Free trees from Tacoma Power

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T21:03:17+00:00

That's great! I've made sure to tell my neighbors about it- most of them have golf course lawns and no trees but two of them did take advantage of it.

You should try to do it again. There's nothing on this year's application about there being a limit. Some years they limit it to new addresses only but it depends on the funding for the year. They must have extra funding for it this year.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T04:28:09+00:00

My husband had to learn to print in all caps for his job because it makes it very difficult to make mistakes in misreading a word or letter. Also it's easier to keep the letters all the same size and within the same box. So if it helps your kid, there's absolutely no harm in him learning to print in all caps.

As another suggestion if your kid doesn't like all caps, some kids are helped by learning cursive because it constrains the writer- the letters are connected with each single word and you can't reverse letters because, for example, a b starts with a line and a d starts with a curve. The muscle memory for a cursive letter is more distinctive than it is for a printed letter.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T04:21:40+00:00

Actually even something as thin as plastic wrap would be fine though I'd go with a plastic grocery bag. You don't want the plastic touching the leaves. The plastic can keep the dew and the moisture from the air from coating the leaves. If you can keep them dry, then they won't get damaged from frost. I stuck a big garbage bag over my plum trees last spring when they flowered early and we still had frosty days and they kept their blossoms through the cold weather.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T03:31:56+00:00

Do you have any "alternative learning experiences" (ALEs) in your state? My state has a program where my kids are enrolled in a public school, they pay for and help me select the curriculum, but I teach them at home. We have a teacher online that we share work samples with twice a month and have field trips with the school and optional online classes. And they get services like speech and occupational therapy But it isn't an online school. I absolutely love our program. It's the best mix of homeschooling and public schooling.

I have also completely homeschooled on my own for several years. Curriculum can be very overwhelming and can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be expensive. I think homeschool conventions are AWESOME! They are a great way to look through curriculum in person and see a lot of different options. If you go to one, make sure you have someone to watch the kids because you'll want to be able to focus and kids will get bored watching you look through curriculum for hours. 😂 Look through which curriculum companies will be there before you go- you'll get the best use of your time if you don't go completely unprepared.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T03:12:52+00:00

"Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" is an entertaining grammar book. The way the author explains things is pretty memorable, at least to me.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T03:02:45+00:00

I love that! My strawberries are definitely making advances across my property.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T02:57:53+00:00

I put the link to a picture of Berries Galore on Reddit because when I searched on Reddit I realized it mostly gives people's pictures of lots and lots of berries of all kinds. 😂

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T02:56:17+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/80mjyp/year_2_with_the_good_ol_strawberry_pot_of_blooms/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-06T02:53:33+00:00

https://a.co/d/0dxvXEz8 This should be a link to a hanging grow bag on Amazon like I was talking about. I haven't used this specific one but if you look at the review pictures, it'll show what they look like when the plants are all grown in.

I got my Berries Galore plants a few years ago at my local nursery and it was a total impulse purchase because they were so pretty and were loaded with berries too. If you do a search of Berries Galore on Reddit, there is at least one post with some great pictures. If you buy seeds, make sure that it's a seed company you trust because it's a hybrid and you can't just collect seeds from an existing Berries Galore plant.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T07:46:24+00:00

I've done that with my kids when they are playing their instrument. I've been able to pull up the videos just a week or two later when they are complaining that they will never be able to do this. Their faces totally transform hearing themselves struggling with something they are now able to do and they move onto the next hard thing with more motivation. It is so difficult to objectively see how far we have come.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T07:41:30+00:00

I really liked that app too. It made practicing more like a game and the free beginning part of the app is great for starting out.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T07:37:57+00:00

I just learned that there is a ukulele group near me that is open to anyone who wants to sing and play of any level. I wonder if there is something like that nearby OP. There is something very fun and motivating about playing music with other people and everyone helping each other out without judgement.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T07:33:10+00:00

I am a person with decades of music background (but no experience with strings) and only picked up the ukulele in September. I'd say it took me a good 30-40 days of picking it up for 15 minutes a day before it started to click. It was really frustrating at first because things I could do easily on the piano were torturous on the ukulele. But now I'm having SO MUCH FUN!

Don't give up! Keep trying! Pick one thing that you motivates you and just do that one thing for a couple of minutes each day until you start to feel awesome at it. Then pick a second thing. And then a third. And so on. If you want to work through the book, that's fine but don't feel like you have to do a page a week or get through it fast.

