I live in the native range of evergreen huckleberries, and while the plants are lovely, I think it would take an awfully long time to grow a hedge. The bushes I planted three years ago are still only about a foot high, and while being in full sun has probably slowed them down a bit, my neighbor's bush in dappled shade took over ten years to reach 6 feet. Yep, slugs in the PNW are enormous. I still grow hostas, but they are near some other plants that I think the slugs prefer so they do fine. I have a picture somewhere of a slug that was as long as the blade of a shovel. I only see th

I think a state park would be reasonably safe. Around here at least, the state parks are relatively small and the trails are heavily traveled. In my area, I'd carry bear spray in the more remote state parks, but that may not be a consideration where you live. People do go missing fairly regularly in my area, but mostly in the national parks and forests. I would not hike alone in a remote area. We do not have cell service in many of the places where we hike, which are not especially remote, but I always find it surprising how quickly I can drive from an urban area to the middle of nowhere.

I feel silly now that I never considered that your username meant you played harp. I thought maybe you were a step past mama bear.... I played piano and clarinet through college, but stopped after my schooling was done. I dabbled here and there with various instruments, until I found the hammered dulcimer and fell in love. Like harp, it is easy to get a nice sound from, but once you get the basics down there are lots of directions you can go.

Welcome back! I'm happy to see you here again. Yours is a voice I have missed.

I don't think that I would recognize people by writing style, but by backstory and pet topics. I have recognized posters across platforms, though, and that was a little weird. I guess I don't expect an overlap between WTM and reddit?

But coffee is basically bean soup!

Your meal was great. If a parent has strict rules for what their children eat, they can be responsible for enforcing those rules. My kids haven’t ever had trouble understanding that different parents have different rules, and my kids aren’t neurotypical. Your family has been through a lot, and I wonder if your BIL is micromanaging food because it’s one of the few things that can be controlled at this point? It’s not fair of him to put that on you, though.

I've been making Froebel stars. After watching the video about ten times I can usually make them on my own. lol

I’m with you. Turkey is boring. We’re having steaks and shrimp. 🙂

My ds13, who has many of the same difficulties as your kiddo, made a huge leap between 11 and 13. At 11 we still buddy-read, paragraph by paragraph, and it was difficult and slow going. This year he has devoured the Hunger Games books, Percy Jackson, some random Sci-Fi...I'm kind of amazed. Assigned reading is still another story. lol. His ability to process nonfiction about WW2? Excellent, it's his special interest. His ability to process info from assigned readings? Eh. I find that if I ask him to complete a short outline while he reads it's much better.

No Moxy Fruvous? 😄

How did she sterilize it? When I pierced my college boyfriend's ear, I soaked the (sewing) needle in alcohol, then burned it with a lighter. I thought I was being responsible. lol.

This is true. My parents have two giant oak china cabinets that nobody wants, and a friend of mind recently hauled one to the dump because even the thrift stores don’t want them.

I have my grandparents’ midcentury modern china hutch. I don’t have china, but it’s full of knickknacks, doodads, fossils, rocks that the kids collected, etc. I’m just about ready to switch out the random stuff for Christmas decorations. 🙂

I haven't read The Story of Mankind, but my son started it at the beginning of the year, got a few chapters in, and hated it. We're subbing in readings from the series The World in Ancient Times from Oxford University Press. I found most of the volumes used on eBay at a substantial discount. It does require a little extra work from me, but I've found it pretty simple to look at the HO guide and correlate appropriate readings.