What did you do today? - 2021 version

[Chuckanut]

Today, for the 40th time, I had roses delivered to the young wife. It all started in 1982, when she was a junior at a small women's college in Maryland. I had graduated from USNA the summer before and was stationed down in Orlando. I wanted to send her roses, but I saw on the news that a snowstorm was expected, so I had them delivered the day before to be safe. A really big snow storm did indeed roll in that evening, and no one could make any deliveries on the 14th. So she was the only one of the young women at her college to have roses on Valentine's Day, and I won the boyfriend award that year. Ever since, I have had roses delivered to her on the 13th.

You're a better man than I, Mr. Gumby.

 

[unclemick]

Tring to set up my new wireless printer to print my last brokerage 1099 consolidated form for our accountant.

Old printer croaked after only 15 years.

Heh heh heh - me and digital are not best buddies. Time for a nap.

 

[jollystomper]

Yesterday - St. Valentine's Day. 'Nuff said.

 

[Calico]

My first Monday of retirement. Got up and we have around 6” of snow, temp is 17F with a 4F wind chill. It’s bad since we live in Louisiana. The upside is I’m not getting calls and emails from work trying to deal with emergency’s. I’m doing nothing but watch the birds eat.

Sweeeeet!!

 

[MBAustin]

Woke up to 6 degrees and 6+ inches of snow - in Austin. Beautiful but tough on the electrical grid and highway workers, among others. The entire state is having rolling power blackouts - we were out for 4 hours this afternoon and expect more through tomorrow. After the power came back on, I did something I never expected to do here: shovel the driveway. Fortunately I kept an old snow shovel from when we lived in Delaware many moons ago!!!

 

[Walt34]

Had a six-month checkup at the dermatologist's office, no signs of recurring melanoma found. That's always good news!

Started laying out the laser cut balsa and plywood parts for a very small model airplane kit, called the Eaglet 250. It looks like a miniature version of the Goldberg Eagle 63 that was my first R/C airplane kit in 1983 so I just had to have one. I had ordered a good bit of accessories that go with it but the USPS managed to rip open the heavy duty cardboard shipping container and lose about 3/4 of the contents, then helpfully tape up the container again. I took pictures and wrote them about it, and asked that when they send the replacement components that they PLEASE do not use USPS again. I'm getting thoroughly disgusted with that organization.

 

[street]

Went hiking after lunch looking for sheds. I didn't find any but was a brisk but beautiful day and ended up with about 6 miles of walking.

 

[FreeBear]

Smoked chicken on the pellet, grill, enough for several meals for two. Took a good part of the afternoon, but who cares, I'm retired!

 

[1242Vintage]

Got out to the gym this morning for an hour of intervals on the dreaded elliptical machine and work on my core strength.

Every day I try to get something done around the house. Today’s job was chipping a bunch of limbs that were knocked out of redwood trees by recent wind storms.

I had also intended to get out on my bicycle after yard work ... but never happened. Enjoying a drink in front of the fire with my lovely Valentine instead.

 

[GoBears]

Taxes, walked the dog (x2) and made cioppino with garlic bread for dinner. Looks like this will be the first year that the standard deduction will provide a bigger write-off for DW and me than itemizing.

 

[Christine]

Bought a new DVD player for my mum. Her old one was probably from the 90's and stuttered and froze when playing some of her DVDs.

The new one from Sony plays everything very well and did not cost enough to post about blowing dough. And it can do Netflix and USB-sticks too.

But why don't they come with a HDMI cable? Or why didn't the store make me aware of this and sold me a suitable cable? Would have saved me the extra trip.


She paid me with a delicious fish dinner.

 

[Gumby]

I intended to file my income tax return today since we're getting a nice refund. Alas, I cannot, because Form 8606 is not in final form yet.

 

[rk911]

I intended to file my income tax return today since we're getting a nice refund. Alas, I cannot, because Form 8606 is not in final form yet.

did something change with the 8606? i downloaded it from the IRS website about a week ago.

 

[street]

Moved a couple inches of snow with leaf blower and cut out a wind weather vane out of an old windmill blade. The one I have at ranch doesn't have a large enough fin/tail in back for it to work properly.

These two inches of snow has been the most we got since October 2020. Been a great winter for not having to move the white stuff.

 

[doneat54]

Woke up at 6:45 when I heard my phone on the nightstand chirp faintly. Looked at it and saw the clock next to it with a black face...... here at the farm ice storm almost always equals power outage. Went back to sleep, heard the phone chirp again at a couple minutes past 8, power back on, heard the furnace kick on downstairs.

Got up, let the pups out, fed them then started making a big omelette to eat off of all week.... then the power blinks of 2-3 times, then out. Luckily range is propane, so I could finish cooking breakfast (Omelette with sweet italian sausage, sliced grape tomatoes, garlic goat cheese and shiitake mushrooms. Table spoon of basil pesto over the top of it......).

