08:02 – The house is officially ours, and we’re packing like crazy to get ready for the moving company to arrive here Friday morning. As of Friday afternoon, we’ll be moved up to Sparta and officially living there. Which means we need to get everything packed in the next three days that needs to go on the trucks.
Barbara went furniture shopping yesterday. She has several items scheduled to arrive here on Thursday, including a new sofa and recliner chair, a platform bed, and various lamps and other accessories. We’ll have them stick the new furniture in the garage so the movers can load them easily.
I spent most of yesterday on the phone and web, getting services canceled and address changes made. I also arranged to have a Buck Stoves wood stove delivered to our new house next Monday and installed. There’s most of a cord of wood in a random pile back along the back fence line, just sitting there rotting. But it’s good enough for now, and I’ll get fresh wood delivered once we have time to get a rack installed under the deck. But if we do have a power failure, at least we can keep the house warm and we can do basic cooking.
13:27 – We’re taking a break from packing stuff. We’ve now admitted to ourselves that there’s no way we can have everything ready to go on the moving truck on Friday, but that’s okay. We’ll take both vehicles up, and the stuff we can’t get moved Friday we’ll simply move later. We’ll be down here anyway getting the house ready to go on the market next spring, so there’ll be plenty of trips. If we need to, we’ll rent a U-Haul truck large enough to get everything in one trip. That’d also let us transport some heavy/bulky items that we can’t have ready in time for Friday. That may not be necessary, though. The Trooper does haul a fair amount of weight and volume. Interesting datum. We found out on the last couple of trips up and back that we’re getting a bit more than 18 MPG, which I thought was extraordinary for a pretty heavily loaded 5,500 pound GVWR vehicle climbing the mountain on the way up to Sparta.
So here’s a bizarre one, that looks like an OPSEC failure:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3341003/Bodies-Montana-believed-mother-son-vanished-month-ago-gold-bar-worth-half-million-dollars.html
They’ve got a guy in custody for questioning with prior conviction for kidnapping and armed robbery.
It looks like the wrong people found out about their windfall.
Since someone knew, the wrong person knew too.
Still, what was the ex-husband doing with a 25 POUND bar of gold? Where do you buy something like that, where did country joe get half a mil, and how could his wife at the time not know he spent half a mil? Even if he bought it a while ago, it was still a significant chunk of change. Or is there some sort of scam going on, that when wrong?
If he’s got one 25 pounder, do you think that’s the only PMs he’s got?
nick
I must have Asperger’s Syndrome because I just Googled to figure out that a 25 pound bar of gold is worth less than $400,000.
@Dave, yep, I thought there must have been a decimal place error, but nope.
If he bought it anytime other than this year it could have been worth either a lot more, or a lot less.
Still a big chunk of metal cost a big chunk of cash.
nick
Still a big chunk of metal cost a big chunk of cash.
If you have it, where are you going to spend it? A 25 pound chunk of gold is not something the average bank take as a deposit.
So, was the house okay? Trashed? Stuff missing? Did you have to evict the previous owners at gunpoint?
Some people who hoard such things against a financial collapse buy bags of silver dimes because it is a relatively convenient increment to trade.
The house was in excellent shape. They didn’t leave garbage around, and they even vacuumed before they left. Barbara, our agent, and I were amazed.
“They didn’t leave garbage around, and they even vacuumed before they left. Barbara, our agent, and I were amazed.”
They must have also taken down the pics of me and that guy from the Capital District that we left there with the scrawled-in-blood death threats.
To give you an idea of how much the Houston area has grown, here is an outline of the new outer loop around Houston placed on other areas. “See how Grand Parkway compares in size to other land formations”.
http://www.chron.com/houston/article/See-how-Grand-Parkway-compares-in-size-to-other-6657488.php#photo-9017195
Around eight million people and still growing even though oil is now cheaper than milk and coke.
About four years ago, I drove a 17′ moving truck, not full to the brim, from the east coast to the west coast along I-10. For the trip I averaged 9.950 mpg, which was a pleasant surprise.
new outer loop around Houston
What does it take to drive around that loop, about a day?
from the east coast to the west coast … averaged 9.950 mpg
Well, duh, it’s all down hill.
