Friday Nite Check In

 Spring weather this week..., rain showers on and off..., with some sunny breaks on and off.  Not real warm days or real cold nights.  One day the high was 47..., and the low was 45 !

I have enough horse manure for garden compost..., so I have been trying to build up the cut bank overlooking the county blacktop road.  I dumped the apple tree trimmings over this area last spring and it has sloughed off enough that there is plenty of room for horse manure and spruce cones..., but the berry bushes were preventing me for spreading those loads a little wider.

I managed to whack them back without spilling too much blood.  Now I have plenty of room for more manure and spruce cones and scotch broom..., and a little time before I have to start devoting more time and attention to The Garden.

Charley Horse served in his usual supervisory role..., and even added a few finishing munches to the project.

In other news this week there was good and bad.  The good news is that the AARP folks and there computer programmed tax assessment agreed that I shouldn't be assessed any penalty for such a large underpayment of my income tax 😊  The bad news is that they also agreed that I owed that large sum of money that I had calculated 😢  I wish I had watched The Chumps State of the Union address before I let the AARP folks submit my tax forms..., they and me both thought that The Chump had only given me and some of the rest of us Social Security recipients a $6000 dollar tax deduction..., which only saved me about $700..., but The Chump said right on national TV on Tuesday night, that he had abolished taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security..., he said, “With the great Big Beautiful Bill we gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors,”  If that was true my tax bill would be SIGNIFICANTLY lower.  Alas..., I don't know which would be worse..., if The Chump was lying..., or if he was just ignorant.  In my honest estimation he is both..., an ignorant, lying hypocrite.  He claims he is winning the inflation battle and bringing prices down..., once again, either lying or ignorant..., or both.  Back around Thanksgiving I noted the price per pound of Rib Steaks was "around $15" (actually $14.99) and somewhere along the line this winter the price jumped to $16.99..., and last week I documented that the price is now $18.99 a pound..., I don't know how we are going to survive  this kind of "winning" for the next three years?

Well..., I may be retired from employment..., but I am still working on The Ranch..., and I still feel like a number..., here's Bob Seger for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 Merry Christmas..., about two months too late.  This is the scene out the front windows on Wednesday morning around 10 am.  Earlier this week I woke up to what I at first thought was a really hard frost..., but the temperature didn't support that thought..., and I soon realized that it was snow.  It melted off fast once the sun rose above the tree line.  The temperatures have been dropping a little below freezing overnight..., and I have been letting the various water lines run a bit to forbid any frozen plastic pipes.

Charley Horse must have known that this little flurry wasn't going to last much longer and just turned his back to it and waited it out.  I had to break a little ice this morning..., but the snow was all melted off by this afternoon when I went out to do the clean up chores and make sure he had some hay in the manger in The Barn.

The colder temps have given me another chance to praise my Home Comfort electric heaters.  I had to put the "spare" that I had repaired and wrote about a while back to use when the heater in the bedroom and bathroom area gave up on us.  It was a different brand..., but was a tall model that blew warm air out the top..., about bed level.  That was the reason we purchased it when Julie was still around.  Replacing it with the spare Home Comfort heater has made a world of difference in the comfort level overall.  I no longer shiver in the bathroom in the morning and I don't have to strain the front room heater by turning the thermostat up to high to warm things up in the morning.  Setting both heaters at 70 keeps us on a pretty even keel day and night.

I may purchase another Home Comfort heater so I will have a "spare"..., after I see how the meeting with the AARP Tax folks goes on Saturday😀   Speaking of financial matters..., I paid $25 for a juicy Rib Steak the other day.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the price per pound had raised $2..., from $16.99 a pound..., to $18.99 a pound.  And The Chump says that he is tackling the "affordability" problem..., he is completely clueless..., and will probably have us in another war..., a BIG one this time..., soon.  What do you suppose I will be paying for Rib Steaks when that comes?  I try not to think about that.

But thinking about frozen pipes reminds me of this one by Black Oak Arkansas for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Little hometown from where I came
Air so clean you can smell the rain
I've been many places, but none quite the same
Right in the Bible belt therein, church bells ring

Older than Grandpa
Old Black Oak tells
Overlooked by the union
But heavier than Hell

Older than Grandpa
Old Black Oak tells
Overlooked by the union
But heavier than Hell

Remember Sunday dinner with Elsa Rose
Even the time when the toilet froze
Smoking a pipe bowl, that old fishing hole
Oh I knew how to live but forgot how to grow

To grow
Older than Grandpa
Old Black Oak tells
Overlooked by the union
But heavier than Hell

Friday Nite Check In

 I managed to get the rest of the spruce cones cleaned up this week.

Here's a view from another angle...,

..., and here's the view from the sleeping bag position.

Yeah..., I felt like I had accomplished a tough task and completed the Spruce Cone Crusade without much problem..., so I felt confident enough to take on the Income Tax ritual.  I was plenty proud of myself last year when I only had to write a check to the US Treasury for $57..., even though I had to include Julie's income from Social Security on the forms.  I thought that not including that income this year should lower the gross income and since I would be filing as single instead of married this year..., I wouldn't incur much more than a few hundred extra dollars to this years check.

