Nancy Conner, ABR - Olympia/Thurston County WA

I love that title that Puget Sound Energy is using to make their energy efficiency events fun, as well as a convenient way for people to conserve energy!!

Residential electric customers can bring up to 10 regular, incandescent light bulbs to swap for new CFL bulbs - for free! Don't know about you, but I love free!! The first local exchange will be this coming weekend, Oct 24th & 25th at the Lowe's store in Lacey; also Oct 31st & Nov. 1st at the Lowe's in Olympia.

People can also enter the Be an Energy Rock Star contest which has up to $45,000 in prizes - winning money is even better than getting things for free! Check out more info at www.PSE.com or www.rockthebulb.pse.com. There's info on other locations for the free bulbs as well as volunteer opportunities to deliver free CFL bulbs in a number of different cities - this will be a great way for people to replace their inefficient porch lights before the winter months.

So if you like the idea of using about 75% less energy with your light bulbs as well as having them last longer - as much as 10 times longer - come on out to Rock the Bulb!!

Olympia's Farmer's Market is going strong with autumn harvest goodies and a color feast for the eyes!

Admire - and taste - the different varieties of apples. Then buy plenty so you can munch some raw, bake up a pie or two, maybe even cook up some apple sauce. Yum!

Then move on over to the intriguing shapes and colors of gourds and pumpkins. Imagine the fall display you can take home to decorate your table or front porch!

And don't miss these peppers which just glow with the summer sunshine captured within (and some come with a bit of the blazing heat of that summer sunshine as well!)

Enjoy this season and all of its bounty for the eyes and tummy!!

For many years, Lattin's Country Cider Mill has been the go-to place in the Olympia area if you are craving apple cider or yummy apple bakery treats like apple fritters! Through the month of October, you can visit the cider mill as they put on their Apple Festival each weekend from 9-5:30.

You can sample and buy apples just picked from the trees, listen to some toe tapping bluegrass music, & for kids (& to take you back to your childhood) there is also bobbing for apples, wagon rides to the pumpkin patch, farm animals to visit and pat.

Admission is free though there are charges for some of the various featured activities and for whatever goodies you buy to take home with you. Lattin's is at 9402 Rich Rd SE Olympia - their website www.lattinscider.com has more details.