Mosh Glass

It’s the 15th of October. Again. It’s the last deadline of the year. Thank the lord. It is now 11:33 pm and the day is over. I was so busy I did not bother to log anything. I just, moments ago, emailed my last two timely filed tax returns. I had been waiting for the signed forms. Seems like late filers do all late. I think it’s because they cretinous assholes. Ya, that’s it.

I am gonna paraphrase here in out. It’s bedtime.

This morning I dropped off Michaels new used car at he body shop for some intensive detailing. A spa day for this wheels.

The owner of the shop was kind enough to drive me home. Probably because of all the business I bring him. That’s fine.

Off to work, top down. Still nice outside. Quick trip.

Ok, I arrived. For he next twelve hours I prepared tax returns, took calls and answered emails. At the same time. You know it’s busy when you use the pause in a clients conversation as a chance to work on someone else’s taxes. It’s like that.

On the last day we spend a lot of time getting people to sign efile forms so I can file he crap. You would think it was everyone’s first time. We gotta call al the missing clients who have picked up their returns and basically belittle and cajol them into emailing the forms. Threats of IRS punishment don’t faze people today. Late filers have been through it and hey do not care.

I sorta finish at 1030 and left the office. Top down. Mistake, it’s cold. I pulled over. Top up. Much better. I left even though I was missing one efile form. I was home having dinner when I received a text. The idiots, 3 of them, managed to figure out scan and email. I just sent that one.

Dinner done. Deadline dead. I’m tired. Goodnight.

So, remember how Friday night was so awesome? I got so much sleep I crowed about it? Not so last night. I went to bed around 11. Feeling good. Woke at two with cramps in my toes. Tried all I could. Even tried some special oil of Emily’s. To no avail. I was not able to get back to sleep. And there cramps continued. I finally got up at 8. Just a little ragged and unrested. Amazing how fast a good nights sleep can be erased.

Well, it’s morning. I am able enough to make breakfast for every living being in the house. So I do. Not much of a surprise. Large pot of coffee. As tired as I am, I had only one cup.

Everyone managed a shower before me. I sat and read the paper for quite awhile. That was about all I wanted to do. When I was finally done with the Sunday paper, I took a shower.

The kids went off to visit with one of Michael’s oldest friends. He is in town from Arizona to visit his folks. I am sure they are drinking beer in some brewery somewhere. Lowest form of entertainment.

We, of course, stayed behind. We cleaned the house and washed all linens and remade the bed. Took an hour. This is a very small house. The only good thing about it.

We are now sitting and doing the phone thing. There is a football game on, like I care. Emily likes the noise. We can hear our next door neighbor screaming whenever something happens. He is watching the same game obviously. I really have no desire to watch any football games. It is playoff season in baseball but none of the teams I follow is involved. I usually just follow those in the newspaper. Good enough.

I have a little yard work to do once the wind dies down. Leaves in the wrong places, as usual. But, good news, the grass seeds are sprouting. If this continues I will have a beautiful lawn.

So here I sit, comfortably. Nothing going on. Relaxing. Then what? Call from my brother in law. Has financial aid questions that relate to his son’s aid application. Most people, in my experience, don’t do well with numbers in any situation. That would be my brother in law in this situation. It’s not a deadline (tomorrow) related question even. More of an interruption in my day. It is difficult to stay relaxed when people jump into your day.

While sitting here I got tax info via text from a client. So we texted back and forth a few times to get straight on what I needed. You see, clients never deliver all the info I need. They give what they think I need and then I have to drag everything else out of them. But, I did manage to input all the tax info and get the taxes close to done.

Carly and Michael got home late in the afternoon. First thing he says is we gotta go. So we wait around for them half the day and they take off. Just like a kid to be rude and unappreciative. So we loaded up my car for him to drive home in. That’s because I am keeping his new used car here to get some work done on it. Some body work first and later in he week my long time client and car electronics pro, Kenny, is going to pull out the janky touch screen piece of shit the last owner installed in the center console.

