Tuesday

HI JEFF!!! YOU CAN SHOUT ANYTIME YOU WANT!!!

O pardon me….I was shouting myself!

Thanks for stopping by

Don’t have much to say, but the dreaded Jan 31st deadline is imminent and won’t get everything done I had hoped. So what’s new. Have stopped answering my phone. About 20 calls came in today. Several were repeats. Can’t seem to remember that I will get back with them when I’m ready. Their just wasting their time calling me. Cant’ deal with it anymore.

Finished all the Hutch payroll and got that delivered. One person unhappy I wasn’t there as quick as he had hoped. Guess it never occured he could come see me if he’s so impatient. Didn’t feel like making 2 trips to Hutch and back today, so guess that’s life. And then people wonder why I quit so many Hutch people in 2002.

After 4AM now & VERY tired. Wish I could go to bed, but know I don’t dare. Need to make another payroll delivery at 7:30 at Durham. Then another one at 9:30AM. They both have tight schedules and can’t budge, so that means 2 trips or more wasted time for me. Will prob take a chilly nap in my cold car. Ready for January to be over.

Stopped at Walmart in Hutch on the way back. Saw Jo Wiebe at her HR Block cubicle wading in stacks of paper. A good freind from Menn Manor board days. Good to share our misery with each other for a few minutes. Must get back to W-2’s & 1099’s

mikey

Monday

Slept till 11AM & then did a complete years accounting for one client & got a payroll report ready for W-2’s. This took all day & then picked up tax info at Marion, Hillsboro & MP. Just boring tax stuff today & not much else to say. Several phone calls, but turned off the ringer. About 15 messages came in today & returned most of those before I took off. Nothing too stressful yet.

Big deadine for 941’s & 940’s & KS Unempl coming up on Wed. Also this is payroll week. Much to be done this week.

mikey

Sunday

Went to Church for the first time in 3 weeks with excellent road conditions. SS was on I Cor 14:1-20 & of course lots of discusstion on tongues. DLM had the sermon, primarily on relationships. One comment was what it would be like if NonChristians obseverd Chirstians resolving their differences. Never thot of that before. Slept at Willards and really conked out. Glad for that.

Back to Hillsboro & only 1 pt who was basically self-care. That doesn’t happen very often. Not to fear…there was plenty of paperwork to do. I put 100 ER charts together & sorted the misc box and put 22 transfer charts together. Felt pretty ambitious and glad for  the energy to do this job. The one & only pt was watching Joseph on TBN and seemed very true to the Genesis account from Josephs dream as a young one to being reunited with his family in Egypt & all the adventure that entailed. Was grateful to see bits & pieces of this excellent film.

Caught up with all the gossip with my cohort in the nursing home. Simple minds talk about people & I’m afraid that described this conversation accurately. Our locum tenens ER doc used to be a CNA here about 7 years ago. I didn’t work much with him personally, but knew who he was. He was also one of the innumberable mikes working in the place.

Had a nice chat with Josh on the way home. This involved driving at speeds not exceeding 20MPH to be able to have cell signal before the hills cut us off. A nice call & Josh is quite excited about next weekend for obvious reasons.

Saw a dead deer at the side of the road by Maxwell not over 50 feet from where I last hit a deer about 2 months ago. Don’t know what to say about that.

A very full answering machine and no energy to deal with that till tomorrow.

mikey

Saturday

Woke up at 10:40AM & had some people come over at 11 to do their taxes. Appreciate those that are willing to come here. Their 17 yr old son listens to Christian hip-hop. Never heard of that before. He is a great young guy. Wrote a piece on creation/evolution for the school paper-Salina South. Want to read it some time.

Then went to Gypsum to make another tax info pickup. Darrell Nitsch purch the old Lions Den building and has made the upstairs their living quarters. We went to school together years and years ago! Haven’t seen him since, till today. I spent a lot of time in this buidling during Boy Scout days. We were not allowed to go upstairs into the Masonic lodge area. This was always a mysterious building and only Masons were allowed in the upstairs part. Now after all these years I get to see the upstairs. Beautiful wood floors & the strange Mason compass design on the walls with the big G which stands, not for God, but geometry. My grandfather was a Mason and wasn’t allowed to tell his family anything about it.

