More Taxing Situations

Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, has been calling almost daily to find out when his taxes will be done, thus taxing my patience.

He can rest easy, his refunds are on their way.  It takes me a bit less than an hour to run his info through TurboTax every year, and if he really concentrated hard, he could probably do it himself.

If he tried, though, he would call me for help so many times during the process that it's easier for me to do it.

Kind of like how parents give in and clean up the kid's mess because it's too much trouble to try to make the child do it.

Dumb like a fox, they are.

In much happier news (at least to me), Little Girl had her first military drill weekend, and loved it.

"It was great!" she enthused.  "It was so cold, we were brushing the frost off of us when we got up from doing push-ups!  But it was fun, and now I know what I want to do!"

She will be doing weekend drills once a month until she leaves for boot, in May.  We will have to plan a road trip to Oklahoma to see her graduate.

Until then, she has school and work, and i have work and more taxes, as i have to get the stuff for the rest of the family together.  It's not easy being the designated tax person for the family, but i'm about the only one who doesn't end up with my eyes rolling back in my head every time i look at a column of numbers.

Today is:

Afrma Fancy Rat and Mouse Annual Show -- Riverside, CA (don't laugh, rats and mice make great pets!)

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show -- West Springfield, MA, US (8 1/2 acres of hobby train fun; through tomorrow)

Big Garden Birdwatch -- UK (sponsored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; through tomorrow) 

Brookfield Ice Harvest and Winter Carnival -- Brookfield, VT, US (demonstrating traditional ice harvesting using original equipment near the Brookfield Floating Bridge, one of only two such bridges still extant)

Cash Register Day -- James Ritty and John Birch were granted a patent on this day in 1883 for an early mechanical cash register

Congressional Brawl Day -- marking the first ever all out brawl in the US Congress in 1798

Draw A Dinosaur Day -- and post it to the web site 

Feast of King Charles the Martyr -- Anglican

Gasparilla Pirate Fest -- Tampa, FL (reenactment of the invasion of Tampa by pirates)

Great Fruitcake Toss -- Manitou Springs, CO, US (by now, it's time to get rid of what's left of last year's fruitcakes, so come join the fun and do it competitively!)

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire -- Gainesville, FL, US (jousting, birds of prey, medieval arts, food, entertainment; through tomorrow, and again next weekend)

Inane Answering Message Day -- the day to change those annoying messages, sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ka Moloka'i Makahiki -- Molokai, Hawaii (traditional ceremonial end of the harvest festival, a time of peace; still celebrated with ceremonies and sporting events)

King's Birthday -- Jordan

Kumquat Festival -- Dade City, FL, US (because kumquats are not just funny, they are delicious!)

Martyrs' Day -- India (assassination anniversary of Gandhi)

National Croissant Day

National Seed Swap Day -- find or set one up in your area, so you can expand your garden, and help others expand theirs

National Storytelling Week -- UK (the Society for Storytelling encourages you to celebrate one of the most ancient art forms)

Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day -- Fairy Calendar

School Day of Nonviolence and Peace -- sponsored by DENIP

St. Aldegund's Day (Patron of cancer patients; against cancer, childhood diseases, sudden death, wounds)

St. Bathilde's Day (Patron of children, sick people, widows; against bodily ills and sickness)

St. Martina of Rome's Day (Patron of nursing mothers; Rome, Italy)

Swamp Buggy Races -- Naples, Florida (the world famous swamp buggy races; through tomorrow)

Three Archbishops' Day -- Eastern Orthodox (a/k/a Holy Hierarchs' Day)

Twin Cities' Krewe of Janus Mardi Gras Parade -- Monroe and West Monroe, LA, US (If you are looking for more family friendly fun than downtown NOLA, stick to parades is the smaller cities, like here!)

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day -- Why?  Do you hate your neighbors?


Birthdays Today:

Johnathan Lee Iverson, 1976
Christian Bale, 1974
Brett Butler, 1958
Phil Collins, 1951
Charles Dutton, 1951
Steve Marriott, 1947
Marty Balin, 1942
Dick Cheney, 1941
Vanessa Redgrave, 1937
Boris spassky, 1937
Tammy Grimes, 1934
Louis Ruckeyser, 1933
Gene Hackman, 1930
Dorothy Malone, 1925
Dick Martin, 1922
Barbara W. Tuchman, 1912
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882
Isaiah Thomas, 1749
Thomas Rolfe, 1615 (Only child of John Rolfe and Pocahontas.)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Yogi Bear Show"(TV), 1958
"Robert Montgomery Presents"(TV), 1950
"City Lights"(Chaplin Movie), 1931


Today in History:

The Jews of Freilsburg, Germany, are massacred, 1349
King Charles I of England is beheaded, 1649
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed after having been dead for two years, 1661
The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, 1703
Henry Greathead tests the first boat intended to be specialized as a lifeboat for rescue purposes, which he invented, on the River Tyne in England, 1790
The burned Library of Congress is reestablished, with Thomas Jefferson contributing, 1815
Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica, 1820
The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened, 1826
A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 1841
The city of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco, for the nearby mission of the same name, 1847
William Wells Brown publishes the first Black drama, "Leap to Freedom," 1858
The US Navy's first ironclad warship, the Monitor, is launched, 1862
The pneumatic hammer is patented by Charles King of Detroit, 1894
The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy, 1911
The House of Lords rejects the Irish Home Rule Bill, 1913
"The Lone Ranger" begins a 21 year run on ABC radio, 1933
Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by Pandit Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist, 1948
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956
The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police, 1969
Carole King's Tapestry album is released, it would become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide, 1971
Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary, 1975
Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner", 1982
Peter Leko of Hungary becomes the world's youngest chess grand master at age 14, 1994
Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease, 1995
Over half a million people participate in the world's largest wildlife survey after extreme cold drives exotic birds into Britain's back gardens, 2011