The Coffee House

[snowbear134 64]

Looks like another sick day for me tomorrow. Feel worse than this morning and I have a fever. No more work for me this week. Probably should have taken yesterday off, too, but for a Board of Trustees presentation, one takes a fistful of Advil and Sudafed and sucks it up for one day.

Well, at least this way, I get four full days to recover.

Hot tea.
With honey.
And a little bourbon.


And, of course, snuggling with kitties.

 

[limr45]

Oh yeah, I forgot I have a face steamer thingy, too. And taking a long hot shower can help raise the humidity, which might help with the breathing.

 

[Fujidave]

We had some snow last night and it`s pretty cold out, not as bad as in the USA?Canada but still too cold for me.

 

[terri52]

Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters. I'll take it!

Happy Friday, hosers! Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold.

Who has exciting weekend plans?

 

[Fujidave]

Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters. I'll take it!

Happy Friday, hosers! Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold.

Who has exciting weekend plans?

Glad you are all copping in that crazy cold weather.
My plans for tomorrow are I hope to go and take some jazz shots, then Sunday Susie and I are off to my Mums

 

[JonA_CT]

We're looking at a camper tomorrow. Our kids love camping, but after a few very wet trips last year, I'm over tent camping. Hopefully, everything will check out.

Random and personal question for y'all...I just finished my taxes, and my refund was significantly larger than I expected. Do you guys change your W4 to try to come as close to breaking even as possible each year? We're obviously making it with what we've been taking home, but I also feel like I shouldn't let the government make interest on my money while I could be.

 

[davidharmier60]

I'll still take Texas for $500 Alex.
50 and drizzling when I left home.
57 or 8 now and no moisture on the way over to Cold Spring for propane.
The throttle cable busted on the buffer.
I have a way to run it at a set speed.
I have to be able to moderate the throttle when a tank runs low. So got both filled.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[smoke665]

@JonA_CT I always followed the course of breaking even, but I also put the extra back in savings. With today's current rates, it isn't much, but it's better then nothing. When I did my taxes, if I owed money I had it to pay, if I didn't I already had my refund. Many years ago I had to switch to estimated quarterly payments because of self employment earnings. That really ticked me off, because I hadn't actually made that money and until the end of the year, I wouldn't know. Eventually my earnings from farming passed the 50% mark and I was able to drop the estimated payments. The down side is they have to be filed and payed in full by March 1st which puts the squeeze on to close out the year, and get everything to the accountant.

 

[smoke665]

Whew, taking a coffee break. The temperature warmed up enough to get out and start pruning. Just got done with the "Crepe Murder" as my daughter in law claims. Here in the south we prune them to grow like trees, so it's pretty severe. Haven't done that much physical activity in awhile, so the muscles and back are already screaming. Chances are tonight will be an Advil kind of night. Still have the fruit trees, then it's on to the winter clean up on the pines, so if the weather holds for the next few days, I should be able to get done with all of it. Then time to spread lime and fertilizer on the yards, fertilize/mulch the fruit trees, and planting beds, then mulch them. I'm tired already. At least today will be a treat day. We're going out to eat with friends at a new restaurant called Bama Bucks. In addition to the normal fare, they serve wild game and buffalo. It's a big place, built in the middle of a facility that raises deer commercially for breeding. Should be interesting.

 

[davidharmier60]

6 hours and some minutes
29.45 for the week so far

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[limr45]

Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters. I'll take it!

Happy Friday, hosers! Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold.

Who has exciting weekend plans?

Is binge-watching Netflix while coughing, blowing my nose, occasionally taking some Advil, and making endless cups of tea exciting?

We're looking at a camper tomorrow. Our kids love camping, but after a few very wet trips last year, I'm over tent camping. Hopefully, everything will check out.

Random and personal question for y'all...I just finished my taxes, and my refund was significantly larger than I expected. Do you guys change your W4 to try to come as close to breaking even as possible each year? We're obviously making it with what we've been taking home, but I also feel like I shouldn't let the government make interest on my money while I could be.

When I was adjuncting and waitressing, my income was so variable and inconsistent, that any tax bill more than maybe $200 would have sent me into crisis. In fact, two years in a row, they took way too little out throughout the year, and I was hit with tax bills over $1000 (fed plus state combined). The first year was horrible. For the next year, I had to make sure I managed to save some money over the course of the year so I could pay that kind of tax bill. I managed to do it, but just barely. I was also trying to save to get me through summer months when teaching opportunities were harder to come by.

So I switched it for more taxes to be taken out from my paychecks. This way, I only had to save for the summer, and if I got a refund, that could be added to my summer savings to make things a little bit easier.

These days, I usually end up with a federal refund and a state tax bill, so I use the fed's money to pay the state, and pocket the rest, which is nothing to write home about, but enough to make a bigger payment on my car that month. I suppose I could finagle it better to break more even, but I honestly can't be bothered at this point. I'm still trying to adjust to having more complicated taxes than I ever had before - not super complicated in the grand scheme of things, but now there's retirement stuff and health care and next year, there might be a house. That's a lot to handle for a person who has taken 10 minutes each year to fill out an EZ form her entire life

 

[Fujidave]

Morning all, still quite dark here and actually feels mild out a lazy indoor day as jazz has been put off.

 

[JonA_CT]

I’ve made it 10 years of working in school without catching any of the stomach bugs that circulate several times of year.

It was a good run. I’ll be in bed with a sleeve of saltines and some pedialyte.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Good news and bad news...Good news: Last frigid day for a bit! Woohoo! Bad news: Last day of vacation! Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

Sits across the room from Jon and his bug Hope it's a short sickness for you. You teachers and doctors, bus drivers, taxi drivers. etc. are constantly exposed. Play that card and hopefully the wife and kids will take pity and treat you to an easy day. We all deserve one of those every now and again.

 

[smoke665]

Our trip to Bama Bucks yesterday was great. Good food, very reasonable prices, and fantastic atmosphere. We were seated on a glass walled porch overlooking their wildlife park area with its menagery of critters. Unfortunately the deer herd with its monstrous bucks was on the other side of the road just put of view. We timed it just right as before we were done there was a long line of people waiting to get in, but even if we hadn't, the grounds provide ample opportunity to relax and enjoy. They have a large fire pit, with comfortable chairs to sit and talk or watch the deer, or an old timey general store to browse through.

My brace of marinated and grilled quail was excellent. DW and one of the couple we went with stayed with the more conventional ribeye, also excellent. The other member of the party tried the White Chocolate Chicken. Judging by the clean plate and comments, it was also good.

The owners have spent a ton of money on the facility, built in the middle of nowhere, a good distance from any town. Yet the fact that it stays packed is a ttestament to the adage "If you build it they will come".