“About four years ago, I drove a 17′ moving truck, not full to the brim, from the east coast to the west coast along I-10. For the trip I averaged 9.950 mpg, which was a pleasant surprise.”
Gasoline or diesel?
Re: Gold Bars – My father worked for a multi-millionaire in California in the 70’s. When the man died, (in a mysterious P-51 crash), my father was called by the widow to help her sort through their assets. Down in the basement they found a false wall that hid over 20, brick size, gold bars, bags of diamonds, and other precious items. Shortly afterward the IRS came and confiscated everything.
The house was in excellent shape. They didn’t leave garbage around, and they even vacuumed before they left. Barbara, our agent, and I were amazed.
The previous owners were not white trash. I am related to white trash and they do not clean anything.
new outer loop around Houston
What does it take to drive around that loop, about a day?
I do not have enough patience to find out. About 50 miles of the loop opens up next summer. Another 75 mile section (the one by my house all the way to I-45) is not even started yet other than the service roads that they just cleared the ground for.
Yup, it’s big.
Looks like austin already has a ring that sized, only needs a couple of connections.
Nice that Texas is bigger than France, Switzerland, and part of Germany. Or bigger than Germany and Belgium.
Houston’s bigger than N. Ireland.
It’s big.
nick
“Shortly afterward the IRS came and confiscated everything.”
So…either the deceased was in massive arrears with the IRS bastards, and/or he failed to file any given number of tax periods, OR, they simply rolled in and stole it all, like the rat-fucking criminal bastard scum-sucking scheisskopfen they are.
“I am related to white trash and they do not clean anything.”
Fems around here don’t clean anything until the very last minute before company arrives (which was known about for weeks) or until it piles up in a room or hallway until it’s no longer passable or usable. Dishes and glassware and silverware and pots and pans simply get tossed into the sink un-rinsed, along with bottle caps, wire, plastic wrap, etc. Also coins and I’ve found, under murky wotta to my cost, broken glass or the razor-sharp blades from food processors. Yours truly deals with all this pretty much daily; and I’ve got several nice cuts and scratches from just this past T-Day hoopla.
Mrs. OFD couldn’t get to her blood work/test stuff or the big full MD checkup this morning thanks to multiple vehicle accidents at and around the exit ramp off the interstate where she had to go, plus a fully involved vehicle fire, which naturally brings onto the scene multiple fire apparatus, police cars, and ambulances. Pretty good video got sent to the local tee-vee station, probably by someone busy beavering away with their cells and tablets. So re-scheduled until 12/23 just as she returns from another week in Georgia. And next week will be doing a class up here, amazingly, in Vermont, which rarely happens, because, you know, Vermont has just the bestest healthcare and mental health stuff in place and going on in the whole wide world and doesn’t need anything from anybody else and we’re just fucking amazing here, at least according to the ass-hat gummint stooges and political hacks who run the show in this state, mostly libturd Dem creeps not-from-around-here originally and their usual RINO accomplices.
(rant over, for now…)
Last weekend I got the call from Mom that her printer was “broken”. I’m not going to tell a story about that other than to say a document had hung up the print spooler and I had to kill and restart the service. I recall that I have had to deal with a document borking up the print spooler and requiring the service to be restarted in every single version of DOS and Windows I have ever used, probably starting with MS-DOS 3.0. Are they still using the old 4-bit code written for the Intel 4004?
Now for something completely different on the prepping front, I managed to snag a couple of 0.2µ and 0.1µ filters out of the trash. Those should be able to filter the zombification virus out of the water.
You need 0.02 micron absolute to filter all known pathogenic viruses, and 0.01 to filter all viruses. A 0.1 micron filter blocks pathogens other than viruses.
(rant over, for now…)
On the way home from the grocery today, my cabdriver gave me an earful about how SOBama is gonna gin up a national emergency and suspend the Constitution just before the elections.
