Susan on Gatewood Hill is looking for advice:

Does anyone have a good deterrent for raccoons? Obviously, having a water garden with tasty plants and potable water is an attraction, we admit. What we’d like to know is if anyone has had success with the predator pee, or cayenne powder, or other “scentual” deterrents. These photos were taken last night.

I have an Audi that needs new brake pads and I would like to take it to a reputable shop but I haven’t done this in West Seattle. Can you recommend a good local place for brake repair?

Please post responses as comments; as always, we remind you all RRRs and resulting responses are archived here.

My husband has his grandmother’s old rocker that really needs to be reupholstered. I am looking for some folks nearby that do a good job. Also need to find someone who refinishes wood. I have some old nesting boxes that need some love. Any help appreciated!

Please read this next one carefully. This reader isn’t looking for a specific babysitter recommendation – but rather, the best place to find a good babysitter:

We need to find a reliable kid-sitter but want to stay off craigslist if at all possible (we’ve found it useful for other things not human-related). Is there a way to get input from folks on how they’ve found someone local?

The reader further elaborates that the child in question is kindergarten-age and needs care a few afternoons a week. Please post responses to either of these RRRs as comments; as always, we remind you all RRRs and resulting responses are archived here.

I’m looking for a good, reasonably-priced personal trainer in the West Seattle area… hoping some of your readers can give me some suggestions!

From “bookbiz”:

Can your readers recommend a good acupuncturist either in Seattle or West Seattle? My wife’s foot doctor recommended the treatment, but we don’t know where to begin the search. Thanks for any help.

And from Marylyn:

I am a soon to be new West Seattle resident, and am in need of a good dog walker.

If you have recommendations for any or all of these requests, please post a comment here. And remember – all WSB RRRs, and their responses, are archived here. Thanks for helping your fellow West Seattleites (and future ones!).

Can anyone recommend a qualified chimney repair person, i.e. tuck point and
cap repair/replace? Thanks.

If you have someone to suggest, please post a comment; previous RRRs are archived here.

With the recent rash of break-ins in my part of West Seattle, I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for the best local alarm system installation and monitoring company to use? I don’t want to get one that’s expensive and find out they’re 1) crappy on response time and/or 2) monitoring, half asleep, in Montana (no offense to the Big Sky state.)

Please respond by posting a comment with your recommendation; thanks to everyone who helps with the RRRs, which are all archived here.

My boyfriend and I just closed on a house in Morgan Junction and will be relocating at the end of the month. The 1918 house has 50% knob and tube wiring (which stopped being used in the 30s) so updating the wiring will be the first project. Do your readers have any good electricians to recommend?

Now from Mary, who’s also moving to WS:

We just bought a house in West Seattle and are so excited! We’re doing some work on the house now, planning to move in mid-January. We need our floors refinished! Any companies in West Seattle that anyone would recommend?

And from Wendy, who’s been here a while but this is still somewhat of a related query – with a tangent:

I am looking for a Westside piano tuner to give my little 1954 Chickering console a tune-up since moving to our new townhome in High Point. I’d like to get it tuned before Dec. 17th since we are having a party and I am hoping someone with talent shows up to play.

And once it is tuned up, I am looking to take lessons – my husband suggests jazz piano (I guess he thinks classical is too boring). I am self-taught in my youth but haven’t really played in a number of years. Never have had music theory, and would love to learn how to do chords and whatever that term is where you fill-in stuff to make your basic music sound impressive. My books aren’t unpacked yet but I know where they are!

Please leave responses to any and all of the above as comments on this post; check out previous Reader Recommendation Requests, and responses, in their archive here.

Looking for doctors … We just moved to West Seattle from Minnesota and I need to find a local doc (preferrably West Seattle but downtown is ok too) who understands fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome and my hubby needs a good old fashioned family doc. Preferably one with Saturday hours or downtown near the train dept. We are United Health customers.

As always, please add your recommendation as a comment on the post; previous RRRs and their respective responses are archived here. Thanks to everyone who joins in the RRRs to help fellow West Seattleites find what they’re looking for!

I’m planning a volunteer event for my company—and I’m a West Seattle resident so I’d like to consider ideas from fellow West Seattle residents.

It’s an annual day of service in Seattle or a surrounding community. We’ll have about 300 people volunteering for a full day on a Saturday. In the past we’ve done everything from landscaping, painting buildings, stocking shelves, restoring a school… to getting in the mud and repairing a creekbed in South King County.

In order to be eligible, the non-profit has to have a 501c3 number or be associated with a 501c3. Any suggestions you or your readers have are much appreciated, either in West Seattle or in the greater Seattle area. We’re hoping to volunteer at an organization where we can make the biggest difference in one day, an organization that really needs our help.

As always, please add your recommendation as a comment on this post; you can find previous RRRs, and responses, archived here.

My home computer is not working…mysterious colors flashing on the screen, no access to the desktop … anyone know a good computer technician that does home visits?

> We are looking for a good service to call to help us with our basement flooding. We have tried everything all morning, it is not stopping. I am sure there are other people going through the same thing. Any help would be much appreciated.

Would you know if there are any ad hoc music jams going on in WS? I’ve been curious to gauge the interest for a “hacks to heros” guitar (or other musical instruments) jam session (my expertise on the guitar falls somewhere in between hack and hero). My thought was for interested parties to meet at a pub or coffee house on quieter nights (perhaps earlier in the week when business is quieter so we don’t cause a disturbance for the chosen establishment, but would generate business from thirsty musicians). Besides creating a fun, interactive community event, it would help us casual WS wanna-be-musicians expand our “chops” playing music with others in a friendly, public setting.

If you have a jam to tell Mike about, or would be interested in helping him organize one, but would prefer to contact him personally rather than leaving your info in a comment, you can e-mail WSB and we’ll forward your contact info to him. Meantime, stand by for a few more RRRs later today; we archive all of them here.

I don’t know if the roof rats in my neighborhood read the P-I or what, but just a couple of days after the P-I’s “rats want to live in your house this winter” story, I was awakened by a critter gnawing its way through my eaves. And then running happily from one end of the attic to the other. Nice. I’ve called a couple of exterminators and not been called back, but last night I was awakened by a rat scampering around on my couch trying to get the last of the peanut butter out of my dog’s old Kong, so I’d like to get someone out here NOW. For now I’m heading to True Value for a half-dozen snap traps, but I need someone to do inspection and exclusion work. Sigh.

As always, please post a comment to add your suggestion; check out all WSB Reader Recommendation Requests, and responses, in their very own archive section here.