I have no idea what "normal" is but my dd calls and/or texts both dh and me multiple times a day. She is a junior. And attends college in the same town as we live but has her own place to live. She will often drop in on one of us. I love it and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. She has progressed as an adult just fine. She handles her own affairs but yes, she will call us if she needs advice on a car repair or she cannot remember how much lemon juice to put in the hummus. Recently some friends that are very close to our family expressed concern that dd was still so close to us, referencing their own college days when a long distance phone call was rare and costly. If I felt this closeness was interfering with developing relationships with her peers or hampering her own journey to being fully on her own, I would try to introduce some structure in how/when she contacted us, but that is not the case. I am thrilled she trusts us enough to let her into her life and has parents that are available and willing to listen to her story about the frog she rescued on the way to campus or the party she went to last weekend or the test in which she did not do as well as she hoped.

Another thing to consider is a cup. My dd was involved in multiple activities that required restrictive clothing (swimsuits, race suits, leotards) and I really fretted about how she was going to handle her period. I bought some of EVERYTHING including two different types of cups. I assumed the cups would not be touched. But I was wrong. By day 2, all of the pads had been rejected due to bulkiness and discomfort. Tampons were OK but not great. The cup paired with period undies were the winning combo. I was surprised but just a few months later I overheard her explaining how to use a cup to a group of my female friends, encouraging them to try it. Lol! I will use tampons in a pinch but the cup is so much more comfortable. Most people think that you get teens would never be able to handle one, but I think they might be a better introduction than tampons.

I would encourage you to go to your local police station and have a sit-down with whatever level of LEO is accessible to you. Talk it through and ask what they think you should do, both in the moment(s) and long term, to mitigate the situation. We live in a "dynamic" neighborhood and have had several conflicts with various neighbors over the years. Almost every case has involved someone with suspected mental health and/or substance abuse issues that makes them unpredictable.....as in not being able to accurately guess how they will respond to confrontation or LEOs. In our case, it usually involves renters so eventually they move on and the problem solves itself, but until that happens, it can be miserable living near someone that is being destructive or scary. We have had more than one sit-down with someone from our city police. Luckily, our city requires LEOs to be residents of our city, so two cops live within a block of my house. They knew what is going on before we even met. But they were also very helpful in explaining that they prefer we call them for borderline cases and that it is OK to express fears of retaliation and how we would like them to respond with that in mind. They also offered to increase patrolling in our area during times of concern. But more than all of that, we have a working relationship with particular LEOs. People we can ask questions at any time. People we see in our neighborhood and stop to chat with. I am also perplexed by the disclosure requirement. An "annoying" or even "dangerous" neighbor is a pretty subjective call. Having lived where I have lived for many years, my level of tolerance is very very high. I would never call the cops on the lady across the street whose dog has been barking non-stop for about 5 years now. Or the college kids that throw the occasional rager. My bar is pretty high. I have to feel that a person or property is truly in danger. I cannot imagine selling my house then getting sued because I did not disclose Mr-Yappy-Pants-Doggo across the street.

I just finished reading The Sum of Us last night and I completely agree with this. I also think everyone should read that book. But most won't.

My family are music people. We listen to just about every genre from classical to rap, including country. My dd is a folk/bluegrass/rock/country musician. She has really struggled with the identity that comes with modern country music and this song is a perfect example of why. She recently stepped away from playing with a very successful regional country cover band because she had become uncomfortable with songs that portray similar values as well as the behaviors of some of the audiences they played to. It was a huge money-maker for her, but between the ethical discomfort and the simplicity of the music (she could play songs onstage that she had never even heard before because they all have one of three chord progressions), she felt it was time to move on. We are about as liberal as they come so I was surprised she lasted as long as she did. Meanwhile, there are plenty of country artists that are singing about the real problems in small (and big) towns. Two that come to mind are Tyler Childers and Billy Strings (both happen to be dd's musical idols). Not only are their topics spot on but the music is complex and rich. Childers, specifically, is currently under fire for his most recent release portraying a 1960s gay Appalachian couple. To watch the video and read a little about it, this is a good article: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190148625/tyler-childers-in-your-love-interview

We do this as a family! We have a family Spotify list that anyone who has a song they think others will like adds to the playlist. My (now-grown) dd and dh are musicians that play in public regularly and this is a nice way to pull me into their interests even though I no longer play anything. We have been doing this for years and I am amazed at how many artists and songs I have come to love that I would never have been exposed to if it weren't for having a young person (my dd) slinging music at me. It is also fun to play it on random when we are together for something.

