Fun With Taxes: MCCWRT, Wendy's $1 Breakfast Sandwiches, Taxes, Jumbo Wings at Kelly's, Fox Lake Legion, Stucky's and McHenry Moose Lodge

FRIDAY,APRIL 15

Met Steve from the McHenry County Civil War Round Table at the Aldi parking lot in McHenry where he handed me the copies of the student entries for this year's $1000 college scholarship.  While there, went to Aldi's of course.  How they can sell groceries for those prices is amazing.  Then to Wendy's for their wonderful $1 breakfast sandwiches.

Later, I went to H&R Block and picked up the taxes.  A new record in how much we have to pay.

Gas prices today:  McHenry $3.94, Fox Lake $4.17 and Trevor, Wisconsin $4.00.  When I say McHenry was $3.94, that means it was $3.93.9.

Met Kevin and Kelly at Kelly's Bar and Grill in Trevor, Wisconsin, for their fish fry, only Liz and I split the ten chicken wings for $15.99.  Now, that might sound like a lot, but these are truly gargantuan wings and have both parts.  We could only finish five of them, that's how big they are.

Then went to the Fox Lake Legion for 50-50 and home to Margaritaville in our basement.

***********************************

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

How about 28 degrees for half way through April?   And here I was thinking it was spring.  Foolish me.

We went to Stucky's in Johnsburg where we had the $14.50 buffet, sang karaoke and, of course, enjoyed those $1 draft beers.

SUNDAY, APRIL 17

It was enjoyable seeing the family across the street having an Easter Egg Hunt with the grandkids this afternoon.  They raised five children who are now off and married and having children of their own.  There were about ten kids running around.  Went to the McHenry American Legion in the afternoon.

--RoadDog

Fun With Taxes: Woodstock, 'Morbius' Three Brothers, MCCWRT Meeting, Trivia at Donovan's, 'Uncharted' and Taxes Done

TUESDAY, APRIL 12

Went to Woodstock and saw the movie "Morbius" at the Woodstock Theatre.  Then met a bunch of McHenry County Civil War Round Table members at Three Brothers for dinner and then to the Woodstock Library for the Round Table meeting and presentation.  Now, that's what I call a fun day.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13

We definitely waited too long to get our taxes done this year, partly because of some late-arriving papers and also printing woes.  We normally have all our tax stiff completed in March.  Well, that's my story anyway.

We met Kevin and Kelly at Donovan's and had an Easter sort of trivia with Uncle Jeffie.

THURSDAY. APRIL 14

I went to see the movie "Uncharted" at the Fox Lake Theatre.  My kind of movie with history and adventure.  It was a lot like a mix of "Indiana Jones" and "National Treasure."  It is sure good to be back at the movies gain after a two year layoff for some reason.  This was my second movie of this week.

Good news, we got a call from Bill at H&R Block saying that our taxes were done so will pick them up and mail the checks tomorrow.  That's called waiting almost to the last minute.

Really, the Check's in the Mail.   --RoadDog

Bringing April Showers: More Wendy's, Even Snow, a Historical Society and Board Games, Vinyl Revolution, Larry and Stucky's

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

Dropped our taxes off at H&R Block and went onto Dollar Tree, former home of the everything $1, now everything $1.25.  Still cheap.  Then went to Aldi, another inexpensive place selling groceries.

Stopped at Wendy's and had one of their great breakfast sausage sandwiches, now just $1.  I would put that up against any fast food breakfast sandwich, especially at that price (sadly temporarily).

**************************

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

Wike up to...SNOW!!  Didn't stick though.

Drove to the McHenry Savings Bank on Il-31 where the McHenry Area Historical Society was having a meeting and presentation on board games.  The presenter had around fifty old games, including one from Germany during WW II.

On the way home, stopped at the Vinyl Frontier record store and bought five CDs.

In the afternoon, I went to Larry Verjinski's wake.  He was a former student and friend of ours as well as one-time commander of the Fox Lake American Legion.

That evening, met Kevin and Kelly at Stucky's for dinner and karaoke.  George and I are getting quite good at that classic old song "It's Hard to Be Humble."

****************************

SUNDAY, APRIL 10

Went to the McHenry American Legion in the afternoon.

