Tax but only VERY obliquely

[Catherine]

I am running into a problem I haven't had before this year's tax season. It is shaping up to be the 3rd snowiest January in Boston on record (with last night's storm we might have surpassed 1978 of Ye Olde Famous "Blizzard of '78" of song and legend). There was another foot here, more in drifts.

The piles of snow around the driveway are now higher than the snowblower can throw more snow. The plow berm at the front walkway was twice the height of the blower and I had to beat (with my hands), kick, and stomp the snow down into piles low and loose enough for the blower to bite into them. I haven't even _looked_ at the back steps and walkway yet.

The problem is twofold: how do I get clients in and out when the safe way is the back steps and there is no place to put the snow, and how do I work on taxes when I spend all my energy battling snow?

And how on earth do you folks in the snow belt regions deal with this year after year after year?

And now the question of what comes first -- nap, lunch, or the clients emails that I needed to send out two hours ago?

Catherine

[JohnH]

Raise your fees 10%, then offer clients a 5% discount if they dig their own way in.

Set your priorities - it should always be:

1)Lunch

2)Nap

3)Emails (no rush, they're probably too busy shoveling snow to read your emails anyhow)

Incidentally, does this look like you?

[Terry O]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - -the fun of SNOW - -which, by the way, IS a 4-letter word. Let an expert from BUFFALO tell you what it is like doing business during the WORST TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!

I have always worked out of my home - -and have tried to keep the driveway & stairs as cleared as possible - - -scheduling every hr so that I can get clients out - -shovel or snow blow and get inside before the next one arrives. About 10 years ago - - I had processed 630 tax returns - -all - -by - - -myself. Fortunately - - nobody slipped, got stuck or hurt. But many a time I would either get the call or make the call to re-schedule.

12/11/09 I slipped snow-blowing and wound up with a broken back - -BUT - - -we were pretty fortunate that it actually didn't snow after Feb 15th.

This year - -FINALLY other places are getting the snow - -you know what - -KEEP it there please! After 30 yrs in business - -I am getting WAY too old to keep this up!

I have had to move my car out of the driveway & let a couple of "special" clients drive into the garage & come in through the laundry room - - -now - -we just reschedule for a nicer day.

GOOD LUCK!

[rfassett]

Oh quit cher whining! I just heard this morning that spring is only 53 days away. Of course around here the arrival of spring only means that we only have six more weeks of winter. No wait, I am getting that confused with a furry ground animal.

I was born and raised in the snow belt, and you are correct, they get it year after year. This year is an annomaly. About all you can do is grin and bear it. I now reside just south of the snow belt and we have received more snow than the folks IN the snowbelt.

The good news for your situation is that you are not the lone ranger in your neighborhood. All of your clients are going through the same thing themselves. So they should be prepared when they arrive to negotiate whatever is presented before them.

As to the snow, I remember back in the early nineties we were having a lot of snow this particular year. And by March, I had done all of the shoveling that I wanted to do. So I gave my snowshovel a heave and look up to the sky and yelled "NO MAS"..... Apparently HE does not speak spanish.

Given your choices, I always choose lunch first.

[Lion EA]

Lunch. You need some protein and don't want to stop moving until your muscles recover. Then, nap!

CT is now officially the snowiest winter and the snowiest January in our history. I have an ice dam that was dripping into our living room. Last year, I had a large mail slot put in my front door. Clients loved it for dropping off. This year, you can't get to my front door. I'd shoveled only part of the front walkway by the time ice crusted over the rest making it too much for us to do ourselves. My plow guy is clearing the driveway with each snow (what a bill I'll get from him!) and was able to tackle my front walk before this last storm. Now it's covered in 14 inches of snow but also has a thick layer of ice at the bottom from sunny days and then refreezing each night. As long as clients call, I tell them to drive all the way around to the basement door which is off our driveway. I hate to bring them in that way with a door peeling paint and through our cave of an unfinished basement full of storage and water seepage and old fluorescent fixtures that are failing. We're covering everything with salt in hopes no one slips. My insurance is paid up! Not to mention all the time spent on the telephone and emails trying to reschedule and explain the safest way in or the alternate route to my house to avoid the steep hill.

My biggest worry is beyond me solving, either by doing it myself or paying. It's the snow the town constantly plows into the end of our driveway, making it slippery on an uphill rise; and the fact that the town's snowbanks on either side of my driveway make it impossible to see oncoming cars. One of my clients said to just make the sign of the cross and gun it.

My back muscle keeps going into spasms, so have been taking the heavy-duty muscle relaxants that leave me woozy for a day or two. My husband (after years of conducting choruses) has no cartilege left in his shoulders and is facing surgery so isn't reaching up to brush snow off our roof. We're way too old for this and way too poor to pay for it all to be done for us. Time to look for a nice retirement condo.

[Catherine]

Raise your fees 10%, then offer clients a 5% discount if they dig their own way in.

Set your priorities - it should always be:

1)Lunch

2)Nap

3)Emails (no rush, they're probably too busy shoveling snow to read your emails anyhow)

Incidentally, does this look like you?

Almost!!

Gwen, who is 5'3", is standing at the bottom of the steps that go to the back door. The picture was taken about an hour ago.

[BulldogTom]

Hey, she is cute. How old and does she have a boyfriend? I have two eligble sons.

I just don't understand that snow thing. Isn't it only supposed to snow in places like Tahoe and Aspen? Those of us from California just don't get the snow blower concept. And shovels are something you use in the garden. The first blisters are appearing on my roses. I should have growth in another week or so. About 3 weeks till my Peach, Plum, Nectarine, Cherry and Pear trees bloom. I may even need to cut the grass in a week or two. My camillia is beautiful right now. Lots of flowers on it.