I am also a person who enjoys organizing. I would say that I have passions but those have changed drastically over time. At different points in time I was very into sewing, gardening, knitting, playing a musical instrument, nutrition, etc..... When I was thick into homeschooling and working full time, most of those dropped off. I will still knit or sew something if I want a specific item. I enjoy listening to music but am no longer making it myself. Things just evolve. My current passion is fitness (which does pull nutrition back into the equation). I see that one sticking for a while, if not forever. But who knows? Meanwhile, like you, every other family member has deep passions that have stuck for all time. But, one thing that I have always tried to keep in my life is volunteering. That does not have to look like what we think volunteering looks like. I use my organizational skills to involved myself in local organizations that I care about. Over the years this has meant being on the boards of activities that my dd was involved in or of organizations that I care about. At this time, it means serving on a committee that reports to the BOD of our local food coop. I am using my organizational skills to serve on the policy committee. It's necessary work that most people are not well-suited to. It can be hard to seek these types of opportunities out but might be worth poking around.

No, I would not. The last few times I have flown, including internationally on FinnAir, our "pre-booked seats" were reassigned anyway. In some cases, due to delayed/cancelled flights and in another it was because we had to check in at the airport like you are describing. I also prefer the aisle but have found that it can be just as annoying to be in an aisle seat on an international flight and have the window seat person need to pee every 20 minutes. So, really, it is all just misery and there is little point in spending extra money to try to minimize the misery. Also, just a heads up, we had our special meal request ignored on the last international flight we took. Luckily, I had snacks on hand to fill the gap but the days of assuming your requests have been taken seriously are apparently over. We are vegetarians and were one of the last to be served a meal on our last trip and learned that earlier passengers had been served our vegetarian meals and we were just out of luck. This happened BOTH ways.

I do a lot of hiking and we always like to bring fun foods for our breaks. I recently discovered a less-conventional snack that has been a big hit. Stuffed grape leaves seem to really hit the spot. You can buy them in small tins. That would be far too heavy for a backpacking trip, but nice for a day hike, for sure. We were getting sick of the standard fare of nuts, cheese and crackers, and sandwiches. I have a friend that swears by pierogis for trail food. I haven't tried it, but I can see the appeal.

Many years ago, dh picked up a pumpkin from a patch in anticipation of Halloween. He placed it on the back seat of *my* car then forgot about it for a few days. It turns out the pumpkin was rotten and had a small hole in the bottom. It was quite hot out and the pumpkin leaked rotten pumpkin juice into the seat. The smell was horrendous. We tried everything but it still reeked. I even contemplated taking the back seat out of the car entirely. Winter soon arrived and the cold temps kept the smell at bay but come spring, it returned. It looks a few years but eventually it faded to almost-normal. I did get sort-of used to it. That said, I think the enzyme cleaner is going to be the best bet at this point. Good luck and keep us posted!

It's funny....I just asked my college-age dd if she regretted spending 6 years studying Latin from grades 3-9. She took it all the way through AP Latin. She did not learn any other language because she was homeschooled all the way through and I am not fluent (or even familiar) with any foreign language. I chose to start with Latin due to that fact....it was something I was able to teach. I had intended for her to move on to a modern language via DE or an outside provider after completing AP Latin, but her other interests demanded more time than I anticipated and that space was filled with other pursuits. Dd was SUPER bitter to learn that her college does not accept AP Latin for credit or even for transfer had she taken it at another institution. But after that bitterness wore off, she is still happy she did it. She is an engineering major but her extremely strong grammar and writing skills, which I credit largely to the deep study of Latin, has helped her land some pretty rare opportunities. The first was her first college job of being a writing center coach, which is super rare for STEM majors at her school. Fast forward to her current job as an intern at a research center. Again, her reputation as an excellent writer was what prompted the center director to seek her out. She does plenty of hands-on research tasks but is also heavily relied upon to write and edit content for proposals and papers. She also cites the intense study skills she had to develop to be successful in the last two years of Latin that she still draws on now.

I have been to Windigo before but never by plane. I have done a two cross-island hikes in the past in addition to an east-end loop and two canoe trips over a span of 25 years. I have the map pretty much memorized:) One thing that will be different is this is the first time I will be on the island during peak season. All other trips were in fall, one of which the last week of October where we got three inches of snow on the first night! We are hoping that the people we are meeting up with can get a site right on the creek as they will get there hours before we do.

