Money Money Money

It's another cold morning in sunny California.  A cool 37 degrees greeted me this morning as I scanned the yard for critters.  Yesterday I discovered someone had been digging in my flowerbeds out back.  That's not a good sign, so today I'll be patrolling the West Wing for entrance caves.  I'm hoping it was just Foxy looking for a tasty treat.  

How cold was it?  Cold enough to finally turn on the fireplace.  Boy do I LOVE gas fireplaces.  Back on the ranch when my parents built the second house, they included a nice brick fireplace.  With dozens of eucalyptus trees around, wood was no problem whatsoever.  

When I moved into the house, it wasn't all fun and games.  That wood collected critters that hitched a ride into the warm interior.  Did you know tarantulas could jump?  I didn't until one night I got up from the couch and a big black THING came flying through the air at me!  You've never seen anyone move so fast in your life.

Rainbow Bridge .... I stood on the couch and dropped a magazine on him.  Now I might be more tolerant because they eat creepy crawly things.

My sweet Cooper and I snuggled on the couch for some time before I got my act together.  It was time to go see the dentist.  That's one place I hate to go.   

I think I've mentioned this story before. When I was maybe 7 years old, my mother took me to a dentist in town ... an old guy the likes of which you have probably seen on old western movies.   He said I had two cavities ... I think they were in baby teeth ... and I didn't need Novocain because they were so small.  He literally held me down while drilling.  I screamed a lot, to no avail.  The next trip to the dentist took me 18 years.  Luckily I have good teeth.

That's how I met friend Cyndae.  I was lucky enough to get her as my teeth-cleaning lady.  She is wholly responsible for me having good teeth!!

Too bad she retired, as did the best dentist in the country.  His son has now taken over and prices have gone up.  They said they couldn't do any more work until I had x-rays.  Alright, though my wallet was poking me in the backside.  

The dentist comes in ... looks at the x-rays and says ... oh, there's a problem here.  I know I said ... it's right here (I pointed to it) and it's the same thing you saw last time that doesn't need anything done to it.  Uh ... yes ... yes you are right, and he left.

Nancy wasn't a happy camper that she had to dump $286.00 to hear everything was just fine.  Yes I could go to Mexico, but I've heard too many bad stories.  

With my wallet considerably lighter, I headed home.  Best check my bank account to see if that check was going to bounce.  Wasn't I surprised!!!  Someone deposited $250 into my account.  Upon further inspection, I discovered it was from the California Franchise Tax Board.  

Are you kidding?  The State of California is giving me money?  I heard something about giving checks to seniors, but really didn't know why.  It appears it's a GSS (Golden State Stimulus) check sent to EVERYONE (not just seniors) who actually paid their taxes in 2020.  It's coming from the excess budget monies in the billions.  So WHY are we paying so much taxes now if there's so much left over????  

There is of course an income limit ... you're not going to believe this.  If you made less than $250,000 in 2020, you get a $250 stimulus check to help with the ridiculous inflation (we know who caused that) and the current gas prices (we know who caused that too).  

They are actually calling it a California Middle Class Tax Refund.  If $250,000 is middle class, I'm definitely down in the LOWER POOR CLASS.  At least now that check to the dentist won't bounce. If you are lucky, it might even buy you two tanks of fuel to maybe last 30 days.  Okay, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I noted before that I would report on the Tikka Masala.  Don't buy it.  Enough said.  Oh it was edible, and I didn't throw it away since food is too expensive.  It wasn't pepper hot, but the spices were overwhelming.  I do love Indian food, having spent so much time marathon training in the hills of San Francisco where you can get any kind of food you want, any time of the day.  

I found a hole-in-the wall restaurant that cooked up the best Indian food ever for $5.00 a plate.  It was amazing, and I ate there often.  Nothing compares.

I've started another quilt, passed on to me by my buddy Patty.  I'll show pictures of that tomorrow.  It's very pretty ... but SO many pieces!!

In the meantime, I have to double check all the water lines around here to be sure nothing is going to freeze, as well as check the rig.  I think I dumped all the water, but my memory isn't what it used to be.  

Aren't you glad ..... NO foxy videos today!  YAY!!