Val Is Thrust Kicking and Screaming into the 2026 Tax Season

I hate progress!!! Especially the electronical kind of progress. 

It's tax season, you know. I've always done our taxes. Even back in the dark ages when you got a packet of forms in the mail, and had to order (by mail!) any extra forms you couldn't find stocked at a post office or library. Then those forms stopped! You could still order them. But they were not delivered, nor readily available in town.

That's when I started using TurboTax. The disc you could buy at Walmart and slide into the tower of your desktop. It walked me through the items I needed. Then made a file of them in proper order. All I had to do was print them on my laser printer that sat beside my trusty desktop computer. I had adapted to progress!

But wait. My laser printer quit working. So I had to save my file on a thumb drive for Hick to take to town and get printed at the UPS store. The gals there really liked him for some reason. I swore I would get a new printer. By the time I did that, I was not going to the basement to my desktop. It was after my unfortunate HospitVALzation, and I wasn't making trips up and down those 13 rail-less basement stairs.

My new printer worked for one month. I might have used it twice. Even then, it didn't work well. It took The Pony a while to set it up and make it go. Because everything these days wants to run on those magical invisible signals floating around. My laptop HIPPIE was having none of that. Or perhaps it was the printer. HIPPIE would say he sent out the signals, but the printer in the living room didn't get them. 

Hick wasn't going to the UPS store any more. I figured I'd take a chance, and just save my tax forms on HIPPIE. He has several years worth. Luckily I didn't need to look up anything. Until NOW.

My tax life became a whole lot more difficult over the past few years. Walmart quit selling TurboTax in favor of H&R Block. But I could still get my TurboTax from Amazon. Until TurboTax quit making the CD version. So it had to be downloaded and somehow made usable on HIPPIE. The Pony did that for me. 

The second year, we couldn't remember my password, which was required to use my own laptop to utilize the software that I had already paid for. INTUIT was holding my account hostage! There was no way to say I forgot my password and reset it! After trying every imaginable version of my go-to password, with me in tears, and The Pony apologizing for not being able to find a way around that password... I suggested one little tweak to that password family, and it WORKED!

Well. This year, equipped with The Pony and a password, a new monkey wrench was tossed into my tax life. Like Adam Sandler in Big Daddy, tossing sticks into the path of roller-bladers in the park! TurboTax geniuses decided that this year's version could no longer run on Windows 10. Only Windows 11 or higher. Which meant I had to use a whole new laptop, as HIPPIE was not compatible. Too old and slow to run Windows 11. No simple upgrade.

Luckily I had a "new" laptop The Pony got me a couple Christmases ago. I call him LENNY, because he's a Lenovo. He works just fine. But he's NEW to me. The keys are a different spacing from very wide HIPPIE. So I have to look down and make a lot of corrections.

Oh, did I mention that I'm not good at using that little finger pad thingy instead of a mouse? And I only have one mouse. It works fine with LENNY. All I have to do is unplug a little thingy on the side of HIPPIE, and insert it in the (opposite of course) side of LENNY.

Here's the deal. With HIPPIE slowly dying, shutting down randomly from overheating, I had transferred my previous few tax year files from HIPPIE to LENNY. Just in case I might need them. Which I did, because of a dang lump-sum payment of SS when teachers were allowed to draw it on their spouses like every other profession or non-workers.

Yep. I had everything done. From the sale of three properties in 2025, to Hick's business, and his new non-employee contractor status due to his less (now more) than $300 a month job with the senior apartments. He got a 1099-NEC. But I got it figured out. Yet now it was my own income that tripped me up.

I needed to find the taxable amount of Hick's SS in 2024, because that's what my lump-sum payment was for: a few months in 2024, because they backdated the teacher claims for when the law was changed.

Anyhoo... the point of all this confusing stuff I forced you to read is that I HAD those 2024 tax forms for reference. I only needed two items. Hick's full amount of SS for that year, and the taxable amount. 