We don't get into Windigo until 5:30, so we are going to stay one night there. We have other friends on a two-week hike that we will meet up with there, bringing their resupply box. Then on to Siskiwit to spend two nights. If we do end up stopping at Island Mine, it would only be one night at Siskiwit. Then one night at Feldtman Ridge before the final hike back to Windigo.

Plenty of berries can be found on the mainland, rather than going all the way to an island. If I were looking for a good haul, I would just drive on county roads until you find a big patch. I prefer to just eat as I go!

Thanks! We leave in two weeks and it appears our route will be the opposite direction than yours. We don't plan to stop at Island Mine for the night but we are leaving it as an option in case we discover that anyone in our group cannot handle the higher mileage (we have someone recovering from a broken ankle....). So we will for sure ask a ranger before leaving Windigo in case we need to bring extra water. I hope the bugs were OK for you. We will be there during peak thimbleberry season with no bears to compete with so we should be getting plenty of fruit. Great moose photos! Two years ago, I was very entertained for hours by a family of beavers at Moskey Basin. Such a treat! And also, ankle girl nearly walked right into a mama moose! No time for a photo as we crept our way backwards to avoid getting stomped.

I am late to the party, but way to go! And I have a question..... Did Island Mine have water in the creek? I need to know how many bottles to pack.

My 19yo dd just bought a private party used car with a loan from our CU at 6%. That is much higher than it would have been a couple of years ago but I was shocked that she got a rate that low without a co-signer. Especially since it was an older used car. We did not really know the process as we have always bought our cars (used) with cash. It was super easy. She applied online, was approved, decided on which car, signed on the loan, and they issued her a check written out to the seller. When she (we....as I was helping her) contacted the CU, we straight up said we had no idea what we were doing and they talked us through each step. And no prepayment penalty at all. All that to say that I would for sure give your CU a call to at least check the rates.

Ugh. I hear you. I work solely to provide benefits for my family. Dh is a small business owner with a part-time job in addition, neither of which includes insurance. I would prefer to be working for our small business but we need the benefits. The estimates to buy our own insurance are nearly half our income. As far as we can tell, we will have to do this until medicare age....which is a long time from now.

Could you still go and wear N-95s?

In case anyone else is interested, we have stayed there and it is a great deal!

This is a real problem. We do not live in an area that has the threat of insurance companies pulling out all-together but we had a situation in which our insurance company got out of the auto-insurance business so we wanted to switch companies to one that we could get our multi-policy advantages. So, we called our agent and got the ball rolling. After a few days the agent called us back and basically whispered into the phone that our roof would not pass muster with ANY insurance company and we needed to keep the insurance we had until we could replace the roof (three-layer total rip off). The roof was indeed old but was not leaking or missing any shingles. We could NOT find a contractor! It took three years to get it replaced (while paying inflated insurance rates because we had to use two different companies for auto and home). Almost all calls went un-returned. The handful of contractors that did come out for a quote largely never actually provided one. They basically ghosted after the visit. And the ones that did were outrageously expensive. The only reason we have a new roof is that we had a friend of a friend cash in several favors to get a contractor that they were personal friends with to do the job. And at half the cost of the lowest quote we had gotten previously. Our agent says this is a huge and growing problem in our area. People with much newer and better roofs than ours was have been turned away. He said anything over 15 years is an issue, even if the roof has a 50-year warranty.

I understand that to mean that there are other ramifications (other than just respiratory) but am wondering if the effects cause cumulative or long-term effects. I realize that might not even be known.

We have someone in our group that broke her ankle 5 weeks ago. She was just cleared to bear weight on it while wearing a walking cast. We are all concerned that she will have trouble carrying a heavy pack for 10+ miles each day. We have 6 weeks until our trip. Fingers crossed!

It sounds like we are doing similar routes:) I have not done much hiking on that end of the island so it will be a new experience for me.

I would not worry about food inside a hard-sided RV. We have a pop-up and store food inside. We do cook outside and if we have a cooler with us, we do put that in the car at night. We have had two "significant" bear incidents. Once when we forgot to put the cooler in the car and it was broken into overnight. The ruckus woke us up and dh ran after the bear because it took a bag of fresh-picked green beans that we were looking forward to eating the next day! The beans were not recovered. And the cooler has some badass looking tooth marks in it. The other time was pulling into a tent camping site late at night and not realizing we pitched our tent on top of the previous camper's food mess. We were awaken at 2am by a bear trying to get whatever goodies were under our tent.....while we were in it! Luckily, we had pulled the box of pots and pans into the tent that night, which was not our usual practice, so we had things we could clang together to scare the bear away. We spent the rest of that night sleeping in the car!