Sunday

I always seem to get ‘important’ mail on Saturday. One of two days in the week that one can’t deal with the ‘important’ message. Yesterday was one of those days and it’s driving me crazy. I got a ‘delinquency notice’ from the State of Colorado for taxes not paid in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The total delinquency with all the ‘penalties’ is almost $1000. I know it’s a mistake. Some low level bureaucrat who can’t figure out tax bills. I had to deal with the State of MA a couple of year ago. With them, it took three phone calls from me and two from my tax service to determine I didn’t owe anything. That bill was only $700. First the bill showed $100, but turned out that was just the penalty. Their mistake, but only got a letter saying my tax delinquency had been removed. This one is probably on my mom’s estate. We had a joint checking account so I could pay her bills. I called the bank right after the funeral. The bank had already removed her name. God only knows how they knew she passed, since no one at the bank came to the service or sent a sympathy card. Anyway when I got the bank’s ‘interest earned’ form, all the interest for the year was under my name. At my request, the bank sent out two forms—my mom‘s estate paid the taxes on the interest until she passed. Then I paid the taxes after that. I figure that when I paid my share of the interest, somebody checked and found out that my name was the only name on the account at the bank. Without checking the history, someone assumed I just hadn’t claimed the tax for the two previous years. It will probably take quite a bit of time to educate whomever. I am also convinced that the economic crisis has something to do with this. Get every penny they can to keep the state of Colorado running. Don’t waste time or money on research of the problem, as that is the tax payers responsibility. I’ll find out tomorrow what is going on. This is one of the few times I am happy that AZ doesn’t have Daylight time, as I can start off someone’s week very early for them. Of course, the call is on my dime, since they don’t have an 800 number.

My deck was 90° today, and we didn’t get any rain. We did have a few promising clouds, but none of them delivered on the promise. So it was just hot most of the afternoon. While it seemed hot, Phoenix had yet another extreme heat warning and they hit 113°.

For many years, before Interstate 40, Williams, AZ was the gateway to the Grand Canyon. It was on Rt. 66 and played the Grand Canyon thing to the hilt. I-40 took a big chunk of the tourist business. Then the town started pushing its Grand Canyon Railroad trip. A steam engine that takes you to the Grand Canyon, on a beautiful ride on an old train, and a hold up is thrown in as a free bonus. As tourist dollars are drying up, the train is dropping the number of trips per day. Well, then Williams talked about having an amusement park with a wild west theme to keep tourists around. It didn’t pan out, yet. The $500 million to $1 billion price tag didn’t get any bites. Now some guy is going to put in a wild animal park. Part of it will be seen by vehicle, another part will be seen by walking. Williams is all excited about the jobs and tourists it will bring. I’m not sure it will be the cash cow that they are expecting. But then, I’m not a businessman.

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Random Fact…

In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite smell.

If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Halley's Comet came into view. When he died in 1910, Halley's Comet was in view again.


Crazy Stuff In The News…

InformationAgePrayer.com is a website that offers, for people too busy to speak to God themselves, a daily service of invocations (using voice-synthesizing software) for Catholics, Protestants, Jews, or Muslims. Starting each day ‘reciting’ the Lords Prayer (or the Islamic Fajr) is $3.95/month. Hail Marys are 70 cents a day for 10. A Complete Rosary Package is $49.95/month. Each prayer is voiced individually, according to a report of LiveScience.com, with the subscriber’s name on the screen. For Muslim prayers, the computer’s speakers point toward Mecca.

Month long events in August

Edinburgh Festival is an internationally famous arts festival that takes place during August National Immunization Awareness Month… National Psoriasis Awareness Month… Women's Small Business Month... National Back to School month…American Adventures Month…Golf Month…National Inventor’s Month…National Win with Civility Month…What will be your legacy Month

Week of Aug 3…

Sturgis Bike Week
Psychic Week
Exhibitor Appreciation Week

2 Aug…

215 days so far this year…150 days remain in 2009
Watermelon Day
*Niger: Independence Day—1960 from France
*Venezuela: Flag Day—since 2006

BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

1851.....Lady Isabella Caroline Somerset temperance leader

1900.....John T Scopes Tennessee teacher convicted for teaching evolution
1905.....Dolores Del Rio Mexico, actress
1920…..P.D. James mystery writer (Cover Her Face)
1923…..Anne Klein fashion designer
1924…..Leon Uris US, novelist (Exodus, QB VII)
1926…..Tony Bennett Queens NY, singer
1940…..Martin Sheen actor
1941…..Martha Stewart cookbook author, TV Host
1952…..Jay North North Hollywood Calif, actor (Dennis the Menace)

Events on this day…

1492…..Columbus sets sail from Palos, Spain for "Indies"

1678…..Robert LaSalle builds 1st ship in America, Griffon

1829….."William Tell," the final opera of Rossini, has premiers in Paris.
1882.….Congress passes 1st law restricting immigration

1921…..1st aerial cropdusting (Troy Ohio to kill caterpillars)
1936…..Sprinter Jesse Owens wins the first of his four gold medals in Berlin
1949…..Basketball Assoc of America & National Basketball League merge to form the NBA
1952…..15th Olympic games close in Helsinki Finland
1963…..Allan Sherman releases "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda"
1975…..Louisiana Superdome is dedicated
1981…..Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) begin their strike
1933…..The world-famous Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced.
1966…..Comedian Lenny Bruce died of a morphine overdose this day.


Word Fragment Puzzle

In each of these puzzles, a word fragment is given, and you must think of an English word that contains the fragment -- that is, you must form a word by adding letters to the beginning and/or the end of the fragment. You may not add letters to the middle of the fragment, nor may you rearrange the letters given. Multiple solutions are given for several word fragments (although we omitted most alternate solutions that rely on variations of the same word). To solve the puzzles, however, you only need to find one word for each fragment.

1. Ttre [2]
2. cerb [2]
3. mert [1]
4. nexh [1]
5. drob [1]
6. nves [1]
7. eue [1]
8. ipu [2]
9. gub [1]
10. cion [5]
*Bonus: ucra [2]
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Answers:

1. Buttress mattress
2. Acerbic exacerbate
3. summertime
4. inexhaustible
5. wardrobe
6. invest
7. queue
8. manipulate stipulate
9. lugubrious
10. aficionado conscionable coercion scion suspicion
*Bonus: bureaucrat lucrative
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