LENNY could not open my 2024 tax return! He needs some program to open it in. I will have to consult The Pony for that. But wait! I still have the file on HIPPIE. Sitting right there behind LENNY on the kitchen table. So all I needed was to open the file on HIPPIE to read the info to type into LENNY where I had TurboTax open.

Well. Did you forget that I have one mouse? So I had to unplug and replug and shuffle the guys around to get into HIPPIE and open that 2024 file. Then switch the mouse back to LENNY to type it in. Oh, I got it done. It took way longer than should have been necessary.

Back in the olden days, it was SO EASY to open last year's manilla folder and look at any tax forms you needed for reference.

That was my point...

Living in the Sticks

We were cautious on Thursday when Hick took me to my orthopedist appointment. He took an alternate route to avoid the low water bridge on the county blacktop road. We can tell by the height of our creek if that bridge will be underwater. We also took the alternate route on Monday when I had a follow-up appointment with my regular NP. The creek was probably down from the second batch of rain, but we figured there might be logs on the bridge.

Coming home, Hick took a chance, just to see if the bridge was clear for his trip back to town. We can always turn around at the top of the hill and take the alternate. It's just more time-consuming.

Anyhoo... the bridge itself was clear.

The creek had gone down. The county road crew had not yet been out to scrape all the dirt off the edge of the bridge. The other side has been cleaned off. Hick thinks the guy who lives at the first house over there sometimes does the dozing of debris. He's a contractor with heavy equipment.

You can see that traffic has been crossing. Most likely the first few were in pickup trucks anyway, with 4WD, in case they got stuck. This smashed ruts in the sandy soil for others to pass.

A-Cad has AWD, and had no problems easing through the dirt. I took the alternate later. T-Hoe would have no problems, but I prefer a less bumpy ride.

That dirt must have been pretty deep for the first couple of vehicles to pass.

Tuesday, Hick reported that the dirt had been cleared. Indeed, it was piled on the side, and a guy with a truck and trailer was shoveling some for personal use. The road had been skinned of the last two layers of blacktop. Flood water is a powerful force! T-Hoe climbed the "steps" from the bridge to road just fine.

We have a blacktop patch now that makes it pretty smooth. Until the next big rain.

Hick Goes Up on the Roof

Hick was up on the roof of the senior apartments Monday morning, looking for the source of a leak during our three inches of rain last week. It had caused a light to fall from the ceiling inside. He found it. The rubber coating on the roof had collapsed in one corner. It's not something Hick is qualified to fix, so he called a contractor.

 

There's a view across town at sunrise. Not very impressive. It's a small town that sprung up during the lead mining era. Hick's apartment building sits on Main Street. In the distance, you can see the store where I shop every Thursday. It will always be Country Mart to me, even though another chain has taken over. The brick building to the left of Hick's roof is the former Southwestern Bell Telephone building that my dad worked out of for many years. In the days before Bell was de-regulated into AT&T.

There's not much to see of Main Street from this view. That white building used to be a Western Auto store when I was a kid, but is now a Subway. The sandwich shop, not underground transit. The only thing underground in this town it the lead mine, now closed.

If you zoom in, you can see the back of the post office, the loading dock with all the vehicles parked. To the left of it, there's a brick building with two green awnings. That is now the city library, but it used to be the unemployment office, where I worked when Genius was born.

Getting back to the roof business... I asked Hick how much it would cost to replace the roof.

"It's like replacing a roof on a house. It will cost about $16,000."

"Does the association have enough money to do that?"

"Oh, yeah. Since I took over a year ago, it went from having a negative balance to over $60,000 in the bank."

"Will it be the same kind of roof? That tarpaper stuff? Or metal, like a house?"

"It's not tarpaper. It's EDPM. It will be the same kind of roof."

Good to know that Hick has filled the coffers of the association for the elderlies, what with getting all those apartments ready and rented. So they can afford to replace the roof. They're sure not wasting that money on Hick's salary!

Let the Long Horns Blow a (Muted) Fanfare!

BARGAIN HOUSE IS UNDER CONTRACT!