Well..., I guess I should have paid more attention to Mr. Powers in my freshman Algebra 1 class..., instead of taking every opportunity I could find to sneak a peek at the drop dead gorgeous sophmore cheerleader and girlfriend of the high powered senior athlete and student body president..., and future husband.  I could never figure out why she would give a skinny, pimple faced, freshman such an evil look when she caught me doing it..., and like I said..., I should have been paying attention in class instead of trying to figure that out.  But..., oh..., see..., I have become distracted once again and forgotten what I was writing about.  I guess I better dig out that old high school annual and show you what the distraction..., or should that be.., what the attraction was...,

Sally Scott back then..., and Sally Walker before she graduated.

OK..., back to Tax Time..., I hurried through the first run through..., and had to slug down a few beers to get over the shock..., as those hundreds I was anticipating showed up as thousands on the back of the envelope I was using before committing the numbers to the actual forms.  Especially when I knew that I had included The Chump's lauded  $6,000 Social Security deduction.  After the beers had the desired effect I looked a little closer and slower..., and noticed that like I suspected..., the gross income was a little lower..., but the adjusted gross was much higher.  There must be some mistake..., and sure enough..., I thought I had found a mistake..., and deducted a significant large number..., and came up with a much lower tax owed 😀   I hit the beer again..., for a different reason and called it a night.

I was feeling pretty good the next evening when I began to enter the numbers on the form for real..., but that didn't last long..., as I discovered that I had deleted a number that belonged on the list.  Trying to figure out why there was so much difference in last years numbers and this years wasn't that difficult..., when you are paying attention..., and not distracted.  I had assumed that the difference between the "standard deduction" for filing married and single would be mostly covered by the reduction of Julie's SS income.  But there were other deductions as well..., primarily in that Social Security Worksheet to determine how much of it could be taxed.  Yeah..., please explain to me how the government can tax the money that they hold out for SS all my working life..., then tax me again on it when they give it back to me in retirement? (UPDATE: I stand corrected on this last statement..., see the comments :))

Yeah..., though the SS earnings this year were over $12,000 less than last year..., I ended up paying tax on about $8,000 more on my earnings this year without Julie's other deductions that totaled over $10,000 last year.  And about that "lauded" Chump $6,000 SS deduction..., it garnered me a mere $700 savings over all.

I have an appointment with AARP tax helpers in Port Angeles next week to check out my work..., but I have been over the figures enough times now..., I think I have the right ones.  Except for one little thing..., on line 38 of 1040-SR there is an "Estimated tax penalty"..., the instructions indicate that...,

Estimated Tax Penalty

You may owe this penalty if:

• Line 37 is at least $1,000 and it is

more than 10% of the tax shown on your

That sounds like I may owe some penalty..., since I owe about three times that amount..., but I also found this...,

In general, you may owe the penalty for 2025 if the total of your

withholding and timely estimated tax payments didn’t equal at least the

smaller of:

1. 90% of your 2025 tax, or

2. 100% of your 2024 tax. Your 2024 tax return must cover a 12-month

period.

Since my withholding this year were more than my tax last year I may not owe a penalty..., we'll see 😢

Well..., whatever the outcome..., it isn't going to send me to the poor side of town by any means..., but I have always liked this song..., and when Bruce Springsteen released his version of the Johnny Rivers song..., I at first thought, "Hey Bruce..., you ain't no JR"..., but his version is growing on me..., 

OK..., just for comparison..., heeerrreee's Johnny...,

Friday Nite Check In

I need to get a new camera..., this old one makes ME LOOK OLD..., and blue haired.

 There was a time in the long ago past when getting my hands on a  spruce tree of this size would have excited me a bit more than it does these days.  Yeah..., back in the day, when I made my living with a chain saw in my hands..., instead of a shovel, rake and wheelbarrow that constitutes my living these days in retirement..., I put my share of these trees on the ground.

I trimmed some low hanging branches to make things a bit more picturesque.

Today I spend my efforts into making them look good.  These three old grandaddy's aren't actually on our property and I am not sure how they managed to escape the chain saws when the other property owner logged the other trees..., but they didn't do anything with the property after they logged it..., so I have cleaned up a little of it adjacent to our property.  It makes for a bit more grass for our horses over the years..., and it looks better than the scotch broom and berry bushes.

Still a ton or two of cones left to haul off.

The spruce cones were getting pretty thick under the big buggers..., but I thought it would look prettier if I cleaned them out.  A work in progress so to speak.  I always thought that it looked like a great spot to roll out a sleeping bag some warm summer night..., and I may get around to that one of these days.

Charley Horse had already inspected the Big Spruce Project and wasn't much interested in my next photo project...,  

Yeah..., I guess the daffodils didn't see any shadows on 2/2/26..., and are ready for spring..., and who could blame them..., after a couple of 60+ degree days in early February?

In other news of the week..., this Saturday would have been the day to call Brother Larry to wish him a Happy Birthday..., but he sadly checked out a little over four years ago.  Here is a link to the obituary that I wrote for him..., with plenty of pictures...,

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-brother-larry-spence-born-february-7.html

 

I always used to post an AC-DC music video on Facebook in his honor..., before I got banned from there.  They were his favorite band..., so I hope he isn't too mad at me for posting a cover of one of their songs by one of my favorite artists.  Here's Cody Jinks with, "A Long Way to the Top..., If You Want to Rock & Roll"...,

And of course..., we can't forget that The Seattle Seahawks are playing in The Super Bowl on Sunday.  They call their high powered defense "The Dark Side"..., so you get a double bonus Friday Nite Music Video tonight...,

..., and my prediction is that the Patriots will be seeing the dark side on Sunday as the Hawks romp their way to victory 😄