So they took off. And Emily and I went to Target. Halloween candy is on deep discount. This will the first time in sixteen years we can get trick or treaters. We have been so far out in the country we got none. But now, living in town, we will get 100s! It’s an excuse to over buy discount candy. So we did. We got groceries as well. Not just candy. This was our only shopping of the weekend. Which is crazy.

Back home and we dumped our meager items. I got a knock on the door. Daughter of a client dropping off tax info. I hope to have it done tonight. Then we sat down and watched more Sunday TV. We did decide what to have for dinner at least. We are making taco soup. It has all the essential things – it’s fast and all ingredients come out of a can. Ready in thirty minutes. Made just enough to cover dinner and lunch tomorrow. So we made two meals at one time. It’s a win.

So we made taco soup. And it was excellent, as advertised.

Now it’s evening. Time for bad TV. Again. I need to get some sleep tonight.

Congratulate me please. It’s due. I slept in till 8am!!!!! I mean slept. Soundly. If only I could figure out the secret I could bottle it. At the very least, this day had an awesome start.

Kids are here. Michael and GF Carly. They came in last night. We shared a bottle of champagne, vintage French, as a small celebration of Michael’s new job. That was nice. I don’t get enough champagne. Though I have two more bottles chilled. You never know when your day might go to the moon and champagne will become necessary. Maybe having it ready can make the need to celebrate more likely.

It was 10 when they arrived and by 11 Em and I were in bed. The other two stayed up because when you are in your twenties and have no kids it’s what you do. That is a bonus for being old. Early bedtime.

Of course, no matter how late I sleep, I still have the morning ablutions, loosely defined, feed pets, feed us, poopy patrol, coffee (12 cups today), read the paper, shower, made breakfast for the chitlins too. After all this, I was cleansed.

Emily left for Fall Festival. That’s the annual fund raiser at her school. Lots of activities, each kinda cheap, everyone comes and we hope spends money. Usually that’s what happens.

The rest of us stayed behind. I did some leaf pickup. Kids just showered and sat around.

We did clean all three cars. That was nice. Much faster with three people. Though their attention to detail is not up to my standards. I cleaned on the inside too. They did not. No matter, all of them look fabulous.

After that we drove, in separate cars, to our storage unit in Dixon. Seems junior needs his golf clubs. I assume there must be a course near him in SoCal. He hasn’t been much of an avid golfer in the last 10 years so I find it surprising he needs them.

We drove off from storage in different directions. They went to Davis to visit some brewery or other and eat raw fish. A low form of entertainment I think. I went home. I mowed the lawn and destroyed a pop up sprinkler while doing so. Fuc. So I went to the hardware store and blew 10$ on another. While there I remembered I needed to head to the pharmacy for a prescription and an inoculation. I was at my dr’s earlier in the week. They were out of shingles vaccine. She sent me to a pharmacy to get the shot and called in a prescription. The pharmacist said it wasn’t covered by insurance. So I had to pay $190. I could swear right here. Loudly. But I’m not. I will attempt a reimbursement. One can hope.

Got home and installed the sprinkler. It was quite easy. The only difficult part was cutting the riser. Which is not difficult. Sprinkles like a pro. And it sits lower than the last one. Bodes well for mowing day.

Emily just got home as I was turning on the sprinkler controller. We unloaded her haul from the festival. She netted $270 which is sweet. She also won two gift baskets in the raffle. One has a nice bottle of wine, glasses, opener, and rack. Cool. The other is hair products. She is giving them away.

Emily has fallen asleep in the chair next to me. I guess festivals are exhausting. I won’t say anything. We are going out to dinner later so maybe she needs rest. I feel fine esp considering my great nights sleep.

It is the cocktail hour but it appears no one but me qualifies. Two are out on the town and one is just out. I hate to drink alone but I may be forced to do it.

Kids returned and Emily woke up. And she ordered drinks. So I made cocktails for all. It’s a bourbon Aperol juice drink. I like it. Tasty. We are leaving in about 15 minutes for Sacramento. Which is where Empress Tavern is at. We are leaving somewhat early for a 730 reservation but you can’t be to careful.