If she hadn’t been 4’11”, I coulda been listening to OFD himself! 😉
Disturbing, but not surprising:
How Corporate America keeps huge hacks secret
[snip] Gasoline or diesel? [snip]
87 octane gasoline. The basis of the truck was a Ford van. Not a bad ride, but not really enough leg room for my limited range of motion appendages, plus lack of cruise control, made for a four day long slog. I made sure not to drive myself to exhaustion, and to take breaks during the day. And if anyone ever asks, I-10 across the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana, sucks donkey balls.
If we need to, we’ll rent a U-Haul truck large enough to get everything in one trip.
When you load enlist the help of friends* for the heftin and toatin, while you supervise how it is loaded. You probably won’t have the option at the destination so save what energy you’ve got. Also, a truck that is too big can be a damned sight easier to load than one which is just the right size.
*After a really bad move they might not be friends any longer, but by then you will be elsewhere. 😎
“If she hadn’t been 4’11”, I coulda been listening to OFD himself!”
Hey, send her on up here! We’ll have a nice chat. Besides height she was, hopefully, also missing facial hair. And weight. And general all-round ugliness and nastiness.
Obola doesn’t need to suspend the Constitution or Bill of Rights; they’ve been birdcage liner for a very long time now in this country, right off the presses, in fact. If he kicks off a national emergency, maybe because the Repubs won’t be able to nominate anyone and Cankles implodes somehow, it’ll mean he has to stay in power for the “good of the country,” etc. In other words, a phony political crisis; or maybe he can touch off World War IV with the Russians in Syria. I suspect they’ll try something just before the elections but dunno what, exactly.
You are correct, RBT, I was just being glib with my remark about “zombification virus”. In real use I would put a .45 micron (I have many) before the 0.2 which would be put before a 0.02 (I have a few), effectively giving me a giant Lifestraw. I shouldn’t leave out details, the depth and breadth of knowledge by the participants of this site demand it.
How do I get to pick these interesting things out of the trash? I work for a pharmaceutical company in the development department. These are items that were bought for a particular purification process that never reached prime time. The stuff is all new in sealed sterile bags and was being tossed as part of a clean up. They never actually made it to the dumpster, I pulled what I wanted out of the junk pile, asked my boss if I could have them and he chuckled and said ” knock yourself out”. I have a reputation as being a bit eccentric at work.
Also, a truck that is too big can be a damned sight easier to load than one which is just the right size.
Yep. And watch out for overhanging tree branches. Cost me $90 when I rented a truck to clear out the last of my daughter’s rented house when they moved back in.
(BTW the daughter got the civil side of marriage done two weeks ago. The religious part will be done in June. She and her spouse are now shopping for health insurance on the exchange. Bad news: Every PPO plan has been dropped in the entire US. HMO plans with narrow networks only.)
OFD, I notice that you normally use euphemisms or misspellings to avoid writing swear words here … except in reference to the IRS, on whom you let loose with both barrels. I see nothing to criticize in this.
OFD wrote:
“Fems around here don’t clean anything until the very last minute before company arrives…”
Hm, not like my sister. Her place was (when she had a hubbie and four kids at home) and still is (they’re all gone now) completely eat-off-the-floor spotless. She’d go nuts if she saw my place.
“I have a reputation as being a bit eccentric at work.”
Well, you certainly live in the right state for eccentricity; I oughta know!
“OFD, I notice that you normally use euphemisms or misspellings to avoid writing swear words here … except in reference to the IRS, on whom you let loose with both barrels. I see nothing to criticize in this.”
lol, as the kidz used to say. Yeah, I’ve tried to tone down my use of curse words with very little success; it’s one thing to kick heroin, ciggies and booze cold-turkey; quite another to dump long-used language habits. I haven’t been able to kick my Boston/Rhode Island accent yet, so why I think I can stop swearing after 95% of my work life has been spent among soldiers, cops, and IT drones is a mystery. And try as I might, I just can’t stop blasting the IRS fuckers with both barrels every chance I get; they did a number on us, and more than once, too. And it hasn’t stopped.
“Her place was (when she had a hubbie and four kids at home) and still is (they’re all gone now) completely eat-off-the-floor spotless.”
