When Big One Hits, Have a Granola Bar

Government agencies tell you to prepare for The Big Earthquake by storing enough food to feed your family for two weeks.

That’s the ideal. Donna Adams of the county’s Office of Disaster Preparedness says families should store at least a three-day supply of food in their homes, because it might take that long before help gets to you. She keeps three days’ worth in her car, so she’ll be set no matter when The Big One strikes.

Adams suggests “quick, ready-access food” that doesn’t need to be cooked or refrigerated--and still tastes good. Consider canned fruit, juices, cheeses, ready-to-eat cereal, crackers, cookies, raisins, granola bars, beef jerky, peanut butter, cans of tuna and water.

Put the food and other emergency supplies (flashlights, batteries, candles, first-aid supplies and a four-pack of Bartles & James) inside a 33-gallon trash can sealed shut with duct tape and put in the garage, a couple of inches off the floor.

Or, she suggests, tape a round piece of particle board on top of the can, drape a floor-length tablecloth over it and use it as a lamp table inside the house.

That’s called functional furniture.

Pedigreed Tales

Speaking of newborns, we have these related items in our Litter Department:

- Kelly Moore of Vista had never before owned a dog until she saw a litter of rare Shar-pei puppies in Denver a couple of years ago. The Shar-pei is the dog from China that hasn’t grown into its skin. Its coat is five sizes too big. You don’t pet it; you unfold it. She bought a female for $1,000 and named her Hei Chong Mau (“Black Panda Bear” to you and me).

Bear, for short, has given birth to her own litter of five puppies, including a chocolate-colored one “with wrinkles everywhere--even on its toes.” But it’s the color that makes it even more special. “I didn’t know I was supposed to be excited about that until I went to a Shar-pei show in Ontario last weekend and everyone got so excited about it being chocolate,” she said.

She said she was told she could get $2,500 or more for that one alone.

It’s a ruff way to make a buck.

- Rich Wise of Mission Beach is excited, too. He just brought home a baby beagle (his first, “Tootsie”) and is throwing a puppy shower for her on Saturday.

The party will feature dog music (“Hound Dog,” “Puppy Love,” and the sort), dog movies (“Old Yeller,” Pluto cartoons and a dog video with a barking sound track and subtitles in English) and food (kibble casserole, pupsie cola, pups in a blanket, beagle bagels and pup corn--what you don’t eat you can take home in a doggie bag) and party favors (Tootsie rolls).

To assist those who want to bring a gift, the dog is registered at a couple of pet stores around town.

An ‘A’ for Ingenuity

San Diego City Manager Sylvester Murray, in the middle of a touchy City Hall debate over the location of a new central library, has come up with a timely assignment for the students in his “Decision Making in the Urban Community” class at San Diego State University: A three-page paper on where the new library should be located, and why.

Murray has promised to give his own recommendation to the City Council on April 3. He told his students he wants their papers completed by March 17.

“I’m hoping for some good ideas from them,” he said.

Remedial Parenting

If you want to get married these days, about all you need is a partner, a blood test, a marriage license and a clergyman or justice of the peace.

Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego) says couples also should complete a “positive parenting course” so they can better raise their children. In fact, he wants to make it state law.

He doesn’t say you have to have children. That would seem to be out of government’s control. And the proposed legislation would exempt couples from taking the course if either spouse has been sterilized or has previously completed a parenting course. Also exempt are couples older than 50. (He’s not calling for a positive grandparenting course.)

Fees for the class could not exceed $10, he says, and discounts would be offered to low-income people. But then, you’ve got to wonder, if they can’t afford the 10 bucks, can they afford to get married?

“The pressures of modern-day life make it very difficult for most marriages to survive or to allow for a positive family environment,” Chacon said. “Positive parenting classes could help many young couples deal with these pressures in a mature and effective manner.”

The class would discuss such subjects as communication skills, discipline techniques, nutrition and diet, family budgeting and coping skills.

Even childless couples could stand a little of that.