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Some other links of recent interest to Pasty Cam watchers:
• Ancestors 2007   • New Arrivals 2007
• The Hut Inn Re-opens
Eight years ago on the Pasty Cam: 04/16/99 ^{Printed on Recycled Internet}

From the beginning of the Pasty Cam we have made an effort to balance the content each week, with a variety of scenes: lanscapes, buildings, wildlife and pets, the Lake, people, etc. I wonder if anyone could find a week in the Archives which does NOT contain at least one day in which humans are visible? This one 8 years ago was pointing out ice still floating in the Portage Canal.

Good Morning

Good Morning, Everyone! Way to go, Capt Paul, with the Early Bird this morning!

Good morning!

Good Morning from K-Town. I would have had the Early Bird if only I was first.

That's okay David. I was the first posting after the picture was up and when I came back, it was gone.

LOL, David! I needed a smile. I'm working on my good old taxes, the paper way. I have them printed, but I need to copy & sort them, etc, this morning. Oh goodie. The good news is that I have nice refunds from both the federal & Michigan. I'm glad I waited, though, since TurboTax was updating the forms on an almost a daily basis, until the last few days. As it was, it still did not feed all the info to the right place, mainly on my Iowa forms, but also on some places for Michigan, so I have to check all of it, line by line. And, since Iowa is not due until the end of the month, I will get Michigan & the federal done today & then attack Iowa forms again. Ugh!

Thanks; I guess I was in the right place at the right time for the Early Bird.

Well today ought to be interesting!! I have to go out on an investigation at ChevronPhillips refinery....

Wishing all a Good Morning and a fantastic Monday!

OOh site visits Paul! Mine are usually muddy this time of year, I scheduled inside stuff today. Good Morning all!

I always thought that people like myself waited till the last day to file because we owe money. Nice to know some people are such good citizens they allow the Gov. use of their moneys untill the very end.........:)

If you want to see the low water level of Lake Superior,take a ride between Eagle River and Eagle Harbor.Where the beach west of Sand Bay was rocky now has a nice shoreline of sand.The eagle river falls are great.

Being a single mother with 2 tax deductions (oops meant children)I have my taxes ready off my last paystub and file as soon as I get the W2. Then I do the happy dance.

FJL, some of us are big procrastinators, because ours are not simple taxes, with a small business corporation and a farm in another state that has a graduated state income tax. I had a lot of our federal return done the end of February, but it was not finalized. Most of the mess is the way TurboTax transfers and does not transfer info that it should to various state tax forms (mostly Iowa, but some Michigan). It's a royal pain, so I end up putting it off. You're right, I might have done it a few weeks ago (but not until March 1,because I needed the 1120S back from the accountant). But had I done that, I probably would have had to then go back a file amended returns because TurboTax was making so many changes on a daily basis to all of the formsets. Ugh!!!

I did have my oldest son's tax forms done a long time ago, but his is a cinch, a 1040EZ, without a bunch off attached schedules & forms to check & double check the numbers and calculations.

On the subject of taxes: I read one thing recently (I think it was this weekend) about tax filing this year. Analysts are saying that this is the worst year in many, many years for filing taxes because of many mistakes, some in the taxpayer's favor, but many in the favor of the government, at least in part because Congress made so many tax code changes at the end of the year, after all of the forms had been printed and were in distribution, extending various deductions and credits that otherwise would have expired at the end of the tax year, 2005. Also, a number of people were unaware of the one-time phone (land-line) tax credit, among other things.

As a result, even many accountants were/are filing incorrect returns for their clients because they were not aware of the current 2006 tax code, as passed by Congress at the end of 2006. I think that is a scary thought that people are paying accountants to do their taxes, and even the accountants aren't doing it right!

I also have property in another state. TurboTax,, I use a C.P.A. tax person. Much more efficient. And easier......

FLJ...we do ours your way as well! Much easier, and less stress!

Whoops, that should be FJL, it's a monday.

Can someone take a picture of SandBay? I would like to see how it has changed.

You're right about Turbo Tax. I tried it once and it messed up my Michigan return and also my son's. Since both are simple returns, I tried to back up and not file them thru Turbo Tax. It would let me not file, but I could not erase the fees for filing! So I let it file and had to file an amended return. Huge pain. I now use an accountant, and never spent a better buck!

Different states have different tax rules. I did have our accountant (whom we use for our small corporation's 1120S) look at our personal taxes one year. When he saw the Iowa Non-Resident garbage, he said that I could do as well doing our own personal taxes as he could because of the Iowa non-resident mess, and save ourselves a lot of money in accountant's fees. He did give me a couple of suggestions for a couple of deductions. And, I really respect him for being honest--not all CPA's would be willing to do that.

TurboTax is not perfect. You should be able to fully understand what goes where and why if you are going to use it, and double-check it, line by line. As usual, I have found several errors with data flow in TurboTax, but it still beats doing them all by hand. And, we can't count on CPA's knowing and understanding the Iowa tax laws as well as I do. So...it's TurboTax for us.

Also, I have never filed online. There are some stories just coming out in the last few days about the insecurity of online filing, from criminals who are in prison, who have stolen ID's that way. The IRS's response is that they hesitate to tighten up the security because that would make harder to use. That's a scary thought, at least to me.

I have used Turbo Tax since the early 1990s with no problem. I have efiled every since Illinois first had a few of us try it. No problems. It sure beats filing by mail.

Try TaxCut

http://www.taxcut.com

Praying for Bev who is having heart surgery today. Also prayers for the victims & families of Virginia Tech college students killed & wounded in the worst school shooting in our history today.

We have a fox hanging out in the field next to our office today, there are a lot in this area.

Only rich Republican Conservative's who owe wait to file taxes this late.

Well, David H--I fit none of those categories, so those conclusions aren't one-size fit all. We certainly are not rich, and we are receiving refunds; we do not owe money. And, I am a moderate. I just hate having to sit down and double-ck everything, line, by line, etc., so I am a big procrastinator. BTW--our federal and Michigan tax returns are finally copied, collated, assembled, and handed over to my husband, who is now standing in line at the post office, which is his contribution to all of the accounting fun. Hurray--I can breathe a sigh of relieve for an evening, until I have to sit down and do the dreaded Iowa non-resident game, as Iowa is not due until the end of the month.

Cotton, I agree--my heart and prayers go out to everyone associated with Virginia Tech right now. It's not just the victims and their families, but also their friends and fellow students. That has to be a horrendous shock to all concerned. And, my prayers also go to the parents of all college students because those shootings could have occurred at any college, anywhere, if it did at Virginia Tech. I know that I wish I could reach out and give my oldest son who is at Mich Tech a great big hug right now.

I remember years ago when that gunman stood in the bell tower at the University of Texas & killed a bunch of people--that was horrendous then, and this is much worse.

Actually, I think the worst school shooting was in Bath, MI in 1927 when 45 children were killed and 58 were injured. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~bauerle/disaster.htm Of course, any incident of that kind is terrible, regardless of the size.

Actually, I should have said "school disaster", because the incident at Bath was a bombing.