Month: March 2023 (Page 1 of 4)

–Took the Mustang to lunch at Rim’s Deli, next to Noah’s Bagels. Old school, most excellent. Also got 13 sesame bagels at Noah’s for a bit over $13.

–Stopped at Home Depot; their basil has arrived. Bought one (my third) and put it in the pot. Someday…

–Yet another drizzly day.

–Got some subs at Jersey Mike’s for dinner (all sales proceeds today go to local charities). Not great, but a good cause.

–Rainy day.

–Went over taxes again. Seems legit. Grace’s RMD gave us $36k more income this year, and we hadn’t allowed for that in setting up estimated payments, so we owe almost $10k. State is puzzling: we made no (or trivial) estimated payments (why?) and owe close to $5k. We made $80k selling Tunnel Hill, but there’s apparently a new exclusion allowance so that doesn’t come into play. And all the deduction hoo-ha (Goodwill, car registration, property taxes, etc.) is irrelevant: it never comes close to the standard deduction of $28k, and never will unless we start paying mortgage interest again.

–Drove to UPS store to pick up 1972 NOS Osprey Santa Cruz day pack (way cool) and drop off Grace’s package to Jan.

–Started in on taxes. Pretty thick stuff. Turns out we grossed $229,000 in 2022. Holy freaking crap!

–Re-potted new basil plant. Looks okay so far.

–Made pizza for dinner.

–Went to Smart and Final for milk, muffins and another basil plant. Stuck the basil plant (out of its pot) in a glass of water to try and loosen up the tangled roots. Not working very well so far. I thought it would be roots on the outside and dirt in the middle, but it acts ore like roots everywhere holding on tightly to some dirt. We fix ’em.

–Took the Mustang to my old neighborhood–Swallows Nest, Perry’s, Discovery Park, etc.–to check things out. Sutter Health parking lot was seriously empty; lots of trash in the canal under the bridge into Discovery Park–which was flooded of course–; the bike path into DP along the Garden Highway is fully lined with homeless tents.

–Got gas at the Fair Oaks Arco station. Regular was “cheap” at $4.25; the mid-grade I got was $4.55. The world continues to fall apart. And: the Mustang is averaging around 17-18 mpg when it isn’t on the road to Monterey. I hit it a little on the way home, and it didn’t seem to leap into tire-shredding action. I’ve never floored it (or maybe any car I’ve driven); will do that before long just to see if 460 horsepower actually means anything.

–Walked to UPS to pick up the Urban EDC. Nice knife.

–Took Grace to Crumbl Cookies ($5 for one large-ish cookie; outrageous) where she got her sister a gift certificate. Then took her to Target for various stuff, most of which she didn’t find.

–Canned soup for dinner.

–Walked to UPS store to pick up the Strider. Beautiful knife, but (1) huge, and (2) flawed in exactly the same ways as my other one: detent lash when closed, and you can have ONE of the following: good action with off-center blade and blade play when open, or a tight centered blade that you have to pry open. No more Striders.

–Stopped at Bel Air for bagels and cream cheese.

–Went to Peet’s for decaf, Safeway for pizza crust, bagels, etc.

–Made pizza or dinner. Not so hot.