Brian’s General Musings

Well the government didn’t shut down after all (big surprise, with so many voters not getting paid).  Obama actually came out looking pretty good (if he can find his birth certificate).On a general note (due to brain fog last weekend) my daughter Kirsten unintentionally grew carrots in our back yard.  I was told of this on Wednesday, but didn’t see one until Saturday. (was also told my daughter would be up by 7 am to show me, but it didn’t happen until almost 8, so did some work at home for a while).  Anyway, these carrots were planted in a pot or something about six months ago and nothing happened.  But when all the rain and snow and wind happened, we guess the seeds were swept into a garden by our bird-of-paradise.  Apparently they liked it there and grew.  We found two, about 10 inches long and about 6 inches wide (they were working out!)  Hopefully the radiation from Japan didn’t affect them.  Anyway Dorothy put them in a meal and they were really good.  My daughter, the unintentional farmer.                                                                   

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Brian’s Tax Musings

Expecting a refund from your taxes?  Take half of it and put it to work for your retirement.  Open a Traditional IRA and put half your refund into it and get a tax deduction for next year.  Or put it into a Roth IRA and while no tax deduction, if you hold until 59 1/2 (or five years, whichever is greater) you will never have to pay tax on any of it.  This is the only time I don’t hate refunds!

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