Taxes Are Too Complicated

Going off-line for a week.  I have to do the extension tax filings by October 15 and things are so botched up I have to start from scratch and make corrections...  And sort out the 3 versions I thought were correct at various times but aren't.  

I'll be back when I am back.  Damned stupid complicated taxes!  The 'Minimum Required Distribution" of my Government Savings Thrift Plan has ruined my ability to deal with it on the tax forms.    

  .....

Well, Darn I have to change my post.  I did spend a few hours sorting out the various tax forms (without a lot of success), but when things like that get troublesome, you have to turn your attention to something else.

So I decided to tackle another problem that has been bothering me for several years.  No point in solving a simple problem, LOL!

Some people listen to music on their phones, some on a small boom box.  But I'm a stereo rack guy.  Old habit...  And I haven't been able to play CDs for 3 years.  So, "fix that".  I was sure it was "bad cable hook-ups".  I've looked at it a couple times and just gave up seeing all the wires in the back again.  And I even had a new CD player in the box, but was sure it was the cable connections.

I'm an idiot!

But to start, I had to roll out the stereo rack.  It's on a wheeled tool platform (love those things).  

Then I looked at the cables.

I could not find anything wrong.  But they were all tangled so I undid them all.  Even unplugged all the power cords

to have a clean untangled start.

So with most of the equipment unplugged, I attached the CD player directly to the speakers.  Nothing, nada, nope.  I should have known the CD player itself was the problem...

But I had a replacement in the house (for 3 years).  So yeah, at least once I suspected the player was the problem.  

So I re-connected all the non-CD cords neatly (to keep them out of the way) and put the power cords off to one untangled side.

Checked all the "ins and outs" cables carefully...  Plugged everything back into the surge box...  Turned the tuner selection dial to "CD".  And tried it.

Ah bliss!  'Pictures At An Exhibition' came right up...

I really needed a success...  

My Busy Day

Yeah, somedays I do more than usual.  And I bet many of you do more than I do, so I'm not bragging about it, just mentioning it.  To me it was a busy day.

Partly, it is that I just stay in bed 10-12 hours.  I don't really know why, but I sleep poorly and it takes 10-12 hours to get 7-8 hours actual sleep.  So half the day is gone by the time I get up.  I am resenting that loss of useful time.  I mentioned that to my Dr once, but nothing came of it (as there were more serious issues on the table).

So I got up and made lunch.  I wanted something quick because I had "stuff to do".  But it is surprising how long it can take to peel 2 hard-boiled eggs and dress the halves with a smear of mayo, salt, paprika, and onion powder.  And cut up a tomato, 2 celery stalks, a carrot, and a cucumber.  And then eat it all while reading the newspaper.  😋

After that, I got at my errands.

First, visit vet to pick up new sub-Q fluid bag for Marley.  I bought one a week ago, but SOME cat bit it open and all the fluid drained out.  That used up a 1/2 hour.

Then to the grocery store.  I hit a busy time.  One cashier lane open, so 30 minutes shopping and 20 minutes waiting to pay for it.  I should remember not to grocery-shop between "end of school day" and "pre-dinner" times!  An hour used up there.

Then to Nick's (the liquor/deli/specialty store I like).  Picked up 6 cases of my special-ordered wine.  It is actually a repeating order, but they had a sale on it, so I ordered extra.  No point in passing up a good value.  It's not like this wine goes bad in 6 months.

By the time I got home, it was past 5 PM.  And I had lots to unload and put away.  Did the groceries first, since the was milk and deli meat involved.  And bulk stuff has to be separated out for the basement refrigerator.

Then the 6 cases of wine.  I have gotten to the point where a case of wine is a bit heavy for me to just carry to where I store it in the basement.  So I dragged out my hand truck/dolly to pull them from the garage to the basement.  It wouldn't move.  One flat tire!

It is a small tire, so I pulled out my old bicycle pump.  5 minutes of that and no improvement.  The bead on the tire is separated from the rim.  So I dragged my mechanical air pressure pump into the garage.  And that wasn't enough to reseal the tire to the wheel.

But I had 3 cases of wine on it.  I removed one and 2 cases was light enough to wheel around with just the natural rigidity of the tire.  Got the cases moved.  I'll deal with the failed tire bead another day.

By the time I had the wine put away in a corner of the basement and had all the groceries put away, it was 7 pm.  Dinnertime!  

The Mews were a bit short on meals (because I got up late and then was gone for hours), so I just kept feeding them once per hour until they didn't want anymore food.  Full kitties are happy kitties.

Then, and only then, I made my own dinner.  Had to be something easily, because I was pretty well worn out.  I am glad I make spaghetti sauce with meatloaf mix, saute'd onions, mushrooms, garlic, and oregano in large batches and then freeze dinner-portions.  Thawing the sauce out is easy in hot water.