Of course there's more to the story. I've been holding out on you, waiting to see how things progress. Papers have been signed. The closing is scheduled for the first week of April. An inspector will tour Bargain House next week. Then we will be informed of any items that might need to be addressed. This is the buyer's inspector, for his loan. Bargain House has already passed the city inspection for occupancy.

Bargain House was officially put on the market by Realtor Guy on Thursday, February 19. By the weekend, it was being shown a couple times a day. When I dropped off The Pony after our Errand Day on Thursday, February 26, The Pony said, "I have a feeling we're going to get an offer on Bargain House this weekend."

Realtor Guy was communicating with Hick all along. Hick asked if there was anything the viewers mentioned. Anything we might be able to change. Realtor Guy said the only thing he heard was that some didn't like the location, which obviously can't be changed. Hick thought it might be because the city "bus barn" is across the side street, where they park all the city vehicles. Or maybe a house across the back alley with a yard that's a bit junky.

Anyhoo... Sunday night, March 1, Hick got a text from Realtor Guy with an offer for Bargain House. It was $17,400 under the listing price. We talked it over with The Pony, and Hick countered with a price that was $10.000 under the listing price. Essentially, we came down $10,000, and the prospective buyer would need to come up $7,400 from his offer. Which is more than fair to him. Better than if Hick played his "split the difference" game.

We didn't hear anything for a couple days. On Tuesday, March 3, Hick called Realtor Guy. Who said the prospective buyer had decided he wasn't interested. No skin off our collective noses. We're not giving it away!

The house showed through the week, days and evenings, with multiple weekend showings. Realtor Guy gave his viewers a short survey. Some said they wanted to look at other properties. One guy rated it a 4 out of 5, the only complaint being that he thought it was a bit overpriced. Well, that's on Realtor Guy, who told Hick his original price was too low! Anyhow, that's how houses are sold. You make an offer for what you're willing to pay. It apparently wasn't priced too high for that guy to ask for a viewing.

Saturday night, March 7, Hick went to bed at his normal time, around 8:30. On Sunday morning, checking his phone, he saw a text from Realtor Guy at 9:20 p.m.

"We have an offer on the house. That first guy will accept our counter-offer from before."

Hick signed the paperwork on his phone. The reason we are not over-the-moon excited is because of how the prospective buyer wants to do the deal. There's a name for it. According to Hick's explanation, the paperwork will somehow show that we're financing part of the buyer's down payment. I understand that although we will get our full amount from the counter-offer at closing, paperwork might show that the price is what that buyer first offered. Hick likened it to buying a car and getting trade-in value of a certain amount. Anyhoo... it will all be sorted out by the title company at closing, and we'll have our 1099-S form to show how to report it for tax purposes.

This buyer is getting a government loan, which I think is USDA, and Realtor Guy says they might require a vapor barrier under the crawl space. Hick knows a local guy who does that, but is not sure of the cost. He's thinking around $2500-3000, and says we'll do it if needed.

Anyhoo... BARGAIN HOUSE IS UNDER CONTRACT! After 16 days on the market, and for a price that is $10,000 higher than our pre-agreed-upon bottom line. We haven't popped any champagne corks just yet...

Ring Hick's Be-e-elll, Ring Hick's Bell

When Hick came home Friday afternoon from his Friday-afternoon-bull-shooting session with his cronies, he took little puppy Pepper out to the yard to play. Pepper looks forward to it, and is on high alert in his  porch-pen enclosure as the time grows near. After 30-60 minutes of tormenting our old dog Jack, Pepper trots through the kitchen behind Hick, ready for his supper back in his pen.

Pepper is growing up. He's nine weeks old now, almost ready to have free range of our 10 acres. His fur is getting coarser. He's not as bite-y when playing with humans. He will sometimes take off on a tangent to explore, but he always comes back to Hick.

Friday evening, Hick came in the house and started for the laundry room. "Come on, Pepper. Let's go get supper! Here, Pepper!"