Hell, I still have to do the dishes over again after they come outta the dishwasher. And the floor normally looks like a platoon of jarheads marched over it during Mud Season and also dropped some of their garbage and rubbish along the way. I can’t keep up; it’s easily forty hours a week just on house stuff here. What was that someone said about prepping and writing a book???
And if anyone ever asks, I-10 across the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana, sucks donkey ****s.
Good gosh, does it ever. And when that steel grating is wet, a special pucker factor will be needful in order to avoid needing new pants. I had an idiot spin his car out on that bridge trying to merge with us one day. Yes, it was raining.
Can I expand that to all the bridges east of Beaumont (including same) to the Mississippi border? Bridges in east Texas and Louisiana suck for some reason.
So, when the W-S bhouse goes up for sale will it be empty or near empty? Some people like to view an empty house, others a furnished house.
The previous owners of my current house had already moved out when I viewed it. It was full of rented furniture, must have been costing them hundreds of bucks a week.
(BTW the daughter got the civil side of marriage done two weeks ago. The religious part will be done in June. She and her spouse are now shopping for health insurance on the exchange. Bad news: Every PPO plan has been dropped in the entire US. HMO plans with narrow networks only.)
Yes, the president of Texas BCBS claimed that they are spending 40% more on the Obolacare PPO plans than they are receiving in fees. And no stepping in the door of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center as they might cure you while spending a million on you. Or five.
I have a group Silver BCBS PPO plan for my business. I am contemplating having heart ablation surgery in January and the first thing I get to do is write a $4,000 check to my electrocardiologist. Then he is going to insert a camera into one side of my groin and a cattle prod in the other side. I can hardly wait.
The house has a dishwasher. I’ve only used it once, I just don’t like or trust them. My plumber says I should use the dishwasher and spa at least every six months or rubber seals will goi kaput.
Y’all should migrate to Australia. Our health system just works.
I spent a week in hospital in May last year. Cost zero, although the shared ward (four people, mostly guys) drove me nuts and caused me to sign myself out. Got barked at by my sis for that.
“I am contemplating having heart ablation surgery in January and the first thing I get to do is write a $4,000 check to my electrocardiologist. Then he is going to insert a camera into one side of my groin and a cattle prod in the other side. I can hardly wait.”
Heart attacks killed my father and three of my grandparents. I think I’d rather just let it happen than go through this stuff…
And try as I might, I just can’t stop blasting the IRS ****ers with both barrels every chance I get; they did a number on us, and more than once, too. And it hasn’t stopped.
We had brunch with our friends and their IRS field agent son and family last Sunday. And his ultra cute two year old (waffle only, no syrup). Anyway, their son just got promoted to GS-12 and now carries using a federal license. He says that he usually gives people a lot of rope and then if they cross him, he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years. “See you in tax court” is his favorite saying. The wildest thing is that his boss will not counteract him, the decision is his.
“I am contemplating having heart ablation surgery in January and the first thing I get to do is write a $4,000 check to my electrocardiologist. Then he is going to insert a camera into one side of my groin and a cattle prod in the other side. I can hardly wait.”
Heart attacks killed my father and three of my grandparents. I think I’d rather just let it happen than go through this stuff…
I’ve got atrial fibrillation real bad. Started about four years ago along with tachycardia (heart beating 150 to 200 bpm). I had a fairly rough heart attack six years ago and lost the back side of my heart.
The tachycardia is under control using Rythmol. The atrial fibrillation has restarted back up in the last couple of months and occurs most nights now. It does not occur when I am active and running around. Usually. I sleep maybe about half the time I am in bed and get up feeling like somebody beat me with a baseball bat. I’ve got to do something, this is killing me.
1 December 2015 at 19:34
Y’all should migrate to Australia. Our health system just works.
Donald Trump is going to fix this by killing Obolacare and extending Medicare to all citizens. If the RINOs let him.
Trump 2016!
“Y’all should migrate to Australia. Our health system just works”
.
