Car repairs, music to someone’s ears, taxes

Mama was not able to come to Bowie with me as anticipated. She had to stay in Amarillo waiting on the little van to be repaired. I had replaced the power steering fluid several times to try and stop a groaning sound associated with the pump to no avail. I had her take the car in to be looked at on Thursday of last week. We did not get good news. A very expensive part in the power steering assembly was going out and would have to be replaced to the tune of $900. Several other leaks and associated work will take the bill up to $1400; still cheaper than making payments.


So I came on Sunday night and left Mama waiting. She was moaning about having to be alone – like Maggie – so she got one of the girls from the church to come and spend the night. For her it will be one night. For Maggie it will be another 65 or so. I was about fifteen minutes late for the service in Bowie, but I made it. Everyone was expecting me so it was no surprise to the pastor or the congregation when I came in. Grandma had let everyone know I was on the way.

Mama should be here today. The car is due to be repaired by the afternoon and she will waste no time in getting here. Victoria is off today so the three of them should have a good time when she does get here. Mama was fussing at me for getting to see the older horse before she did, but some time this afternoon we should be even on that score.

It was fun to go to the farm with Victoria early yesterday. The place came to life as soon as we drove up. Every animal on the place started hollering at us – each in their own manner. With the donkeys braying loudly, the dogs barking, the horses neighing, the chickens crowing and the pigs squealing, it was quite a cacophony. None of the various members of the chorus halted their parts until there was feed in front of them. The pigs were the last and almost the loudest.

With the price of hay in this area we are anxiously awaiting Grandpa’s return. It is costing a small fortune to feed Rain. Since she is locked up, she is not able to enjoy the tall green grass just outside her paddock. Hay is the best food we can give her, but it is not necessarily the cheapest. Toi even prefers hay to the grass she has free access to. Both horses and the three donkeys prefer the sweet stock to all other feed and the dogs like them to have it also since it makes their manure so delicious.

I was able, on my day off, to plant one more grape vine, a red raspberry plant and sixteen asparagus crowns. It was a good bit more work to plant the asparagus than I had anticipated. I took a break in between the two bags of eight to plant the red raspberry. All the plants were 50% off at Wal-mart. I found them as I was looking for a nozzle to attach to the hoses we ran yesterday to help Victoria get water to all the animals. I also bought the line to run water from the well to the garden and barn lot, but more work needs to be done to finish that. It will take me and Grandpa working together to complete that. (He is due back this weekend if all goes well.)

While we were still in Amarillo we go all our tax information to our accountant. It was a good news, bad news scenario. We will not be liable to pay taxes on the $41,000 Wells Fargo wrote off on our home in New Jersey, but we will owe a $9500 penalty on the money I pulled out of my 401k to pay that house off. That is on top of the $19000 already withheld form the amount we took out. This tax year should clear the account of all liabilities and we will be able to move on financially – painfully forward.

I may be required to make payments to Uncle Sam if the tax bill exceeds what I have saved to pay it. But that is doable. It may be preferable to emptying all our accounts, but we will have to wait and see how it all pans out.

I will be in training all day today. That should be fun.