Marika is driving to meet us at the restaurant. Driving from Petaluma. She was supposed to meet us at home. But her late exit from work doomed that. I have been communicating with her by text all evening. And she is in a very special mood. I can only say, from the tenor of her texts, she is pissed off at the world. Why, I don’t know. But it was painful texting her. She just wanted to be mad. And unhappy. And she succeeded.

The four of us, sans Marika, arrived at the restaurant almost on time. She arrived about two minutes later. She made good time. She has no reason to be so bitchy.

The dinner at Empress Tavern was outstanding. Probably due in large part to our server. She managed every bit of our meal to the end. I am sure the fantastic food helped but the server managed to make all else work timely and well. She suggested things and cajoled us into better choices and had perfect timing on delivery. She made the evening perfect. All the food was perfect as well. A great evening.

We managed to drive home even though some of us were quite drunk. Marika is planning to head home tonight. Carly fell asleep in the car and again when we got back. She has had plenty to drink today. Whatever. We got home by eleven. Marika got packed and for that matter unpacked and headed off to home. The rest of us went to bed. It is midnight.

I woke at 530 and did not get back to sleep. Lovely. Welcome to the weekend. I got up. Emily has the day off. She did not get out of bed. Surprise.

I did the usual, after all I am driven by habit. Fed animals, fed me, made coffee, drank the coffee. Since it’s Friday we got a newspaper. I read it cover to cover. Just because.

Emily finally dragged herself out of bed. She has decided to go workout. Yoga. She did not stick around to help me with the leaves. When she left I finally went out to the backyard and cleaned up all the leaves. Took all week, but now done. Now it’s full time waiting for the seeds to sprout. I may be doing this whole thing again in the spring.

I have an appointment at 11. So I got the yard done and I got to the office before my client showed. Ain’t that amazing? Yes.

Again, if you are looking for excitement in a work day, it’s not me. I finished my appointment then worked till 2 when another client came for his appointment.
Client Phil goes back 15+ years. So when he comes in we always have a great time. We discuss mutual friends, the news, lots of things. And spend 10 minutes discussing taxes. It was the only real fun I get in a dull day.

So after the fun appointment, I had 4 hours of work. Thrilling, edge of the seat work. Right. I got a call at about 610 from another client who wanted to bring her crap in tonight, in 8 minutes. I waited till, 25 minutes later and she showed. Good thing I like her. We had a fun discussion about all things not tax. I am having a great day!

She and I headed out atbhe same time, 7pm. She had to leave cuz I was locking all the doors and going home. I had her help me carry all the crap I was taking home. That way only one trip. She owed me, cu I accepted her crap so close to deadline.

It was dark and cool. Perfect weather to take he top down and race home. So that’s what I did. And it was a blast.

I got home before 8. Emily has already fixed dinner, still cooking. She is making Caesar Pleasers which is seasoned sirloin tips and Caesar salad. A family favorite.

Dinner was fabulous. Emily opened a bottle of wine. I did not have any, instead waiting till son Michael and girlfriend Carly get here. Which they did at about 10 pm. Not sure yet why they are
visiting. It can’t be because they love us.

We opened a bottle of champagne and toasted his new job. Vintage French champagne. Delicious. Something we can all enjoy.

We have all been sitting and chatting and perusing rotten TV for the last hour. Tomorrow we have lots to do. Emily has fall festival at school and the rest of us are looking for things to do.

Not. Today I have a line up planned. First, finish cleaning up the leaves as we discussed yesterday. Clean up and go to the bakery. This time, buy something to eat. That’s a thrill. Then off to work and prep tax returns. That left me breathless. You too?

Good news, after 10/15 there are no major deadlines till 3/15. That’s like a vacay. Well, sort of. Just more time to stand around with my hands in my pockets.

Weigh in today, 153.5. Which is exactly what I weighed last week. Hence the small celebration. Would have preferred large weight loss but not in the cards. Next week. I would really prefer to lose every week and hit goal because then things change a little and I like that. I would get more and different food. That’s a celebration.