A productive AM & then to Hillsboro. Horrifed to find 3 out of 4 pts afflicted with the big 3….NVD. Nause, vomiting & diarrhea. The entire nursing home area is under quarantine now due to stomach flu. Used extreme caution with these sick pts. Mask, gown & almsot non-stop handwashing & LPH spray. Hope I can elude this nasty bug at least until my big Jan 31 deadline is past. Time will tell.

Had a nice phone call from Jacob on the way home. Actually he tried to call earlier, but unfortunatley I was quite occupied with the more delicate aspects of my job & unable to answer the phone at the time. Misty is in the area to look for a house with Josh. Happy hunting!!

Home now & time for bed

mikey

Friday

Slept quite well for 5 hours. Spent about an hour with someone on the phone who is setting up Quickbooks. Definitely having growing pains with setting up QB, but think it will all come together…at least sometime. Everything resolved, at least for now.

Starting to get piles of 1099’s for myself, the farm & extended family members. These all have to be very carefully sorted and put in the right folder. So far, so good with everything checking out with my records.

Doing more W-2 & 1099’s for people & running off endless copies. To simplify matters, the IRS has made 941 & 940 forms into 2 pages when they had been 1 page. More spread out, but takes twice the paper for hard copies, which the client must be provided. There go some more trees.

Sent off my 1st tax return efile & the acks all came back OK & both Fed & KS are accepted. Always good to see this working. Having some trouble with losing connections at times. Wonder if Norton is being too aggressive??? Just sent off my 2nd efile tonight. Went to Lehigh & Hillsboro & MP mostly for tax info pickups. Always get lost in Lehigh population under 100. It’s all set at angles and few street signs or house numbers. Everyone is just supposed to know where everyone lives. All the directions I get are the old fashioned turn at the blue house, then go 1 or 2 blocks, etc etc. I can’t see house colors in the dark. I need street signs & house numbers!!! Jim rec 3 W-2’s today & only a few more left to come. Lady greeted me like the lady she is….clenched teeth all showing and aiming to inform me she owns the place. If plans hold out, she will be having another home to mark her territory by tomorrow night!! That suits me just fine.

Ate at the new KFC/Long John Silvers at MP. Was NOT impressed with the place. Very limited selection for both places and did NOT get full. This is crucial for my dining demands. And for the other problem there…the staff was loud & obnoxious. There must have been 8 staff members on break and eating & butting in line when I was at the pop machine & a steady decibel level of near deafening conditions. Saw 2 men there who looked like brass, but didn’t have much to say. Don’t think I will be returning any time soon.

I get to work at the hospital tomorrow for a change of pace. Kind of ready to go back and see what’s going on there.

mikey

Thursday

Went to Ramona to pick up some tax info, but discovered I need to fill up the gas tank, so went on in to Herington. On the way out I saw Linda B & followed her home & picked up her info. The delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise and got another stop taken care of. She is thinking of moving to Omaha to get another job. Back to Ramona & picked up that info & ate dinner at the Gypsum Cafe. Then it was finishing up sales tax & KS WH & made several calls to the friendly tele sales tax lady. Also had a big stack of paper sales tax & KS WH to mail at Gypsum before last call of 4:15PM.

Then it was off to Hutch for a few stops and errands. Today was Jim’s payday so that was a top priority. He did well with bills & rode with me to Hutch. Stops in Hutch & Buhler & then we ate at IHOP. Seemed like a rough crowd there tonight. By now it was about 1:30AM.

Also getting acquainted with Jim’s new pit puppy named Lady. And she acts like a real lady….growling and snipping and being rough with Spook the cat. Don’t know if those arrangements are going to work out or not.

Also had a nice call from Jacob. Having fun with algebra among other things. A very busy young man. Also dropped an item off for Josh.

A long dya, but got everything done I was hoping for

mikey

Wednesday

Slept in later than normal for tax season. Still feeling tired, but could be worse. Had homemade chili for dinner-without tomato sauce, which is exactly how I like it. Nice & salty. Went to Hillsboro and delvired some sales tax & KS WH. Then picked up my W-2 at HCMC & discovered there are no pts there today. Congrats to Colleen Hajek for being appointed clerk of Wilson township. Apparently she was not aware of being a candidate for this position until it was filled. That’s the way it goes in rural KS.

Then to Marion & picked up a RE tax statement to fill out for a homestead refund. Not sure why they can’t send these to property owners who are going thru a mortgage company. Just something else to be annoyed and inconvenienced.

Delivered some more payroll forms to be signed and paid and made plans to see people for the next few days. Missing info is slowly being found, making processing happen in a more productive way.

A very balmy 45 degrees today and NO wind. Snow is melting quickly which is good news for both Ryan & myself!

Then stopped to see Jim for a bit and check on W-2’s. Still more on the way and some were sent to old addresses, (sigh). Arrived at Center to a slide show by the Laverne Miller family on their recent trip to El Salvador. To my understanding everyone, but the 2 oldest sons went on the trip. Many interesting pics courtesy of John & his excellent photographic skills. Had a prayer time & questions session later. VERY good to see these good friends safely home again!!

To IHOP with Josh and quite icy due to building fog moisture. A new waitress and apparently a disturbance at a nearby table, but didn’t notice a thing myself. A long ride home with dense fog at intervals. Seemed like 61 & 135 weren’t icing up as bad as it was in Hutch. At least that was encouraging. Safely made it home and returned a call to a night worked and made plans to see them Friday. Tax season is definitly here. Sales tax & KS WH due tomorrow!

mikey

Tuesday

Up at 9AM & to Hutch and saw 3 people concerning sales tax and KS withholding. 1 stop for 3 hours and the others were quicky stops. It seems others are running around as much as I am, so that part is encouraging. Stopped off at Steve’s at Buhler and picked up his info & then to Roxbury Bank and waited for some loan histories to print that I need to finish and P&L. Got some stamps ant Roxbury PO & then on home. Later it was off to Tampa to drop off a EOY payroll and this entails about 8 signatures. Probably think their signing their life away. Maybe so.

To Hillsboro and picked up 2 more tax people W-2’s and such. Everyone home this time. Yeah. Then went over the sales tax account I’ve been really worried about. It came together relatively quickly-about 2 hours and was much lower than we were expecting, so they will be happy about that. Just got off the phone with Steve and that also had encouraging results.

A good day, buy why as I so tired?

mikey

Monday

Started my day at 8PM Sunday night. I simply couldn’t sleep or be lazy anymore. Much needs to be done in little time. Kept at W-2’s till 5AM & back to bed. Up at 9AM & going nonstop ever since. Getting the recipient copies out sooner than I have for the past several years. Very monotonous & time-consuming. Prob spend more time than I should, but it’s important that there are ZERO mistakes. Just mailed another batch at Gypsum PO at 3AM & plan to get to bed shortly.

A few calls coming in, but not too stressful. These are the people I only see once a year & it’s fun to chat with them again. Snow is melting, but very cold out even with the sun shining. Also closing out record # of payroll & sales tax clients and starting new ones. This makes much more work, but it’s billable.

Rascal caught a mouse tonight & was prancing about with his big game in his mouth for everyone to admire…the mighty hunter!

Need to go to Hutch tomorrow & get going on sales tax, NOT a favorite of mine, but needs to be done by Thurs. Must get to bed now.

mikey

Sunday

Well today I did the unthinkable….slept in on Sunday morning. Church was called off at Center and also the Baptist Church was called off here, so there were no other options. I awoke to the sound of Dad scraping the sidewalk just at the earliest light of dawn. For shame, I should have been doing that. The snowplow came thru just before Noon and Errol bladed our driveway a bit later. And later on I cleaned off the rest of the sidewalks. Amazing how tolerable it is outside with no KS wind. Sun was out and helped the job along, but then hid behind the clouds later int he day.

Was very lazy and did very little constructive most of the day. Had a nice call from Virgil and told me about his Coop computer project among other things. Later a nice call with Josh and his beloved Colts won tonights game. btw my parents were watching that & I got in on bits and pieces of it. By then I was busily doing 1099’s & W-2’s. A lot done, but a lot more left to do.

Also doing a back and forth email with Ryan at this very moment. We’ll see who gets the last word

mikey