We lived in New Zealand in 2000 – 2004. The National Insurance health care was great for non serious things like flu, broken bones, etc. When my wife had her heart attack, she was treated quickly and well even if the Wellington Hospital was filthy. But when we asked to visit a cardiologist for a follow up, we were told they were to busy and we could see one when she had her next attack. NZ has since gone from single payer to allow private insurance as well. One nice side effect of the NI is that you don’t need liability car insurance. All accidents in NZ are covered.
Y’all should migrate to Australia.
My understanding is that’s not easy to accomplish. A company I worked for in the eighties tried to set up a branch operation down there. Even with Aussie partners the hoops were just too many and too high. Very protective laws.
Maybe the health care is decent but aren’t we talking only 23M peoples? That doesn’t even rival California.
he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years. “See you in tax court”
And I seriously hope someone does and the judge barbecues his ass to the wall. Vindictive people in government should not be tolerated at any level. They are sworn to follow the law and if they don’t they should lose their jobs and the injured party awarded a substantial sum paid for by the vindictive individual.
he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years. “See you in tax court”
And I seriously hope someone does and the judge barbecues his ass to the wall. Vindictive people in government should not be tolerated at any level. They are sworn to follow the law and if they don’t they should lose their jobs and the injured party awarded a substantial sum paid for by the vindictive individual.
Did you miss the first part of the sentence? “He says that he usually gives people a lot of rope and then if they cross him, he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years. “See you in tax court” is his favorite saying.”
My friend’s son is one of the most reasonable people that I know. And I have known him for 25 years. He is not vindictive in the slightest and does not use his power lightly.
The last person that he toasted (that I know of) was a trial lawyer in west Texas. The guy grossed $25 million in the last ten years and did file any tax forms nor pay a cent in. However, the IRS got a boatload of 1099s so they know what the income is. My friend’s son dealt with this guy for 18 months and the lawyer continuously pushed back and refused to file any paperwork whatsoever. My friend’s son knows that a lot of the lawyer’s income was in his escrow account which is not taxable. However, since the lawyer guy refused to submit any paperwork (and pay taxes), my friend’s son charged him for taxes (income, social, medicare) on the entire $25 million plus penalties and interest. It was well over ten million dollars. And, moved the case into fraud division since the guy refused to pay taxes which allowed him to go back ten+ years. Don’t ever let the IRS fill out your 1040, they will do you in every time.
The lawyer got the bill and went sky high, called my friend’s son, and told him that he would cooperate. Too late. Way too late. My friend’s son had driven to his office (100 miles away) many times trying to see the guy who always refused to see him. The case went to seizure pretty quick and my friend’s son has no idea where it went then.
He had another case where the farmer was deducting expenses on 150 goats. He went to see the goats, got to the farm and no goats. The farmer told him that his son had just taken all the goats to the vet. At that point, the case changed from a partial audit to a full audit and my friend’s son does not have authorization (or time) for a full audit. All the farmer’s deductions were disallowed per IRS policy. Tax court bound and down! BTW, taking deductions that you do not have is fraud.
Don’t mess with the IRS. There is nothing new under the sun for them. They have lots of algorithmic experience on when people are cheating.
if they cross him, he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years. “See you in tax court” is his favorite saying
Which pretty much sums up the problem with the IRS all in one sentence. No accountability. He can just “disallow their deductions” and put them through a massively expensive court process, just because they “cross him”. He thinks this is normal and fine, because it’s what all of his colleagues do too.
Maybe this particular guy really is a reasonable person, but the problem is the amount of power in his hands, with no oversight, and no incentive _not_ to abuse it. The fact that the tax court is also run by the IRS makes the problem worse, because the court is not neutral, and abuses are unlikely to be punished.
It’s a bit more civilized here, but petty bureaucrats are the same everywhere. Our first ever full business audit was a classic. The guy demanded ahead of time that we provide full ledgers on everything, complete receipts, everything – on paper. Even for our tiny company, that meant printing out thousands of pages, which my wife carefully organized in something like 20 binders. A massive amount of work, and printing costs.
