Category: What Now?

Today may have been perfect if not for this.

Tax Day

~ JodiLea

April 15th.
Whenever friends or family inquire about our tax refund, we give them a dead-pan look and ask, “What’s that?” Asking that always stops them in their tracks. Normally, we are jokers; however, the lack of facial expressions makes it clear we are seriously asking the question.
We honestly do not remember when we last got a refund. When we retired, our income was considerably less, so we figured we might get refunds now. Our non-refundable situation got worse instead of better. It was always something. Something that caused us to owe more and more to the IRS. One year, they played with the tax brackets, and the pressure was less, but we still owed a few thousand bucks. Our pensions paid us after the government got theirs. Automatic distributions had taxes grabbed from them before we got the check. We changed our W-2 information so they would take a bigger % of taxes out of our pay and the few investments I inherited. But alas, at the end of the year, we were looking at paying a couple thousand again.

Last year, one of my hubby’s required distribution checks did not have taxes removed. Sigh. This means we send more (than we already paid for) to the Feds and the State.

I wish that y’all get oodles of $$ refunded to you.

Prepare For the Worst – Part II

~ JodiLea

All week, I have been doing just that. I secured my garden stuff on our deck, tucked in my avocado trees, and put my snow shovel by the front door. Stocked up on pantry and freezer items earlier this week. As long as the power stays on, I have 2 quilts to finish. If (when) the power goes out, I have knitting needles and crochet hooks.

Since last weekend, I have been bombarded with our county warning system alerts about a severe blizzard hitting our county and surrounding areas. These have come over our landlines, our cellphones, and emails. White-out conditions, hurricane-force winds, snow coming at 2″-4″ per hour, accumulating 27″ in one day. From Friday until Sunday, this will be going on.

Heavy snow is one thing, but the strong winds are the scariest thing in the forest. The sound of forceful wind beating the trees causes the imagination to go wild with visions of tornadoes and cows flying through the air.

Last night, we had strong wind gusts and rain. The temps have dropped dramatically into the snow zone. We may wake up to a winter wonderland. Or not. Either way, we are not supposed to be in the white-out, so we are not going anywhere except our chairs by the wood-burning stove.

Our sweet Bernese Mountain Dog, Ziva, is 9 years old now and NOT a fan of weather of any kind that has a sound. She loves to watch and play in the snow, which normally is quiet unless it arrives with a blizzard. Even when I give her anti-anxiety meds, she paces (trots) from room to room, outside and in. No one is going to sleep well this weekend.

The rain is thickening and slowing down as it turns into snow. I can see this while I watch out the window in my office. I say a little prayer, asking that the trees surrounding my house have deep, strong roots.

I wish you a less exciting weekend wherever you live.

TTFN