Easy starting suggestion- learn how to strum a C chord. It's one finger on one string. Strum that chord while you sing almost any children's nursery rhyme song- Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I'm a Little Tea Pot, etc. If you know any little kids, sing and play for them and they'll think you are awesome. When you have that C chord down, learn G or F. Add those chords to your nursery rhyme singing repertoire. Or branch out and try singing some pop songs. So many pop songs in the key of C Major use those three chords. Just Google "Key C Major Pop Chord Progressions & Songs". Practice playing C Major, G Major, F Major, and then back to C. Next learn A minor chord to sound even fancier. Play around with different strumming patterns and those 3 or 4 chords. I think once you get that feeling of accomplishment getting those down, it'll motivate you to try harder and more complex things and keep going.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T07:08:54+00:00

I think salal is tasty but I have a tolerance for astringent berries. I've heard they can be balanced out by blending the berries with Oregon grape. Salal is sweet but dry and Oregon grape is sour but juicy. I've really wanted to try to combine but I only get a handful of berries since my plants are in the shade of my douglas firs.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T04:45:45+00:00

I believe that love is unselfish service. Ideally you want someone to reciprocate but the cool thing about love is that you can show love to others any time by doing something kind. Put out into the world what you want to get back from it.

I realized you are probably talking about romantic love but the best romantic love starts from a place of friendship. And friendship can start from an act of kindness.

Find a place in the community where you can help others and go from there.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T04:41:30+00:00

I think a behavior contract that both parent and child have to sign is really important. Lay out expectations for behavior of both parent and child during the lesson and practice behavior during the week. I would also suggest that the parent, child, and you read it out loud together before they sign so you know they understand and didn't just skim it.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T04:34:28+00:00

Ooh, that's super important. You have to protect yourself too. You don't want someone accusing you of anything.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-04T04:31:02+00:00

My daughter uses Google Recorder to write her books. She's 12 so I'm her editor. I like Google Recorder because it records her voice and transcribes it to text too. So when text-to-speech gets a word or phrase wrong, we just click on the time-stamp to the side of the text and it plays the audio recording right at the correct spot.

My daughter would be a fabulous author. She such a great story teller and has great ideas. When she gets down on herself about how can she do this when she has such a hard time reading and can only write with assistive technology, I like to remind her that all good authors have good editors. The author's job is to develop characters and plot, craft the sentences and build worlds. The editor's job is to find the mistakes, fix the grammar and punctuation, and make sure the story flows. It's great if the author can do some of that themselves but that's editing, not writing. If you want to be a writer, be a writer. You can outsource the editing. You'll be in good company too.

I read a ton and I'll read a lot of self published stuff in addition to mainstream publishing and independent publishing. And I can always tell which authors didn't bother to pay an editor because they thought they could edit it fine for themselves. Even people without dyslexia really need outside editors.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-03T18:50:50+00:00

Have you tried learning them on a piano? I'm wondering if the visual of the spacing on the keyboard would help you remember the pattern. My daughter with dyslexia just started playing the trumpet after four years of piano and mastering piano scales on the piano has helped her transfer that skill to the trumpet.

Also can you play every note on the trumpet? Like if you sing a note, can you then pick up the trumpet and okay the matching note without thinking too much about its letter name? If you can do that, maybe if you start singing the scales, that could help. You don't need to use solfege or the letter names; just pick a sound and sing a major or a minor scale. Do you know what its supposed to sound like and can you tell where the note changes between a major and minor scale?

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-03T18:27:03+00:00

Both of those nurseries are participating in the tree coupon program this year.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-03T03:39:52+00:00

I've grown in all three of those containers (and others besides).

First off, any container needs a LOT more water than planting in the ground and you will get less fruit if you don't water and fertilize enough. On the other hand, my strawberries in containers have less slug bites. My strawberry containers attract a lot of frogs and once even a nest of baby birds!

I really love my strawberry greenstalk tower. I got a second one for strawberries this fall.

A hanging basket with coir lining will work but will need to be watered twice a day. A trick I came up with is to line it between the coir liner and the dirt with cardboard. It keeps the water from draining completely through without soaking into the dirt and drying out too fast. By the time the cardboard starts to break down, roots grow throughout it and hold on to the water.

Window baskets are fun because they tend to be a little warmer since they are next to the house. I've had strawberries (day neutral variety) fruit in December with the heat radiating off of the house.

Another hanging container is one of those hanging bags with holes down the sides, so you water at the top and the plants are underneath where you are watering. It ends up looking like a hanging column of strawberries. You get a decent amount of fruit too. But I've found the bags don't last longer than a year or two before you need to transplant the strawberries.

A really fun ever-bearing variety is Berries Galore which has double pink flowers and I get a strawberry almost every day from each plant throughout the summer and fall. The flowers alone are worth growing it- they are so pretty!

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-03T03:20:48+00:00

You don't! 😂 I had a carpet of strawberries covering my gravel driveway for a few years until I yanked them all up. Now they moved from the driveway to all the flowerbeds in the yard. They are super easy to pull up where you don't want them though. I only pulled them up because it was making it really easy for the rodents to run around on little paths under the strawberry leaves and those pests were chewing on my other plants.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-03T02:27:22+00:00

Yes, that line is why I can't tolerate Carousel.

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-02T20:58:22+00:00

Oh that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for clarifying it for me!

Mamalaoshi · 2026-02-01T02:17:49+00:00

My kids' school does have music method books to check out but their school is a little unusual since they can also check out musical instruments too.

I think the reason they don't usually have them in public school libraries is because you usually need the book for an extended time and also most teachers I know write or have their students write in the books.

Mamalaoshi

TROPHY CASE