What did you do today? 2019 version.

[Accidental Retiree]

Left the Texas Hilll Country after a 10 day visit there and to South Texas. On arrival in Fredericksburg, I got hit with the worst, longest-lasting cold I have ever had and finally realized today, when my brains stopped melting out through my nose, right about in Ozona, that I have had not a cold but the dreaded cedar allergy.

REWahoo, is that on your list?

I never knew what an allergy was.

We’re now in Van Horn, and the weather is lovely, and I can breathe again.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

[REWahoo]

Left the Texas Hilll Country after a 10 day visit there and to South Texas. On arrival in Fredericksburg, I got hit with the worst, longest-lasting cold I have ever had and finally realized today, when my brains stopped melting out through my nose, right about in Ozona, that I have had not a cold but the dreaded cedar allergy.

REWahoo, is that on your list?

No, cedar fever isn't spelled out individually. The list of hazards got so long that I had to draw the line somewhere, so it's covered under the broad category of "polluted air".

 

[NW-Bound]

OK, I found out that what I had must be the older Zostavax, and not the newer Shingrix.

Shingrix is said to be more effective, but requires two shots, and causes muscle pain at the injection site in addition to sometimes more serious complications.

 

[braumeister]

Shingrix is said to be more effective, but requires two shots, and causes muscle pain at the injection site in addition to sometimes more serious complications.

Probably for some, but certainly not for me. No pain, no reaction of any kind.

 

[W2R]

No, cedar fever isn't spelled out individually. The list of hazards got so long that I had to draw the line somewhere, so it's covered under the broad category of "polluted air".

Real Texans like REWahoo just take cedar fever for granted, but I agree with Accidental Retiree, it's utterly miserable.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We saw a play for a Valentine's date night out.

 

[Music Lover]

I did 2 things yesterday that I've never done before:

1. Went inline skating...after a comical start I got the hang of it (I know how to skate from playing hockey) and ended up doing okay.

2. I cooked a couple steaks using briquettes. I've used propane all my life but the condo we're staying at only has a briquette barbeque. The steaks were tremendous, and when we get back home I may look into buying a different barbeque.

 

[Walt34]

Tempting fate

Finally finished both tax returns and e-filed the federal a few days ago but had to wait for some forms to be completed for state. Those came in yesterday, so I finished up that and snail-mailed it out today. TurboTax wants $20 to e-file and that ain't gonna happen.

Then on to a minor grocery run and home.

Here's where the "tempting fate" comes in. At the moment the outside temperature is 61° F and looking ahead at the forecast it doesn't seem that any appreciable amount of snow is possible even though some "wintry mix" is forecast for Sunday & Sunday night. But temps later on are in the forties so whatever happens won't be around for long.

So I took the large snow blower out of the garage and back to the shed and drained all the fuel & oil out of it in preparation for storage. Found out my grease gun was empty and I had forgotten to get another cartridge. So I'll have to get one before I can finish "summerizing" it. In the meantime of course I'm betting that we won't get enough snow to justify refilling with fresh oil & gas. I wanted to leave it empty of oil because leaving it in the "service position" standing up on the front for long means there is a small possibility of an oil leak all over the floor in the shed. There are other items inside that need regular oiling and greasing in there between seasons as well so I'll have to get to that later.

My back hurts like the dickens from sitting on the concrete floor and leaning forward to work on the machinery. I took half a Percocet and one Tylenol to ease the pain from that, it seems to be working. My body isn't as flexible as it used to be.

Oh, and on the way back from the grocery store we saw an estate sale going on at the home of a lady about our age that we knew slightly from living a few blocks away. Turns out she developed early onset dementia and is now in full nursing care. No more than two months ago we saw her out walking for exercise as she frequently did. That's scary.

 

[KCGeezer]

I empathize with you Walt. Yesterday was 58 at the lake house. I got three cracks in the area between the retaining wall and the house on the uphill side cleaned out and new waterproofing applied. Scrubbing with wire brush and chipping a few places out. It was down to 35 when I got back to the house in the city.

Today, 1st round of shoveling is done. Hopefully only get another inch or two and it’ll stay light and fluffy. Where’s a teenage kid when you need one?

 

[MRG]

Woke up to a new batch of snow wet, heavy, and deep. Our neighborhood was a bunch of old people out playing in the snow and having fun. Neighbors were snowshoeing and xcounty skiing around the road. We got unburied and eventually tried to go out for lunch before our road was plowed. DWs little Wrangler goes pretty well but it's lighter and gets thrown around by heavy snow.

Unfortunately other people didn't have adequate traction and messed it all up. A couple of folks closed down two roads. Neither vehicle should have been out in the conditions.

