My accountant wants to help me shirk my civic responsiblities

"0% Capital Gains Rate? The Tax Cut and Jobs Act passed at the very end of 2017 created a lot of new tax planning opportunities.  Are you aware that the Act included an often overlooked section which section provides taxpayers with an incentive for investing capital in opportunity zones across the country. Under the program, taxpayers may reinvest capital gains from other investments into an Opportunity Zone. This investment provides temporary deferral or permanent exclusion of the capital gains tax if the investment remains in a Zone for a required period of time."

Capital gains already receive favorable tax rates. But did you catch it? "temporary deferral or permanent exclusion of the capital gains tax"

If you can reinvest your capital in a specific zone for a certain amount of time, you can get out of paying any capital gains tax.

It's pretty clear who this benefits. Those with money can legally shield their gains so they don't pay any tax. This is bullshit.

Another bus experience

We have one car and have only had one car for some time now. Most of the time one car is more than enough. Our city isn't that big and our bus system is mostly adequate. But every once in awhile Darren will need to take the vehicle, and there will be something planned that we cannot or do not want to miss, and so Hen and I will get to take a journey on the bus. Last night was one of these times.

To get to the location of the party on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy by 4:30pm, we needed to catch our first bus at 3:15 about 3/4 of a mile from our house. This wasn't a problem, however, about halfway to the stop, it started sprinkling and I began to worry that we had not worn the appropriate gear for the weather. (This turned out to be a well-founded concern. Oregon is known for its rain for a reason.) We had no real issues getting to our location, though, so all was well. 

Fast forward two hours and there is a lot more rainfall to deal with, it is significantly darker outside, and it is a whole lot colder than it was when we left the house. I had Hen put on sweatpants that I had packed just in case (thank goodness), and forced him to wear his hat and fleece quarter-zip shirt that he'd worn instead of a jacket. 

The bus we needed to catch to get home was a few minutes late but we got downtown in plenty of time to catch our second bus. Phew. Only…this bus driver completely ignored the stop and kept on going. So, it's getting late, it's frickin' cold, it's a Saturday so the routes aren't as plentiful as they are on weekdays, and now we have to wait an additional half hour for the next bus to arrive. UGH.

We wait. The next bus comes and stops for us (yay!) and we get to our next stop with a few minutes to spare before our bus arrives. Only I can't find the stop. We see the bus, we watch it turn, I curse not-so-silently as our bus whips past the stop where we should have been. Another sad wait in the rain and cold and it is even later. 

Finally, the next bus arrives - with heat blasting us from below - and we get a chance to thaw out a bit before getting dropped off about 1/4 of a mile from home. One short walk through the rain with us singing Do-Re-Mi (from Sound of Music, ya'll) and we arrive home about forty minutes later than expected. 

Hen is surprisingly awesome at little plan hiccups like this and managed to stay in good spirits for the entire trip.  (See following pic of Hen's good nature whilst traveling via bus.)

Parenting fail #27,482

Sent kid to school dressed as a red-eyed tree frog for a play that takes place next month. Whoops.

I read this book to Hen over breakfast this morning. (You can buy it here.)

Me: The tree takes in the Sun's energy, carbon dioxide, and water  and converts them into sugar for food.

<pause>

Me: Yeah, the tree eats sugar all day.

Hen, mumbling: Unfair.

Nice days à la Global Warming

Saturday - Spent about four hours wondering around the neighborhood, stopping at Mike's (Hen got ice cream), the library, Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters, the game store right by the coffee shop, the church (for pirogies), and Portland Bottle Shop (for beer and wine), before heading home.

Sunday - Hopped on our bikes, rode over the treacherous Sellwood Bridge and over to Jola for breakfast, biked over to the river and built a fort at one beach spot, then made a fishing pole and searched for awesome rocks at another beach, met up with grandpa, played, rode over to Corbett Fish House for (a very early) dinner, and rode back home.

I love these days but worry about there being so many nice days in the middle of January.

Christmas cards ordered (almost)

I have to figure out what is happening with the color.

See what I mean? While selecting the design and during the ordering process, I only saw the brighter red color with black text. When I got the pdf proof, it had the muted red color with gray text. The shirt and skin tone look nearly identical, it's the text color that significantly changed. Does this mean my pdf reader color profile is different? Hmmm…In the morning I shall view using Adobe Reader and see if that makes a difference.

For the record

I only had one glass of wine from the bottle that now sits empty on the counter in the kitchen. Hen is asleep, and even if he wasn't, he's far too young to drink wine. Beauts has been dead for months. So, one can only conclude the man of the house drank the rest of it. Drat.

#Cancerisadick

A few weeks ago I learned that a friend's husband was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. He's 37. And has a wife. And a son.

My heart hurts every time I think of them, which I find myself doing a lot since hearing the news.

Please help if you can.

Hobby Lobby unhappiness

SCOTUS handed down a very disappointing decision in the Hobby Lobby case. I am frustrated and disappointed and angry and saddened and feel powerless.

These are awful feelings to have.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 58.1% of women in the workforce in the United States. The incomes these women earn and the subsequent taxes they pay help to pay for roads, emergency services, and tax breaks that are given to corporations.

That public road leading up to your Hobby Lobby store, women's tax revenue helped pay for that. The fire truck that was dispatched when your store caught on fire, women's tax revenue helped pay for that, too. And when the state offered you tax breaks to set up your business, women's tax revenue helped pay for that.

We live in a pluralistic society, we won't agree on everything. But I do expect a fairer shake for myself and every other woman than we've been given. Just as my taxes are used for things that I do not agree with, so should yours. Believing in a given religion should not be an automatic opt out card of society when you derive many of the benefits of that society.

