it anyway, but wash hands before starting food prep.
- Don’t allow animals in the kitchen when food is being prepared. They can carry bacteria that could get onto food contact surfaces and into the food.
- All meat, poultry and fish should be defrosted in the refrigerator. Allow 24 hours for every 5 pounds of meat you want to thaw.
- Don’t use disinfecting wipes for cleaning kitchen surfaces. Many such wipes are not labeled for use on food-prep surfaces.
- When sampling food, use a utensil, step away from the food, sample, re-clean and sanitize the utensil, then wash your hands.
Take us along!
Thanks to all our readers who’ve sent us photos of their travels. We realize no one’s doing any traveling these days due to the statewide “stay at home” orders, but we enjoy seeing your pictures from past travels. We’re including several on this page. If you have any past photos send them to mytravels@alabamaliving.coop.
We also want to see where you’re reading Alabama Living at home! Send us photos of you or a family member reading the magazine in your favorite home location – a recliner, under a tree in your back yard, on your porch or deck, wherever. Send toathome@alabamaliving.coop.
We’ll draw a winner for a $25 prize each month, so let us hear from you!
Winner: Dennis and Nancy Abney
On their February tour of the Holy Land, Dennis and Nancy Abney of Mentone took the magazine to the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. They are members of Sand Mountain EC.
Kimberly Smith of Grant, a member of North Alabama EC, took her two grandsons, Abram and Max Stewart, both of whom were out of school due to the coronavirus pandemic, to get some fresh air at Guntersville State Park.
Laney Few & Crispin Hallford of Southern Pine EC took a copy of the magazine to Ice Castles in Midway, Utah, on Crispin’s make-a-wish trip to see snow.
Letters to the editor
Email us at: letters@alabamaliving.coop
Write us at: Letter to the editor, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124
Heartwarming photo
The picture of Kendyll Eaton and Ryan Fultz on page 15 of the April issue is a heartwarming classic! Should have gone viral. A story of love and human compassion all wrapped up in a single photo.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Charles Duckett, Minter
Observations
I enjoyed the article, “Delivering on the River” (April 2020), but I’m a little confused. Why wasn’t the mail route established on the land side of the homes? Mishaps happen…I’m wondering how many pieces of mail are on the bottom of the river?
The picture of Kendyll Eaton and Troy University baseball player Ryan Fultz is adorable!
Ah hah… Mr. G. B. Gay may be right after all. My Webster dictionary defines “ad” as a public notice. Should he receive an apology?
I look forward to Alabama Living every month!
Wauneace J. Fikes, Red Bay
Says feral hog hunting ‘cruel’
Referencing the March article, “Growing feral swine population difficult to control”:
This is hardly “hunting”, and certainly not humane to bait “sounders” and point blank shoot helpless feral hogs. Very disturbing, but as an animal advocate, I and many others are aware of the cruelty in this practice, as well as the horrendous cruelty by “feral hog hunters,” who use and train their dogs to attack, terrorize and mutilate.
Shame on Alabama.
Sandra S. Nathan, Gulf Shores