Watched 2 hours of political analysis news on MSNBC, then came here.  And I have more errands to do tomorrow!

Good Meat Store

I like the local meat/deli/liquor/specialty store (Nick's of Clinton).   They offer good specials each week.

For example, this week they are offerring Filet Mignon for $12.99/pound.  That may seem a lot, but they trim the membrane off and slice it to choice for free.  And I have them save the trimmings to grind up for The Mews (they love it).

But more importantly, I cut the steaks into 4 oz sections, which is all I need for a meal about 2x a week.  Which means my Filet Mignon steak is only $3.75. Try to beat that at any restaurant, and I cook it just as well, LOL!  And rib-eye and delmonico is often cheaper.

Yeah, chicken and pork is cheaper (and my routine meats) but a small steak is good sometimes.  

And they special order my favorite wine when I order 4 cases at a time.  And discount the price.  4 cases does last a while for me.  So a couple days ago, the manager actually called me to say that my favorite wine was going on sale this week and did I want to delay pickup until it was "officially" on sale?

Well, I normally order the 1.5 L bottles as being a little bit less expensive at $16.49.  But the smaller ones at 750 were going to be $6.99, so like $14 per 1.5L.  $2.50 less per volume for the same amount!    So I said to order 6 cases.  No point in passing up a good sale.  It's not like the wine will go bad sitting in my cool basement!

Don't get me wrong.  I drink 2 glasses of wine with dinner and I'm not worried about that.

There are other good things about the place.  For one, it is the only place I can routinely find eggroll wrappers.  And some of their produce is usually cheaper than the local grocery stores.  And they actually have ripe Golden Delicious apples.  The local Safeway thinks they should be green.

I love Nick's...

Taxes

I filed for a tax filing extension back in April.   My H&R Block software did my Federal return, but the State software kept saying "network connection not found".  I couldn't solve that.  And there was no way I was going to call the H&R Help Center 2 days before the April filing deadline!

So I filed for an extension and sent the IRS $5,000 to cover possible extra tax required.  Every month after, I tried to solve the "network connection lost" problem.  It was baffling.  But by early September, I could put it off any longer and I decided it was safe to call the H&R Block Help Center without being on a 2 hour waiting list.

An agent come online in about 20 minutes later.  The agent said network problems were not really their problem.  I pointed out that the Federal return software did not show that problem, nor did I have that problem anywhere else.  I pointed out that we were both looking at my account over the internet, so there was obviously a "working network connection".

So she agreed there had to be an H&R Block problem.  After 20 minutes of trying various solutions, she said, why not try re-installing our software?  I was worried I would lose the Federal return.  She said that the Federal return was saved under a different name (which I knew but hadn't thought about) and that the re-installed software would know what file to look for.

So I did.  And the Federal return was still there and the State return form seemed suddenly perfectly happy with my network connection.  I thanked her and hung up.

So I proceeded with the State return.  This is where things get bad...

I won't go into details about my taxes, but I have stocks, bonds, and a Government Savings Account (called the TSP if you know what that is).  My stocks and bonds are all Index Funds and some portion of those have some foreign investments, which complicate things.  I have no control over the Index Fund investment choices.  Plus, the TSP requires that I withdraw a portion of my savings from it each year now that I'm older than 72.

I hadn't known that in 2023, so they forcibly sent me 2 checks since then.  I had included one on my Federal return, forgetting about the 2nd.  So I had to adjust my Federal return in the software.  Did that, and shut down for the night.

The next day, my Federal return was blank!  Nowhere to be found.  I have no idea why.  Even my backup program (Time Machine) is acting weird.  I tried to recover the Federal return using that, but failed.  Each time I open a date, it sends me back to "choose a date". 

ARGHHH!

If I was 50, I could probably solve this.  I think I have to just redo the Federal return.  Fortunately, I have all the previously-printed tax forms, so it won't be like starting from scratch.  And then I can do the State return.  I have until October 15, so I will sort out the 3 different versions of the Federal return (as I said, I found errors before I mailed them) tomorrow and go from there.

But I think this is my last year using tax software (unless the Govt provides a better one).  Next year, early March, I will just take all my forms to a tax-preparer and say "tell me what I owe" and have them file the returns!  

This has finally become just too hard!

Old Basement Refrigerator

 I had an old refrigerator in the kitchen.  It wasn't the original one, but it was probably about 15 years old.  I decided it was sucking up too much electricity.  And it was a bit small.  And it was the only white appliance in the kitchen.

So I bought a newer more energy-efficient one about 5-6 years ago (maybe longer, time is fuzzy sometimes).  I liked it.  And it probably paid for itself in energy-saving.

