Ok, so...what is this blog about? April 15th is upon us, so is this blog about Taxes?
All 50 states are in a state of emergency, nearly all of us are in "lock down", going out for food and essentials for the most part, and some (like Marcia), not going out anywhere. At least April 15th is not a Taxing day for us this year...that has been postponed to July 15th. But I did ours and mailed it in yesterday...we owed a whole $5. Of course, we paid way more than that in our quarterly tax payments. Our quarterly tax payments have gone down for 2020 because one of us finally turns 65...while the other is already &@ years old (over 65). Hey, I am not stupid enough to really post Marcia's age, but she is a little older than I am. It use to bother me that I was the youngest in the family...until Sisters came along...now I brag about being so YOUNG! By years end, I will be on Medicare, 16 months later I qualify for a full Social Security Benefit, and I already get most discounts for Senior Citizens. I also paid our first quarterly tax payment too, even though it could have been delayed to July. Had I left it in the bank, it would have earned us what, about another dollar with interest rates so low? Figured it is best to pay now, instead of forgetting to pay it in July and having to pay an outrageous IRS penalty!
Watching this VIRUS spread throughout the country...throughout the world is Taxing on the mind. Just imagine "IF" we had the media resources we do today during the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920 when 500 Million were infected, and 50 Million died, 675,000 dying in the USA. Heck, with news like that, and all the finger pointing and you should have done this, you need to do that attitudes, the news of the Spanish Flu would have killed another 675,000 due to heart attacks!
Most of us are tired of watching the news, news conferences, talking heads, Facebook news alerts, massive Tweets, numerous instant messaging from news feeds, etc., etc. etc. It is TAXING to our brains, that is for sure.
Of course, the alternative is Taxing on your brain (and body) too. Binge Watching episode after episode after episode will eventually catch up to you. Last year Marcia and I found that we could watch all of Heartland via Amazon except the last (current) season. Even that show, as gentle on the mind that it is (compared to shows that have lots of shoot-em-ups and bombs going off), it finally got to us. Then we hit the end of the episodes that you could watch for free, which brings on addiction pains because you KNOW there is more out there, but you can't watch them without paying more $$$$ than you basic Amazon Prime price. We never did give in to the temptation, and our addiction pains eventually vanished.
And finally, it is Taxing to the Brain to try and remember all the common sense stuff that you are suppose to do during this Coronavirus threat. Well, for me, not so much...but for others, yes it is. I will end this fun little Tax Day Blog with a few of the strange things I have observed over the past few weeks.
- Lady riding a bike down the street near the condo wearing a mask. Now mind you, there is NO ONE ELSE out on the street, but she insisted on wearing a mask...which does not bother me. However, as she was headed toward me, I was able to observe her for perhaps a good tenth of a mile. In that time period she touched her mask, and areas of her face, at least six times. Mask for protection will not protect face from being touched by potential dirty hands. Note: Why is it that every time I put my gloves on to enter a store, that my nose or face itches but I can't touch it???
- I was stopped at a stop light a few weeks ago and I looked in the rear view mirror. There was a guy, about mid-30's, in his car, alone except for his dog which was in the back seat. The guy had a mask on. I can understand wearing masks in stores and stuff (although I choose not to), but in your own car with only your dog in the car??? You gotta wonder... Note: If the stores were full of people, which they are not here, I would consider wearing a mask. Also, our county has a .02% infection rate, with 3 deaths. When I go down an grocery aisle where someone has stopped looking for something, I will either wait for them, or stop breathing and quickly go by them before taking another breath. Waited for this lady in the produce area just yesterday when I needed some diced garlic. After about a minute she realizes I was there waiting for her back about 10 feet, and she apologized. I told her, "I am in no hurry...there is no where to go but back home into isolation." She laughed...
- They closed the Dog Park! Now they tell us to be sure to exercise the dogs, and then they close up the place where dogs can get exercise. Up until a week ago, it was open, and everyone was keeping their distance. They still have fishing beach and fishing pier open, but the playground is closed, as is the kids water park. Poor Bubba...no more free wandering around on his own for awhile.
- We get mail here at the Condo and also at a PO Box. Went in to get mail, and I see this lady at the counter by the PO Boxes where many people open mail and toss out the junk. Her safety gloves are off her hands, laying on the table, as she opens her mail, putting her hands on the counter top, on the garbage lid, and when she finished, she put her gloves back on and went out to her car. I only hope that she washed her hands and dumped the gloves when she got home. Note: When I get to the car while wearing gloves, I remove my left one partially exposing the inside of the glove, open the door with what was the inside of the glove, remove that glove and put in trash bag once inside, shut the door with my now bare hand, and I don't touch anything with my right hand until I take that glove off and put in trash bag. I then take a Clorox wipe and wipe down my face, hands, arms, keys, steering wheel, and other places I touch in the car, all in that order, and put the now dirty wipe in the bag. So the interior of the car should be as sanitized as it can be.
One very good thing I have noticed is just how clean everyone is keeping everything. The stores use to have wipes to clean your own shopping cart ...now they have a cleaning person who wipes them down much more thoroughly than one can do with those little wipes. Staff are wiping down freezer and refrigerator doors, vegetables in the produce area, grocery shelves, moping the floor, and especially keeping the check-out areas spotless, including the touch pad at the credit card machine. They have put up sneeze/cough barriers between the staff member and those checking out. If someone is bagging your groceries, you are asked to stay in your checkout area until they have everything in the cart. And the lines are longer only because of the 6 foot rule they want everyone to keep...so a line with 3 people in it is 12+ feet long instead of everyone crunched up along the conveyor belt waiting for their turn to pay. Good news, most people are shopping alone, few to no kids, and everyone is being polite and orderly...with about 50% of the people having masks on. Gee...I wonder how long all this new found politeness will last after this epidemic is over????
