Tax Time

Well, I think you know where this is headed. I promise to not bore you with my taxes. I just needed a title for the blog and today I worked on my taxes.

Last night, we had some significant rain. I do not know how much we got but I do know it was pretty wet when I got up at 6AM and it was raining hard enough that the doggies would not even think about going out. That means the ground around the deck project and cabin was pretty muddy today. I did take a short walk down there to check things out and decided it was way too muddy to do anything. Wait a minute! Today is Monday. That means it is our day off. I can just goof off and be happy. So that is what I did. 

Carol decided today would be a good day to groom Qianna. She needed it badly since it has been 4 week since the least grooming. We find it odd the the dog grooming table is in the Cat Center. That is really not an issue because the dog grooming table is in the same area where the cat food is stored not where the cats hang out.

The grooming process has Carol brushing and clipping before bathing, then after bath and drying there is more brushing and scissor trimming. Clipping in the Cat Center and bathing is in the Kindness Clinic. That is where the large tub is. So that is where Carol went next. I help with that process. If you remember from my previous dog bathing experience, I got more water on the floor than on the dogs. This time, I did not get as wet and I kept most of the water in the tub. I left Carol so she could do the blow drying. Last step was scissor clipping and more brushing. Carol got that done and Qianna was transformed from a poodle needing grooming to a sharp looking poodle.

There she is in all her radiant beauty.
   
While all grooming was taking place, I decide to tackle IRS. This was going to take a while. I cannot recall ever having so many 1099's and other tax stuff. Let's hope TurboTax can get it done for me. The first run sent me into shock. I just cold not believe I owed as much as TurboTax was telling me. Something had to be wrong. While checking the income entries, I discovered I had entered the same income twice. OK that was easy to fix. Finally got it all done. Bottom line is I owe but I owe less than I expected. That made me feel good. I think I will have a tax reviewer checked it anyway because I may have overlooked something that could save me some $$$.

Since Carol was in a grooming spirit, she asked me if I wanted a haircut. I needed one so I said sure. Where else can a guy go to get a haircut and have a cold beer at the same time. She done good and the Blue Moon was also good.
   
We've been planning our trip to Blue Ridge, Georgia. We leave here on Friday and arrive in GA on Monday. I posted a link to our tentative route on FaceBook and I got a comment from my former boss who said, "When you go through Asheville, NC, you will be 1 hour from where we live!" So, Carol and I discussed our plans and decide to make a small detour to visit my former boss. Becky took a risk when she hired me in 1995 and has since remained a special friend. We look forward to our visit. If you want to view a larger map, click here.
   

We have crazy weather coming. Tonight it is supposed to be in the 40's. Tomorrow, we will be lucky if the high hits 60. By the end of the week, we are back to mild spring weather.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Countdown Begins

We arrived early at First Baptist Church, Maysville this morning and found the place packed with more people than the previous couple of weeks. Pastor John spoke about authentic ministry from Colossians 1:24-29. Ministry is not only for those who are paid to minister. Ministry is for all believers. He challenged us to answer one question; Do I really want to make a difference in my life and the world around me? He continued by giving us three traits of an authentic ministry.

1. There is a divine calling to minister. In John 15:18-21, jesus tells His disciples what to expect of his ministers.
2. There is a very clear message. That message can be based on life experiences. Think of this as God preparing us for ministry.
3. We have identifiable goals to share the message with those around us. 

As we left church this morning we told Pastor John that this would be our last Sunday. He took time to pray for us as we were leaving. That's pretty cool. FBC Maysville is a happening place. I am sure we will find a cool place to worship in or around Blue Ridge, GA.

A few readers have suggested some online church services we will investigate. Englewood Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, NC and Church On The Eastern Shore in Fairhope, AL are a couple of places.

After church, we went to Jacksonville to watch The Hunger Games. The movie was well attended and really was pretty good. As difficult as it is for me to clearly understand the dialog, I was able to follow the story line pretty well. Carol said it followed the book pretty close. She was happy with the movie. Oh yeah, the pop corn was pretty good also. Yep, it was over priced as it always is. Carol snuck in a bag of M&M's so I guess if you average it out, my pop corn was not too expensive.

