Best Bets

March 31, 2021 2:30 am
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Workers with Psenak Construction return with an empty load after dumping armor rock at the Ocean Drive seawall on Monday, March 22, 2021, at Mariner Park on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Workers with Psenak Construction return with an empty load after dumping armor rock at the Ocean Drive seawall on Monday, March 22, 2021, at Mariner Park on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Everyone loves a good joke, especially today, when pranks are taken to an art form. Perhaps because we live in a state of perpetual adversity, Alaskans might be the biggest jokesters at all. A writing teacher of the Bester once said that the finest humor comes out of pain. And what could be more painful than thinking spring has come, only to wake up to a fresh foot of snow?

From campfires to bar rooms, Alaskans love to spin yarns and tell tall tales. It’s hard to tell the real stories from the made up stuff when you have headlines like “Bear bites woman in butt in outhouse.” As the ever wise Jimmy Buffett put it, “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”

So give a guffaw or two on April Fool’s Day, and enjoy life, maybe with these best bets:

BEST CHECK IT OUT BET: It’s First Friday, and at Bunnell Street Arts Center via Zoom, Baltimore-based multi-media puppetry artist Emily Schubert gives a talk at 6 p.m. about her Artist in Residence stay at Bunnell. Her time will explore the “new liminal space due to Covid-19’s extreme disruption of business as usual” while hosting crankie workshops to the community.

BEST RSVP BET: The Pratt Museum holds its first pandemic First Friday reception for the “Familiar Faces” exhibit, but cautiously with an invitation-only event. Don’t wait for the fancy envelope; you can claim a spot by visiting its website at www.prattmuseum.org.

BEST DON’T FORGET BET: Friday is the deadline to sign up to be a vendor at the Homer Farmers Market. If you haven’t submitted an application to vend this season yet and intend to do so, send in your application by April 2. Applications are being accepted online at http://www.homerfarmersmarket.org/covid19.html.

BEST GET GROWING BET: The Homer Seed Library is now open. There are over 4,000 packets of vegetable and herb seeds available inside the foyer at the Homer Public Library (open by appointment only). A seed library “lends out” seeds for members to grow out and save some of the seeds to return to the library for future seasons. The idea is to increase our community food resilience by enabling people to grow more food, encouraging a community of seed savers, and developing a living collection of seeds adapted to our climate. Membership is free.

Workers with Psenak Construction dump a load of armor rock on Monday, March 22, 2021, at Mariner Park on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. Contractors worked last month to beef up the Ocean Drive Loop Seawall for the Homer Seawall Armor Rock Improvement Special Assessment District project. The almost $950,000 project reinforces the seawall by putting down filter fabric, bedding stone and armor rock at the toe of the wall. The armor rock breaks up energy from storm waves, but also keeps sand and gravel behind the wall from eroding. “What all this rock does is it focuses on holding the toe of the wall in place and preventing that gravel migration,” said Public Works Director Jan Keiser. HDR did the design work, included in the assessment cost. The contracted amount of the rock work was about $570,000. A final assessment will be set later by the Homer City Council. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Workers with Psenak Construction dump a load of armor rock on Monday, March 22, 2021, at Mariner Park on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. Contractors worked last month to beef up the Ocean Drive Loop Seawall for the Homer Seawall Armor Rock Improvement Special Assessment District project. The almost $950,000 project reinforces the seawall by putting down filter fabric, bedding stone and armor rock at the toe of the wall. The armor rock breaks up energy from storm waves, but also keeps sand and gravel behind the wall from eroding. “What all this rock does is it focuses on holding the toe of the wall in place and preventing that gravel migration,” said Public Works Director Jan Keiser. HDR did the design work, included in the assessment cost. The contracted amount of the rock work was about $570,000. A final assessment will be set later by the Homer City Council. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

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