Pepper was busy exploring the porch. He rounded the sticking-out part that is where the kitchen has the three windows. That brought him around to the other side of his pen wall, where Jack's water dish sits. Pepper was not responding to Hick's call. Hick came back through the kitchen to fetch Pepper. Who is still small enough to be tucked under an arm and easily carried.

Hick went around the corner and came back carrying Pepper. "I cain't just set him over into his pen. I left the laundry room door open, and he'd just run through the house."

GONG!!!

Hick had walked right into his decorative metal bell that's been hanging beside the kitchen door for over 25 years. Thankfully, he didn't drop Pepper!

It's colored green and yellow, like a John Deere tractor. That thing beside it is a ceramic gun holster. They are not connected, nor related. Here's an artsy view with the sunrise peeking through:

"Are you okay?"

"I hit my head on the bell!"

"I saw that. Do you have a concussion?"

"No. I'm blind in my left eye."

"Well, that bell HAS been there since right after we moved in. And you're the one who put it there."

"Yeah. But I didn't see it."

I'm really not one to be pointing out Hick's clumsiness. I still have a bruise on my forehead where I hit it on the laundry room doorknob, trying to stop Pepper from running back in when I put him out.

Hick Takes a Seat

Hick came home Wednesday afternoon proclaiming that he'd done a good deed. I didn't doubt him. Hick has a history of doing good deeds. He's a Do-Gooder. But this time, Hick hadn't consciously decided to perform a good deed. He was motivated by greed!

"I was comin' back from my store, and I saw three chairs along the highway. It was just off the entrance ramp. So I came back on to town and picked up Old Buddy. We went back to get them. It was three wooden chairs. 

When we got there, we seen that they was all skinned up and broken. We loaded them anyway. I brought them home, and when the rain clears up, I'll burn 'em on my burn pile. But that was a good deed. Because I picked up those chairs off the highway."

Yes. I would consider that a good deed, no matter what Hick's original motivation. He could have left the broken chairs there. He took his life (and Old Buddy's) in hand by stopping along a divided highway. Good-Deeders sometimes come to an unfortunate end when they stop to help a motorist.

Anyhoo... Hick has no FREE chairs to sell or use in a flip house. But he is proud that he cleaned up junk along the highway.

Hick Gets a Call From the Police (Again)

A while back, Hick got a call from the police. That time, it was because they found a wallet with Hick's "business" card in it. Not for his SUS2.5 (Storage Unit Store 2.5), but the one he uses for representing the senior apartments. His job for which he now receives a salary of just over $300 a month. The police wanted to return the wallet. That guy had not yet moved into the apartments, but Hick had his information, and was able to pass that along the next day when he got to his office.

Wednesday night, Hick got another call from the police. It was right after he went to bed. Since that was a little after 8:00, it was still within reason. Actually, it would probably have been considered within reason at any hour, because the police wanted to do a wellness check on a resident of the apartments. She had sent a text to a relative that concerned him, and he called the police.

Hick did not consider this call to be within reason. That's because he installed key boxes to enable emergency personnel to access every single apartment. He explained it at the monthly city meeting. The mayor herself said she would make sure that info was given to the police and the fire chief. There was even a kerfuffle later about the passing of this info, as to whom was responsible for the word of the key boxes not being spread to emergency personnel.

Hick told the policeman that there were two key boxes. One to get inside the building (which is locked at 7:00 p.m. to keep ne'er-do-wells out). And another inside the building, with two keys that will access EVERY DOOR. Hick gave the policeman the code numbers to open the lock boxes. He said he'd never been informed of them.

The policeman never called back. So Hick figures he was able to use the keys for entry.

Driving me home from my orthopedist appointment on Thursday morning, Hick used his phone programmed into A-Cad's radio to call his boss for the apartments. Hick explained that he'd gotten another call asking him to come unlock an apartment. He would have done it, if the policeman had not been able to get in. But the purpose of the key boxes was to alleviate this problem. Hick's boss said he would bring it up again with the police department.

Sometimes, I get the feeling that city personnel won't be satisfied until Hick makes himself a bed of rags in a cardboard box, and sleeps just inside the door to the apartment building.