In the wake of this decision, and this one, too, I'd like to suggest the following:

1. We make all forms of birth control available over the counter.*
2. We give all women of child-bearing years an annual stipend to pay for contraceptives out of pocket.
3. For any women wanting an IUD, we set up a processing center where requests are received and payment is issued, with zero bureaucracy since having to go through this process is burdensome enough.
4. Any female employee who works for a company with an insurance plan that does not cover birth control, can opt out of said insurance and sign up for insurance under the ACA, with subsidies to cover the cost in its entirety.
5. Boycott Hobby Lobby stores. Women make an estimated 75-85% of all household purchasing decisions. Let your voices be heard by not supporting this company.


*I'm not sure what to do if the stores attempt to opt out of stocking contraceptives for religious reasons. What a world we live in, eh? Isn't this 2014?

Ellie MacPherson

Last Thursday we said goodbye to our beloved Ellie.

Ells was our loving cat. If she suspected you were even thinking of possibly sitting down, she was there and ready to jump in your lap.

If you wanted to read a book in bed at night, she would jump on you and poke her head under the book, and then she would usually wiggle the rest of her body under the book, too. Basically, she made it very difficult to do any actual reading in bed.

Occasionally, she wrapped herself around my shoulders while I washed dishes. She did other idiosyncratic stuff, too.

She loved Hen in her own way, which typically involved staying near him but just out of his reach, particularly during Hen's younger years. She loved Beauty the wonder dog and Mamoe, her sister.

She brought us much happiness. 

She was the kitten who won us over with her sweet disposition and charming personality, so that our trip to Montana to find a kitten to love ended with us bringing home two kittens.

She lived with us for nearly twelve years.

And that feels too short.

It wasn't easy to say goodbye.

She was a really great cat. And we miss her a lot.

Scooter crash brought to you by Mia

Before 

After

40

What the hell are they thinking?

F---ing Roberts.

Dave sums it up best with this comment:
"I don't even have $2600 to give to a single candidate much less $1 million to toss around to dozens of candidates. All I have is a measly vote, which seems to count for less and less these days."

Although A.P. was pretty spot on, too:
"One nation, under the dollar."

Puarau said:
"Free Speech has become an oxymoron. Without millions in my bank account, who is going to listen to me?"

She was like the Giving Tree

Our family lost a loved one today.

As we grieve, we remember a happy dog;
loving and gentle towards every creature.

For nine years she was part of our
everyday lives. 

Here is Henry feeding her, kernel by kernel.

She loved our boy as we love our boy.

She gave our family all that she could,
and she was loved.

Today she might have been deaf.  She might
have walked with a limp and smelled a bit.
Maybe she didn't see so good and her teeth
had rotted away, but until her last day we
saw what strangers would stop us in the
street to say:

Such a sweet girl.
So pretty.

Good-bye, Beauty the Wonder Dog

Ellie ~ Mabel ~ Henry ~ Christie ~ Darren

~your loving family~

Roasted chicken, who knew?

Ellie MacPherson hasn't been doing well. She started losing a lot of weight. She peed outside her litter box. She vomited. She stopped eating. We took her to the vet. She was tested. The tests came back clean. Our vet suspects cancer, and not the cancer that would be easily cut out. We don't see the point of paying lots of cash to determine what kind of cancer since we wouldn't want to put our 12-year old cat through chemo. Our vet recommended trying new food. This worked for a while. She ate a little. Then she stopped eating again. Enter Christmas dinner. At one point in the evening, Darr caught Ellie on the counter trying to drag the turkey carcass away. We gave her a plate. She ate the turkey. She ended up eating almost all the leftover turkey over the next few days. Since fryer chickens are signifcantly cheaper, I bought one and roasted it for her. She loved it. She's eating nearly every two to three hours during the day, small plates with tiny pieces of roasted chicken. She hasn't had anymore accidents and she isn't vomiting all over the house. She is slowly putting on weight. Another trip to the vet is in order to see what I can add to her diet to ensure she gets the proper nutrients to be healthy, or as healthy as a cat (most likely) with cancer can be.

It's wrong, I say!

This is Beauty the wonder dog, Darren, Hen, and me on the Sellwood Bridge pre-movedfurthernorthtoactasatemporarybridgewhilethenewoneisbeingbuilt. That poor survey marker is currently not in its correct spot. Let's hope it isn't being used for any triangulating.

Psyche!

Hen fell asleep on the ride downtown to drop Darren off at the stadium to get his wristband for tonight's football match. I got all giddy. A nap! Oh, the possibilities!

Of course, the little twerp woke up the second I stopped the car. He's all recharged and ready to go. Nap hope is the one of the worst kinds of hope for a parent to lose.

Canine cancer

Beauty the Wonder Dog has cancer.

2013, you've really kicked us in the crotch with this one. Fuck you.

Man, that's close

We just received a confirmation email about when they will be moving the top of the old bridge to sit on the supports becoming the temporary bridge so the new bridge can be built. The interim bridge will come within four feet of our building. Yikes.

Oh, bugger

I noticed that my nose seems a little off since the fall with Hen, as in it has been knocked slightly out of place. If you pull on the skin you can see weirdness, bone weirdness specifically. And I still have numbness around my knee, although the swelling and pain has lessened significantly. Methinks I shall visit a doctor. If, and this is a HUGE if, if it is necessary for the doc to break the nose so she can set it. Well, ouch. But it'd be better to get it fixed now, than later. At least that is what I'm trying to tell myself.