--RoadDog

Bringing April Showers: Breakfasts, Deals, Donovan's Reef and Taxes

TUESDAY, APRIL 5

Met the usual Sunnyside crew at Granny's Dinner in Johnsburg for breakfast.  Hard to beat the special:  8 ounces chopped steak, two eggs, sour dough bread and hash browns for $8.95.

Rain off and on all day.

**************************

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6

Rained all last night and part of today.

Met Kevin and Kelly at Donovan's Reef  in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, for trivia and that great happy hour.  All drinks half price plus 25 cents.

****************************

THURSDAY, APRIL 7

Rain splatters all day.

Met the Magee teachers at Bristol 45 Diner in Bristol, Wisconsin, and filled the tank on the '2005 Dodge Dakota for $3.80.  Gas in Illinois is still $4.10 and much higher.

I had called H&R Block to talk to Bill and when he called back he said they weren't taking any new taxes to be filled out.  But since we had used him the last four years or so, he did take us.

That was a bit frightening at this late of a tax date.

--RoadDog

JSIS: Chicago's Mayoral Election-- Grammys-- Tax Commercials--

JSIS--   Just Some Interesting Stuff

1.  CHICAGO'S MAYORAL ELECTION--  Many, many folks running for it after the Rahm "decided" not to run after the McDonald affair.  But, one thing I am enjoying about the commercials is that they are not attacking each other, but saying what they want to do.  I get so tired of all the mud-slinging in the other elections.  

Listening to the other commercials, it would appear that all of the candidates should be in jail or in one of the lower realms of hell.

2.  GRAMMYS--  Watched parts of the Grammy Awards on Sunday.  I was amazed at how many musicians I'd never heard of before.  Guess I am now officially out of the music loop.

3.  TAX COMMERCIALS--  I don't know about you, but I sure am tired of the near-constant barrage of do-your-tax commercials we are getting bombarded with until April 15.  Need a break.  And they will be happy to get you your refund immediately for a NOMINAL FEE.

Music?  What Music?  --RoadDog

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED  (From the Wassup Magazine):  2.  No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

JSIS: College Football-- That Pesky Soda Tax-- Fall Color

JSIS--  Just Some Interesting Stuff

1.  COLLEGE FOOTBALL--  This was a shocker when Oregon State football coach Gary Anderson left the school by mutual agreement after a 1-5 start and 4-17 overall record AND he gave up the $12 million he had coming to him.  That is refreshing when a college football coach (most of whom are really OVERPAID) leaves money on the table.  I didn't think that was possible.

2.  THAT PESKY SODA TAX--  Cook County, Illinois, (which includes Chicago) has dropped it one cent an ounce tax on all drinks that are sweetened (even diet drinks) which was put in to make children healthier.  We all knew the REAL reason was to make money for the county.  Good Riddance.  Now, let's work on those safety Photo Enforced stoplights which really scare me.

3.  FALL COLOR--  A few trees around here in northeast Illinois are starting to change, but most have not.  Looking forward to that color.

Color me Fall.  --RoadDog

MORE COFFEE SIGNS:  You think being called a "drip" is a compliment.

25 Ways To Tell You're From Lake County, Illinois-- Part 6: Shoveling and Lamb's Farm

21.  You miss the albino crocodile in Gurnee Mills (a huge outlet mall), but know that you can get your reptile fix at the Wildlife Discovery Center.

22.  You complain about taxes.  A LOT!!  But, you would never, ever, dream of living in Cook County, McHenry County (Hey, that's where I now live), or, heaven forbid, Kenosha County, Wisconsin.  (Too many Cheeseheads and Packer fans.)

23.  You understand that no one is growing crops over at Lamb's Farm, but they are nurturing human dignity.  They also, in fact, do have lambs along with a sizable herd of goats and other lovable creatures.

24.  You help shovel your neighbor's driveway during a blizzard, but you don't stick a chair or ironing board on the space shoveled afterwards like they do in Chicago.

25.  If you're a parent, you follow Little Lake County to be in-the-know on where-to-go to  have fun with your kids.  (This is where I got the 25 things from.)