Hey, here’s a bonus. I finally remembered what I did late yesterday morning. Now that I remember, I think it’s weird I forgot. Well, I went to the doctor at 11 am yesterday. Nothing unusual, they call once in awhile and ask me to come in. While there, good timing, I got my flu shot. Zero deductible. Same for the tetanus. They ordered a Shingles shot delivered to my pharmacy because they have none. All this, and I could not remember when blogging. Strange.

Back to Wednesday. I spent an hour picking leaves off the reseeded lawn areas. As I told you, arduous process, can’t use a rake. Pain in the ass. But now done. So if I go out each morning till they sprout the process is just a touch up.

Left the house in the convertible. Getting close to the time I store her for winter. So gotta get my rides in while it’s warm. Top is down. It’s a beautiful day. So off I go. Got as far as the bakery. One quick cinnamon roll. These are not the mall type. More the bakery type with the flavor emphasis on the sweetened raised dough with light icing and cinnamon. The mall rolls are on steroids.

Now off to work. The cinnamon roll lasted about one minute.

I walked in to the office at 1059. My 11 o’clock was waiting for me. He was surprised too.

I worked on his last two returns with the info he brought. Finished all inside 90 minutes. He left happy. Only owes $40K. Ouch.

Well, that’s it. The rest of the day was tax returns. For five hours. Again, it’s tax deadline time and taxes are what I do. So I do them. All day. Duh.

I would like to announce the end of an era, of sorts. Today the escrow company emailed. The first mortgage holder on my office building, for sale, screwed up the demand. Which means they forgot how much they need to ask for. Morons. My title office was cursing and spitting bullets. This has been on the verge of closing sale for about four weeks. Lo and behold, at 345 title called and all was in order. She sent it to record. I called title office at 445. It recorded. I have sold the piece of crap. It’s gone. Praise the Lord!!! So I hung up. Then called the gas co, electric company, water company, and on and on and shut them off. I am done. Love it.

Ride home top down. Much faster than usual. It’s a great day. Not very exciting, Save for the sale of the building. But the day turned out well.

Now dinner done so day is done and I am watching TV. Soon bedtime. And dreams of real estate I don’t own.

Let’s face it, I never get the Tacos. So Carnitas it is.

Nothing special going down today. Zero, really. Had an appointment with the aesthetician at 930. That’s sorta special. New mom that she is I got to see the cutest baby in the world pictures. Always fun.

Oh yeah, I forgot, I spent an hour cleaning up the leaves off the newly overseeded lawn. Why did it take so long? I have to do it by hand because a rake would screw up the new seed. So only by hand. Why so many leaves? Because as soon as I put down the seed there was a huge wind storm for a couple days. Pain in the butt.

I was picking the leaves when I realized I had an appointment at 930. Oops. Had to leave in the middle of my task and run to Dixon. So finish up tomorrow.

I can’t for the life of me figure out what I was doing between 10 to noon. Funny. I have got to remember to write this crap down before late in the evening.

I arrived at the office at one, just in time for my one o’clock appointment. My one o’clock can’t really do his taxes. His soon to be ex wife still has not signed the 2016’s and he is not sure she will sign this years return. But he came in and discussed what he needed to finish it. He is truly optimistic.

After he left, I spent the rest of my day prepping to returns. I know most find this surprising, or shocking. It’s not. It’s what I do for a living. And it’s quite difficult to make it exciting.

I did take a break to call a client, Jason, who sells cars. Lots of cars. He is a fleet manager for a large Ford dealership. I am trying to find a great deal on a performance car of sorts. A hot hatchback really. Ford has a couple and I can get an excellent deal on one from Jason. It’s for my nephew, Owen. His father, my bro in law Nobby (really) had called and asked me to get him something. The kid wants a fast racing machine like a wrx or gti. I think a Ford for 20k would suit him better. And not bankrupt his Dad. Jason is looking.

I left for home and the carniceria at about 530. There was the usual smooth drive home.

