Dad 755: Two Basketball Stories

(Dad writes today. Let's go, Rockets! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Another nice day during which the snow is melting (temp around 50° now). The sun is out and Spring is on its way. Bring it on.

 

A short post today. Everything seems to be going in the right direction around here. So I'm going to give you two short basketball stories.

 

I think I heard that the conference that Duke plays in, the ACC, has never had a freshman named "ACC Rookie of the Week" for more than 10 weeks. That just changed as an 18-year-old from Newport, Maine was named for the 11th week for the honor. Cooper Flagg is a 6'9" young man who has taken the college basketball season by storm. I remember watching Cooper win a Maine state championship a few years ago with his brothers. (His twin brother, Ace, will play for the University of Maine at Orono next year.) When Cooper was still just 17 years old, he was predicted to be the number one draft pick in the NBA draft later this year. Go for it, Cooper!

 

The second basketball story is that the high school varsity boys team from Rock Falls, Illinois is going into the post-season starting tonight. The team is coached by my grandson-in-law Zach, who is married to my granddaughter Kelsey. We have watched all his games this year on my TV (via online streaming). The team's record is 20+ wins and only about eight losses. If they win tonight, Zach's players will play for their regional championship on Friday. Go Rockets! Maine family will be watching!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

A Confession and Some Updates

Confession:  I am doing a post tonight so that I will have written something before my father's post tomorrow.  I couldn't let him have two posts in a row, ha ha!

Updates:

The State of Maine has accepted all of the tax filings I submitted, which makes me quite happy.

I've been questioning my decision to go back to a three-day work week. But then I saw what my net pay will be this week, and suddenly I'm okay with it again!

Our snail-mail has been more snail-mail-ish than normal.  After several weeks of sporadic mail delivery, we got a mail delivery on Sunday of over 50 pieces!  Forty of those were for my father. We got bills that should have been delivered two to three weeks ago.  Thanks, USPS.  (Our mail also was delivered yesterday and today.  It had been a while since we had received mail on three consecutive days.)

Thanks for checking in!

Dad 754: Barrels of Money

(Dad writes today. I'm posting late because I worked late. I'm back to three workdays per week.... What was I thinking? LOL! ~ Tracy)

Derf Here! Another nice looking day from the inside looking out. Was 13 degrees a little earlier. Now it is 19 degrees at 11:00 AM. Only a little over one week left in February. Whoopie!

Still watching Trump barreling through his signings of new laws. Boy, are the Dems up in arms as he and Elon find a lot of lost funds. I want better use of spending our tax money. It seems we have a multi-trillion dollar habit of throwing money away. Maybe start paying down debt. Now that is a novel idea. Hope our distinguished senators and representatives will do the right thing. So far they have failed to do much right. Par for the course. Carry on, Donald and Elon. We are with you!

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

Eagles, Snow, and Taxes

The last time I wrote a post was before the Super Bowl. Because the outcome went the way I hoped, I now will share that I was rooting for the Eagles. Congratulations to them! Fly, Eagles, Fly!

Old Man Winter has reared his ugly head. It snowed/sleeted all day yesterday. (Church services canceled for the second week in a row.) And I am listening to strong winds as I type this. You can go away now, Old Man Winter!

Yesterday I prepared Matt & Emily's taxes, and today I did ours. All e-filed! Just waiting for the State of Maine to get its act together and "Accept" the state returns. But otherwise, I am done. So Tracy's Tax Preparation Service is closed for another year. Have you filed yet? $$$

Dad 753: More Snow, Less Spending

(Dad writes today. I'm officially back to my three-day workweek. ~ Tracy)

Derf Here! Another nice day looking out from inside. However, if you walk outside, please wear a warm coat. The weather is still cold. We will have a snowstorm tonight that will bring a fair amount of snow. Where we are on the state's southeastern coast could get a lot of sleet or rain to keep our totals down. We should get around six inches all over the state. Bring it on. Yes, our winter weather is with us. Our pattern of snow every two or three days is catching us up on snow totals. We have a good base now to add some more!

Following the Democrats complaining about having an audit of government spending. They are complaining about a "constitutional crisis" and illegality of the audit. I say keep looking for the corrupt spending of our "honest" government officials. We may be able to somehow balance the budget and start paying down our debt. That's a novel idea. Don't see how an audit is against the law. Do you? The Dems need mouthwash!

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

Nachos and Taxes and Puzzles, Oh My!

The Super Bowl is going to be played later today. Lew is making cheese nachos, which he says will be ready by kickoff. I admit I am looking forward to the nachos more than the game. But I will be watching. I do have a preference on who wins, but it is not a strong preference. 

It's "tax season" once again. I prepare three sets of tax returns each year: Dad's, Matt & Emily's, and our own. I did Dad's a couple days ago, and I am happy to report that both of his returns (Federal and Maine) have been accepted! (I prepared/e-filed using TurboTax.) Next up: Matt & Emily's.

I've been working hard on a 2000-piece puzzle for several days. (I even worked deep into the night a couple times!) I finally finished it earlier this afternoon. A photo of the puzzle is below. It is titled "Country Delivery" by Buffalo Games. This is the last of the three puzzles that Debbie gave me for Christmas. It is beautiful!

Dad 752: Snow, Snow, Snow

(Dad writes today. At the bottom of his hand-written paper, he wrote "Short enough?" Yes, it is. Thank you, Dad! ~ Tracy)

Derf Here! A great looking day from the inside but very cold outside. We are in a pattern where we have annoying storms every other day. However, tomorrow we are expecting a larger storm, predicted for about six inches. Then Sunday more snow of between seven and eight inches. Then another storm on Tuesday. At least we are getting through February.

Otherwise, everything else seems to be going along in an uneventful way. We'll take it.

I'm done writing for today.

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

The Number Two

The last few days have been tough in America. Two plane tragedies with loss of life. Devastated families and communities. May they find peace in the Lord during these times.

Our church had one service on Sunday mornings until today. Needed to expand to two services because we were at capacity. Lew and I went to the second service, which was nicely attended. Apparently the first service had a nice turnout, too.

Groundhog Day today. The 2nd day of the 2nd month. I heard the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter. Sounds about right.

Tomorrow I start my final two-day work week. I'll be going to three days the following week. I'm hoping to go back to two days at some point, but we'll see.

May you have a blessed February!