Category Archives: Free

Free Help for Tax Time

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And a Giveaway

Although this post doesn’t have much to do with Washington State besides all of us have to file taxes by April 15, too, there’s something here for everyone. Julie, my tax preparer, was kind enough to send me a checklist of what I need to collect before I dump three shoeboxes worth of receipts on her doorstep this year.

 

Here are some of her suggestions:

Do you have an in-home business? If so, you may be able to write off the costs of maintaining that home office and even indirect expenses such as utilities and garbage pick-up fees. The area you use must be exclusively for your business and you must conduct business on a regular basis. Here’s how to start:

  • Measure the area used for your business and then the total area of your home, then determine what percentage of the whole you use for your business.
  • Have you done repairs to the whole house this past year? If so, you can allocate or write off the business portion of your home.
  • Maintenance and repairs to the office remain deductible
  • You can deduct a portion of your homeowner’s insurance
  • If you spent money on landscaping and clients come to your home, then a percentage of that expense may be deductible

 

Did you know that tax preparation fees and expenses from last year are deductible? Gifts to charity, including donations of household goods need to be included in your tax papers. Did you keep track of job hunting expenses? What about gambling earnings?

The IRS wants to hear about it all. If your tax return is the least bit complicated, you need to find a qualified preparer (sorry Julie is taken) or read up on the current tax requirements and rules.

To help you with your taxes, I have the current, hot off the press, edition of J. K. Lasser’s “Your Income Tax 2013” to give away to one of my lucky readers. All you need to do is comment on this blog, include your email address in your comment, by February 15, 2013, and you’ll be placed in the drawing to win the book. You will be notified by February 17, if you’re the winner.

Explore the Recycled Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park

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When I visited the place where Dan Klennert creates and displays his artwork, I had no idea that my husband had been there a number of times before and had taken several of his friends and a brother to see this amazing art. It turns out we even had taken some of the very same photos.

Guess who this native Northwesterner is.

Klennert recycles in the broadest definition of the word and what he makes from what most of us would think is junk turns out to be beautiful. He keeps a room full of driftwood and another with 60 tons of horseshoes in it. A larger-than-life thoroughbred he made was created almost entirely out of horseshoes. In another room, he has several piles of “stuff” and he can tell you just what each pile is going to become as soon as he has the right part to complete it or has the time to get to it. A motorcycle, a bird, a sea creature…

His love of art began when he was practicing welding for a job. That welding morphed into artworks and he’s been creating art from recyclables for the past 40 years. He’s shown them around the U.S.

Daniel Klennert, artist extraordinaire.

This amazing four-acre sculpture park is located in Ashford, Washington, on the way to Mount Rainier. Klennert is happy to have you look around, take photos and ask him questions. And he hopes his art will put a smile on your face. It did mine.

While visiting, you're welcome to use this award-winning outhouse.

I Found Sasquatch

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At the City Park in North Bonneville, I spotted a family of five Bigfeet and Littlefeet plus more Littlefeet frolicking in the trees.

 

Maybe it’s because Bigfoot hunting is prohibited in Skamania County. Or because the residents of North Bonneville were welcoming and friendly. But this family of Sasquatch (or is it Sasquatches?) has moved from the Cascade Forests to this small town that was built for the workers on the Bonneville Dam project in 1934.

Large footprints guide you to the various Littlefeet who seem to be hiding in the trees at the park. But if you look closely you’ll see them and the Littlefeet are very curious about humans and hardly shy at all unlike their Bigfeet parents, so you may find yourself talking to them.

 

Birds, squirrels, owls and rabbits live in perfect harmony with the Bigfeet and Littlefeet in this park.

Skamania County is the only sanctioned “Sasquatch Refuge” in the world due to the large number of Bigfoot sightings in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, so if you’re a fan you should put this place on your visit list. You won’t regret it.

Have any of you spotted Bigfoot?

Wet and Wonderful Water

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“Do you want to know what’s in your poop?” my daughter called to me from an interactive display at the WET Science Center in Olympia. “It’s very interesting.”

My daughter, three-year-old granddaughter Kita and I were all mesmerized by the wealth of exhibits, games and information dispensed at WET.

Even dragons need their teeth brushed.

Kita liked brushing the stuffed dragon’s teeth so much, she did it several times, and then she bathed the stuffed dog. I flushed the toilet so I could see what fact would come up in the bottom. How do they do that anyway?

My daughter reveled in what she learned about “sinkers” and “floaters.”

