For vegetable gardeners, August and September are when harvest occurs and you see the fruits, or rather the vegetables, of your labors. The star of my gardening efforts this year is the raspberries. Years ago at my local co-op, I bought a pot of raspberries, one of my favorite foods. It grew into this wonderful patch. The record for raspberries has been 22 pints; this year my raspberry patch produced 25 pints. They’re all beautifully lined up in my refrigerator. The green beans also were outstanding. I just picked and cooked my third or fourth batch. The cucumbers were small and I only had ..read more

Whether you’re celebrating at a picnic, barbecue, rally, football game, or work, happy Labor Day. Sunday I went to our local Olympia Harbor Days celebration that’s always scheduled for Labor Day weekend. It was cloudy, so my photos aren’t as good as the years where there’s nice blue sky. Thankfully, we had only a sprinkle of rain. I wore my raincoat, but didn’t have my rain hood or umbrella. On Labor Day, I’m thankful for unions and their history of helping working people. I benefited from union membership when I worked for state government. I’m glad these days more young people are interested ..read more

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on organizing my historical family photos. About 10 years ago, I had around 200 photos scanned. I named and dated about a third of them. The rest are numbered. I paused the project until I could buy a good scanner so I could scan the rest of the photos myself. Now that I have one, I need to name and date the photos I had scanned earlier and scan probably several hundred more. The next step is making a family record. Should we use Ancestry.com? MyHeritage? Archives? Or, should we use FamilySearch, a free site owned and funded by The Church of Jesus Chri ..read more

Labor Day these days is all about beaches, barbecues, games such as baseball, football, and volleyball, and shopping. It’s also a great weekend for travel. This year, 57 percent of Americans plan to travel for Labor Day weekend, more than 150 million will enjoy a barbecue or picnic, and thousands will attend a college football game. While Labor Day is seen as a fun holiday, it’s also important to remember and celebrate the origins of the special day. The holiday’s roots can be traced back to the streets of 1880s New York City, where rival union leaders joined forces to protest the unfair labor ..read more

Big storms across the country brought on by climate change are causing havoc. You may have received a notice from your insurer dropping your home insurance policy. Or, unexpected surges in the cost of your coverage can put a strain on your budget especially in these days of inflation. This is stressful as not having the right amount and type of insurance can make your home more difficult to sell. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers the following suggestions for homeowners facing new decisions about insurance, often with limited time to consider complicated options. Choosing insuran ..read more

When searching for a place to live and roommates, it’s important to get accurate information. And reviews from platforms that can help you in your search need to be honest and trustworthy. But according to the Federal Trade Commission and six states suing Roomster and its owners, the room and roommate finder platform posted reviews and other information that wasn’t accurate. The lawsuit A lawsuit filed in 2022 alleges Roomster posted fake positive reviews and made deceptive claims about its listings being real, available, and verified – to convince people to use its platform. The FTC and state ..read more

Do you know your rights on tarmac delays? American Airlines will pay $4.1 million for violating federal laws prohibiting tarmac delays of three hours or more on domestic flights without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday. DOT’s investigation found that American kept dozens of flights stuck on the tarmac for long periods of time. It’s the largest fine ever issued for tarmac delays. “This is the latest action in our continued drive to enforce the rights of airline passengers,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a st ..read more

It’s irritating and it’s a trend. When you go to retailers and ask if you have any rewards money to apply to your purchase, you’re told you need to go their website to sign up for their rewards program again there. It happened at Office Depot and Rite Aid, companies where I’ve been in the rewards program for years. Since the new pricing at Office Depot showed quite a bit off when I went to buy some thumb drives Thursday, I asked the staff at the store to help me sign up for the new program. Now I’m a member and quality for rewards again. If you spend $500 a year at Office Depot, you become a V ..read more

Time is running out if you want to get in on a big Facebook settlement. If you were a Facebook user in the United States between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, you may be eligible for a cash payment from a class action settlement of $725 million. Today, Aug. 25, is the deadline to file a claim. Go to https://facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/. It’s easy to fill out the form. You don’t need to give any personal information. And, watch out for scammers who may ask for money to fill out a claim form for the settlement. How much you get depends on how many people file claims. Facebook had mo ..read more

Unfortunately, September marks the end of summer, which is so sad. Many people, like me, aren’t fans of winter. However, in relation to sales, September is a good time to shop for deals, the Labor Day sales being one reason. Here are recommendations on the September sales from DealNews.com: Summer clothing Deep discounts are expected at many retailers as they want to make room for new fall items. Look for sales up to 80 percent off. Major appliances Labor Day is one of the last sales times of the year when you can reliably expect savings on major appliances. The savings typically range from 30 ..read more