And had them move the old one to the basement as a sort of root cellar.  Set it to 45F for storing garden and bird seeds, sodas, potatoes, bulk stuff like that which didn't have to be seriously chilled.  Since it was seldom opened, the energy-inefficiency wasn't much of a problem.  

But I did keep the freezer portion at 0F because I stored bulk meat there.  Individual meal portions of cooked chicken, pork, and shrimp; raw beef, all in individual zip-lock bags and each in its own larger shoebox-size plastic container.

Well, the shrimp come frozen, chicken and pork seem to come out fine (and safer) pre-cooked, but I want to cook the steaks rather individually at dinnertime.  And the old fridge had a top freezer which was convenient for seeing all the large container labels.

But I got tired of the newer kitchen freezer being at the bottom.  When I prepare bulk stuff like stews, spaghetti sauce, soups, etc, there were all these small one-meal containers loose in the bottom and it was awkward to find anything specific.  So on days when I didn't feel like making something new, I would just reach in and pull out a leftover.

I was willing to be surprised.  It was "Oh, I'm having hot sausage/cannelini bean/onion/tomato stew tonight.  Sometimes, you can't really tell what something is until you thaw it out, LOL!  But the small containers kept falling around when I pulled the bottom freezer drawer out and I had to keep re-stacking them.

So I decided the old basement refrigerator had to go.  My electric co-op offered a fee pickup of old appliances and offerred a $50 rebate.  So earlier this year I called them about that.  They said they had ended the rebate program.  So I figured I would have to pay to get it hauled away and moved it out of the way.

Meanwhile I bought a newer even more energy-efficient top freezer fridge.  But just before delivery, I realized it was too tall for the kitchen.  By 1/4"...  So it ended up as the new basement fridge.  Which actually works out.

I moved all the large basement top fridge meat containers to the bottom kitchen freezer.  The sliding drawer makes it easy to open the front of the large containers to pull out a frozen bag from the labelled containers.  And all the loose small containers went to the top fridge basement freezer.  No drawers there, so they don't fall over when stacked now.

And I mentioned all that to say that I discovered my electric co-op re-started their appliance pickup and rebate program!

They came and took away the really old fridge on Sept 5...

Goodbye old fridge, I am glad to see you go!  And good news is that it will be taken apart and recycled.

9-11 Day

 

Kitchen

A kitchen I would love...

But that's half the size of my house.  And unclutterred.  And clean...

The kitchen I have...

There seems to be a slight difference, LOL!  The difference, I suppose, is that I live in mine and everything is right at hand, and the top one is staged.  But wouldn't it be nice to have one like that?

Maybe.  But I had a long-time former friend who renovated his house and tripled the size of his kitchen.  And the only thing he did in it was cook steaks every night.  He wanted it to look impressive.

Mine functions well for me. But wow on the way a kitchen can "look"!

Neat Computer Thing

I can't touch-type, and my hunt&peck is very "poundy".  So my keys wear out fast.  I had about a dozen that were impossible to read anymore.  Well, maybe I can't touch-type, but I do basically know where each letter is.   

But out of curiousity, I went looking for replacement keys.  A bit expensive.  But what I also found were press-on decals.  

They seem to be very good.  The print matches most black keyboards (there might be white/cream/gray decals too), the vinyl backing is sturdy, and they seem to stick well.   I got mine at Amazon ($6), and there are 2 full sets of key decals.

It looks like a new keyboard!  

Computer Problems

I had sme real frustrations 2 days ago.  I was talking to my Credit Union about online access.  They keep shutting off my password if I don't visit enough enough.  Well, I woukld think they would be happy that I don't bother them often, but I suppose that means I don't see the loan offers (that I never ever bother using).

But in the middle of the call, KERBLAM!!!  Out of nowhere, thunder and lightning directly overhead in the same instant...  Then torrents of rain (which The Weather Channel did not predict).

I have a battery backup surge protector of course but that was too much for it and it shut down.  An hour later, it all stopped.  But I couldn't reach any internet sites.  The TV worked, so I hadn't lost my cable service.  Restarting the computer several times didn't work.  Shutting down and restarting didn't help.

Somewhere, there is a "take service online" menu choice, but I couldn't find it.  So I just left everything shut down

Yesterday, I tried everything again.  No luck.  Then I remembered about disconnecting and reconnecting the router.  That finally worked.  👍

I happened to look outside while waiting, and saw the rain gauge.  2.25"!  In about 1 hour!  Well, that should keep the grass and shrubs happy for a while.  But it was worrisome for a while.  I was afraid the computer was fried.