We all liked using the gigantic calculator to determine how much water we used in a day. Plastic gallon bottles, next to the calculator, filled when you pushed the “equals” button so you got a visual picture of just exactly how much water you used and wasted. That’s a real wake up call.

An interactive display lets you select a water treatment job and solve a problem that job handler might encounter. I did really well there so maybe I’ve missed my calling.

You can also participate in a water conservation scavenger hunt, which I know from past experience kids really love.

Besides the permanent exhibits and displays, WET also frequently hosts specific activities like making a nature journal, learning about aquatic insects in a pond life safari and playing a giant floor game titled “The Drip Stops Here.”

Entrance to WET Science Center

WET is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The very best part is that it is totally Free.

Bellevue’s KidsQuest Children’s Museum Fun for Adults

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When I visited KidsQuest, I had to wear a sticker that said, “Unaccompanied Adult…and wishing I were a kid again!

How true. I just wanted to dig right in and play alongside the kids.

Kids Quest Children's Museum

The first area you come to contains “Waterways.” Our guide reminded us, “There is no wrong way to play with water.” The kids there at the time seemed to agree as they splashed and guided boats through the channels. Then I was distracted by a staff member playing with green slime.

Water play is fun at any age

The museum staff makes their own slime, which takes on some very elastic properties.

So many play areas, so little time. I ventured into the Hard Hats Area without a hard hat, where I became mesmerized by this special green sand called Moon Sand that stuck together so you could make balls out of it. On to fiddling with nuts and bolts.

Unfortunately I couldn’t drive the semi-truck in the Large Science area as the driver’s seat was occupied. But I heard the driver turn the key and the sound the truck made.

When you go, don’t forget to try the scarf shooter. The scarf wends its way through all kinds of tubes and comes back to you, usually behind where you’re standing.

Currently the museum is located in the Factoria Square Mall, but it has outgrown the space and will soon be moving to downtown Bellevue.

KidsQuest is free the first Friday of the month between 5 p.m.-8 p.m.

I can’t wait to take my granddaughter there so I don’t have to wear the “unaccompanied adult” sticker and can play to my heart’s content.

The Tree Bike: Fact or Fiction

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There’s currently a story circulating on Facebook about the bicycle in the tree on Vashon Island. It’s a made-up story of a boy who left his bike by the tree, went off to war in 1914 and never came back.

I intend to set the record straight. In actuality there is a bicycle that a tree grew around on Vashon Island. But the true story of how it got there is quite different.

In 1954 Helen Puz (who is now 99 years old) moved to Center with her five children. At that time she had been recently widowed.

“People were very sympathetic and generous,” writes Puz in a document on display at the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum. “We were given a girl’s bike and my 8-year-old son, Don, seemed the natural one to ride it.”

Don was none too happy having a girls bike, said Puz, but it was better than none.

The neighborhood boys, including Don, liked to play behind a local restaurant called, “The Den.” (This restaurant is now called Sound Food.)

One day Don told his mother that he had lost his bike and he wasn’t sure where he’d left it. They both let it go because Don was a little embarrassed to be riding a girl’s bike anyway.

 This is a photo of the bike in the tree before someone attached the front wheel. Courtesy of the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum

Forty years later Puz read in the Beachcomber, Vashon’s newspaper, that someone had discovered a bike up in a tree near Sound Food. The bike was five feet off the ground and the tree had grown around it. News of the tree bike even carried to Japan where they made a film about it.

The mystery of where Don Puz left his bike had finally been solved.

If you’d like to see the bike in the tree, directions on how to get there can be found at roadsideamerica.com.

Take a Jaunt to Jetty Island: Last Chance This Season

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I’ve heard about Jetty Island in Everett, Washington, but never had the chance to wiggle my toes in the warm sand, relax on the beach or participate in an educational trail walk. And it blew me away.

 

You have to take a ferry or a private boat to get there and I love ferries so it already enticed me. This ferry is free, one of the smaller Argosy boats, and the ride takes only three minutes.

On a sunny day, which we enjoyed, the 80-passenger ferry reaches capacity on every crossing until the Ranger on Jetty Island declares too many people have landed on the island and the ferry takes a break until some people depart.

Ranger Kraig Hansen, Chief Naturalist for the City of Everett, describes the island's fauna to a group of hikers.

Who would want to leave when the kids are kept busy digging in the sand or wading in the water and parents can relax without distractions. When everyone needs a change of activities, nature trails beckon and guided walks geared towards children are offered. Ranger Kraig leads the walks and is a fountain of knowledge and quite funny. He might even ask you to taste Pickleweed.