The guy came in, and was shocked to see that everything was there, perfectly organized. But actually doing his job? That would be effort. So he flipped through things for an hour or so, then declared “I’m sure I can find something wrong here. Let’s just call it x-thousand you owe. Pay up.”. Lazy bastard, but what are you gonna do? I don’t remember the exact amount he demanded, but it was deliberately set at a threshold that just wasn’t worth fighting.
Actually, I would have fought it, and I’d have gone after his job, too. I hate people like that. But my wife handles all the accounts, and is a much more sensible person that I am. So she paid up, and life went on.
What Brad says, but with more vehemence.
Just got a bill for $78 and change. Seems I didn’t pay enough estimated tax or something. Given the variability of my side business, estimated taxes are a PITB. So I underpay, and pay the penalty at the end of the year.
What I wouldn’t give for a tax code on one sheet of paper, no smaller than 10 point, 8.5×11 inches. They could even do a full bleed and I wouldn’t complain. Instead we have 90 tomes of pages that nobody truly understands, and an IRS that has said power. The power to tax…
I’d vote for anyone that presented a single tax table (progressive, even) with no deductions or exceptions. Or a Fair Tax. Or a flat tax. Just make it possible for an average person to be able to do his taxes without pulling of hair and wishing pain on accountants.
Sorry – 2 or 3 rants at once. It gets to me.
Did you miss the first part of the sentence?
Yes, I did.
“He says that he usually gives people a lot of rope and then if they cross him, he disallows every single one of their deductions for the last three years.
So what if they cross him? Part of the job. To disallow every deduction, most of them legal, just because someone crossed him is vindictive. It is also against the law to disallow deductions that are perfectly legal. To do so and force a person to court at significant, and unnecessary expense is vindictive.
He is not vindictive in the slightest and does not use his power lightly.
Really. Then what is “if they cross him, he disallows every single one of their deductions”? Seems like he is abusing his power when disallowing all deductions without any regard to the legality of a deduction. Being vindictive is an abuse of power.
People such as that have no business in the government, especially in matters dealing with money. To wage one’s own personal war because “someone crossed me” is just asinine. I hope he gets caught and his ass gets barbecued by some judge and a huge personal fine levied against him.
Instead we have 90 tomes of pages that nobody truly understands
And even the IRS does not understand.
On one of my audits I was told I owed money because I had not declared the income. I had, just on the wrong form. IRS agent maintained I owed the money. I showed them where the money had been declared. They stated, wrong form, you owe the money. I said take the money off the wrong form and put it on the right form. The IRS agent said that was illegal. I then told the agent to stuff it and walked out. Filed an amended return and nothing more was ever said. And I did not pay any additional taxes or penalties.
Of course this is the same IRS that was going to put my house up for tax auction because the name of the person they were looking for matched my name. No effort was made to confirm the SSN was the same.
I spent a week in hospital in May last year. Cost zero.
Nope. It cost, you just didn’t pay it directly. TANSTAAFL.
A company I worked for in the eighties tried to set up a branch operation down there. Even with Aussie partners the hoops were just too many and too high. Very protective laws.
I had an offer at a former employer to work at a job site in Australia, specifically Alice Springs. The pay was spectacular. However, my wife wouldn’t be able to work there, even with her MD degree. And there’s not much to do there, according to coworkers that had done tours there.
I’d get bored pretty quick in Alice Springs without a job. And you’re 1000 km or so from the nearest beach. This might be fun though…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta
Yeah, I know I paid through my taxes for my hospital stay, but at least I didn’t have to pay taxes *and* pay for hospital. However, my sister has warned me to go to a private hospital next time something like this happens.
Public vs private hospital. Weren’t you in a four bed ward? I don’t think those even exist here anymore. Last year when they were making me less of an asshole (about a foot) I was in a very nice big modern private room on the fifth floor. The only annoyance was the damn call system that had a low chime. Very much a torture as it just went on and on. I had them keep my door closed. Oh, and the tv was too small. When you’re in bed for a week there’s not much else to do besides sleep. I really didn’t feel like reading.
Run by Dignity Health, a non-profit(HA) that used to be Sisters of Mercy.
Also a great staff, really. I doubt the public hospital has employees like that (but I could be wrong).