I stopped and picked up dinner. I did not get what I wanted which annoys the hell out of me. I wanted Adobada. No. Those people never get enough made of anything. They always run out of something. And I get unhappy. I think it’s why I usually order one of the standards. Which I did tonight after I got shot down.

No big excitement after dinner I did have to go to the store to pickup coffee beans. My coffee guy has been missing in action and not delivered my beans as he should. So I actually had to pay for coffee beans. That is just not right. While out I got syrup for my breakfast. And, most importantly, I went to the pet store in search of a pet gate. Jaxon exploded all over the house again yesterday. All over. I have to get a crate or a fence. He needs locking up. Preferably in an asylum but for the time being just confined securely. Damn dog. No gate was tall enough or long enough. I think Chewy.com.

Now watching TV I just hate. Isn’t that cool? I want to watch good but it is not available. Sounds like life.

I am gonna quit and go to Chewy. If anything cool comes up, I will add it in.

Marika just drove away. We had gone to he German Bakery for coffee since my delivery is still not in. The bakery does not have the greatest coffee butbit is the closest to the house. That counts for a lot. For both of us, a trip here is difficult. You are required to walk by the pastry case on the way in and out. The kid and I both love pastries, more than any other sweet. I am a baker at home because I love the outcome, fresh baked goods. I used to have a job making cakes, cookies and breads. I think they call that baker. Anyway I love the stuff. Both Marika and I are on a diet and almost where we want to be. Last night we blew it out and ate ice cream cake after dinner. Had wine with dinner. All that means no more cheating today. Sadly.

This mornings usual duties went quick and easy. Of course, there is no coffee to make. Remember, I get it free which is why I don’t just run out and buy some. But all went smoothly in spite of an extra animal and extra person.

I am out to work early too. What a day. One stop to mail a package and I am on to the office.

Well, getting here early just means more fun. More time to do more work. That’s what I want. Not.

I worked continually all day. It is 7 days from deadline so there is plenty to do. Thinking about it now, of course, nothing stands out. I know that makes the job sound really exciting but that’s how it is. Boring at times. But it does consume me. And get me paid which is the most important part.

I left work early to go to Cash and Carry to pick up cupcake cups for Emily. Used at fall festival. They have lids which keeps the disgusting little fingers out of the cupcake. Anyhow, good deed done.

No traffic trip home. Back to normal. I got home and my stupid Cocker had pooped and peed on the floor. I think I need to kill him. That would work. Or lock him up. Forever. That would work. I am tired of cleaning up after a 15 year old dog with no bladder or bowel control. It’s not fun. It’s a little less than fun. No, wait, a lot less than fun.

After this debacle, Emily came home. And missed all the cleanup fun. Again, less. So, I washed my hands. Then we fed the little fur covered cretins. Not all of them suck, just the cocker.

We made some leftovers for dinner. Steak from last night. And a salad. Nothing else because we are lazy. It was fabulous. No wine. Still good.

After dinner it was nothing but bad TV. Some music show Emily loves. I could do without it. But there’s only one TV and it’s a small house. But 2 hours long? Yikes.

So I have blogged for awhile. At least something I enjoy. Soon I get to go to bed. That I enjoy too.

I slept in today. Hard to believe. Till 830. I am not going to alert the media, the blog will suffice.

In honor of sleeping in, one of the cats shit in the bathroom and buried it in the bathmat. I could kill them both just to make sure I got the culprit. That seems fair. The dogs were fine. And Jax slept through. I would record this in my diary but I don’t have one. The blog will suffice.

It’s big paper day. I have to go to the store. We have no coffee. So, to save energy, I ate brekkies and read the paper. Quick shower, towels to washer.

And, I’m off. First stop Starbucks, of course. I have no choice. I brought my own creamer this time which is a drastic improvement over theirs.

I was in Sonoma yesterday, as I mentioned. While eating lunch I spilled about half my salad on my shoe. Shoe is suede. Dressing is oily. So it left a blotch on my shoe. Why am I restating this? Well, my retail experience today is not about the coffee. It’s about my search for a suede brush and some shoe shampoo.

