Category: Family & Home

I’m sorry to share that Avis Jean (Evergreen) Hastings-Hacker merged with the Great Beyond last night at around 8:30 last night. She had recently spent four months in a convalescent home, dealing with growing symptoms of CHF, until recently she opted to return to our home in Morro Bay to do home hospice. She went peacefully last night after years of discomfort at 83. I want to appreciate her for making our lunches, minimizing our TV time as kids, making us eat carob and putting sunflower seeds and raisins in our waffles. I appreciate that she mended our clothes and made our halloween costumes by hand, and ran a tight ship. She loved Carole King and Joni Mitchell and Maria Muldaur and Helen Reddy, and was always up for our family’s whacky adventures, whether it was raising raccoons or cruising down to Tijuana in the family’s VW microbus, she was there for it. She was a real-life Tupperware Lady, a Reiki massage therapist, and ran three retail stores over the years: The Hunny Pot knick-knacks in Atascadero in the 70s, New Moon boutique in Cambria in the 80s, and Earth Spirt native artifacts in Morro Bay in the 90s. Much of her story has been complex and painful – the truth of her life is a submerged iceberg. She was the last living child (7/7!) of Vada and Chalmers Hastings – that generation has now come to a close, but the younger Hastings carry on. She is survived by her husband Jim Hacker, and her sons Scot and John. Farewell, Mom – may you finally enjoy peace.

I’ve put together a photo album with images of her from childhood until recently.

https://adobe.ly/4gnjgnp

“Dad, there’s a mistake in Stranger Things. It’s supposed to be set in 1984, but that periodic table in the background shows an element that wasn’t discovered until a decade later.” (Turned out to be Oganesson 118). Kid has a memory like a steel trap – makes me so jealous sometimes.

in the Bay Area, we live under the constant threat of a devastating earthquake happening at any time. There is no way to know exactly what to prepare for, but we wanted to create a “rolling survival kit” – something we could pack into a trash can on wheels, to be towed to some nearby location if our house were to be leveled. There’s no way to cover every possible contingency, but this is our shot at three days worth of survival gear for a family of three.

• Twelve gallons of clean, sealed water
• Four days worth of Coast Guard/Homeland Security-approved emergency rations
• Canned beans and soup
• Leatherman multi-tool (pliers, knife, screwdriver, wire cutter, can/bottle openers)
• First-aid kit
• Mylar emergency blankets (10-pack)
• Hand-crank/solar-powered radio/flashlight
• Mini camp stove with extra fuel
• Water filtration system
• Lightweight cooking pot
• Plastic cups, bowls, utensils
• Dust masks
• Solar-powered USB charger for phones
• Fint-and-steel fire starter
• Drinkable vitamin C
• Toilet paper, maxi pads, toothpaste/toothbrush
• Moist baby wipes
• Cotton swabs (for fire starters, in place of tampons)
• Prescription medication
• Misc plastic trash bags
• Towel
• Duct tape

There’s always more that can be added, but this covers most of the bases, fits into the rolling trash can pictured below, and gives us a lot of peace of mind should a worst-case scenario ever come to pass.