Taxes

Well, the taxes are done.

By "done," I mean we filled out a questionnaire and sent a pile of papers to the accountant.  This grates Darwin-the-self-accountant's teeth, but our taxes are complicated, and just getting everything together for the accountant takes about three hours, let alone actually doing the taxes.  I want someone who knows what she's doing!

It's still strange, though, seeing a man's name next to mine on the tax return.  And I have to say that tax forms are extremely outmoded.  They list TAXPAYER and SPOUSE, because apparently even today, households only have one person with an income who pays taxes.  They really need to say TAXPAYER 1 and TAXPAYER 2 or SPOUSE 1 and SPOUSE 2.

Now we just wait to see what the damage is . . .

Windstorm

A massive windstorm blew through Michigan yesterday.  Winds gusted at 70 mph.  People lost parts of their roofs.  Power lines came down all over the place.  Detroit Energy reports that two-thirds of its customers lost power at some time or another.  A lot of places still don't have power and don't expect it until the weekend.

Traffic lights are out all over town, and people act like they don't know to treat the intersections like four-way stops.  I've seen two accidents--one fender-bender, and one that totalled a truck.  It makes driving in the area tricky and even dangerous.

One of the big pine trees in our front yard went down, too.  We got lucky.  It didn't hit the house, break any other trees, or block the driveway.  If it had to fall, this was the way for it to happen.  I called a tree place, but they're understandably busy and won't be able to deal with it for a day or three.  It's an unnversing sight, the tree lying in the yard with its roots up in the air.

We did lose power, but only for a few minutes, and that while I was at work.  I only know about it because the digital clocks were blinking when I got home.  We got lucky there.  A fair number of my students and fellow teachers don't have it.

On the other hand, our Internet went down.  Strangely, it happened a day after the windstorm ended.  How on earth a windstorm can take out the Internet in hindsight, I have no idea.  It's annoying in the extreme.  My computer won't talk to my mobile hotspot on my phone, so I don't even have that.  I spent too much time trying to restore my access and finally had to give up.

Meanwhile, I was stuck in the house with two teenaged boys who didn't have wifi.  The awful!

With global warming being what it is, it seems like line worker would be one of the most stable careers out there.