A Crock You Wouldn't Want to Wear.  --RoadDog

Just Hangin' Around-- Part 2: Of Taxes, Somebody Likes Us and Blackie the Squirrel

MARCH 30, WEDNESDAY--

Went to H&R Block and had our taxes done.  The guy really seemed to know his stuff and hopefully we won't have the problems we had last year with Hewett & Jackson.  As usual, we owe, so it's off to work I go.  NOT!!

Stopped at the Whistle Stop in Fox Lake for breakfast afterwards.  I have never been there and heard it is a really good place to eat.  And, every time I drive by when they are open (breakfast and lunch) there are usually people lined up to go inside).  One of their March specials is an Irish omelet with corned beef and Swiss cheese.

The waitress later came back with a smile on her face and said that something had happened which just made her feel so good.  She said that an older man had told her to go ahead and pay for the breakfast of some other people and left.  We asked who they were and she said, "You."    Well, that sure made our day.  We didn't recognize anyone when we came in.

We later went to Donovan's and the Grove on our way back.

MARCH 31ST, THURSDAY--

Warm enough for me to sit outside on the front porch and finish yesterday's Whistle Stop Irish omelet.  First front porch breakfast of the year for me.  Love that outside eating.  Later enjoyed watching Blackie the Squirrel (our black squirrel) get thoroughly frustrated trying to overcome the new anti-squirrel devices I have up on the birdfeeders.  But, I figure it to be just a matter of time before he or Reb (our gray squirrel) figure out how to get the seed.  You can't beat squirrels.

We went to Sunnyside.

That Sure Was Nice.  --RoadDog

Went to DeKalb for Da Game-- Part 4: The Day After

Like the song said, there has to be a morning after, and there was. After the continental buffet, I drove over to Lowe's in DeKalb (notice the capital "K") on Il-23 and found that they have a real nice collection of Christmas items and spent a bunch of money there and then over to Wal-Mart and did the same.

After Liz got up, we drove over to White Castle for our usual meal #1 (4 Sliders, fries and drink for $4.99, less 10% for senior discount which covers the DeKalb 10% food tax). Then to Big Lots for some treasure hunting (you never know what you'll find in there) and a crazy dancing Frosty the Snowman.

Then, Il-23 to Il-176 to Union where we toured the McHenry County Historical Society (we especially liked the Christmas store selling all those great toys from our childhood) and stopped at Classen's, a tavern dating to 1900. Union is quite a historical town which also has the Illinois Railroad Museum and Donley's Antiques and Western Museum.

Then, it was the Red Mill Inn in Woodstock and Twisted Moose in McHenry before going home. Every place was packed. Guess a lot of folks are off for Christmas.

Too Bad We Lost. --RoadDog

It's Them, Not Me: Paid My Collector

Drove over to my bank today and paid the McHenry County, Illinois, Collector.  And I can tell you this, that guy sure does collect something, he collects MY MONEY!!!  As in property taxes.  And, he collects A Lot of my money!!

I wrote out a check for $4,747.51!!  That was bad.  But even worse, that represented only HALF of the tax bill!!!  Wow!!  $9,495.02 in taxes.  The previous year, I paid $8,637.32.  That is the biggest-ever tax increase for me.

And, it had gone up $500 the year before.

And, in that time, I have lost about half the value of the house.  So much for their old, "You're paying more in taxes because the value of your house has gone up."  Apparently, if the value of your house goes up, your taxes go up.  And, if the value of your house goes down, your taxes go up.

Somebody Sure Has a Win-Win Thing Going On.  --RoadDog

JSIS: Delayed Tax Day-- Listen My Children-- Doolittle's Raiders

JSIS-- Just Some Inetresting Stuff. A bit of history.


1. DELAYED TAX DAY-- The reason we didn't have to pay taxes April 15th, dates from the Civil War, when slaves in Washington, DC, were freed April 15, 1862 (a year after the war began), and ever since has been a district holiday.

Just in case you were wondering.


2. LISTEN MY CHILDREN-- Today marks the 236th anniversary of Mr. Revere's midnight to warn that the gas prices were rising!! Er, British were coming. Of course, the next day was the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" at Lexington.

"And you shall hear of the midnight ride of...."


