Both Sides of the Fence
A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, raises kids, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and works too much. A Quaker and
The Aging Maven, she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!
Sure signs
By Christine McLaughlin
Sunday, Apr 15 2007, 10:49 PM
It’s not the crocuses and hyacinths. Not the warming air or the yellowing willows or the buds waiting to pop.
It’s the big orange striped barrels lining eastern Bluemound Road in Tosa and marking the start of Wisconsin’s second season: road construction. Some already marshal us into single lanes, while others stand at attention waiting to be placed into active duty.
And so it begins.
Then there’s the rush to finish the old 1040s. You’d think someone who has money coming back would get her taxes done early, but no.
Instead, I flew to Colorado to spend some time with Annie. The visit involved hikes in the mountains and an evening with a doctor from Transylvania who breeds Arabian horses and raises pickles in Fort Collins. I am not making this up: magical things happen when you are with a beautiful young woman in the Rockies.
The weather there was just like it was here—cold—but 25 degrees feels different when you’re closer to the sun.
Back home, it was time to get back to the taxes I’d started. Since I no longer have last year’s e-mail address, I had to run a gauntlet to get last year’s data dumped into this year’s TurboTax forms. To change your e-mail address, you need to know your ID, which I’d forgotten. To get your ID, you need to have your old e-mail address. So it’s one of those endless loop things. I couldn’t break thorough it, despite all my “chats” with guys in Nepal who have a limited assortment of standard responses to give.
Fortunately I finally found my ID, changed the address, and less than two hours later Uncle Sam and I were squared away.
Spring is here. I think I've said that before. But this evidence is irrefutable.