Where do you go for shoe supplies – polish, brushes, etc? When I was a kid I had a shoe shine kit. I was able to restock the supplies from the grocers. No problem. Well, I am assuming everyone has crap shoes now and throws them away when dirty. I base this on my day. Target, nothing. And by nothing I mean that. Walmart. The rack, they had a rack, was 95% empty. One can of boot cleaner. I got it. Hardware store. Many brushes, nothing I really wanted. I bought one that was close. I know, you are screaming Amazon at your phone. Yes, one more nail in the coffin lid of American retail. The above took 2 1/2 hours as well. Online it is. But I got it today at least.

Home at last. I pulled the convertible out and parked outside. It was in Emily’s spot. I fit the Fit back in her spot on the right side. Went in to finish chores. I have some NY strips and stuffed mushrooms defrosting. Marika will be home for dinner tonight and I want something nice. Emily is home too. She needs a welcome home dinner. And me, I like steak. We all win.

I have laundry to do as well. Sheets and towels, it is Sunday. Goin to that.

Did that. Laundry is moving. All loads have been washed or are washing. Some wet piled on top of washer, waiting. Last wash load in. I sat down.

As I was sitting, after about 15 seconds, I realized it was time to use my shoe maintenance supplies. Put em to the test. It’s only one of the suede shoes, this may be easy. One thing I can say for certain, 99% of the shoe wearing public does not look at how dirty their shoes are. In Japan, everyone knows and its shoes off. We are not Japan. My shoes are dirty and as of yesterday, stained as well. Which is why I noticed how dirty they were. I took them off and looked at them. You take yours off and kick them into the corner. Like I said, no one looks.

This shoe cleaning foam does not seem that great. It’s a spray on, wait ten, wipe off, and hope they are clean. I have little faith. I won’t know till they dry.

Speaking of waiting till they dry, I cleaned one cat litter box and dumped the other. It’s weird, I would say the two cats pee in one and poop in the other. Maybe that’s normal. Of course, no cat is normal, in my limited experience.

Emily just called. She just left the ranch. As it’s called. I can not equate yoga with ranch. I would say yoga is antithetical to ranching. I neither ranch nor practice yoga. Just my humble opine. Emily should be home in about an hour. Not enough time left in the day to do anything what with a dinner guest and all. Too bad.

I sat and looked at new cars, some used, for an hour before Emily finally got home. Homecoming was somewhat of a let down. Her idea of a good time? Unpack the car then sweep and mop the floors. I finished the laundry. She then cleaned the kitchen sink. Not the dishes, I always take care of those, but the sink. And complained about it. Welcome home.

She is now relaxing in the blue room with today’s paper and I am back at this grindstone. I presume Marika will be home at about 630 or so. I have the steaks almost defrosted. I gotta speed them up so I can get them to room temp. They cook so much better at the right temp. For the time being I am writing. Until I find something better to do.

Well something better was a trip to the store. Emily needed E6000 glue for her glass projects. She has set up the glass grinder in the kitchen to finish a few items she fired before she went to yoga camp. She needed the glue for I don’t know what. But we got it.

We got home and Emily went back to grinding glass. I went back to sitting on my booty. Not much else to do. I did prep the dinner. Steaks to smoker, I chopped the broccoli and defrosted the stuffed mushrooms. Then, I waited for Marika to finally get here. She arrived at 815. It was tough to make dinner and time it to be perfectly done with her arrival. But I soldiered through it.

Oh yeah, Marika brought our grandkitty, Vlad, home with her. That’s because we are sitting for her for the next week. What is she doing? She is dog sitting for two large and obnoxious dogs. Her bosses dogs. And they don’t mix well with the cat. So we get an extra four paws for the week. All over the counters, furniture, shelves, etc. Vlad is special.

No matter what, dinner was great. We had a nice catch up chat-fest which is always fun. We all ate whatever in spite of our current diets. Nice. Marika brought wine from work. A couple nice Pinots. Hey, I forgot, Marika’s boss offered her a full time job when she is done with school. How cool is that? Well, in answer to my own question, very damn cool. I wish that had happened to me.