Sorry, I could not resist. You can call me whatever you want.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[rfassett]

I don't get it. How come Gwen does not have a snow shovel in her hands?

To continue my story from before - after the early 90's thing, I went out and bought my wife a big cub cadet self propelled snow blower with those track things for wheels. She gets all bundled up and goes out and cleans our driveway and the neighbors driveways and the side walks on both sides of the street. It's fun to watch in that a neighbor across the street got a snow blower recently, albeit, not as big as hers, and they will compete to see who can get out first. I was leaving for the office the other morning at ten minutes to six in the morning and the neighbor was already out - and we do live in a residential area.

I think next year I will fire my office snow plower and buy my wife one of those big forty eight inch snow throwers.

BTW, have I mentioned how much I don't like Tom? :)

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I think I like Tom very much and am making plans to move in.

Here in Cincinnati the snow isn't quite up to Boston standards but is more than we usually have. Kinda tough to run the miles I need for the April marathon.

Catherine, that is a great picture of Gwen and the snow! The snow! Now might be the time to consider doing more electronically. I see maybe 2 or 3 of my clients and many are out of state. Email, postal mail and fax are my friends. Yeah, it can get a tad bit lonely but that's why I have this board on my second monitor all the time.

Be careful out there all of you struggling in the snow and the few in the excess sunshine!

[GeneInAlabama]

We had some snow a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty.

[mcb39]

I think that Tom and/or Gene should invite all of us Midwesterners and Northeasterners to move in since they think it's so funny. Actually, here in WI we have less snow than usual, but a prediction for a dumping tomorrow. However, the cold has been bitter.

Always Nap first.

Lunch if you can find anything to eat.

E-mail when you are rested and fed.

[TAXBILLY]

Now y'all are making me feel guilty. Just played 18 holes of golf but I admit it was, er, cool (63)!

taxbilly

[Catherine]

Gwen didn't have a snow shovel in her hands for the purposes of the picture. She eventually shoveled the back steps (starting from the top); but just one shovel's width. We'll get more excavated tomorrow or Saturday.

Yes, she's adorable (and as smart as she is cute). Almost 18, no boyfriend at the moment but I'm sure that will change when she heads to college this fall.

[grandmabee]

Gwen didn't have a snow shovel in her hands for the purposes of the picture. She eventually shoveled the back steps (starting from the top); but just one shovel's width. We'll get more excavated tomorrow or Saturday.

Yes, she's adorable (and as smart as she is cute). Almost 18, no boyfriend at the moment but I'm sure that will change when she heads to college this fall.

very pretty picture. I love snow but then we don't ever get any. did this year for 1 day snow fluries. big panic everyone stayed home from work, stores closed. I had my 2 yr old grandson with us and first time being in snow. He loved it.

for all that shoveling your daughter looks pretty happy

[BulldogTom]

The one on the right is Jonathan. This picture is 2 years ago in Boston. He will be 18 this summer and going to college as well. Does Gwen like football? What college is she going to? Do they have a football team?

I hope my wife (the one in the middle, if you couldn't tell) doesn't read this post. For that matter, my son would not be happy that I am doing this either.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[MargaretMort]

I can't compete in the kids pictures--loved them, though, and I have a very good looking 19 yr. old grandson--but I was wondering how ERC is doing in the frozen state of Maine. I survived two winters in Caribou and the storm in '78 that paralyzed Massachusetts. Very happy to be in sunny though chilly FL. I, too, played 18 holes of golf today. MM

[Catherine]

The one on the right is Jonathan. This picture is 2 years ago in Boston. He will be 18 this summer and going to college as well. Does Gwen like football? What college is she going to? Do they have a football team?

I hope my wife (the one in the middle, if you couldn't tell) doesn't read this post. For that matter, my son would not be happy that I am doing this either.

Tom

Lodi, CA

Gwen has only heard from one college so far (Wells, in NY), where she has been accepted. So we don't know yet where she will end up. Gwen thinks football is OK but it's not a big family thing here. She does shoot with us on our Greater Boston Pistol League team, however, and on occasion lately has equalled or out-shot my husband. Takes after her mom in that regard.

[BulldogTom]

Jonathan is undecided as well. He is waiting to hear from the coaches at Sacramento State about the football program. Depending on what they decide about his future with the team, he will either start at the local JC (where the coaches really want him to play football) and then transfer to Sac State, or enroll at Sac State if there is a place for him on the football team. Regardless of where he starts, he will finsish at Sac State. They have a great engineering program and there is a local company that Sac State partners with that is heavily into defense aerospace. Yes, my son wants to be a rocket scientist. His goal in life is to make things that fly fast and blow up when they get where they are going. Typical male - wants to play with thing that go fast and make a lot of noise.

There are about 5 Division III coaches that are trying to get him to come to their schools to play football, but none of them have the engineering program that he wants. They just can't understand that education is much more important to him than football. I am very proud of him that he sticks to his priorities and is not letting all the talk about football interfere with the ultimate goal of getting his engineering degree.

Are you sure Gwen doesn't want to move to California? We have some great schools out here.

My son read this thread and he is dying from embarassment.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[kcjenkins]

Tell him "It's a parent's obligation to embarrass their teenagers! And it's payback for all the times you embarrassed us when you were younger. One day you will have kids, and then you will understand." :rolleyes: