I love where I live.

The other day, Jim needed a plumbing part at Home Depot so I went along but visited the nursery section while he looked at parts.  It is so warm, the forsythia are in bloom, the mertensia are delightfully pink and blue and even a few sheltered daffodils are winking yellow at me.  So in the mostly empty nursery area I asked for some Ice Pansies, you know the ones that can withstand a wee bit of freezing temps.  The woman refrained from laughing but did say,  "We get pansies the end of April just like always." Well that took me right back to reality.  Spring, in these parts, is over a month ahead of itself.

While I was driving into town today I saw weeping willows waving pale green and some newly green bushes.  Today I needed to go to our downtown PO to mail out the Fondle This Kits for March.  I do apologize as they should have gone out on Wednesday but an awful cold caught me unawares on Tuesday so today was the first day I thought I could be in public again.

In the gardens outside the PO there were Hyacinths in bloom!!!!  All over downtown the Magnolias were joyously pink and white along with forsythias and daffodils.  Incredible.

Then at the service desk, the guy who often waits on me said, "Are you following your bliss?"  Wasn't that a nice question?  We talked about that and the incredible weather for a few minutes as he put some stamps away.  He is a musician and explained he was listening to an NPR program where live musicians are in the studio for interviewing and some live playing. So we listened to that for a bit while he processed the envelopes.  I love visiting the PO.

And this tongue-in-cheek form from the Ithaca Times by Charlie Gither really really covers the atmosphere in this town.

WD-40 Ithaca Individual Income Tax Return

Name _________________________ Social Security Number ________________ 

Address__________________________ Favorite Grassroots Band _____________

Check here if you want to donate $3 to Svante Myrick’s (our 25 yr old mayor) eventual presidential campaign: ___

Filing Status

___ Single ___ It’s complicated, filing jointly 

___ Married, filing jointly ___ We need to talk 

___ Married, but not speaking ___ Co-dependent, filing separately

Exemptions

___ Yourself ___ Your partner

___ Number of dependent children ___ Number of deer (Cayuga Heights only)

___ Number of household pets ___ Number of underemployed couch-tenants 

Income

1. Enter your adjusted gross income from line 38 of your federal tax return _____________

Credits

2. Total downtown parking expenses …………………… ____________

3. Credit for yard waste collection fees ………………… ____________ 

4. Multiply total # of Gimme! (favorite local coffee bar) Frequent Customer Cards used in 2011 by $1,700 ____

5. ‘No Fracking’ sign credit ……………………………..…… ____________

6. Amount spent on Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatment (include self-medication) _____

7. Over-education credit ………………………………….…… ____________

8. Commons Smoking Tickets credit ………………..……. ____________

9. Multiply the number of obscure musical instruments in the household by $35 …_______

10. Add lines 2 through 9. These are your total credits ……………………______________

11. Subtract line 10 from line 1. This is your Adjusted Ithaca Income ….. ______________

Tax Calculation

12. Multiply the figure on line 9 by Mitt Romney’s secretary’s tax rate ….…____________

13. Bumper Sticker surtax ($30 per legible sticker) ………………………______________

14. Smugness tax ($300 per household graduate degree and Prius owned)… ____________

15. My Share of the Commons Tax ($1,200 per retail shopper or loiterer) ……___________

16. Contribution to welcome gift for our new (redistricted) Republican congressperson ….. ___________

17. Not In My Back Yard Tax ………………………….……………………______________

18. Ithaca Police Dept Lawsuit Defense tax ………………………………………………______________

19. Markles Flats Toxic Playing Fields tax …………………………………______________

Add lines 12 through 19. This is your total tax ……………………………______________

Bend Over and Sign Here:

_____________________________________ Date: ___________________

Note: The Internal Revenue Service and Ithaca City Treasurer do not accept Ithaca Hours!