For dessert, we had dessert yay!, the last of the ice cream cake from my birthday. Boy this just can’t get any better!

Well all is done. It’s 10 and all are headed to bed. Tomorrow is work and etc. I hate work. Then we could all stay up. Like when we were kids and thought we would stay up every day when we got older. We were stupid. I wish I could go back and tell me what an idiot I was.

I am watching the news which is as bad as bad TV gets. At 11 the news is a repeat of 5 and 6 broadcasts. So the lazy bastards just hit the copy button for 11.

This is more excitement than I can take. I am gonna go to bed. And read a good book. Which is always better than TV. Trust me.

I almost forgot. The shoe detail. Did it work? Not well. It faded the stain by half but since I know where it is I see it whenever I look at it. I need to keep salad dressing on the salad from now on.

Well, it is now, sort of. At noon.

Day started early because I did not sleep well. Yay. On a day I could sleep however long I wanted. Again, no chores inside cuz Emily still in Sonoma. That’s nice. I read the paper without coffee. We are still out. Breakfast.

Then mow the lawn. My new neighbor decided now was a good time to lean over the fence to introduce the family. That’s nice but I am in limited time. Need to get crap together to overseed the lawn, mow it and go to Sonoma. But I was polite. His name is Shane and he is a chef. Cute daughter about 4, Stella. I would say nice neighbors or so it seemed. We shot the beeeze for quite awhile till I just had to go mow. Sorry. It’s mowed.

Hardware store had a one step overseed product. I would normally not but this is a rental and this is on my dime. So I went cheap. Sue me.

Back home, no time for yard. Showered, dressed and off, top down, to Sonoma. I was 20 minutes early. Oh well. Emily is not here yet. Gonna wander the square till she gets here.

Emily did finally get here. I only waited 20 minutes. Not much fun. The Sonoma Plaza is not too exciting. Mostly because I have been here a hundred times. That’s a lot. So, I was saying, Emily arrived. We decided to have lunch, not a stretch cuz it’s lunchtime. We went to the Cheese Factory (like always). They have BBQ, sandwiches, salads, wine etc.

The place was not packed. Usually here its a long wait and all the tables are full. Not even close. Even with live music out in the square and lots goin on it was slow.

Emily ordered tri tip BBQ sandwich. I just picked up a Caesar salad. Well, the tri tip was not very good. Salad was bland. Kinda sad for $25. Overpriced bad food.

At least that can’t ruin the day. We did wander through the shops for awhile. Also, not very busy. Maybe everyone else has figured out Sonoma is overpriced. I don’t know. We still had a pleasant time meandering through and not buying anything.

At about two I headed for Vacaville. The day is hot and breezy. This kind of lends itself to the top down. My drive was pleasant but the traffic was slow which was a little miserable most of he ride. Too much stop and go. Really, too much stop.

Trip home was at least 30 minutes longer than my drive there.

I got back mid afternoon. I actually have chores today, real yardwork. You may recall, while we were away this summer, the heat killed off half the sod laid down before we got here. So half the lawn has been dead for the last four months. Today I overseed the lawn. It’s been cool and nice which is good weather for it.

I changed into my work clothes and headed to the hardware store. That’s where all fun starts. I needed a few things. Like everything. Since we moved, most tools and supplies are in storage. I have nothing here to help do any work. So, I had to buy a rake, four containers of seed, stakes and vinyl tape. The stakes and tape are for keeping the dogs off the fresh seed. My dogs are really stupid.

I spent about 3 hours on my mini garden party. Takes the bare areas, spread seed mixture, stakes and tie tape. Not much fun. If the results are good, all is forgiven.

After yardfun I got all cleaned up. It’s really boring around here without Emily. I worked for a couple hours on some work crap which is always fun on a weekend. Took a few text messages too.

Dinner time was the only fun part of my evening. It was delicious but it was missing company. I may need to have dessert to keep it going.