3. DOOLITTLE'S RAIDERS-- Today is the 69th anniversary of one of the bravest efforts during World War II, when 80 men in 16 B-25 bombers took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and dropped bombs on Japan, just five months after Pearl Harbor.

The five survivors met in Nebraska last weekend for their annual reunion.

Brave Men, All. --RoadDog


STUPID QUESTIONS: Why are they called stairs inside but steps outside?

JSS: Cold's Back-- Horror in Sox Bullpen-- Taxes-- GAS GOUGE

JSS-- Just Some Stuff


1. COLD'S BACK-- We sure got spoiled with the weather from Saturday until Wednesday. Temps 60 degrees+ and sun. Reality came back yesterday with cold and wind and appears to be back for a week. Sure nice while it lasted.


2. HORROR IN SOX BULLPEN-- The A's should be paying the Sox bullpen after all the kindness they've given three of the four games when leads in the ninth were blown. Of course, there was that debacle last Friday in the 9th when a 7-4 Sox lead became a 9-7 loss. In the BP's defense, there were two big errors in the field as well.


3. CIVIL WAR INUNDATION-- I have many sources for Civil War news, but lately, because of the sesquicentennial (150 years) of the firing on Fort Sumter and beginning of the Civil War, it has come as a flood. Reckon I'll have to just get used to it. Twist my arm!!


4. TAXES-- Yesterday, mailed off $1238 to the federal government and had a smile on my face. Usually I have to pay $5,000 to $6,000. I guess the scholarship at NIU, gift to Our Lady of Grace in Chicago and miniscule CD interest paid off.


5. GAS GOUGE-- a little less hurtful as gas in Fox Lake dropped a whole ten cents to $4 at one station. It took that long for Friday's $7 drop in oil to go in effect, six days. Had it gone up $7, we would have seen the increase at the pumps in an hour and not just a 10 cent increase.

You Really Just Got to Love Those GRBs at the Axis. --RoadDog


STUPID QUESTION: Why can't women put their mascara on with their mouths closed?

Doin' My Part to Get the Country Back on Track

Even if Big Oil and the Hedgies aren't.

Not only am I stuck with CDs earning whopping interest anywhere from .5% to 1.5%. But, also today, I fired off a check for $5,195 to Uncle Sam on top of the taxes I already paid.

I am doing my good citizen thing. And, I haven't even seen my NEW property taxes which were $8500 last year. Definitely bleeding taxes through the ears.


A CUBS RESPITE

Tomorrow, I will drown my sorrows going out to Wrigley Field, well, on the bus there and back, anyway. I can't afford to pay he prices at the ball park. I'm betting they are at least $6.

I can't help but remember writing in my journal back in April of 1981 that I had gone out to Wrigley for the first time that season and found that I couldn't afford to drink there any more as they had raised beer prices to $1.50!!!

A Cubs fan...Unless They Play the Sox. --RoadDog


Maxine says the economy is so bad that Exxon-Mobil had to lay off 25 Congressmen.

Bad Place to Trick or Treat

Our subdivision, Orchard Bluff Estates in Spring Grove, Illinois, would not be my first choice of places to trick or treat. As matter of fact, if I were a kid, I'd ask my parents to take me to another subdivision. Logistically, it is a nightmare. There is just TOO much ground that has to be covered to get a candy return on our efforts.

The problem is that we are a subdivision of one acre lots. Now that is true joy to the McHenry County tax collector who sees the word acre and thinks "Cash Cow." Plenty of money to be milked here. My property tax surely reflects this.

However, this is way too much territory to cover if you're in the business of acquiring candy. Plus, the majority go back to the street instead of cutting across yards, even more candy collectin' time lost.

Now, what I would do would be to get my parents to take me to one of the canyon subdivisions. You know the ones where all the homes are on postage stamp-sized lots and go straight up to save land. You feel like you're driving through a canyon in these places. The great thing is that they're right next to each other. MAXIMUM candy ACQUISITION time.

I know my brother and I carefully mapped out our plan of attack to get the maximum in the minimum. That included taking mental notes of the "great" houses where the candy was the best for a possible return visit.

Then, Again, an Apartment Complex Would Even be Better. --RoadDog