What a gorgeous day it ….
What a gorgeous day it was last Thursday to end the month of April and the first third of 2020. It was sure better than a year ago when I wrote in my diary about it being a chilly, raw day, never getting above 40.
Thursday it got into the 60s with lots of bright sunlight. I went for a short ride and was so happy to see a woods out on Mann Road that looked like it had been carpeted with May flowers.
May Day lost some of its charm when skies clouded over and it didn’t quite make normal for the temperature of the day. Nevertheless, there was brightness in the air when I stepped out on my front porch and found a flower sitting on the floor. This year I was prepared and had my pot all ready for the tiny plant to be re-planted and hopefully keep me entertained all summer. Aren’t good neighbors just grand?
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
The big news of the week was the check that came in the mail. I don’t know why they mailed it. My Social Security payment is a direct deposit. When I did check a week ago at the bank, I learned a tax refund had been deposited, so I do know that system is working.
Actually I was a little surprised to get the refund. It has been a few years since I had any taxable income. My accountant said it had something to do with the new tax laws and the real estate taxes on the house. I guess it doesn’t matter and I surely will find a use for it. Probably just tuck it away with the big check for the second half of the real estate taxes that will be coming due in a few months.
Since it really is like pennies from heaven, I will do the proper thing and make sure some of it gets put back there as well.
There was no letter with it like I’ve read about. Just a notation that it was an economic impact statement with the president’ s name below it.
I would have thought they should have added some wording about it adding over two trillion dollars to the national debt. I will remember to tell my kids, who are still working, my grandchildren and great- grandchildren that they need to be prepared to pay that back some day.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
My weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas, arrived in the mail the other day and to put it frankly, things aren’t going too well. The hurricane that ripped through there three years ago this summer had lots of repairs to homes, condos and city buildings and facilities which are still going on.
Now the virus is causing more problems and concerns. Several people, including a member of the city council, have contracted it, but are recovering. Along with the state restrictions put into place, the mayor had issued his own set of rules.
No one is allowed on the beach, except to exercise. There is no fishing allowed on the beach or ship channel, hotel and motel residents are restricted to essential people on the island and people aren’t allowed to use their second home.
Needless to say this is causing lots of problems since many of those people are from Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. A lady who owns a condo in the same unit that Bob and Jackie stayed in had written a letter to the editor. She explained her condo was still under repair from the hurricane and now she couldn’t even live there as it was repaired. Meanwhile her taxes and expenses continue.
The city is trying to say they want the community to remain a small fishing village, but the homes that are built there kind of tell you the people who live in them aren’t fishermen. A real estate ad last week explained the type of homes they have for sale. None below $100,000 and over fifty percent priced between $400,000 and $750,000 with a handful over the million dollar mark.
Adding to all that is the fact that the community lives on tourism and if the island isn’t open, their sales tax income will be taking a huge drop.
Sure glad we enjoyed our 19 winters there.
Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“Ă“
Art Linkletter had a program called, “Kids Say The Darndest Things”. We need one called “Politicians Say the Dumbest Things”. The vice president surely would make the show for what he said the other day. Remember, he was visiting Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, certainly well known for their contribution to the medical society. While signs said otherwise, he showed up without a face mask, explaining I am the vice president.
He did get a lot of well intended attacks on not wearing one, enough that the next day or so he showed up at a factory in Kokomo, Indiana, wearing one.
That is not the first time he has done something equal to how the president sometimes acts.
I believe it was last summer when he visited Mackinac Island in Lake Huron between Upper and Lower Michigan. The world knows the island is famous for not allowing motor vehicles. People either walk, ride a bike or ride in horse drawn wagons or carriages.
So when the vice president was going to visit the island, did he follow tradition? No, he not only brought his limo, but seven others in the caravan. Who do you suppose pays to get those vehicles out there and back? That would help to add another trillion to our national debt.