I have been watching TV the past 90 minutes. I have to continually change channels just to keep my interest and find something worthwhile to watch. TV is truly putrid most of the time.

I will be going to bed soon I hope. Tomorrow should be better, Emily will be home around 2. Or so.

It’s Friday. Means little since the last tax deadline of the year is one week away.

This morning was not normal. Suits me. Did all the normal things, but Emily is gone so it’s breakfast for one and no bag lunch. And no coffee, I’m out.

Got all done quick. I need to be in the office for my first appointment. That’s right, four yesterday and two today. These are the habitual late filers. A different breed of client. You know, you see them on the corners with cardboard signs. Seldom wash, wearing rags. That’s right.

I digress. This morning I threw the dogs out for an hour to get them empty. They were fine, relax. I got all my crap together and called Uber. Why? Today the S2000 is ready to be picked up. Ya!!! So Ubered to Superior Auto Body and got my car, finally. Gonna drive in style.

Off to Sacramento. One stop, at Starbucks, large ice coffee. That truly helped my day. I arrived about 15 minutes prior to my first appointment and lo and behold, my noon appointment had already arrived. Hey bad news loser, someone else exists in your world. And he has an appointment with me too.

I gave him ten minutes, ontime guy arrived, kicked early guy into waiting room. He gets to read old magazines for an hour.

First guy said he had to get done today because he was leaving for Vietnam in the morning. Like I care. Though I did manage to finish the data colllection today and ascertain a very good estimate of the balance due. He said his wife would come over next week to finish up. She’s not going with him. My wife would never put up with that. But he is now done. And printed and awaiting the wife. Took 90 minutes.

Ok, on to the next victim. Or am I the next victim? Much like the first client, this guy helped me create a beautiful work of fiction. The type of fiction that suspends reality as well. I know many think tax returns are all truth and justice. Not true. Some people lie like rugs. They tell me stories. I have no reason to disbelieve them, but I do. I have no proof but I know.

After the return was done I helped create a greater fiction – his daughters financial aid filing. I do this sort of thing quite often. Most parents seem to lack the ability or knowledge, or think they do, to fill out student aid forms. Not sure. So I end up doing it. And they all want the same thing – a good education for their kid. Right? No. They want financial aid that pays all costs wherever the kid goes to college. So there is a big incentive to make themselves poor. Which means lie. I mean, not as far as I actually know. But, lie.

By the time I got finished with these two bubbas, four hours had passed. But they are done.

The balance of my day was spent finishing up tax returns. Duh. The deadline is a week away. I will live these returns for another week.

I left the office around 545. Not so bad. I have the convertible so it’s top down and go. The wind blows away my cares and my sins. I hope. Maybe I should go to confession? Nah. He has heard it all before. I could mail it in. Probably not how it works. Oh, for regular readers, the traffic was horrendous. An extra hour over the usual drive. Truly awful. Not fun or funny. I made no stops.

Got home by 8 ish. Fed the animals. Fed myself. That was nice. Marika called during dinner prep, that lasted a good 30 minutes. Very talky tonight. But I enjoyed it. A conversation like that takes you out of a miserable day. That’s nice. Though my wife, out of town Emily, called 3 times while I was on the phone to Marika. And also called Marika a couple times too. I think she alternated. She needs a hobby. Or maybe take a friend with her next time.

By the time all was done and cleaned up and I had called Emily back, it was 10pm. What to do? I know, just for fun, let’s hook in to the office online and do a tax return for a trucking company. That would be all candy and nuts! So I did. But I did get another return done.

I am in bed now. Listening to the dog, outside, whine. I threw him out 15 minutes ago when I realized the fucker had shit all over the front room. I hate that dog. Btw, by shit I mean diarrhea. Ya, it’s a beautiful day. Not sure whether to just leave him out or kill him. Tough choice. I am signing off. Have to go get the shotgun. Just kidding! Calm down. I would use a bat. Lol. It’s not legal to fire a gun inside city limits. Everyone knows that.