Simple things make me happy. It’s dandelion season and they are vigorous and prolific here in the Land of the Midnight Sun. I don’t like to use chemicals on the front lawn because of all the kids and pets in our neighborhood. Yet, looking around at the neighbors’ yard it seems we may be the chief propogators of this weed.

Well, Kevin came home last night with my new favorite tool, the Weed Hound. It’s a clever and sturdy device that plucks those little babies right out of the ground. That’s right. No blisters, no sore back, no bad words. And better yet, John thinks it’s fun to use.

Alaskans are probably kind of slow on the lawn care learning curve because so much of our year is devoted to snow care. So, humor us if we’re way behind on discovering this dandy little dandelion destroyer.

A while back we purchased a notebook cooler for our aging HP notebook. For the uninitiated, this is a fan device on which the laptop rests that keeps the computer from getting too hot. It’s powered with a seemingly simple USB cord that plugs into the computer. This device worked wonderfully until our 12-year old son used it for a day. Somehow, who knows how, the USB cord was broken.

We shopped for a replacement at Frigid North and CompUSA without success. Online, at Antec’s website I found the cord for 5 bucks, clicked it into my shopping cart and on to the check out. Alaska is a shipping ‘fine print’ state. You know, like Hawaii, Guam and APO this is a very special place. The delivery charge for our little cord was $48. Yep, that’s right, $48 for UPS delivery. All I could do was call Antec and beg for mercy. Jeff Smith answered my call and when I explained my situation he offered to drop it in the regular mail the next day. He declined my offer to pay for the cord and asked me to feel free to contact Antec if we have any other problems. We received the cord in the mail yesterday.

So, here’s a SHOUT OUT for Jeff Smith and Antec!