PFD Craziness

So for those of you who don't live in Alaska you may not know what PFD stands for. PFD is the Permanent Dividend Fund. This is the money that Alaskans get once a year for living in the state. The money is generated from oil monies. A week ago they announced that the check was going to be the largest in history, over $2,000! Attached to that check as well was going to be a energy relief check at $1,200, courtesy of Gov. Sarah Palin. They usually roll out the checks in a two month period: early birds, direct deposit and then two rounds of paper checks. This past Friday everyone that had a direct deposit received their checks. At the end of the month paper checks will be mailed out. For a family of 4 they will receive over $12,000. A few of our friends that have children have their children's checks directly put into a college fund but for the majority of the population in our region they do not do that. One of my co workers has 10 children, they are going to receive over $35,000. For anyone that is a lot of money.

Some of the things I have seen and heard over the weekend due to all this money floating around town:
1. A women at the bank taking $8,000 in cash and putting it into her wallet.
2. BOT (a local bar) not allowing anymore people in due to capacity (this is unheard of they don't even do this at Iditarod).
3. A local 4wheeler shop selling out of all of their 4 wheelers in stock.
4. A local airline doubling their flights in one day due to all of the reservations.

It is only going to get crazier here in Nome since we are the hub for this region.
As for what we are doing with our money...it's all going into the house. We are getting closer...I primed the inside for 8 hours yesterday. Maybe next weekend we will add color!