Jetty Island measures two miles long, has one floating restroom, and no running water or electricity. So bring whatever you need because you won’t find vendors on the island selling hot dogs and soda. Unplug and unravel for as long as you like. Just don’t miss the last ferry of the day back to Everett or you might have to pay a private boater to shuttle you in.

Although there is no charge to go to Jetty Island donations are welcome and make it possible for the ferry to transport more than 40,000 visitors annually.

The season officially ends on Labor Day, September 5 this year.

View of Everett from Jetty Island

San Juan Island Museum of Art and Sculpture Park: A Must-See

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I visited the Sculpture Park for a close-up look for the first time this past weekend and found I was intrigued. My grandson also enjoyed this adventure. Sculptures created in various media by a number of artists are artfully placed throughout the landscape giving off splashes of color, reflections and hints of pieces that make you want to come closer and study them.

The Sculpture Park was first created in 2001. Each year the installations are added. To fully enjoy all the Sculpture Park has to offer, you can go to their next event on Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4, 2011, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. where performance artists interpret their sculptures and the theme of the day is art, food and music.

 

To find the Sculpture Park, head to the west side of San Juan Island from Friday Harbor. It overlooks Westcott Bay and is a stone’s throw from Roche Harbor.

The mission of both the Museum of Art and the Sculpture Park is to connect people with art that inspires, challenges, enlightens and educates. The Museum is located in the town of Friday Harbor at 285 Spring Street.

 

Partner Up for a Street Dance

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Something is always happening on Whidbey Island, a great place for a day or even a weekend trip. On July 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m, the Community Street Dance at the Bayview Cash Store features local band, Ruzivo and Mbira dzeMuninga from Zimbabwe.

Groups will perform a mixture of original compositions and arrangements of both traditional and contemporary music reminiscent of Southern Africa.

Ruzivo, led by Seattle-based Zimbabwean musician Paul Mataruse, plays high-energy Afropop music inspired by Zimbabwean and South African traditional and contemporary tunes. The group combines four handcrafted marimbas with bass guitar, trap set and mbira, the traditional instrument from Mataruse’s native Zimbabwe.
 
Joining Ruzivo onstage will be the visiting group Mbira dzeMuninga sharing their deep and vibrant understanding of Zimbabwean rhythms through mbira, dance, drumming and singing.
 
The Basil Café will feature a selection of a la carte sushi that night, in addition to other Asian influenced dining options. Award-winning wines from Blooms Winery and Spoiled Dog Winery will be available by the taste, glass, or bottle. (Please note that children and dogs are welcome in the tasting room!).
 
The street dance is presented by Goosefoot, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help build a thriving South Whidbey through projects that support the local economy and promote learning and community.

Bayview Corner’s community street dances are sponsored by Puget Sound Energy and Whidbey Island Bank. It is because of their generous support that admission to the street dances remain free!
  
Please call (360) 321-4145 for further information.  The Bayview Cash Store is located at 5603 Bayview Road, just 7 miles from the Clinton Ferry dock on Whidbey Island.  Take Highway 525 to Bayview Road.  Make a right onto Bayview Road and the Cash Store is located at the next intersection of Marshview Avenue and Bayview Road.

Outstanding Customer Service: Johnny’s at Fife

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My husband and I tend to frequent the same restaurant, Johnny’s at Fife, every Sunday for breakfast. The food tastes good and when we ask for it prepared a special way, that’s what we get. They know us by name and that we’d rather have a table than a booth. My husband’s order never changes so they just check it with him in case he might want a change. He never does.

The servers also know I’m trying to lose weight and most of the time will substitute fruit for hash browns. But they always check because I don’t always order the same menu item.

Today, we overheard an outstanding example of customer service at this same restaurant. If you sign up for e-mail’s from Johnny’s at Fife, you frequently get buy-one-meal-get- one-free coupons. (Just one more reason to love them.) An older couple who probably didn’t have a great deal of computer experience had printed off the e-mail saying they had a coupon coming, but not the actual coupon. Instead of telling them, they couldn’t use their coupon, the manager took one of them to her computer and showed them how to log on to their e-mail and how to print off the coupon. Then they were able to get one meal free.

That, to me, is very robust customer service. So often, you hear “Sorry, but you can’t do that,” or “No substitutions” and other negative comments. Not many restaurant personnel go that extra mile.

Johnny’s at Fife has been in business for more than 43 years. It was voted “best diner in 2010” in the Best of Fife, Milton and Edgewood.

More recommendations:  The police eat there, and they have real roasted “Thanksgiving-like” turkey.