Interesting Day

 1.  My Credit Union (only existing in the building where I worked) has become too inaccessible being 25 miles away now.  So I went looking for a local one a year ago.  Eligibility on their website was too confusing.  So I finally just visited them today.  

It was damn easier than their website!  It is a military credit union, but I had 3 uncles who served active duty in WWII, so I hoped that would get me in.  That didn't, but actually anyone can join if they become a member of a "no obligations" charity organization.  Seemed rather strange...

But they enrolled me and then I was a new credit union member.   Nice that it is just 2 miles away instead of 25.  I set up a basic savings account and bought a 12 month CD offerring 4.94% interest.   Beats my regular bank .01% rate.  I will be switching all my regular checking/savings to the new place as existing CDs mature.

2.  Pleased with my success at the FCU, I went to the meat market and bought some Delmonico steaks (on sale), a chicken breast to poach for The Mews and myself, and some meatloaf mix.  That stuff is better than hamburger though it takes some effort to mix up thoroughly.

3.  Picked a couple of Cherokee tomatoes before they were quite ripe.  The squirrels or groundhog get at them if I don't.  If I catch the little varmints in a Have-A-Hart live trap,  I'll dump it into a large tub of water and bury their butts near a tree as fertilizer.  I have no tolerance for anything that eats my few heirloom tomatoes!

4. But the tub of "water of sudden departure" has tadpoles!  I don't know whether they are toad or frog.  A yard can't have too many toads.  If frogs, I will dump them into the storm drain that leads to the swamp across the street where they will be happy, and thrive.  A lot of toads are fine, but a lot of frogs get noisy.

But I'm feeding them ground-up fish flakes and some algae from the pond.  When I see the first legs, I'll put a small tree branch in the water to help them climb out and another attached to it to lead them down to the ground.  If I don't, they will just start eat eating each other (they turn carnivorous at leg-stage) and I'll just have one big fat frog or toad.  And I want a lot of toads.

5.  I need to rent a thatching machine from the DIY store.  Not that my lawn actually has thatch (few lawns actually do), but Summer was brutal and there are patches of dead (not just dormant) grass.  I need to re-seed next month and a de-thatcher will tear those up to expose bare roughened soil perfect for new seeds.

6.  Figured out the gas can problem.  I feel like an idiot.  There is a pull-lever to release pressure.  I've used it 100 times, how did I forget that?  Yesterday, I couldn't make it work.  Today I just grabbed it and automatically pulled the release lever and it worked fine.  I'm getting old...

7.  Time to go out and mow the lawn.  The flat mower tire has been replaced and what grass is still growing (in the shade) is 5" high. What is dead is dead.  What survives needs attention.  LOL!

I Have Fowl Neighbors

Well, they keep fowls.  Turkey, Duck, Chicken, Guinea Fowl.  They make some noise, but I can't hear them inside the house, so it doesn't bother me.

They presented me with a gift of eggs.  I had to accept them, of course, but I was unfamiliar with "home-produced" eggs.   Questions like are the shells sterile, what are the tastes like, is there danger of salmonella, etc.  I'm not a forager or even much of an adventurous eater.  

The 3 large ones on the right are turkey, the 2 in the center of the tray are guinea hen, and the rest are chicken.  The 1 duck egg was eaten previously (I misplaced my camera for a few days).

I cook the things I know well enough and stir-fries, stews, and pot pies are routine.  I can make my own pizza.

But some things worry me or seem too unusual.  I have a can of curry sauce I've never opened.  My Dad used to collect wild mushrooms and I refused to eat anything made with them.  "Try this; you'll like it" doesn't get anywhere with me.

So I was nervous about the eggs.  But I tried a duck egg yesterday.  Fried it like a chicken egg.  The white firmed up quicker than a chicken egg.  The taste was slightly stronger, but OK.  

Funny thing was that the duck egg was harder to crack open.  Not because it was stronger, but because it was slightly more flexible.  Maybe I was being more careful than usual because I wasn't sure how clean the shell was.  Commercial chicken eggs get sani-washed; I suspect the neighbor's eggs aren't so much.

But I ate the egg and felt fine after a day, so all was OK.  It still seems a bit weird though.

Time to try a turkey egg in a few days (I don't eat eggs a lot).  That's a big egg, though!  And I'm not sure what to do with the guinea fowl eggs.  Too small to fry easily so I might add a chicken one.

They are really good neighbors to give me these eggs to try.  But I think I will beg off the next offer.  I'm too used to regular commercial chicken eggs, LOL!

OK, eating a duck egg, a turkey egg, and a guinea egg weren't exactly on my "bucket list", but maybe I can be allowed to add that to the list after the fact.  Which is not how bucket lists are supposed to work, but sometimes there is a surprise item you never thought about.