I had to back up a quarter mile and it was all the jeep wanted to do. I didn't want to get it sideways and in the ditch. We went out a different way, there wasn't much traffic out.[emoji12] An hour later it was a little better and they had plowed our development.

The party outside has been replaced by people digging out.

 

[ckelly78z]

2 nights at a State Park cabin with freinds...lots of beer, and good food.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Just got home from a basement concert at Kiki's House of Righteous Music in Madison. This was the featured performer:

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Finally got around to digging up the horseradish. This was the largest root. Need to process it today.

 

[Ronstar]

Yesterday - Bike ride, then out to dinner, and a Bob Seger concert. Awesome, but ears still ringing 12 hours later.

 

[Walt34]

Woke up this morning with a continued backache from yesterday. Usually a good night's rest takes care of that. Bummer. I am not liking this "getting old" stuff.

Went out to the local AutoZone store and got the tube of grease needed to continue on with maintenance on the two stage snow blower, and in a rare example of "Blow that dough!" I sprung for a brand spankin' new grease gun to replace the one that has to be forty years old and was a messy pain to reload with grease. This one is quick, easy, and not at all messy. Well at least not this time.

So I finished up all the maintenance on that and it's ready to be put away. Just in time to see the forecast for five to eight inches of snow on Wednesday. I'll deal with that with the single stage, which deals better with lighter snowfalls anyway and I hadn't done the end-of-season maintenance on it anyway just in case this happened.

 

[Souschef]

Got the final 1099 I needed to complete my taxes. All done, but unfortunately I owe both the Feds and the State even after paying estimated tax.
Have already gone to the EFTPS and FTB sites to schedule my payments for my tax returns and for estimated. I just have to make sure I have enough money in the account to make the payments.
I have set up a schedule from my IRA to transfer the funds to my checking account from my RMD distributions.

 

[braumeister]

Woke up this morning with a continued backache from yesterday. Usually a good night's rest takes care of that. Bummer. I am not liking this "getting old" stuff.

One of the many things I learned from my grandparents was that a good heating pad can work wonders. Something you might try?

 

[ckelly78z]

Finally got around to digging up the horseradish. This was the largest root. Need to process it today.

Put your goggles on, and run a fan ! We used to do our own, and the smell would bring you to your knees, and clear your sinuses, but good on steak.

 

[W2R]

One of the many things I learned from my grandparents was that a good heating pad can work wonders. Something you might try?

Heating pads often do a great job. F and I each have one. We also have gel ice packs in our freezers, for other types of situations when cold helps more than heat.

Today I did a lot of stuff, the most interesting of which is that I got my quarterly estimated tax payments for 2019 set up to be paid automatically. This is done using EFTPS at https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/ . I chose to have the payments deducted from my checking account. Then I did the same for Louisiana's quarterly estimated tax payments, which is done on the state website.

 

[NW-Bound]

Woke up this morning with a continued backache from yesterday. Usually a good night's rest takes care of that. Bummer. I am not liking this "getting old" stuff...

"You know you are old when everything hurts. What does not hurt does not work" -- George Burns


We am quite a few years younger, and it is already creeping up on us.

Last year, I suddenly woke up with severe pain in my right shoulder. The pain happened if I lay down on that shoulder, else it was not there most of the time even when I was using my right arm.

I did not go to a doctor, and the pain took a few months to fade away slowly. It is gone now.

 

[Walt34]

One of the many things I learned from my grandparents was that a good heating pad can work wonders. Something you might try?

I might have to give that a try. DW has been using one for years so I can just [-]steal[/-] borrow hers.

 

[Khan]

Used to follow NASCAR, didn't watch for many years. Decided to watch Daytona 500 with beer and chili dogs.
Right now 9 laps from end, red flag after major crash.

 

[Jerry1]

Finished my taxes!

Still need to mail the state and city but the envelopes are sealed and the Federal eFile has been accepted.

 

[iloveyoga]

Helped my husband shovel and clear snow two times. We got close to 12" in the last 24 hours. Maybe a record for today? So I had a snow day. I cooked, did some taxes, did a little work, and chilled out. I had a very nice day.

 

[Souschef]

I had a contractor replace the rotted corner post on my porch. I then sealed the joints and screw holes with plastic wood and sanded them. Finished up by sealing some cracks in the trim with silicone, then painted everything. Should be good for another ten years.
Since I finished my taxes and figured out my estimated payments, I printed out my schedule of sales from my IRA for reference.

Tuesday, because we have a break in the weather, I am going out to the switch engine to work on it. We have to finish up adjusting the injectors and the valves. I also bought a battery charger to top off the two monster batteries I bought for the engine.