After the movie, we went to Cook Out. The food tastes just as if it had been cooked outdoors on a grill so it does have a sense of uniqueness to it. I ordered a foot long dog with chili, cheese, onion, slaw and onion rings. Carol had a cheese burger. The serving sizes seem small compared to other places, but they are certainly adequate. The hot dog is covered with slaw so don't think that is a lot of onions. The service was quick and the food is certainly good. I had a Cheerwine Float that was pretty tasty.



As we were driving back home, we could see storm clouds on the West side of US 17 and sunshine on the East side. Here is what Weatherbug shows of todays forecast. We are located just above and to the right of the name Jacksonville.
   

When we got home, I took a snapshot of the sunny Eastern sky and stormy Western sky.

 

Most of the storm system is going North of us. Plus the cooler weather over night will weaken the storm system. God is protecting us from the worst weather.

It seems hard to believe we have been here for almost 4 weeks now. Friday we pull out for our next stop on this adventure. We will have a short work week. Hopefully I can get a couple of dry days to get the lattice installed around the deck.

We are settled in for the evening. I am enjoying a little adult beverage from Australia (Black Swan Shiraz). Thanks for stopping by.

A Half Day Schedule

Yesterday I mentioned that we would probably have rain most of the day. Well, there was a little drizzle going on during the morning hours mixed with some sun shine. Carol had cat duty this morning (I know, broken record) but at least today she was joined by another workamper, Corbly who scrubbed the floor while Carol clean cages and freshened the litter box. I fixed breakfast thinking she would be back after waking up the kitties. I ate mine and left her's on the counter.

My task was to finish the deck before the wet weather event should that happen. Workamper Tom came to my rescue today. He worked on getting the deck boards secured. When we placed the deck boards initially, we only secured the perimeter. A hardy "Thank You" to Tom for completing this task. The concrete landing pad appears to be OK. Sorry for the blur across the top of the image. I gotta remember to keep my finger away from the camera eye on my iPhone. The second photo shows the completed stairs with railing. Cody was posing for me. All that is left is to attached the lattice below the deck.

   

As we travel to New Bern and Jacksonville, we see a few places that remind us of Texas. Places like Texas Roadhouse, is one. There is another place that we've not seen anywhere other than here; Texas Steakhouse & Saloon. There are 22 of these places locations in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. I am not one who eagerly eats steak at a restaurant because I can do a pretty good job grilling my own steak. Tonight we decided to give this place a try. I had Sirloin & Lump Crab Cake while Carol had Baby Back Ribs. I blurred the photos so I won't post them here. I will say we were impressed. Steak was cook perfectly and was full of flavor. Carol's Baby Back Ribs were very meaty and tender.

The only hiccup in the meal occurred when the steaks came out before we got our salads. We did order an appetizer and that can throw off food delivery schedules so we asked our waitress if she could be sure we got our salads before the steaks. When that did not happen, a fellow named H.J. came to our table and apologized for the mix up and said he would see that we got our salads and would remake the steaks so we could enjoy our meal as we had expected. Then the general manager came over to our table and also apologized for the mix up. She said the restaurant wanted to make sure diners have a good experience in the restaurant. Now that is good customer service.

Our Feb 22 blog entry On With The Adventure briefly tells about our stay at Frog City RV Park in Louisiana.  The morning we left Frog City RV Park, Carol and I had breakfast at Lucky Deuces Travel Plaza. While there, Carol was photographed as we ordered breakfast. The staff writer for the Acadia Parish Today newspaper was writing an article on this place and gave Carol web info where we could look up the article. Today, Carol gave me the slip of paper the writer left with her. Apparently this was a filler article and was used on March 19. We were there on Feb 22.

Sunday, Carol and I are going to see The Hunger Games. From what I've read about the movie, people either love it or hate it. I am sure Carol will enjoy the movie and I am sure the pop corn will be good. I'll let you know tomorrow.

More wet weather is forecaste for Sunday. Thanks for stopping by.