Started up the generator in the barn and ran an extension cord inside, powered up the internet router and a light. Loaded one wood stove and lit it up, then in the basement to haul up some more wood, lit up the other stove.

Noticed a big dead maple limb had fallen from a tree outside. Great, was wondering where I was going to get more firewood for next winter.....

 

[Gumby]

did something change with the 8606? i downloaded it from the IRS website about a week ago.

The H&R Block program says it is not in final form. They expect to update on 2/18. Maybe the problem is them, not the IRS.

 

[christinarobert]

Blessed Day

I woke up early in the morning . Made my breakfast which was oatmeal with some nuts and fruits. Switch on my laptop and worked on my online business for half the day. Later I spent some time with friends and went home at the end of the day to spend family time where we played board games. Finally I went to sleep which was the best sleep I had in months.

 

[1242Vintage]

Was a good day yesterday. Mom and I met with a new tax accountant that I pre-screened. Handed over documents and talked through issues that seem to be keeping Mom up at night. Back on track and Mom is happy!

 

[O2Bfree]

Sold my 2002 Subie Impreza to a nice young man who flew in from Walla Walla to pick it up. It's such a striking little car, Aspen white, very clean with low miles. I got $8k for it, and the guy seemed really excited to be the new owner. I was a little sad to see him drive off though. No more little Storm Trooper in the garage.

 

[jollystomper]

My Big Decision Of The Day: The snow has stopped, it is supposed to be dry for several hours before sleet/freezing rain/rain hits for the evening and night. Do I go now and shovel the 2-3 inches of snow, or just let the stuff pile on until tomorrow, when the temps will hit above 40 degrees? Decisions, decisions...

 

[Bamaman]

It's been a week since my wife got out of rehab after mid foot fusion 3 weeks ago. Since she cannot walk for 2 months, I'm doing all the cleaning and cooking and meal planning. So far, she's not complained about the foot--or the food either. Today, it's a big pot of vegetable beef soup.

We got about 5 inches of snow which is very seldom seen on the AL/TN state line. I've got to shovel a little snow so I can get her wheelchair to the car in the a.m. for a doctor's visit.

A pretty large CD matured, and I've got to get signatures notarized tomorrow while we're out going to the doctor. We're moving the money where we're getting half the interest the CD pulled, but 3 times what the banks and credit union are paying. It's more than enough to tide us over until RMD's start in 2 years.

It's going to be a tough future 6 weeks--until the wife can walk. My problem is her cleanliness standards are just so high.

 

[Walt34]

Bamaman got more snow than we did here in WV, about three inches. DW was itching to get the driveway & sidewalk cleared so I fired up the snow blower and did what I could with that and DW shoveled the rest. I'm of the school of thought "wait until it stops and then clear it" but DW can't stand seeing any accumulation and starts shoveling. Then complains that her back is sore.

 

[REWahoo]

Enjoyed watching the snow and Perseverance come down, while relaxing in a heated house complete with running hot and cold water. Sheer luxury.

Also filed our tax return, something I'd planned to do on Monday until the grid gremlin got us.

 

[NW-Bound]

I made the following post on 11/18/2020:

Now, 85 days later, the trellises are covered with lush green vines. The problem: few flowers, and few pea pods. What the heck?

On the Web, they warn about not overfertilizing peas, or the above problem would occur. I did not overfertilize the plants, but used nice expensive MiracleGro potting mix to grow these peas in pots. And that's what I got for using expensive pre-fertilized mix: lush foliage because of too much nitrogen. ARGGHHH!

They say that there's not much one can do to remedy it, other than to give the plants more phosphorus and potassium. And so, I have been doping the plants with monopotassium phosphate. The warm season will be here in the low desert soon, and it is likely that the plants will wither and die with the heat. Oh well, I will do better next year. Darn MiracleGro potting mix.

And today, 1 week after the above post, I have been eating home-grown snow peas the last 2 days. Doping the plants with monopotassium phosphate works. Halleluyah!

I could not find the dosage on the Web, so use 1 teaspoon per 2-gal watering can, and water the plants daily with that. Just now cut back to 1/2 teaspoon, for fear of overdoing it and hurting the plants.

 

[Hermit]

Its too early to do much other than drink my usual cup of coffee today. I do have to drag out a couple electric heaters and get them set up. I woke up to a cold motor home this morning. The furnace quit working. I am in the middle of getting the upper floor of the house ready to be taped, mudded, and textured next week so I will postpone looking at the furnace until I have time. I am not 100% certain the drywall guy will show up, but I want to be ready if he does. Getting people to come up here when construction work is so plentiful is very difficult. I may have to do the walls and ceilings myself. Sometimes you can't blow that dough even when you want to.